Did the movement face backlash or repression, and with what consequence?

This essay assignment asks that you critically analyze the strategies and tactics used by a grassroots movement to combat debt and make analytical argument as to what lesson(s) might be gleaned from this attempt at social transformation that must be applied to future campaigns. Examples of topics include but are not limited to debt cancellation campaigns, direct actions to resist evictions and foreclosures, movement-based legal strategies to intervene in foreclosures, mutual aid projects, reparations campaigns, neocolonial rebellions, movements to forgive medical debt, national struggles against imposed austerity measures, and more. Your essay should provide relevant historical, political, and economic context for this transformative effort and identify its key actors and populations. However, the bulk of your essay should be spent on analyzing the strategies and tactics participants employed to the harms of debt economies in order to make an argument as to what generalizable lesson can be gleaned from the mechanics of this struggle that may be applied to future movements for debt justice. Tactics and strategies you may explore include but are not limited to media exposure, advocacy, direct action, civil disobedience, community-based action, litigation, movement-based research, (non)violence, specific decision-making models, and much more. You may want to consider the following questions in the course of your analysis: Who/what were the targets of this movement (government? Private sector? Cultural institutions?) Did the movement face backlash or repression, and with what consequence? Was this a popular or fringe movement and with what consequence? What were the aims of this resistance effort and did it achieve them? What were the strengths, limitations, and conflicts within this effort? What do you believe was won and lost? Please note: this is an analytical essay with a research component: research the debt-resistance movement you wish to examine and cite at least three scholarly outside sources that help to lay forth its structure and efficacy. Your essay must have a clear thesis articulated in the opening paragraphs, and the body of your analysis must present evidence supporting the conclusions at which you will arrive. Your thesis, however, must build upon that outside scholarship with your own original argument: you may not simply summarize or reiterate someone elses conclusions. Evaluation Rubric Thesis, Argument (20 points) FULL CREDIT: The thesis is clearly introduced in the opening paragraphs and reiterated throughout the essay. The thesis directly addresses the prompt by analyzing a resistance movement to debt and drawing out a generalizable lesson that may be applied to future struggles for debt justice. The thesis is original, debatable, manageable, clear, founded in textual analysis, and significant in wider cultural terms. The essays title obviously relates to the thesis and/or central argument. Evidence, Analysis (20 points) FULL CREDIT: The argument is consistently supported with strong and well-selected textual evidence. The analysis explores a resistance movement to debt which sought to relieve and/or transform its deleterious impacts. Key concepts are defined, specified, and employed with precision. Each paragraph contains one or more direct quotations from relevant sources that the author introduces and explains. The analysis explains the relevance of outside material to your overall thesis, effectively unpacking the issue for the audience. Organization (20 points) FULL CREDIT: The essay is well-organized around a clear and logical progression of ideas that build a coherent and significant argument. The introduction is engaging, hooking the reader, while laying out a clear plan for analysis. Each paragraph contains a clear topic-sentence and there are effective transitions between paragraphs. the conclusion reiterates the thesis claim while gesturing towards larger social, economic, political, and/or ethical implications of your argument (addressing the so what? question). Quality of Writing (20 points) FULL CREDIT: The writing is clear, formal, and concise without contractions or colloquialisms. Diction and sentence structure are effective and varied. Writing flows. Authorial voice is analytical and consistent. The prose uses constructions such as parallelisms and subordinations that communicate the relationship between ideas. Technical issues (typographical errors and grammar issues) are absent or very minimal. Quality of Research (20 points) FULL CREDIT: The author effectively cites at least three scholarly outside sources during analysis. The secondary sources are well-selected, well-founded, and do not overwhelm the authors own voice and analysis, which remains original and significant. The author correctly employs MLA in-text citation practices and includes a complete and correct Works Cited page.

You will look at anti-foreclosure and/or anti-eviction movements, for example Minnesota Occupy Homes. You can frame this as relevant in terms of the housing crisis many are currently facing as a consequence of the pandemic.

Last Completed Projects