LIT 3383 – Spring 2027 – Montgomery

This course explores how contemporary Black women writers navigate the complex geographies of identity, displacement, and belonging. Focusing on the foundational tropes of migration, exile, and home, students will analyze how spatial mobility intersects with race, gender, sexuality, and historical memory. Through close readings of seminal texts, we will examine how the physical journeys of the Diaspora-- whether forced, voluntary, or ancestral--shape the internal landscapes of female protagonists as they reclaim agency and redefine the concept of "home."
Over the semester, we will investigate the tensions between regional and national borders, the psychological weight of generational trauma, and the spiritual geographies that connect the American South, the Caribbean, and West Africa. Students will engage with critical frameworks surrounding postcolonialism, Black feminist geography, and transnationalism to unpack how these authors challenge traditional literary canons and construct alternative spaces for healing, resistance, and self-discovery.
This course meets the requirements for Exploring the Human Experience and fulfills the State-Mandated Writing (W) credit.