Spring 2006 Courses

English 265: Justice (Dawes)

M 7-10 pm, Old Main 009

In this course we will examine texts by, about, and for workers for social justice. Our method will be interdisciplinary.  With an eye toward aesthetics, we  will examine novels and plays that have at their center protagonists who have been called to realize a vision of the just society or, more desperately, to stand alone against seemingly inevitable assaults upon human dignity.  We will at the same time examine philosophical and sociological accounts of political action, including works that evaluate the effectiveness of different individual and organizational strategies for social change.  Issues of particular importance will include obedience and disobedience, economic justice, eco-activism, globalization, human rights, and the question of personal vocation – that is, how do we bring together our ethical commitments and our working lives?  Central figures will include Sophocles, Henrik Ibsen, Greil Marcus, Naomi Klein, Alex Shakar, Jagdish Bhagwati, Susan Sontag, Omar Rivabella, J. M. Coetzee, Aeschylus, Émile Zola, Terry Tempest Williams, Eric Schlosser, spokespersons for the World Trade Organization and the Federal Reserve System, and Noam Chomsky. Throughout the course we will pay special attention to the disproportionate costs borne by women and ethnic minorities in societies defined by radical asymmetries of power. Students will also be provided various opportunities for service in local activist and community organizations.

Spring 2006 Course Listings