Global Protests and Social Justice Activism
June 7-18, 2021
Monday – Friday
9:00AM-12:00PM
Online via Zoom
Lead Facilitators
Lead Instructor: Dr. Steve Crowley, (Department of Political Science, Oberlin College)
Pedagogy Instructor: Daniel Redman (Ohio State U.)
About the 2021 Seminar:
This two-week seminar will inform K-12 teachers about global social justice activism and protest movements by focusing on the regions of East Asia, Eastern Europe/Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The seminar will start by giving participants a solid foundation in the relevant political, social, and historical theories in order to ground their understanding of protests and politics. Then throughout the seminar, guest experts will present regional case studies to provide comparative perspectives of what are prominent current protest movements in their region of study (social justice, corruption, environment, etc.), what hurdles activists/protestors may experience when organizing demonstrations or events, the longer history and culture of protest in the particular region, how protestors and their movement are perceived in the larger population, and how the demands of activists/protestors are considered and/or met by policy makers and reverberate in the political sphere.
By the end of the seminar, our goal is to have given teachers both a strong background in the topic and regional knowledge so that teachers feel empowered to bring this topic into their classrooms whatever their discipline may be. Additionally, our aim is to enable teachers to bring more comparative perspectives into their curricula to support the global learning of Ohio K-12 students. To this end, the seminar will include sessions focused on pedagogy led by a pedagogical expert that will include brainstorming activities, discussions on how to lead conversations with students about protests and activism, and how to inspire students’ civic engagement.