A2BP_SDUS History of the United States Seminar

Faculty of Education
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Timetable
Thu 15:15–16:55 respirium (4. nadzemní podlaží)
Prerequisites (in Czech)
A2BP_SOZK Complex Exam || A2BK_SOZK Complex Exam || AJ2BP_SOZK Qualifying Exam
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The main topic of the course is Race and Membership in American History - membership not only as a sense of belonging to a group, but also as freedom and right to belong and to participate so as to live a full and decent life. In our course we are going to see how millions of Americans were fighting for this dream.
Main objectives can be summarized as follows:
1. To support students in a process of personalizing history and relating it to their own cultures and everyday experiences.
2. To focus students learning on a variety of perspectives on historical issues and to critically explore differing points of view on these issues.
3. To provoke students into questioning stereotypes and challenging racist attitudes.
4. To support students in their development of affirmative understanding of ethnic and cultural groups.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction: Historical Perception starts nowadays
  • 2. American History Learning: Race and Democracy
  • 3. Slavery and the South and North of the United States
  • 4. The Period of Reconstruction: Segregation
  • 5. Scientific Justification of Racism
  • 6. Nation of Immigrants
  • 7. Scientific Justification: From Darwin to Eugenics
  • 8. Scientific Justification: Eugenics and the Power of Testing
  • 9. Science and the State Policy: "Eugenics Laws"
  • 10.American 'Imperialism': The "White Man's Burden"
  • 11. American Fight for Freedom and Civil Rights
  • 12. Case studies solving: "Becoming American"- the experience of Chinese Americans
Literature
  • Race and Membership in American History: Eugenics Movement. Massachusetts: Facing History and Ourselves Foundation, Inc., 2002. ISBN 0-9615841-9-K
  • DAVIS, Allen and Harold WOODMAN. Conflict and Consensus. D.C. Heath, 1980. info
  • GORN, Elliot. Constructing the American Past. Harper-Collins, 1995. info
  • MCADAM, Doug. Freedom summer. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988, x, 333. ISBN 0195064720. info
Assessment methods
Seminar; class attendance and participation, on-line tasks. a case study from American History.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2008.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/spring2009/A2BP_SDUS