Students will be taught to use “artmaking as a strategy of resistance” in the course.
A dance lessons this flower at Purdue University melds party, “activism”, and” social change”.
” The Art Of Protest: An Examination Of The Role Of Arts, Artists, Activism, &, Social Transformation” teaches kids to “examine the position the art and the artist and their relationship to advocacy throughout history and beyond
Craft has been used throughout history to help in political and social movements, according to the course outline.
Enrollees in the class will” study, see, debate, produce, and perform their individual projects that promote social transformation.”
They will also evaluate a variety of tools” to enhance social perspectives, alter policies, and promote cultural change” and teach students how to” challenge the social norms.”
” From printmakers to players, to choreographers, to performance musicians, students will join and review the work of art-making as a technique of weight and the responses to those acts. ” the course description states.
The Fix reached out to Kathleen Hickey, the course’s professor, for more details about the different kinds of activism being taught and any concerns that the course might stifle state lawmakers. Over the past few weeks, she did respond to several emails and a phone call.
The course meets the college of arts and sciences ‘” core requirement for cultural diversity.” Students can also take” Black Women Rising,”” Contemporary Thought of Minorities in Management, “and” Archaeology of Beer.”
According to Hickey’s personal website, she holds a master’s of fine arts in dance and performing arts from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and an undergraduate degree in political science from Purdue University.
Her website also states she” is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher who explores movement with empathy and curiosity, while striving to illustrate how gender informs embodied experiences.”
However, a seasoned English professor and accomplished translator criticized the course design and the activism of the instructors.
” The people who do it are not generally well versed in history or anthropology, let alone politics, so it spares them the hard work of study and judgment,” Anthony Esolen, a distinguished professor of humanities at Thales College, told The Fix , via email.
Esolen also compared the activism in dance to a different style of art, saying,” It’s a little like sleaze in movies. When you can capture your audience by quicker, less expensive, and less intelligent means, you don’t need to tell a compelling story.
Identity politics are a topic in Purdue’s other dance programs.
Another class at Purdue University”, Contact Improvisation,” says students will learn to increase” their body awareness.”
The class on” partner dance” will also help students” learn about collaborative community creativity, which can be applied in other settings including design, performance, and social activism.”
As previously reported by The Fix, students at Purdue can also learn how to use critical race theory in mapmaking.
Other universities have also compared identity politics to the performing arts. Arizona State University, for example, hired a critical race scholar for its music, dance, and theatre school, as previously reported by The Fix.
MORE: A professor at UVA compares Kamala Harris ‘ passing to “violent chattel slavery.”
IMAGES: Purdue University, Polina Tankilevich/Corelens
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