Type of Credit: Partially Required
Credit(s)
Number of Students
Ever since the 2016 elections in the United States, “Resistance” (or #Resistance) has emerged as a trendy term within the political landscape. But what does it mean to resist existing structures of oppression? What are possible strategies and tactics? What types of solidarity are created through moments of resistance? How do legal texts reveal the limits and possibilities of resistance, and how should we interpret and re-imagine them? This course seeks to understand resistance through global history and law, with a broad range in both chronology and geography. It defines resistance in the broadest sense of the term, but it examines in particular cultural, political, social, and economic strategies to challenge existing legal structures.
能力項目說明
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Subject-specific Knowledge
Subject-specific Skills
Key Skills
| 教學週次Course Week | 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week | 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Week |
Topic |
Content and Reading Assignment |
Teaching Activities and Homework |
|
1
|
Introduction |
Michael Walzer on resistance, “The Idea of Resistance,” Dissent (Fall 1960)
Albert Camus, excerpt from The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt (1951) |
Get to Know You Exercises “Four corners” exercise |
|
2
|
Micro-resistance |
James Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance |
In-class discussion
|
|
3
|
Civil Disobedience and the Rebel |
Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance to Civil Government” [Civil Disobedience] (1849)
Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963) |
Excerpt from “Eyes on the Prize” on Civil Rights Movement
Reflection paper No. 1 (500 words): post by noon and bring hard copy
|
|
4
|
Prison
|
Michel Foucault, Part I (“Body of the Condemned”, “Spectacle of the Scaffold”), Discipline and Punish (1975)
California Parole Hearing transcript (first twenty pages) |
In-class: Parole Hearing Preparation |
|
5
|
Holiday – no class |
California Parole Hearing transcript (finish)
|
Holiday – no class
|
|
6
|
Prison |
No reading. Prepare for parole hearing role-play today. |
Parole Hearing Role-play
|
|
7
|
Nuclear weapons and disarmament |
Susan Southard, Nagasaki (2015) |
Guest Speaker, Susan Southard, author of Nagasaki
|
|
8 |
Deportation |
Papers, Violaine Schwartz
|
Deportation Hearing Role-play Preparation
Reflection paper No. 2 (500 words): post by noon and bring hard copy |
|
9 |
Deportation |
Deportation Legal Judgments
|
Deportation Hearing Role-play
In-class: For your final project, your group of three will creatively reinvent a legal text related to resistance. We’ll discuss how to choose a topic you’re passionate about. We’ll brainstorm the group can share and maximize its various skills—among them language, creative inclinations, analytical expertise, and disciplinary knowledge. How to design a project that is truly collaborative and centered around mutual learning? We’ll think out loud about this. |
|
10 |
Violence / Nonviolence I |
Frantz Fanon, “Concerning Violence,” The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
|
In-class: “Battle of Algiers”
|
|
11 |
Violence / Nonviolence II |
M. K. Gandhi, chs. 1, 3, 4, 7, 13, 14, 25, 26, 34, 47, 55, 68, 72, 74, 104, and 165 of Non Violent Resistance (Satyagraha) (posth. 1961)
|
In-class: “Eyes on the Prize”
Reflection paper No. 3 (500 words): post by noon and bring hard copy
|
|
12 |
Creatively Reinventing Legal Texts |
No class |
In your group of three, visit a place in Taiwan that connects in theme or form to your final project. Be ready to share with the class your findings.
No reflection paper. |
|
13 |
Decolonization |
Hung-Ying Chen & Lachlan Barber, 2020. "CityPsyche—Hong Kong," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1-2), pages 220-232, March. |
In-class: Students share thoughts and responses to their visits and brainstorm how to incorporate into final project.
No reflection paper. |
|
14 |
Difference |
June Jordan, “Letter from the Bahamas” (1982)
Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” and “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” [1980], Sister Outsider (1984)
|
Reflection paper No. 4 (500 words): post by noon and bring hard copy |
|
15 |
Reimagining Legal Texts |
Prepare and research final project. |
In-class: Work on your final project, creatively reinventing a legal text of your choice; draw from theories, texts, and models in the class.
Create an annotated “archive” of sources that have inspired you.
No reflection paper for remaining semester. |
|
16 |
Reimagining Legal Texts |
Prepare and research final project. |
In-class: Work on your final project. |
|
17 |
No class – holiday |
Prepare and research final project. |
No class – holiday |
|
18 |
Reimagining Legal Texts |
Prepare and research final project |
Present final project. |
Reflection Papers (20%)
Final Project (30%)
Role plays (20%)
In-class Participation (30%)