Students will develop a critical understanding of the Black Atlantic in the eighteenth century, as depicted in literature written in Britain and across the Atlantic, by British people and by people of African descent. The course will focus on the way eighteenth-century literature represents and interacts with the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Diverse eighteenth-century genres will be paired with a range of scholarly approaches to travel, fiction, and imperialism, as students consider how eighteenth-century literature and culture were shaped by and contributed to perceptions of race, nationalism, geography, commerce, gender, and place. Students will become skilled at raising and discussing (in both written and oral forms) critical questions prompted by this literature. A combination of short and long writing assignments will be assigned, including journal entries, in-class writing, analytical essays, and/or essay exams totaling 20-25 pages. Criteria for grading include analytical content, grammar, style, and (if applicable) quality and breadth of critical and theoretical sources.

The course outline will vary from instructor to instructor. Topics covered will likely include the following: postcolonial approaches to the Enlightenment, the Atlantic world, slavery and the slave trade, kidnapping and captivity, human exploitation, travel, trade, the abolitionist movement, antislavery poetry, genre and colonial politics, transportation, and the circulation of goods and print media.