Course List

From slave revolts to satayagraha, oppressed people have deployed both violent and nonviolent means to achieve liberatory ends. No method has ever been uncontroversial. Indeed, the question of when (if ever) political violence can be justified remains a live political debate. This course focuses on four scholar-activists—Frederick Douglass, M.K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Frantz Fanon—to ask how they understood the role of violence in politics. We will examine the evolution of these figures’ political thinking in relation to the movements they led. We will ask what “violence” and “nonviolence” even mean. We will consider how the theory and practice of (non)violence evolved and changed as it moved from one context to another. Written requirements for this lecture course include a midterm and a final exam.