Graffiti art of the "Arab Spring," cartoons such as Naji Al-Ali's "Handala," and the 2015 graphic of the victims of the Chapel Hill shooting by Mohammad Alsalti — images such as these beg the question of the relationship between art, concepts of culture, and social change. These kinds of creative works engage in various affective and political practices: they memorialize and commemorate the dead, they capture collective expressions of grief and anger, and they refuse state narratives that individualize oppression and injustice. This class will explore these themes by focusing on the links between artistic practice, the mobilization of “culture,” and activism in Arab North American communities. We will consider works of visual art, performance, comic art, film, spoken word poetry, and music, and we will also examine the use of creative work in the act of protest and direct action.

Course Requirements:

The class is primarily discussion based. Assignments include two short papers, a short class presentation, a midterm exam, and a final paper (with a creative final project option). There will also be a class trip to the Arab American National Museum, in Dearborn, to take place outside of our regular class time.