Black Southern Gothic

By Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder

Black Southern Gothic is a podcast connected to a course at University of Iowa where we explore African American writing from the US South. These episodes will introduce you to readings from Zora Neal... more

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FAQs about Black Southern Gothic:

How many episodes does Black Southern Gothic have?

The podcast currently has 6 episodes available.

Black Southern Gothic episodes:

October 05, 2020 On Randall Kenan: An Interview with Enrico Bruno
In this episode, I interview University of Iowa PhD candidate Enrico Bruno about his work on Randall Kenan. We discuss the role of mythology in 20th century African American fiction and how the legend of flight appears in Kenan's first novel, A Visitation of Spirits. We then turn to a discussion of Let the Dead Bury Their Dead and ways in which Kenan uses the gothic trope to explore the intersections of race and sexuality in small-town South. We conclude with a bigger question of why the gothic is perhaps America's literary genre of choice and how it relates to the country's political history.
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32min
September 11, 2020 The Ghosts of Parchman Farm
In preparation for reading Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, we explore the history and musical legacy of one of the most notorious prisons in the United States, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Parchman Farm.
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17min
September 04, 2020 What is Faulkner doing here?
Discussing Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six Bits” and William Faulkner’s “That Evening Sun” and “Pantaloon in Black” and looking at the evidence that Faulkner borrowed Hurston’s ideas and writing for his gothic fiction about Black life in Mississippi.
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14min
August 28, 2020 Hurston's Haunted South
In today’s episode, we discuss the life and work of Zora Neale Hurston, with a focus on her as an anthropologist of black culture in the US South. I ask focus questions for this week's readings from Mules and Men and Tell My Horse.
Here are links to the Library of Congress recordings featured in this episode:
"Crow Dance" (vocals with clapping) performed by Zora Neale Hurston at Federal Music Project Office, Jacksonville, Florida, on June 18, 1939.
https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000017/
"Halimuhfack" (vocals) performed by Zora Neale Hurston at Federal Music Project Office, Jacksonville, Florida, on June 18, 1939.
https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000014/

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16min
August 25, 2020 What Is the Black Southern Gothic?
In this short episode, I explain what I mean by the terms Black, Southern, and Gothic and ask the main questions of the course. I place this course in context of African American literature as well as the gothic literary tradition.
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7min
August 22, 2020 Welcome to Black Southern Gothic
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1min

FAQs about Black Southern Gothic:

How many episodes does Black Southern Gothic have?

The podcast currently has 6 episodes available.