Hip-Hop Auto/Audiobiographies
A Discovery Core Experience
May be taken as BCORE 117 (Arts & Humanities)
About This Course
The class begins by contextualizing the history, form, and social function of autobiographical writing in the United States. We explore primary and secondary texts, paying attention to the genre’s central preoccupations with selfhood, national belonging, memory, and time. We also look at texts that challenge autobiographical conventions, both in terms of form and technique.
Selected Texts & Films
For winter 2027, our course will focus specifically on the autobiographies that influenced the life and work of the late artist and activist, Tupac Shakur. We’ll read selections from the autobiographies of Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Afeni Shakur and Panther 21, George Jackson, and Maya Angelou, among others.
Students will be asked to purchase a course reader from the University Bookstore and complete a variety of assignments, including reading response papers, an autobiographical sketch, and an “audiobiography.”
Dr. Georgia Roberts
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
About Dr. Roberts
- Ph.D. English, University of Washington, Seattle
- M.A. English, University of Washington, Seattle
- B.A. English and Ethnic Studies (minor), University of California, Berkeley
Contact
Email: gmr2@uw.edu