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Credit- Degree applicable
Effective Quarter: Fall 2022

I. Catalog Information


ICS 17
Critical Consciousness and Social Change
4 Unit(s)
 

(See general education pages for the requirement this course meets.)

(Not open to students with credit in ICS 17H.)

Advisory: EWRT 1A or EWRT 1AH or (EWRT 1AS and EWRT 1AT) or ESL 5.

Lec Hrs: 48.00
Out of Class Hrs: 96.00
Total Student Learning Hrs: 144.00

This class is an exploration of the root causes of and solutions to social problems such as racism, capitalism, sexism, and gender based oppression. Students will read classical and contemporary authors on movements for social change, strategies for organizing, and the development of consciousness.


Student Learning Outcome Statements (SLO)

 

Apply theory and knowledge produced by Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino American communities to describe the critical events, histories, cultures, intellectual traditions, contributions, lived-experiences and social struggles of those groups with a particular emphasis on agency and group-affirmation.


 

Analyze critically analyze the intersections between a variety of systems of oppression as they relate to race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, and/or age in Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino American communities.


 

Articulate and defend student's own position on at least one issue related to social change.


 

Demonstrate an application of these tools to student's own actions and decisions.


II. Course Objectives

A.Study the basic methods used in Ethnic Studies and the ways these methods are used to study social change.
B.Analyze the essential principles of social action.
C.Analyze the relationship between environmental sustainability and human flourishing and the intersections between environment,race,and class.
D.Investigate the history of social movements and what they have accomplished

III. Essential Student Materials

 None

IV. Essential College Facilities

 None

V. Expanded Description: Content and Form

A.Study the basic methods used in Ethnic Studies and the ways these methods are used to study social change.
1.Engage in comparative analyses of the history and contemporary issues and positions of people of color within the United States and beyond, informed by the historically defined racialized core groups: Native American and Indigenous peoples, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinx and Chicanx.
2.Develop research capabilities of students to compile and analyze information from the perspectives of marginalized communities of color and in recognition of the conditions of dominant culture;
3.Examine the role of theories of social change in Ethnic Studies.
B.Analyze the essential principles of social action.
1.Review historical contexts in which social action movements have arisen, such as: anti-colonial and Global South liberation movements; feminism in the US and worldwide; the civil rights movement in the US; queer liberation movements; the disability rights movement.
2.Study the theoretical centrality, intersectional nature, and multidimensionality of racism, sexism, class, power, and institutions in relation to the practice of advocating for social equity and justice.
3.Explore culturally diverse ways of understanding oppression and liberation, such as the different ways that feminist issues are understood in different societies.
4.Examine concepts of and perspectives on class, race gender, and the environment.
C.Analyze the relationship between environmental sustainability and human flourishing and the intersections between environment,race,and class.
1.Analyze the root causes of a lack of sustainability in society
2.Analyze the ways that societies needs to be changed to have them be sustainable and the need for those changes to take race and class into account.
3.Analyze the movements that are working to build a sustainable society
D.Investigate the history of social movements and what they have accomplished
1.Study the history of Nineteenth century struggles.
2.Investigate the political dynamics and stakes of community-based efforts and solidarity movements to affirm, heal, organize, serve, and liberate people who have been oppressed on the basis of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability and other forms of oppression.
3.Critically review how struggle, resistance, racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation, as experienced and enacted by Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans and/or Latina and Latino Americans are relevant to current and structural issues such as communal, national, international, and transnational politics as, for example, in immigration, reparations, settler-colonialism, multiculturalism, language policies.

VI. Assignments

A.Reading.
1.Assigned weekly readings from texts and other sources that help students identify and analyze the philosophical problems pertaining to critical consciousness and social change and that help them explore solutions to these problems from a variety of traditions.
2.Critical reading of journal articles.
3.Suggested supplemental readings.
4.Library research for final project.
B.Writing.
1.Critical essays on assigned texts that ask students to articulate and defend their own position on at least one issue related to social change.
2.Weekly think sheets on key concepts in assigned reading and class lectures, at least one of which will ask students to demonstrate an application of these tools to their own actions and decisions.
3.A final written project, which synthesizes information from a variety of sources and makes a substantial argument.
C.Oral
1.Participation in small group discussions of assigned texts and special projects.
2.Participation in large group discussions of course materials.
D.Practical
1.This class requires 12 hours of practical work engaging the community in social change work.
2.Students will write reflective journals that demonstrate an application of the tools learned in the class to their own actions and decisions.

VII. Methods of Instruction

 Lecture and visual aids
Discussion of assigned reading
Discussion and problem solving performed in class
Homework and extended projects
Collaborative learning and small group exercises
Lecture and visual aids
Discussion of assigned reading
Homework and extended projects
Collaborative learning and small group exercises

VIII. Methods of Evaluating Objectives

A.Grading of reflection journals on practical experience to test for depth of personal reflection and an ability to put ideas learned into the framework of personal experience.
B.Weekly think sheets to test critical understanding of the assigned readings.
C.Participation in and contribution to class discussions.
D.Midterm and final essay examinations to test for recognition, identification, synthesis and analysis of key concepts.
E.Papers and final project to test for understanding of main concepts studied and for ability to analyze social issues.

IX. Texts and Supporting References

A.Examples of Primary Texts and References
1.*Cynthia Kaufman, "Ideas for Action: Relevant Theory for Radical Change". Cambridge, PM Press, second edition 2016
2.*Paulo Freire, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed". New York: Continuum, 2018.
B.Examples of Supporting Texts and References
1.Robert K. Schaeffer. "Social Movements and Global Social Change: The Rising Tide." New York: Rowman Litlefield, 2014.
2.Bill Moyer, "Doing Democracy", Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, 2001.
3.Frantz Fanon, "The Wretched of the Earth". New York: Grove Press, 2021
4.Gloria Anzaldua, "Borderlands". San Francisco: Spinster s/Aunt Lute, 2012.
5.Frances Fox Piven,"Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America." New York: Rowman Littlefield, 2008.
6.Luis Fischer, ed., "The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas." New York: Vintage Press, 2002.
7.Alicia Garza, "The Purpose of Power." New York: One World Books, 2020.
8.Pramilla Jayapal, "Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change." New York:The New Press, 2020.