Contemporary
American Experience
Core 104 - 01
Fall 2004
T, Th
Admin 227
Dale Graden
Office:
Admin 305 A; telephone: 885-8956
Office hour: Monday 8-9 a.m. or by appointment
Email: Graden@uidaho.edu
Online: www.class.uidaho.edu/Graden
This syllabus is available on line
Greetings
and welcome. This course is part of a newly revised core curriculum at the
We
hope to offer a stimulating and challenging course. For that to happen, you need
to attend the classes and do the readings. We devote lots of class time to
discussion, so please come prepared to discuss the readings and share your ideas
on the days noted as discussion. There are several writing requirements. Why
? you ask. Because the majority of students enter and depart from high schools,
colleges and universities across the land unable to express themselves
coherently on paper, in cyberspace, or verbally. Practice can help one to
develop basic and more advanced writing skills.
The
requirements for this core discovery course are as follows:
Five
(5) two-page response papers. Three of these response papers are required (based
on the evening meeting with Andrea Vogt and the films “American
Beauty” and “Smoke Signals”) and are noted on the syllabus. You can choose
two other events to attend during the semester and write a response paper to
these. We will suggest upcoming events, speakers and films that you might want
to select. Choices will also be noted at the core discovery course web site http://www.class.uidaho.edu/cae/.
Foreign films are a great opportunity for the two independent response papers.
You can review the fall schedule for the Student Union Foreign Film Series at http://www.sub.uidaho.edu/cinema/cinema.asp.
Please note to me your choice before you attend an event. The
dates for submission of the two independent response papers are noted below on
the syllabus (October 19 and December 15). You are welcome to submit the two
independent response papers before the due dates. Each of these
five response papers is worth eight points, for a total of forty (40) points.
Two (2) quizzes on the dates noted. These are worth ten points each, for a total
of twenty (20) points.
Two
(2) three-page essays due on the dates noted. These are worth fifteen points
each, for a total of thirty (30) points.
Participation,
worth ten (10) points. If you miss more than five meetings of the class, you
fail the course. Please let me know by email (address noted above) if you cannot
attend a class for any reason.
We will discuss in class what we are looking for in the writing of the five response papers and the two short essays. My suggestion is that you be sure that after writing these assignments for the first time you return to them at least once before handing them in. Be sure not to submit anything that you have written without at least one, if not several, revisions.
A
description of how to write a response paper can be found at the cae website
(noted above), go to class-related links, then four down go to "Response
Guidelines."
A helpful and concise description of how to write a book critique can be found
at http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/writecenter/web/critique.html
Required books
Paula S. Rothenberg, Race, Class, and Gender
in the United States: An Integrated Study, sixth edition
Andrea Vogt, Common Courage: Bill Wassmuth, Human Rights and Small-Town Activism
Elmer Rice, The Adding Machine
Alan Ball and Sam Mendes, American Beauty: The Shooting Script
Contemporary American Experience Reading Packet of selected articles
Week one Interdisciplinarity
Tuesday August 24 Introduction
Readings : Reese and Armstrong, “The Olmstead Plan for
Campus” course packet
Cronon, “Only Connect: The Goals of Liberal Education” course packet and
online
recommended is Mark Edmundson, "On the Uses of a Liberal Education"
online
Thursday Aug 26 Walking tour
T Aug 31 discussion of Reese and Armstong,
Cronon, Jensen, Kohls
Readings : Jensen, “Three Speeches by Robert
Jensen” online
Kohls, “The Values Americans Live By,” course packet
Th Sept 2 quiz number one (based on the readings through September 2)
Readings : Gunther, “Freedom for the Thought We Hate,” in course packet
Lawrence, “Acknowledging the Victims’ Cry,” in course packet
Tatum, “Defining Racism” in Rothenberg, number 12 is recommended
Davidio and Gaertner, “On the Nature of Contemporary Prejudice” in
Rothenberg,
number 13
Sethi, “Smells Like Racism” in Rothenberg, number 14
Week Three Place and Class
T Sept 7 discussion of Stegner and Mantsios
Readings : Stegner, “A Sense of Place” in course packet
Mantsios, “Class in
Mantsios, “Media Magic: Making Class Invisible” in Rothenberg,
number 112
Th Sept 9 segments of “People Like Us”
Reading : Sklar, “Imagine a Country - 2003,” in Rothenberg, number 47
Week Four Social Protest
T Sept 14 Pov (Point of View independent documentaries) “Times of a Sign”
W Sept 15 presentation by Andrea Vogt,
Th Sept 16 discussion and segment from
"Confederacy Theory"
Week Five Political Consciousness and Social Conscience
T Sept 21
Th Sept 23
Reading : finish Vogt, Common Courage
Week Six Cultures
T Sept 28 response paper number one due on Vogt, Common Courage
August Wilson interview from PBS
Th Sept 30 segments from documentaries
Reading : begin Ball and Mendes, The Shooting Script
Week Seven Suburbia
T Oct 5 discussion
W Oct 6 view “American Beauty”
Th Oct 7 discussion of American Beauty
Readings : Freye, “Oppression,” in Rothenberg, number 18
Week Eight Indigenous Americas
T Oct 12 response paper number two is due on “American Beauty”
view in class first half of “Smoke Signals”
Recommended readings are cae web sites related to director Sherman Alexie
reading: Deloria, “The Indian Movement” in course packet
Th Oct 14 view in class second half of “Smoke Signals”
Reading : Frey, “The Tin Shed” and “Seeing from the Inside Looking
Out” in course packet
T Oct 19 (independent) response paper number three is due
Th Oct 21
" 'White' Names Give Job Seekers an Edge," in Rothenberg, number 24
"EEOC Sues Arizona Diner for National Origin Bias Against Navajos and Other
Native Americans," in Rothenberg, number 31
"Indian Tribes: A Continuing Quest for Survival," in Rothenberg,
number 83
Murphy Paul, "Where Bias Begins: The Truth About Stereotypes,"
in Rothenberg, number 106
Week Ten Environments
T Oct 26 response paper number four is due on “Smoke Signals”
Discussion of Bill McKibben, “The End of Growth” online
W Oct 27 Josiah Pinkham presentation in Renfrew 112
Th Oct 28
Discussion of "Checking
in with Bill McKibben," Utne Reader, July 1999
http://www.consciouschoice.com/citizen/citizen1207.html
Recommended : Bill McKibben, "Crossing the Red
Line," New York Review of Books,
June 10, 2004 http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17179
Week Eleven Religion I
T Nov 2 quiz number two
Th Nov 4 Discussion: please bring your course packet.
