ANT 308 Social Justice and Contemporary Identity Politics
Social justice is a broad, overdetermined, set of ideas and principles both hotly contested and intensely defended within contemporary societies across the globe. Social justice means recognizing the uneven distribution of resources and opportunities across members of society by virtue of their social identities (sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, dis/ability, religion, legal status, and so forth). The class will explore a central tension in social justice studies: In movements for social justice, how do we not only embrace the identities people want embraced but also work against discrimination based on those very same identities? An important part of this course will be learning anew how to see, how to talk, and how to think in ways we may have never realized are necessary—that is, we will interrogate some of our personal barriers to empathy. This class will combine readings in social justice theory and contemporary identity politics with an intensive set of social change leadership trainings available on Centre’s campus.