Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: BLACK LIFE BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

Department: African & African Amer Studies

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sparked an exodus in Ukraine. However, Black and Asian students seeking refuge onto exiting trains or buses were denied entry or kicked off. Many were shocked to learn that Black people lived in Ukraine. However, Black people have made Central and Eastern European societies their home for centuries. For instance, Alexander Pushkin, one of the most celebrated figures in Russian literature, has African roots. This course explores the experiences and lives of Black people behind what was known as the “Iron Curtain”—representing the present-day countries of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, East Germany, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. We will learn about why Black people migrated to this part of the world, their intellectual, economic, and cultural contributions to those spaces, what they learned and encountered during their time there, and how we might redefine and reconceptualize our understandings of Black life, black political and economic thought, blackness, gender, and race through engaging with those experiences. Cross-list: HIST 349.