This course will guide students through foundational texts of Marxist political theory ranging in time period. The class is divided into sections surrounding specific issues found in the text, and authors are grouped per week as such. Each week will also focus on specific media related to the text’s core ideas or contextual background.

By the end of this course, students should have a basic foundational introduction to:
-Marxist Social, Economic, and Political Analysis
-Marxist-Leninist Theories of Revolution
-Marxist Understandings of Imperialism
-Marxist Third-Worldism
-Post-Marxism

Furthermore, students should be able to analyze and interpret political theory texts and apply such analysis to contemporary issues and situations. Students are expected to reflect deeply on the readings and connect readings to other presented material such as media.

The grading policy is as follows:
- 30% Attendance
- 25% Participation
- 30% Assessments
- 15% Homework Responses

Attendance will be taken during class every week. Two unexcused absences are allowed. We are liberal with excusing absences. As long as a student emails us in advance, they will be excused. Students who have more than two unexcused absences will fail the course, except in cases of health or family emergencies.

Homework assignments will consist of weekly responses from 100-250 words. Students are required to complete 6 responses throughout the semester. These responses should be posted to the week’s bCourses discussion. Students are also allowed to respond to each other’s posts, also from 100-250 words. Posts are due every Wednesday at midnight (11:59pm), while responses to posts are due on Thursday by 3:00pm. There will be a very short writing-based midterm and final.

Class will consist of 25-30 minutes of lecture/presentation/analysis, 30 minutes of small group discussion, and 30 minutes of large group discussion, for a total of 1 hour and 30 minutes of instruction, once a week. Lecture and presentation will go over assigned readings for the week, analyzing the text and providing useful context for readings. The second half of the class will be a student-driven discussion about the relevant issues of that week’s readings, which can be found under the schedule portion named “Questions to Ponder”.

First come, first served. Please fill out the following interest form to register for the course: https://forms.gle/T4sVvfrzTYVK7TPL7