ENGL 103 A13: Case Studies in Research: Research & the Arts of Resistance

R. Jackson

In the last ten years social justice movements have taken centre stage in public life. From Occupy Wall Street, Idle No More, the environmental justice movement, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to #NODAPL, #Metoo, and #BlackLivesMatter, grassroots movements for equality and liberation have had a major influence the social and political landscape of North America. Whether they are being championed or condemned, artists who take up issues of poverty, settler colonialism, white supremacy, police violence, climate change, and gender-based violence have come to play an important role as commentators, witnesses, and accomplices in struggles over what the future will look like.

 

In this course we will think about these relationships between art, literature and movements for a more equitable world. Does the research of art and literature even matter in times of global crisis? How are writers, thinkers, and makers shaped by their material conditions, and how do they intervene to change their material realities? When is it time for patient study and when is it time to ditch the books and join others taking direct action for social change?

 

In this course we will explore these questions while learning about the stages in a research process, collaborating with activists, artists and scholars from a range of communities in Edmonton. My approach to this course is that we miss a lot of excitement when we encounter literary texts in isolation. When we read in communities and when we read in historical and social context we can understand what we are reading more holistically and transformatively.