MCLA Adds Class to Summer Sessions Offerings: “I Can’t Breathe”

NORTH ADAMS, MASS. —As part of its first Summer Session from May 31-June 11, 2021, MCLA will offer an education course titled “I Can’t Breathe:” Racial Capitalism at the Intersections of Race, Social Class, Space, and School,”(EDUC 364) taught by Dr. Lisa Arrastia, assistant professor of education.  

The course will take place remotely on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30-6:20 p.m., and addresses Massachusetts Subject Matter Knowledge goals for history and social science, English language arts, and digital literacy and computer science for grades 5-12.  

Course description 

The guiding, interdisciplinary question of this course is, “Why can’t Black bodies breathe in America?” The professor and students in this course will act as parallel learners who attempt to respond to this same question and, therefore, both will be “the student” in this unique and timely class that will use methods of history, aesthetics, and multimedia. The course will use as a case study the Derek Chauvin trial in the death of George Floyd to examine how the historical and contemporary landscape of American racial traumas are devised, composed, and constituted. 

Learn more and register for summer classes at www.mcla.edu/summer.