ENGL 2011: Books that Matter: African American Youth Culture and Literature is based on Holly E. Burgess’s dissertation. Explore more about her dissertation on her dissertation page.

The ENGL 2011: Books that Matter: African American Youth Culture and Literature course studies poetry, novels, and music by 20th- and 21st-century African American writers. Students explore how African American youth culture and activism influence literature and music. Finally, this course discusses how hip-hop artists like Tupac Shakur and his musical contemporaries influence the current generation of Black activists and artists in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Students study how African American authors utilize young adult literature and science fiction to examine race, gender, sexuality, trauma, grief, and violence. As students read, they consider: how literature and music reflect reality, how Black writers use literature to teach Black history and cultural memory, and how authors utilize their writing as an act of social protest.

This course engages in the current scholarly discussions on police brutality, book banning, and making space for joy when trauma is ever-present. ENGL 2011 helps students become engaged, compassionate readers who use their literary and poetic voices to critically engage with the course’s texts and participate in lively classroom discussions.