Professor: Kaia Stern

Th - 9:00am to 11:45am

How do we understand justice? What are the connections between trauma, education and mass incarceration? From cradle to prison cell, what is our praxis—that is, how do we do education, and what are its fruits? This course explores the systems of racialized punishment that have created the current conditions around school suspensions, arrests, and incarceration. It focuses on the growing movement for restorative/transformative justice, paying particular attention to factors associated with delinquency and crime; such as citizenship, poverty, race, and gender. The course uses readings, discussion, workshops, and meetings with expert practitioners in diverse settings (schools, prisons, and neighborhoods) to provide the tools educators need to nurture learning communities that affirm human dignity. Visiting practitioners will include indigenous leaders, prison educators, and teachers from the Boston Public Schools. Our work will engage a range of disciplines including applied ethics, transformative pedagogy, neuroscience, and public policy to ask fundamental questions about what it means to keep humanity at the center of conflict resolution. Please note that this course includes a practicum—students will support transformative justice in diverse environments. 

Enrollment is limited.  Instructor permission required.  Enrollment instructions will be posted to the course website.