HIST145-71
The History of American Violence

Division of Professional and Continuing Studies
Wentworth Institute of Technology

Term: Fall 2008
Instructor: Matthew Luckett
Affiliations: Wentworth Institute of Technology, University of California - Los Angeles
Phone: 781-258-7235
Email: luckettm@wit.edu



Introduction

I once emailed Michael Zuckerman, a well-known professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, after I discovered that he used to teach a class similar to this one. Since I was designing this course at the time, I wanted his opinion on how to go about it. In response, he told me that he no longer taught it, and that the history of American violence was, in many ways, the history of America.

I'm inclined to agree with him. It would be impossible to cover the entire history of American violence with a single course. Even if we could, would it make any sense? Ethnic, domestic, racial, social, socio-economic, criminal, and political violence all enter into the picture, and all are worthy of courses of their own.

Therefore, we will approach the history of violence in America from a single standpoint: how has the violence of our past affected our ability to relate to the present? Violence is often cyclical - abused children often abuse their own, violent criminals often suffer from violent personal histories. In many ways, the traumas of American history have spawned future traumas of their own. The purpose of this class, then, is to view American history through the lens of historical memory and trauma. We will do this with several prominent naratives in American history, such as slavery and the dispossession of the Native Americans, as well as some less prominent ones.



Course Objectives

At the end of HIST145, you will have:



Course Policies and Procedures

  1. Commitment to learning: Online learning requires a different kind of commitment. Although there are no classes to go to or tests to study for, you will need to keep up to date with readings, discussions, and writing assignments. Please read the syllabus carefully and let me know if you will not be able to commit to the demands of the course.
  2. Communication and community: The better connected you are with me and your classmates, the more that you will get from this class. Don't be afraid email or call me, and try to get to know one another on the discussion boards, through chat, and possibly through email.
  3. Communication Policy This is a suppliment to the syllabus that specifically describes the class policy for communicating with me and your classmates, as well as our respective roles in the process. It is important for you to read this policy as soon as you can.
  4. Working ahead: All assignments and modular reading assignments have been posted prior to the start of class. You may work ahead as much as you want, but be sure to participate in the chats and discussions during the times they are held.
  5. Code of conduct: Please be respectful towards your classmates in discussion, chat, and private coorespondence. aLSO, Please refrain from using vulgar or threatening language anywhere on the site. Don't say or do anything here that you would not do in a face-to-face situation.
  6. Email: All coorespondence will be sent to your WIT email account, so make sure that your account is set up. You can have email forwarded to a separate account by opening up Internet Explorer, going to email.wit.edu, selecting "Premium" and "Private" before logging in, and then clicking on the "Rule" tab on the left.
  7. Contacting the instructor: I will respond to all emails with 24 hours during the week, and 24-48 hours on the weekends. You may also contact me by cell phone with questions. You can try to reach me anytime, but Tuesdays, Thursdays and Wednesdays are the best for me. Please also bear in mind that I am on Pacific Time, so please take that into account when calling me. I would appreciate not getting calls before 9am PST/Noon EST or after 11pm PST/2am EST. If you are skittish about calling me, feel free to send a text message!
  8. Announcements: Please check the Announcements board every other day to keep up to date with news, updates, and other items of interest.
  9. Late Work: Students are strongly encouraged to submit all assignments on time. Please let me know if you anticipate having trouble making a deadline. Assignments submitted within a week after the due date will be given half credit. Assignments submitted thereafter will not be accepted.
  10. Assignment style guidelines: The book response essays and the final paper must be turned in electronically. The files must be Word 95/97/2003 compatible or in PDF format. It is your responsibility to turn in work that I will be able to access.
  11. Assignment feedback: You can find this within the Blackboard grade book. I will try to post feedback within a week of submission.
  12. Grades: Grades can be found in the Blackboard grade book.


Textbooks

You will be required to read four books in this class.

Required Textbooks:

Choose ONE of the following:

Suggested (Extra Credit)



Grading Policy

Grading rubric:



Written Work Policy

All written work submitted for this course must meet the standards for English I. Poorly written papers will be returned to you, without a grade, for revision. Students are encouraged to utilize the Center for Teaching and Learning for help in polishing their papers.



Academic Honesty Policy

Plagiarism and cheating will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances. Please refer to the Wentworth Catalog for more information about this policy.



Assignments

You will be graded on the following five assignments. Each is worth 20% of your overall grade:

  1. Participate in the discussion forum: Each week, I will post two questions on the module readings. You will be expected to answer one of the questions, and also post two responses to other students' posts. Your response to the question will be worth 10 points, and should be posted no later than 11:59PM EST on Thursday. Your responses will be worth 5 points each, and must be posted by Sunday at 11:59PM EST. This is the closest thing we have to a classroom, so regular participation is expected. You will receive a separate score for your participation each week. Your five lowest weekly scores will be dropped.
  2. Participate in four one-hour online chats: I will schedule several online chats during the course of the semester, during which we will discuss the books we've read. I will coordinate the times for these chats with your schedules.
  3. Complete four book response papers: I will hand out a short study guide for each book, and I will include two to three questions in each one. Please write a short, 2-3 page essay in response to one of the questions. Include citations whenever necessary.
  4. Write two articles for the History of American Violence wiki: I have created a wiki for this course that will connect student-written articles on historical topics that are related to our class. Fortunately, you get to choose the topics that you want to write on! A minimum entry would include two to three paragraphs and at least two citations. In addition, at least one of the articles must link to another one. Your posts will then remain on the wiki forever, as a source of information and inspiration for future students! Additional information will be posted soon.
  5. Write the final paper: A 5-7 page final paper will be due at the end of the semester. More information on that can be found in the Assignments section.


Time Commitment

Although there are no classes to attend, this will be a demanding course. There is plenty of reading of reading, a fair amount of writing, and lots of online discussion. Therefore, time management will be important.

In an average week, you will probably spend about 6 hours a week on class activities. This evens out some when you factor in lost class time (three hours a week), but it will require more participation and planning on your part.

Although four books and weekly reading assignments sound like a lot, it can be managed easily. In fact, you don't have to read every word that I've assigned. I've attached a "speed reading" helpsheet in order to encourage you all to read these books selectively.



Modules

Each week, we will cover a different topic, or module. Each module will have a set of the following:

The first item is for your reference, and can be skimmed or skipped at your discretion.

The second and third items are mandatory, as they compliment one another. Start with the second item (the presentation) and then apply what you’ve read to the collection of readings.



Course Schedule