Approaches to Teaching Baraka's Dutchman
Matthew Calihman · Gerald Early
May 2018 · Modern Language Association
Ebook
224
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
First performed in 1964, Amiri Baraka's play about a charged encounter between a black man and a white woman still has the power to shock. The play, steeped in the racial issues of its time, continues to speak to racial violence and inequality today.
This volume offers strategies for guiding students through this short but challenging text. Part 1, "Materials," provides resources for biographical information, critical and literary backgrounds, and the play's early production history. The essays of part 2, "Approaches," address viewing and staging Dutchman theatrically in class. They help instructors ground the play artistically in the black arts movement, the beat generation, the theater of the absurd, pop music, and the blues. Background on civil rights, black power movements, the history of slavery, and Jim Crow laws helps contextualize the play politically and historically.
About the author
Cornell University graduate Gerald Early is an essayist and professor at Washington University. Early was the director of African and Afro-American studies at Washington University and the director of the American Culture Studies Program. He was also named the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts and Sciences. His essays have been included in Harpers, The New Republic, and Hungry Mind Review. His books include One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture, Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity and Ambivalence of Assimilation, and Body Language: Writers on Sport. Early received the National Book Critics Circle Award for his book The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Literature, Prizefighting, and Modern American Culture.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
