WRITING THE ESSAY II: HUMAN RIGHTS: ARTISTIC RESPONSES-EMPHASIS ON THE PERSONAL ESSAY AND HYBRID LITERATURE. Through selected readings, essay, poetry, combined forms, film, historical perspectives and current events, this course will examine human rights, human expression, themes of survival, freedom, what makes us human to violations of human rights domestically and globally. Through writing prompts and assignments, Writers in the course will respond to given materials with some elements of research over time. We will examine issues of race, women’s rights, immigrant rights feminism, lgtbqi issues, class and workers rights, asking questions such as Where do the personal and political interface in literature? How do artists and respond writers articulate and intervene in human rights abuses? Do artists have a responsibility in record keeping? What constitutes political writing? What is the writers role in society? Can craft and political writing coexist? We will also discuss issues such as self vs. governmental censorship and visibility vs. invisibility. Is writing inherently activism? Some of the writers surveyed will be Safiya Bukhari, Hannah Arendt, Kevin Bales, Sadiya Hartman, Joy Harjo, Karen Finley, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehesi Coates, Chimamanda Adiche, and more.