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This course examines the figure of the vampire in the cultures of Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, including its manifestations in folklore, literature, religion, art, film and common cultural practices from its origins to present day 2019. Texts – from both print and non-print media – will be drawn from original sources. Participants will be asked to separate historical fact from popular fiction, and form their own opinions about the place of the vampire in Slavic and other East European cultures, particularly in contrast to the more familiar portraits in US and Western European cultures. The course is conducted in English with all original source material in Russian or other languages provided in English. No knowledge of Russian required, though readings in Russian and other Slavic languages are available for majors and minors in these related fields from the instructor on request.

Grading:

• Reaction Paper 25%
• Midterm exam 1 25%
• Film Review 25%
• Midterm exam II 25%

The French revolution is one of the most famous events in global history. We have still not resolved the fundamental questions it raises. Why does a regime collapse? How is a new state built? Why are some revolutions peaceful while others become protracted and violent? The human drama of this tumultuous decade and a half is irresistible. How were extraordinary careers made and then lost? How did people take sides? How did ordinary people survive?We will use the French revolution to think about all these questions concretely.

We have three aims. The first is to master the major developments of the revolution itself. The second is to understand how those events have produced classic political arguments about the conditions for democracy, the sources of rights, and the process of historical change.  Third, we consider how the revolution has shaped the world, and how it compares with other revolutions, including ones going on right now.


Texts:
Rousseau, The Social Contract
William Doyle, The French Revolution: A Very Short History
Timothy Tackett, When the King Took Flight
Timothy Tackett, The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution or R.R. Palmer, 12 Who Ruled.
David Bell, Napoleon, A Biography


Requirements:
• 2 4-5 page take home papers (25% each)  (total 50% of grade**)
• 1 comprehensive test (25%)
• group political club assignments (25%).

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In this course, we specifically examine the significant influence of American Hollywood representations of the Holocaust as they have shaped and are reflective of the American cultural memory of the Holocaust. In contrast to Europe where the events of the Holocaust took place and were witnessed personally, knowledge of the events in the United States has been from its earliest inception been mediated by cinematic images, be it of a documentary nature – newsreel footage of the opening of the concentration camps in 1945 - or of a more fictionalized nature. By tracing how Hollywood has shaped a uniquely American way of viewing the Holocaust, and while contrasting this at times with other (European) film traditions, we consider in some depth what particular American cultural or political considerations, sensibilities, and concerns, led to the production of certain films in different decades and not others, how certain genres and cinematic techniques work and why they became popular, and why particular movies became blockbusters while others did not. 

Grading:

• Attendance/participation/prep (15%)
• Film Precis (10%)
• Website evaluation (10%)
• Response paper (10%)
• Class presentation (10%)
• Final Project (45%)

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The course aims at enabling students to understand central theories and concepts of memory studies and to familiarize them with the cultural and social scientific definitions and research perspectives on war, death, trauma, mourning and political activism. At the end of the course, students will have a thorough theoretical and empirical understanding of the ways in which memory and war intersect both as research fields and as cultural, societal and political practices in contemporary societies. Students will be able to independently design a case study, to identify a relevant research question and to carry out a small research project.

Grading:

• Moderator/discussion leader: 20 percent
• Presentation of vignette of your research project: 20 percent
• War and Memory brief: 30 percent
• Short written and oral comment on somebody else’s brief: 20 percent
• Homework: 10 percent

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Our stereotypical image of an early modern woman is a witch - for some good reasons because thousands of witch trials took place.  In this course, we will look beyond that perspective to explore the complex of material, political, and cultural factors that shaped experiences of gender, family and power in early modern Europe.  The early modern centuries between about 1500 and 1800 were years of tremendous change in many ways – including religious reformations, more powerful governments, the domestic impacts of colonialism that included the forced migration of people of African descent to Europe and involvement with slavery in many indirect forms, and the economic transformation we call the transition to capitalism.  Some features were slower to change, however, especially with regard to family life. We will focus on lived experience to explore how women's experiences compared to men's - whether as workers, consumers, criminals, political subjects and political actors, peasants or nobles, members of racial and religious minorities, spouses or parents.  Along the way, we will explore why some of these dynamics fed into a proliferation of "witches."

