In this program we will do a deep dive into the foundations of transformative justice and creative writing. But we will not do so from a distance, as there will be numerous opportunities to practice both. We’ll study the abolitionist, feminist, and Indigenous perspectives on justice and healing. We’ll focus extensively on interdependence, why we need each other, and what it requires. We’ll study lessons from practitioners of Transformative Justice and read writing by people grappling with some of humanity’s toughest questions.

 

Just some of the questions that will drive our inquiry are: What are more humane responses to rupture in human relationships? What can systems of justice look like that aren’t punitive? How do we seed a work whose ground floor is sustainability, connection, and love? What roles are there to play in tending to people, community, and society? How do we stop warring with each other in big and small ways, and instead choose healing and reparations? How does transformative justice reduce levels of violence? What do we do with the un-forgiveable? How do we care for ourselves and one another in processes of Transformative Justice?

 

These questions are central to the field of critical psychology, which is concerned with the ways power shapes our relationships to ourselves, our communities, and larger society. Punishment culture shapes not only societal responses to harm and violence, but also our understandings of good vs. bad, victim vs. perpetrator. Psychology theories we’ll cover might include social learning theory, attribution bias, cognitive dissonance, attachment theory.

 

In relation to creative writing, we’ll study and write poems, stories, essays, and spoken word about transformative justice. Students will produce a collection of creative writing related to these topics. If you are interested in psychology, transformative justice, and/or healing through the arts, this program is for you. The program will be taught with a trauma-informed lens.

 

Some of our reading will include these authors: Adrienne Maree Brown, Mariame Kaba, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha, Renee Linklater, Mia Mingus, and Dean Spade.

 

We will meet weekly for four hours. An additional four hours of class time will be spent asynchronously on faculty-designed activities. 

 

4 - Liberation Psychology

4 - Creative Writing