{"id":51221,"date":"2023-03-19T13:26:57","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T20:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=51221"},"modified":"2023-03-19T13:26:57","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T20:26:57","slug":"everyday-erinyes-362","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2023\/03\/19\/everyday-erinyes-362\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #362"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/strong><\/span>, Megaera<\/span><\/strong>, and Tisiphone<\/strong><\/span>. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

I remember “The Bookdocks” from print newspapers and always found it enlightening. Certainly it pulled no punches.I actually never knew that there was a TV series – not really surprising, as I never subscribed to cable or satellite. But based on what I saw in the papers, I’m not surprised that a very interesting course indeed can be developed from it. I can’t even count how many times I have thought and said and written that people do our best learning through storytelling – that it is far more influential than rstional argument, because it touches, not just the brain, but also the heart – and I could go on – But instead I’ll let Professor March do the sharing.
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Why I use \u2018The Boondocks\u2019 TV cartoon show to teach a course about\u00a0race<\/h1>\n
A character from \u2018The Boondocks\u2019 is depicted in street art in Los Angeles during the time of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
\nChelsea Guglielmino via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kris Marsh<\/a>, University of Maryland<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unusual Courses<\/a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.<\/em><\/p>\n

Title of course:<\/h2>\n

\u201cWhy Are We Still Talking About Race?\u201d<\/p>\n

What prompted the idea for the course?<\/h2>\n

I am a huge fan of the animated TV series \u201cThe Boondocks,\u201d which aired from 2005 to 2014. The show chronicles, through biting sociological and political commentary, the adventures of two boys: Huey Freeman, the older brother and self-described revolutionary left-wing radical, and Riley Freeman, Huey\u2019s younger brother, who embraces and represents the gangster lifestyle. The Freeman brothers grapple with having to move from Chicago to the suburbs to live with their grandfather, Robert Freeman, an easily angered and self-proclaimed civil rights icon. A series of events gave me the idea for the course.<\/p>\n

The first was during a faculty meeting that felt as if it were going in slow motion because colleagues were going on and on about one item on a full agenda. I had to fight to keep my alter ego, 8-year-old Riley Freeman and his stereotypical \u201cgangsta\u201d lifestyle, from coming out and shouting \u201cshut up\u201d and \u201clet\u2019s move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, I thought, maybe I should teach a class on \u201cThe Boondocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second event took place a few semesters later. While training police officers on implicit bias, I felt a burning desire to drop some Huey Freeman-type knowledge on the officers. Ten-year-old Huey is highly intelligent and knowledgeable beyond his years.<\/p>\n

Finally, in the summer of 2021, while on a golf course collecting data for a research project on navigating racism, sexism and classism as a Black golfer, I met a Black golfer who was not familiar with \u201cThe Boondocks,\u201d but whose family calls him Uncle Ruckus. Uncle Ruckus is another character from the show who is notable because of his disdain for Black people and enjoys dissociating himself from other Black Americans. At that moment, it became clear that I should teach a class using \u201cThe Boondocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, the creator of \u201cThe Boondocks,\u201d Aaron McGruder, is an alum of the University of Maryland<\/a>, where I teach my course. \u201cThe Boondocks\u201d started as a comic strip in the University of Maryland newspaper<\/a>, The Diamondback, before becoming a syndicated animated show<\/a> on network television in 2005<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What does the course explore?<\/h2>\n

We watch episodes weekly. All of the episodes either directly or indirectly deal with various race-related topics. For instance, through an episode titled \u201cThe Story of Gangstalicious<\/a>,\u201d we debate societal views on Black male masculinity. Through an episode called \u201cThe Garden Party<\/a>,\u201d we discuss xenophobia and related implications post-9\/11.<\/p>\n