Honors Program: A pathway to excellence.

HON 201/401
Guerilla Theater and other Radical Dreams

What is the relationship between the Wobblies of pre-WWI, the Popular Front Communist of the late 1930's, the folk revival of the early 1960's civil rights movement, and the screaming and blaring blinding protest arts of the late 1960's? It is the counter-culture of protest and utopian dreams. It is a lived life style of a searing criticism of "what is," and a strong lived belief in the "what could be."

By looking at the relationship between art, music, poetry, story-telling and political revolution we experience first hand the lived experience of a social movement. This class will look at the various historical issues and utopian visions of all of the above. We will look first hand at the creative writing, music, protest art, oral histories, stories, and Guerilla Theater of the time.

The students in this special seminar will be asked to form a "radical underground," producing their own art. An interested community audience will view the final presentations of this "radical underground." The students will share their protest of what is now, and also share their utopian vision of what could be.

Books, readings and visual aids will be included in the historical studies of this special topic, but most of the study will be through examples of the art of the periods in question. The students will, both in class and in their reading journals, prove they can critically analyze their topics, using the tools of historical Sociology. An important component of the grade for this class will be earned by functioning as a creative part of the class-created radical artist collective. All who participate will be judged by their sincere effort.
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Guerilla Theater and other Radical Dreams is available for either lower or upper division credit.

Substitutions:
Anthropology 105 Introduction, Anthropology 305 Community Ethnography, Anthropology 425 Economic Anthropology; Sociology 115 Introduction, Sociology 203 Social Problems, Sociology 305 Social Theory, Sociology 310 Social Movements, Sociology 315 Political Sociology, Sociology 450 Social Stratification, Sociology 475 Cultural Ecology,Sociology 484 Economic Sociology, Sociology 485 Gender, Economy and Social Change.

Instructor: Dr. Michael Joseph Francisconi

Time: Block 5, Spring 2006