URS 380: SiD - Theory and Practice of Visionary Organizing

Course Description

What is the concept of Visionary Organizing? Where did it come from, and how is it related to Detroit’s rich history of Black radical politics and community building? What role does it play in current grassroots activism, organizations, and community-media in Detroit? These are some of the guiding questions for this course. Taking the lives, activism, and intellectual work of James and Grace Lee Boggs as the starting point, the course will guide students through a multifaceted examination of historical and contemporary expressions of radical activism in Detroit. Beginning with the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s and ending with contemporary movements, groups, and organizers, we will explore how thinkers and activists during the last half century have theorized, organized, and created the conditions to bring new visions of a just city into being. Students will learn about and have the opportunity to interact with contemporary expressions of visionary organizing such as Feedom Freedom Growers, Birwood House, Riverwise magazine, Visionary Organizing Lab, Sweetwater Foundation, and the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership. This course serves as an elective course for the Semester in Detroit (SiD) program. (F, W, S).