Course Code: HUMA 3300
Academic Year: 2025-2026
What makes one figure who uses violence a hero and the other a villain? Is violence justified when it is used to achieve justice? What happens when there are competing views of what is just? This course explores these questions through an examination of how vigilantism has been constructed into positive ideals in American culture. This course examines fictional narratives across all forms of media, as well as nonfictional historical case studies of vigilantism from the Revolutionary War to contemporary times, to demonstrate how accounts of vigilantism have been presented as heroic and contributed to a more violent culture within America. Students will examine different forms of justice that motivate vigilante violence and explore how the myth of the vigilante hero can be mapped onto different identity and political positions to create an unending cycle of violence; highlighting the need for nonviolent options and solutions to complex injustices. PLEASE NOTE: The content and discussions in this course will necessarily engage with difficult and challenging content, including, but not limited to violence, blood, cruelty and death, issues of racism, issues of sexuality, sexism and misogyny, classism, and may address offensive language. Some of the content and images will be emotionally and intellectually challenging to engage with. I will flag especially graphic or intense content and will do my best to make this classroom a space where we can engage bravely, empathetically, and thoughtfully with difficult content every week.