What cultural, theoretical and political trends inform black literary production at the end of the twentieth century, or in the eras through out the civil rights movement, the black cultural nationalist movements of the late 1960s and 1970s, and integration? In this seminar, we will consider the political and institutional demands of formalizing the discipline of black literary studies in the academy, and the manner in which interdisciplinary approaches have transformed methods for reading black literature and culture. A consistent concern will be the stakes and criteria for producing, evaluating, and critiquing various forms and genres of black literary expression. Many of the critical and literary texts to be considered make self-conscious efforts to define the intellectual and political stakes for black cultural production, the meaning of black identity, and the conditions of community.