University Scholars & Global Scholars

Instructor: Sarah Deer, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Public Affairs & Administration, and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies

4–6:30 p.m. Mondays, Wescoe 4018

Despite the argument that the United States is the wealthiest country in the world, today, the United States continues to see massive rates of inequality in a variety of social contexts, including poverty, incarceration, poor health outcomes, and overall quality of life. The U.S. stands out for its high levels of both income and wealth inequality among advanced economies, with a relatively lower degree of social mobility, placing it in stark contrast to many other wealthy nations, particularly those in Europe.

In this course, we will read legal documents and public reports that help elucidate the persistent inequalities in the United States, with a particular focus on the 20th and 21st centuries. We will also delve into scholarly secondary sources that propose policy reforms that have concrete action steps.

During the first few weeks of the course, we will explore the historical context of the development of the United States in the late 18th century, and its impact on Indigenous populations and the enslaved population, largely those forced into slavery from Africa. From there, we will learn how inequality is identified, documented, and communicated to the public. We will explore inequality based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

The final few weeks of the course will give us an opportunity to review international entities and their approach to human rights protection. We will review several documents and resolutions from international organizations, such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and assess the United States’ compliance with and relationship to these reports and resolutions. Students will come away from this semester with the knowledge to be able to identify inequality and develop policy solutions.

Instructor: Dr. James Yeku, Associate Professor of African Digital Humanities

1–3:30 p.m. Thursdays, Bailey Hall

Digital humanities as the interdisciplinary study of the application of digital technology tools and platforms to traditional humanities inquiry enables an understanding of how these tools go beyond print culture and become used in humanities research and beyond. In this introduction to the digital humanities (DH), students are invited to think critically about the role of digital technologies in the humanities through the lens of postcolonial studies.

Rather than focusing primarily on the digital cultural record from canonical North American and Western European authors and artists, this seminar overturns the centrality of such dominant modes of thinking and introduces students to how computational methods enable a deeper understanding of postcolonial knowledge-making.

The seminar aims to cover how the digital humanities promote the democratization of knowledge and access to information, considering the gaps and absences in the field. Participants will also examine how a postcolonial (and even decolonial) approach might shape the larger field of DH and foster principles of collaboration and community.

In light of Africa and other places in the Global South, we will explore topics such as digital archives and their historical holdings that overlap with the legacies of colonialism, textual analysis, social media and digital storytelling, mapping and visualization. We will investigate what ethical and political considerations result in digital representations of the histories and cultures of these regions.