Faculty First Year Seminars 197THE6 - Wrestling with Whiteness
Fall
2017
01
1.00
Megan Lewis
W 2:30PM 3:20PM
UMass Amherst
42189
Focused around my books, Performing Whitely in the Postcolony (2016) and a series of performances I am curating in Fall 2017 at UMass, called Wrestling with Whiteness, this course engages students in an exploration of the multi-dimensional nature of race in contemporary culture by focusing on the performance of whiteness. We will unpack what whiteness (the racial category and the lived experience) is, explore how it functions in our contemporary society, and examine what artists offer to the conversation about white privilege, racism, and allyship.
Materials will include South African Ewok Robinson?s one man spoken word piece, YOBO: You?re Only Born Once; Hampshire College theatremaker Will McAdams? new play, White Mourning, and UMass acting professor Julie Nelson?s one woman comic piece about blundering whiteness and fragility. These performances, plus readings and discussions on the topic of whiteness, will help us answer questions like: How is whiteness part of (or the center of) a system of institutional and cultural privilege? What are the stakes, burdens, benefits, and pitfalls of being white? Not white? How might one perform ?ethically? as a white person?
Materials will include South African Ewok Robinson?s one man spoken word piece, YOBO: You?re Only Born Once; Hampshire College theatremaker Will McAdams? new play, White Mourning, and UMass acting professor Julie Nelson?s one woman comic piece about blundering whiteness and fragility. These performances, plus readings and discussions on the topic of whiteness, will help us answer questions like: How is whiteness part of (or the center of) a system of institutional and cultural privilege? What are the stakes, burdens, benefits, and pitfalls of being white? Not white? How might one perform ?ethically? as a white person?
Freshmen Only