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Class number:
3136
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Title: Black Neurodiversity |
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Department: American Studies |
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Career: Undergraduate |
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Component: Seminar |
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Session: Regular |
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Instructor's Permission Required: No |
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Grading Basis: Regular |
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Units: 1.00 |
| Enrollment limited to 15 |
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Current enrollment: 12 |
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Available seats: 3 |
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Start date: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 |
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End date: Friday, May 12, 2023 |
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Mode of Instruction: In Person |
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Schedule: W: 6:30PM-9:00PM, 70VS - SEM |
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Instructor(s): Paulin, Diana |
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Prerequisite(s): None |
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Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement |
Course Description:
This seminar explores the stigma of Black neurodivergence and neurodiversity in mainstream and marginalized communities and cultures in the U.S. as well as in select Black diasporic contexts. It examines how the historical pathologization of Black bodies and minds, at least as far back as enslavement, informs contemporary understandings and treatment of Black neurodivergence and neurodiversity. Students will consider various representational sites of Black neurodivergence and diversity, such as the current mental health crisis that has impacted the Black population disproportionally. They will also explore how past and present discriminatory practices have contributed to the notion of Black inferiority and how idealized constructions of able-bodiedness and neurotypicality have been equated with white supremacy and have reinforced the historical conflation of anti-Black and ableist discourse. By examining how Black-disabled intersectionality informs a variety of counternarratives in fiction, poetry, film, and performance, the class works toward a fuller understanding of the shared humanity and overlapping histories that bind us as citizens of the nation and of the world. |