Words Have Power: Writing for Social Change

4.0 credits

We say that the pen is mightier than the sword, implying that writing can change human history and culture. This course is designed to examine this idea and put it into practice. How can, and how should, words be used to shape the social and political world? Through a variety of media—books and articles, YouTube and TikTok, documentaries and Hollywood films—students will engage with activism about various issues such as institutional racism, mass incarceration, immigration, climate change, gender politics, and animal rights. The course will prompt reflection on both the ethics of these issues and the efficacy of the activism behind them. How can we become more effective and thoughtful writer-activists with the tools of scholarship at our disposal? As one component of the course, students can choose to provide anonymous feedback on the writing of incarcerated people, working to empower a disempowered population through words. This course meets the citation for community-engaged scholarship as students will produce various public-facing activist writing projects.