The Politics of Hope
The Politics of Hope We are frequently told we must “never give up hope,” but what is at stake in hoping? In this seminar we will interrogate this ubiquitous demand to hope. We will explore contemporary debates about the possibility of hope in the face of uncertain planetary futures to consider the politics of how, in what ways, toward what ends, and why we hope. At what point does hope become misplaced, turning into a “cruel optimism”? How is hope mobilized politically? How are different futures—optimistic and pessimistic, utopian and dystopian, redemptive and apocalyptic—distributed among different groups? And what might happen if we let go of commonly held yet narrowly conceived hopes and tried imagining something different?
The Politics of Hope We are frequently told we must “never give up hope,” but what is at stake in hoping? In this seminar we will interrogate this ubiquitous demand to hope. We will explore contemporary debates about the possibility of hope in the face of uncertain planetary futures to consider the politics of how, in what ways, toward what ends, and why we hope. At what point does hope become misplaced, turning into a “cruel optimism”? How is hope mobilized politically? How are different futures—optimistic and pessimistic, utopian and dystopian, redemptive and apocalyptic—distributed among di …Read more
Dan is a wonderful professor. The course was very thought-provoking and a great introduction to what a course at Middlebury could look like. Dan wants you to succeed, so he is very accommodating and understands that this is a heavy topic with a lot of learning curves. This course has been my favorite at Middlebury so far and I feel like it is a very fulfilling course once you have successfully completed it. Dan is a great discussion leader and prides himself in having engaging class discussions. I would 100% recommend this course.
Dan is a wonderful professor. The course was very thought-provoking and a great introduction to what a course at Middlebury could look like. Dan wants you to succeed, so he is very accommodating and understands that this is a heavy topic with a lot of learning curves. This course has been my favorite at Middlebury so far and I feel l …Read more
Professor Dan is amazing. I was quickly fascinated by his communication skills, as well as the great ability he has in choosing words so wisely. Dan is a very smart and knowledgeable man who is very accommodating, enthusiastic and willing to help you with anything. The course being my first-year seminar-- I enjoyed it a lot. I will say that some of the readings were tough and lacked value, but I will say that the majority of them sparked discussion, and played with your brain. I think the course was very valuable as it taught me valuable skills for my writing. I used to struggle writing a two-page paper, but now I can quickly do it in less than a couple of hours without sweating and stressing so much.
Professor Dan is amazing. I was quickly fascinated by his communication skills, as well as the great ability he has in choosing words so wisely. Dan is a very smart and knowledgeable man who is very accommodating, enthusiastic and willing to help you with anything. The course being my first-year seminar-- I enjoyed it a lot. I will s …Read more
At the very least, this course was saved by the fact it was a first year seminar, meaning Professor Suarez had a lot of flexibility around how he could structure the course to "teach us how to be college students." That being said, the material was generally dry and highly repetitive, which made it difficult to differentiate our arguments from essay to essay, so there was a lot of thinking that went into writing any of them, even if the standard for the actual writing wasn't very high. Overall, kind of just a boring way to spend a semester.
At the very least, this course was saved by the fact it was a first year seminar, meaning Professor Suarez had a lot of flexibility around how he could structure the course to "teach us how to be college students." That being said, the material was generally dry and highly repetitive, which made it difficult to differentiate our argu …Read more
I really enjoyed the writing aspect of this course and the homework load wasn’t too heavy. The professor is great and super helpful at office hours. Overall I would take this course again because I loved my group.