Master of Interdisciplinary Studies Program
ISP 6110
Winter 2002
Seminar in Historical and Cultural Studies: The Meaning of September 11
Revised Syllabus (February 26, 2002)
Tuesday: 6-9:30
Instructor: Ronald Aronson O-(313) 577-0828; H-(248) 548-7370; ac7159@wayne.edu
Office Hours: Before or after class; other times by appointment
Attendance at every class session is required. If you have to miss class, please call the instructor for a make-up assignment. Making up missed classes is required. Any student missing three classes will be dropped from the course. Reminder to graduate students: To pass a graduate course at Wayne State requires a grade of B or better. B- is considered a failing grade by the graduate school.
Course Description:
This 4-credit Seminar introduces the student to Historical and Cultural Studies in the Master of Interdisciplinary Studies Program. Its broad concern in this is the phenomenon of change in culture and society, viewed within a broad framework that permits focusing not only on political and social and cultural processes, but also on areas such as daily life, popular culture, mass media, and personal identity. The course explores:
1) How change takes place in significant and specific areas of social life. This will involve discussing such issues as:
- who are the agents of change,
- what prior changes are presupposed by processes of conscious change,
- what is the relationship between processes that operate "by themselves" or "behind the backs" of people such as developments in technology and processes that are undertaken consciously and deliberately, such as social movements and political actions;
2) How changes in a major dimension are caused by or in turn provoke changes in other areas.
3) The first two points lead to discussing what a society or culture is, and how the various levels and dimensions of human activity - economic, political, social, religious, aesthetic, and moral - are related to each other.
This semester’s specific focus will be “The Meaning of September 11.” What does it mean to say that “everything is different” after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? What are the “root causes” of the attack? How is this act of terrorism to be explained? What does it have to do with fundamentalism? Islam? U.S. economic, foreign, and military policy? The image of the U.S. in the rest of the world? Is a military solution effective and appropriate? What other sorts of responses are necessary?
This course will be an interdisciplinary exploration of these and other questions provoked by the events of September 11. It will focus on understanding social dynamics from a historical point of view. “Why do they hate us?” has been asked often since September 11. We will discuss at length what kinds of research are needed to understand this and other central questions, and we will initiate and discuss some of this research. Students will read certain key texts together and then will select and prepare individual research topics, with results to be presented towards the end of the semester.
Web sources: Of course The New York Times: <www.nyt.com/>. The internet has a great variety of resources, and a starting point might be “War on Terrorism Web Sites”: <www.yama333.tripod.com/ >. Also The Independent newspaper from London is excellent: <http://www.independent.co.uk/> (search Robert Fisk, Natasha Walter, and other columnists). There is a peace movement website: <www.ipb.org/websites_US.htm> and another critical website at <www.zmag.org/ZNET.htm>. The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram is at:<www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/>. Le Monde Diplomatique an outstanding French monthly is in English at: <www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/>
Books:
Noam Chomsky, 9-11 (Seven Stories)
Akbar Ahmed, Islam Today (H. Tauris)
Ahmed Rashid, Taliban (Yale)
Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism (Oxford)
Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld (Ballantine)
Fred Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation (H. Tauris)
Other readings will be distributed in class by the instructor or brought in by students.
Books will be available at Marwil’s, Cass and Warren.
The Paper:
The question of the course is: How do we explain September 11? Each of our books, as well as videos and other readings, deal with this question. Students are expected to select a focused area of research to continue, each in your own way, the process of answering the question. The writing assignment for the course consists in a 25-page paper to be handed in on April 30, and to be constructed in stages starting with the first week, continuing with responses to each of the assigned readings and viewings, and then going in depth into one specific area of study. This will lead, finally, to a conclusion drawing together all of your strands of study.
The Schedule:
The course will be divided into two main sections. Until the Spring Break we will work collectively on the set of common readings. After the Spring Break, each student will focus on his/her specific research area, although we will be completing some common readings together. Beginning on March 26, students will make oral presentations of 15 minutes on their individual research areas.
1. January 8: Introduction to the Course: Personal Reactions, Planning the Reading Schedule, Watching a Video.
Writing in class.
2. January 15
Assignment: Rashid, Taliban, first half
3. January 22
Assignment: Rashid, Taliban, second half
In-class writing assignment: How does Rashid’s Taliban contribute to your understanding of September 11? (One page)
4. January 29
Assignment: Ahmed, Islam Today, first half
5. February 5
Assignment: Ahmed, Islam Today, second half
6. February 12
Writing Assignment: How does Ahmed’s Islam Today contribute to your understanding of September 11? (Four pages - 1000 words)
Reading assignment: Chomsky, 9-11
7. February 19
Assignment: Laqueur, The New Terrorism, 3-155
In-class writing assignment: How does Chomsky’s 9-11 contribute to your understanding of September 11? (One page)
8. February 26
Assignment: finish Laqueur, The New Terrorism, including “Annotated Bibliography.”
In-class group discussion assignment: How does Laqueur’s The New Terrorism contribute to your understanding of September 11?
9. March 5
Assignment 1: Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld, 1-137
In-class viewing: Barber on September 11
Assignment 2: hand in research paper topic
March 12, No Class: Spring Break
10. March 19
Assignment 1: finish Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld
Assignment 2: introductory paragraph of research paper, bibliography of ten books and five articles
11. March 26
Assignment: Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation, 1-75
Paper: How does Laqueur’s The New Terrorism contribute to your understanding of September 11? (4 pages - 1000 words)
First Student Presentations
12. April 2
Assignment: Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation, 76-133
Student Presentations continue
13. April 9
Assignment: Halliday, Islam and the Myth of Confrontation, 134-217
Evaluation: How does Halliday’s Islam and the Myth of Confrontation contribute to your understanding of September 11?
Student Presentations conclude
14. April 16
Research week
15. April 23
Research week
16. April 30
Final Class: papers due ( 25 pages )
Final discussion: How did the course contribute to your understanding of September 11?