This is a lower-level/community course on activist culture I designed for my class BCULST 587 Performance and Belonging: Citizenship, Culture & Identity in Winter quarter 2018.
#BlackLivesMatter. #MeToo. Call-out culture. Cultural appropriation. Wokeness.
This is a ten-week course on critical activist culture for community leaders, political activists, and organizers. It provides a space for those engaging in political activism to reflect on practices, beliefs, and ongoing conversations in social justice culture. In particular, we will be investigating how activist identities are formed through self-education, performance, and communication styles. We will also be taking a critical, gracious look at the collateral damage doled out by the antagonism in leftist activist culture. Although this course is not for academic credit, the readings and discussions will be heavily based on theory and cultural research. This is a prerequisite course for taking future courses in the “Rethinking Social Justice” series, We will be meeting in Room 303 at the Central branch of the Seattle Public Library on Saturdays from 1:00 - 3:00 PM. While this course is free to anyone who is interested, all students must commit to attending all of the classes and register online (barring any personal emergencies).
At the end of this course, students should:
All students will setup a private Wordpress site and will be writing weekly 500 word reading responses and reflections to the readings/assigned content. Additionally, students are expected to share at least one reading a week on their social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.) with their own commentary as a social experiment, and report back on the dialogue it generated.
Guiding questions to consider in your reflections:
The final project for this class will be an artistic, performed, or written piece that showcases learning in one of the course objectives. Students are encouraged to take liberties with the format and presentation of their final projects. We will query the group and schedule an extra day to meet during Week 7 or 8 to workshop project ideas.
Week 1: Shortfalls of Marxism & Privilege Theory
This week we are investigating some the ideological foundations of social justice activism, Marxism and privilege theory. We want to understand what is so compelling about these methods of organizing social oppression, and also what other ways of understandings they might be obscuring.
Gibson-Graham, J. K. “Introduction”. A Postcapitalist Politics . University of Minnesota Press, 2006.
Hozumi, Tada. “Whiteness as cultural complex trauma.” Selfish Activist, 9 Jan. 2018, selfishactivist.com/whiteness-as-cultural-complex-trauma/.
Smith, Andrea. “The Problem with "Privilege".” Andrea smith's blog, 8 July 2015, andrea366.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/the-problem-with-privilege-by-andrea-smith/.
treeorchid. “Guest Post: Privilege Politics is Reformism.” Black Orchid Collective , 15 Mar. 2012, blackorchidcollective.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/guest-post-privilege-politics/.
Week 2: Interrogating Call-out Culture
This week we are looking at the more recent commentary on exclusionary or call-out culture in activist spaces, and examples/suggestions for other ways to address harm and error.
deBoer, Fredrik. “Elena Ferrante and the Politics of Deference.” The Towner, 7 Nov. 2016, www.thetowner.com/elena-ferrante-politics-deference/.
Garza, Alicia. “Our cynicism will not build a movement. Collaboration will.” Mic, Mic Network Inc., 26 Jan. 2017, mic.com/articles/166720/blm-co-founder-protesting-isnt-about-who-can-be-the-most-radical-its-a bout-winning#.hHLanqkdi.
Lee, Frances. “Kin Aesthetics: Excommunicate Me From the Church of Social Justice.” Autostraddle, 13 July 2017, autostraddle.com/kin-aesthetics-excommunicate-me-from-the-church-of-social-justice-386640/.
Week 3: Intersectionality
This week we are digging into the origins of the term intersectionality, how it has been wielded in social justice discourse, and the efficacy of its continued usage.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics”. University of Chicago Legal Forum : Volume 1989: Issue 1, Article 8.
Puar, Jasbir. “I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess’ Intersectionality, Assemblage, and Affective Politics.” Jasbir Puar: 'I would rather be a cyborg than a goddess', Jan. 2011, eipcp.
Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang. “Introduction”. Critical Ethnic Studies. Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2017. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55807861e4b0847ced606181/t/594ad758b11be1154188 e99a/1498077017383/CES+3-1+Late+Identity+Editorial.pdf
Week 4: The False Promises of Empathy
This week we are reading about the attention on empathy as a theory of social change. Anderson, Patrick. "I Feel For You." Neoliberalism and Global Theatres: Performance Permutations . Ed. Laura D. Nielsen, Patricia A. Ybarra. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Dernoot Lipsky, Laura van Dernoot. “Beyond the Cliff”. YouTube , 23 Apr. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOzDGrcvmus.
Ho, Soleil, et al. “Popaganda: You Feel Me?” Bitch Media www.bitchmedia.org/article/popaganda-you-feel-me.
Week 5: Performance, Culture, “Wokeness”
This week we are getting a brief introduction to Performance Studies and Cultural Studies. We will then use the concepts gleaned from both disciplines to discuss the Black term and concept of “wokeness”.
Schechner, Richard, and Sara Brady. Performance Studies: An Introduction. Routledge, 2013. Hall, Stuart. “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power“. Formations of Modernity . Polity Press, 2013.
Harriot, Michael. “The 6 Degrees of Wokeness.” The Root, Www.theroot.com, 12 Oct. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-6-degrees-of-wokeness-1819384614 .
Mohammed, Joy. “White People Ruined "On Fleek" And Now They Took "Woke".” Wear Your Voice , 6 July 2017, wearyourvoicemag.com/identities/race/white-people-ruined-on-fleek-woke.
Week 6: (Shifting Landscapes of) Queer/Trans Politics
This week we are looking at the origins of Judith Butler’s gender theory and some prominent conversations in queer/trans communities in the US.
Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” Theatre Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, 1988, p. 519., doi:10.2307/3207893.
Chu, Andrea Long. “On Liking Women.” n+1 , 3 Jan. 2018, nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/.
Schulman, Sarah. “Introduction”. Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, And the Duty of Repair. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017.
Week 7: Love and Connection as Tactic
This week we are reading from scholars, organizers, and thinkers pushing social justice activism towards a practice of connection, kindness, and generosity.
Magee, Rhonda. “Addressing Social Injustice with Compassion.” DailyGood . www.dailygood.org/story/1570/addressing-social-injustice-with-compassion-awakin-call-editors/.
brown, adrienne maree. “By any means necessary.” adrienne maree brown, adriennemareebrown.net/2010/05/19/by-any-means-necessary/.
Werning, Kate. “10 Imagination & Critical Connection -- adrienne maree brown.” 10 Imagination & Critical Connection, healingjustice.podbean.com/e/10-imagination-critical-connection-adrienne-maree-brown/.
Lewis, John, and Michael Dorso. Walking With the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2015.
Week 8: Embracing Uncertain Futures
This week we are focusing on the future, not only what we want it to be, but our relationship to our forward desires.
Leguin, Ursula K. “Utopiyin, Utopiyang”. No Time to Spare . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
Solnit, Rebecca. “Falling Together.” The On Being Project , On Being, onbeing.org/programs/rebecca-solnit-falling-together/.
Shotwell, Alexis. “Introduction and Chapter 1”. Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times . University of Minnesota Press, 2016.
Week 9: Spiritual Activism and the Inner Self
This week we are delving into activist-led discussions on spirituality and the spiritual self.
Sales, Ruby. “Where Does It Hurt?”. The On Being Project, On Being, https://onbeing.org/programs/ruby-sales-where-does-it-hurt/ .
brown, adrienne maree. “Introduction”. Emergent Strategy. AK Press, 2017.
Tuck, Eve. “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities.” Harvard Educational Review, vol. 79, no. 3, 2009, pp. 409–428., doi:10.17763/haer.79.3.n0016675661t3n15.
Stevens, Sufjan. “TONYA HARDING, MY STAR.” Asthmatic Kitty Records asthmatickitty.com/tonya-harding/.
Week 10: Presentations and Group Reflection