Law and Dissent - CRIM 430
Law and Dissent - CRIM 430
Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course
Common Course ID: CRIM 430
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait
Abstract: These open textbooks are being utilized in a Criminology and Justice Studies course for undergraduate or graduate students by Dr. Stefanie Israel de Souza at Cal Poly Humboldt. The open textbooks provide an introduction to the topic of civil disobedience (Thoreau), a theoretical framework for examining dissent as a deliberate violation of unjust law that aims to challenge and lay bare the violence of the state (Lovell), a brief history of resistance movements employing different tactics in the US and a discussion of political prisoners (Berger), an analysis of the militarization of protest policing and evolution of tactics used by the state to suppress dissent (Wood), and finally an analysis of hidden transcripts, infrapolitics, and everyday forms of resistance as pre-political phenomena (Scott). The main motivation to adopt open textbooks was knowing that many of our students struggle financially and simply cannot afford to purchase books. Most students access the open textbooks as unlimited access e-books via the Cal Poly Humboldt library portal.
Course Title and Number - Law and Dissent - CRIM 430
Brief Description of course highlights: Law and social change. Law as technology of criminalizing and co-opting social movements. Mechanisms for appealing to State for rights and recognition. Civil disobedience, policing protests, and political prisoners. https://catalog.humboldt.edu/content.php?filter%5B27%5D=CRIM&filter%5B29%5D=430&filter%5Bcourse_type%5D=-1&filter%5Bkeyword%5D=&filter%5B32%5D=1&filter%5Bcpage%5D=1&cur_cat_oid=14&expand=&navoid=2303&search_database=Filter#acalog_template_course_filter
Student population: Prerequisite: CRIM 225 or CRIM 225S or SOC 225. This course fulfills a Knowledge-Based Requirement for the Criminology and Justice Studies major. It can also count toward the Criminology and Justice Studies minor. Most students are juniors or seniors. Graduate students in the Public Sociology MA program can also take the course as an elective.
Learning or student outcomes:
- Articulate a historically based understanding of multiple forms of dissent and demonstrate familiarity with debates surrounding those forms.
- Critically analyze how different actors utilize or engage with the law in attempts to pursue or resist social change.
- Demonstrate basic knowledge of a variety of social movements and the relationship of those movements to the law.
- Analyze and critique dynamic interactions between social movement actors and state actors. Critically evaluate different strategies of dissent and strategies of state response.
Key challenges faced and how resolved: I faced few challenges in securing free textbooks for this course, as the library either already had or was able to purchase unlimited access e-books for all of the books that I wanted to include. I know this is not always the case.
Instructor Name - Stefanie Israel de Souza
I am an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Justice Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt. 
Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.humboldt.edu/sociology/stefanie-israel-de-souza
Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.
- CRIM 125: Intro to Criminology and Justice Studies
- CRIM 325: Law and Society
- CRIM 410: Theories of Justice and Crime
- CRIM 420: Drugs and Society
- CRIM 430: Law and Dissent
- SOC 303M: Race and Inequality for Majors
- SOC 305: Global Transformations
- SOC 305M: Global Transformations for Majors
- SOC 330: Social Deviance
- SOC 480: Comparative War on Drugs
- SOC 584: Qualitative Research Methods
- SOC 605: Graduate Proseminar
- SOC 665: Community, Ecology, and Social Action
Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching. I embrace problem-posing education rooted in dialogue that promotes critical thinking and breaks down the student-teacher dichotomy. My role as instructor is to facilitate this discussion and to ensure that all feel welcome and valued. The knowledge and lived experience that students bring into the classroom deepen this dialogue and enrich the learning of all. This dialogue is not just about learning material, but also about coming up with solutions to real world problems in the interest of social justice. I aim to challenge students by maintaining high expectations while also providing empathic support throughout the course. I recognize my students as human beings and care deeply about their personal growth.
