ENG 6939 - SUMMER 2026 - LATHAN

This graduate seminar is designed with two objectives in mind: 1) to develop a working knowledge of Black women's intellectualism with an eye toward Rhetoric and Composition Studies; 2) to develop critical reading, research, and writing skills necessary for dislodging canons of Black rhetorical histories that marginalize gender, sexuality, and other vectors of difference. We will accomplish this by focusing on the numerous and fundamental contributions of Black women to social, political, and critical thought—specific to rhetorical studies. Throughout the course, we will ask the following questions: Who is included in the terms “Black,” “woman,” and “thinker”? What does a genealogy of Black women’s language and learning look like? Why, even at this late date, are Black women’s rhetorical contributions still marginalized in mainstream curricula and in broader academia? Our texts will include Royster’s Traces of a Stream; Carey’s Rhetorical Healing; Baker-Bell’s Linguistic Justice; and Bailey’s Misogynoir. We will have weekly reflections and a research proposal due as the final project for this course.

This seminar is developed around three themes: foundations, genealogies, and methodologies. First, we will read foundational texts that will give us useful tools for engaging Black women rhetoricians throughout the course. Next, we will spend time exploring a genealogy of Black feminist rhetoricians who constitute much of our content for the course. Finally, we will reflect on some of the methods Black women rhetoricians use for constructing knowledge.