HISTORIES OF DISCRIMINATION AND RESISTANCE AT UW MADISON: HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIETY SINCE 1848

EDPOL/HISTORY 612

Explore the history of student activism in the United States, with an emphasis on the experiences racial/ethnic minority youths who have been marginalized or discriminated against. What motivated students to become politically active, and what forms did their activism take? How did student activism vary across time and space and from one group of activists to another? Why did some students become activists while others did not? What role did education and educational institutions play in their activism? What impact have student activists had, and what do their histories reveal about the capacity and mechanisms for achieving racial equity in particular and for affecting social, political, and economic change more broadly?

EDPOL 355

Public education in the United States is an inherently political site that offers an important institution to understand politics, power, and injustice broadly. Explore these themes from multiple angles: (a) the layered histories of injustice at the intersection of race, class, gender, and more in historical and present cases; (b) the power of ideas in shaping policy possibilities; (c) shifting levels of governance and questions of injustice; and (c) perspectives of key actors, interests, and stakeholders. Consider the politics of education in relation to broader social, spatial, historical, and political economic contexts. Develop critical analytic and conceptual tools to deeply understand and analyze how power and politics are impacting contemporary educational policy events. By drawing from grassroots and subjugated perspectives, cultivate a policy imagination towards more just educational possibilities, and explore the necessary policy infrastructure and movements to sustain them.

HISTORY 400

Whatever we do, wherever we go, we are encountering history and reckoning with some consequence radiating out from the past. Designed to awaken us to the myriad ways in which the past is present all around us, and to help cultivate the historian's habits of mind in our everyday experiences. In addition to faculty-led group discussions, centers on intellectual opportunities in Madison such as special lecture series and conversations with UW faculty and outside guests. Themes and topics will vary, depending on the instructor and opportunities for engagement with the wider intellectual community of Madison.

EDPOL/HISTORY 143

Examine the historical relationships between metropolitan change, economic transformation, and the construction of race and how those processes have shaped mass incarceration, educational, housing, and income inequality, and the experiences of racial/ethnic minorities who have been marginalized or discriminated against. Key questions include: What is the historical nature of inequality and opportunity in metropolitan America? What policies and ideas have historically promoted inequality, and how have those policies and ideas shifted over time? How have marginalized people responded to inequality, and what impacts have various modes of resistance had? Lastly, what is "race," how has its meaning changed over time, and how has it historically shaped inequality and opportunity?

EDPOL 180

Provides an overview of the construction of racialized identity in the US and around the world. Examines the relationship between race, ethnicity, and white supremacy as social constructions and connects this to historical and current models of schooling. Explores the concept of settler colonialism and introduces its history in the US and in Wisconsin. Fosters understanding of white supremacy and of formal schooling as national systems that often work to reinforce one another, and of alternative approaches to schooling and society that can foster equity and justice.