Dr. Ann Engar
Sill Center 146
MW 12-1 + by apt.
801-581-4891
HONORS 2105: Reacting to the Past (Ancient World and Its Influence)
TTh 10:45-12:05 MHC 1205 3 credits, Humanities Exploration
Course Description
Reacting to the Past will use highly interactive methods to engage you in debates about critical historical and contemporary issues related to government, ethics, authority, and social order. The course uses a role-playing pedagogy where you will play roles in two games, one set in Athens in 403 BCE and one set in China in 1587 CE. The games call for research, writing, and oral presentations on political, social, scientific and philosophical debates. The games seek to illuminate questions of contemporary relevance as well as deep historical and intellectual background. Sample questions include
1. What is democracy, and what are its strengths and weaknesses?
2. What is the proper relationship between democracy and free speech? Is free speech good?
3. What “rights” and responsibilities does an individual possess to participate in government and why?
4. Are democratic states more prone to imperialism?
5. What are the obligations of the rich to the poor, and vice versa?
6. What checks should there be on the power of a ruler?
7. Is it the role of a governmental official to carry out the wishes of the ruler or to influence the ruler’s policies and opinions to give substantive shape to the administration of the state?
8. Do deep tensions between parties within the state lead to administrative paralysis?
9. How much should those in authority exemplify moral and benevolent leadership? How much should they be influenced by traditional religious and ethical views?
10. Does criticism of a leader or a state cripple a government at a time when good government is essential? Of does criticism prevent autocracy and tyranny?
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, you will be able to
1. Analyze important texts and ideas
2. Engage in critical thinking: defining a problem, ascertaining the relevant facts, examining the assumptions of contending arguments, and accepting that all results are tentative and open to revision
3. Understand the historical context surrounding significant political debates in Athens and China
4. Display improved skills in persuasion and argumentation both in speaking and in written form
5. Demonstrate an increase in empathy—an understanding that key questions have multiple human perspectives
6. Compare the diverse values surrounding critical issues within government and ethics
7. Develop skills in problem-solving and teamwork, including ensuring that their groups function effectively, divide tasks and making different elements come together at the proper times
Teaching and Learning Methods
The course will provide you with diverse learning activities including collaboration, oral communication (set-pieces and spontaneous debate), research opportunities, written expression, and student-led discussion. It will promote critical thinking and discussion about civilization, government, and ideological superstructures. It will provide leadership opportunities and problem-solving skills that are essential to civic engagement and will also show the centrality of issues of power and governance to nearly all aspects of life.
Assignments and Grading
For each game you will submit two papers of approximately 2-4 pages each. Each paper will be worth 10% of the total grade (4 papers=40% of course grade). There will be one quiz worth 5% of the total grade. There will be a final paper comparing and contrasting views of government that bring together both games. That paper (4-6) will be worth 25% of the course grade. The other 30% of your course grade will be based on class participation, including speeches. I will be keeping a record of every time you speak and of the quality of your oratory.
Just as you will sometimes criticize the views of those whose purposes differ from your own, they will subject your written work to a sharp reading. The written work will form an important part of class discussions.
You must understand the ideas that inform your historical role; you must also persuade others that these ideas make sense. Your writing will be an exercise in persuasion. You need not believe what you argue, but you must make your case persuasively.
And you must submit your work on time. Late work will also harm your team. The requirements of the game—particularly the mechanism for posting all papers on canvas—further necessitate timely submission of written work. Late work without prior approval of the instructor will not be accepted.
You will also seek to achieve your game objectives by expressing your views in the full classroom. You will sometimes speak as a member of a particular faction; sometimes you will be alone; sometimes your role will be indeterminate, and sometimes you will have the freedom to write your own game objective in response to what you have read and heard. But in all roles, you must sooner or later seek to persuade others so as to achieve your objectives and win the game.
Unless you are “dead” or have somehow been silenced, you can participate in all oral discussions. Those students whose roles make them responsible for running the class may determine who speaks and when. This may prove frustrating. Anyone may approach the podium to assert the right to give a speech, pose questions, or address the class. If someone is already at the podium, you may take a place in line behind her.
Required Texts:
Gardner, Daniel K. and Mark C. Carnes. Confucianism and the Succession Crisis of the
Wanli Emperor, 1587. New York: W. W. Norton, 2014.
Ober, Josiah and Naomi J. Norman. The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C.
4th ed., New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.
Confucius. The Analects. trans. D. C. Lau. New York and London: Penguin Books, 1979.
Huang, Ray. 1587, A Year of No Significance. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1982.
Sun Tzu. Art of War. Filiquarian, 2007.
