309G W22 Smyth

ENGL 309G/GSJ 309/HIST 309/SPCOM 434

Territorial Acknowledgement

I acknowledge that the University of Waterloo is on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. This university is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised and given to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. All of us, learners and instructor, are participating in this online course from different traditional territories. I am a settler living and teaching from Toronto, the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and which is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. I encourage you to learn the history of the land and traditional peoples where you live and reflect on the mutual responsibilities that we inherit as Treaty people.

Contact Information

Dr. Heather Smyth - Instructor Associate Professor, English

hsmyth@uwaterloo.ca

Office Hours: 9-10 am Thursdays, in MS Teams

Announcements

Welcome to the course! I will use the Announcements widget on the Course Home page during the term to communicate new or changing information regarding due dates, instructor absence, etc., as needed. You are expected to read the announcements on a regular basis.

To ensure you are viewing the complete list of announcements, you may need to click Show All Announcements.

Discussions

We will meet once a week for about an hour on Thursdays (10-10:50 am) using Microsoft Teams. At that time we will discuss the week's lecture videos and reading material and related topics arising. Those meetings will be videotaped and uploaded to LEARN to ensure access for anyone who could not be at the meeting.

I created a General Discussion forum for class-wide discussions and an Ask the Instructor discussion forum. Use the Ask the Instructor Forum when you have a question that may benefit the whole class. Also, check this forum to see if your question has already been answered before reaching out to me.

Say hello to the class by posting in the Introduce Yourself discussion forum. Discussions can be accessed from the Course Home page by clicking Connect and then Discussions on the course navigation bar.

The Discussions space will also be used for Reflective Writing Prompts and for Peer Workshopping of your final course projects.

Contact Us

*Discussion topics can be accessed by clicking Connect and then Discussions on the course navigation bar above.

Course Description

In this course we will study together the social, historical, and rhetorical dimensions of collective action. We will explore several distinct cultural and political discourses of dissent in both written and oral form. At its core, this offering of the course queries the role of narrative and storymaking in collective articulations and actions of dissent, including the critical race studies practice of counterstory. The primary text examples are weighted towards civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements, and Indigenous rhetoric and Indigenous sovereignty movements, with some representation of Chicanx movements.

Learning Outcomes

In this course, we will work together to:

• Compare individual and collective dissent discourses and actions and assess their historical exigency, means and affordances, and capacity for systemic and transformative resistance;
• Identify and practice key concepts in discourse and rhetorical theory;
• Analyze dominant or oppressive discourses and rhetorical appeals and identify practices and actions that counter them;
• Practice reflective writing to determine one's own learning goals for the course and the use each student will make of the material after the course is complete

Grade Breakdown

The following table represents the grade breakdown of this course.

Reflective Writing

The Discussions forum for Reflective Writing has four topics/prompts that are to be completed on assigned dates during the term. The purpose of these writing prompts is to give you the space to engage reflexively with the course material at different stages of the term--to identify and think about your own commitments, and the ways that the readings and discussions, hopefully, are giving you new or richer ways to position yourself amongst these topics. These reflective writing opportunities will help you develop ideas for your Course Project and counterstory. The writing is public within our virtual classroom: you will read your classmates' postings and will reply and engage with three of them using the reply function. Keep in mind we are all taking risks by thoughtfully and sincerely exploring these questions and prompts for ourselves: please engage with each other collaboratively, respectfully, and with care.

Participation

In keeping with the focus of this class on dissent, collective action, and social movement building, it is critical that everyone participate and have a voice in our discussions -- to bring your own insights and experiences to the classroom; to amplify, disagree, nudge, cheer, and collaboratively learn with each other and the instructor; and to form your own classroom community for learning and dissent, including challenging the course itself. I recognize that this can be difficult in an online course, and that each student has their own talents and capacities for contributing to the course. I recognize a range of ways that you can gain your participation grade in this course, including but not limited to:

• Attending the weekly synchronous class discussion;
• Talking and commenting in the synchronous class, or commenting in the chat window;
• Listening to your peers in synchronous class, engaging with them, including them;
• Participating in your breakout group: being the notetaker if you prefer not to talk, or presenting if you do; helping draw ideas from your groupmates; encouraging quieter students; facilitating discussion or disagreement;

• Writing a question or observation in the "General Discussion" forum, including something you'd like discussed in synchronous class, or emailing me privately if you prefer;
• Attending my office hours to talk with me or ask questions;
• Extending care to another student in need.

