College Seminar (101-7-1)

Topic

True Crime: Which Stories Get Told?

Instructors

Abby Barefoot
847/467-0259
Abigail Barefoot is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the Center for Legal Studies. Prof. Barefoot’s research explores questions of justice, safety, and accountability through the lens of prison abolition and critical carceral studies Abigail’s current book project Beyond Carceral Responses: Transformative Justice, Prison Abolition, and the Movement to End Sexual Violence examines transformative justice practices for sexual violence. Using an ethnographic approach, Abigail unpacks the tensions, contradictions, and possibilities of practicing transformative justice as experienced by survivors, facilitators, and people who cause harm. Her other teaching and research interests include LGBTQ Studies, American social movements, and mass incarceration.

Meeting Info

Elder Hall 030 Seminar Room: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course broadly provides a cultural analysis of true crime and pop culture. In particular, we'll uncover why true crime stories seem to go viral (and why certain folks enjoy devouring these narratives). We will think intersectionally, analyzing how race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and citizenship shape concepts of "victimhood" and "criminality," as well as make certain true crime narratives more "popular" than others. Finally, we will develop a robust theoretical toolkit, combining an interdisciplinary range of perspectives from feminist anti-violence studies, critical criminology, literary criticism, and creative non-fiction journalism.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the quarter, students will be able to read and analyze diverse primary sources carefully and accurately, with attention to the author's perspective, position, and credibility, and to the source's general context; read, evaluate, summarize, and engage with scholarly works by others, and be able to analyze authors' arguments for evidence, context, strength, and credibility; make clearly written and organized arguments that are well supported by primary sources; and understand how to work with integrity and to properly cite facts, ideas, and scholarship.

Students will also engage with primary documents and scholarly research related to social inequalities and diversities; better understand how such differences as race, class, and gender are related; better understand the impact that histories, institutions, and/or social structures have on local issues and on individual experiences and identities, including their own; and think and write more critically about political, social, economic, and/or cultural issues related to social inequalities and diversities. Students will also practice setting and evaluating academic goals; communicating effectively and respectfully; studying effectively; and knowing when and how to ask for help.

Class Attributes

WCAS College Seminar

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: REASON: Pre-registration is not allowed for this class. Please try again during regular registration. Weinberg First Year Seminars are only available to first-year students.
Add Consent: Department Consent Required
Drop Consent: Department Consent Required