African American History to Emancipation explores the history, memory, and representation of …
African American History to Emancipation explores the history, memory, and representation of enslavement and abolition in the United States. The key questions we are posing are: how do we recover the unrecoverable and how do we remember the “unrememberable?” We will consider the history of enslavement in the Atlantic World, its legacies in the United States, the gaps in our knowledge, the global trauma of Atlantic World Slavery, and contemporary and contemporaneous representations. Key themes include: the formation of the Atlantic World, enslavement, the transatlantic slave trade, slavery in the United States, the formation of African American cultures, the emergence of race and racism, resistance and rebellion, abolition, emancipation and the meaning of freedom.
This project will be a culmination of work that the student will …
This project will be a culmination of work that the student will do over the course of the semester. The first step is for the student to identify a country that they wish to examine. By the end of the semester, the student will be able describe, in a 5 – 8 page paper, the experience/heritage of Africans and African identity in that country. Alternatives to a paper submission are also accepted with consultation and approval from the instructor.
This class is Introduction to Black roots from ancient Africa to contemporary …
This class is Introduction to Black roots from ancient Africa to contemporary America as an orientation to the nature of Black Studies emphasizing its relationships to world history, Europe, Asia, the Americas, slavery, Reconstruction, colonization, racism, and their politico-economic and cultural impact upon African descendants worldwide. In this course we will learn to do close readings of texts to draw evidence from them and use that evidence to produce well developed, historically situated arguments using evidence to support conclusions. Students will evaluate evidence and arguments critically and analytically to build their critical thinking skills. Finally, students will gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view.
This course asks students to consider the ways in which social theorists, …
This course asks students to consider the ways in which social theorists, institutional reformers, and political revolutionaries in the 17th through 19th centuries seized upon insights developed in the natural sciences and mathematics to change themselves and the society in which they lived. Students study trials, art, literature and music to understand developments in Europe and its colonies in these two centuries. Covers works by Newton, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Marx, and Darwin.
This art history video discussion examines Washington Allston's "Elijah in the Desert", …
This art history video discussion examines Washington Allston's "Elijah in the Desert", 1818, oil on canvas, 125.09 x 184.78 cm / 49 1/4 x 72 3/4 inches (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).
This course focuses on the Great Depression and World War II and …
This course focuses on the Great Depression and World War II and how they led to a major reordering of American politics and society. We will examine how ordinary people experienced these crises and how those experiences changed their outlook on politics and the world around them.
This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the …
This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the ŰĎgood lifeŰ through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. We will explore how such things as department stores, nationally advertised brand-name goods, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics. The course is organized both thematically and chronologically. Each period deals with a new development in the history of consumer culture. Throughout we explore both celebrations and critiques of mass consumption and abundance.
This course provides a basic history of American social, economic, and political …
This course provides a basic history of American social, economic, and political development from the colonial period through the Civil War. It examines the colonial heritages of Spanish and British America; the American Revolution and its impact; the establishment and growth of the new nation; and the Civil War, its background, character, and impact. Readings include writings of the period by J. Winthrop, T. Paine, T. Jefferson, J. Madison, W. H. Garrison, G. Fitzhugh, H. B. Stowe, and A. Lincoln.
This course is an introduction to American Studies through the questions of …
This course is an introduction to American Studies through the questions of identity. How are our identities formed and how do they function? What does it mean to be “American,” who claims this identity, and on what terms? How do American identities shape—and how are they shaped by—factors such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, language, nation, and sexuality?
This semester, we will examine diverse American identities, with an emphasis on the social and cultural forces that mold them. We will explore the structural differences that divide individuals and groups, and ways that people challenge or transcend these divisions. This interdisciplinary course integrates materials from literary studies, history, ethnic and gender studies, and sociology. We will read some academic theories about identity, but will more often read what a wide range of Americans have written about their own individual and collective identities.
