CLASSES
Each year, PNAP offers between 13-15 non-credit college-level courses in subjects ranging from printmaking and criminology to poetry and women’s studies. Faculty are independent artists and Chicago university professors. A committee identifies new faculty and classes based on student interest and a desire to offer classes in a wide range of subjects taught by faculty that are representative of our student population. Our commitment to non-credit classes has been supported and articulated by our students in prison as access to general education and art has been a critical gateway to higher education. Along with classes, PNAP hosts guest lectures where speakers discuss their work as writers, artists, and activists with a group in the Stateville auditorium.
Current Courses
Race, Class, and Gender Dimensions of Criminalization and Justice
Faculty: Dr. Julian Thompson, University of IL, Chicago
This course will explore the ways that racial/ethnic identity, class position, (dis)ability, and gender/sexual identity become sources of stigma in society, and how that stigma is criminalized and punished. The readings and class discussions will focus on how structural inequality is created and reinforced by public policy, and how forces in the neo-liberal state interact with the apparatus of the carceral state to disadvantage groups of people and consolidate power among elites.
Research for Justice
Faculty: Dr. Lisa Yun Lee, National Public Housing Museum and Dr. Adam Bush, College Unbound
This class explores the spaces and places where knowledge has been created and contributed to freedom, outside of formal school structures. Sites of knowledge production that will be examined include social movements, in cultural models of production like community theater, jazz, hip-hop, and the black arts tradition, through friendship and mentorship, in museums and exhibitions, and within prison and spaces of incarceration. This class includes diverse readings of theory, poetry, history and musical lyrics. Students will be introduced to participatory action research methodologies, including story circles, oral history, and community mapping.
James Baldwin and Black Political Thought
Faculty: Dr. Martha Biondi, Northwestern University
Students will read the nonfiction writings of novelist, playwright, and essayist James Baldwin, emphasizing works from the 1950s to the 1970s. The class will explore Baldwin’s engagement with race and racism, gender, national identity, justice, religion, and the meaning of history. The class will conclude with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me, a long essay inspired by Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. You will be asked to write your own nonfiction Baldwin-inspired essay.
Art: Mural Making
Faculty: Aaron Hughes, Independent Artist & Sarah Ross, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Murals bring histories, politics, memories, and dreams into public spaces. They activate neighborhoods as sites of agitation, popular education, and contemplation. Through a two semester course we will explore the rich history of social justice murals, learn the technical process of designing and building a mural, and develop their own murals lifting up the struggles against police violence and mass incarceration. Key ideas and themes will be developed throughout the class with a focus on both research and making. Our work will think about how research, lived experience and visions for a future can be used to speak to Chicago communities.
The Lyric Essay
Faculty: Audrey Petty
In this seminar, we’ll closely consider the lyric essay–its origins and its aesthetics. We’ll read several craft essays about the lyric essay, and closely study exemplary texts that vary widely in theme and aesthetic approach. Assigned texts will include works by such authors as James Baldwin, Jamaica Kincaid, Maxine Hong Kingston, and John Edgar Wideman. Students will keep a journal to track their key questions and observations about assigned readings, and students will also draft and refine lyric essays of their own over the course of the workshop.
Math Tutorial
Faculty: Desmond Taylor
Think Tank
Faculty: Alice Kim, Durrell Washington, and Noelle Petrowski
Past Courses
2020-2021 Academic Year
Violence in Society
Faculty: Beth Richie
Introduction to Visual Criminology
Faculty: Luke Fidler and Jason LaFountain
Economy, Society and Public Policy
Faculty: Damon Jones
2019-20 Academic Year
African Americans and the Civil War
Faculty: Dr. Johari Jabir
Envisioning Criminal Justice Reforms
Faculty: Dr. Clinton Nichols
Art: Anthems
Faculty: Sarah Ross, Anna Martine Whitehead, Aaron Hughes and Damon Locks
Writing Poetry
Faculty: Dr. Tara Betts
Critical Writing and Research
Faculty: Dr. Tim Barnett, Dr. Martha Biondi, Dr. Erica Meiners, and Dr. Beth Richie
Draw What You See/Draw What You Dream
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
Our Dances, Our Freedom
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead
Art and Empire in the Ancient World
Faculty: Dr. Luke Fidler
The Social Value of Latinas/os/xs
Faculty: Michael De Anda Muňiz
Manifesta for the Future
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
2018-19 Academic Year
Introduction to Writing
Faculty: Simone Waller
Digging Deeper: Poetry Informed by Contingent Citizenship and Being Human
