Project: Lake Street Breathe

Lake Street Breathe was a course taught in the Fall of 2021 by Jigna Desai at the University of Minnesota which was supported by Minnesota Transform. Below explore the course description and projects created by students as a part of the course.

Course Description

                      When I hear us dream our futures,
                      believe we will make it to one,
                      We will make one.
                      The future lives in our bodies?
                      -- Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

We are in the midst of a convergence of short and long term crises and pandemics that have had disparate impacts. From global climate change, imperialism, and racial capitalism to global COVID pandemic, police violence, and multiracial white supremacist and fascist insurrections, these structures of violence are impacting us in profound small and big ways. Amidst tumult, action and transformation are possible and necessary. In this class, we deploy public humanities to demand, create, and imagine transformation. Together we identify what questions need to be asked, what presents need to be documented, what stories need to be told, and what media can be created to foster just futures for us all.

This course also provides a hands-on introduction to theory, methods, practice, and politics of public humanistic engagement through a collaboration with community partners as part of the Lake Street Project and the Minnesota Transform. We will work collaboratively on interdisciplinary public humanities projects that focus on the narratives and perspectives of youth, Black, Indigenous, immigrant, refugee, LGBTQ, and other subaltern people. You will develop exhibit, media, and public projects in relation to the MYSS internship and/or with our community partners. You will explore media justice work through a feminist and racial justice lens and engage with narrative, storytelling, and media-making strategies. Through community-based research and internship work students will develop action research media analysis, work with classmates, youth, and community partners to engage and create transformation for racial justice.

Student Projects

Students proposed, designed, collaborated on, and produced a wide range of projects from digital zines and documentary films to story maps and BIPOC self care kits. One group documented the impact of the uprisings on public art and history by expanding a map of toppled racist and colonial statues.

Toppled Statues of the Uprisings during Summer 2020 Google Earth Map

Additionally, many of the zines created as projects for this class were included in The Change We Want exhibit. Learn more about the exhibit at their website.