Social Justice

This learning community, combining the interdisciplinary perspectives of Sociology and American Studies, will look at a range of social justice concerns through the understanding of important historical figures and events. Students in this learning community will have the unique hands-on opportunity to engage a ground-breaking conference at Dickinson on historical injustices, and will also experience first-hand the legacy of activist Dorothy Day in the form of community

activism.

Your Learning Community Coordinator will be David Dean, a senior Political Science major. The Learning Community Coordinator assists the LC faculty in the planning and implementation of out-of-classroom LC experiences, and works with FY students directly to further explore the LC theme.

Transforming Lives: Social Justice Leaders of the 19th and early 20th Centuries

This course will explore the lives, writings and activism of a range of 19^th and early 20^th century U.S. social justice leaders who were also serious intellectuals in their own right. Drawing from personal narratives, biographies and original writings we will focus on 19^th century and 20^th century suffrage activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony; Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, socialists from the early 20^th century who started the Catholic Worker Movement; and W. E. B. DuBois, the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard and one of the founders of the National Association to Advance Colored People (the NAACP). We will explore what propelled them to become social justice activists, the ways that their ideas and tactics changed over the course of their lives, and the influence that their work had on the lives of others. Toward the end of the semester you will have an opportunity to research a social justice activist of your own choosing. This seminar will include field trips to the College Farm and to local social justice organizations to see and compare the work of contemporary activists to that of these 19^th and 20^th century Americans.

Professor: Amy Farrell, American Studies
Time: 11:30 MF

Sites of Memory: Reclaiming Indigenous Histories
Du Bois argued that the state of historical memory may be defined as the state of cultural struggle; of contested truths, of moments, events, and texts in history that thresh out rival versions of the past which can in turn be put to the service of the present. Whose history is represented and how? This course will explore various sites of memory, including the Carlisle Industrial Indian School and the reclaiming of Native American histories. Students will be actively involved in the fall 2012 Symposium: "Carlisle, PA: Site of Indigenous Histories, Memories, and Reclamations." The course will use readings, films, and fieldtrips to explore both “official” histories and counter-narratives that have emerged around important historical events, places, and people. Readings may include, Silencing the Past: The Power and Production of History by M. Rolph-Trouillot; Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith; essays by Benjamin Rush; and non-fiction, fiction, and poetry written by Native American and non-native scholars, artists, and activists who will be participating in the symposium.

Professor: Susan Rose, Sociology
Time: 11:30 MF