Registration in the Honors, Humanities, and Philosophy upper-division, interdisciplinary seminar Peace and Justice involves weekly participation in The Philosophy and Literature Circle at the Dominguez State Jail. UTSA students in the seminar will meet together on
UTSA's main campus on M/W 11:30am-12:45pm.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: How can peace and justice be most effectively pursued both personally and communally? Is peace primarily the absence of conflict or something more? To what extent is justice a process, an outcome, or an objective standard? By studying approaches to conflict transformation, restorative justice, and transformative justice, students will explore models for pursuing peace and justice in situations of conflict and in the aftermath of severe harms. Students will participate in a learning exchange with scholars at Dominguez State Jail as part of the UTSA Philosophy and Literature Circle. This course counts as an Interdisciplinary Seminar Experience in the Honors College curriculum.
Students will join incarcerated
scholars in class at the Dominguez State Jail as part of The Philosophy
and Literature Circle program, and must have Thursday evenings 6:15 - 10:15pm reserved for participation in the
Circle. We must arrive at Dominguez by 7:00pm, which means leaving Main Campus around 6:15pm. Carpooling is available.
The Philosophy and Literature Circle cultivates collaborative learning communities
so people in prison and beyond can thrive and build trust across divides. The
Philosophy and Literature Circle is a 12-week reading, writing, and discussion
program that fosters a vibrant learning community in which incarcerated
scholars and university students engage together in sustained exploration of
texts and questions in the humanities. Participants in this program develop capacities in
critical thinking, logical and ethical reasoning, close reading, interpersonal
communication, and creative expression. The humanities belong to all of us yet
we do not all have access to the wisdom we each might bring to the study of the
wide variety of artifacts of the human experience across the millennia.
The Philosophy and Literature Circle is focused on compassionate, critical, and creative engagement with ourselves, one another, and the texts that we read. Each participant enters the Circle as an educator and a learner, and the texts that we select provide an occasion and a focal point for our collective learning.
What this Program is *not*: 1) A way for you to understand ‘life in prison’ or ‘the criminal mind’ or some such; 2) An opportunity for you to ‘help’ people in prison; 3) A space for you to become ‘a voice for the voiceless.’ ||| What this Program can be: 1) A way for you to reflect more deeply on what kind of leader, learner, friend, and neighbor you want to be; 2) An opportunity for you to learn from and alongside people from different life paths; and 3) A space for you to discern and practice how you want to use your own voice within your life, your communities.
Student participation in this component of
the course requires approval as a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) volunteer, which involves
submitting to a background check, and completion of a program
orientation to include a TDCJ volunteer training.
This training is currently scheduled for Thurs., Aug. 29 from 6-10pm in the Engaged Learning Space of the Honors College
on UTSA's Main Campus.
Please note: Students must be age 18 or older to be eligible for TDCJ Volunteer Approval.
Incarcerated scholars and undergraduate colleagues alike submit applications to join the Circle. Please thoughtfully and carefully complete this application no later than Fri., Apr. 26. Decisions will be made on a rolling basis. Applications completed after April 26 will be considered for a wait list. If you have found this application and can commit, you are welcome to submit an application for review and email Dr. Webb to notify them that you have done so. If a spot opens up, we will write to you.
Please contact Dr. Mel Webb at mel.webb@utsa.edu with any questions you might have.
