ClassInfo

UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement

Closed (49 of 45 seats filled)

In order to adhere to the Liberal Education Diversity and Social Justice Theme, this course will not only examine the interplay between racial, ethnic, classed, gendered, and sexual forms of social power and difference in Minnesota in particular, and American society in general, during the 1980s, but will also explore the legacies of such interactions?and their social, economic, and political effects?in the twenty-first century. Throughout the semester, students will learn how local and national debates around issues like pornography, HIV/AIDS, housing and public space, and youth and musical subcultures during the 1980s have privileged some, and policed other, bodies across lines of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Further, students will learn how such structural inequalities have shaped various forms of political activism and mobilization from the 1980s until the present day. In particular, through group presentations and writing assignments, students will critically assess, analyze, and construct their own arguments about how cultural struggles around sex, popular culture, and space became sites of feminist, queer, and anti-racist activism. Moreover, through in-class discussions and group presentations and projects, students will also have the opportunity to debate and explore multiple perspectives around frameworks like sex-positive feminism, women of color feminism, ?queer politics,? neoliberalism and gentrification, and soundscapes. The diverse readings and topics covered in this course are a direct result of the interdisciplinarity of the course?drawing on a mix of primary and secondary sources from fields and disciplines like History, Political Science, popular music studies, and critical race, queer, and feminist theory. The multiple source material will provide students with a diverse and critical knowledge base about diversity and social justice that they can use not only across various departments at the University, but also in their everyday lives.

The group presentations, writing assignments, and class discussions will be used to evaluate how well students can communicate effectively the materials and themes covered in the course.