Discussion of the assigned readings (see below) will be an important element of this class: you will learn more effectively when you take an active part in the analysis of the material to be covered. Consequently you must expect to read every reading assignment very carefully and thoughtfully. You should come to each class ready to ask questions and contribute observations. You will need to demonstrate mastery of the readings to do well on the exams.

Daily class readings are available on Canvas or online through the Library Catalogue. 

Grading:
Midterm 20%
Final 30%
Reading grids 20%
Witchcraft group projects 20%
Preparation and engagement 10%

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The Divine Comedy offers a remarkable panorama of the late Middle Ages through one man's poetic vision of the afterlife. However, we continue to read and study the poem not only to learn about the thought and culture of medieval and early modern Europe but also because many of the issues confronting Dante and his age are no less important to individuals and societies today. Personal and civic responsibilities, governmental accountability, church-state relations, economics and social justice, Dante's influence on artists and other writers, benefits and limitations of interdisciplinarity—these are some of the themes that will frame our discussion of the Divine Comedy. Although you will read the poem in English, a bilingual edition will enable you to study and learn famous lines in the original Italian. The course is taught in English and contains flags for Writing and Global Cultures.

Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/): In addition to detailed entries, audio recordings, and study questions, this Web site contains hundreds of images from works by Sandro Botticelli, an anonymous 16th-century artist, John Flaxman, William Blake, Gustave Dorè, and Suloni Robertson.

Through close reading, class discussion, and the use of Danteworlds, you are expected to identify and explain the significance of major characters, references, and ideas in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise) and Vita Nuova. You will be tested on this ability in responses to study questions (a low-stakes writing assignment) and two in-class exams. An essay, which you will rewrite and expand based on my feedback, will assess your ability to support an interpretation of a specific aspect of Dante's poetry with detailed textual analysis and scholarly research. A peer-editing activity will help you to revise and edit your own work. I expect you to have read the assigned cantos and reviewed the corresponding material in Danteworlds (including the study questions) before class.

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Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) was arguably the greatest filmmaker of the twentieth century.  His career spanned over sixty years and includes such works as the sophisticated comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the allegorical Seventh Seal (1957), the avant-garde Persona (1966), the masterful television adaptation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1975), and the television miniseries Fanny and Alexander (1982).  He also wrote novels, plays, and scripts for many other filmmakers, including Bille August and Liv Ullmann.  In 2003, he directed the television film Saraband (2003), and in recent years, many of his films have been adapted for the stage.

This course is an introduction both to the films of Ingmar Bergman and to the viewing of films in general.  We will look at representative films by this prolific and gifted filmmaker, considering them in the contexts of the director's life, Scandinavian culture, and issues of film theory and aesthetics. 

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING:  One two-page paper (5%); one five-page paper which may be rewritten (25%); one storyboard (10%) accompanied by a five-page essay (25%), and five quizzes (25%; you may drop the lowest grade).   Class participation will count 10%.

REQUIRED TEXTS (for purchase and available on reserve at PCL):

• Bordwell and Thompson:  Film Art:  An Introduction.  9th ed.; 6th ed. on reserve: PN 1995 B617 2001
• Peter Cowie:  Ingmar Bergman, PN 1998 A3 B46147 1982
• Braudy and Cohen:  Film Theory and Criticism (FTC on syllabus), 6th ed. on reserve:  PN1995 B617 2001

RECOMMENDED:

• Birgitta Steene:  Ingmar Bergman:  A Reference Guide.  (U of Amsterdam Press):  PN1998 A3 B46829 2005
• French and French:  Wild Strawberries (BFI Film Classics):  PN 1997 S63 F74 1995

FILMS:

Port of Call, Prison, Monika, Sawdust and Tinsel, Smiles of a Summer Night, Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Through a Glass Darkly,  Persona, Hour of the Wolf, The Passion of Anna, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage,  The Magic Flute, Fanny and Alexander, Document:  Fanny and Alexander, Saraband

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This course uses Jesse Byock’s _Viking Language_ book to introduce students to Old Norse/Old Icelandic language, literature, history, and culture in a way that is both academically sound and optimally accessible. We will explore the Viking-Age world (793-1066 C.E.) through its extant texts: runic inscriptions, poetry, sagas, and chronicles. Lessons will introduce vocabulary and grammar at a manageable pace using selected period prose and poetry passages, assigned in order of increasing complexity, as well as exercises using constructed sentences. All four of the modalities of foreign-language learning – reading, writing, listening and speaking – will be integrated into the course, with stress on the first two. Icelandic Pronunciation (IP) will be used.    Graduate students, should they wish to enroll, will be further required to purchase Gordon and Taylor’s Introduction to Old Norse (Oxford, 1981) and to complete additional translation assignments.

