Course Description

During the fall semester of 2004, the Department of English at Barnard launched a Senior Seminar titled The Literature of the Middle Passage. This innovative course explores the literature that has been produced as a result of the Atlantic slave trade, including writing from Africa, Britain, and the Americas. The literary texts by Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Du Bois, Conrad, Equiano, and Baldwin will be studied in the course, reflecting the huge changes in history that have occurred as a result of this involuntary migration out of Africa. The course will be taught by Professor Maire Jaanus, Elizabeth Schmidt and visiting Professor Caryl Phillips, who designed and led the course in 2004.   During the semester, individual courses will be taught by Professor Bashir Abu-Manneh and Professor Kofi Anyidoho.

The course will culminate in a twelve-day visit to Ghana, from November 23 to December 4, 2005. While in Ghana, Barnard seniors will meet and interact with students and faculty from the University of Ghana, attend readings by African writers they have studied in the course, visit the slave forts of Elmina and Cape Coast, and participate in a tour and program at the W.E.B. Du Bois Cultural Centre in the capital of Accra.

The course will consist of 12 students, who have been chosen through a selective application process involving personal essays. While the course is primarily offered as a senior seminar for English majors, it is also open to students whose major is in a subject related to the course topic and whose record in literature classes shows proper preparation. All student applications were reviewed and judged on the merit of their essay and academic record.

The travel portion of the seminar will be fully funded for the participating students.