Design for Rebellion

Catalog description

In this class, students will learn how outsider groups use social innovation, art, fashion, music, creative communications, and serious play to subvert the status quo, protest injustice, express their values, and change the world. Students will explore the history and future of design’s role in the inception, growth (and occasional demise) of outsider groups, focusing on the American culture of rebellion over the past century. We will look deeply at groups concerned with equity and power like the Black Panthers, the Chicanx power movement, punk rock, Occupy, and burgeoning groups of today. Through dynamic lectures, active discussions, and creative projects, students will explore the potential of design to redistribute power and reshape our world. This class is designed for all undergraduates, no design or artistic experience is needed.