Courses

PJST 100 Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies

This course introduces students to a variety of theoretical assessments of the sources of conflict, violence, and social injustice, as well as to practical and analytical approaches for promoting justice and peace. Blending political, economic, religious, ethical, and sociocultural perspectives, the course will encourage students to reflect on racial, gendered, economic, and political inequality, as well as on systemic causes of conflict and violence. Through study of historic and contemporary examples of real-world conflict resolution and social transformation, students will develop analytical skills to better understand, critically evaluate, and respond to contemporary issues of peace and justice. Offered every year; Staff

PJST 118 Environmental Ethics

Critical questions are: Is there a land ethic? Do animals have rights? Do we have ethical obligations to natural objects? Special attention is given to the major arguments of libertarian, utilitarian, and liberal-pluralist social philosophies and to the policies and practices of contemporary environmental activists. Cross Listing: PHIL 118; IC; Staff

PJST 120 Social Justice Dialogues

Dialogues are structured conversations in which individuals on many sides of an issue come together to learn from one another and reach a deeper understanding of one another in order to critically assess their roles as allies and activists. In this class, we will read personal accounts of what it is like to inhabit particular identities; we will look at history to figure out where our present-day situations came from; we will examine psychological essays for perspectives on how our brains work; andwe will explore sociological explanations for how inequality and injustice can be found in the personal decisions, systems, and institutions that surround us. We willthink about group processes and dynamics, social identity group development, prejudice and stereotyping, and culture, cultural cues, and judgments. We will also watch movies; use exercises, simulations, and role-plays; discuss the readings; and we will reflect on interactions and assignments during class. Prerequisite(s): By application only; Cross Listing: IDIS 120; PI; Staff

PJST 130 Music and Social Movements

Music is a powerful force, amplifying the message of a social movement. Beyond affirmation of political beliefs, what functions can music serve in a movement? Under what conditions can music affect social change and mobilize political resistance? How can we evaluate the effect of music on a movement community and the society, state, or nation? Through global case studies representing both successful and failed social movements through history, this course considers the functions of music in social movements including ideological expression, education, conversion, identity formation, recruitment, mobilization, transformative experience, ritual, fundraising, and internal debate. Cross Listing: MUS 130; PI; Offered alternate years; Staff

PJST 131 Ethics and Business

In this course we read, write and think about the nature of business and its relation to a good human life. We consider such questions as: Is anybody who provides a good to other people involved in a business? Could a society have businesses if it didn't also have money? In what sense does one have to do what one has contracted to do? Do businesses owe anything to those who create the conditions in which they flourish? Is there anything objectionable about asking as much as the market will bear for some product? Cross Listing: PHIL 130; IC; D. Wack

PJST 201 Working for Peace & Social Change: Methods & Strategies

This team-taught course draws on the expertise of a variety of faculty overseen by one coordinating-integrating professor. Topics covered include: theories of peaceful conflict resolution and social change, the role of agency and positionality in change processes, and historical applications to social movements, such as the peace movement, labor movement, and civil rights movement. The course is one of two required courses for the Peace and Justice Minor. Prerequisite(s): PJST 100 or permission of instructor; Offered every year; Staff

PJST 205 Queer Indigeneities

We will explore the power of Queer Indigeneities to disrupt fictions around Indigenous peoples imposed by Western hetero-patriarchy and Christian mythologies about Indigenous sexualities. We will trace a genealogy of theorists, activists, creative writers, performance artists, and filmmakers who employ Indigenous-centered approaches to understanding gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) lives and communities. This course traverses disciplines including literature, performance studies, queer theory, and Indigenous feminisms, while critiquing the relationship between colonialism and hetero-patriarchy. The course foregrounds contemporary queer Indigenous lived experience(s) and conversations in Two-Spirit/Queer Indigenous Studies. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor; SA; PI; L. Trapedo Sims

