Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The plays students produce in this course are based on Theater of the Oppressed forum theater and will be toured throughout PCC campuses with some community performances. Students write the plays, produce the publicity and educational materials as well as perform in the plays and facilitate audience dialogue. The performances are geared toward creating a campus and community climate that is inclusive and respectful of all people’s culture, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation, and other diversity. During SOC 214b and SOC 214c the courses will focus on two different social inequity topics. This course is a required component of The Illumination Project.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Explain social contexts and the diversity of human thought and experience through the application of methods of inquiry and analysis.

2. Describe how individual life experiences are influenced by social institutions using the sociological imagination and sociological perspective.Use appropriate social research methods to demonstrate the consequences of systemic oppression (racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, etc.) on social groups and society.

3.  Reflect on the processes that shape and address social problems while locating oneself within social contexts and connecting personal biography and social status with societal issues
4. Describe people, cultures and communities from backgrounds different than themselves.
5. Use social theories in development of Illumination Project plays to educate others about institutional oppression and inequities based on racism and xenophobia as well as potential solutions to social problems.
6. Demonstrate respect for diversity, critical thinking, and collaboration by participating as active citizens in their societies and communities.

We hope that the careful study of society will empower our students to develop the insights, empathy, and skills to analyze and address social issues such as systemic oppression.

In addition to following guidelines for assessing General Education outcomes, instructors will assess student learning of course-level outcomes by using various assessment tools, per instructor discretion, such as:

1. Class participation in discussions and/or in small groups (on-line or on campus) 

2. Short analytical homework assignments on specific concepts or issues

3. Response papers or journals reflecting on life experiences or social events

4. Research papers, using analyses of academic sources (i.e., signature assignments)

5. Quizzes and/or exams

6. Oral histories and interviews

7. Oral or video presentations

8. Community-based learning projects, involving learning objectives, service to community, and reflection

9. Group research and presentation projects

10. Additional assignments, as deemed appropriate for assessment of learning objectives

See sample of assessment options.

1. The concept of culture that includes personal background, social norms and values as well as dominant and subordinate culture located within U.S. society especially as those concepts relate to the topic of the plays for this term.

2. Sociological perspectives related to social problems and the distinction between personal troubles and social problems as it relates to the play topic this term.

3. Social institutions, including the economy, government, family, education, religion, healthcare, and media as they relate to the play topic this term.

4. The impact of social institutions on different categories of people, specifically the group of people featured in the play topic this term.

5. Connecting lived experience to culture, social structures and systems of inequity especially as it relates to the topic of the plays this term. 

6. Challenges and opportunities for social change especially as they relate to the topic of the plays for this term.

7. Interactive theater as a vehicle for exploring societal structures and opportunities for social change.