AMST 256
Social Justice Traditions: 1960s to #BLM Fall 2016
Division II
Cross-listed HIST 256 / AFR 257
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

We live in a time of renewed social justice activism, as people from all walks of life confront economic inequality, police violence, discrimination against transgender individuals, and other forms of oppression. This course is designed to clarify where recent initiatives like Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street came from, and to evaluate how they might shape American life in the near future. Movements have histories, as today’s activists draw on the “freedom dreams,” tactics, and styles of rhetoric crafted by their predecessors, while making use of new technologies, such as Twitter, and evolving understandings of “justice.” Taking a historical approach, we will begin by studying the civil rights, Black Power, anti-war, counter-culture, and feminist initiatives of the 1960s. We will then explore how progressive and radical activists adjusted their theories and strategies as the country became more conservative in the 1970s and 1980s. Making use of movement documents, documentary films, and scholarly accounts, we will study the development of LGBTQ, ecological, and economic justice initiatives up to the present day. Throughout, we will seek to understand how movements in the United States are shaped by global events and how activists balance their political work with other desires and commitments.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 35
Expected: 25
Class#: 2029
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: attendance and class participation; four 2 page reading response papers; discussion of films via GLOW forums; and a final 7-8 page analytical essay
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the fifth course option
Enrollment Preferences: first years, sophomores, and American Studies majors
Distributions: Division II
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
AMST 256 Division II HIST 256 Division II AFR 257 Division II
Attributes: AMST Comp Studies in Race, Ethnicity, Diaspora

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