Reclaiming Democracy draws on multiple academic disciplines to examine and model democracy. The course brings together students from Bennett College, Elon University, Greensboro College, Guilford College, North Carolina A & T State University, the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and the greater Greensboro community.
To understand what we mean by “democracy,” we explore the different traditions that drive public policy, governance, and citizen engagement. As we turn our gaze toward democracy in Greensboro more specifically, we consider the city’s rich history in civil rights and economic justice, as well as the even more powerful desire for civility that has impacted our ability to have deep, community-wide discussion of the area’s struggles.
Participants in the class learn together within a large classroom and also in smaller study groups. We use interactive technology to stimulate pre-class questions and discussions for that week’s readings.
To set the tone for communal engagement, we augment traditional academic learning with other experiences within music, stories, film, and creativity of other sorts.
The class approaches our study through the following broad questions:
- What is democracy?
- In what ways is Greensboro democratic/undemocratic?
- What is the role of education in a democratic society?
- What is the role of democracy in education?
- What do these considerations require of us?
Click here to open or download the Fall 2011 course syllabus.
We are meeting in downtown Greensboro at the Elon University Law School (map).
Header images of Tahrir Square in Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution were taken by Omar Hamilton.
This is fascinating!!
Hello, I am currently a student in the class and wanted to know how do I get the articles for the assignments due Aug 31st. I know what articles I need to read but how do I obtain them???