Inequality in America

Dr. Emily Anderson (she/her/hers) is a scholar, writer, educator and civic leader. Her research considers how we use stories to understand the world and shape our sense of personal and political possibility. Currently, she is studying how contemporary writers re-imagine Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic Little House on the Prairie novels to talk about immigration today; work from this project has appeared in the Journal of Popular Culture. In addition to her scholarship, Emily is the author of three young adult novels including Fifteen and Change (the story of a teenager who gets involved in the Fight for Fifteen labor movement) which was recognized by the American Library Association and the Junior Library Guild. Emily’s fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in a variety of publications including Harper’s, The Atlantic, the Kenyon Review, and Best American Experimental Writing.

In 2021, Emily was elected to a second term on the City Council of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a community of 68,000 ninety miles east of St. Paul. In this part-time role, she works to promote civic engagement, the arts, and social justice in the city where she grew up.

A graduate of Macalester College, Emily has taught at the American School of Madrid, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (where she received her MFA in Writing), the University at Buffalo (where she received her PhD in English) and in the Honors Program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

This seminar provides the theoretical foundations necessary for understanding the roots, dynamics, and persistence of economic, political, and social inequality and poverty in cities and in regions. Students master the key theoretical tools for evaluating alternative policies, and strategies for addressing various forms of poverty and inequality. Theory is integrated with students’ field and internship work and draws from numerous disciplines, with a particular focus on the field of political economy. Students examine interrelated social systems relevant to the study of poverty and inequality such as the economy, the politics of economic policy, labor markets, geographic systems and housing, and education and welfare systems. Theories of oppression help students understand how institutionalized racism, classism, and gender discrimination factor in and among all of these systems.

This seminar illuminates, grounds, and “tests” theoretical perspectives and insights gained in the “Inequality in America: A Political Economy Approach” seminar. Students examine a variety of policy alternatives and strategies for social change used to address poverty and inequality by conversing with policy makers, community activists, and public and private organizations, and by participating in a number of structured field exercises and legislative lobbying.

Internship: The internship is concentrated practice, and facilitates student learning on many levels. Students integrate and refine their theoretical understanding, build and develop skills, gain a greater understanding of methods of social change, and grow in their understanding of vocation. The program deliberately integrates these experiences with themes and experiences from the other courses in the program. Students work a minimum of 200 hours at their placement, approximately 20 hours each week for the duration of the program.

Integration Seminar: This seminar integrates theoretical and experiential work in the other seminars of the program with internship work, and provides further theoretical frameworks for making meaning from the internship experiences. Students analyze the operation of organizations that are dedicated to changing systemic inequalities, learn how, when, and why organizations collaborate, and explore the perspectives that internship organizations and staff bring to individual and societal change. Assignments ask students to articulate and assess worldviews on social change and movement-building, including their own, those in texts discussed in the classroom, those expressed by field speakers who visit the program, and staff at their internship sites. Through guided examination of the assumptions they bring to interactions with practitioners and communities, students see how those varying worldviews play out within organizations and in processes of social change. Finally, students reflect on the impacts their classroom training and lived experiences have in real-world work and community environments, and articulate plans for their future engagement.

Inequality in America 2019 Syllabus

HOME Line is a tenant advocacy organization that seeks to provide renters with the tools they need to advocate for themselves. HOME Line provides free and low-cost legal, organizing, education, and advocacy services so that tenants throughout Minnesota can solve their own rental housing problems. They work to improve public and private policies relating to rental housing by involving affected tenants in the process. HECUA interns have worked on issue campaigns, communications, and other advocacy strategies.

IX works with renter communities most oppressed by high rents, bad conditions, and intimidation by landlords in Minneapolis. The HECUA student intern interviewed tenants and translated their stories of mistreatment by landlords, to share their experiences with the public from their point of view. She also attended tenant meetings and translated and took notes for the group and accompanied tenants to their eviction court dates to show they have community support.

The mission of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless is to generate policies, community support and local resources for housing and services while working toward ending homelessness in Minnesota. HECUA students placed here assist with policy research. They help craft language and messaging related to MCH work for the broader public and for social media sources, and take part in the planning and coordination of MN Homeless Day on the Hill.

RECLAIM works to increase access to mental health support so that queer and trans youth may reclaim their lives from oppression in all its forms. One of their programs, “Healing is Resistance” honors the stories and identities of queer and trans youth and their healing journeys. The HECUA student intern wrote interview questions, conducted interviews, and wrote up the stories for the social marketing campaign for “Healing is Resistance.” They also worked with the development director to track and acknowledge contributions to the organization and other office administrative tasks in the development department.