Schools and the Carceral Regime: Antiblackness, Education Policy, and the (Un)Free
EDST 346Z
Summer 2024
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01
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Over the past several decades, American schools have come to increasingly resemble prisons due to the adoption of certain policies and practices. Specifically, zero-tolerance policies, school-based police officers, metal detectors, randomized searches, and security cameras render the learning environment a container of social control. Although recent policy decisions have worked to undo some of these policies, many remain intact while others have been replaced with new prison-like structures. Together, these approaches illustrate what is commonly called the "school-to-prison pipeline" or "school-prison nexus," and underwrite the ideological justifications for the hyper surveillance of students of color. Moreover, punitive discipline policies are an outgrowth of an antiblack racial imaginary that positions Black youth as inherently a problem needing to be monitored and controlled.
This course will examine the multiple ways that schools function as carceral sites for Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ youth with special attention to antiblackness, education policy, and justice. Through this course, students will have the opportunity to explore expanding notions of carcerality and how carceral approaches inflict physical, psychic, and symbolic violence on vulnerable populations. This course will also explore abolition as a useful praxis to transform schools and improve educational outcomes.
This undergraduate seminar leverages theoretical insights from neighboring disciplines, such as sociology, critical criminology, geography, and philosophy to explore how the carceral regime(s) shapes education policy and school practices. Students enrolled in this course will explore the expanding nature of carcerality and the implications for youth academic outcomes, sense of belonging, school engagement, and conceptions of safety. Given the context-dependent nature of carcerality, students will explore various educational contexts as case studies. In addition to case studies, students enrolled in this seminar will have the opportunity to engage with scholarly texts, podcasts, and films and learn through active class discussion. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS EDST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (EDST-MN)(EDST) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 - Summer Session II |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Sample Readings:
Texts for this course may include books, scholarly articles, podcasts, and films relevant to the course topic. Sample readings may
include the follow texts:
· Progressive Punishment: Job Loss, Jail Growth, and the Neoliberal Logic of Carceral Expansion by Judah Schept
· Presumed Criminal: Black Youth and the Justice System in Postwar New York by Carl Suddler
· The Prison School: Educational Inequality and School Discipline in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Lizbet Simmons
· First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles by Damien Sojoyner
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Examinations and Assignments:
Sample Assignments: Reading Guides ¿ Enrolled students may be expected to develop, evaluate, and revise reading guides for assigned readings.
Synthesis Papers ¿ Enrolled students may be expected to synthesis core concepts from assigned readings.
Analysis Papers ¿ Enrolled students may be expected to analyze key arguments, themes, and ideas from assigned readings.
(Un)Final Exam Project ¿ Enrolled students will complete a culminating project that explore core ideas from the readings. The
final may be written or a creative assessment. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Full syllabi will be linked as they become available |
Instructor(s): STAFF
Times: .MTWR.. 01:10PM-03:15PM; Location: FISK302; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 18 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 16 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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