Section 01: A 21st Century World’s Fair
Instructor: Hilary Sarat-St. Peter (English and Creative Writing)
Mondays 9:00-11:50 a.m., 618, #207
In Imagining a 21st Century World’s Fair students will utilize observational, archival and analytical research methods to explore world expositions as problematic cases of innovation and impact. Students will examine primary and secondary sources, including eyewitness accounts, artifacts and fictional works. These sources will assist students in understanding how world expositions have sparked and sustained innovative projects such as business ventures, social and civic services, and creative projects in arts, media, the sciences, and design. The course will equip students with concepts and resources for understanding how race, gender, sexuality, disability and difference construct our past and future experiences. In the final weeks, students will employ a range of methodologies drawn from the course experiences and their own disciplinary backgrounds to build a collective vision for an equitable and inclusive 21st Century World’s Fair.
Section 02: Defending Democracy
Instructor: Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin (Communication)
Mondays 12:30-3:20pm, 618, #207
In this class, we will explore the importance and impact of voting, the historical and current practices of voter suppression, and past and present movements for voting rights. We will meet voting advocates from Chicago and around the country and learn about their motivations, challenges and practices. We will also investigate contemporary barriers to voting for specific local communities and partner with them on proposals and plans of action to expand voting information and access. The larger goal is for students to become change agents for a more democratic society through creation of solution-oriented final projects that incorporate research and input from stakeholders in the community to enhance voting access.
Section 03: Emancipatory Technologies
Instructor: Rojhat Avsar (Humanities, History, and Social Sciences)
Tuesdays 12:30-3:20 p.m., Hybrid, 618, #207
This course helps students explore a series of organizational innovations, and computer and manufacturing technologies that have the unique potential to expand economic opportunity and increase individual autonomy. Specifically, the course covers blockchain, cooperatives, and 3D-printing as case studies. These technologies are emancipatory in the sense that they tend to eliminate many "gatekeepers” (e.g., middlemen) that are currently blocking access to opportunity and capital.
Section 04: Environmental Equity in Chicago
Instructor: Beth Davis-Berg (Science and Mathematics)
Tuesdays 3:30-6:20 p.m., WEB
Chicago is a city of diverse neighborhoods and communities. Some of these neighborhoods and communities have brownfields, air pollution, and incinerators but others do not. How have and do structural policies like zoning laws, decisions of the city council, and other factors contribute to the types and location of environmental issues in the city? Can we understand the impact of these environmental issues directly or indirectly on the lives of people in these communities? In this Innovation and Impact course, students will use methods including site visits, research, interviews, and more to better understand some of the environmental inequities in our region. Students will research a variety of polluted sites and related environmental issues to explore issues of environmental inequity and to design approaches that address this inequity. Students will deliver a final project that proposes an approach on how to improve, educate, remediate, or advocate for a method that would support community members in addressing environmental issues. Examples of environmental issues may include brownfields, air pollution, incinerators, and other planned developments on current green spaces.