Deep Thoughts by Rick Lee

Remember that this is the last week that I will be guiding you with questions on the blog, and if you haven't created a profile yet, that is part of your weekly participation.....

1. First, everyone who did not complete the free association exercise from last week's blog (you 40 people know who you are) do so before class this week. You will find it listed in the questions for last week. You will need to bring those to class.

2. Contrasting the Axtell article and the New England Primer's instructions to children from last week, what can you see from the document reader that helps explain the appeal of Indian society to some men, women, and children in Colonial America. In turn, what cultural differences would have been the most difficult for Europeans to observe or accept.

3. A little role playing for the guys and ladies: given the option of living in Massachusetts Bay Colony (let's not think about Salem at this time) or among the Indian village of your choice, which do you choose and why? Also, obviously gender in important in explaining your choice (as it did for the colonists), but do you think class plays/played a role?

4. Consider these documents as sources for your own understanding of Native American history; what documents seemed to be the most objective and which were subtly biased? Is patriarchy visible in the European accounts?

See you Thursday/Friday....and if anyone knows how to fix a communication problem between a modem and a wireless router, please let me know.

I'm sure Phillip Seymour Hoffman is good, but my vote (if I had one) is for Terrence Howard

Rick

Honors section discussion questions -- Feb. 2

We missed last week because of my emergency Minnesota trip, so we have a little catching up to do. Here are a couple of questions related to the material we started the semester on:

• Is there anything to be said in favor of the political ideas put forward by Thomas Hobbes and Robert Filmer in your online reader?
• Why do people obey the commands of government representatives (including the police), especially when those commands seem unjust or mistaken?
  
• What are some similarities and differences between the values children are taught in present-day schools and those taught in the New England Primer?

Everybody in the class, not just the honors section students, are allowed to post answers in the comment section for participation credit.

Axtell paper questions --1st installment

More questions will be coming out later, but here are a couple of options for those who want to write their paper on the Axtell book, Indian Peoples of Eastern America. You can ask questions of your own or try to answer these in the comments section:

• What relationship does a society's "private" life have with its "public" life? In other words, do ideas about the proper structure and functioning of families and personal relationships have any influence on ideas about politics and government, and vice versa?
• Based on the readings, compare and contrast the workings and values of eastern North American native families and communities with those of the Europeans who colonized the continent. What were the most important differences? What aspects of Native American culture promoted resistance to European colonization, and what aspects may have hindered resistance?
  

Kris Maulden's Questions - Week 3

The following are my discussion questions for the Axtell book. Students who wish to post questions or responses should use the comments button below; please read the student questions as well because they will steer discussions as much as my questions.

1. How do Europeans demonstrate their own biases in their accounts of the Indians? More specifically, how do they show that they are products of a patriarchal society and how do they react when they encounter Indian cultures with different ideals?

2. Imagine that you are a missionary and you have read this book before coming to the New World. Which aspects of Native American cultures would you want to "fix" and which do you think would be helpful in making Indians more like Europeans? Do you see any aspects of Native American cultures with which you could compromise? Overall, what kind of strategy would you have in mind when you arrived at your first Indian village?

NOTE TO STUDENTS POSTING QUESTIONS: If the question you have in mind has already been posed, try to elaborate on the original question or ask a different one entirely. Do not simply repeat previously asked questions.

Kris Maulden's questions - Week 2

This week, we'll be discussing the online readings and the first two chapters of the textbook (especially chapter 1). You are not required to answer these questions online or post additional questions this week, but if you want to earn extra participation points you are welcome to add them by clicking on the comments button below. But without further ado, here are my thought/discussion questions for the assigned readings:

1. What terms, especially familial ones, does Filmer choose to describe the monarch in his essay? Why do you think he chose them, and what do they reveal to you about the way that Europeans viewed private and public life? More specifically, how did Europeans see family life and political life as separate or combined?

2. Imagine that Filmer and Hobbes were to have a conversation about the essays you read this week. On what points do you think they would agree and disagree, and why? On a related note, how do you think the English Civil War of 1642-1649, in which King Charles I was beheaded (you can read more here), changed the way that Hobbes described sovereignty?

3. In the conclusion to "The White Indians of Colonial America," James Axtell quotes Crevecouer in saying that "something singularly captivating" (p. 88) kept white captives in Native American societies, but Axtell never says what that something was. From the article and the textbook, what do you think it was, and why? Do you think that factor changed for men and women, adults and children, English and French? Why or why not?

4. Last week, we discussed the ways that Americans have discarded (at least, to some extent) the patriarchal views that Europeans maintained during the colonization process. Do you see any attitudes or ideas from the readings this week that have continued until today? Can you provide examples in which those older ideas have continued or been abandoned?

I hope you did the reading because I don't know the answers to these.....(Rick's sections for week 2)

My people,

This week we are going to discuss sovereignty, expansion, and colonization from a European perspective. Ideally you will come to class having read the first two chapters in Nash, Hobbes, Filmer, and tried to make it through the Axtell article. Oh, and don't forget to complete the exercise below after deeply contemplating this week's questions.

