Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
SMC Core Curriculum Course Proposal Form Fall 2014
Electronically submit this course form and attachments to the Chair of the CCC by
October 1. Please submit a separate proposal for each desired learning goal.
1. Name of Proposer: Monica Fitzgerald
2. Email address: mdf1@stmarys-ca.edu
3. Department/Program of Proposer: Justice, Community and Leadership
4. Name of Department/Program housing the course: JCL
5. Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair (if not the proposer):
Shawny Anderson
6. Course Acronym, Number and Title: JCL 120 Critical Theory
7. Proposal is for All Sections of the course: __Yes___
Proposal is for instructor’s section(s) (Pathways to Knowledge only): _____
8. Course Prerequisites (if any): JCL 10
9. Unit Value of Course: 1.0
10. Mark with an X the Learning Goal for which the course is being proposed.
(Please submit a separate proposal for each desired goal.)
Pathways to Knowledge (at most one)
Artistic Understanding – Artistic Analysis only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Creative Practice only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Both Artistic Analysis and Creative Practice: ____
Mathematical Understanding: ____
Scientific Understanding: ____
Social, Historical, Cultural Understanding: _XX___
Christian Foundations: ____
Theological Explorations: ____
Engaging the World (as appropriate, generally zero to two)
American Diversity: ____
Common Good: ____
Community Engagement: ___
Global Perspectives: ____
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
Social, Cultural, Historical Learning Objectives
In our newly redeveloped Justice, Community and Leadership outcomes, JCL 120 is
our Critical Theory class in which students will study multiple critical frameworks
in the social sciences to understand how to place today’s world in a meaningful
context and to arrive at sufficiently complex explanations for current social
problems.
Teaching:
1. Examine human activity in particular periods of places from a social,
cultural or historical perspective
This course is the upper division theory course for Justice, Community and
Leadership majors, designed to integrate various social and cultural theoretical
perspectives dealing with issues of justice. Fundamental to our class are critical
theories (critical race theory, feminist theory, class/conflict theory) that explore
issues of power and privilege that have, over the course of post-World War II
American history, created the current socio-economic, political, and cultural
hegemony.
Students will be taught to use these theories such as critical race theory, conflict
theory and feminist theory, and apply them to various social problems in the United
States, such as the new the Jim Crow in education, homelessness in the Bay Area, ,
food sovereignty in the West Oakland, and gender violence on college campuses.
.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of theories of human behavior,
relations, culture or institutions; or interpretations of historical
causation and change
The readings and assignments in this class are designed to help students explore
theories of oppression (critical race theory, feminist theory, class theory),
pragmatism and post-modern perspectives, liberalism and communitarianism in
order to understand the causes of various kinds of injustice in the United States.
For example, in assigning John Dewy, On Education, students will be asked to discuss
and write on his use of pragmatism and his theory of participatory (or progressive)
education. They will then be asked to compare that to bell hooks’, Teaching
Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, a post-modern perspective that theorizes on the
intersectionality of race, class and gender in education to argue that the current
education system perpetuates systems of oppression. They will then be asked to use
both these theories to analyze a title one school in Concord, Cambridge Elementary
(an underperforming school with a large Latino population).
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
3. Employ social science or historical methodology to collect and interpret
evidence about their social world.
The students will be taught how to use social science methodologies, such as
surveys, questionaires, interviews, content analysis, and field observation. Assigning
Donileen Loseke, Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design,
offers an overview of data generation techniques. In addition, they will be assigned
shorter articles about coding and analysis. As an interdisciplinary program, lectures
will include information about data collection practices in sociology, anthropology,
and history.
Learning:
1. Examine human activity in particular periods of places from a social,
cultural or historical perspective
In addition to assessing this learning outcome through class discussions and small
group work focused on examples of social injustice in contemporary US society, a
number of inquiry exercises will also be assigned. For example, an inquiry exercise
would ask students to apply critical race theory to examine the issue of food deserts
in West Oakland or prompt them with, “considering your own educational
experience, how does Paulo Freire’s theory apply to the education you received?”
2. Demonstrate an understanding of theories of human behavior,
relations, culture or institutions; or interpretations of historical
causation and change
In the analytical essay, students will write a 5-7 page paper will compare three
theorists’ approach to the problems and promise of public education. Students
could compare theories such as Dewey, hooks, and critical race. In addition, the
inquiry exercises will also be used to assess students’ understanding and ability to
apply the different theoretical approaches presented in class with questions such as,
“Using Kimmel and Ferber’s Privilege, examine how privilege and power impact a
current event in the news, such as Ferguson,” or “Using Komives leadership theory,
examine how a student group advocates on campus.”
3. Employ social science or historical methodology to collect and interpret
evidence about their social world.
Employing one of the social science methodologies they learned, students will
collect and interpret data on a social issue and integrate their findings and analysis
into a final essay that uses the data and analysis to help them articulate their
leadership and theoretical approach to solving the problem.
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
For example, a student could interview bilingual educators about the achievement
gap at Cambridge Elementary school and then interpret their collected data using
the theories of bell hooks’ and Komives. Student will be asked use the data and
theories to construct an argument about how to better serve the emerging language
learners at Cambridge. Another student could interview staff from People’s Grocery
about the West Oakland food deserts and then use Sandel and Komives to analyze
and determine the most appropriate strategies to improve community organizing
strategies.
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
JCL 120
Theory and Inquiry in Justice, Community and Leadership
Course Description
This course is intended as an advanced introduction to the critical social theory
utilized in the JCL program to evaluate political, social, cultural, economic,
educational, and environmental justice issues that confront local, regional, national
and global communities. Critical social theory is distinct from other forms of critical
theory (philosophical, political, literary), yet it is in conversation with them. We will
be exploring the relationships between oppression, power, society, education and
social change.
Learning Objectives
1. Understand and evaluate critical theories of justice, community and
leadership (e.g. theories of oppression, engaged pedagogy, social ethics,
transformation and change).
2. Apply course concepts and theories to demonstrate a capacity for coherent
principled analysis of contemporary social problems.
3. Demonstrate through critical self-reflection your own working theory of
leadership and social change.
4. Examine human activity in particular periods of places from a social, cultural
or historical perspective
5. Demonstrate an understanding of theories of human behavior, relations,
culture or institutions; or interpretations of historical causation and change
6. Employ social science methodologies to collect and interpret evidence about
their social world.
Required Reading:
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Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
John Dewey, Experience and Education
bell hooks, The Pedagogy of Hope
Michael Sandel, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?
Komives, Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a
Difference