Readings : Li-Young Li, “The Gift,” “Mnemonic,” “The Waiting,” “The Story,”
all in course packet
Sanders, “Isabelle,” in course packet
Sanders, “The 400-Pound CEO,” in course packet
Week Twelve Religion II
T Nov 9 discussion
Readings : Marty, “Religion in America” in course packet
Potok "Taliban in the Palouse” on line at:
Th Nov 11
Guest visit and discussion with Rich Wekerle. Rich resides
in Moscow, Idaho. He recently returned home after spending six months at the
Federal Prison at Sheridan, Oregon.
From Mr. Wekerle's web site: "On
November 23, 2003, Rich chose to become a Prisoner of Conscience, thereby
standing in solidarity with thousands of people who have died as a result of the
actions of some Latin American army personnel who were trained at the School of
the Americas located in Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Along with 26 other people Rich stepped onto the army base where all of them
were arrested for trespass.
On January 26, 2004, these 27 individuals were sentenced to probation or 3-6
months in federal prison."
I encourage you to read Rich's website at http://www.rweker.com
Also recommended is Leslie Gill, "Soldiering the Empire," on line
at NACLA: Report on the Americas 38:2 (September / October 2004) : http://www.nacla.org/art_display.php?art=2473
Please do the readings below independently:
Readings : Talbot, “A Mighty Fortress,” in course packet
Wright, “Lives of the Saints,” on line at the New Yorker Magazine
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020121fa_FACT1
Recommended : Mark P. Leone, "The New Mormon Temple in Washington,
D.C." in course packet (and copy handed out)
Week Thirteen Religion III
T Nov 16 Essay number one is due
View “The Arabs: Who they are, Who they are not”
Readings : “Basic Beliefs of Islam,” on line
Shaheen, “TV Arabs,” in Rothenberg, number 64
El Sawy, “Yes, I follow Islam, but I’m not a Terrorist,” in
Rothenberg, number 65
Th Nov 18 discussion
Readings : Charles Lindbergh’s
Wood, “What I learned about Jews,” in Rothenberg, number 69
Thanksgiving (week 14)
Week Fifteen
Family I
T Nov 30 view All in the Family
Readings : Macaulay, “Motel of Mysteries,” in course packet
Elmer Rice, "The Adding Machine"
W Dec 1 Attend the play "The Adding Machine" in Kiva Theatre
Th Dec 2 view The Simpsons
Th Dec 2 Evening event: at 6:30 p.m., in the University of Idaho's
Administration Auditorium, a panel presentation will focus on Mascots:
Is this Honor?
You may have seen the very powerful film, "In Whose Honor,"
which addresses the continuing prejudice associated with the use of Indian
mascots in sporting events, and at schools and institutions of higher education.
Among the key people featured in the movie and whom have obtained national
prominence in the fight against the use of Indian mascots is Charlene Teeters.
A group of University of Idaho students are organizing a panel presentation and
discussion on the issues associated with this controversial and, for so many,
degrading use of Indian imagery.
Among the panelist will be Charlene Teeters.
Also attending will be Karen and Wally Strong (Yakama), Betty Labbee, the Native
American Student Advisor at Yakama Valley College, and C. Richard King,
Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University
and author of the 2001 book, Team Spirits:
The Native American Mascots Controversy.
Week Sixteen Family II
T Dec 7 view the film "A River Runs Through It"
Th Dec 9 conclude "A River Runs Through It"
Essay number two and (independent) response paper number five is due by noon on Wednesday, December 15
Topic for Essay Number Two: Choose a theme(s) from our fall CAE course as it is depicted in the film "A River Runs Though It" or episodes from "All in the Family" and "The Simpsons" and analyze that theme. This might include portrayals of place, family, gender relations, homophobia, class, race and religion.