Social Responsibility Praxis
The Community Engagement Center supports students completing Social Responsibility Praxis courses that are part of Pitzer’s five core values and a graduation requirement.
“At Pitzer, students spend four years examining the ethical implications of knowledge and individual responsibility in making the world better. They learn to evaluate the impact of individual and collective actions manifested in social and political policies.”- https://www.pitzer.edu/about/mission-and-values/
What are SRX or Social Responsibility Praxis courses?
Social Responsibility Praxis courses includes a 40+ hour community engagement component with a community partner designated by your faculty member. Your faculty and the CEC can connect you to local organizations.
FALL 2023
AFRI 120 PZ-01- B(L)ack to Nature: Poetry & Theory with Laura Harris
B(L)ack to Nature: Poetry & Theory This course introduces students to poetic forms in relation to the subject of nature in 20thC African American poetry. Through the study of authors such as Lucille Clifton, Ntozake Shange, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, June Jordan, and Claudia Rankine students explore formal aesthetic strategies of and practice writing free verse, vignette, haiku, choreopoem, blues, and spoken word. Through readings and research in Black feminist geography studies students learn the critical contexts of and develop an aesthetic understanding in relation to the representational politics of nature and gender in African American poetic expression.
ART 030 PZ-01/02- Sustainable Sculpture with Sarah Gilbert
Sustainable Sculpture: Crafting Care, Curiosity, and Community This course emphasizes the creative and ethical use of found materials, including anything from carving a broken bookshelf left curbside, to scavenging and replanting seeds from food scraps. How can attentive attunement with our material surroundings shift how we consider site-specificity, or community audience in this distinctive moment? No specialized tools, supplies, or facilities are required, and students are not responsible for any fees or purchases. Twice weekly long block meetings focus on hands-on material experimentation and community engagement, supported by short lectures, readings, and discussions for context. All levels welcome!
ASAM 082 PZ-01- Racial Politics of Teaching with Kathleen Yep and Carmen Fought
This class examines how race and ethnicity are constructed in schooling from sociological, linguistic and ethnic studies standpoints. Specifically, we will discuss how race and ethnicity are constructed in schooling and ways teachers/educators may refine their pedagogies in relation to race and ethnicity. Students will do a research project.
ASAM 088 PZ-01- Thich Nhat Hanh with Kathleen Yep
The Social Theory of Thich Nhat Hanh This student-centered course is an introduction to Thích Nhất Hạnh as a social theorist regarding the earth and nonviolent social change. Through historical and contemporary examples, we will focus on creating collective empowerment amidst historical trauma. Through discussion, community engagement, and collaborative projects, students will learn concepts, will practice, and will apply interbeing and, engaged Buddhism to real world problems.
ASAM 135 PZ-01- Race Empire Filipinx America with Todd Honma
This class examines how race and ethnicity are constructed in schooling from sociological, linguistic and ethnic studies standpoints. Specifically, we will discuss how race and ethnicity are constructed in schooling and ways teachers/educators may refine their pedagogies in relation to race and ethnicity. Students will do a research project.
CASA 101 PZ-01- Critical Community Studies with Tessa Hicks Peterson
Utilizes Southern California as a case study to examine how global trends impact local issues. Working in a seminar format, students discuss how power shapes social and environmental problems, network and coalition building, and political movements. The class utilizes a “cluster bomb” approach to several topics, providing a theoretical and contextual framework for understanding broad-scale public policy failures. Special topics include environmental justice, immigration, homelessness, education, gangs, and the prison system. We are particularly interested in links between exclusion and structural violence, symbolic devises of Othering, the growth of a surveillance society, and movements toward more just urban landscape. Several fields experiences, including a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, expand on course themes. This course is part of CASA, a three credit program, which includes taking two courses simultaneously (CASA 101 & 105) and engaging in a 125-hour fieldwork fellowship with a local community organization. Classes and fellowship take place off campus, with transportation provided. For more information check out CASA Pitzer’s Program Page.
CASA 105 PZ-01- Research Methods for Community Engagement with Tessa Hicks Peterson
Research for Community Change incorporates the study of diverse approaches of qualitative inquiry (i.e., ethnography, participatory action, project-based research) along with theoretical frameworks around community development and social change through research practicums with community change partnerships in Ontario. This class is centered around the intensive research internship and community immersion experience with grassroots organizations addressing a variety of issues in Ontario such as immigration, education, voter mobilization, environmental justice, and labor rights. Fully executed project-based and community-based action research projects by students will directly inform community development and policy reforms currently underway through multiple partnerships in Ontario. This course is part of CASA, a three credit program, which includes taking two courses simultaneously (CASA 101 & 105) and engaging in a 125-hour fieldwork fellowship with a local community organization. Classes and fellowship take place off campus, with transportation provided For more information check out CASA Pitzer’s Program Page.
