Popular Culture and Social Justice: Introduction to American Studies
AMST 174
Fall 2015 not offered
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| Course Cluster: Animal Studies, Disability Studies, Queer Studies |
This course explores the interlocking histories of popular culture and social justice in the 20th- and 21st-century United States, with particular focus from mid-century to the current moment. By focusing on the ways in which social justice movements and ideologies have utilized and been informed by trends in art, film, television, music, and commercialism, we will interrogate critical concepts in the field of American studies, such as citizenship, belonging, difference, and equality. Topics covered will include feminism/s, antilynching, civil rights, labor and unionization, pro-choice, anarchism, socialism and communism, disability rights, queer liberation, leftism and countercultures, anti-Zionism, environmentalism, and animal rights.
Questions addressed will include, How has popular culture both advanced and hindered the progress of social justice movements? How has the idea of "social justice" changed over time? Which groups are included? What aims are articulated? How has the media portrayed and influenced social and political problems, and how has the rise of new media (from radio to television to the Internet and beyond) created new spaces for debating power and inequality? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AMST |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(EDST) |
Major Readings:
Michelle Alexander, THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS
T. V. Reed, THE ART OF PROTEST: CULTURE AND ACTIVISM FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TO THE STREETS OF SEATTLE
Richard Goldstein, HOMOCONS: THE RISE OF THE GAY RIGHT
Shawn Michelle Smith and Dora Apel, LYNCHING PHOTOGRAPHS
Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations: A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE THIRD WORLD
Susan Sontag, REGARDING THE PAIN OF OTHERS
Jeff Goodwin and James Jasper, eds., THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT READER: CASES AND CONCEPTS
Excerpts from (samples):
Barbie Zelizer, REMEMBERING TO FORGET: HOLOCAUST MEMORY THROUGH THE CAMERA'S EYE
Arlene Davila, BARRIO DREAMS: PUERTO RICANS, LATINOS, AND THE NEOLIBERAL CITY
Daryl Maeda, CHAINS OF BABYLON: THE RISE OF ASIAN AMERICA
Ward Churchill, ON THE JUSTICE OF ROOSTING CHICKENS: REFLECTIONS ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF US IMPERIAL ARROGANCE AND CRIMINALITY
Kenji Yoshino, COVERING: THE HIDDEN ASSAULT ON AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS
Abbie Hoffman, STEAL THIS BOOK
Priscilla Murolo and A. B. Chitty, FROM THE FOLKS WHO BROUGHT YOU THE WEEKEND: A SHORT, ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES
Marita Sturken, TANGLED MEMORIES: THE VIETNAM WAR, THE AIDS EPIDEMIC, AND THE POLITICS OF REMEMBERING
Laura Pulido, BLACK, BROWN, YELLOW, AND LEFT: RADICAL ACTIVISM IN LOS ANGELES
Luke Cole and Sheila Foster, eds., FROM THE GROUND UP: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM AND THE RISE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE MOVEMENT
Iris Marion Young, RESPONSIBILITY FOR JUSTICE
Carol J. Adams, THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF MEAT: A FEMINIST-VEGETARIAN CRITICISM
Abbie Hoffman, STEAL THIS BOOK
David Garland, PECULIAR INSTITUTION: AMERICA'S DEATH PENALTY IN THE AGE OF ABOLITION
Alaine Locke, THE NEW NEGRO
Timothy Patrick McCarthy and John McMillian, eds., THE RADICAL READER: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN RADICAL TRADITION
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students will be required to: locate and bring in two primary documents during assigned weeks of the course; complete one response paper (3-5 pages); complete one in-class, short essay midterm; complete one final paper (7-10 pages). |
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