English 125.2 “Debating Empire”
http://stephen.macek.faculty.noctrl.edu/Courses/eng_125.htm
Professor Jennifer Jackson 637-5278
Professor Steve Macek 637-5369
jajackson@noctrl.edu shmacek@noctrl.edu
Office Hours: MWF 10:30 - noon Office Hours: MWF
10:30 – noon
& by appointment & by appointment
Crusius, Timothy and Carolyn Channell. The Aims of
Argument: Brief Guide. 4th Ed. McGraw- Hill,
2002.
Brodhead, Judith, ed. NCC Guide to Writing, Documentation, and Information Resources. 2004-05.
Maimon, Elaine and Janice Peritz. A Writer’s Resource: A Handbook for Writing and Research. McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Course Goals
This term you will
practice critical reading, writing, argument, and research related to the topic
“Debating Empire.” Through intensive
reading, frequent writing and discussion, research, and by looking at other
sources, you’ll study varying perspectives on the
We will cover three broad
themes: historical contexts, current
debates, and writing dissent.
The course readings encourage
you to develop a more complex understanding of the world, For example, what are
the consequences of sorting nations or individuals into “evil” or “good”? Why and how should the
You’ll analyze how
arguments are made this term, learning to summarize, paraphrase, and evaluate
claims. You’ll locate relevant research in
order to write well-reasoned, persuasively developed arguments. You’ll acquire a language and set of strategies
as writers, participating in peer reviews, discussions, and an oral
presentation.
This seminar introduces
you to ways of arguing and writing in college. We’ll describe and model “interdisciplinary
work,” an essential skill for liberally educated persons. While “Debating Empire” is our particular
focus, your class shares goals with all other seminars: we support careful reading, arguing to
inquire and persuade, a desire to collaborate across disciplines (as evidenced
in team teaching), and rigorous practice in writing and research.
Coursework
You’ll write three formal papers this term, with the goal of becoming a
more effective writer and competent researcher. You’ll prepare short response papers in and
out of class on a regular basis, and give an oral presentation on your final
research project. You’ll critique one
another’s drafts and contribute to discussions. We’ll meet with you to provide individual help
in a scheduled conference Wednesday of Week Six, but you are encouraged to visit
our offices during posted hours or meet with both of us as you wish. You’ll be required to attend one or more activities
sponsored by the Globalization Learning Community and Cultural Events. You’ll also be expected to visit the
Evaluation
Paper
1 Analysis: 50 points
Paper
2 Mediation essay: 70
points
Paper
3 Research: 100 points
Short
responses: 40
points
Presentation: 30 points
300 possible points
Descriptions of formal papers
#1: Analysis(4-5
pages)
What is the thesis—what is the argument in play? How does the writer develop a case? How is content organized, and with what effects? What evidence is used? How does the writer establish credibility? How are we persuaded to believe claims? Assess ideas, as well as the rhetoric deployed to advance those ideas.
Draft
due: Monday, 9/27; final version due: Friday, 10/1.
50 possible points
#2: Mediation Essay on “Clash of
Civilizations” (5-6 pages)
Compare and contrast Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilization with Edward Said’s “The Class of Ignorance.” What are their disagreements? What accounts for their different
opinions? What does each seem to believe,
value, and assume? Can these positions
be mediated? If common
ground is possible, how to negotiate it?
Draft
due: Wednesday, 10/20; final version
due: Friday, 10/22.
#3: Research Paper (8-10 pages) Gather
information drawing on at least seven
sources; topics to be discussed as the
term unfolds. Proposal, annotated lists
of sources.
Draft due: Wednesday, 11/10;
final version due: Wednesday, 11/24, exam
week
The work you submit for
this course must be your own. As
outlined in the NCC Guide to
Writing,
you must cite sources for words, ideas, summaries, uncommon facts or statistics,
and references to other works not your own.
Exact wording needs to be placed within quotations. Using someone else’s
words or ideas without proper documentation is plagiarism. Written work that contains plagiarized
language or ideas will receive a failing grade.
In addition, you will be reported to the Office of Academic
Affairs. Please speak with us if you have questions,
confusion, or concerns about this important matter.
Links and Learning Communities
Please speak with us
following class today if you are not sure whether two of your courses have been
or should be linked, either this or next term.
Please also note that
International Programs is focusing on
Policies
Ø
If you’re absent more than twice we will lower
your final course grade by ½ letter for each
subsequent absence. Late papers will
have a 10-point deduction for each 24 hour period beyond the deadline, beginning
at the time due.
Ø
If you must miss class, you’re responsible for
that day’s work; we won’t keep track of missed assignments for you. Be prepared for the next class, and please do
not ask if you missed anything important.
Ø
You should be ready to write about and discuss
readings assigned each day.
Participation is assumed.
Ø
Incompletes can only be granted if serious illness
or situations prevent a timely completion of the work and if you have already
completed all work up to the time you request an incomplete.
Ø
We all work hard; we all have multiple
commitments. Anticipate the crunch at
term’s end by working systematically on the final project. Please do not share that you failed to do
work for this course because of other classes’ demands, extra-curricular
commitments, your job, or miscellaneous pleasures/woes.
Freshman Seminar 125.H2: Debating Empire
Week One Defining Terms:
introducing the debates
M 9/13 Intro to course; syllabus; in-class
writing.
