Difficult Dialogues: Race, Law, and Religion in America

Catalog description

Intended to help create a campus environment where sensitive subjects can be discussed in a spirit of open, scholarly inquiry and intellectual rigor and with respect for different viewpoints. (Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues RFP, 2005 at: http://www.fordfound.org/news/more/dialogues/index.cfm?print-ver) Students in this problem-based discussion and writing course will examine race in America through the lenses of law and religion. Working on teams and using a variety of resources, students will investigate five issues spanning from the founding of the country to present day New Orleans. Analyzing past and present historical events, students will gain insights into both the progressive and repressive roles that law and religion can play in creating and resolving difficult human problems. Students who take this class will become “bridge-builders” in their communities; people who bridge the gulf between groups that sometimes perceive themselves as being divided, when they have far more in common than that which may be the subject of a “difficult dialogue.”