English 494JI - Going to Jail

In this course, we will read fiction and nonfiction by journalists, scholars, activists, and prisoners in order to consider how different forms of incarceration impact convicts, their jailers, and the societies that create them; about the pitfalls and benefits of narrating prison life or transforming it into art; and about the ways in which concepts of criminality, restitution, and punishment have changed (or not) over the past century. Most crucially, we will bring the diverse voices of our authors and the interdisciplinary perspectives you have acquired through your coursework to bear on the future of criminal justice: what can our past teach us about the best way forward? Students will produce final projects in which they analyze some aspect of the US criminal justice system in terms of its history, its present, and its possible futures. In this way, our approach to our topic of study, prison writing, mirrors the goals of the Integrative Experience, which invites you to reflect on your academic journey to date and to draw on the skills and insights you?ve gained in order to envision your own future: what do you like to learn? How do you prefer to learn? What does your course of study tell you about your values, your strengths and weaknesses, the kinds of work you find rewarding? Because prison writing spans disciplinary and generic boundaries, it provides an ideal platform for comparative, interdisciplinary, and hybrid/experimental projects that speak to a range of audiences. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BS-Engl majors.

This class is open to Senior English majors only English200w/C,E200,misc This Class is intended for Primary English Majors Only