Grading:

• 40 % Attendance, Daily Quizzes, and Homework
• 30 % Midterm
• 30 % Final

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Sport and other forms of physical culture have played important political roles in German history over the past two centuries. The gymnastics movement of the early 19th century promoted an intense German nationalism based on racial/ethnic identity. The late-19th century gymnastics movement was both politically conservative and engaged in an unsuccessful struggle with the foreign "sport" culture that eventually conquered the world in the form of the Olympic Games and global soccer. The 1936 ("Nazi") Olympics promoted Hitler's foreign policy objectives by serving as a propaganda platform that persuaded much of the world that Nazi Germany would not go to war. an anti-Nazi boycott effort in the united States did not succeed. The next German dictatorship to adopt sport as a political strategy was Easy Germany (1949-1989), which produced huge numbers of internationally successful athletes by creating a system of early recruitment, expert coaching, and a secret doping program that fed anabolic steroids to thousands of young men and women, including children: criminal medicine in the service to sportive nationalism. In recent decades, Democratic Germany has pursued a very successful program to become a world soccer power. The 2006 wold Cup competition in Germany marked a turning point by producing and politically acceptable form of German nationalism. The German victory at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil has confirmed traditional stereotypes about German efficiency that reflect well on Germany's political system. The inclusion of players of non-German origin on the national team serves as a symbol of German multicultural policy in an era of troubled race relations across the face of Europe.

Grading:

• Exam #1: 25%
• Exam #2: 25%
• Quizzes (5 worth 5% each): 25%
• Term Paper: 25%

This course investigates how this small European country positions itself in a globalized world and how it competes and thrives in it. A key question will be how globalization pressures impact a small, affluent country, how the economy copes with globalization, what defense mechanisms—both integrative and isolationist—they elicit, and what identity issues they provoke accentuate. A key factor of the Swiss strategy is a unique relationship with the European Union that highlights the themes of integration and integrative patterns versus isolation and the ideology of exceptionalism in a small European country. The course starts with a brief survey of Swiss history, beginning with a defensive pact among three small alpine valleys in 1291, in order to better understand Swiss exceptionalism. We will closely examine the Swiss system of direct democracy, how it shapes the political country, but also how it inspires right-wing populists across the globe. We also will study how direct democracy has created unique patterns of conflict resolution and consensus building. Finally, we will take a look at Swiss responses to climate change.

Grading:

• research paper (8-10 pp.) 30%
• short paper (minimum 2 pages) 10%
• group presentation 10%
• first exam 20%
• second exam 20%
• class participation, homework, quizzes 10%

Europe has experienced a remarkable transformation in the last century: from the mass destruction of World War II to the emergence of prosperous multiparty democracies, from the erection of the Iron Curtain to the fall of the Berlin Wall, from centuries-long divisions to a European Union of 28 states that stretches from Lisbon to Bucharest to Helsinki. Many of us know this recent past from history books, others have visited the other side of the Atlantic for vacation or study. But despite our apparent familiarity with our transatlantic neighbors, the governments and politics of Europe often remain unfamiliar. How exactly does a parliament work? Why are there so many political parties? How can governments just call new elections? How do European democracies compare with one another, and with the United States? European politics becomes even more mystifying when discussing the European Union, an entity encompassing 28 member states, over 500 million people, and one of the world’s largest economies. What is the European Union exactly? Is it an international organization, a federation of countries, or something else entirely? Who actually makes the decisions for Europe today?

This course will seek to answer to all of these questions by focusing on the major political, social, and economic dynamics shaping contemporary European politics. In the first part of the course, we will examine the historical origins of contemporary European politics, the features of parliamentary government, multiparty democracy and electoral systems, and other essentials of European politics today. We will highlight how these operate in a number of country contexts, but especially Great Britain, France, and Germany. The second half of the course will provide students with a detailed introduction to the European Union, including its tumultuous history, its decision-making institutions, and its relations with member states and the international community. Finally, the course will conclude with an investigation of some major policy issues and challenges in Europe today, notably the Euro crisis, European integration and enlargement, immigration, and European foreign policy.