WMST 498: CREATIVITY, CULTURAL STUDIES, & SOCIAL JUSTICE (UNBC)

(CRN#30145)

Instructor: Dr. Si Transken (si@unbc.ca) Please email or call 960-6643 for more detailed information.

Days/Times: Friday June 16, Saturday June 17, Sunday June 18 and Saturday June 24 and Sunday June 25 from 9:00 – 4:30. (Room 6-307)

Course Description:
Have you ever wondered about the Raging Grannies? Do your eyes water up when you think of Terry Fox and his accomplishments? Do you want to become more informed about some of the issues in the news – and what you personally can do to be part of those community struggles?

This course will consist of a vigorous, playfully intelligent introduction to three intersecting fields of knowledge: Creativity, Cultural Studies and Social Justice Activism. We will look at Turner’s 5 realms of creativity (creative expression; creative presentation of self; creative conceptualization at the direct practice level; creative conceptualization at the community practice level; and the creative cosmology ‘paradigm shifting’). We will explore what various disciplines (Women’s Studies, Social work, Expressive Arts, Sociology, First Nations Studies, Education, and Literature) have to say about creativity in general (how to recognize it, increase it, understand it, and effectively apply it). In this course we will develop an understanding of some core concepts from Cultural Studies (as discussed by scholar-activists such as Norman Denzin, Garrett-Petts, bell hook). The third field of knowledge we will engage with is an overview of some social justice debates and activities (women’s rights, animal rights, anti-racism efforts, anti-poverty protests, environmental issues, etc.).

Each student will produce two integrated journaling assignments where they locate themselves as being somewhere in relationship to one of these struggles. There will be one group assignment and an essay that is due near the end of the semester. We will be viewing videos such as The Vagina Monologues; A Cow at my Table; Race is the Place; The Laramie Project; or The Corporation.

The precise focus of the course will be refined with the students who sign up. This is a perfect entry course for activists who have wanted to begin a university degree but haven’t known where to start. This is a perfect course for students who haven’t had employment/ grassroots experiences – but who want to ‘test’ the theories they’ve been exposed to in academia. This is also a perfect course for students who want to deeply challenge themselves about the issues in the world and their own emotional/intellectual/spiritual/practical relationship to citizenship.

Tentative Readings:
1. Creativity in education and learning by A. J. Cropley
2. The Small Cities Book: On the cultural future of small cities edited by W.F. Garrett-Petts
3. A Glossary of Cultural Theory by Peter Brooker (2nd Edition)
4. One of J. Cameron’s ‘work books’ such as The Vein of gold, The Artists way or Walking in this world
5. But is it art? The spirit of art as activism edited by Nina Felshin