Class Schedule:
January 9Introduction to Course
January 11Read Part 2 of Game Book
January 16Read Part I of Game Book
January 18Read Parts 3 and 4 of Game Book
Read Book 1 of Plato’s Republic
January 23Play microgame Athens Besieged: Debating Surrender
January 25Read Books 2-3 of Plato’s Republic
Role distribution, job distribution, and faction meetings
January 30Read Part 5 (Core Texts) of Game Book
Further discussion of Plato’s Republic
Quiz on primary texts
Prepare essays/speeches for Game Session 1
February 1Game Session 1: Assembly
President 1
Reconciliation Agreement:
A) Should Athenians forget the “past wrongs” of the supporters of the Thirty?
B)Should Athenians be prohibited from filing lawsuits against the supporters of the Thirty?
February 6Game Session 2
President 2
Electorate: Should metics and worthy slaves be admitted and allowed to vote in the Pnyx? To serve as jurors in the law courts?
President may choose a second topic but must announce that topic in time for players to prepare for it in advance.
February 8Game Session 3
President 3
Social Welfare: Should Assemblymen and jurors be paid?
President may choose a second topic but must announce that topic in time for players to prepare for it in advance.
February 13Paper 1 Due
Panathenaic Festival
February 15Game Session 5
TRIAL DAY
This session is reserved for a trial. If no archon requests a trial in advance of Trial Day, then the GM will ask President 4 to hold an Assembly session and announce the topic in advance.
February 20Game Session 6
President 5
Should laws and major decisions be made by the Assembly or by a governing council? If the latter, how should members of the council be chosen?
President may choose a second topic but must announce that topic in time for players to prepare for it in advance.
February 22Olympic Festival
February 27President 6
Remilitarization/Restoration of Athenian Empire: Should Athens rebuild its fleet, recommence tribute collection, and reconstitute its empire?
President may choose a second topic but must announce that topic in time for players to prepare for it in advance.
March 1Post-Mortem
March 3Paper 2 Due
Post-Mortem
March 8Analects1-9
Huang, pp. 1-41
March 13Sun Tzu, pp. 63-89
Huang, pp. 42-79
March 15Sun Tzu, pp. 90-116
Huang, pp. 80-99
March 20Spring Break
March 22Spring Break
March 27Confucianism Game Set-up
Analects, Books 10-20
Selection of Wanli Emperor
Huang, pp. 100-120
March 29“State and Society under the Ming” in game
packet
Selection of the First Grand Secretary
Distribution of Roles
Huang, pp. 120-141
April 3Huang, pp. 141-160
brief biographicalentry on Zhang Jusheng
Palace Examination
April 5Read all of primary sources in game packet
Hwang, pp. 160-188
Presentation of First Memorials to Wanli Emperior
First papers due
April 10Presentation of First Memorials (continued)
April 12First Grand Secretary and Wanli Emperor Respond to Memorials
General Discussion
April 17Presentation of Second Memorials
Second Papers due
April 19Presentation of Second Memorials (continued)
April 24Post-Mortem
Final papers are due Wednesday, May 6, at noon.
Contingency
Most history courses teach what happened. Historians deduce the causal factors—usually economic, sociological, political, and technological—that produced some consequence. Often missing from scholarly studies is the importance of individual actions and decisions. This course presumes that individuals play a significant role in history; it asserts that broader economic and social forces place constraints on what individuals may do, but that those forces do not determine human events. Individual people do.
The course seeks to replicate the historical context of a particular past, with all its causal forces: economic, sociological, political, and otherwise. But it provides students with the opportunity to explore counterfactual issues of individual agency. To assert that human agency matters is to say that what actually happened need not have happened. Historical forces do not foreordain human affairs. History is not predetermined. It is contingent on multiple factors, including the vagaries of human individuality.
That is one reason why this class, though set in the past, is constructed as a game. It differs from most games in that you do not know all the rules at the outset. Things will happen that you may not anticipate and over which you have little or no control. The game will unfold in ways that are undetermined from the outset: what you do affects what will happen.
University Information and Policies
1. The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 581-5020 (V/TDD). CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations.
All written information in this course can be made available in alternative format with prior notification to the Center for Disability Services.
2. The University Writing Center is a free service available for all students of the University of Utah. It provides one-on-one assistance for all stages of the writing process, from generating ideas for topics, to improving analysis and clarity, to polishing finished drafts. The Center’s staff is trained to work with student writers from first semester freshmen through graduate school, and writers of all levels of ability are welcome. To schedule an appointment, call 801-587-9122 or stop by Marriott Library, Second Floor to schedule an appointment.
Student and Faculty Responsibilities
All students are expected to maintain professional behavior in the classroom setting,
according to the Student Code explained in the Student Handbook. Students have
specific rights in the classroom as detailed in Article III of the Code. The Code also
specifies proscribed conduct (Article XI) that involves cheating on tests, plagiarism,
and/or collusion, as well as fraud, theft, etc. Students should read the Code carefully and
are responsible for the content. According to Faculty Rules and Regulations, it is the
faculty’s responsibility to enforce responsible classroom behaviors, and I will do so,
beginning with verbal warnings and progressing to dismissal from class and a failing
grade. Students have the right to appeal such action to the Student Behavior Committee.