Studies of Cultural Diversity

56:606:542:91
Race, Politics, and Religion
Hybrid Section – Some Meetings Online
Thursdays 5:30-8:10 p.m.
Instructor: Professor Miller

This course examines how religion shaped the political and racial priorities of American History. Topics include the role and definition of civil religion, the struggle George Washington had with defining the role of religion in a new republic, the impact of slavery, and the social construction of whiteness.

Studies of  Ideas

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War and Peace in Literature
Hybrid Section – Some Meetings Online
Thursdays 5:30-8:10 p.m.
Instructor: Professor Drucker

The course will study novels that interpret and describe the experience of soldiers in war time. It will investigate the socio-historical backgrounds of recent wars in which Americans participated, and evaluate the relationship between writing and war in the American context. Issues concerning personal identity, the nature of justice, and individual responsibility will interrelate with questions concerning writing, representation and novelistic structure. Brief reaction papers, a short critical essay, and a research project are required.

Required reading

The Red Badge of Courage-Stephen Crane
A Farewell to Arms-Ernest Hemingway
Going After Cacciato-Tim O’Brien
The Yellow Birds-Kevin Powers

Supplemental readings are provided by the instructor