W 9/15 Intro to rhetoric; overview of keywords; read articles introducing
issues:
Niall
Ferguson “The End of Power”
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005244
and “The Reluctant
Empire”
http://www.hooverdigest.org/043/ferguson1.html
Arundhati Roy
“The New American Century”
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040209&s=roy
“Do
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/analysis/2004/0119thanksgiving.htm
and “An Ordinary
Person’s Guide to Empire.”
http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=156_0_1_0_C
F 9/17 Aims of Argument, Chapter 2, 3-46; discussion; short response
to articles due.
Week Two Historical contexts concerning empire/imperialism
M 9/20 Read essays examining historical responses to
empire:
Mark
Twain To the Person Sitting
in Darkness
and “The War Prayer”
http://www.boondocksnet.com/ai/twain/war_prayer.html
Rudyard KiplingThe White Man's Burden
"The White Man's Burden" and Its Critics Kipling, the White Man's Burden and US ImperialismJim Zwick Sitting in Darkness: An
Unheeded Message About U.S. Militarism
W 9/22 “Hope and Memory” http://www.adbusters.org/jams/history/flash.html
Zoltan http://www.neravt.com/left/invade.htm
Shalom http://www.zmag.org/middletimeline.html
F 9/24 Library
session: meet at Oesterle
Library with flash history assignment
Week Three Historical contexts
continued; justifications for empire
M 9/27 Aims of
Argument Chapter 6, “Arguing to Inquire” 161-208.
Paper # 1 drafts due: workshop.
W 9/29 Martin
Luther King “Beyond
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
F 10/1 Paper
# 1 due; read
Said video viewed and discussed in class
F 10/1 con’t. Samuel Huntington
The Clash of
Civilizations (Foreign Affairs, Summer 1993)
Edward
Said
The
Clash of Ignorance (The Nation
Week Four Confronting empire now: current
issues, policies, and critique
M 10/4 Continue discussing
Chapter 9, “Arguing to Negotiate and Mediate,”
293-339.
W 10/6 Michael
Ignatieff
“
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/analysis/2003/0110empirelite.htm
Recommended
reading: Zakaria:
http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/newsweek/122401_how.html
F 10/8 Michael Klare
U.S.: Procuring the
World's Oil (Foreign Policy in
Focus
The New Geopolitics (Monthly
Review, July/August 2003)
William
Tabb
The Two Wings of the Eagle
(Monthly Review, July/August 2003)
Immanuel
Wallerstein
US
Weakness and the Struggle for Hegemony (Monthly Review, 2003)
Week Five Confronting empire now: Neoliberal policies.
Henry Giroux lecture 10/14
M 10/11 Read the executive summaries of each of the
following:
Rebuilding
America's Defenses Project for the
New American Century
The National Security Strategy of
the United States of America
Report
from the National Energy Policy Development Group
Read
all:
Globalization:
Threat or Opportunity International
Monetary Fund briefing on "free trade" Distills neo-liberal ideology
about benefits of corporate-driven globalization.
The
Unipolar Moment
Charles Krauthammer
W 10/13 Henry
Giroux (visit with class Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday)
Freshman English
Anthology, 53-76; further readings to be distributed.
F 10/15 Chalmers Johnson America's Empire of Bases
Week Six Weighing the rhetoric; conferences
as scheduled on final project proposals
M 10/18 How to Judge Globalism
Nawal El Saadawi War
Against Women and Women Against War
Amy
Bartholomew and Jennifer Breakspear
“Human Rights as Swords of Empire” (to be
distributed)
Recommended:
Jedediah Purdy Liberal
Empire: Assessing the Arguments
W 10/20 No
class meeting (to accommodate individual conferences)
Paper # 2 drafts exchanged for out-of-class peer
workshop
F 10/22 Library session: meet at Oesterle
Library; Paper # 2 due
Week Seven Researching arguments and
writing dissent
M 10/25 Aims of Argument, Chapter 5, “Writing Research-based Arguments”
107-58.
Robert
Jensen
It's
not just the Emperor who's naked, it's the whole Empire
U.S. just as
guilty of committing its own violent acts
Against
dissent: Why free speech is important as the U.S. drops cluster bombs on
Afghanistan
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Erjensen/freelance/attack1.htm
W 10/27 Sheldon
Rampton and
John Stauber How to Sell a
War
George Monbiot The
Moral Myth
F 10/29 Bernardine Dohrn Homeland Imperialism: Fear
and Resistance
Annotated sources (3 minimum)
for Paper # 3 due.
Week Eight
M 11/1 Aims of Argument, Chapter 8, 251-292.
W 11/3 Omar
Barghouti Whither Empire?
Annotated sources (3-5 additional) for Paper # 3 due.
F 11/5 Writing for social change (packet to be distributed).
Week Nine
M 11/ 8 Aims
of Argument, “Appendix::
Editing and Proofreading,” A1-A-18.
W 11/10 Paper
# 3 drafts due; peer workshop (review Aims of Argument, 244-45)
F 11/12 Presentations (4)
Week Ten
M 11/15
Presentations (4)
W 11/17
Presentations (3); class
evaluations.
F 11/19 Presentations
(3); summary of course.
Exam Week
W 11/24
Paper # 3 due
English 125 H2: Debating Empire
Keywords and Contested Terms
The following terms will come up in our class with some regularity; we’ll discuss these and others. Add to this list from our readings, discussions, lectures, and other Learning Community linked courses (if applicable) as the term progresses. Be sure to have a working definition for each.
Agency
Culture
Democracy
Empire
Ethics
Fundamentalism(s)
Globalization
Hegemony
Ideology
Imperialism
Interdisciplinarity
Multilateralism
Neocolonialism
Neoconservatives
Neoliberalism/Free Market Capitalism
Politics
Rhetoric
Terrorism
Unilateralism
Western Civilization and its Others