I teach courses in all four of our programs within the Sociology Department: Sociology B.A., Criminology and Justice Studies B.A., Cannabis Studies B.A., and Public Sociology M.A. Although I teach a variety of courses, themes intersect with my central research interests in comparative urban marginality, global and comparative sociology and criminology, qualitative research methods, social movements and social change, and critical criminology with a particular focus on questions of policing, political crime, and forms of state presence at the urban margins. As an ethnographer who has spent years conducting research in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, I regularly bring insights and examples from my fieldwork into class discussions.
OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. Ever since I started at Cal Poly Humboldt, students have openly communicated financial barriers to purchasing textbooks. The financial need of our students is my primary motivating factor, along with my desire to see them succeed.
How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I put together a list of my desired textbooks for this course. I then searched the library database to see if any were already available as e-books. Finally, I reached out to see if the library could purchase the remaining books as unlimited access e-books. Fortunately, in this case, they were able to purchase all of the books that I wanted, and students do not need to purchase any materials for this course.
Sharing Best Practices: The most useful thing I have learned is to not hesitate to reach out to the campus library to try to get low or no cost books and resources for a course.
Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved and lessons learned. For this particular course, I experienced very few if any challenges, as the library was able to obtain all of the unlimited access e-books that I wanted for the course.
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: The Struggle Within
Brief Description: A brief history of resistance movements employing different tactics in the US and a discussion of political prisoners.
Please provide a link to the resource https://csu-humboldt.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_HUL/nteg9o/alma999927608202909
Authors: Dan Berger
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Crimes of Dissent: Civil Disobedience, Criminal Justice, and the Politics of Conscience
Brief Description: This book provides a theoretical framework for examining dissent as a “pure crime,” or a deliberate violation of unjust law that aims to challenge and lay bare the violence of the state. It draws on historic examples and also includes a discussion of state responses to “pure crime” that activists may encounter
Please provide a link to the resource Please provide a link to access the resource. https://csu-humboldt.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_HUL/nteg9o/alma999927608302909
Authors: Jarret S. Lovell
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Domination and the Arts of Resistance
Brief Description: This book provides a rich theoretical framework for analyzing everyday forms of resistance that we can expect to find in contexts of oppression, including hidden transcripts and infrapolitics, as well as a discussion of the powerful moment when a hidden transcript is publicly declared for the first time. These everyday forms of resistance are discussed as pre-political phenomena rather than merely a “safety valve” to let off steam from oppression. Scott draws on rich examples from different contexts to support his analysis.
Please provide a link to the resource https://csu-humboldt.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_HUL/11761rv/alma991067610041102901
Authors: James Scott
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Civil Disobedience
Brief Description: This classic work is used as an introduction to the topic of civil disobedience. We discuss it while watching the Gandhi film in class and also reading Martin Luther King, Jr.'s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
Please provide a link to the resource https://csu-humboldt.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_HUL/omcour/alma991069276966602901
Authors: Henry David Thoreau
Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Crisis and Control: The Militarization of Protest Policing
Brief Description: This book provides an analysis of the militarization of protest policing in the US and Canada and evolution of tactics used by the state to suppress dissent. We read several chapters from this book in our unit on protest policing and tactics of state repression.
Please provide a link to the resource https://csu-humboldt.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_HUL/omcour/alma991069276966602901
Authors: Lesley J. Wood
Student access: Students access these unlimited access e-books via the Cal Poly Humboldt library portal. They can read the e-books on their computers or other devices. Some of the books allow them to download a certain number of pages or chapters if they so desire.
Supplemental resources: Additional readings, podcasts, and instructor slides are available on Canvas. Films and documentaries for this course are either shown in class (Gandhi), available for students to access for free via Panopto (I’m Still Here [Ainda Estou Aqui]), or publicly available for free online (Takeover).
Provide the cost savings from a traditional textbook. $96 for the 5 books listed
License*: Material is copyrighted.