Course Title & Description:  Civil Discourse in a Democracy - From our classrooms to our social media feeds, and our living rooms to our legislature, the vibrancy of our democracy hinges on how we talk about issues, problems, and decisions that impact our communities. And yet, these complex conversations are often fraught with challenges that undermine productive civic life. We will contemplate the question: How do we talk about issues of common concern together to encourage more meaningful engagement? We will examine civil discourse in practice, including through our U.S. civic structure, adversarial models (protest/movements/resistance), and dialogue models (public dialogue/democratic deliberation/participatory democracy and collaborative inquiry). Using case studies for critical reflection, we will attend to the complex dynamics of our civic landscape, the challenges of civility (and incivility), and the possibilities for cultivating more productive civil discourse around contentious issues in diverse contexts.