AMST228 Cancelled, Blocked, Banned

This seminar focuses on ideas, texts, and debates that have come to be considered politically and culturally provocative, perilous, or particularly acrimonious. We will read, think about, and discuss a host of issues that inspire discord, passionate debates, and a range of complex perspectives. Students will be asked to consider multiple — often conflicting — arguments and come to class ready to engage in good faith discussion. The class focuses on diverse topics and examines multiple perspectives surrounding each issue. Course discussions will include debates over reproductive healthcare, the legalization or prohibition of sex work, carceral politics and the drug war, nature versus nurture narratives and sex differentiation, challenges to free speech, diverse perspectives on best practice education policies (including affirmative action and standardized testing), as well as arguments as how to best achieve racial equity, equality, and justice.