Week 1 Reading & Video Questions

1) Introduction, “Conquest and Incarceration,”Preview the document
2) Conclusion, “Upriver in the Age of Mass Incarceration,”Preview the document
3) “Notes,”Preview the document
4) “Acknowledgements”Preview the document

Democracy Now Video: Host Amy Goodman interviews prison scholar Angela Davis, June 12, 2020 (Links to an external site.)
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/6/12/angela_davis_toppling_monuments_to_racism

Carefully read the Introduction, Conclusion, Notes, and Acknowledgment, underlining names, phrases, and ideas that stand out to you. I would like you to read these pages, as well as the everything we read this quarter, both critically and for content. We will be looking at how Professor Hernández has formulated her claims through her archival research and how she uses her research notes to substantiate her claims on the page, including the images she uses. We will also be assessing the way Hernández uses rhetorical devices (word choice, emphasis, ethos, pathos, logos, etc), so that we can critique how these decisions are working to flesh-out her thesis and chapters, with the hope that we can use some of these strategies in our own writing this quarter.

Along the same lines as your critical reading, take notes of anything that stands out to you as you watch the video. Pay close attention to the roles of interviewer and interviewee, as well as how the questions and answers work to contextualize the current (as of June 12th) protests through historical, feminist, and other lenses.

1) Summarize a definition of Settler Colonialism, as a theory and its manifestation in the U.S. West, according to Hernández’ analysis of her research, including the names of some of the scholars that she finds influential (7-11). You may use quotations from the text to help flesh out your summary of Settler Colonialism but use the quotations sparingly.

2) (a) Who is one of the rebels or groups of rebels that stands out to you in the Introduction’s chapter summaries? What is their act or action(s) of rebellion and what is the accompanying archive that Hernández uses to substantiate their activism? (b) Why did the author find that the archived voices were important to her understanding of incarceration in Los Angeles?

3) What did you learn about Kelly Lytle Hernández from her Acknowledgments that contributes to your understanding of her research and writing ethos? Why would a book length research project require a more in-depth understanding of the author?

4) List three events or names that Angela Davis mentions in the Democracy Now segment that you don’t know much about but are interested in investigating more thoroughly. Do a quick Google search to find information on ONE of the events or names. Briefly, why is this event/person important to know in order to contextualize the current protests?

5) What are some of Davis’ critiques about neoliberalist ideas of individualism? What do you think/feel about this critique?