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SoSe 20: Youth and Global Political Activism in the 20th Century

Nazan Maksudyan Ilicak

Hinweise für Studierende

This course will rely on online learning methods. As I only have limited experience with online teaching, this will be, in a sense, an experimental semester for all of us. The information below intends to give you an idea about what to expect from this course. However, I also take into account the need to be more flexible under these trying circumstances and strange days. Active and regular participation: The students would have the following responsibilities: 1) readings; 2) reading responses; 3) group discussions and/or presentations; 4) participation in general discussions (in Blackboard and in “class meetings”); 5) other tasks that might be introduced as we move forward. Blackboard Learn: This course will extensively rely on the tools of the Blackboard Learn. Readings will be available for you online here. You will also be asked to submit your reading responses via Blackboard. The group discussions will also be held through Blackboard. A summary of all weekly assignments will be posted in the announcements section. “Class meetings” will be in the form of short video conversations via the platform that will be announced when the term starts (Cisco WebEx or https://meeting.fu-berlin.de). They will probably take place every two or three weeks – there will be in total 4-6 meetings). Participation is highly recommended but not a requirement. Office hours will also take place online. You will all be invited for an individual meeting. Module grade: Those who want to get a letter grade for this course need to meet the above mentioned requirements for active and regular participation, together with writing a research paper on a topic that is interesting to you (and related to the main themes of the course in general). Schließen

Kommentar

This course focuses on young people's political mobilization and activism during the twentieth century. Youth were not only instrumental in pre-1939 fascist movements, they were also the backbone of armed resistance movements in the Nazi-occupied Europe. Young people were active and engaged in the civil rights movement’s most memorable moments in the US in the1960s. They desegregated schools in the Jim Crow South, challenged racism during Freedom Rides, and pushed forward voter rights and civil rights legislation. The youth and student movements of the 1960s and 70s all around the world – built around anti-colonial struggles, anti-war protests, feminist emancipation, etc. – fueled the wider spirit of revolt for a generation. They were followed by the peace and anti-nuclear movements, reaching their apogee in 1983 in West Berlin. Young people’s involvement were quite visible in the revolutions that saw the end of the Cold War in 1989. At the same time, millions of young people took to the streets in cities throughout China demanding democratic reforms and economic liberalization in the face of cronyism and economic decline. 2000s started with a series of movements that have challenged neoliberalism and continued with the Arab Spring. Fridays for Future activists are the newest and the youngest link in a decades-long chain of youth activists at the forefront of social change across the globe. The course intends to trace the historical precedence of youth activism and the factors that drive young people to become important advocates for change. Schließen