HUMANITIES 2023/4023-101: Medieval Cultures
Fall 2011
Professor: Lynn Hoggard Office: Bea Wood 201
Office Hours: 2-4:30 TR Telephone: 397-4145
E-mail: lynn.hoggard@mwsu.edu Class: 11-12:15 TR
Overall Course Goals and Objectives: This course gives you the chance to learn about major achievements in literature, music, art, film, architecture, theater, dance, and philosophy as they occur in Byzantine, Islamic, European, Indian, Asian, and North and South American medieval cultures. The goal of the course is to develop your ability to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and think creatively about complex cultural information while improving your thinking and writing skills. Ultimately, the course is intended to help you develop into a more fully formed human being and a more informed citizen of the world.
Required textbook: Benton, et al., Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities, Vol. 1, 3rd Ed.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
Week One
23 Aug.: Introduction to Course
Chapter Six: Islamic Civilization
25 Aug.: Islamic Civilization (Religion; Islam, the Ottoman Empire, and Europe; Cross Currents): pp. 234-240; Reading: The Quran: pp. 252-253
Week Two
30 Aug.: Philosophy; Math, Science, and Scholarship; CriticalThinking; Islamic Art and Architecture; Then and Now: pp. 240-246
1 Sept.: Cross Currents; Literature, Music; Connections; Cultural Impact: pp. 247-250; Readings: pp. 253-257
Week Three
Chapter Seven: Indian Civilization
6 Sept.: The Vedic Period (Hinduism, Literature: The Hindu Classics; Connections): pp. 258-264;
Readings: from “The Bhagavad Gita,” pp. 278-281; from The Ramayana, pp. 283-285
8 Sept.: The Maurya Period (Buddhism; Maurya Art), Mauryan to Bactrian to Kushan: pp. 265-269; Readings: Buddhist Sermons, pp. 281-283
Week Four
13 Sept.: The Gupta Era (Gupta Art; The Jataka and The Pancatantra); The Hindu Dynasties (The Hindu Temple; Sculpture): pp. 269-277; Readings: pp. 285-293
15 Sept.: Exam #1: Islamic and Indian Civilizations
Week Five
Chapter Eight: Early Chinese Civilization
20 Sept.: The Early Dynasties (The Shang and Zhou Dynasties); Chinese Philosophy (Confucianism, Taoism): pp. 294-300; Readings: “The Book of Songs”; Confucius; The Tao Te Ching: pp. 310-313
(Choice for 4023 Oral Presentation topic due; please submit in a short statement)
22 Sept.: Empire: The Qin and Han Dynasties; The Six Dynasties, Then & Now; The Tang Dynasty: pp. 300-302; Readings: Tao Qian; Wang-Wei; Li Bai; Du Fu: pp. 313-316
(Choice for 4023 Research Topic due; please submit in written form)
Week Six
27 Sept.: The Song Dynasty (Connections, Critical Thinking, Cross Currents, Cultural Impact): pp. 302-309; Reading: Li Ch’ing-Chao: pp. 316-317
Chapter Nine: Early Japanese Civilization
29 Sept.: Japan Before the Twelfth Century (Prehistoric Japan, Religion, Courtly Japan: Asuka and Nara Periods; The Heian Period; Connections: pp. 318-326
Week Seven
4 Oct.: Readings: Kakinomoto No Hitomaro; Ono No Komachi; Sei Shonagan, excerpt from The Pillow Book; Murasaki Shikibu, excerpt from The Tale of Genji: pp. 330-337
6 Oct.: Warrior Japan: The Kamakura Period, Later Warrior Japan: The Ashikaga Period, Cross Curents, Then & Now, Cultural Impact, Critical Thinking, Key Terms: pp. 326-329
Week Eight
Chapter Ten: Early Civilizations of the Americas and Africa
11 Oct.: Mesoamerica (The Olmecs, Teotihuacan, Critical Thinking, Then & Now, Connections,
Mayan Culture, The Toltecs and Aztecs): pp. 338-349; Readings: Selected Mesoamerican Poems and Songs: pp. 364
13 Oct: The Cultures of Peru (The Moche, The Inca, Connections): pp. 349-353; Readings: Pablo
Neruda, from “The Heights of Machu Picchu”; Popol Vuh: pp. 365-368; North America (The Northwest Coast, The Southwest, Cross Currents, The Moundbuilders, The Buffalo Hunters): pp. 353-355
Week Nine
18 Oct.: Africa (The Physical Environment, Early African Cultures and Innovations, Early African
Political and Religious Culture, Regional Developments in Africa Before 1800, Africa and The Transatlantic Slave Trade, Cultural Impact, Key Terms): pp. 355-363; Reading: excerpt from The Epic of Son-Jara; excerpt from Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali: pp. 368-371
20 Oct.: Exam Exam #2: Early Civilizations in China, Japan, Africa, and the Americas
Week Ten
Chapter Eleven: The Early Middle Ages and the Romanesque
25 Oct.: Early Medieval Culture (The Merging of Christian and Celto-Germanic Traditions,
Charlemagne and the Carolingian Era, Monasticism, Cross Currents, Connections): pp. 372- 381; Readings: excerpt from Beowulf, excerpt from The Song of Roland: pp. 394-399
27 Oct.: Romanesque Culture (The Feudal Monarchs, Romanesque Architecture, Cross Currents,
Sculpture): pp. 381-387
Week Eleven
1 Nov.: Romanesque Culture (Decorative Arts, The Chivalric Tradition in Literature, Critical
Thinking, Then & Now, Music, Cultural Impact, Key Terms): pp. 387-393; Readings: Medieval Lyrics by William of Aquitaine, Beatrice of Dia, Arnaut Daniel, Bertran de Born: pp. 400-403
Chapter Twelve: The Gothic and Later Middle Ages
3 Nov.: The Gothic Era (Paris in the Later Middle Ages, Then & Now, Gothic Architecture, Connections), Gothic Architecture Outside France: pp. 404-418
Week Twelve
8 Nov.: Sculpture, Painting and Decorative Arts, Cross Currents: pp. 418-424
10 Nov.: Scholasticism, Connections, Literature, Critical Thinking, Music: pp. 424-430
Week Thirteen;
