Foundations: Community and Faith (HONR 102-01/02)
Winter 2014-15 Instructor: Jane Simonsen
MWF 10 a.m. & 11:30 a.m., Tues. 10:30 a.m.
Ph: x8916 E-mail: janesimonsen@augustana.edu Office: OM 332
Course Description
Many citizens hold dissent to be essential to a vital community and to individual civic responsibility: by challenging one another to validate our beliefs, we mitigate against forces that may come to dominate communities—sometimes posited as tradition, as the tyranny of the majority, of unexamined radicalism, or of domination by new or old powers. In this course, we’ll focus our inquiry on the idea of dissent in the U.S. in order to ask big questions about community and belief: What should we believe? How should we think? What are our obligations to others, and to ourselves, when it comes to acting on beliefs? Is change a product of individual initiative or collective action?
Such questions are not only important to understanding our role in community. Indeed, members of the community of engaged thinkers (of which you’re now a part!) have long considered dissent to be an intellectual virtue, foundational to scholarly activity in the liberal arts tradition. In this course, we’ll practice our ability to be both academic and public intellectuals through writing, speaking, and group discussion as we put dissent at the heart of our inquiry into community and belief systems in the U.S. Writing and healthy discussion will be at the center of our course as we inquire into the history and philosophy of free speech as a foundational value in the U.S.; investigate the relationship between freedom and oppression; and examine dissent as a social and ethical practice today.
What are the course goals?
By exploring the theme of dissent in the U.S., we will work to
- Develop a clearer understanding of, and commitment to, personal values by considering our obligations as individuals and as community members
- Analyze and critically evaluate dissenting values and visions of others; consider dissent as a critical tool of scholarly analysis in order to develop your abilities to express yourself orally and in writing.
- Gain a broader understanding and appreciation of the intellectual and cultural activities that shape and reshape human communities. In order to do this, we’ll also practice applying the course material to our own communities and belief systems and working together as a community in our own right.
An enormous part of critical thinking is learning how to USE ideas to make sense of the world—rather than just repeating claims or summarizing points. Your interaction with ideas in this course will take several different forms:
o Blogging (25%): Every member of the class will develop an individual blog using the Google tool Blogger (more on this later!). You’ll use this the blog to post assignments meant to help you make connections between ideas we’re engaging in the course and your own personal beliefs, experiences, and values. Blogs help us do that, and they help us participate in the community of writers and thinkers that were unthinkable just a decade or so ago. Your writing on the blog will be low-stakes in that you’ll be exploring ideas and yourself using your creativity and your own voice and each post is not an enormous portion of your grade; they’ll be higher stakes in that they will be public. I will provide prompts for your blog posts; you’ll write 7 of these in the course of the term. Each time we have a blogging assignment, designated members of the class will choose a few of the blogs to feature on the instructor blog, and other members of the class will be designated to comment on them. I’ll evaluate blog activity on a check, check minus, check plus system.
o Engagement (25%): It’s difficult to imagine how a course on community and belief can work without hearing multiple voices. Being able to articulate your understanding of course texts is also critical to developing yourself as an educated and critically-thinking individual, because it involves not just reading, but articulating, processing, and responding to what you’ve read. Engagement in the course is thus a substantial part of your grade. Engagement includes your thoughtful participation in class discussion AND your ability to demonstrate your comprehension of course texts through in-class writings. Sometimes I’ll let you know ahead of time how to prepare for these writings, sometimes I won’t.
o Absences affect your ability to participate effectively. You don’t need to let me know the reason for your absence—I trust you to make informed decisions—but please let me know if you will miss 2 or more classes due to exceptional circumstances. If you miss class and want to find out about discussion that day, please ask a classmate for notes or come see me as soon as possible. Do not e-mail me to tell you why you were gone and ask what you missed. If you miss more than eight class sessions for any reason, you will fail the course.
o Formal Research (50%): You’ll write a multi-staged, multi-source research essay on a question of your choosing. The research project will be evaluated according to your attainment of various learning objectives associated with the project as whole. More on this on the course blog site.
Required Texts
Collins, The Hunger Games
Glaspell, The Inheritors (online text)
Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Shteyngart, Super Sad True Love Story
Optional Text: Ehrenreich, Bright-Sided
All other readings available electronically through the course blog site.
Always, always bring your book or a hard copy of the reading to class. Always.
Credit Hour Policy
In accordance with federal policy, Augustana College defines a credit hour as the amount of work represented in the achievement of learning outcomes (verified by evidence of student achievement) that reasonably approximates one hour (50 minutes) of classroom or direct faculty instruction and a minimum of two hours of out-of-class student work. This is a 4-credit course that meets 3 times per week for 75 minutes each and once per week in a 50 minute session. It is designed to have class time, learning opportunities and activities totaling approximately 130 hours over the 10 weeks of the course. This estimate is for the typical undergraduate student, and indicates that for each week of the term, you should budget about 9 hours for out-of-class work. Recognize that work loads may vary from week to week!
In class activities: 4 days = 4.5 hours/week x 10 weeks = 45
Required reading: 5 hours/week x 10 weeks = 50
Out-of –class writing: 4-5 hours/week x 10 weeks = 45-50
Total = 140-145 hours
Schedule
Schedule subject to change due to my absence/snow days/agreement of the class.
Preface: Why dissent?
What is the role of dissent in community? In liberal education? Is dissent a right, an obligation, or an interference?
