Citizen 110, Inquiry into Citizenship, is taught by Professor Hannah Dudley-Shotwell. The course focuses on learning about Bodies and Citizens and how through history, a person’s body defines the extent to which they are treated as a citizen. This is a foundations level course to which I enjoyed very much.
The course does not have an assigned textbook. Instead, Dr. Dudley-Shotwell assigns articles, documentaries, and excerpts from historic novels to which we annotate and discuss in the following class. The content is very beneficial, and I enjoy reading through it.
Dr. Dudley-Shotwell expects each student to become interested and passionate about topics in the course. To ensure this, she asks us as her students what topics we have interest in learning. Off of these topics, she deepens our understanding of the history behind them. The topics include, women’s rights, African American treatment, Indian American treatment, the history of birth control and many others.
The majority of work complete is project driven. The piece of work chosen as a reflection of the course is a three minute thesis presentation I completed midway through the course. The topic I chose for the presentation was middle class white women then and now. My thesis statement that I argued stated, “How does the lifestyle/conduct and citizenship conditions of middle class white
women during the American Revolution affect our contemporary society in “ethical” or “unethical” ways.”
The presentation was complete in three minutes where I had to persuade the class on the chosen topic. By doing so I depended on the stories of revolutionary women gaining independence and the court cases of the US Women’s National Team fighting for the right to equal pay.
This presentation was my first of two three minute thesis presentations of which i completed during the course. This format of presenting was a needed experience. It taught me to be short with my words in an argumentative mode where I would get to the point in a more appropriate manner.
Attachment for Artifact : Three Minute Thesis Outline Presentation