About the Seminars--Responses to Social Injustice
Transforming Lives: Social Justice Leaders in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Amy Farrell, American Studies 1:30 MTh
This course will explore the lives, writings, and activism of a range of 19th and 20th century social justice leaders in the United States. Drawing from autobiographies, personal narratives, and biographies, we will focus on 19th century activists such as Maria Stewart, an early 19th century free Black who argued for women’s suffrage; Frederick Douglass, another 19th century activist who fought for both the end of slavery and for women’s rights; Dorothy Day, a socialist from the early 20th century who started the Catholic Worker Movement; and Gloria Steinem, a feminist activist from the late 20th century who fought for women’s rights. We will explore what propelled them to become social justice activists, the ways that their ideas and tactics changed over the course of their lives, and the influence that their work had on the lives of others. This seminar will include field trips to local social justice organizations to see and compare the work of contemporary activists to that of these 19th and 20th century Americans.
Discourse and the Social Poet
Ashley Finley, Sociology 10:30 MWF
Society and our own socialization is not above criticism. For centuries, poets have used the medium of poetry to express their thoughts, observations, and critiques of the social world in which we live. This course is designed to engage students in a critical discussion surrounding poetry as a form of social commentary. This will be done through the examination of a number of works by social-political poets, such as Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Marge Piercy, Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros, Chrystos, Maya Angelou, and Yehuda Amichai. Students will be asked to critically analyze, evaluate, and respond to themes of political and religious oppression, feminism, sexism, homophobia, and racism. Furthermore, our discussion will be informed by complimentary readings and material that examines the reality of social inequality in the United States today. By reading the words of others, the aim is in fact to begin to listen. Our discussion will focus on hearing voices that are often silenced, and understanding the social consequences that underlie their words.