PJST 206 Theory in the Flesh: Writings by Feminists of Color

This course is an introduction to the rich and diverse contributions of women of color to feminist theory. We investigate the question of why many non-white, non-middle class women have challenged the claims and practices of Euro-American feminism. Black, Chicana, Asian-American and Native American feminists address race and racism as it affects their lives and invite white feminists to do the same. The goal is to renegotiate a basis for feminist solidarity. Cross Listing: GWST 206; M. Roy-Fequiere

PJST 211 Prison Education: A Practicum

Drawing on theories of critical pedagogy and critical race, this course will use the text Turning Teaching Inside Out: A Pedagogy of Transformation for Community-based Education to explore community-based learning, especially as it relates to communities who are incarcerated. Students will engage with the theory and currently identified best practices for educative partnering with people in prison. Classroom experiences will interrogate the journey from safe spaces to brave spaces, while introducing strategies for developing anti-oppression, non-hierarchical classrooms. Cross Listing: EDUC 211; SA, PI; L. Trapedo Sims

PJST 212 Value and Exchange

How is value created and sustained? What role does exchange play in value's creation? In this course we explore the relation between value and exchange in order to analyze the contemporary, historical, and cross-cultural practices involving debt and money. We will read several theorists, including Georg Simmel, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, Marcel Mauss, David Graeber, and Gayle Rubin, on the relation between value and exchange. On this basis, we will then examine the ethical implications of money and debt relations. In so doing, we will analyze and contrast contemporary and market forms of exchange with historical and cross-cultural forms of exchange. Finally, we will develop these theoretical frameworks on value and exchante in order to better understand the most recent global crisis of value and exchange: the financial and market panic of 2008. Cross Listing: PHIL 212; IC; D. Wack

PJST 213 Indigenous Feminisms: Healing as Restorative Justice

This course introduces students to the process of Restorative Justice: its transformative potential and limitations. We focus on models of restorative justice within Indigenous communities in North America and restorative justice (pu'uhonua) in Hawai'i and other transnational models--the Rangatahi Courts of New Zealand and the Pasifika Youth Courts. We focus on the vital contributions of Indigenous feminism (s) to restorative justice: healing as resistance, organizing movements around healing; and resistance to mental health, engaging in radical acts of self-love, from the identities of Native and Indigenous women. Prerequisite(s): JUST 211; Cross Listing: EDUC 213; L. Trapedo Sims

PJST 220 Social Justice Dialogues: Facilitator Training

In this class we will collaborate in deepening our understanding of social justice in the United States by focusing on how to facilitate dialogues about questions of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and disability. Together, we will engage in dialogues - structured conversations in which individuals on many sides of an issue come together to learn from one another and reach a deeper understanding of one another in order to critically assess their roles as allies and activists. Course includes each student facilitating one in-class and one out-of-class dialogue. Cross Listing: IDIS 220; PI; Staff

PJST 223 Digital Ethnography Workshop: The Politics of Fighting "Fake News"

In this class, students will gain hands-on experience conducting digital research into ongoing efforts to combat fake news. Possible research topics include digital communities, health misinformation, Wikipedia, media literacy curricula, and technological solutions. Our concern is not only with the efficacy of these projects in combating misinformation. Instead, we look at how varied methods and pedagogies for determining facts structures our politics in subtle yet powerful ways. To help build our critical analysis of fake news, we draw on anthropological and critical media literacy readings on facticity and conspiracy theories, race and gender, religion and secularism, and the public sphere. Prerequisite(s): ANSO 102 or ANSO 103 or JOUR 123; Cross Listing: ANSO 223; IC; SA; J. Rubin

PJST 228 Environmental Racism

This course focuses upon issues of environmental quality, and how the cost to human health and access to environmental benefits is often distributed according to race and poverty. Proposals devised by environmental and civil rights groups working within the growing environmental justice movement are also explored. The goal is to help students understand more fully how decisions affecting the health of neighborhoods, regions, and groups of people are made, and what individuals can do about it. The link between environmental issues and past and present discrimination is examined from an interdisciplinary perspective, requiring students to do work in both the natural and social sciences. Fieldwork will also be required. Cross Listing: ENVS 228; PI; Offered alternate years; P. Schwartzman; K. Hamilton

