Through exploration of literature and visual arts, this course explores issues of social justice, power and self-definitions of agency and autonomy. We will explore the past through literature and visual arts in order to reflect on our own experiences and what creates and shapes our lives. Knowing our own voice and experiences builds a context four our perceptions of the world.

In this class, we are using Judy Chicago’s Holocaust Project as our central curriculum and building layers around it. Each week we open class with a visual art image from the Holocaust Project and discuss as a class. These discussions are developed with readings, oral and written testimonies, novels, questions, critical analysis and writing as we observe and learn through the paintings. Issues of racism, sexism, human rights, violence, and discrimination are heavily interwoven through history, the visual arts and literature. The issues that the learners bring about in their observations are derived from their own experiences, making history relevant through their own lives.

http://judychicago.arted.psu.edu/living-curricula/teaching-with-collection/from-the-field/