Feminist and Anti-Racist Philosophies of Freedom [6-weeks, $200 Suggested]

Instructor: Dahiya | Tuesdays November 2-December 14 | 6:30-8:30 PM ET (No class November 23)

In her 1970 Lectures on Liberation, Angela Davis describes an "acute paradox" of Western society: it philosophically describes freedom in lofty terms, while its "concrete reality has always been permeated by the most brutal forms of unfreedom, of enslavement." Why do Western ideas of freedom depend on unfreedom as their conceptual foil? What are the philosophical and political consequences of thinking within a framework of freedom rooted in property and ownership? Furthermore, how might our everyday idea of freedom be rooted in what Ta-Nehisi Coates calls “white freedom”—a “freedom without consequence, freedom without criticism, freedom to be proud and ignorant; freedom to profit off a people in one moment and abandon them in the next; a Stand Your Ground freedom, freedom without responsibility”? In this class, we will begin by examining how the concept of “freedom” has been traditionally conceived in the dominant philosophical and political tradition of Western thought. We will begin here in order to ask ourselves if all people and bodies can be free in this conception of freedom. Following this, we will read feminist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial thinkers and study political movements that both challenge and reimagine the concept of freedom itself and how it is practiced in political and social movements. Authors will include Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, The Combahee River Collective, Saidiya Hartman, bell hooks, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylorhose.

We depend on a mix of direct student donations and supplemental donations to make all classes pay-what-you-can. Please pick the pricing tier that corresponds with your needs and that you are able to pay now. If you would like to pay in installments, make your first payment now and make a note on your check-out form. If you would like to donate more later in the term, you can always come back and use the “Make a One Time Donation” button! To use a full scholarship, just pick the $3 tier to cover site/processor fees. 

If at any point up to 48 hours before your first class session you realize you will be unable to take the class, we will work with you to reallocate your funds to a future class, to another student’s scholarship, or refund it. After classes begin, we are only able to make partial refunds and adjustments.