James Ikeda, M.Ed. (Northeastern University), M.A. History (Tufts University), B.S. Social Studies Education (Boston University), teaches history and philosophy at the High School and Community College levels and co-runs an arts and civic engagement activist organization in Boston, MA.

Course: Creating and Organizing Peaceful Demonstrations of Protest
(Dr. Proshot Kalami and James Ikeda)

In this course, students will explore the best practices for organizing and conducting a peaceful demonstration of protest.

In this course we question: how individuals and collective voices are heard in a democratic society? Can we take social media strategies to the streets? How can social media movements and Digital Activism be taken to the streets to emulate practices of performative aspects of everyday life? This seminar calls for students to co-create the knowledge around issues of resistance, social change, and public performance on the street in imagining creative forms of protest. The purpose of this civically engaged course stands on various types of protests-“street performances' '-that are inspired by practices of everyday issues and informed by research on Digital Activism and Socio-Political movements in social media. After taking this course students will be able to analyse social media movement and the transformation of those events into protests, demonstrations, or other forms of street performances as a mode of active engagement (creatively, aesthetically, publicly, politically, and socially). Students are expected to engage in peer-debate/critique, exploration of ideas on organizing and devising demonstrations and protests. Participants in the course will identify and address aspects of protest/resistance, consult the suggested scholarship in response to that question, and deliver the research project in form of a “creative performance” of protest to be accompanied by a document that defines and justifies the project. This can be video recorded, could be an audio recorded, photographed and documented, or held as a live interactive virtual event.

Suggested Reading and Videos:
1. WhOMAN, Performance Art, woman shaved, Istiklal, Galatasaray, Istanbul Turkey / Margaux Aubin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql6f8IZyGqQ&feature=youtu.be

2. Street Theatre Day 2 / Kevin Augustine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAiPbu5cVlo&feature=youtu.be

3. KADAMATI, Paris Performance / Akram Khan Company

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKX5HxiusUs&feature=youtu.be

4. My Vote Don’t Count / YelloPain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMALeR1i-FM&feature=youtu.be

5. Natural History of a Social Movement / Dr. Haridas T Muzumdar