Faculty: Dr. Tara Betts
Emancipation and Abolition in Historical Perspective
Faculty: Dr. Kai Parker
Afrofuturism: Science Fiction as Social Commentary and Alternative Visions of Tomorrow
Faculty: Dr. Clinton Nichols
UWW Capstone Experience Course
Faculty: Dr. Timothy Barnett & Dr. Erica Meiners
2017-2018 Academic Year
Race and Politics
Faculty: Dr. Cathy J. Cohen
Make Your Mark & Fly Your Flag
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
From Civil Rights to #Black Lives Matter: Politics, Society and Protest Since the 1960s
Faculty: Dr. Martha Biondi
Movement / Movement: Dance and Liberation
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead
Poetry About My Rights: Writing Poems Informed by Contingent Citizenship
Faculty: Dr. Tara Betts
2017-2018 Academic Year
Introduction to Environmental Justice
Faculty: Dr. Antonio Reyes Lopez
Writing Workshop: Creating Character
Faculty: Tess Landon
Printmaking: Developing a Collaborative Portfolio
Faculty: William Estrada
Art and Animation
Faculty: Damon Locks and Sarah Ross
Mapping the Self in Community
Faculty: Jill Petty, Audrey Petty, and Dr. Miriam Petty
American Public Schools
Faculty: Dr. Eve Ewing and Dr. David Stovall
Justice and Politics in Shakespeare’s Plays
Faculty: Dr. Wendy Wall
Black Women in History, Politics and The Law
Faculty: Dr. Beth Richie, Dr. Barbara Ransby, and Dr. Cathy Cohen
Critical Education: Power, Knowledge, and Change
Faculty: Dr. Tim Barnett and Dr. Erica Meiners
Introduction to Criminology
Faculty: Dr. Clinton Nichols
A Survey of Black Writers
Faculty: Dr. Tara Betts
Writing: Education from the Public to the Personal
Faculty: Tess Landon
Political Theory: The Meaning and Limits of Rights
Faculty: Dr. Lucy Cane
Philosophy: Freedom and Its Limits
Faculty: Dr. David Egan
Philosophy: Philosophy of Punishment
Faculty: Dr. Jessica Bird
2016-2017 Academic Year
American Art: A People’s History
Faculty: Dr. Luke Fidler and Dr. Jason LaFountain
Introduction to Latina/o Studies
Faculty: Michael De Anda Muñiz
Staging Time: Real Stories, Real Theater
Faculty: David Feiner and Benjamin Serrano, Albany Park Theater Project
African American Studies 101
Faculty: Dr. Kai Parker
Passing Time: (In)significant Moments
Faculty: Andres L. Hernandez
Literature: The Journey
Faculty: Audrey Petty
History: From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter
Faculty: Dr. Martha Biondi
Art: From Drawing the Personal to Printing the Public
Faculty: Aaron Hughes
Writing: Writing Through a Wall
Faculty: Alice Kim
Performance: Dance and Movement-building
Faculty: Anna Martine Whitehead
2015-2016 Academic Year
Literature: Detective Fiction
Faculty: Dr. Tim Barnett
Abstracting Nature
Faculty: William Estrada
Political Science: The Meaning and Limits of Rights
Faculty: Dr. Anna Terweil and Dr. Lucy Cane
The Artistic Imagination
Faculty: Dr. Jason LaFountain
Art: Drawing on Community
Faculty: Marvin Tate
Religion and the Black Freedom Struggle
Faculty: Dr. Kai Parker
Black Women and the Justice System
Faculty: Dr. Beth Richie
Words Free: An Exploration of Poetry & Poetics
Faculty: Dr. Lasana Kazembe
African American History, 1619-1900
Faculty: Dr. Kai Parker
Freedom Dreams
Faculty: Alice Kim
Core Writing Skills
Faculty: Nancy Traver
Art and Science Fiction: Documenting the Future
Faculty: Damon Locks
2014-2015 Academic Year
Reading and Writing Our Lives
Faculty: Dr. Tim Barnett
Political Theory: Theory and Event
Faculty: Dr. Lucy Cane
The Art and Craft of Memoir: Object Lessons
Faculty: Audrey Petty
Black Women and the Criminal Justice System
Faculty: Dr. Beth Richie
Introduction to Latino and Latin American Studies
Faculty: Dr. Christina Gomez
Portraiture and Installation
Faculty: Sarah Ross
Writing Workshop
Faculty: Dr. Amy Partridge and Dr. Erica Meiners
Poetry Series: Writing and a Healing
Faculty: Marvin Tate
Animals: Myth and Reality
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
The Artist in Representation
Faculty: Damon Locks
Introduction to Political Theory in the American Context
Faculty: Dr. Lucy Cane and Dr. Anna Terwiel
African American History, 1865-Present
Faculty: Dr. Darryl Heller
2013-2014 Academic Year
Personal Narratives in History
Faculty: Dr. Amy Partridge
Art & Advocacy, History & Practice
Faculty: Tess Landon
Art: (Re)creation / Time
Faculty: Damon Locks, Sarah Ross, and Fereshteh Toosi
The Fiction and Prose of Richard Wright
Faculty: Dr. Natasha Barnes
Social Change Histories
Faculty: Dr. Erica Meiners and Jill Petty
Poetry: Dear Reader
Faculty: Fred Sasaki, Lindsay Garbutt, Ydalmi Noriega, Ashley Sheehan, James Sitar, Mairead Case, Nuria Sheehan, Poetry Foundation
Humanities: Social Change Histories
Faculty: Ben Almassi and Nick Smaligo
Drawing from Observation
Faculty: Ryan Griffis
Expository Writing Basics
Faculty: Jill Petty
Poor People’s Movements in the 2000s, 1960s & 1930s
Faculty: Dr. Amy Partridge
2012-2013 Academic Year
Gendered Perspectives
Faculty: Dr. Erica Meiners
Unexpected Art, Unexpected Artists
Faculty: Tess Landon
Mural and Painting Workshop
Faculty: Gabriel Villa
The Letter
Faculty: Claire Pentecost
Creative Writing: Political Poetry
Faculty: Daniela Olszewska
Creative Writing: Coming of Age
Faculty: Jill Petty
Poetry
Faculty: Anthony Madrid, Nadya Pittendrigh, Fred Sasaki, and Tess Landon.
Visual Stories
Faculty: Sarah Ross