Course Overview

This class will be focused primarily on the exploitation of the Congo. From this study, you will get to engage in a rigorous exploration of social movement history, theory and practice. The goal of this course is to read the literature surrounding the history of the Congo. From the Atlantic Slave trade, to King Leopold's reign, to the 20th century conflicts, to current day. In surveying the history, and reading the literature assosiated with it, we will focus on what this story tells us about slavery, racism, colonialism, capitalism, and empire.We will first start off with setting the ground for these conversations with theory. We will read Homi Bhabha, and Frantz Fanon, two scholars that specialize in post-colonialist theory. From this theory, we will begin to dive into the story of the Congo. After we become "experts" in theory and history, we will spend the later half of the course applying our knowledge into action. We will write a research paper on a current global issue that demands change. Then from that paper, we will compose a project that we intend to share outside the classroom to call for action.

Course Objectives

• Become experts on the history of the Congo


• Become activists for change


• Develop critical thinking and close reading skills


• Use theory to generalize lessons from the history of the Congo


• Apply theory into practice, but using writing to advocate for change

Required Texts to Purchase or Rent:

• Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness


• Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart


• Apocalypse Now

Additional Reading (I will provide)

• Homi K. Bhabha: "The Commitment to Theory"


• Frantz Fanon: "Black Skin, White Masks" and "The Wretched of the Earth"


• Robert Hayden: "Middle Passage"


• Excerpts from Adam Hochsdhild's King Leopolds Ghost


• Chinua Achebe: "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness"

Course Requirements:

We will be doing a lot of writing in this class. I expect you to bring your laptop or notebook for in-class writing.

Phone Policy:

No phones allowed. If I catch you on your phone, you have to stand up and tell everybody an embaressing story. Use our class time to reduce your screen time.

Assignments Rationale:

I chose assignments similar to the class I already teach: ENG 1050. Not only am I already familiar with these assignments, and feel equipped to teach and assess them, I think they are great assignments to teach students media literacy, personal reflection, and research skills. My favorite assignment in ENG 1050 is the Remix Position, where students take what they wrote about in the Position Paper, and turn it into a new medium: a poster, a podcast, a social media post, a PowerPoint, a formal letter, etc. I love this assignment because it exercises multiliteracy across multiple modes of communication. Multiliteracy is key in our digital world, and understanding how rhetoric changes with mediums is key to advocating for social change.

I also include several Reflection and Self-Assessment writing assignments. I believe that the practice and composition of reflection is one of the most important things a college education can teach you. College is known for a place that teaches you how to think. The banking model explained by Friere, where students are deposits of knowledge, is not true learning how to think. All it is, is more information. Information is infinitely accessible online. More information and knowledge does not teach someone how to think. Learning how to think, and think critically, comes from deep reflection. And not only reflection on the past, but on the present, future, and internally investigating emotions and identity and well-being. With the two reflection assignments at the beginning and at the end, students will engage in both cognitive and metacognitive reflection of not only what they learned, but how they learned it. Reflection develops learning skills and fosters a love of learning. It helps students find what kind of learning works for them and what kind of processes of evaluating information works for them. Reflection points back at the self, and allows students to not only understand information, but use information for their own needs.