Community Courses
Humanities for Everybody offers community participants an opportunity to engage with the humanities with the support of WMU professors who are committed to their field of expertise and the Kalamazoo community.
Our mission is to bring together passionate and intellectually curious people from all backgrounds and all school experiences to collectively wrestle with relevant ideas and issues in literature, history, philosophy and contemporary culture.
Our conversational approach invites participants to ask questions, take intellectual risks, explore issues in depth, develop new academic skills and habits of mind, and gain a public voice.
Moreover, participants in the program will receive free books, tuition and snacks. There are no citizenship requirements for our community program. Active participants are also encouraged to request assistance with their college or job applications, including references and letters of recommendation written by Humanities for Everybody faculty.
To the left is a short documentary of our program created by talented Kalamazoo filmmaker and H4E alumna, Theresa Jackson.
2022-2023 course schedule
Due to the pandemic, most of our programming the last two years have been via online book clubs. We will be offering our first face-to-face course this spring for a particular group of students. We hope to offer more classes next academic year.
Course Title: Justice, Equity, and the Human Experience
Course Instructors: Dr. Dini Metro-Roland (WMU Professor, Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies); Mr. Dale Brown (Manager of Humanities Outreach, WMU Center for the Humanities)
Course Description: Grounded in the humanities, this course will explore contemporary social issues through the lens of intersectionality, dealing briefly with major themes such as race, class, ethnicity, sexual identity, gender identity, mass incarceration, and higher education. We will ask questions of these topics—for example, What is race? What is cultural appropriation? What is the point of higher education?—and see what questions they ask of us. Participants of all academic skill levels are welcome. Readings and assignments will be responsive to students’ interest and tiered depending on students’ requested level of engagement.
Meetings will be held from 6-8 p.m. on the following days:
Thursday, Feb. 16
Thursday, Feb. 23
Thursday, March 2
Spring Break—no class
Thursday, March 16
Thursday, March 23
Location: The Kalamazoo Promise 180 E Water St Suite 2005, Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Interested in our program?
If you are interested in participating as a community participant please fill out an application. Submission instructions can be found on the application itself. Please don't hesitate to contact us for more information.