Black Lives Matter Winter 2016–University of Oregon (PS 407/507)

This website archives the work of students in an upper division seminar titled “Black Lives Matter” taught in the Department of Political Science in Winter 2016 by Professor Daniel Martinez HoSang.

This seminar placed the contemporary Black Lives Matter Movement in a larger context of the Black Freedom Movement and broad visions for social and economic justice, redistribution, labor rights, gender and sexual autonomy, and democracy. The readings, lectures, guest speakers and exercises were designed to both familiarize students with the history and contemporary impact of these movements and to explore the complex relationship between racial domination, political action, and wide visions of justice and democracy. Highlights of the course included eight guest speakers–academics, workers, and social justice organizers–who shared their work with the class, and a series of related campus lectures attended by students.

The seminar was offered at a time of ongoing political developments. The national Black Lives Matter, less than three years old, continued to develop and evolve over the course of the term. The seminar also began less than two months after the newly formed Black Students Task Force at the University of Oregon presented the Administration a list of 12 demands to address long-standing campus issues.

 

 

For an overview of some of the course content, see this animated video by student Sutton Raphael, which engages many of the main course themes.