The College Fix

Course will teach students to use ‘artmaking as a tactic of resistance’

A dance course this spring at Purdue University melds dance, “activism,” and “social transformation.”

“The Art Of Protest: An Examination Of The Role Of Arts, Artists, Activism, & Social Transformation” teaches students to “examine the role the arts and the artist and their relationship to activism throughout history and beyond

Art has been used throughout history to aid in political and social movements, according to the course description.

Enrollees in the class will “research, watch, discuss, create, and perform their own projects that promote social transformation.”

They will also analyze a variety of tools “to transform cultural perspectives, alter policies, and promote social change” and teach students how to “challenge the cultural norms.”

“From printmakers to musicians, to choreographers, to performance artists, students will engage and evaluate the act of art-making as a tactic of resistance and the responses to those acts.” the course description states.

The Fix reached out to Kathleen Hickey, the professor of the course, for more information about the types of activism taught and any concerns that the course might draw criticism from state lawmakers. She did respond to multiple emails and a phone call over the past several weeks.

The class fulfills the “cultural diversity” core requirement for the college of arts and sciences. Students can also take “Black Women Rising,” “Contemporary Thought of Minorities in Management,” and “Archaeology of Beer.”

According to Hickey’s personal website she has an undergraduate degree in political science from Purdue University and a master’s of fine arts in dance and performing arts from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Her website also states she “is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher who explores movement with empathy and curiosity; while striving to illustrate how gender informs embodied experiences.”

However, an accomplished translator of classic works and longtime English professor criticized the course concept and instructors who incorporate activism into art.

“The people who do it are not generally well versed in history or anthropology, let alone politics, so it spares them the hard work of study and judgment,” Anthony Esolen, a distinguished professor of humanities at Thales College, told The Fix via email.

Esolen also connected the activism in dance to another form of art: “It’s a little like sleaze in films. You don’t have to tell a compelling story when you can capture your audience by quicker and cheaper and less intelligent means.”

This is not the only dance course at Purdue that incorporates identity politics.

Another class at Purdue University, “Contact Improvisation,” says students will learn to increase ”their body awareness.”

The class on “partner dance” will also help students “learn about collaborative community creativity, which can be applied in other settings including design, performance, and social activism.”

Students at Purdue can also learn how to apply critical race theory to mapmaking, as previously reported by The Fix.

Other universities also have connected the performing arts to identity politics. Arizona State University, for example, hired a critical race scholar for its music, dance, and theatre school, as previously reported by The Fix.

MORE: UVA professor compares Kamala Harris loss to ‘violence of chattel slavery’

IMAGES: Purdue University; Polina Tankilevich/Corelens

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter