Course Description
Examination of local and national politics through the lived experience of local Athens area residents, social policymaking processes, and the role of research and storytelling for policy. Students will conduct fieldwork and create policy-relevant digital stories. Students will present their findings to community stakeholders in the Athens area.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to complete additional
readings, write reflection papers, and attend a weekly meeting to
discuss these outside of class. Graduate students will lead a
class session on a topic related to their research interests and
write an original journal-length research or policy paper as
their final.
Athena Title
Social Policy Storytelling
Undergraduate Pre or Corequisite
LACS 1000 or LACS 1000E or LACS 1000H or LACS 2010 or SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1101E or SOCI 1101H or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The course is designed to provide students the opportunity to conduct mentored, community-engaged research on social policy processes and social problems affecting the Athens community and to meet with and to present their findings to community stakeholders in the Athens area. • Students will gain knowledge of contemporary local and national politics, with an emphasis on conducting engaged research to understand the lived experience of local Athens residents. • Students will gain an appreciation for local social policy and policymaking processes as well as interrogate the relationship between national and international politics and local social policy. • Students will learn about various qualitative research methods through case-studies, readings, and hands-on fieldwork. Students will be challenged to practice these research methods in the field. • Students will learn the elements of successful policy storytelling and experiment with storyboarding, producing, and presenting their research with different digital storytelling media. • Students will practice leadership, group work, and community engagement and take ownerships over designing, executing, and presenting engaged research projects. • Students will develop self and social awareness and a reflexive research practice through discussions and readings that reflect on the politics and ethics of engaged research and cultivating and maintaining relationships with community stakeholders.
Topical Outline
1) The Latino Experience 2) The South as (New) Immigrant Destination 3) National Immigration Policy and Politics 4) Social Problems and Social Policy 5) Responsible Community Engagement 6) Qualitative Field-Based Research Methods 7) The Politics and Ethics of Engaged Research 8) Narrative and Storytelling for Policy 9) Digital Storytelling Techniques