In a moment of crisis, the place to go for a sense of justice has often been literature. A tradition of protest in print goes all the way back to the pamphleteer Thomas Paine and the civil rights advocacy of Thoreau, to the current work of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Amanda Gorman. Protest literature opens for the reader an alternative window onto our history--slavery, the forced migration of Native Americans, women’s suffrage, the Great Depression, and the Civil Rights movement. This course will be an examination of a variety of literary works from the middle of the 19th century to the present, focusing on the ways they critique prevailing power structures and ideology. How writers harness the power of literature in times of upheaval and construe the social and political purposes of their art will be central questions of the course. By examining literature that resists the inhumane we will trace various traditions of protest literature and discover the means and methods of protest writers from several different cultures and national literatures.
This course fulfills the Literature general education requirement.
This is a Cornerstone Seminar that establishes core foundations in the humanities while also being a wonderful introduction to the essential role of writers in fighting for human rights and imagining a better world. Students will enjoy inspirational works of art that mobilize for change. We will explore works that were banned and burned yet created the possibility for revolutionary social transformation.
No previous background is necessary. Assessments will include a mix of written collaborative and individual assignments as well as a wide-range of readings. There is no final exam.
Faculty will contact all students after the Wednesday, December 20, registration deadline.
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