To what extent is civic engagement fundamental to democratic citizenship? This course seeks to answer that question by exploring the components of service learning as a discipline and to strengthen the intellectual foundation of students who wish to incorporate civic engagement into their curriculum. Students will become familiar with the history of service learning, explore competing theories of social justice and social inequality, and develop a framework for social action that exists at the juncture of theory and practice. Readings will include texts by Dewey, Freire, bell hooks, Franklin, Jefferson, Thoreau, Addams, Baldwin, King, Dorothy Day, and Fanon. Weekly seminar papers as well as a term paper through which students develop their own philosophy of civic engagement.