Skip to main content

American Political Thought (306-0-1)

Instructors

Jacqueline Stevens
Scott Hall, Rm 304

Meeting Info

Scott Hall 212: Wed 9:00AM - 11:50AM

Overview of class

American political thought is fraught with what W.E.B. Du Bois in Dusk of Dawn called a "quadrilemma" of contradictory discourses. This course will consider the political implications of texts from competing traditions and discuss the criteria for evaluating their respective advantages and disadvantages. We will read selections from the Federalist Papers, as well as texts by Frederick Douglas, Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln, Du Bois, Jane Addams, Emma Goldman, Betty Friedan, Shulamith Firestone, Joan Didion, Hannah Arendt, Michael Rogin, Wendy Brown, Francis Fukuyama and others. These texts will be considered in conversation with selected court cases.

Class Materials (Required)

W.E.B. Du Bois, Dusk of Dawn: An Autobiography of the Concept of Race, ISBN: 9780878559176, 0878559175 Joan Didion, Salvador, ISBN 0679751831, ‎ 978-0679751830

Class Attributes

Historical Studies Distro Area
Interdisciplinary Distro-rules apply
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area