Expository writing based on analysis of selected masterpieces of ancient and modern literature. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

Despite disagreements over the conception of the state as a unit of political organization, the 20th-century socialist traditions of Leninism and Anarchism overlap in their commitment to an anti-imperialist and anti-colonial critique which is still deeply relevant today. In this course, we will read foundational texts of Leninism (Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin) and Anarchism (Peter Kropotkin, Mikhail Bakunin, Emma Goldman) in order to inquire whether and how these theories offer an analytical vocabulary and vision that allows us to examine anti-colonial and anti-imperial critique and resistance. We will discuss four cases from across the Global South and North: (1) US imperialism, the construction of the Black fugitive, and the prison system (focusing on Assata, 1987, and Imperdonable, 2020); (2) early critiques of Japanese expansionism in response to the Russo-Japanese war (focusing on Botchan, 1905); (3) global Indigenous solidarity and independence (focusing on Battle of Algiers, 1966, and Carmin tropical, 2014); (4) Indigenous Palestinian resistance against settler-colonialism (focusing on Returning to Haifa, 1969).

We discuss these social movements and legacies from multiple perspectives, asking the questions: Why Anarchism? Why Marxism-Leninism? Do Leninism or Anarchism offer an analytical vocabulary and a path to imagine a future beyond the current one we are living in right now? How do we learn from the revolutionary visions set out by those who have

come before us, and those who will come after in order to critically engage imperialism and colonialism? In addition to the literature and films mentioned above, the course brings together a range of theoretical and scholarly primary and secondary sources, including readings by and/or about Sumaya Awad, Gloria E. Chacón, Frantz Fanon, Ghassan Kanafani, Rosaura Sánchez, Assata Shakur, Kōtoku Shūsui, among others. Students will use research methods and writing to prepare them for academic research in their fields as well as train their critical thinking skills to enter scholarly lines of inquiry. The course culminates in a 10-page research paper.

Requisites

• UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam. 1A or equivalent is prerequisite to 1B.

Credit Restrictions

Students will receive no credit for COM LIT R1B after completing COM LIT N1B, COM LIT S1B, COM LIT H1B, or COM LIT 1B.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills