Read The Current‘s May 2023 coverage of Foundations’ CDCR grant here.
Read The Current article about Foundations in the Humanities here.
Watch a video on teaching in the program here.
Foundations in the Humanities, a program of UC Santa Barbara’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC), annually provides courses in literary studies for hundreds of individuals incarcerated in California prisons. Foundations was developed in the belief that access to higher education is a basic human right to which every person is entitled. It was launched in one California prison in 2016 in partnership with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’s restorative justice program Partnership for Re-Entry Program (PREP). The program now serves participants in all 31 California state prisons.
The program consists of three courses: “Foundations I: Introduction to Literary Studies,” “Foundations II: Selected Works of American Literature,” and “Foundations III: Studies in the Novel.” All courses are composed of six modules that each contain a short reading and an accompanying worksheet with 4-6 essay questions. Each reading presents a situation in which a fictional character confronts and responds to significant life situations and challenges. Reading and responding to questions about these literary works enables participants to expand their insight into themselves and their society, for the purpose of building better lives in prison and after their release. It takes eight to eleven months to complete one Foundations course.
Foundations participants work with graduate student mentors from across the humanities and interpretive social sciences. The mentors support the mission of the Foundations program to provide an educational opportunity in the humanities for people who are incarcerated in California, and they themselves benefit by learning new pedagogical practices.
Evaluations of past participants report that the intellectual exchanges with a mentor who provides individualized feedback enables participants to experience themselves as individuals with something of value to contribute to their communities, both within and beyond prison, and that the program has increased their appreciation of perspectives different than their own. Past participants also report that Foundations has catalyzed the creation of new learning communities inside the prison, based upon a shared interest in literature. It has also incentivized some participants to pursue other avenues of higher education.
Upon successful completion of each course, participants receive a certificate that attests to the fact that they are actively pursuing an educational program that contributes to their rehabilitation.
To enroll, write to us at: Foundations in the Humanities, 6046 HSSB, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-7100.
