HST358 Topics in History: Olympics and the Modern World

HST358 Topics in History: Olympics and the Modern World

Course: HST358 Topics in History: Olympics and the Modern World

Time:TTH 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Location: Fortin, 152

Website:

Enrollment Key: Aristotle

Instructor: Dr. Jenifer Parks

Office: Morledge-Kimball, 204

Office Hours: TTh 10:00-11:00 a.m.

F 1:00-2:00 p.m.,

or by appointment

Phone:238-7373

Email:

This course seeks to gain insight into the problems and perspectives of the modern world through the lens of Olympic sport and the modern Olympiad. Themes of globalization, gender, racism, class conflict, civil rights, colonialism, modernization, violence and war, megaevents, urbanization, etc. will be analyzed through the prism of the modern Olympic movement which both reflected and contributed significantly to these developments and how they are understood across cultures, societies, classes, etc.

In addition to covering the basic narrative and structures of the Olympic Movement, this course is designed to enhance students' ability to analyze primary sources; to identify and critique scholarly arguments; and to develop written arguments. Therefore, at the end of the semester, students should show improvement in the following objectives:

• Reading critically and writing clearly
• Analyzing different types of historical sources
• Identifying an author's thesis and evaluating how she or he supports it with evidence
• Asking meaningful historical questions
• Articulating arguments of your own based on historical evidence

Course Requirements

Grade Breakdown

Participation (20%)

Research Paper (30%)

Book Presentation (10%)

Discussion Leading (10%)

Reading quizzes, in-class writing, and small group exercises (10%)

Two Take-Home Midterms (20%)

Each assignment will receive a numerical grade, then the final course grade will be converted into a letter grade according to the following scale:

A: 90-100

B: 80-89

C: 70-79

D: 60-69

F: 0-59

Required Books:

Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games, ISBN: 9780252070464

Kevin B.Witherspoon, Before the Eyes of the World: Mexico and the 1968 Olympic Games ISBN: 9780875803883

Xu Guoqi, Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008ISBN: 9780674028401

These are the required texts for the course and are available for purchase from the Rocky Bookstore. In addition to these books, students are also responsible for any supplementary readings which will be posted on the course Moodle site.

Course Website and Communication
In addition to the assigned textbook, I will make use of a course website for posting assignments, supplementary readings, useful websites, news items of interest, etc. The course website can be found at Supplementary readings listed on the course schedule as being available on Moodle should be printed out and brought to class for discussion. To access the site, you will use your Rocky computing username and password and the enrollment key Aristotle.

If you do not have a Rocky email or WIFI account or if you are unsure about your username and password, see Dan or Andrew in Academic Computing, Eaton Hall, Rm. 2a.

Important: You will be held responsible for every assignment or document posted on the Moodle site, so make sure you can access the site and plan to check it before each class. I will also send email to inform you of important updates. I will send email to your college rocky.edu email address, and you are responsible for checking that email account regularly.

Attendance and Participation (20%)

As an educator, I strive to maintain an active learning environment where students have ample opportunity to practice the craft of the historian by analyzing and discussing key historical concepts, real historical documents, and applying their knowledge of history to current, real-world problems and questions. For this reason, this course will have a limited amount of traditional lecture content, and participation in class discussions will make up a substantial amount of the student's grade. Discussion will also help you hone your interpretations and test out ideas before putting them down on paper in a formal written assignment.

Class Preparation

In order to have a fruitful discussion, it is necessary to have the books being discussed in front of you. Therefore, you are required to bring with you to class any books that are being discussed that day. You are also responsible for printing out and bringing to class any readings posted on the course website. Failure to bring the book and printed documents to class on discussion days will lower your participation grade.

Attendance Policy

The bulk of your participation grade will be based on your active engagement with the assigned readings as evidenced by your contributions during class. It follows that you must be present to actively contribute to in-class discussions. Unexcused absences will, consequently, hurt your final participation grade. Students are allowed two unexcused absences without penalty. After that, 5% of your participation grade will be deducted for each unexcused absence.

All assigned readings should be completed before class. If you are on-time, alert, engaged, respectful, and prepared, your participation grade should be excellent.

• Disruptive behavior (showing up late, texting, internet surfing, chatting with your neighbor, etc.)will lower your participation grade.
• Laptops, ipads, and other electronic devices are allowed for notetaking, but I reserve the right to revoke this policy if I find students abusing this privilege.

Excused absences will be recognized, but missing class will cause you to fall behind in the course and miss out on important content. Here are the policies for excused absences.

• Students involved in athletics or other extracurricular activities that will cause them to miss class regularly must email me a reminder each time they will miss class

• Students with excused absences are responsible for the material covered that day, including reading assignments and response papers.
• Students should complete a response paper to make up participation points for an excused absence.

An unexcused absence is defined as any absence not excused beforehand. If you have compelling reasons to miss class, such as a school sponsored field trip or illness, you must contact the professor before class. Emergencies will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Note: missed alarms, car trouble, printer malfunctions, etc. do not count as emergencies.

Reading quizzes, in-class writing, and small group exercises (10%)

Students are expected to arrive for class having read carefully the assigned readings for that day. Students should also be prepared to discuss the readings actively. To help facilitate this, students will often begin class by writing a brief reaction piece to the assigned readings for that day, taking a quiz on the assigned readings, or engaging in a small in-class group project related to the assigned readings. These quizzes, writings, and/ or exercises will be collected and assigned a grade. I will post discussion questions in advance for each class, and the material for these exercises will be based on those questions.

Discussion Leading (10%)

Each student will be asked to lead class discussion at least once during the semester. A list of possible discussions will be circulated for the students to sign up to lead discussion on the day of their choosing. Students should plan to begin with a brief oral presentation on the day's topic and then engage their colleagues in discussion of the topic. Students will consult with the professor and provide a lesson plan and list of questions in advance as part of the grade for this assignment. More information on this assignment will be posted on Moodle.

