This project will be enacted in the context of a Satirical Literature elective at Manchester Community College in which students will examine the theme of speaking truth to power. The project proceeds on the basis of the following thesis: Satire can only effectively speak truth to power in a society where there is a body of “self-evident truth” agreed upon by the culture at large. As the US becomes more polarized, the body of shared self-evident truths is shrinking –particularly surrounding the themes of race and equity. Students will be asked to explore: How has this shrinking body of self-evident truths changed the role of satire in our society? What is our responsibility as individuals speaking truth to power in such a cultural climate? Final projects will take the form of a written, visual, or multi-media artifact in which students use their own voice to speak their own truth to an issue of significance to them.
Global Racial and Social Inequality Lab