Some thoughts to consider- not too tough, afterall it is just the second week.

1) Compare and contrast Hobbes and Filmer as defenders of authoritarian (or absolute monarchical) rule. For each author, from where does the sovereign derive legitimacy? And while Hobbes does not mention "liberty" in this chapter, speculate as to what his conception of liberty in the "passion" filled state of nature might be, and how this differs from Filmer's traditional/scriptural defense of liberty as "unnatural."

2) How does Hobbes's state of nature provide an insight into the European understanding of the Americas during this period?

3) From the text book, consider the multiple ways that colonial powers legitimized their ventures into the Americas. How were they similar/different? Is it correct to ascribe national characteristics to each nation's approach? What other factors should be considered? Does confessional allegiance (e.g. Catholic Spain, Protestant England) offer any explanation to these different experiences?

4) Were economic, social, or political factors paramount in the development of the African slave trade?

5) Why did many English and French captives chose to permanently stay among their Indian captors? What was the process of adoption?

Brainstorming Exercise: to be accomplished before class on Thursday. As we get ready to move into the lectures on Native Americans, I want you to do a little exercise that will aid in our discussions. This is a simple brainstorming exercise and there are no right or wrong answers. On a sheet of paper, write 10-15 images that immediately come to mind when you hear the words "Indian" and "Native American." Please turn these in with your name on Thursday.

Questions about the first week's lectures?

One of the ways I want to use this blog is to give students the chance to ask questions about the lectures. If you have any questions from week 1, please post them as a comment here. Be sure to sign with your real name, and if you wanted to register for Blogger and upload a picture so we can start learning names, that would be great.

Online reader Unit 1

Thanks to Kris and Rick for getting the blog started. I just cleaned up and test the links in the unit 1 of the online reader. The syllabus starts out with a bit of bang, reading-wise, but the first set should carry us through the first two weeks at least.

From the coffee table of Kris Maulden

Hello all, I’m Kris Maulden (the slightly lighter-haired one) and I’ll be handling sections A, C, G, and K this semester. Since it’s the middle of the night and I'm watching the "Love Monkey" pilot I taped earlier tonight (it's good so far, I'd recommend watching it next Tuesday night), my introduction won’t be nearly as inventive as the one offered by the ebullient Mr. Lee, and since I’m not from Mr. Lee’s homeland of Oklahoma I don’t reflect upon my own psyche in terms of the mullet. Still, we agree on maintaining a relaxed atmosphere (you’ll notice that pretty quickly in sections) and on maintaining open, rational discussions to understand the subject matter. All viewpoints and ideas are welcome; just be sure to enter the classroom with your assignments finished and with an open mind. After all, if you expect to convince others you are right then you should be willing to allow others to persuade you as well. The finer details of our sections will be explained this week in class, and volunteering students (more on that later) and I will post questions for next week’s discussions here by Tuesday evening. Throughout the semester, I will post assignment updates and other pertinent materials on http://krismaulden.tripod.com and I suggest that you bookmark my site as well as this weblog for the semester.

"Wu-Tang (and Rick) are for the children" - a helpful note on sections

Hello everyone!
Just want to make sure that everyone knows where they're supposed to be for their sections on Thursday/Friday. I'm Rick (the "dark haired" one) and I'm teaching sections B, D, E, F, H & J. Most of the bulidings are very easy to find, if you're not familiar with Hill it is just west of Jesse Hall. I would describe my teaching style as a sort of pedagogic mullet - business in the front, party in the back. I like class to be relaxed and hope that everyone will feel comfortable discussing their ideas and interpretations; ideally this exchange will result in a deeper understanding of historical experience with a recognition that history isn't simply believing what we've been told via TV, coaches, well-intentioned parents, and ideologues- the very embodiment of a rational public sphere. (note: except for with Dr. Pasley, you can believe what he tells you)

Please be aware that sections H & J, Friday @ 11:00 have been combined and will meet in Cornell 9 (do not got to Crowder at 11:00 even if your class schedule tells you to). Several students are already asking about the assigned readings for this week and I can say that we will not be discussing the books in my sections this week. However, you do have quite a bit of reading and it is always a good idea to get a head start. Discussion questions for each week's sections will be posted Monday evening to give you some time to reflect before class.

This week I will discuss the syllabus in more detail, tell you more about me, and find out more about you. So between now and then, visualize talking in front of people and think about the various aspects of pop culture that bring you the most joy. (tv, film, music, etc.- for example, I take a historical interest in, and have lectured on, rap music, of which Wu Tang is my favorite)

Keepin' it real.......real safe,
Rick

Welcome to History 1100

Welcome to the nerve center of our course website for the semester. The buttons at the left take you to pages that will contain the lecture outlines and online readings that will be posted throughout the semester. (There's also a button that will take you to a .pdf of the syllabus that you can download and/or print out if you lose yours.) I am heavily revamping the lectures for this course this semester, so I will not be able to post the outlines in advance. I will announce here on the blog when anything is posted.

Besides course information, I will be posting various comments and discussion questions here that students can post comments on and earn participation credit in the course. Students who want credit should remember to post under their real names.