M Nov. 17 Introduction
Read in class: Kakutani, “Debate, Dissent, Discussion? Oh, Don’t Go There!"
T Nov. 18
Techno Tuesday: Becoming a Blogger
Thompson, “Public Thinking”
Quiz: Syllabus
W Nov. 19
Vowell, “The Partly Cloudy Patriot”
Lunsford et al, “Everything is an Argument”
Pecha Kucha assigned
Quiz: Lunsford et al
F Nov. 21
Lippmann, “The Indispensable Opposition”
Kant, “What is Enlightenment?”
Mill, “On the Liberty of Thought and Discussion”
Blog #1: This Is an Argument
Unit 1: Belief and Dissent:
What is the relationship between social responsibility, individual belief, and the willingness to dissent?
M Nov. 24
Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief”
James, “The Will to Believe”
Discuss Life Hacks
What is the content of a Life Hack?
T Nov. 25
Techno Tuesday
Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha: This I Believe
W Nov. 26
Thoreau, “On Resistance to Civil Government”
Research Process Writing #1:
Research question
F Nov. 28 THANKSGIVING BREAK – NO CLASS
M Dec. 1
Meet in Library
Blog #2: Life Hack
T Dec. 2
Techno Tuesday
Life Hacks discussion
Read your classmates’ Life Hacks
W Dec. 3
Menand, “The Abolitionist”
F Dec. 5
Susan Glaspell, The Inheritors, Acts I & II
M Dec. 8
Susan Glaspell, The Inheritors, Acts III & IV
T Dec. 9
Techno Tuesday
Winning By Losing
Watch before class:
Cohen, “For Argument’s Sake”
Schultz, “On Being Wrong”
W Dec. 10
Faludi, “Death of a Revolutionary”
F Dec. 12
Ehrenreich, “Smile or Die”
Blog #3: Fight Club
Unit 2: The Politics of Oppression in Mass Society
How does communication in “mass society” affect relationship between individuals and communities? Does technology help or hinder dissent?
M Dec. 15
Sierra, “Why the Trolls Will Always Win”
Wagner, “The Future of the Culture Wars is Here”
RPW #2: Bibliography and Coming to Terms
T Dec. 16
Techno Tuesday
Understanding Trolls
Assess content of online dissent
W Dec. 17
Young, “Five Faces of Oppression”
F Dec. 19
Collins, The Hunger Games, Part I
********************HOLIDAY BREAK**************************
M Jan. 12
Collins, The Hunger Games, Parts II & III
T Jan. 13
Techno Tuesday: Watch Emerson Spartz, TED talk on virality
Read classmates’ Blog #4
Blog #4: The Face of Oppression
W Jan. 14
Schteyngart, Super-Sad True Love Story, pp. 3-118
F Jan. 16
Schteyngart, Super-Sad True Love Story. pp. 118-248
M Jan. 19
Schteyngart, Super-Sad True Love Story. pp. 249-end
T Jan. 20
Symposium Day
Blog #5
W Jan. 21
Flex day/Symposium discussion
F Jan. 23
From Turkle, Alone Together – “Growing Up Tethered,” “Anxiety” (M)
Unit 3: Faith, Fundamentalism and Dissent in the U.S. Today
What ethical positions & religious beliefs underlie dissent? What makes dissent productive in building community? Why do we fear dissent?
M Jan. 26
Stanley Hauerwas, “September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response” (M)
Guest lecture: Dr. Jason Mahn
T Jan. 27
Techno Tuesday
RPW #3: Idea Draft
W Jan. 28
Sanneh, “The Intensity Gap”
F Jan. 30
Freitas, from Sex and the Soul
Blog #6
M Feb. 2
Spector, “Seeds of Doubt”
T Feb. 3
Techno Tuesday
W Feb. 4
Lehrer, “Kin and Kind”
F Feb. 6
Katherine Boo, “After Welfare”
M Feb. 9
Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, pp. 1-61
RPW #4: PSA
T Feb. 10
Techno Tuesday
W Feb. 11
Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, pp. 62-122
Blog #7
F Feb. 13
Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, pp. 123-end
Finals Week
Research paper DUE ON OR BEFORE Thursday, Feb. 19
In by 11 a.m. Feb. 17=evaluation + comments; in by 11 a.m. Feb. 19=evaluation sheet only
Policies
· Plagiarism: Augustana students voted to adopt an Honor Code, which affirms academic integrity among all students. In this class, any plagiarized work will automatically receive a failing grade and the student will not be able to redo the assignment, as per Honor Council guidelines. I will refer cases of academic dishonesty to the Honor Council. Please remember that plagiarism includes not only the wholesale copying of papers, but also the borrowing of credited material without quotation and the uncredited use of any words, phrases, or ideas that are not “common knowledge.” If you have any questions about proper citation or use of materials or if you are struggling with your work please see me rather than make this mistake. For a copy of the Honor Code, a definition of plagiarism, and information on using sources, see http://www.augustana.edu/library/Services/AcademicIntegrity.html.
· Sexual harassment: Sexual harassment by any faculty member, staff member, or student is a violation of state and federal law and college policy and will not be tolerated at Augustana College.
Evaluation
I use an A-F scale:
A+ 99-100% B+ 88-89 C+ 78-79 D 63-69
A 92-98 B 82-87 C 72-77 F 62-
A- 90-91 - 80-81 C- 70-71
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