BLST 010A. First Year Seminar: The Black Material Object

This course is a close read, deep look, and occasionally hands-on approach to the black material object through a range of everyday items, artifacts, artworks and apparatuses. We consider how their origins, development and popularity come through black people’s invention, utility and repurposing. We will trace how the virtual and symbolic are linked to the physical, where black bodies are conditioned as both source material and raw material of the modern world, and used to extract the resources needed for science, technology, entertainment and culture.
1 credit.
Fall 2026. Rahaman.
Catalog chapter: Black Studies
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/black-studies

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