PJST 229 American Crime and Punishment: Historical and Contemporary Mappings

The United States imprisons one in every hundred of its citizens, establishing it as the world's largest incarcerator. The over-representation of non-white bodies reflects the racial and economic apartheid persistent in America. This course traces historical and contemporary mappings of America's approach to crime and punishment in the context of broader political, social, and cultural currents. Some of the thematic concerns of this course include: slavery and the birth of the penitentiary; anti-prison resistance and reform movements; prison arts as resistance; prison writing; Indigenous incarceration; solitary confinement; queer abolition; and the carceral refracted through race, class, gender, sexuality, and disability. Cross Listing: ANSO 229;HIST 229; PA; SI; Staff

PJST 230 Life Writing as Activism: Lived Experience, Trauma, and Social Change

In this course, we will explore how writers and artists write about and perform their lives, and how their lives are "written" upon their bodies as they resist oppressive traditions, with an inclusive eye to cultural dissonances and intersections related to gender, race, class, and sexuality. Looking at a variety of mediums, including music videos, photography, poems, fiction, and film, we will consider the complexity of lives across desire, intimacy, nostalgia, and love. We will examine the ways in which these artists negotiate their renderings of self, family, genealogy, home, and sexuality, as well as their creative strategies to depict exile and alienation. Students will gain familiarity with critical concepts, terms and approaches used to analyze life narratives, and with debates relating to authenticity, identity, truth, memory, and self-representation. IC; L. Trapedo Sims

PJST 230A Life Writing as Social Engagement

In this course, we will explore how writers and artists write about and perform their lives, and how their lives are "written" upon their bodies. Looking at a variety of mediums, including visual art (photography, film) and the literary arts (memoir, poetry), we will consider the complexity of lives across nostalgia and love. We will examine the ways in which these American and transnational artists negotiate their renderings of self, family, genealogy, and home, as well as their creative strategies to depict and respond to exile and alienation. Students will gain familiarity with critical concepts, terms and approaches used to analyze life narratives, and with debates relating to authenticity, identity, truth, memory, and self-representation. IC; L. Trapedo Sims

PJST 230B Life Writing as Social Engagement

In this course, we will explore how writers and artists write about and perform their lives, and how their lives are "written" upon their bodies. Looking at a variety of mediums, including visual art (photography, film) and the literary arts (memoir, poetry), we will consider the complexity of lives across nostalgia and love. We will examine the ways in which these American and transnational artists negotiate their renderings of self, family, genealogy, and home, as well as their creative strategies to depict and respond to exile and alienation. Students will gain familiarity with critical concepts, terms and approaches used to analyze life narratives, and with debates relating to authenticity, identity, truth, memory, and self-representation. Prerequisite(s): PJST 211 and permission of the instructor; IC; L. Trapedo Sims

PJST 238 Peace, Sport, and Policy

This course examines how sport is used to further national identity, peace, and other public policies. Sport provides a window into exploring how individuals and communities relate to and understand the interplay between rules, authority, fairness, and individual and collective agency and responsibility. Aside from the political socialization provided by sport, a key intersection of sport and politics that we examine is the use of sport to further intrastate and interstate cooperation and peace. These impacts further include but are not limited to the role of sport in fostering identity, furthering national interest, and reinforcing or challenging societal norms. Cross Listing: PS 238; Offered alternate years; A. Civettini

PJST 241 Social Movements

Analysis of the origins, strategies and political impact of social movements. Readings focus primarily on American movements including the Civil Rights movement, the Gay and Lesbian movement(s), the Labor movement, the Christian Right, climate change movements, and Black Lives Matter. Cross Listing: PS 241; PI; D. Oldfield

