Course Resources

Course Schedule

Unit One – Systemic Racism, Critical Reading, Analyzing Style and Rhetorical Strategies

Week 1

8/25 :: Course introduction and active, effective listening guideline, discussion guidelines; review syllabus

8/27 :: Read the syllabus and the Purdue OWL's email etiquette and send me a hello email following etiquette guidelines; read Project 1 assignment sheet linked below; read the Introduction from White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (WF) and watch Dr. DiAngelo’s Ted-X-style talk on YouTube; in-class writing (I will provide the prompt) and activity

Week 2 :: Project 1 Assignment Sheet

8/30 :: Read chapter 1 from WF and complete the following (adapted from the White Fragility Reading Group Guide) question below. Please type your answers to these questions, print them, and submit them in class: 1. Identify a passage from chapter 1 that invokes any sense of discomfort. Highlight this passage and return to reading it periodically as you work through the book. What does this passage reveal about your socialization into the white racial frame? Does your discomfort shift over time? If so, what supported that shift? 2. During the semester, how will you keep the discussion on track (focused on ourselves and our own participation)? How will you ensure that when common white patterns surface (distancing, intellectualizing, rationalizing), you will work to identify and challenge them rather than ignore or avoid them? 3. How do so many white people feel so confident in their opinions on racism, even as they live their lives in segregation?

9/1 :: Read “The Story of Segregation in St. Louis” and watch this short video on the Delmar Divide; answer these questions and be prepared to discuss them in class: 1. What were the topics of the article and the video? 2. What did the article argue? What did the video argue? 3. What is something new that you learned? 4. Why might a reader/viewer - especially a white reader/viewer - have problems accepting the information presented in the article and in the video? 5. Do you think that the information in the article and the video is factual, or just the authors’ opinions? 6. What issues of conflict and social justice do you notice in the article and in the video?

9/3 :: Read “Hopeful About the Future” by Madeleine Albright <— this is the article you are analyzing for Project 1; read the Purdue OWL’s citation resources for the style you’re going to use for Project 1): Chicago Manual Style; MLA; APA

Week 3

9/6 :: Labor Day, no class

9/8 :: University Writing Services introduction; watch Ta-Nehishi Coates’s talk from West Point; read about Cicero’s three levels of style

9/10 :: Read RRW ch. 1 pp. 3-10, answer questions 1-4 on p. 9, and be prepared to discuss them in class; read Body Paragraphs from the Purdue OWL to get an idea of essay organization; check out this article from the New York Times on Ta-Nehisi Coates becoming the head writer for the Black Panther comic book and his author page on the Marvel Comics website; I’ve added the link to “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates in the course resources above for optional reading

Week 4

9/13 :: Read RRW ch. 1 pp. 10-30, answer questions 1-4 on p. 30 and be prepared to discuss them in class; read writing genres and this spiffy graphic; answer this question and be prepared to discuss it in class: What is the difference between an op-ed, an analysis article, a hard news article, and a soft news article? May also want to begin reading RRW ch. 2 for 9/15

9/15 :: Read RRW ch. 2. Be prepared to discuss rhetorical context and rhetorical style in class

9/17 :: Use the Mapping Inequality resource to learn more about St. Louis and your hometown! Critical Race Theory: What it is and what it isn’t. Read The Five Interlocking Injustices from the course resources above

Week 5

9/20 :: Outline for Project 1 due; read The Four Universal Apostolic Preferences from the course resources above; read about the impacts of misrepresentations of CRT

9/22 :: Introduction paragraph for Project 1 due; in-class punctuation exercises from the Purdue OWL

9/24 :: Class is cancelled for day of engagement

Week 6

9/27 :: Draft for Project 1 is due for workshopping; read the Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation Project from the course resources above; read the Big Seven Handout in the Course Resources at the top of this page

9/29 :: Project 1 is due; read The Dehumanizing Condescension of White Fragility

10/1 :: Read ch. 3 pp. 63-75; Watch the Pope’s address to a joint session of the US Congress (here is the complete text); read Project 2 assignment sheet linked below

Week 7 :: Project 2 Assignment Sheet

10/4 :: Read RRW ch. 3 pp. 86-92, answer questions 1, 9, and 11 on p. 92, and be prepared to discuss them in class

10/6 :: Read RRW ch. 6 pp. 146-156, answer questions 1-4 on p. 156, and bring be prepared to discuss them in class; read this article about fake news ; read what the Pope says about fake news

10/8 :: Class is cancelled but you are still expected to complete this work: Listen to this episode of Pod Save America (if you don’t want to listen to the entire pod, you can just pick it up at 36:22 where they discuss new information emerging from an investigation into Facebook); check out these media evaluation websites to help you determine reliable sources: Ad Fontes Media; Snopes; FactCheck.org; read the Purdue OWL’s Paramedic Method and the Five Principles of Readability; read the Homework 1 Assignment Sheet; here’s the link to the Purdue OWL’s resource for AP style

