Global Humanities syllabus, Spring 2009

Note: On most weekdays, I will be on campus for most of the day. However, because of my duties as MSU Mankato Faculty Association (IFO) President, I may sometimes have to cancel an office hour and I will often be in meetings on or off campus. I will be off-campus on most Thursdays and Fridays. It’s always best to check ahead of time if you want to meet with me. I will reply to phone messages and emails as soon as possible.

REQUIRED TEXTS
Note: There will be some additional readings linked to online sources

Gonzalez Echevarria, Roberto. The Oxford Book of Latin American Stories

Larson, Charles. Under African Skies: Modern African Stories

Paine, Ed J. The Poetry of Our World

Return to top

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course is founded on the following assumptions:

· That forms of humanistic expression--through philosophy; religion; and the visual, literary, and performing arts--are not the exclusive province of European and American societies

· That cultures around the world share in a common desire to define the human condition, and do so through philosophy; religion, and the visual, literary, and performing arts

· That forms of humanistic expression, as well as the contents of that expression, change over time and across cultures to respond to the different circumstances of individual cultures

· That the forms of humanistic expression, as well as their content, underscore the beliefs, values and experiences that both unite and divide cultures throughout history

· That we cannot understand the social or economic or political or military role of a nation or culture without also understanding that culture's history and forms of cultural expression

· That no citizen of an increasingly interdependent global society can afford to remain ignorant of the many facets of cultural expression that lie beyond the Western tradition

This course is intended as a complement to Humanities 150 and 151: The Western Humanities. In this class, we will attempt to survey the religions, philosophies and cultural expressions of societies beyond Europe and North America. Our particular emphasis will be on sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania/Pacific cultures, and Latin America. (Humanities 155, offered in the fall, covers cultures of the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia.)

These societies have cultural traditions that are hundreds or thousands of years old, and we will explore some of the ways in which those traditions have been expressed over the ages through religion, philosophy, literature, and the visual and performing arts. But all of these societies have also had to deal with the impact of the Western world—whether through slavery, colonialism, economic exploitation, or just through the spread of industrialization and an increasingly closely-linked global economy. So we will also look at ways by which these societies have expressed acceptance of, resistance to, or adaptation to these radical social changes. And we will see how thinkers, writers and artists in these societies have expressed the concerns, problems and divisions within their own cultures.

Return to top

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: THE ONLINE PORTFOLIO

You are expected to attend class each day, and you will receive 1 point for each day of attendance. However, most of your grade for the semester will be based on an online portfolio of materials that you will assemble over the weeks and submit on Desire2Learn (D2L). I will be giving you feedback on your portfolio items as you assemble them over the course of the semester. A complete description of the portfolio follows, but briefly, you will be writing several different types of assignments, each of which will be worth a certain number of points, for a total of 500 points. You may continually revise the materials (except for Forum discussion items) that you put into your portfolio during the semester until the Final Meeting date (May 6). It is the final portfolio itself that will be the basis for the final grade (along with attendance). You may want or need to supplement the D2L portfolio with some additional materials (pictures, videos, websites, etc.) to be submitted in-class or online.

GRADING/PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES

Section	Possible Points*
Attendance	15 weeks @ 2 points = 30 points
Weekly Forum Submission	15 weeks @ 5 points = 75 points
Cultural Resources	3 Resources @ 50 points = 150 points
International Event Report	45 points
Final Project: Understanding Contemporary Culture through Tradition/ Understanding Traditions through Contemporary Culture	200 points (50 in-class presentation, 150 written)
TOTAL	500

Points will be assigned based on how complete, accurate and insightful each item is, as well as for the quality of the presentation (i.e., it meets the assignment criteria; it is well-organized; it follows conventions of academic writing; etc.). You can track your accumulation of points in the Grades section of D2L. The Cultural Resource Reports, the International Event Report, and the Final Project can all be revised on D2L up until the Final Meeting period on May 6. I cannot guarantee that a revision will raise your point totals, but revisions will never lower the points you have already earned.

· Attendance (30 points): You will receive a credit of 1 point for each day when you attend class. If you miss class, you will not receive that credit unless you have prior approval and/or a documented excuse for that absence. In the event that a class meeting has to be cancelled, you will receive the 1 credit anyway. (For example, everyone will receive 1 point for Martin Luther King Day.)

