Stranger in the Village
I mentioned that I would update by adding some reading that I’ll be expecting you to do for the first Discussion Panel. I’m going to announce the date of the panel on March 20th, but anyway, it’s a good idea to start reading the essay now. It’s called Stranger in the Village by James Baldwin. The essay is available online, here.
The first discussion panel will be on the Archetype of “The Other,” and will range from Baldwin’s essay to the movie we’ll soon be watching (Spike Lee’s Bamboozled) as well as my own upcoming lecture on the tradition of Blackface Minstrelsy in the 19th and 20th century. (Though other tangents — such as the depiction of “The Other” in Korean movies, for example, are also possible.)
Anyway, make sure you read Baldwin’s essay a few times so that you have enough of a handle on it to discuss, ask questions, and compare Baldwin’s experience of being “the Other” to the depiction of “the Other” in media.