Week 8

10/11 :: Read RRW ch. 6 pp. 156-166; be prepared to discuss how you plan to analyze Obama’s speech for Project 2; read this article on the spread of fake facts through mis/disinformation; here is an article on university plans for the anniversary of Occupy SLU, which took place in 2014 and led to the Clock Tower Accords; for class today: Stone’s Deductive Argument - Major Premise: Free speech on campus should be protected by allowing students to say whatever they want; Minor Premise: American universities aren’t letting students say whatever they want; Conclusion: Therefore, free speech is not being protected

10/13 :: Listen to this On Being podcast with Ta-Nehisi Coates; at 25:00 Coates explains his concept of black and white people both being in cages because of racism

10/15 ::  Bring in your current events article on something that’s happened regarding structural racism in St. Louis; read RRW ch. 11

Week 9

10/18 :: Bring your Project 2 outline and paragraph 1 to class; bring your homework 1 draft to class; take this online quiz; Project 2 conferences are in Adorjan Hall 110. Select this link to see how to get to Adorjan from De Peres Hall

10/20 :: In-class logical fallacies practice

10/22 :: Homework 1 due; more fallacies practice

Week 10

10/25 :: Draft of Project 2 is due for workshopping

10/26 :: Mid-term grades due by 5:00 PM

10/27 :: Read the introduction and chapter 1 of Kendi’s How to be an Anti-Racist

10/29 :: Fall break, no class

Unit Two – Research and Presentations

Week 11 :: Project 3 Assignment Sheet

11/1 ::  Project 2 is due; read the Project 3 assignment sheet linked above; read the timeline of the Ferguson events as reported by the AP

11/3 :: Bring in three possible topics for Project 3; read the timeline of the Ferguson events as reported by PBS Newshour

11/5 :: Read the home page, letter from the co-chairs, and overview of the Ferguson Report

Week 12

11/8 :: Read “This Report,” “The Commission,” and “The Process of Change” from the Ferguson Report

11/10 :: Read RRW ch. 12; review the Exploratory Research Map and these: Empirical Research Map the Empirical Research Methodology, and Observations, Interviews, and Surveys

11/12 :: Read “Next Steps” from the Ferguson Report; flip through the report itself and read a section or two that interests you. Type your response to these reflection questions: 1. What section(s) did you read and why? 2. What about the sections of the report did you find meaningful and why? 3. What will you do in the future with the new knowledge you have gained in reading the section(s) you chose?

Week 13

11/15 :: Read the Stasis Worksheet; read Stasis Theory, and Stasis Methodology; complete as much of your stasis worksheet as possible – type, print, and bring to class; please bring your primary research question to class along with two secondary research questions

11/17 :: Read RRW ch. 13 and the Purdue OWL’s resource on audience analysis; please bring your Project 3 research material to class so we can discuss your progress and the feasibility of your potential ways of addressing the issue you’re researching; I will be checking work logs

11/19 :: Read the introduction of the book Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher and the talk by Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.; answer the reading questions for the Kolvenbach speech, type them up, and bring them to class. Here are the reading questions for the Kolvenbach speech. Please replace references to “Loyola” and “Baltimore” to SLU and St. Louis :)

Week 14

11/22 :: Read the Purdue OWL resource on PowerPoints and presentations; G/M Test review session: bring Projects 1 and 2 with my comments to class; read the Homework 2 Assignment Sheet; read the Logical Fallacy Survival Guide for the COVID-19 Outbreak; bring in your Project 3 outline and introduction paragraph

11/24 :: Thanksgiving break, no class

11/26 :: Thanksgiving break, no class

Week 15

11/29 :: G/M Test; read Johnson-Sheehan on ethics

12/1 :: Bring in your Project 3 rough draft and the rough draft of your presentation for workshopping

12/3 :: Homework 2 due, stasis as a strategy for finding common ground; in-class work day for Project 3 and your presentation. Here is the presentation checklist

Week 16

12/6 :: Presentations

12/8 :: Presentations

12/10 :: Presentations, last day of class

Final Exam

12/13 :: Final exam from 12:00 - 1:50 PM. Your exam will cover theme content from the class - systemic racism, social justice - and material from our study of rhetorical theory - the rhetorical situation, Aristotle’s proofs, fallacies, etc. Project 3 and your revised project (if you choose to do one) are due on exam day. Attendance at your scheduled final exam time is required to pass this class. Please obtain university permission and let me know in advance if you need to reschedule your exam due to exam scheduling conflict.