Book Presentation (10%)

Each student will give a 10 minute presentation on one book they identify for their research paper. More information on this assignment will be posted on Moodle.

Take-Home Midterms (20% total)

There will be two take-home midterms in an essay format. I will provide a list of topics in advance, and you will choose one to write on in each of your take-home exams. More information on these exams will be posted on Moodle.

Research Paper (30%)

The final project in this course will be a research paper on a topic of your choosing. This assignment will help you improve your skills in identifying a historical problem, finding relevant material that speaks to that problem, interpreting primary sources and secondary arguments, and articulating an original thesis effectively in writing. More information on this assignment will be posted on Moodle.

Honor and Academic Integrity

Plagiarism and cheating fall under the category of Acts of Dishonesty which are prohibited according the Code of Conduct in the Rocky student handbook. The handbook defines academic dishonesty as follows:

Cheating, plagiarism or other breaches of academic integrity, such as fabrication, facilitating or aiding academic dishonesty; theft of instructional materials or tests; unauthorized access to or manipulation of laboratory equipment or experiments; alteration of grades or files; misuse of research data in reporting results; use of personal relationships to gain grades or favors, or otherwise attempting to obtain grades or credit through fraudulent means.

Plagiarism Policy

Any student caught plagiarizing material or cheating on an in-class exam will receive a zero for the assignment. On the second offense, a letter will be added to the student's permanent file in addition to the zero grade for the assignment. Three offenses will earn the student an F for the course, and the matter will be brought to the attention of the academic standards committee for possible further disciplinary procedures. For more information please consult the section on Academic Integrity on the Student Conduct section of the RMC website at

In recent years, the risks of plagiarism—both the intentional and the unintentional kind—have grown because of students’ frequent recourse to the Internet. If you use any internet sources in your papers, you must cite them properly as you would a book or a printed article.

Advice for avoiding plagiarism:

• Whenever you use three or more consecutive words extracted from any text (or from a lecture, for that matter), give credit by citing your source and using quotation marks.
• Do not cut and paste text directly from websites or other electronic media.
• You are encouraged to study with your classmates, but you may not seek their assistance during the actual administration of exams. On papers, at the moment when the writing and organizing of your actual essay is about to occur, you must separate. At no point should you exchange drafts or partial drafts while preparing your papers.

Course Schedule:

All readings and assignments should be done before class on the day they are listed. Documents available on Moodle are designated. All other readings will come from one of the three major books for the course.

Week 1: Introductions, Expectations,
Tuesday, Aug. 23 / Introductions and Course Expectations: Why study the Olympic Games?
Thursday, Aug. 25 / Ancient Olympics Report (Moodle)
Week 2: Origins of the Modern Olympic Movement
Tuesday, Aug. 30 / Guttmann, pp. ix-35
Thursday, Sept. 1 / Guttmann, pp. 37-52
Week 3: Inter-War Years
Tuesday, Sept. 6 / Keys, "Nazism and Stalinism" and "Spreading Peace, Democracy, and Coca-Cola" (Moodle)
Thursday, Sept. 8 / Guttmann, pp. 53-71
Riefenstahl Documentary (in-class viewing)
Week 4: From World War to Cold War
Tuesday, Sept. 13 / First Take-Home Midterm Due
Library Tour for Research Paper
Thursday, Sept. 15 / Guttmann, pp. 73-102
Rinehart, "Fists flew and blood flowed" (Moodle)
Week 5: Peaceful Coexistence?
Tuesday, Sept. 20 / Guttmann, pp. 103-123
IOC Minutes (Moodle)
Thursday, Sept. 22 / Guttmann, pp. 124-140
Witherspoon, Introduction
Week 6: Mexico City cont'd
Tuesday, Sept. 27 / Witherspoon, Ch. 1-2
Thursday, Sept. 29 / Witherspoon, Ch. 3-4
Week 7: Boycott and the End of the Cold War
Tuesday, Oct. 4 / Witherspoon, Ch. 5-6
Thursday, Oct. 6 / Guttmann, pp. 141-170
Abelson, "Politics on Ice" (Moodle)
Week 8: Doping and the GDR
Tuesday, Oct. 11 / Second Take-Home Midterm due
Thursday, Oct. 13 / Midterm Break—No Class!
Week 9: After the Cold War
Tuesday, Oct. 18 / Guttmann, pp. 171-194
Thursday, Oct. 20 / Research Paper Topic and Preliminary Bibliography Due
Week 10: China and the Olympics
Tuesday, Oct. 25 / Xu, Introduction-Ch. 1
Thursday, Oct. 27 / Xu, Ch. 2-3
Week 11: China, cont'd
Tuesday, Nov. 1 / Xu, Ch. 4
Thursday, Nov. 3 / Xu, Ch. 5
Week 12: China, cont'd
Tuesday, Nov. 8 / Xu, Ch. 6-7
Thursday, Nov. 10 / Xu, Ch. 8-Conclusion
Week 13: Olympics on Film
Tuesday, Nov. 15 / Research Paper Bibliography Due
Thursday, Nov. 17 / Film: Miracle (in-class viewing)
Week 14: Olympics on Film
Tuesday, Nov. 22 / Film: Miracle (in-class viewing)
Moodle Forum Response on film
Thursday, Nov. 24 / Thanksgiving Break—No Class!
Week 15: Discuss Research Projects
Tuesday, Nov. 28 / Book Presentations
Thursday, Dec. 1 / Book Presentations
Finals Week
Monday, Dec. 5 / Research Paper Consultations, 12:15-2:15, M-K 204
Friday, Dec. 9 / Research Paper Due by 5:00 p.m.

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