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This course will study the intersection of two art forms, film and poetry. We will view and study films about poetry and poets, such as Paterson, Bright Star, and Endless Poetry. We will also read and study poetry about films, such as Danez Smith's "Dinosaurs in the Hood." The course will also view and examine poetry films (short films made in conjunction with poems or made together by poets and filmmakers). Students will make a poetry film of their own (alone or as team) as their final project.

World literatures are works that travel outside of the borders of their nations and into the world. In this course we will read contemporary world literatures by Black peoples in Africa and in the diaspora. As we read, we will ask: How do these literatures address themes like neocolonialism, gender, social justice, and global belonging? What do they teach us about the world out there, ourselves here, and how we're connected? We will read contemporary graphic novels, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, always with questions of race and blackness in mind.

This course introduces students to key genres like anime, musicals, auteur films, film noir, melodrama, and westerns, with films drawn primarily from East Asia, the U.K., and the U.S. Particular attention will be paid to making transnational connections between different film traditions. Readings in genre theory, film theory, and visual studies. Topics include aesthetics, money, globalization, kinship, and gender. Films in English and in English translation.

This course offers an in-depth study of works by U.S. indigenous writers from the 1960's to the present. The readings cover multiple genres of poetry, drama, memoir, and fiction in various tones of humor, suspense, spirituality, and political urgency. The course will provide opportunities to learn about multiple tribal cultures and histories as well as social issues pertinent to indigenous communities. U.S. indigenous writers also engage with larger critical questions dealing with environmentalism, feminism, colonialism, and social justice, but through a particularly indigenous lens. Students will be encouraged to read and think critically, and to reflect deeply about indigenous frameworks and approaches to important contemporary issues.