Gendercide (extra credit)

"Never again" said the Jews (and many others) about the Holocaust. However, there have been many such tragedies in the 20th and 21st centuries, some of them going on right now. Please take a look at the "case studies" on the Gendercide site (look at the case study drop down menu on the left hand side of the page). Choose one of the studies (or one of the articles on the Gendercide main page), and comment here on that article/case study. In studying for the final exam, you might find particularly useful the Armenia case study, the Bangladesh case study, the Nanking (Nanjing) case study, and the Rwanda case study.  In what way does the information on this site help justify the 20th century's nickname "The Age of Violence" or the 21st century's nickname "The Age of Stupidity"?

Yad Vashem (extra credit)

"One death is a tragedy: a million deaths is a statistic," said Joseph Stalin. Unfortunately, this tends to be the truth. Numbers are a useful tool for measuring things that are too big for us to understand in any other way, e.g., how far it is from earth to the sun. But using numbers often blunts the reality of human tragedies.

The Yad Vashem site tries to make the victims of the Holocaust something more than just statistics. Its database is an attempt to preserve a memory of as many individual victims as possible.

Browse through the database, and look through some of the individual pages of testimony. What do you find interesting/memorable in these pages?

Harvest of Despair (extra credit)

Communism is one of the three "flavors" of totalitarianism we will be talking about this month. It is the most widespread and, in a certain sense, most successful flavor of totalitarianism--and probably the most important for you to understand.

Normally, I show in class a video called Harvest of Despair.  With fewer teaching days than normal, I've had to leave out a few things, and I'm skipping the video this semester.  It would be great if you could watch the video online.  Unfortunately, the sound quality of the YouTube version is pretty poor.  The best YouTube version is in six parts:

Harvest of Despair, Part I
Harvest of Despair, Part II
Harvest of Despair, Part III
Harvest of Despair, Part IV
Harvest of Despair, Part V
Harvest of Despair, Part VI


There is a better quality DVD version in the NSU library.  A group of you might want to check the DVD out and watch it together.  I'll give you extra credit for your response to the prompt here:

What did the Harvest of Despair video teach you about Soviet Communism that you didn't know before? What insights did you gain on the motivations and methods of those who supported the movement? Did anything here help you understand why this particular flavor of totalitarianism survived longer (and did more damage) than other totalitarian systems?

Additional Dostoyevsky Readings (extra credit)

If you enjoyed "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" (and even if you didn't), you might enjoy some of the other selections in the Signet Dostoyevsky book.  If you like romances, you might find "White Nights" particularly appealing. If you want to know what it's like to be in a Siberian prison camp, you might like the selections from the "House of the Dead." 

Read either or both selections, and add your comments here. What would you say to encourage students to read the selection for themselves?

The Eugenics Movement (extra credit)

Some of the 19th and 20th century followers of Darwin hit on a novel way to speed up the "natural selection" process.  Their ideas led to the development of what is called "eugenics." Please read through the Wikipedia summary of the eugenics movement. What do you see here that suggests that there is a dark side to the Darwinian idea of progress?

Communist Manifesto--Extra Credit

In the "Communist Manifesto," Marx and Engels suggest some "wonderful improvements" for society. Cite a line from the Manifesto highlighting one of these improvements, i.e, something Marx and Engels want to see changed. Would the change they suggest be a good one? Why, or why not? Do you get a feeling of deja vu when you read through the Manifesto? Any issues raised similar to those in contemporary American politics?

You do not need to read the whole of the Manifesto. Part II (Proletarians and Communists, pp. 135-142 in the Dover anthology) will be sufficient.

Get Involved II--More Extra Credit Opportunities

One of the best ways to learn about any people and time period is to look a the art, music, and literature that comes from that time.  This week, you'll have a couple of great opportunities to get some of that extra insight into history the arts and literature provide. 

Tonight (Thursday, October 16), tomorrow, and Saturday, the NSU theater department presents "On the Verge."  The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Williams Library "Round Room."  Also tonight is the annual aria and concerto competition.  The aria portion of the competition begins at 5:00 p.m. in Krikac auditorium. 

For extra credit, just add a comment to the post here indicating how either the play or one of the musical numbers you listened to ties in to the study of history.

Condorcet's Progress of the Human Mind (extra credit)

I summarized for you Condorcet's Progress of the Human Mind in class.  You will get a somewhat better feel for Condorcet is you read the essay for yourself.  Please read through this abridged version.  What do you see here that adds to or modifies the impressions of Condorcet you got from lecture? 

The French Encyclopedia (extra credit)

Reading the articles in Diderot's Encyclopedia is one of the best ways to understand the French Enlightenment. It shows the attitudes of the philosophes toward everything from Islam to Women to Intolerance to History. While the online translation of the Encyclopedia articles does not include the wonderful illustrations of the original, you will probably still find much of interest.

Browse to an article on a topic of interest to you. Comment on what you found particularly interesting in that article.

Rousseau's Ribbon Story (extra credit)

As part of my introduction to Rousseau, I retell his "ribbon story."  I have to shorten things up quite a bit, and my cartoon version may be a bit misleading.  Please read the original version of the ribbon story and
compare it to the version of the story I told in class.  How does reading the original version of the story add to your impressions of Rousseau?  Do you find yourself more sympathetic to him or less sympathetic to him?  Does the version of the story I told you in class seem close enough to the original, or do you think that students definitely should read the original version and draw their own conclusions?

Get Involved!

I like to encourage my students to participate in extra-curricular events whenever they have time. I especially like to encourage to get involved with fine arts events on campus, and I occasionally give an extra credit point or two to students who participate in these vents.

I'd like to particularly encourage you to participate in the Constitution Day events on Wednesday, September 17.  You can get extra credit for attending either Dr. Schaff''s presentation at noon in the NSU library or Lt. Col. Christopher Lindberg;ss presentation at 8:00 p.m. in Krikac Auditorium.

Dr. Schaff's talk is titled, "Our Once and Future Constitution. "Lt. Col. Lindberg's title is "Calling Forth the Militia: The Constitution and the Armed Services."  Both talks should be of interest to Northern students, and they are relevant to some of the themes we will be talking about in History 122.

I'd also like to encourage you to attend the faculty recital on Thursday, September 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Krikac recital hall. NSU has an amazing music faculty, and, for music lovers, getting a chance to hear them perform is an opportunity not to be missed.

To get extra credit for any of the above events, just click on the comment button below and share your impressions of the presentation.  What did you learn?  What did you particularly enjoy? 
 

Welcome!

Congratulations! You have successfully navigated to Inherently Interesting Fall 2014, the most wonderful, most interesting, and most important blog at this particular URL. Your comments and questions on this blog will help make the class even more wonderful and interesting--and occasionally earn you a bit of extra credit!

 To add your comments, click on the "comments" link immediately below. You may leave your comments as an "anonymous" blogger so that you don't have to set up an account. On extra credit assignments, be sure to include your name at the end of the post so I know who to give credit to.

To get started, here's a test of the History 122 extra credit system. Click the "comments" link below and give me your honest answer: what's the first thing that comes into your head when you here the word history?