In this FOCUS cluster, we examine the making and remaking of the United States from a variety of perspectives--historical, political, philosophical, religious, legal and literary. What does America profess to value in its institutions, and what realities does it, in fact, institute? How are we to know the differences? Can they be addressed? In each seminar, we examine the interplay between consecrated ideas of what America is—a land of opportunity, a city on a hill, a nation of laws, a society dedicated to the principle that “all men are created equal,” and the lived experience of Americans, including those who have been dispossessed by slavery, nativism, racism and other forms of prejudice and injustice. We continue these reflections at our weekly dinners, where we pay particular attention to the aspirations and historical realities that have shaped Duke and Durham.
Jenette Wood Crowley, Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education - Intellectual Community
This course examines the complex history of abortion in the United States, with a focus on how race, gender, and religion have intersected to shape policies, laws, movements, and cultural attitudes. Moving from colonial America to the present, we will explore the history of abortion, key legal and public health aspects, the anti-abortion social movement, the realities of abortion provision, and abortion in popular culture and public opinion. Key themes include the role of religious institutions, the racialized impacts of abortion laws, and the intersections of reproductive justice and gender equity. Through critical readings, lectures, and discussions, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the evolving discourse around abortion and its implications for contemporary society.
Taylor Black, Assistant Professor of English
Taking its inspiration from the lurid and provocative mondo films popular during the 1960s, Mondo Weirdo surveys works by and about some of the most fabulously eccentric American artists and stylists from the 20th century. It examines how “the weird” has been represented and commodified across mediums.
From iconic figures such as Miles Davis, Zora Neale Hurston, Flannery O’Connor, and Andy Warhol to more obscure cult personalities such as Quentin Crisp, Dorothy Dean, Valerie Solanas, and A.J. Weberman, this course seeks out iconoclastic figures with extreme personalities and unforgettable works of art and almost-art. Through fiction, feature films (David Lynch, John Waters), documentaries (A Portrait of Jason, Grey Gardens), essays, memoirs, visual art, and popular music, while also considering historical context to understand the political, social, and economic conditions in which these works emerged. In doing so, students will be exposed to a whole cosmos of American artists and cult figures while also learning how to perceive and describe these eccentric geniuses in ways that are anything but average.
Through two short writing assignments (2-4 Pages) and one longer essay (7-8 pages) or creative project at the end of the term, students will expand their powers of perception and description while being encouraged to uncover the eccentric within themselves.
Lee D. Baker, Professor of Cultural Anthropology and African and African American Studies
This course is framed by a simple contradiction. Race is real, yet it is a myth. Racial categories are very real social and cultural phenomena. They are rooted in history and culturally constructed through laws, the media, and various institutions. These categories are reproduced, subverted, and sometimes changed by people through socialization, media consumption, interaction, dialogue, protest, and political participation.
Yet, what makes race real, animates it with so much power, and fosters its tenacious hold on much of the Western world’s collective psyche? It is the fact that people largely believe that race has something to do with nature, biology, or rational science. Ironically, biology and so-called natural sciences provide the best evidence that there is no valid basis to organize people by racial categories.
In this course, we will focus on the discipline of anthropology and its role in shaping the cultural politics of race. We will explore both the historical construction of race and its contemporary manifestation as a crucial aspect of American culture and an integral component of people’s identity. We will also explore how people experience race in different parts of the world.
At the conclusion of this course, you should be able to critique contemporary ideas of biological notions of race, explain how race is socially constructed through laws, media, and popular culture, and understand that patterns of human diversity do not fit neatly into categories of race. Finally, you will begin to understand why race remains a powerful force in contemporary society.
Virginia Ramirez-DelToro, Academic Dean, Trinity College; Chair, Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize Committe
This course will examine linguistic features that participants in schools throughout America use as they negotiate classroom cultures. We will examine the notion of classroom cultures (and their verbal and nonverbal features of communication) through the lens of historical and current primary sources that include a range of American experiences. As we study these, we will examine discursive moves that are based in—but not limited to—racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic stereotypes. Our main goal will be to consider how teachers and students can most appropriately work together at different grade levels to develop and build upon discourses that respectfully address potentially uncomfortable topics. The course will challenge all of us to consider ways that teachers can partner with their students to foster inclusive classroom communities built upon empathy, active listening, critical thinking, and objectivity.