Subject: Diversity Leadership (GR) (MADL)

CRN: 30057

Online: Asynchronous | Lecture

Online

  Heather Shirey

Art in the street—including graffiti, murals, and other installations in public space—can provide an expressive avenue for marginalized voices while shaping urban space in a new and more inclusive manner. In contrast to art that is created for museums or the commercial art market, street art is uniquely positioned to engage with social issues from a critical perspective. This class will involve an analysis of street art projects around the world, with a particular focus on art in the Twin Cities. Topics explored in this course include the history of street art over time); the impetus for street art in communities in the USA and globally; street art as a form of protest; street art and marginalized identities; models for creating, preserving, and presenting street art, and, ultimately, the potential for street art to play a role in social change. While this course places and emphasis on art in the Twin Cities, the assignments allow students to engage with and reflect on street art in many different locations.

2.5 Credits

Subject: Diversity Leadership (GR) (MADL)

CRN: 30056

Online: Asynchronous | Lecture

Online

  Olga Herrera

The U.S. public has long maintained contradictory perceptions of immigration: it has been understood as a foundational aspect of American society, and on the other hand, it has been subject historically to waves of xenophobia and the institution of restrictive policies.  In the midst of a mainstream discourse, narratives from immigrant writers carry significant rhetorical weight and bring first-hand perspective that can influence and shift conversations in public spheres, as in politics, education, organizations, etc.  This course privileges immigrant narratives as a counterbalance to public discourse and examines the power of narrative and storytelling through the study of literary genres, including memoir, fiction, poetry, and literary journalism.  We will critically engage with these literary texts through thematic lenses including racial formation in the U.S., labor, family and gender, transnationalism, and pay special attention to immigrant histories and communities in Minnesota, including refugee and Korean adoption narratives.  Students will work with the tools of literary and rhetorical analysis to evaluate and discuss the effect of narrative and consider the impact of narrative in public communication projects.

2.5 Credits

Subject: Diversity Leadership (GR) (MADL)

CRN: 30058

Online: Asynchronous | Lecture

Online

  Jennifer McCutchen

Race has been integral to the legal regime of citizenship in the United States, to the economic course of American history, and to the lived experiences of generations of Americans and those residing in societies that interacted with the United States for centuries.  Specifically, the making of race— the categorical definitions that structured who belonged to specified racial groups, the opportunities and limitations that came with such racial classifications, and the relationship of racialized and ethnic cultural identity to American nationalism—has proven a powerful and enduring element of American history.  We cannot understand our society as a product of complex and contingent pasts without grappling with the role of racial formation in both the American past and in our present.  This course will trace that history, beginning with the  trans-Atlantic slave trade and culminating in the early twenty-first century.  We will approach the relationship between race, power, and citizenship as a dynamic interplay between large-scale changes and lived experiences, and interrogate that relationship to pose questions about its social, legal, and human consequences.

2.5 Credits

Subject: Diversity Leadership (GR) (MADL)

CRN: 30453

Online: Asynchronous | Lecture

Online

  April Salchert

2.5 Credits