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Courses - Spring 2023
HNUH
University Honors
HNUH238W
Monsters and Racism: Black Horror and Speculative Fiction
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg
GenEd: DSHU
Cross-listed with: WGSS298W.
Credit only granted for: HONR299Y, HNUH238W, or WGSS298W.
Formerly: HONR299Y.
The previous decade has been considered a renaissance for Black Horror. From Get Out to Lovecraft Country, the genre has enjoyed unprecedented mainstream media buzz and accolades. This course looks at contemporary Black horror and speculative fiction as cultural texts which put into question our notions of human(e) and inhuman(e) through critiques of white supremacy and accompanying oppressions. Students will learn a host of critical skills through close reading and analysis of literature and film by Black creators such as Jordan Peele, Misha Green, Toni Morrison, Jewelle Gomez, and Octavia Butler. With the ability to interpret cultural texts using literary criticism, film analysis, history, cultural studies, ethnic studies, feminist theory, and the social sciences, students will connect these texts to continuing historical and contemporary issues of racial and cultural oppression such as medical discrimination, policing and criminalization, misogynoir, and racialized capitalism.
Restricted to UH students matriculating in Fall 2020 or later. This course is part of the Systemic Racism Thematic Cluster and must be paired with HNUH 238B to complete the cluster. Systemic Racism courses will be offered through Spring 2024.