Dreams and Such

All,

I mentioned previously that we will be reading Foucault alongside MLK Jr. and Malcolm X. The former (MLK) readings can be found here and here. I have decided to make a change in the readings, however: I'm adding Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. As you read these texts/speeches, think about Foucault as well as the Civil Rights Museum. Most importantly, remember that none of these things--the texts, the museum, the speeches, the movements--are "history." Just as the midterm questions showed the direct relevance of all of our readings to the "real world," all the more should you recognize what remains in this course as being, for lack of a better term, current. Thoreau, MLK and Foucault are not referencing some discreet moment(s) in our collective Western past, before you were born. They, too, are talking about what it means to be a human being.

Cheers,

-W.

NB: The precis for Tuesday will cover Foucault. That for Thursday will cover MLK and Thoreau.