· Forum Submissions (75 points): You will receive a credit of 5 points for your submissions to each weekly Forum, uploaded to the Discussion section in D2L. Each Discussion section will be open for a limited period of time (usually one week). You must have at least one entry that is at least three sentences long during the period when the Forum is open for submissions. Your entry has to address material related to the class and must follow basic procedures for “netiquette” (no personal comments or attacks, etc.). You may, of course, use the forum to exchange comments and converse about topics relevant to the class. If you do not submit an entry during the open period, you will not receive credit. Submissions that do not meet basic standards may receive 0-4 points. Note: These entries cannot be revised.

· Cultural Resources (150 points): A Cultural Resource is a source of information that another student could turn to for information about our three major geographical areas of study (Africa, Oceania, Latin America). The resource could be could be a person, book, video, or website, among other possibilities. You will submit three documents, each worth 50 points, uploaded to the appropriate category in the D2L Dropbox. Each of the three documents should be at least one page long, and in that document you should answer four sets of questions:

1. What is this particular resource and how can a student gain access to it? (Be specific! For instance, if it is a website, give the URL, or if it is a library book, give the call number, etc.)

2. How did you learn about this resource, and how do you know that this resource is accurate and trustworthy?

3. What kind of information does this resource provide? Be as specific as possible. Explain whether it deals with a broad area of a culture or with a specific aspect of that culture. Let your readers know what additional information they might need for background to take full advantage of this resource.

4. Who would benefit the most from this resource? How might they be able to make use of it?

Note: You may use Wikipedia as a means of locating a Resource but you cannot use it for the Resource itself!

· International Event Report (45 points): Attend one of the events sponsored by a campus department, the International Student Office, the Cultural Diversity Program, or another organization that relates to a culture outside of the United States. (See the list posted online on the Course Resources page. You may also attend an event in the Twin Cities or at another location if you provide a copy of the program.) Then write a report about what you saw, did, and learned at that event. Indicate the name, date and place of the event, and who the artists, speakers, or main participants were. Attach any brochure or other material that is passed out. Explain how that activity relates to what we have learned in class about one or more particular cultures. Your report should be 2-4 pages long.

· Final Project (200 points): For a subject, you should take a contemporary work of art or architecture, short story, poem, piece of music, film, or other work created within the last century (roughly 1920 to the present) that comes from one of the cultures that we have been studying—or take one of these cultural products from the colonial or pre-colonial past. (You may build on a topic that you have used for your Cultural Resource report.) Your purpose in this project will be one of these two:

o Explain how a contemporary artist (whether painter, architect, writer, musician or other) creates works that draw on or comment on the culture and traditions of his/her society’s past.

o Explain how a work (narrative, poem, song, sculpture, building, etc.) from a society’s past can give a new understanding of what it is like to live in a particular culture or society to an outsider.

In addition, your purpose is to demonstrate how this particular cultural work explores the “human condition” within the context of its society. What questions about human life does this work attempt to deal with? What answers, if any, does it provide? How does it try to engage the senses and experience of its audience (viewer, reader, listener)?

The project will be in two parts:

1. An in-class presentation (worth 50 points). Most presentations will be given in the second half of the semester, following Spring Break and beginning the week of March 16. We will start setting a schedule for presentations before Spring Break.

2. A final project submitted in electronic or written format (worth 150 points).

We will discuss your projects briefly at our Final Meeting on May 6, when all final submissions are due. Further guidelines on the Final Project are available at this link.

Return to top

GRADING STANDARDS

Final Grade Breakdown, based on total of 500 points, using +/- grading

Total Score	Final Grade
450-500	A
435-499	A-
415-434	B+
400-414	B
385-399	B-
365-384	C+
350-364	C
335-349	C-
315-334	D+
300-314	D
285-299	D-
0-284	F

Return to top

GENERAL CLASS POLICIES

Attendance
Since much of this course is based on your participation and collaboration with each other, it is important for you to attend regularly. If you know that you are likely to miss class on a particular day, please check for whatever work or assignment will be involved on that day. If you unexpectedly miss a class, you are still responsible for all work required for your Portfolio.

Missed Work
You can submit missed work and revise submitted work up until the Final Meeting period on Wednesday, May 7. After that, all scores will be final unless you have made other arrangements with me for very special circumstances.

