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CS92PROD
Self & Social Transformation
PHIL 274
Spring 2024
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: ANTH 274, FGSS 274

Racism, sexism, and classism are deeply ingrained in our habits and feelings. It seems that in order to change objective conditions we need to change ourselves and our communities. But given that our habits and feelings are often unconscious and resistant to change, how do we philosophically go about doing this? This class tries to answer this question. It starts theoretically with ancient Greek and ancient Chinese virtue ethics as well as Foucault's later work on self-transformation. It then takes these concepts/theories and sees them in action in contemporary movements of self/community transformation. We start with a paradigmatic political activist movement of self-transformation: the Black feminist transformative justice movement with the goal of prison abolition. But as we progress, we will explore less obvious and seemingly more mundane movements of self- and community transformation such as Saba Mahmood's dawa movement from Egypt, Weight Watchers, and finally "ballroom" culture from Detroit. Anthropological ethnographies of these movements will help show how we can self-reflexively shape our own habits and transform ourselves.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS PHIL
Course Format: LectureGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (ANTH)(PHIL)(PHIL-Philosophy)(PHIL-Social Jus)
Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89%

Last Updated on DEC-04-2024
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