SEMINAR PROFILE

H14 -
Reading, Writing, Toni Morrison, and Us

Toni Morrison once quipped: "Invisible to whom?" This class is premised on a set of important questions: What does it mean to write in such a way that doesn't pander to a white gaze-a gaze that has often proven unable to see black people, to direct itself askance at black people, to refuse black people their very humanity? What does writing to and for a black audience, instead, look like? And what does that shift in targeting do to change how readers of all races read this writing, more specifically, and the the larger world, more generally? Using Toni Morrison as the literary exemplar of this writing, the class will consider not only the social and biographical contexts that have enabled Morrison to choose deliberately not to ingratiate herself with the white gaze, but also the literary implications of that artistic choice to write for and about black people. What has Toni Morrison's choice, throughout her works, done to and for reading-and writing, thinking, and empathizing-as we know it? What is Toni Morrison's contribution to the ways in which we see differently-if in fact we see differently at all? Looking specifically at three seminal Morrison texts, Sula (1973), Beloved (1987), and her short story "Recitatif" (1983), we will challenge ourselves to contemplate these questions seriously, rigorously, and even joyfully during our time together as a class.

Scholar:

Sandy Alexandre

Location:

Harvard Hillel

Dates:

12/10/2015, 12/15/2015

H14 -	Reading, Writing, Toni Morrison, and Us

	Toni Morrison once quipped: "Invisible to whom?" This class is premised on a set of important questions: What does it mean to write in such a way that doesn't pander to a white gaze-a gaze that has often proven unable to see black people, to direct itself askance at black people, to refuse black people their very humanity? What does writing to and for a black audience, instead, look like? And what does that shift in targeting do to change how readers of all races read this writing, more specifically, and the the larger world, more generally? Using Toni Morrison as the literary exemplar of this writing, the class will consider not only the social and biographical contexts that have enabled Morrison to choose deliberately not to ingratiate herself with the white gaze, but also the literary implications of that artistic choice to write for and about black people. What has Toni Morrison's choice, throughout her works, done to and for reading-and writing, thinking, and empathizing-as we know it? What is Toni Morrison's contribution to the ways in which we see differently-if in fact we see differently at all? Looking specifically at three seminal Morrison texts, Sula (1973), Beloved (1987), and her short story "Recitatif" (1983), we will challenge ourselves to contemplate these questions seriously, rigorously, and even joyfully during our time together as a class.

		Scholar:	Sandy Alexandre
		Location:	Harvard Hillel
		Dates:	12/10/2015, 12/15/2015