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Core Curriculum

Justice & the Arts

Justice & the Arts

Facilitator: Kristin Kusanovich, Theatre and Dance; Co-Director, Justice and the Arts Initiative

Courses in this Pathway will help students develop an understanding of historical and/or contemporary works of art (music, theatre, dance and visual art) and literature as responsive, complex, critical or instigative in relation to issues of justice. Students in this pathway may be asked to analyze and reflect on artifacts already created, to experience live performance, or to create work themselves as a part of this inquiry.
Courses in this pathway expose students to a wide array of artistic processes and products that take as their theme issues of justice. Encountering these practices expands our notion of how art is a critical response to our world. It is through the incarnational arts, the visual, dramatic/literary, music, theatre and dance arts, that we are presented with all of the complexity, richness and difficulty of lived experience. Learning that occurs in and through these disciplines is never merely abstract, but engages the entire brain, all of the learning modalities and all of the learning styles. Art and art-making have a way of moving us to compassion and empathy, of expanding perception, of challenging the intellect, and of creating community. This pathway helps create a well-educated solidarity and gives students the tools to shape a better society and a more creative life.

Associated Courses

Foundations Courses
(Please note that only the specific Foundation course topics qualify for the Pathway requirements,
and only one Foundations course may be applied to a Pathway)

ENGL        2A         Art, Culture & Social Justice (effective 9/1/09)
ENGL        12A       Justice & Literature (effective 9/1/09)
PHIL         12A       Justice & the Just Society (effective 9/1/09)

Art and Art History
*ARTH      140       Photography in the United States (formerly 186; effective 9/1/09)
*ARTH      143       Women's Work: American Women in the Visual Arts (cross-listed with WGST 156; formerly ARTH 188; effective 9/1/09)
ARTH        144       Race, Gender, and Nation in the 18th and 19th Century American Art (effective 9/1/09)
ARTH        145       Perpetual Revolution: American Art in the 20th Century (effective 9/1/09)

Arts and Sciences
ASCI        30         Ethics and Globalization (effective 9/1/09)

Child Studies
CHST       109       Children, Arts and Society (effective 03/25/23)

Communication
*COMM     131D     Documentary (effective 9/1/09)
COMM       132       Documentary Video Prod L&L
*COMM     137       American Film History (effective 01/01/18) 

Classics
CLAS        180       Ancient and Modern Laughter (cross-listed with ENGL 162 [topic: Ancient and Modern Laughter] and THTR 181A; effective 9/1/09)
CLAS        188       Classical Origins of Justice (effective 4/1/12)

English
*ENGL       54         Shakespeare (effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         65         Political Literature (effective 5/6/2016)
ENGL         116       Shakespeare's Tragedies (cross-listed with THTR 116)
ENGL         117       Shakespeare's Comedies (cross-listed with THTR 117)
ENGL         118       Shakespeare Studies (cross-listed with THTR 118)
ENGL         122       Film, Gender and Sexuality (cross-listed with WGST 134; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         122AW  Film, Gender and Sexuality (cross-listed with WGST 134AW; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         129       American Theatre from the Black Perspective (cross-listed as THTR 161 and ETHN 136; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         150EL    Contemporary Literature (effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         151A     Studies in Shakespeare: Tragedies (formerly ENGL 116. Also listed as THTR 116; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         151B      Studies in Shakespeare: Comedies (formerly ENGL 117.  Also listed as THTR 117; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL          151 C    Studies in Shakespeare (formerly ENGL 118.  Also listed as THTR 118; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         162        Studies in Comparative Literature [topic: Ancient and Modern Laughter] (cross-listed with CLAS 180 and THTR 181A; effective 9/1/09)
ENGL         175EL     Advanced Creative Nonfiction: ELSJ (effective 03/25/23)
ENGL         176        Creative Writing & Social Justice (effective 9/1/09)

Ethnic Studies
ETHN         65          Drama of Diversity (cross-listed with THTR 65; effective 9/1/09)
ETHN         132        The History of Hip Hop (cross-listed with MUSC 132; effective 9/1/09)
ETHN         136        American Theatre from Black Perspective (cross-listed as ENGL 129 and THTR 161)
ETHN         151        Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (cross-listed with SOCI 153 and WGST 115; effective 12/22/2015)
ETHN         164        Popular Music, Race and American Culture (cross-listed with MUSC 134; effective 1/1/16)

