Questions for Jeff Pasley's section, Aug. 31

You can answer any of these:

• Is there anything to be said in favor of the political ideas put forward by Thomas Hobbes and Robert Filmer in your online reader?
  
• Would you compare the United States, or the town you come from, to a family? Would you compare your family to a body? Why or why not?
  
• What are some similarities and differences between the values children are taught in present-day schools and those taught in the New England Primer?

You can also answer the question I threw out earlier about the "Great Chain of Being"?

Question for Philip Long's sections 8/31-9/1

Last week, Dr. Pasley explained the religious concept of Original Sin as held by many people in Post-Renaissance Europe and how this concept was used to cement the authority of the father over his family. In light of Filmer's defense of the rule of "princes", how does the concept of Original Sin justify the rule of one or a few over the many?

Kris Maulden's questions - Aug. 31/ Sept. 1

My apologies about the faulty link; I've fixed it and reposted so you can look at it now. If there are any other problems, the URL for the article is http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2047

1. How does Filmer use the family to describe the monarch in his essay? What do his discussions of family tell you about both family life and government in early modern Europe? What is the relationship between the two, in Filmer's mind?

2. Have a look at this 2003 Yale Herald editorial. While the article mostly just reheats older conservative defenses of the George W. Bush administration, it is still a widely held view on the right. Whether or not you agree with the writer, do you see any similarities or differences between the Yale student’s point of view and those of Filmer and Hobbes? How important are those similarities and differences? (Hint: To answer this question, you should consider what you think is most important to understanding the patriarchal authority that Dr. Pasley has noted in lecture.)

Great Chain of Being

Here's the link for the Great Chain of Being page I showed in class this morning. Where would you place yourself in it? What about the President? What about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie?

Re: Online Reader Question

At first you are just supposed to read them. There will be some questions related to most of the online readings in the weekly discussion questions (posted on Tuesdays), which you are to answer as comments on the blog. Many of the online readings are texts specifically referenced in the lectures, so watch for that.

At 10:56 PM 8/27/2006, you wrote:

Dear Prof. Pasley,
        As I was looking over the reading assignments, I noticed that we are to read the online reader, unit number 1.  I looked at and read the documents listed under unit one and was wondering if there are questions we are supposed to answer or if we are just supposed to read them.  If we are to answer questions, are we to submit them electronically or keep them for discussion?

What to write down?

As for the tests, I would worry more about trying to get the main point of what's being said rather than trying to write down everything on the screen. The outlines are going to be posted on the web site, so you can always go back and get those. As for the tests, there are some study aids in the textbook and there will be lists of terms to study posted a week before the tests. (Last semester's are still up if you want to go into the archives of the blog.) There will be some review in the discussion sections when we get closer to the tests, but in the meantime you can always ask questions in there if there something you feel you didn't understand in lecture.

Hope this helps,
Jeff Pasley

At 04:46 PM 8/24/2006, you wrote:

I am in your history class on Tuesday and Thursdays. I am I l little freaked out about the class. I feel like I cant keep up, but I plan on trying hard to do my best. but a few questions ii did have were...
                                 - how do I know what notes are important and what things would be good to just listen to?
              
                                 - are small groups going to prepare us for test?
 
thank you for time and I hope I did not bother you.
 

Reading question answered

From time to time as I get emails from students asking questions that other people might have, I will publish the question and the reply here as a way to get the information to anyone who needs it. I will remove the identifying information about the student.

You do need to read 1-6 of the big sections in the Indian Peoples book, but you have between now and Sept. 7 to do it. Also keep in mind that you are not trying to memorize that book, but instead to get a sense of how the family, sex, and gender worked in Native American society, and what Europeans thought about the differences.

Yours,
Jeff Pasley

At 09:20 PM 8/24/2006, you wrote:

Professor Pasley

I am a student in your lab and I was looking up the reading assignment for this week and I cannot figure out how much I am supposed to read in The Indian Peoples of Eastern America. I know that it says chapters 1-6 but there are subsections as well. So I don't know if I am supposed to read six of the subsections or six out of seven of the bigger sections. If you could email me back as soon as you have time I would greatly appreciate it.

Question for Philip Long's Sections 8/24-25

What are some possible consequences (either positive or negative) of approaching History improperly?

Kris Maulden's Sections - August 24/25

Hello, I'm Kris Maulden, and for half of you, I'll be your TA this semester. I won't spend a lot of time telling you about myself here because you'll hear all of that this week in sections. I only have a couple of quick questions for discussion in sections this week, so without further ado, here they are:

1. Given Tuesday's lecture, what exactly do you expect from this course? What do you think will be important, and is that what you were expecting before you entered the classroom Tuesday morning?

2. This question relates to Thursday's lecture, but just think about it for a few minutes after you leave the lecture and before your discussion section begins. How are men and women supposed to act, according to what you've been taught by parents, schools, ministers, etc.? Do you (or anyone else you know) try to live up to all of those qualities, and why or why not? What parts of those more traditional gender roles have not changed even today, and in your opinion are there expectations and qualities that are impossible to escape? Why?

Please, by all means, I want to hear your opinions. One of the things that you'll notice about me quickly is that I believe in very open discussions. Keep it civil and stay open-minded, but otherwise feel free to say what you think here.

Question for Jeff Pasley's section: option 2

This question relates to what we are going to talk about Thursday in lecture:

• Taking present-day America or any other time and place you happen to know something about (name it) as your example, describe any connections and common elements you see between the social and the political ideals and values prevalent in that time and place. To put it another way, were there any similarities between the way that people thought the family should be and the way they thought their community and their country should be structured?
  

Question for Jeff Pasley's section: option 1

Anyone in the class can post comments here, but the question is intended for my section that meets at 11am on Thursday.

Following up on my "What is History Not?" introduction, I wanted to ask what uses, or abuses, of history have you recently encountered? This can be from a television show, movie, museum exhibit, advertisement, political statement, high school class, sign, personal conversation , or really any other source.

Answer by posting a comment in this thread.

Welcome Fall 2006 students

This blog is being revived for the Fall 2006 of the course. Enterprising students who want to get an idea of what's coming are free to check the archives from last Spring. Please keep in mind that only materials dated August 2006 or after officially apply to the current edition of the course.