At the Rice Global Paris Center this summer, students traced the footsteps of Josephine Baker, James Baldwin and Nina Simone through the streets where the artists lived and worked. The course Belonging and Exile: Black Performance and Paris (1900-Today) turned Paris itself into a classroom, pairing readings and screenings with site visits and performances across the city.
The class explored how generations of Black American artists found both belonging and exile in Paris beginning with W.E.B. Du Bois’ radical exhibition at the 1900 Exposition Universelle and stretching to contemporary work by artists like Arthur Jafa. Lectures were held at the Paris Center, but most days the class spilled into the city with reflective walks through Père Lachaise Cemetery, a tour of Baldwin and Richard Wright’s Left Bank as well as an opportunity to see Houston-native Beyoncé perform on Juneteenth — all of which inspired the students in their writing for the course.
“This course has been on both of our minds and hearts for a long time,” said Eli Greene, lecturer of art, who taught the course alongside Devin Mays, assistant professor of art. “When the opportunity presented itself, it was kind of more than a dream come true.”
“The class is really about form, and we’re exploring the experience of Black American artists who fled the United States in the midcentury, who came to Paris to work and live and to really work through their interiority,” Mays said.
Greene said teaching the legacy of Black performance in Paris demanded leaving the textbook behind.
“We’re able to meet here at the Paris Center, but most days, we also go out into the city,” Greene said. “So we may have a reading that’s talking about a specific artwork or artists and then we’re retracing their steps, seeing their work, seeing the neighborhoods where they spent time.”
“It’s one thing to read about the things that have happened, but it’s another thing to live it, to walk it, to be a part of it,” Mays said. “I couldn’t imagine teaching this class without Paris actually.”
For students, the course blurred the line between learning and living. Bruce Hurley, a junior majoring in English with minors in art history and environmental studies, said it reshaped his academic path.
“You get to read about the things that you’re going to see and then see them, which really helps make those connections,” Hurley said. “I think having this Paris Center here in such a historic area that really blends in and really adapts to its environment, it’s something that’s really beautiful.”
Senior architecture major Manuella Gbossou said she was drawn to the course because it offered deeper engagement with artists she had only encountered briefly in U.S. classrooms. She said she especially valued experiencing neighborhoods like Château Rouge firsthand.
“Due to the nature of this course, I’ve been able to really explore the city rather than having to focus on doing assignments or studying for exams,” Gbossou said, comparing taking the single class to a full course load during a typical semester. “Rather than hearing about it from the professor, you’re actually able to go out and explore it yourself, which I really enjoy.”
From Baldwin’s cafés to Simone’s concerts, the course revealed the layers of a city that has long shaped the lives and work of Black artists. For students and faculty alike, it showed that Paris is not just a site of study but an active collaborator in learning.
“Take the opportunity while you’re still at Rice to take a course in Paris,” Gbossou said.