History
HIST          71/171   The New Nation: U.S. From Hamilton to Jackson (effective 1/1/19)

Modern Language
*FREN        175        Transnational Cinema (effective 01/01/23)

Music
MUSC         21         Music in American Culture II (effective 9/1/09)
MUSC         119       Music, Technology & Society (effective 9/1/09)
MUSC         130       Anthropology of Music (effective 9/1/15) 
MUSC         131       Music Research and Writing (effective 3/25/16)
MUSC         132       The History of Hip Hop (cross-listed with ETHN 132; effective 9/1/09)
MUSC         133       Music in the Community (effective 3/25/20)
MUSC         134       Popular Music, Race and American Culture (cross-listed with ETHN 164; effective 9/1/09)
MUSC         136       Music of Africa (effective 1/1/17) 
MUSC         139       Flamenco History and Performance (effective 1/1/16)
*MUSC       156       Improvisation (effective 9/1/09)
MUSC         189       Sacred Music and the Church (effective 1/1/16)
MUSC         196       Music Since 1945 (effective 1/1/19) 

Religious Studies 
*RSOC       136        Religion in Latin America (effective 9/1/09)
*SCTR        39         Biblical Women and Power (cross-listed with WGST 47; effective 9/1/09)
*TESP         46         Faith, Justice, & Poverty (effective 9/1/09)
*TESP         46H       Faith, Justice, & Poverty: Honors (effective 11/25/2015)
*TESP         129       Religion and Peace (effective 3/25/19)

Sociology
SOCI           153       Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (cross-listed with WGST 115; effective 9/1/09)

Theatre and Dance
DANC           59        Teaching the Performing Arts (cross-listed with DANC 159; effective 9/1/09)
DANC           62        African American Dance History (cross-listed with DANC 162; effective 9/1/09)
DANC           159      Teaching the Performing Arts (cross-listed with DANC 59; effective 9/1/09)
DANC           162      African American Dance History (cross-listed with DANC 62; effective 9/1/09)
DANC           189      Social Justice and the Arts (effective 9/1/09)
THTR            27       Childrens Theatre Production (effective 9/1/09)
THTR            44       Modern American Theatre History: Censorship, Arts Funding and Theatre Unions (effective 9/1/09)
THTR            65       Drama of Diversity (cross-listed with ETHN 65; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            66       Peoples Theatre (effective 9/1/2009)
THTR            116     Shakespeare's Tragedies (cross-listed with ENGL 116; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            117     Shakespeare's Comedies (cross-listed with ENGL 117; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            118     Shakespeare Studies (cross-listed with ENGL 118; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            119     Shakespeare's Plays in Performance (effective 3/25/21)
THTR            151     Fashion, Politics & Issues of Gender (cross-listed with WGST 183; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            161     American Theatre from the Black Perspective (cross-listed with ENGL 129 and ETHN 136; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            167     Performing Identities: Staging Gender, Race & Class (cross-listed with WGST 139; effective 9/1/09)
THTR            181A   Ancient and Modern Laughter (formerly THTR 182A Classical Comedy; cross-listed with CLAS 180 and ENGL 162 [topic: Ancient and Modern Laughter]; effective 9/1/09)

Women's and Gender Studies
*WGST         47       Biblical Women and Power (cross-listed with SCTR 39; effective 9/1/09)
WGST          115      Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (cross-listed with SOCI 153; 9/1/09)
WGST          134      Film, Gender and Sexuality (cross-listed with ENGL 122; effective 9/1/09)
WGST          134AW Film, Gender and Sexuality (cross-listed with ENGL 122AW; effective 9/1/09)
WGST          139      Performing Identities: Staging Gender, Race & Class (cross-listed with THTR 167; effective 9/1/09)
*WGST        156      American Women in the Visual Arts (cross-listed with ARTH 143; effective 9/1/09)
WGST          183      Fashion, Politics & Issues of Gender (cross-listed with THTR 151; effective 9/1/09)

* Indicates Course Has Prerequisites