Penn state african american studies

“Black studies is the beautiful interdisciplinarity that asks the same WHY with different means and methodologies of HOW. Freedom? How do we get free?”

--Tao Leigh Goffe, @taoleighgoffe, Twitter, 6/25/2020\

Format: 10-12 pages, Times New Roman, 12-pt, 1” margins, double-spaced, properly cited.

Requirements: Research at least 3-5 outside sources (performances, art, articles, newspaper articles, etc.; you may draw on the Show & Tells from class (including those of your classmates).

Prompt: The statement by Prof. Tao Leigh Goffe provides a framework for thinking about the central questions of our class. “Freedom? How do we get free?” Over the course of the semester, we have explored scholars, activists, visual and performing artists, and creative writers among others, who tried to present an answer to those two questions. As an interdisciplinary course, we’ve looked at the question of “freedom/how do we get free” from a variety of perspectives to help create a fuller vision of the answer. Thinking about these different disciplinary lines, allows us the opportunity to raise compelling questions about how knowledge is created and how it is presented.

In your essay, reflect on what we have learned and discussed and propose a theory of “freedom/how do we get free.” Approach the essay as an opportunity to create knowledge about the world and how we live in it, to raise questions about what we know and why, to propose new ways of thinking and imagining the future. This is a scholarly, but creative essay in that you must be critical, research and use sources that develop your analysis, as well as think expansively about what freedom dreams are.