Description

Shame has often functioned as a social mechanism for enforcing norms and hierarchies that have disproportionately marked marginalized communities as deficient and pathological. In an increasingly inequitable world, how are we to understand shame today? Silvan Tomkins, a prominent psychologist on affects, which are defined as innate bodily responses underlying emotions, foregrounds shame as one of the primary negative response systems. Yet, recent scholarship has ignited a renewed engagement with the topic of shame, broadening its conceptualizations and exploring its practical implications for personhood, social inequalities, agency, and resistance. These critical, feminist, queer, decolonial, and anti-racist approaches are redefining how shame is personally experienced while foregrounding its relational and material nature. To capture these complexities of shame, this course offers a three-tier approach that examines its psychological, sociopolitical, and contemporary dimensions.

This course explores the following questions: How has psychology approached the topic of shame, and how are histories of coloniality, racism, and sexism embedded in experiences of shame? Is shame more than a psychological experience? How has shame been used to reinforce but also challenge patterns of racism, sexism, ableism, and ageism? How can studying shame inspire new ethical ways of creating community and belonging?

Goals 

I hope that toward the end of this course, you will be able to: 

• identify classical and contemporary theories of shame.
• examine how disciplines have conceptualized shame and its implications for racism, sexism, and coloniality.
• articulate the psychological, sociopolitical, and historical dimensions of shame.
• synthesize your own understanding of shame from a range of academic texts and literary works.

Learning Environment and Care

Studying the topic of shame and discussing it with others, especially in a classroom can prompt a wide range of perspectives, feelings, and experiences. These conversations can be validating while also at the same time being discomforting. Given the complex nature of the topic of shame, I acknowledge the following guidelines for engagement, boundaries, and care in this course. 

Whether in person or online, we will acknowledge that power and context are always at play in what and how we approach any given topic. This means that while we aspire to have open-ended conversations we will not tolerate debating the existence of racism, sexism, classism, elitism, transmisia, and queermisia in our discussions on the topic of shame. We will read numerous empirical articles that document the lived realities of how marginalized communities make sense of, and resist, oppressive shame and shaming. Thus, we will engage with disagreements respectfully, avoid pressuring classmates to disclose personal experiences, and practice understanding the difference between critiquing ideas and judgments about people. 

If you ever encounter overwhelming feelings from the material, you are always welcome to briefly step out, speak with me privately after class or during office hours, or consult relevant campus support resources.

Participation 

Participation in higher education is overly focused on individualistic behaviors such as raising your hand and speaking during class discussion. In this course, we recognize a diverse range of participation that supports the creation of a learning community. This may take the form of seeking academic, class-related, or professional advice during office hours, creating digital study groups, or working supportively during group work.

Assignments

Journal Homepage: This assignment asks you to create an “About me” page for your Weekly Journal. Each individual will have their own slide on Google Slides to personalize where they can create a visual and textual collage of their hobbies, interests, and aspirations. In addition to introductions, this homepage will serve as a digital hub for your Weekly Journal.      

Weekly Journal: The purpose is to nurture your critical reading, writing, and interpersonal communication skills as we work through the ideas presented in our readings. After reading the assigned text, you will write a digital post and comment about the reading. Your comment will be guided by a prompt that you will use to address a peer’s post. For example, you might be asked to respond to an original post by placing their main argument within a broader social context. In general, however, your comment should always extend or complicate the analysis of the original post rather than simply agreeing or repeating what they wrote. 

Writing Reflections: The intended outcome for this activity is to encourage brainstorming about a new topic. I will provide a prompt and an index card for you to reflect on. There is no “correct” answer to this prompt. Rather, I want to understand your thought process without judgment and see how much attention and care you put into your thinking and writing.

Book Review: The goal for this multi-stage writing project is to nurture your analytical thinking, writing, and revising skills. You will submit drafts for each component of your book review for revision. Toward the end of the course, you will revise each component based on this feedback.

Imagined Conversations Research Paper: This assignment, inspired by Psychology’s Feminist Voices, asks you to write a paper that integrates critical reflection, academic writing, and creative writing skills. You will pick and research the works of two researchers, thinkers, writers, or activists of your choosing and create a mock dialogue between them. The dialogue must be about their positions on the topic of shame. You can have them discuss their similarities and differences in their personal or political lives, contributions, and outlooks on shame.

Course Schedule

Note: All readings will be provided on our Learning Management System (LMS). There are no additional costs required for taking this course.