ENGL 2870 - [Freedom Writes: Literature of Global Justice Struggles]

(crosslisted) AMST 2870, ASRC 2870
(ALC-AS, LA-AS, SCD-AS)

Spring. Not offered: 2022-2023. Next offered: 2024-2025. 4 credits. Student option grading.

M.P. Brady, H. Viramontes.

This course examines some major justice movements of the modern era, introducing students to a submerged history that should neither be idealized nor forgotten. One goal will be to connect the ongoing struggles for social justice of minoritized populations in the US with the history of struggles for justice by workers, women, and disempowered social groups across the world. We’ll begin with the work of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Gandhi, and conclude with a look at contemporary activist movements. Along the way, we’ll look at such cultural forms as AIDS quilts, urban murals, the music of Bob Marley, and theatrical productions from prisons, as well as Anna Deveare Smith’s Twilight L.A. and Helena Viramontes’ novel Under the Feet of Jesus.