4.00 Credits
Since its first conception the notion of who can be a citizen and what citizenship entails has changed. In the United States the rights and privileges of citizenship have been won by an increasing proportion of the population since the founding of the nation. Those considered outside the realm of full political equality have organized resources to obtain recognition and rights to participate in governing. By claiming the rights of citizenship women minorities and young people have won the right to vote and equal protections under the Constitution. Outside of the U.S. context groups have worked to shape their own governments through both political and extra-political means. The course surveys the practice of American citizenship and asks what this means in a global age. Students will reflect on their own practice of citizenship the challenges of being engaged citizens in the federal system of the U.S. and what it means to be citizens in an increasingly diverse nation and interdependent world