PJST 243 Power and Social Justice in Galesburg

This course uses in depth study of the Galesburg area to explore issues such as race/ethnic relations, the politics of economic development, poverty policy, and urban sustainability. The emphasis is on active engagement with the local community. Students interact with community leaders and learn to make use of local research resources. Their research papers analyze, and propose solutions to, challenges facing the community. Prerequisite(s): PS 101 or sophomore standing or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing: PS 243; PI; D. Oldfield

PJST 244 U.S. Latino Literature: Identity and Resistance

The course examines major works by U.S. Latino writers. We explore the themes of identity and resistance as they are developed in the poetry, fiction, theater and essays of Chicano and Puerto Rican authors. Taking as our starting point the cultural nationalist discourses developed by the Chicano writers in the late 1960s, we analyze Puerto Rican and Chicano critiques of the American ideal of the "melting pot." We see how poets, novelists and dramatists have grappled with questions regarding Spanish as a proud marker of identity, with the impossibility of the return to an ideal Island paradise, or to an "Aztlan." In addition, special attention is given to the discussion of gender dynamics as they are expressed in the literature and culture. Cross Listing: ENG 243; M. Roy-Fequiere

PJST 245 Literature and Power

A study of the relationship between literature and power. This course will examine the cultural forces that influence the creation, circulation, and interpretation of texts. Specific offerings may vary from year to year, but in each incarnation, the course will examine literature through the lens of cultural diversity and power. Prerequisite(s): ENG 105 or 120 or 125 or 200; Cross Listing: ENG 245; IC; PI; Offered annually, usually multiple terms; Staff

PJST 249

From the UN human rights council to civil rights in the US and anti-apartheid activism in South Africa, global rights-based movements have deep roots in faith-based communities. This course will explore the intersection of social movements, human rights, and religion. On the one hand, we look at how states and international bodies manage the right to religious freedom through legal regimes and minority rights. On the other hand, we look at faith-based social movements working on civil rights, women's rights, genocide, and indigenous activism. In so doing, we examine the complex interplay between diverse religious practice and emerging social movements in an increasingly globalized world. Cross Listing: RELS 249;

PJST 265 Food Justice

This course explores issues of access, equity, and justice in the American food system, with special focus on the topics of food insecurity, fisheries access and consolidation, and agricultural work. The course examines the ways in which the allocation of resources in the food system have disproportionately disadvantaged poor, minority, and immigrant communities. The course asks students to assess the implications of such food systems, positioning their analyses within community, environmental, and workers' rights approaches to social justice. The course's capstone is a community-based research project that identifies structural problems in the food system and devises asset-based solutions to these problems. Prerequisite(s): ENVS 101 or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing: ENVS 265; Offered alternate years; N. Mink

PJST 278 Stereotypes and Prejudice

This course is an introduction to the psychological literature on stereotypes and prejudice. We study general concepts and theories, as well as examine stereotypes and prejudice directed at particular groups. Emphasis is placed on the evaluation and discussion of this material. Prerequisite(s): PSYC 100; Cross Listing: PSYC 278; Offered annually; K. Shaw

PJST 280 Social Service Internship

This course combines experiential learning and academic study to investigate the practical, social and theoretical issues of social work. At the beginning of this two-term, two-credit course sequence, students are placed as interns in local social service organizations. Students have interned with a wide variety of populations (e.g. the elderly, the developmentally delayed, at-risk teens, domestic violence victims) across a broad range of issues and practices (e.g. teen reproductive health and education, public housing, Teen Court, individual counseling, legal assistance). In the classroom, students discuss and analyze their internship experiences, while also exploring the principles of introductory social work practice. Prerequisite(s): junior standing; PJST 280 is a prerequisite for PJST 281; Cross Listing: ANSO 280; offered anually, in winter-spring; T. Cervantez

PJST 310 Organizing and Advocating for Policy Change

This course examines the role of organized interest groups in American politics, with focus on the ways citizens organize and advocate for policy change. It begins with a discussion of the reasons for and obstacles to formation of interest organizations. The majority of the course is then dedicated to the analysis of the ways in which organized interests pervade American politics, including elections, legislative action, public policy implementation, and public opinion formation and persuasion. The course concludes with a discussion of the benefits and detriments to democracy of our current interest group system and proposals for reform. Prerequisite(s): PS 101 or PS 135; PS 230 is recommended; Cross Listing: PS 310; Offered alternate years; A. Civettini

