PSC 339 - Seminar: Black Radical Politics and Legacies of Malcom X

Course Units: 1

(Spring; Marso) In this seminar, we will explore the legacy of Malcolm X for Black radical politics and the Black Lives Matter movement today. We will dissect and compare Malcolm’s vision with other Black radicals that draw on and depart from his. Reading Manning Marable’s controversial biography alongside The Autobiography of Malcolm X and the website developed by Marable and his students, we will first explore Malcolm’s history and legacy to see how class politics, ideological differences, and perspectives on sex and gender within the Black community impact how Malcolm is described, remembered, and lionized. We will also consider Malcolm’s legacy through an internationalist lens, one of Manning Marable’s contributions. Finally, we will discover how Black nationalists and Muslims the world over have claimed Malcolm as their own, with their own emphases and nuanced narratives.

Underlying questions throughout our discussions will be: What are the politics of memory? What is at stake in how we frame, celebrate, or critique a figure like Malcolm X? When we focus on sexuality and gender, does the vision of what is radical change, and if so, how and why? To explore these questions and others that arise, our seminar will also view Malcolm in comparative perspective vis-à-vis women activists and thinkers such as Ella Baker, and other Black Radical thinkers such as James Baldwin. Prompted by films and contemporary writings, we will also discuss how Malcolm is viewed today. Ultimately, we want to uncover the political stakes in constructing these very different legacies. In the final few weeks of the seminar we will read some contemporary work in the tradition of Black radicalism with Malcolm’s legacy in mind. Prerequisite(s): PSC 111 , PSC 112 , or PSC 113 and permission of the instructor.