This course explores the freedom dreams of Black political actors and thinkers alongside the carceral politics of the U.S. We will engage through a conceptual framework multiple genres and mediums (autobiographies, speeches, poetry, documentaries, film, visual art, performances, etc.) to inquire into the meaning of freedom, liberation, political resistance, and Black power. We will read the works of Robin D.G. Kelley, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, Elaine Browne, Fannie Lou Hamer, George Jackson, Ella Baker, Martin Luther King Jr., etc., to wrestle with the question: What is a free life? We will further consider how cultural and socio-political histories, alongside factors such as race, class, gender, sexuality, impact how we envision liberation from the carceral state, as well as how it influences our understanding and dreams of freedom. This course will involve in-class participatory workshops, map-making, and other creative assignments that will enable us to give consideration to the power of imagination to radically transform the worlds we inhabit.
- Teacher: Claudia Garcia-Rojas