ENG 273.004: Poetry & Activism
Instructor: Henry Wei Leung
It has been said that poetry saves lives. In this class, we will put that claim to the test by examining one facet of poetry: its relationship to activism. We could define activism as social unrest and civil disobedience, but we will also look at it in the broader context of identity politics, advocacy and affirmation, and in everyday responses to large-scale disasters. We will read a range of poetry engaged with such contemporary issues as: Hawaiian independence and indigeneity, the Ferguson protests, Hurricane Katrina, the birangona women in Bangladesh, the Occupy campaign in Wall Street, the Occupy campaign in Hong Kong, the protests in Thailand, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. We will also read critical essays which will help us to map our way through the terrain. We will interrogate the ethics as well as the aesthetics of such poetry in order to ask: how does poetry inscribe itself upon the flawed world, and in what meaningful ways is this world changed by poetry? Students will articulate careful analyses and critiques in essays over the course of the semester, as well as write their own poetry to engage with social issues of their choosing. By the end of the semester, students will have encountered the real-world power of poetry even while learning to see through the illusions of such power, and will be able to formulate their own answers to the inevitable “so what” question of poetry in the world.
Required texts (first three available through Revolution Books):
Tarfiah Faizullah, Seam
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric
Mark Nowak, Coal Mountain Elementary
Allison Cobb, The Autobiography of Plastic (free e-book)
Gaye Chan & Nandita Sharma, Eating in Public (free e-book)
And various handouts available through Laulima