15 Nov.: Readings: St. Francis of Assisi, “The Canticle of the Creatures”; St. Thomas Aquinas, excerpt from the Summa Theologica; from Dante’s Divine Comedy: pp. 440-447
17 Nov.: Exam #3: The Early Middle Ages, the Romanesque, and the Gothic
Week Fourteen
22 Nov.: Medieval Calamities (The Black Death, The Hundred Years’ War); Toward the Renaissance
Naturalism in Art, Realism in Literature, Secular Song, Cultural Impact, Key Terms): pp. 430- 439 (4023 Research Papers due)
(Thanksgiving Break Begins Wednesday, 23 November)
Week Fifteen
29 Nov.: Readings: Boccaccio, excerpt from The Decameron: pp. 447-449; Christine de Pizan, excerpt from The Book of the City of Ladies: pp. 459-461
1 Dec: Reading: Chaucer, excerpt from The Canterbury Tales: pp. 449-459
Conclusion of Course
FINAL ASSESSMENT: Tuesday, 6 December 2011: A carefully reasoned self-assessment paper (explained fully in a separate handout during the final week of the semester) is prepared ahead of time, outside of class, typed , and turned in Dec.6 between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at Bea Wood 201.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
A.Tests. As the course outline indicates, there will be three exams during the semester. Each will cover material in the units indicated, using objective questions to measure the student’s knowledge of cultural material (50%) and a major essay topic to allow the student to show mastery of content and the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information (50 %). The final exam for the course will be an individual self-assessment by the student evaluating progress and development throughout the semester.
B. Daily Reading and other Assignments: For almost every class there will be pages to read, and for each of these readings there will be a brief activity to complete that will further prepare the student for class activities. (Assignment sheets will be handed out for each of the testing units throughout the semester.) Some readings will be accompanied by short reading quizzes, some by a brief, typewritten paragraph, and some by other activities. Reading quizzes cannot be taken early or made up, but other assignments may be turned in early for full credit or late for partial credit. Reading quiz grades count for 10% of the grade for 2023 students and 7% for 4023 students.
For the paragraph assignments, a thoughtful answer of about 100-200 words based on the reading is required. These are due on the date noted on the assignment sheet and will be stamped on that date in class. A portfolio of these assignments will be turned in periodically for evaluation. If assignments are not ready during the class for which they are assigned, they may be completed late (without being stamped) for partial credit. Late paragraphs may be added to the portfolio when submitted for evaluation. Portfolio grades count for 10% of the semester grade for 2023 students and 7% for 4023 students.
C. Attendance. A large part of the value of this class comes from regular attendance and participation in class activities. Since this class is values-based as well as information-based, the student should aim for more than simply mastering information. Much of the class activity will be geared toward alerting the student to the nature and extent of human values that accompany cultural achievement. Therefore, regular attendance is important and expected. A record of attendance at each class meeting will be kept. Although no specific penalty will be assigned for absences, excessive absences (more than six, excused or not) will definitely have a negative impact on the final semester grade and may be grounds for a student being dropped from the class. Students who arrive consistently late will receive a grade deduction caused by their consistent interruption of the class.
D. 4023 Requirements: Students in HUMN 4023 will prepare and submit a 10-page, typed research paper on a topic within the course’s medieval time frame and approved of by the professor (topic choices must be submitted in writing no later than Sept. 22). The paper must show independent research and give evidence of an ability to synthesize information. Modern Language Association (MLA) style should be used for documentation. These papers should be turned in by Nov. 22.
Students in HUMN 4023 will also present to the class an eight-to-ten-minute oral report on an agreed-upon topic following consultation with the professor. Topic choices should be submitted in writing to the professor no later than Sept. 20 (the professor will then assign a presentation date in consultation with the student). A written outline of the report and a bibliography of at least three sources, using MLA (Modern Language Association) style must be turned in to the professor on the day of the report.
E. Semester Grade:
2023: 3 tests@ 20% each (60%); portfolio (10%); quizzes (10%) final assessment (20%) 4023: 3 tests@ 17% each (51%); portfolio (7); quizzes (7%); oral presentation (8%); research paper (10%); final assessment (17%)
F. Office Hours/Meeting: (Office/contact information is to be found at the top of page one.) My office hours are 2-4:30 TR. If you cannot come to the office at any of these times, let’s try to make an appointment that fits your needs. E-mailing me is more reliable than telephone voice mail, but if you do leave a voice mail, be sure to give your name and a number where you can be reached.
HAVE A GOOD SEM