DSJS 4080

We live in a time of cascading crises: climate destabilization, democratic erosion, economic precarity, collective fatigue. But crises don't just take worlds apart; they reveal how worlds are built and might be remade. This fourth-year seminar examines the political, economic, and cultural structures shaping contemporary life and the conditions under which they can be transformed. Students will map systems organizing social and ecological life, study models of structural change, and experiment with practices that build collective capacity. Grounded in environmental cultural studies and theories of democratic and relational infrastructure, the course culminates in student-designed interventions that move from analysis to world-building.