Robert Coles, Doing Documentary Work

Michael Kimmel and Abby Ferber, Privilege: A Reader

Various articles on social science methodologies
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
Assignments
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4 Sets of Inquiry Exercises related to the featured unit authors (20%)
3 unit exams, one comprehensive exam (25%)
Group precis of chapters from Sandel book (5%)
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Analytical Essay applying theory to concrete social problem (20%)

Final research essay developing a personal theory of leadership and social
change (10%)

Participation (20%)
Weeks 1-3
Unit 1: Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Week One:
Intro to Course, Syllabus Overview, Considering Community, Justice and
Leadership
Read: Freire, Foreword, Preface, Chapter 1; Coles, Intro, Chapter 1; selected articles
Inquiry assignment: Investigate a space or subculture at SMC and document your
application of at least five primary terms from Freire that you see in practice.
Week Two:
Read: Freire, Chapter 2, 3; Coles, Chapter 2, selected articles
Inquiry assignment: Look at a series of college websites. Analyze them using terms
from Freire’s work. Compare them to SMC’s representation of itself. What do you
learn about education and justice by examining college websites?
Week Three:
Read: Freire, Chapter 4, Coles, Chapter 3, 4 (selections)
Exam: Freire/Coles, selected case studies
Inquiry assignment: Produce a multi-slide Prezi or other new media presentation
form about a culture or subculture at SMC using the terms of Pedagogy of the
Oppressed. Use visual arguments, infographics, photos, and new media.
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Weeks 4-5
Unit 2: John Dewey Experience and Education
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
Week Four:
Read: Dewey, Foreword, Chapters 1-3; Kimmel/Ferber Preface, Intro, Chaps 1-4;
selected global education stories; essays on autoethnography
Inquiry project: Begin an autoethnography of your own educational experience
Week Five:
Read: Dewey, Chapters 4-8, Kimmel/Ferber Chaps 5-12; selected global education
stories;
Exam: Dewey, case studies, ethnography
Inquiry project: Complete autoethnography of your higher educational experience
Assign: Presentations of Sandel chapters in groups, annotated bibliography, lit
review
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Weeks 6-8
Unit 3: bell hooks Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope
Week Six:
Read: hooks, Preface, Teachings 1-6; Kimmel/Ferber Chaps 13-16; selected case
studies; collaborative inquiry
Inquiry project: Using collaborative inquiry, identify a community to which you do
not belong. Begin a conversation where you try to understand the experience of
someone in that community.
Week Seven:
Read: hooks, 7-12; Kimmel/Ferber 17-20; selected case studies; visual anthropology
Inquiry project: using photography, videography or other visual forms, produce a
slide presentation of the community with whom you are learning to collaborate
Week Eight:
Read: hooks, 13-16; selected case studies; media advocacy
Exam: hooks, case studies, collaborative inquiry, visual anthropology, media
advocacy
Inquiry project: using new media, advocate for a better policy/program/plan for the
community with which you have become acquainted
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Core Application JCL 120 SHC 2014
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Wees 9-11
Unit 4: Michael Sandel Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?
Week Nine:
Readings: Sandel, Chapters 1-4
Inquiry project: Annotated Bib, Lit Review
Week Ten:
Readings: Sandel, Chapters 5-10
Week Eleven:
Exam: Sandel
Inquiry project: Completed Annotated Bib, Lit Review
Weeks 12-14
Unit 5: Susan Komives Exploring Leadership
Week Twelve:
Read: Komives 2, 3
Inquiry project: Begin an assessment of your own leadership
Week Thirteen:
Read: Komives 6, 7
Inquiry project: Continue leadership assessment with utopian ideals
Week Fourteen:
Read: Komives 10-12
Inquiry project: Complete personal theory of leadership for social change
-Week Fifteen:
Exam: Comprehensive
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