Description:
For the final project students will work in small groups to develop and stage an appropriately scaled original movement. Each group must decide whether they want to develop a movement that is primarily recognizable as a political movement movement (examples: a demonstration; protest; rally; direct action effort) or a movement that is primarily recognizable as an artistic movement. However, while the group must make this generic choice, whatever movement they organize should develop from and express a thoughtful consideration of both specific political and specific artistic (or aesthetic) commitments.
Requirements:
In a well-researched and meaningful way, the design and/or content of each group’s movement must engage at least two two black movements examined in the course. The additional research you conduct on these black movements should be relevant to the interests, politics, and/or aesthetics informing your group’s movement.
Your research much include an examination of 5-10 relevant and reputable sources, at least three of which should be considered a peer-reviewed scholarly source. As part of your reflection, essay, you will include a bibliography of these sources with a 1-2 sentence annotation describing how the source affected the development of your group’s movement.
Each group must develop, practice, workshop, revise, practice, and coordinate an actual “public” staging of their movement over the course of the semester. To help students stay on track, the professor will provide a list of recommended and required deadlines related to the project.
Finally each group must submit a 1000-1200 word blog post essay in which they:
- Describe their movement. The description should address the following: 1- the political and artistic histories, interests, and commitments the group decided organize the movement around; 2 – how the movement generally engages the history of black political and artistic movements; 3- how your further research of two black movements shapes specific parts of the movement’s design and/or content; 4- the process of developing (workshopping and practicing) the movement; and 5 – the logistics and experience of actually staging the movement.
and
- Reflect on the movement they created. The reflection should offer thoughtful responses to the following questions: 1 – What were the biggest factors affecting how the movement evolved from idea to performance over the course of the semester? 2 – Relatedly, what intellectual, artistic, and/or logistic process issues did your group encounter? 3 – How did negotiating those issues effect your understanding of the movement you were creating? 4 – What worked and what didn’t work the way you intended during the actual performance? 5 – How did other folks outside your group and also others outside our class engage with the movement you produced?; and 6 – How has the enactment of this movement changed you in some way?
and
- Cite sources in an MLA formatted annotated bibliography – The annotated bibliography, which is the same as the one mentioned above, does not count towards the 1000-1200 word requirement for the reflection essay. Your bibliography should include five to ten relevant and reputable sources. At least three of those sources should be peer-reviewed scholarly sources. With each citation you should include a brief (2-3 sentences) annotation describing how the source affected the development of your group’s movement.