FYS 030

Writing for Social Justice

Taught Fall 2012 at Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa)

The goals of FYS 030 are for you to develop skills in expository and persuasive writing developed through critical reading. This course explores rhetorical structure, style, research, and documentation through written, oral, and online communication.  Specifically, this first-year seminar has a heavy concentration in critical thinking about social justice issues, including, but not limited to: sexism, racism, poverty, homophobia, constructions of (dis)ability, and environmental degradation. The course readings situate rhetoric within these exigencies of social justice and activism; however, much of your learning will take place outside of the traditional classroom, not just by studying but by actually doing rhetoric.  In learning to write for social justice, you will participate in an activist organization of your choosing throughout the semester. A great deal of your coursework will arise from your interactions with that community. As a result, you will become not only more perceptive in how you consume and compose information, but also how you engage with your local and global communities for the alleviation of social injustices.

Course Objectives

Throughout the semester, course participants will be able to:

1. Identify historical and contemporary social and institutional power relationships that spark social justice activism

2. Identify the communication skills necessary for civic engagement in pursuit of social change

3. Observe, analyze, and participate in diverse approaches to activism

4. Evaluate the effectiveness of activist communication

5. Compose multi-modal (written, oral, visual, online) texts to further a social justice cause

6. Reflect on our own roles in civic engagement with an activist community