CHID 201
The Literary Legacy of Tupac Shakur
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Instructor: Georgia M. Roberts, PhD. Email: gmr2@uw.edu
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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 Niccolò 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; Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka, Huey P. Newton, Afenis Shakur, Arthur Jafa, and Saidiya Hartman.
Overview of Assignments
The course has various types of assignments, including analytical and creative writing, and a final project. Students will also work in small groups to organize and lead a portion of one 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 for purchase through the UW Bookstore.