Democracy in America

4.0 credits

This course will explore the history and current condition of democracy in America by focusing on a combination of classic texts in political science and contemporary events in the visual and performing arts. Our major text will be Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, perhaps the most influential book on the topic ever written. Our monthly arts events will include Timothy Long’s January concert on the North American Indigenous Songbook, Trio Afiori’s February concert in the Eastman Explores America series, the Memorial Art Gallery’s March exhibit on the work of the great Japanese-American designer Isamu Noguchi, and GEVA Theatre’s April production of Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning play about the American Civil Rights Movement, Purpose.