Special Topics in Ethics

ETHICS 390S

Instructor: Ada Gregory

Mode: In-Person

This course explores contemporary questions of what it means to work for the public good with, within or outside of the bounds of the State through a practicum experience coupled with a weekly seminar. It is designed to help students reflect on their placements working 24 hrs/week within various organizations dedicated to remedying social inequities and disadvantage in education, immigration, criminal justice, or housing. The course will introduce students firsthand to the systems, actors and contexts of current approaches to change in both policy and practice using the placements as primary sources of analysis. Students will explore the ethical issues inherent in community engagement and social change strategies by critiquing the benefits and limitations of various strategies for working towards the public good, by considering the implications of race, gender, class and other identity markers on the actors and beneficiaries of change efforts, and by reflecting on the tensions inherent in organizing and sustaining movements within the context of Durham’s history and contemporary landscape. Service-learning course.

Topics vary by semester.
Typically Offered
Occasionally