Department of Black and Latino Studies • Baruch College • CUNY
BLS/ENG 3002 ETRA (40150): Contemporary Black Literatures
Professor: Dr. Rojo Robles
Email: [email protected]
I respond to emails from Monday to Friday during regular working hours (9:00 am–5:00 pm). You can expect a reply within 1–2 business days.
Office (Student) Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-6:30 pm, and by appointment via Zoom.
This time is dedicated to addressing any questions, needs, or concerns you may have about the class. If you have a quick question, we can meet briefly; if you need extended help with coursework or content, please schedule a longer session.
Course Blog: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/blackliteratures/
A space to share reflections, class prompts, supplemental materials, and updates throughout the term.
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TYLoH3HOIiEF1B-z6hmFpAal8b8A24TX?usp=share_link
Class Meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm.
Room: B – Vert 4-218
Weekly Announcements: Fridays, via email.
Institutional Course Description: This course will survey Black literature in global contexts to explore and compare poetry, prose, fiction, and creative non-fiction from African diaspora writers in the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe since the end of the Second World War. It will situate texts in historical, political, and cultural contexts, such as in independence movements, colonialism, and Civil Rights, to develop interdisciplinary approaches to reading Black diaspora literatures.
Course Description for This Section: Contemporary Black Literatures offers a critical, multidimensional introduction to late 20th and 21st-century Black writing across Africa, the Caribbean, Afro-Latin America, and the United States. Through novels, poetry, essays, memoirs, a film, and speculative fiction, we will explore how Black authors engage with legacies of slavery, colonialism, and racial capitalism while addressing questions of identity, (un) belonging, migration, and resistance. Literature will be approached as both a site of historical reckoning and imaginative world-making, where authors envision alternative pasts, futures, and cultural transformations.
By reading across languages, genres, and traditions, students will analyze how race intersects with gender, sexuality, class, and geography, and how contemporary Black authors reframe diasporic and local experiences. The course emphasizes literature’s political, historical, and cultural dimensions, encouraging students to connect texts to broader debates on race and power and their own lives and contexts.
Student-Centered Pedagogy: This course is designed with your voices, histories, and interests at the center. In addition to close reading and analysis, we will use interactive formats—workshops, group projects, creative assignments, and student-led discussions—to co-create knowledge in community.
Learning Goals:
- Situate contemporary Black literatures within their historical, political, cultural, and diasporic contexts.
- Develop frameworks for analyzing texts across regions, genres, and disciplines.
- Evaluate evidence and arguments, recognizing literature as a form of resistance, cultural preservation, and world-making.
- Produce well-reasoned, written, oral, and creative responses that demonstrate analytical depth and engagement with course texts.
- Engage in team-based learning experiences that foster collaborative problem-solving and collective understanding.
Assessment and Grading: Grades reflect your ongoing engagement with the material and your contributions to our collective learning community.
Grade Breakdown:
- Midterm “Dialogues Across Texts” Project– 30%
- Final “Blackout Poem” Project– 30%
- Group Presentations – 20%
- Attendance and Punctuality – 10%
- Participation (Discussions, Reflections, Peer Feedback) – 10%
Grading Scale:
93–100 = A; 90–92 = A–; 87–89 = B+; 83–86 = B; 80–82 = B–; 77–79 = C+; 73–76 = C; 70–72 = C–; 67–70 = D+; 63–66 = D; 60–62 = D–; Below 60 = F
Attendance and Punctuality: Regular attendance and punctuality are essential. Every absence is an absence. Arriving more than 10 minutes late is counted as tardy. Chronic absence or lateness may result in dismissal from the course or grade reduction. If you’re facing challenges attending class, please communicate with me early.
Course Materials
- Readings:
All readings will be available on Google Drive and eventually Brightspace as PDFs, except for:
. Mendez, Jasminne. City Without Altar. Noemi Press, 2022.
Academic Honesty: Learning is rooted in honest engagement and dialogue. When you use academic citations to reference others’ ideas, you participate in a broader scholarly conversation. Plagiarism—presenting someone else’s work as your own, including AI—is strictly prohibited and will result in a zero for the assignment.
Missing Work: If you have concerns about assignment deadlines or technical issues, please communicate your needs as early as possible. Unsubmitted assignments will incur deductions from your final grade. Timely submissions are expected.
The Following Patterns are Unacceptable:
- Submitting AI-generated work as your own.
- Submitting work past deadlines without prior communication.
- Missing classes and attempting to “catch up” at the last minute.
Looking for a minor or major? Make BLS your choice: The Department of Black and Latino Studies is committed to exploring and celebrating the contributions of Black and Latino communities through interdisciplinary, intersectional approaches. Our courses emphasize critical thinking, advanced writing, digital literacies, collaboration, and creative problem-solving—skills that prepare you for graduate studies and a range of professional paths in education, law, business, media, public relations, journalism, and the arts.