CoursesOppression: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
PHIL 4480, PHIL 6480

Oppression: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

What is oppression? Does it define a subjective experience or a structural condition? Should we understand it in terms of a restriction on freedom? Or equality? Or our ability to fully express our agency? And how can it be resisted?

The course aims to explore these questions through the reading and discussion of the work of philosophers and critical theorists who have addressed them in the past and continue to address them today. We will thus attempt to get a clearer idea of what oppression is, how it works, and how it can be resisted. We will also discuss its difference vis-à-vis and relation with other concepts such as power, domination, submission, exploitation, and alienation.

Course instructors:

Sukaina Hirji and Daniele Lorenzini

Related Content

Other Courses of Interest

PSCI 4992

Free Speech and the First Amendment Tradition

Instructor(s)

  • Carlin Romano

Semester

Fall 2024

Free Speech and its First Amendment protections have rarely been as controversial and central to public discussion in the United States as they are today. After a brief introduction to free speech as understood before it became enshrined in the Constitution’s First Amendment, we’ll examine and trace its history in the U.S.—legally, politically, philosophically and socially—from 1791 to the present day.

Learn More
LALS 3020 / PSCI 2420

Diplomacy in the Americas: The Penn Model OAS Program

Instructor(s)

  • Catherine Bartch

Semester

Fall 2024

“Diplomacy in the Americas” an academically based community service course in which students work with Philadelphia and Norristown public school students to explore solutions to critical problems facing the Americas.

Learn More