Fugitive Perspectives on Education and Civil Society
CHUM 358
Fall 2020
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 358, EDST 358 |
In 1946, the African American novelist Ann Petry imagined what a white schoolteacher might think about working with black students in Harlem, New York: "Working in this school was like being in a jungle. It was filled with the smell of the jungle, she thought: tainted food, rank, unwashed bodies." Petry had herself worked in Harlem schools. She also held credentials from well-heeled white schools in Connecticut. Despite her own academic success, she questioned the inherent value of schools that regarded black children as if they were untamed savages.
Challenging prevailing narratives of excellence and achievement, this course examines fugitive perspectives of black, Indigenous, LBGTQ, and poor folks who resisted compulsory schooling and avoided conscription into so-called civilized society. If, as historian Michael B. Katz has argued, US schools "are imperial institutions designed to civilize the natives; they exist to do something to poor children, especially, now, children who are black or brown," then why should any self-respecting black or brown child endure such schooling? What might so-called truants, illiterates, failures, burnouts, dropouts, and delinquents teach us about education and civil society?
The history of education, however, has largely been interpreted from a biased perspective--namely, those who have been successfully schooled. We will therefore search for contrary voices in fragments of oral culture, ranging from slave narratives to folktales and recorded music. Contemporary scholarship will inform our analysis. Interdisciplinary scholars such as James Scott, Eric Hobsbawm, Tera Hunter, Saidiya Hartman, Lisa Brooks, and Audra Simpson will illustrate how to read against the grain and unearth hidden transcripts from classic authors such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, Anna Julia Cooper, and Gertrude Simmons Bonin. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(EDST-MN)(EDST) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
James Scott, DOMINATION AND THE ARTS OF RESISTANCE: HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS; Eric Hobsbawm, BANDITS; Saidiya Hartman, WAYWARD LIVES, BEAUTIFUL EXPERIMENTS; Tera W. Hunter, TO 'JOY MY FREEDOM: SOUTHERN BLACK WOMEN'S LIVES AND LABORS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR; Lisa Brooks, OUR BELOVED KIN: A NEW HISTORY OF KING PHILIPS'S WAR; Clyde Woods, DEVELOPMENT ARRESTED: THE BLUES AND PLANTATION POWER IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students will complete a number of short essay leading up to a long, final research project. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Students will complete a substantial final project based in interdisciplinary research methods. In submitting your POI request, please explain your preparation for such research and why you are interested in this course. |
| Instructor(s): Johnson,Khalil Anthony Times: ...W... 01:00PM-03:50PM; Location: CFH106; |
Permission of Instructor Required
Enrollment capacity: 15 | Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request. |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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