SPRING 2024/CHID 250H
The Literary Legacy of Tupac Shakur
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Mondays: 3:30-5:30pm Instructor: Georgia M. Roberts, PhD. Email: gmr2@uw.edu Office hours: Wednesdays by appointment and Fridays 3-5pm (Zoom) |
Course Description
This course explores the literary and philosophical influences present in the work of artist and activist, Tupac Shakur. We’ll study primary and secondary texts, including books explicitly referenced by Shakur, like Machiavelli’s The Prince and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Our goal will be to understand their central theories, and at the same time, consider how Tupac's past engagement with these thinkers has changed the way we read them from the present. Other writers and artists we will consider; Amiri Baraka, Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, Saidiya Hartman, Arthur Jafa, Kendrick Lamar, Toni Morrison, Huey P. Newton, Rakim, Shakespeare, Afeni Shakur, and Malcolm X.
Overview of Assignments
The course has various types of assignments, including short quizzes, analytical and creative writing, and a final project. Students will also work in small groups to organize and lead a portion of class discussion.
Required Texts
Our class involves a significant amount of close-reading of texts, so it will be important to have a copy of assigned readings with you in class. For this reason, I have compiled a course reader. We'll begin the class by reading the recently released biography by Staci Robinson (Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography, 2023). Both will be available through the UW Bookstore.