ENG-160 School Stories: Narratives of Power and, Class
This course examines a variety of literature and, films that highlight the point of view of, students (and sometimes teachers) as they, negotiate the power dynamics of educational, institutions. Through reading and viewing such, diverse texts as Gus van Sant's film Good Will, Hunting, Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up, from Slavery, and J.K. Rowling's classic fantasy, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, we will, analyze how the politics of race, social class, gender, and colonialism inform classroom, practices, structures, and ideologies while also, considering how students work to resist, oppressive educational systems. This course uses, literature as a vehicle to explore and, problematize the promise of education to, facilitate equality, modernization, or the, American Dream.