UNIV 111 & 112 Course Texts
The selections below are provided to supplement the current Focused Inquiry 111/112 custom textbook, Among Others: Solitude and Belonging. Also see the Skills pages for additional readings/resources.
Intro to Focused Inquiry
- The Faculty of Focused Inquiry – “Welcome”
- McTague – “A Message from the Writing Center Director”
- Davila – “What is Focused Inquiry?”
Autonomy/Individualism
- Garber – “What Does ‘Community’ Mean?”
- Klemin – “My Parents Are Hackers Out of Necessity”
Class Consciousness
Communing w/the Non-human World
- Bisson – “Bears Discover Fire”
- Jabr – “The Social Life of Forests”
- Klemin – “My Parents Are Hackers Out of Necessity”
Envisioning/Defining Community
- Adichie – “The Danger of the Single Story”
- Garber – “What Does ‘Community’ Mean?”
- Rodia – “Is it a Cult, or a New Religious Movement?”
Family
- Bisson – “Bears Discover Fire”
- Klemin – “My Parents Are Hackers Out of Necessity”
Gender/Sexuality
- Combahee River Collective – The Combahee River Collective Statement
- Stanton – “The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments”
Global Communities
- Adichie – “The Danger of the Single Story”
History/Tradition
- Evans – “The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence”
- Stanton – “The Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments”
- Tripp – “Our Land Was Taken. But We Still Hold the Knowledge of How to Stop Mega Fires”
Institutional Belonging/Legislation
- Klemin – “My Parents Are Hackers Out of Necessity”
- U.S. Supreme Court – McGirt vs. Oklahoma
Race/Ethnicity
- Baldwin – “A Letter to My Nephew”
- Cadogan – “Walking While Black”
- Combahee River Collective – The Combahee River Collective Statement
- Plumer & Popovich – “How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering”
- Tripp – “Our Land Was Taken. But We Still Hold the Knowledge of How to Stop Mega Fires”
- U.S. Supreme Court – McGirt vs. Oklahoma
- Walker – “Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World”
- Ward – “My True South: Why I Decided to Return Home”
Solitude vs. Isolation
- Garber – “What Does ‘Community’ Mean?”
Technology & Virtual Connections
Klemin – “My Parents Are Hackers Out of Necessity”
Shirky – “How Social Media Can Make History”
The United States Communities
- Cadogan – “Walking While Black”
- Plumer & Popovich – “How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering”
- Rodia – “Is it a Cult, or a New Religious Movement?”
- Walker – “Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World”
- Ward – “My True South: Why I Decided to Return Home”
Other Reading Resources
- VCU’s Common Book
- VCU Library Research Guide for the Common Book
- VCU Library Research Guide for We Have Always Lived in the Castle, our 2020-2023 theme read