Learning by engaging in dialogue and debate is a long-standing strategy for understanding complex ideas. How do such practices enable dynamic understandings of race, class, gender, and culture? Why could this matter? This course introduces key concepts in critical theory and decolonial thought that enable us to ‘read’ our world in activated ways. Students will hone their perceptive practice of key concepts, using creative writing as strategy. Through an exploration of art, literature, film, and song, we will reflect on the following questions: What does an approach relying on oppositional yet collective practices offer to a rethinking of our social relations? How do the aesthetics of art, the word, music, and film enable new reflections on liberation? What contestations might such reflection offer in relation to race, class, gender and culture?Foundations in Critical Studies introduces critical thinking skills essential to college-level work in the humanities and sciences. Students develop their critical capacities through close reading and active response to cultural texts and phenomena drawn from multiple disciplines and reflecting diverse perspectives on major themes or topics in contemporary life.

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