HSTCMP 111 A: History of the Present

SUMMER 2024/CHID 111

The Literary Legacy of Tupac Shakur

Mondays: The first meeting will be in person, and we'll be mostly online asynchronous for rest of quarter. We'll work together to schedule some optional in-person and Zoom sessions based on student interest and availability. Instructor: Georgia M. Roberts, PhD. Email: gmr2@uw.edu

Special Note: students can take this course for a DIV or W requirements (we'll need to work together to submit paperwork). 

Course Description

This course explores the literary and philosophical influences present in the work of artist and activist, Tupac Shakur. We’ll study primary and secondary texts, including books explicitly referenced by Shakur, like Machiavelli’s The Prince and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Our goal will be to understand their central theories, and at the same time, consider how Tupac's past engagement with these thinkers has changed the way we read them from the present. Other writers and artists we will consider; Amiri Baraka, Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, Saidiya Hartman, Kendrick Lamar, Toni Morrison, Huey P. Newton, Rakim, William Shakespeare, Afeni Shakur, and Malcolm X.

Each week’s title comes from a 2Pac album or song or that will be germane to class discussion. I ask that you please listen to the appropriate album and/song corresponding with each week’s readings before coming to class.