In this course, students will explore how Black women writers use magical realism to illuminate history, memory, family, and survival. Through close reading and discussion of Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, we will examine how the supernatural, the ancestral, and the unseen coexist with lived reality, revealing emotional and historical truths that realism alone cannot capture. Students will analyze how these novels grapple with legacy, trauma, love, and resilience, while also considering why magical realism has become such a powerful mode for telling Black women’s stories.

Offered Spring 2027