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CS92PROD
Abolition Geographies

AFAM 213
Spring 2024
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: ENVS 240
Course Cluster and Certificates: Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Certificate

"Space always matters, and what we make of it in thought and practice determines, and it is determined by, how we mix our creativity with the external word to change it and ourselves in the process. In other words, one need not be a nationalist nor imagine self-determination to be fixed in modern definitions of states and sovereignty, to conclude that at the end of the day, freedom is a place. How do we find the place of freedom? More precisely, how do we make such a place over and over again?"
--Ruth Wilson Gilmore, "Abolition Geographies"

This course is not only an introduction to the burgeoning field of abolition geographies, introduced through the work of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, but invites students to engage with abolition geography as an intellectual and political practice. In this seminar, we will consider the relationship between freedom and place-making (the production of places) by examining Ruth Wilson Gilmore's analytics and by also engaging in a range of geographic struggles. For example, students will consider the extent to which enslaved rebellions, not limited to the Haitian Revolution, remade what we envision today as the Atlantic. Students will also have the opportunity to apply an abolitionist framework to their own research.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS AFAM
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(ENVS-MN)(ENVS)(HRAD-MN)
Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89%

Last Updated on DEC-02-2024
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