Prophetic G.R.I.T. Growing Resources InTernally

Instructor Note 11/29/21

Follow the links below, and look under MODULES on the left side panel to get all of the information you need for the course trajectory. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. I'll continue to complete the syllabus over the next few days.

Here is an introductory video to the course (11:21) https://youtu.be/CXn6nXxPI0A

Course Description:

In a world of direct, structural, and cultural violence, how do we find the internal resources and cultivate individual and collective practices to resist injustice and engage our prophetic voices? We will consider numerous examples of grounding and centering practices from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions that encourage us to develop strength, rest, and joy for our bodies and spirits within a life and community of active resistance to oppression. We will ask ourselves: what are the internal resources necessary to sustain long-term prophetic voice and activism and create authentic communities committed to undermining domination? We will seek to develop personal and communal spiritual routines which honor the integrity of different cultures and resist cultural appropriation.

Course Objectives:

• Define what it means to be a prophet/be prophetic within our life/vocational contexts
• Develop and investigate spiritual practices, routines/rituals that primarily serve the purpose of internal grounding for social and ecological justice work. These may be traditions and practices that already exist and/or may be ones to renew or develop.
• Determine an action-reflection hermeneutical circle method to guide our prophetic action-reflection-ritual cycles
• Understand what cultural appropriation is, particularly within the realm of spiritual practice, and develop commitments to resisting appropriation

BOTH OF THESE TEXTS ARE AVAILABLE AS E-BOOKS THROUGH TAYLOR LIBRARY

Radical Dharma: Talking Race. Love. And Liberation. Rev. angel Kyodo Williams and Lama Rod Owens, with Jasmine Syedullah. North Atlantic Books, 2016.

Voices of the Ancestors: Xicanx and Latinx Spiritual Expressions and Healing Practices. Lara Medina and Martha R. Gonzales, eds. University of Arizona Press, 2016.

In this course, there are five basic components of the day-to-day requirements

1) DAILY READING & LISTENING MATERIALS

2) FOUR PERSONAL REFLECTIONS/CREATIONS These short written or otherwise creative assignments, shared with the instructor, are delineated in the Modules. You will be "grading" yourself for the course within the context of the first and last personal reflections.

3) PARTICIPATING IN ONLINE DISCUSSION You must participate in at least seven out of ten days of the course online discussions. You deciding which days you will not pariticipate in will be part of your reflection on time management, and how you employ your personal resources, set boundaries, and take time off.

4) ZOOM MEETINGS (Asking you to particpate in 2 out of 4 slots offered to meet on Zoom)

5) PERSONAL RETREAT Taking four-hour chunk of time during the two weeks of the intensive course for a personal retreat.If you are not able to do this in a four-hour chunk, you will need to tell me what you intend to do. Four 1-hour chunks of time? Two 2-hour?

This course has an on online discussion component. Though it will be less prominent than in a full ten-week course, the discussion forum is still where much of the collective aspect of the course “takes place.” Here we share ideas, ask questions, and deepen our understanding of course concepts. Generally, I will post numerous questions related to the weekly topics. By no means are you expected to answer all of questions I post. Respond to the ones that make you want to answer. What I really want you to do is to respond critically and personally to the course materials and one another. My expectation is that you will participate in all discussion threads as often and as well as you are able.

Any posted discussions will be due my midnight. I encourage you to post your original responses to discussion questions earlier than that. Even if you are not ready to post your own original answers to the questions, I nonetheless encourage you to log in to the course website early on, read your classmates' posts that have posted, and respond to them. Being present in an online format requires you to make your presence known. 

My intention is that you may be able to attend two of the four following scheduled Zoom Meetings. You are welcome to attend as many of them as you like. I will send the information for the Zoom meeting, the link and the content of the meeting, ahead of the time.

You are able to edit this page. Please add your name to whichever Zoom meetings you plan to attend and don't forget the SAVE the page when you are done. If you have a problem with meeting this requirement, please let me know.

Monday, November 29 6PM MST

Name: Julie Todd, Venedith Vargas, Baranda Fermin, Vicki Bryant, Lou Davis, Dennis Saavedra Carquin-Hamichand, Carolyn Pittman, Andrea Murdock, Lex Dunbar, Nate Clark, Victoria Volker

Wednesday, December 1 NOON MST

Name: Julie Todd, Ross Janovec, Vicki Bryant, Carolyn Pittman, Haley Anderson, Lex Dunbar, Nate Clark, Victoria Volker, Ian Keith

Sunday, December 5 4PM MST

Name: Julie Todd, Venedith Vargas, Ross Janovec, Vicki Bryant, Lou Davis, Dennis Saavedra Carquin-Hamichand, Carolyn Pittman, Haley Anderson, Andrea Murdock, Ian Keith, Kelsey Ross

Tuesday, December 7 6PM MST

Name: Julie Todd, Baranda Fermin, Lou Davis, Jon Moore, Venedith Vargas, Carolyn, Nate Clark,Ian Keith, Victoria Volker, Kelsey Ross

 

THIS CLASS IS A TWO-WEEK INTENSIVE for two credits, approximating a full week's work per day. I expect that you will communicate with me when you anticipate being unable to participate in discussions, Zoom Meetings, or turning in assignments in a timely manner. 

• If either you missed something or need a refresher, any new or updated information on the class can be found in the Announcements section. Otherwise, all of the information on how to navigate the course is provided on the home page of the course, which includes links to all content in the syllabus. The end of the home page syllabus is a chronological list of items that are due. Except for the Zoom meetings, all of your assignments from weekly course materials, to Discussions, to more extensive writing assignments, should show up as due dates in your To-Do list for the course.
• Turn your notifications on.

Communications Policy: I will log on to the classroom every day of the 2-week intensive. The discussion forum is generally the best place to ask most questions. If there is a question about class requirements or other questions that do not fit into a weekly discussion, I encourage you to use the internal Canvas communication system. If you need to contact me on an individual basis, please email me directly and I will try to reply within 24 hours. If you would like to arrange to communicate with me, please email me directly to set up an appointment.

If you need technical support for anything related to your laptop or device, how CANVAS works, how to do live video conferencing, you should contact the IT helpdesk at helpdesk@iliff.edu.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

Instructor Information

Julie Todd, Ph.D.

E-mail: jtodd@iliff.edu

John Wesley Iliff Senior Lecturer in Justice and Peace Studies

Dr. Julie Todd is a scholar-activist living in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She received her Ph.D. in 2012 from University of Denver-Iliff School of Theology Joint Program in Religious and Theological Studies. As John Wesley Iliff Senior Lecturer in Justice & Peace Studies, she teaches all of her courses in online and hybrid formats, and primarily teaches courses in the area of justice and peace. Her scholarship focuses on social change theory and praxis, violence and (non)violence, and matters of privilege, oppression and solidarity across axes of difference.

She is a published essayist and poet on matters of justice-seeking and the spiritual life. In 2019, she released a book of her own personal writings called 50: thorns & blossoms (Links to an external site.). In 2020, she released a self-published rewrite of her dissertation called Struggling with (Non)violence (Links to an external site.).

She is also a trained herbalist and aromatherapist. She is the owner of her own business JustJulie (Links to an external site.). She is one of the resident artists & healers at Colectiva Wellness & Healing (Links to an external site.) in Lawrence, MA.