The London Eye: Engaged Gazing for Social Justice Abroad in Britain

This is a three-week study abroad immersion experience with London serving as the intellectual, cultural, and social justice sight for classroom and excursion activities. The primary focus of this course centers on contemporary themes concerning immigration and human trafficking in Britain, with particular reference to issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, cultural challenges, exploitation, abuse, and more, faced by victims of these practices. Selected course content is drawn from readings, history, art, and activism, etc. Some content reaches back as far as William Shakespeare and includes information about the transatlantic trade in African slaves; however, the primary focus of the course is on contemporary texts (including novels, nonfiction prose, poetry, drama, secondary readings, local London newspapers, films/videos and more). Because of the intersectional and interdisciplinary content of this course, students from a wide range of majors are able to engage in this course meaningful, engaging, and transformative in terms of developing as agents of change for a more just and humane world.