Cry of Freedom: New Inside-Out Prison Exchange Course
Cry of Freedom: Reflections in World Literature of the Longing to be Free
Course number: WLL 238
There are no pre-requisites and admission is by application only (apply at the link below).
This course will be made up of an integrated group of LC students and students incarcerated at Columbia River Correctional Institution. In “The Cry of Freedom”, we will explore expressions of the human longing to be free, in its multiple facets, across both time and space. It is a characteristic of the human experience to feel constrained – limited, finite, trapped, stuck. Sometimes the constraints we experience are physical and quite literal: incarceration, captivity, physical limitations. At other times, they are imposed by social constructs in which we can feel trapped: categorizations by gender, race, sexuality, socio-economic status, etc. And at still other times, our stuckness as humans feels existential and universal: we all get sick; we all experience hurt, cruelty and loss; we all die and know we will die. Across time periods and cultures, we have yearned to be free of these limitations, and explored this “cry of freedom” in our hearts through stories and narrative. In this course, we will read texts dealing with this theme from a variety of perspectives and experiences, thus broadening our understanding of what is meant by “freedom” and how one might go about finding it.
ABOUT THIS PROGRAM
With support from Mellon Foundation, the Center for Community and Global Health is expanding the Inside-Out courses offered by Lewis & Clark College. Inside-Out brings fifteen people incarcerated at the Columbia River Correctional Institution and fifteen undergraduate students together in courses taught by Lewis & Clark faculty. Find out more about Inside-Out Instructor Training Faculty Grant applications.