Electronic Devices (cell phone, IPods, laptops, etc.)

Unless you have asked for and received specific permission to use an electronic device in class, you will have to turn off and put away any such devices before class starts each day.

Reading and Bringing Books to Class
You will only need to bring books with material being discussed for that class day. Make sure that you do bring them when needed. Do make sure that you have done the assigned reading before each class.

Final Note
While I can bring a certain level of learning and knowledge to this class, the world is a very big place and there is far more to our subject than any individual could ever know. I am also a learner. I look forward to hearing from you about any knowledge or experience that you can bring to bear about our subjects. I also look forward to learning more about you individually as we meet in class or out of it. Always feel free to drop in during office hours, to e-mail me, or to ask for an appointment when you cannot come to office hours. I hope that this will be a stimulating semester for all of us as we learn more about what the phrase "global community" really means!

Return to top

SCHEDULE (subject to change and updated weekly)

Week	Dates	Topic	Readings
1	January 12 January 14	Introduction. What are the Humanities? What is culture? Terms: Tradition, Modernity, Postmodernity; Colonialism, Postcolonialism	Selected poems from The Poetry of Our World. Bring the book!
2	January 19 January 21	No class Monday (ML King Day) Modern Africa in culture	Read the Introduction to the Africa section of Poetry of Our World. Select a poem to discuss in class. Bring the book on Wed.!
3	January 26 January 28	Modern Africa, continued
4	February 2 February 4	Tracing Africa—the colonial past
5	February 9 February 11	Tracing Africa—the colonial/ancient past
6	February 16 February 18	Tracing Africa—the ancient past
7	February 23 February 25	Defining Oceania
8	March2 March4	Oceania through culture
	March9 March11	SPRING BREAK
9	March16 March18	In-Class Presentations begin Modern Latin America in literature
10	March23 March25	Modern Latin America, continued
11	March 30 April 1	Latin America—the colonial past
12	April 6 April 8	Latin America—the colonial/ancient past
13	April 13 April 15	Latin America—the ancient past
14	April 20 April 22	Reserved for catch-up and class presentations
15	April 27 April 29	Reserved for catch-up and class presentations
	Wed., May 6	Final Meeting Period, 12:30-2:30 pm

Return to top

GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
CATEGORIES 6 (Humanities & the Arts) and 8 (Global Perspective)

6a
Students demonstrate awareness of scope and variety of works of literature, art, music, theater, philosophy, and religious expression from ancient times to the present, in cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, the Oceania/Pacific region, and Latin America.

6b
Students demonstrate understanding of individual and cultural values expressed by artists and writers through religion, philosophy, the arts and other forms of cultural expression from ancient times to the present, in cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, the Oceania/Pacific region, and Latin America.

6c
Students demonstrate ability to respond critically to works from cultures of t sub-Saharan Africa, the Oceania/Pacific region, and Latin America and to the expression of the cultural, artistic, humanistic, social and political differences within and among those cultures through class discussion, journals, exams and/or other formats

6d
Not usually addressed, since this is not a studio-oriented course, but students may demonstrate their knowledge and familiarity with one of the cultures being studied by offering a recitation, performance or demonstration of a cultural work or ceremony.

6e
Students demonstrate ability to articulate an informed personal response to works in the arts and humanities from cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, the Oceania/Pacific region, and Latin America through class discussion, journals, exams and/or other formats.

8a
Students demonstrate ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate humanistic, artistic and cultural elements (within historical, social and economic contexts) which have influenced and still influence relations of nations and peoples in sub-Saharan Africa, the Oceania/Pacific region, and Latin America.

8b
Students demonstrate knowledge of cultural, social, religious and linguistic differences within and among cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, the Oceania/Pacific region, and Latin America as expressed through works of literature, art, music, theater, philosophy, and religious expression.

8c
Students demonstrate awareness of humanistic, artistic and cultural elements (within historical, social and economic contexts) that underlie specific international problems, past and present, and which may facilitate or impede their solution, as expressed through works of literature, art, music, theater, philosophy, and religious expression.

8d
Students demonstrate the understanding of and sensitivity to cultural issues of the past and present that are a necessary component in the role of a world citizen.

Return to top