PJST 321 Social Justice Dialogues: Practicum

This Social Justice Dialogues practicum is designed to develop and improve students' skills as dialogue facilitators. Working in close mentorship with an instructor, students in this course will serve as peer facilitators for a 100-level IDIS Social Justice Dialogue. Peer facilitation will be done in the context of the belief that facilitation skills can be used throughout life to create positive social change, and that effective facilitators are effective agents of social change. Moreover, by debriefing actual dialogue experiences, facilitators deepen their own understanding of identity, discrimination, privilege, and social justice. This practicum follows "IDIS 220: Social Justice Dialogues: Facilitator Training" and requires applied work in facilitating intergroup dialogues. Students participate in weekly seminars and frequent instructor consultations. Prerequisite(s): IDIS 220 and permission of the instructor; Cross Listing: IDIS 320; May be taken twice for credit; Staff

PJST 326 Comparative Revolution

Why do people revolt? When do they succeed? What happens after the overthrow of the old regime? This course addresses these and other questions related to class, culture, gender, and religion by considering revolutionary movements in a number of countries with a focus on Latin American, Asian, and Middle Eastern cases. Prerequisite(s): Previous 200- or 300-level coursework in social science or history.; Cross Listing: PS 326; PI; K. Kampwirth

PJST 333 Global Feminism and Antifeminism

This course will examine backlashes against feminist movements, and against states and global forces that seek to mobilize men and women into more egalitarian roles. Considering examples from the United States, South Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America, this course will consider what sorts of people become antifeminists; how they organize within countries; how that organization has varied across time and cultures; and how international feminists have responded to these challenges. Prerequisite(s): at least one HSS course in which gender is a major theme; Cross Listing: PS 333; PI; K. Kampwirth

PJST 334 LGBT Politics in Latin America

The political visibility and rights of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans) community in Latin America has changed dramatically over the course of the last generation or two. This course will explore how and why political life has changed, and will compare the political experiences of LGBT citizens of several particular countries. The focus of the course is on the countries of Latin America, though LGBT political history in other areas, such as the U.S. and Europe, will be considered in the introduction to the course, which will analyze both institutional and social movement politics. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing; Cross Listing: PS 334; PI; K. Kampwirth

PJST 335 Contemporary Europe, Migration and Refugees

In this course, students primarily explore the post-WWII European history, culture, and politics in the face of mass migration, refugee crises, displacement, and increasing nationalism and racism as they are transferred and shown in literature. Students first examine the historical contexts of migration and refugee crises to gain perspective for the later texts. An initial focus is on the literary representations of immigrants and refugees in different genres both by European and non-European authors. There is also a focus on the cinematic representations of immigrants and refugees both in documentary and feature films. Prerequisite(s): For GERM 335: GERM 210; For English-language sections, sophomore standing or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing: GERM 335; T. Heidt; staff

PJST 336 Science and Social Construction of Race and Gender

We will examine the social construction of race and gender and how social constructs influence scientific knowledge. We will use the social constructs of the past and present to discuss the following: (a) How does science define and how does it examine issues related to gender and race? (b) How do societal attitudes about race and gender influence scientific knowledge and scientific access? Cross Listing: AFST 336; M. Crawford; D. Cermak

PJST 386K Theatre & Society: Theatre and Incarceration

In Theatre and Incarceration, we will examine plays that feature incarcerated and recently incarcerated characters, to examine issues related to incarceration in today's society. We will supplement the reading of these plays with examinations of organizations who make theatre with and for individuals impacted by incarceration, exploring the opportunities inherent in theatre to provide a creative outlet and representation for those who are marginalized via the legal system and prison industrial complex. Prerequisite(s): THTR 151 or permission of the instructor; Cross Listing: THTR 386K; D. Nichols