Professors. K.G. Aiken, G. Machlis, and G. Williams; Mentor Mitchell Odom
CRN
32765/32766,
Core 127/177
Mon/Wed,
3:30 pm - 4:45 pm,
TLC 023/041
Course Schedule and Reading Assignments, Fall 2008
NOTE: READINGS PRECEDED BY A DOUBLE
NUMBER SIGN ## APPLY ONLY TO SECTION 01 (WILLIAMS)
August
25 (M)
General Theme: Introduction to the
course
Topic: Welcome,
introductions, and overview of the course
Instructor(s):
Williams (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: Anthem
assignment, interest survey.
Reading(s):
Course syllabus; Gabriel Aresti, “My Father’s House” (handouts in class)
27 (W)
General Theme: Introduction to the
course
Topic: Foundational skills
for success in the course
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Interest survey due
Reading(s):
*##Robert Jensen, “Saying Goodbye to Patriotism” (online)
September
1 (M)
No class (Labor Day)
3 (W)
General Theme: Introduction
to the course
Topic: Foundational skills
for success (continued)
Instructor(s):
Williams (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment:
Anthem Assignment due.
Reading(s):
William Cronon, ”’Only Connect’: The Goals of a Liberal Education” (online)
8 (M)
General Theme: The History,
Politics, and Technology of War
Topic: Guernica, Spain, 1937:
The Historical Context
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: lecture,
discussion
Reading(s):
Richard Overy, “Air Warfare" (online)
10 (W)
General Theme: The History,
Politics, and Technology of War
Topic: Guernica, Spain, 1937:
The Artistic Statement
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Discussion of Picasso’s painting “Guernica”
Reading(s):
Martha Gellhorn, “High Explosives for Everyone” (online)
15 (M)
General Theme: Taxonomy of War
Topic: Definitions and kinds
of War
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: Lecture,
discussion. Comparative analysis of regional conflicts assigned.
Reading(s): Dan Smith,
The Atlas of Peace and War, select
one regional chapter (Europe,
Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Africa, or Latin America) from p.
48-104
17 (W)
General Theme: Taxonomy of War
Topic: Definitions and kinds
of war continued
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: lecture,
discussion
Reading(s): Keegan,
War & Our World, Intro (ix-xv), Ch.
1&2 (p.1-30)
22 (M)
General Theme: Causes of War
Topic: Resource Conflicts as
a Cause of War
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment:
Comparative analysis due;
Small group discussion of analysis assignment.
Reading(s):
Dan Smith, Ch 1 (p. 8-16)
24 (W)
General Theme: Causes of War
Topic: The Human Psyche
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Discussion
Reading(s): Sigmund Freud,
Civilization and Its Discontents, Chs
1-2 (p. 35-66); ##David L.
Smith, The Most Dangerous Animal,
Chs 1-2 (online).
29 (M)
General Theme: Causes of War
Topic: Oil and other
Strategic Resources
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041 at beginning of class; then split)
Activity/Assignment: lecture,
discussion
Reading(s): Michael Klare, “Oil, Geography, and War: The Competitive Pursuit of Petroleum Plenty” (online)
October
1 (W)
General Theme: Oral History Project
Topic: Introduction to
project
Instructor(s):
Aiken
Activity/Assignment:
2 October: guest speaker, author
of
Imperial Life in the Emerald City,
Rajiv Chandrasekaran; 3-5 October:
film Body of War (Kenworthy
Performing Arts Center, 508 S Main St.). Friday night showing followed by
discussion with producer Ellen Spiro
Reading(s):
Guide to Practicing Oral History (handout)
6 (M)
General Theme: Wars of Conquest
Topic: The Nez Perce War
Instructor(s):
Aiken (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: lecture, discussion.
Reading(s): Jerome Greene.
Nez Perce Summer,1877
(Introduction and
Acknowledgements; Chapter 1, Reasons);
Nez Perce
L3 Life Long Learning Project—Big
Hole battle (online)
8 (W)
General Theme: Wars of Conquest
Topic: The Nez Perce War
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment: Film presented by visitor Marc Blackburn of the National Park Service
Reading(s): Field Trip Guide
11 (Sa)
Field Trip (all day; depart at 7 a.m.): Nez Perce Battleground
13 (M)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Political
Topic: The Nez Perce War and
class field trip
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment: Small
group debriefings; discussion of midterm.
Field trip journals due.
Reading(s): ##Freud, Ch 5-6
15 (W)
Midterm Examination: Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
20 (M) General Theme: Consequences of War: Social/Cultural
Topic: The End of Civilization
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Reading(s):
## Freud, Ch 7-8
22 (W)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Social/Cultural
Topic: Imagining the
Apocalypse
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Discussion
Reading(s):
Cormac McCarthy, The Road to p. 80
27 (M)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Social/Cultural
Topic:
God and The Road
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Discussion
Reading(s): McCarthy,
The Road to p.160
29 (W)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Social/Cultural
Topic:
Carrying the Fire
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment:
Discussion; essay on The Road
assigned
Reading(s):
The Road
to end (p. 241)
November
3 (M)
General Theme: UI at War (Oral
History Project)
Topic: Project Update
Instructor(s):
Aiken (all students (TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: Planning
for installation
Reading(s):
None
5 (W)
General Theme: UI at War (Oral
History Project)
Topic: Oral History Project
Instructor(s):
Aiken (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: Project
Installation. Essay on The Road due.
Reading(s): None.
10 (M)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Environmental
Topic: Environmental Impacts
of War Preparations and Conflict, Part One
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment:
Illustrated lecture, discussion
Reading(s): Machlis and
Hanson, "Warfare Ecology" (online)
12 (W)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Environmental
Topic: Environmental impacts
of Postwar Activities, Part Two
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment:
Illustrated lecture, discussion
Reading(s):
Richard Stone, "Agent Orange's Bitter Harvest" (online)
17 (M)
General Theme: Research Paper on War
and the Environment
Topic: Introduction to
research project, foundational skills for success
Instructor(s):
Machlis (all students,TLC041)
Activity/Assignment:
Assignment of research proposal
Reading(s): None
19 (W)
General Theme: Consequences of War:
Environmental
Topic:
The Scale of Environmental Damage
Instructor(s):
Aiken, Williams (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment: Film
Screening, Scarred Lands & Wounded Lives
Reading(s):
None.
December
1 (M) General Theme: Library Research
Topic: Help preparing the research proposal
Instructor(s): Nancy Young, Library Faculty (all students, TLC041)
Activity/Assignment:
discussion
Reading(s):
Materials for research proposal
3 (W)
General Theme: Semester Summary
Topic: Preview of next
semester
Instructor(s):
Aiken (TLC041), Williams (TLC023)
Activity/Assignment: Research proposal for next semester due. Reading(s): None.
8 (M) TBA
10 (W)
TBA
15-19
Finals Week—no final exam for this
course.