Your participation grade will be a collaboration between us. You will write a self-assessment at the term midpoint and revise it at the end of the course: a one-page reflection on the ways you have participated in the course, including efforts you made that are not reflected in the list above or that I may not have been aware of, and how you participation fits your strengths and your personal goals for the course. You will assign a participation grade to yourself. Full marks or no marks would require a significant explanation and are not expected. I will review your self-assessment and assign a participation grade from my standpoint, reserving the right to raise or lower your self-assigned grade - but will communicate that with you. If needed the conversation about your participation grade can continue to be negotiated.

Course Project

The final project for the course will draw from the practice of counterstory and the course readings. You will develop, draft, revise, and polish your own counterstory that situates self-reflection or autobiographical narrative in social context and engagement with the ideas and issues in the course. You are welcome and encouraged to situate your counterstory in the context of social justice movements that matter to you, including ones not addressed in the course. Your project can be written (e.g. academic essay form), video, digital, or other formats that you propose to me. With your project you will include a one-page reflection on the choices you made and a self-assessment, including a grade for your project. Full marks or no marks would require a significant explanation and are not expected. I will review your self-assessment and assign a project grade from an academic standpoint, reserving the right to raise or lower your self-assigned grade - but will communicate that with you. If needed the conversation about your participation grade can continue to be negotiated.

Peer Workshop

You will be assigned to peer workshop groups for the purpose of sharing a draft of your course project and giving/receiving constructive feedback.

Group Discussion Notes

All students will be assigned to a discussion group for this purpose. Each week (for 10 of our synchronous meetings), one group will be assigned the task of writing up Discussion notes from our synchronous meeting. A template for these Discussion Notes is provided in the Discussion forum. Groups are assigned a specific day and must work together to assign tasks and complete the notes. A group member will post these Notes in the Discussion forum in Learn by the Tuesday following that class. If you are unable to participate in synchronous meetings and/or have concerns about this group assignment please let me know right away. Each group member will write a half page reflection outlining what they believe they contributed to the Group Discussion Notes exercise and a proposed grade. I will generate a single grade for the Group Discussion assignment and will then review your self-assessment and adjust the grade as needed.

Your Instructor

I've been teaching in the Department of English Language and Literature since 2003. I began my research and teaching in social justice studies in the humanities and literature: postcolonial and transnational studies with an emphasis on gender and sexuality, and guided by critical race studies approaches. Caribbean literature and Canadian multiracial literature are areas of focus. I've gradually been moving towards social science approaches to research, including community- based research. I am pursuing qualitative data-gathering projects in collaboration with social services and nonprofit agencies and people with lived experiences of homelessness, substance use, sex work, transphobia, and racial oppression. These projects’ findings are used for education and advocacy by community partners and for academic publication (e.g. my work in progress on discourses of harm reduction, & advocacy and narrative change). These two fields cross over in my work exploring literatures and rhetorics of advocacy and activism.

Materials and Resources

Textbook(s)

Required

• Rodney Diverlus, Sandy Hudson, and Syrus Marcus Ware, eds. Until we are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (also available online at UW Library for unlimited users)
• Nathan Crick, ed. The Rhetoric of Social Movements: Networks, Power, and New Media. (also available online at UW Library for unlimited users) Lee Maracle. Memory Serves: Oratories. Ed. Smaro Kamboureli.
• Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. A short history of the blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin.

Booklook info

For textbook ordering information, please contact the W Store | Course Materials + Supplies.

Course Reserves

Course Reserves can be accessed using the Library Resources widget on the Course Home page.

Resources

Library COVID-19: Updates on library services and operations.

Course Policies