HX 2023-2024

This HumanitiesX seminar brought together a close reading of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (published in 1835-40) with experiences of contemporary democracy.  Democracy in America is often considered to be the greatest book ever written on American politics.  Tocqueville provides a systemic tour of the American constitution, America's politics, its tensions, its flaws, and its aspirations.  Throughout he presses readers to reflect on the role that equality has played in giving shape to American culture, society, and politics -- indeed, how that commitment to equality may animate the most diverse elements of American life.  While reading the classic, students tested Tocqueville's analysis with their own experiences, and what those experiences, their reading, and their conversations tell us about the possibilities and challenges of American democracy in the 21st century. As an experiential learning course, our work culminated in a student-led public event that invited the public to learn about and engage with Tocqueville's ideas and their relevance today.   

In this course, students considered the connection between historical events, beginning in the 1960s, and current movements and injustices impacting Central America—specifically, in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Students worked collaboratively with our community partner, Chicago Religious Leadership Network (CRLN), to engage with and create public, political art and writing. Students examined the ways in which organized communities in Central America have actively worked with human rights groups in the U.S. Through cultural, historical, and rhetorical frameworks, students interrogated the Western idea of Democracy within the context of neoliberalism. Further, by directly working with CRLN, talking to local political artists, and visiting sites around the city, students examined how local activists and artists participate in political movements and preserve historic memory. 

Do Say Gay: Banned Books and LGBTQ+ Freedom