The aim is to help you better understand your own and other people’s identities, the languages and conventions that writers use to analyze identities, and how varied perspectives on identity in the United States and the Americas speak to—and at times against—one another. Rather than settle on a final definition of either “America” or “identity,” we will explore both as products of on-going dialogue, debate, and change.
This collection of stories was written by Dakota Sioux author Zitkala-Sa, also …
This collection of stories was written by Dakota Sioux author Zitkala-Sa, also known as Gertrude Bonnin. Helen Keller sent a testimonial letter to the author on August 25, 1919: "I thank you for your book on Indian legends. I have read them with exquisite pleasure. Like all folk tales they mirror the child life of the world. There is in them a note of wild, strange music." The text here presented was published in 1921 by Hayworth Publishing in Washington, D.C.
This resource collocates open resources in American History to 1877, and organizes …
This resource collocates open resources in American History to 1877, and organizes them by theme for all faculty teaching this course. It also provides students with links to books, essays, newspaper and journal databases offered at CUNY. Supplementing this material are images, audio and videos related to the period. The guide is available at http://libguides.brooklyn.cuny.edu/americanpluralism/ The XML file is available for download above.
English and American backgrounds of the Revolution; issues and arguments in the …
English and American backgrounds of the Revolution; issues and arguments in the Anglo-American conflict; colonial resistance and the beginnings of republicanism; the Revolutionary War; constitution writing for the states and nation; and effects of the American Revolution. Concerned primarily with the revolutionary origins of American government. Readings emphasize documents from the period -- pamphlets, correspondence, the minutes or resolutions of resistance organizations, constitutional documents and debates.
Using the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to …
Using the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to prompt the discussion about rights and equality in US society, this interdisciplinary course introduces social justice theory and practices. Students examine and conduct research on significant social justice issues in the United States today through an integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The course focuses on systems of discrimination and oppression, methods and communities of resistance, and transformative visions of democracy and freedom, with emphasis on how current conditions impact students’ lives and local communities. Through project- and inquiry-based learning, students will practice implementing qualitative and quantitative methods to explore course material.
This is a seminar course that explores the history of selected features …
This is a seminar course that explores the history of selected features of the physical environment of urban America. Among the features considered are parks, cemeteries, tenements, suburbs, zoos, skyscrapers, department stores, supermarkets, and amusement parks. The course gives students experience in working with primary documentation sources through its selection of readings and class discussions. Students then have the opportunity to apply this experience by researching their own historical questions and writing a term paper.
This course is a seminar on the history of institutions and institutional …
This course is a seminar on the history of institutions and institutional change in American cities from roughly 1850 to the present. Among the institutions to be looked at are political machines, police departments, courts, schools, prisons, public authorities, and universities. The focus of the course is on readings and discussions.
This site is for those interested in ancient medicine and the medical …
This site is for those interested in ancient medicine and the medical humanities, both at Brooklyn College and around the world. The medical humanities is a multidisciplinary field that embraces the study of medicine through the lenses of literature, history, philosophy, the social sciences, and the arts in the context of applied medicine and medical ethics. It draws upon these diverse disciplines in pursuit of medical educational goals, and in its continued valuation of liberal education supports classical ideals of critical analysis and the importance of cultural awareness in the sickness and health of society and the individual. The guide is available at http://libguides.brooklyn.cuny.edu/ancientmedicine_goyette. The XML file is available for download above.
The assignment helps students individually build a usable, expanding vocabulary of terms …
The assignment helps students individually build a usable, expanding vocabulary of terms and concepts, enabling each to further contribute to the ongoing, evolving written, oral, and visual conversations centered on the use of and thought about animals for food, clothing, work, entertainment, experimentation, imagery, and companionship.
The Art & Architecture of Africa course (OL90) is designed to be …
The Art & Architecture of Africa course (OL90) is designed to be an historical study of the plastic arts and traditional architecture produced by indigenous African societies from ancient Egypt down the Nile Valley to Central, East and Southern African regions. It also includes a broad overview of contemporary art practices across the continent.
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