Description
In many ways, humanities scholarship is already digital as most of us do our research, writing, and sometimes reading on a computer. In these situations, the computer replaces the index, the pen, and the printed book. In a sense, then, the computer has simply sped up processes with which humanists were already familiar.
But what might we gain if we begin to use the computer to do something that only it can do? How would it change our understanding of a novel if we laid it out in geographical space? What would we learn if we could visually break down and compare the language in two volumes of poetry? What could we discover if we read everything a hyper-prolific author wrote in just two weeks? What would it mean to read a book as a distributed crowd? Does reading change if you can only do it on a computer? This class seeks to prepare the next generation of digital humanists and African-American scholars by broadening the conversation around new theories, methods, and tools to explore African-American art, labor, and migration.
In this course, we will consider these questions as we explore the field of digital humanities (DH). Through readings and various projects, we will familiarize ourselves with the concepts, tools, and debates of and within the intersection of Digital Humanities and Black Studies.