CHLT 072 CH-01- Intro to Central American Studies with Suyapa Portillo Villeda
Introduction to Central American Studies I: Histories and Cultures This interdisciplinary survey of history and culture of Central Americans in the United States examines social, political and economic forces resulting in Central American migration and settlement. The class explores the intersectionality of race, class, gender and sexuality; transnational connections, identity formation, and the concept of ‘Mestizaje’, for indigenous and Afrodescendant groups.
EA 153 PZ-01- Community Compost & Soil Health with Lynn Fang
Community Composting and Soil Health Within the global context of climate change and environmental justice, explore the ways in which community composting serves to alleviate and overcome burdens of climate justice. Examine the role of composting in waste management, soil health, community well-being, and regenerative food systems. Understand and engage in monitoring of soil health using tools such as simple soil and plant tests, and microscopy. Apply our understanding of these principles to service learning projects on campus and in the community, such as the Pitzer Student Garden, and with local organizations like Food Cycle Collective, Huerta del Valle, Buena Vista Community Garden, etc.
MS 194 PZ-01- Media Arts for Social Justice with Gina Lamb
This course is a combination of analysis, theory, and hands-on service-learning experience of how media arts mobilize, educate and empower communities. The course will examine working models of media-based community collaboraiton projects. Students will be linked with non-profit community collaborators (media arts centers, social service and youth service agencies) who are using media as a catalyst for action in their community. Working with site hosts/collaborators, students will work with undeserved populations to design, implement and produce unique media collaborations that provoke thought and action. Course Fee $150
ORST 060 PZ-01- Social Justice in Education with Tricia Morgan
This course will cover a brief overview of education history in the US, how educational systems and actors function to either inhibit, maintain, or grow systems of oppression, and tools for advancing social justice in education. These tools include power and asset mapping, moving from ally to accomplice, applying ethical paradigms in context, conducting an equity audit, understanding education as liberation, and the role of both policy and community care in education. Students will understand themselves as both actors and acted upon in educational settings through various social justice lenses, and be empowered to enact meaningful change toward equity within educational institutions.
PSYC 105 PZ-01- Child Development with Mita Banerjee
Evidence pertaining to the development of the child is examined and discussed in relation to selected theoretical formulations. Facets of the childs cognitive, social, emotional and personality development are included. Enrollment is limited.
SOC 001X PZ-01- SRX: Intro to Sociology with Jessica Kizer
Together we will learn how to think “sociologically” about the world. This means understanding that the cultures and social forces of our time influence both our lives and the lives of others. We will trek across a broad range of topics, including culture and socialization, deviance and normality, systems of privilege and oppression, social justice, and social change. This class counts towards the Social Responsibility Praxis requirement. Over the course of the semester, students spend 40 hours working in partnership with a community organization on a culminating course project.
SOC 035 PZ-01- Race and Ethnic Relations with Jessica Kizer
Together we will survey U.S. racial and ethnic dynamics from a sociological perspective and develop a structural understanding of racism. Moreover, we will develop a racial vocabulary to help us have more productive understandings and conversations about race and ethnicity.This class counts towards the Social Responsibility Praxis requirement. Over the course of the semester, students spend 40 hours working in partnership with a community organization on a culminating course project.
SPAN 100 PZ-01- Spanish in the Community with Paula Gutierrez
This course focuses on children of immigration. It explores the forces that shape their adaptation to a new country, their schooling and literacy process, their language use and sense of identity, the relation with family and the cultural processes that take place as they learn to become part of the new society. Readings from social science, literature, and contemporary discussions. Required weekly community service. Prerequisite: Spanish 44 or equivalent.
WRTI 100A/B PZ-01/02- Writing Center Theory & Praxis with Stephanie Liu-Rojas
“Good writers are born, not made” – so the common misconception goes. Yet research shows us writing is a social practice developed through regular practice, challenging new tasks, and constructive feedback. In this seminar we investigate theories from writing studies to examine our own diverse experiences in writing. What does it mean to call something “good” writing? What ideological and cultural assumptions underwrite definitions? What can scholars tell us about why so many of us struggle with the writing process? And what are some strategies we can use to help ourselves and others grow as writers? Aimed at students interested in cultivating the habits of effective writers, educators, this class is both theoretical and practical in its orientation.
Past Years
SRX Courses- 2022-2023 Academic Year
