| Week
1 |
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| W Aug 22 |
Introduction to
course. |
| F Aug 24 |
Smedley, from Race in North America 53-62 (handout). Táin Bó Cuailgne, “Before the Táin” (1-25). Seminar
Participation Guidelines. Syllabus quiz.
Eternal Questions and
Seminar Participation acceptance due to blackboard (use the Discussion Board tool) by 5:00 p.m. Your message should (1) indicate that you
have read and accept the Seminar Participation Guidelines, and (2) include your list of two "eternal questions." |
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| Week
2 |
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W
Aug 29
|
Backgrounds on
Ancient Epics. Táin Bó Cuailgne, “Before the Táin” (25-50) and The Táin 50-114.
Focus
Questions: (1)
When the Tain begins, what are the two sides fighting over? (2)
What
motivates Cuchulainn, the hero of the Tain? What is he questing
for?
(3) Is Cuchulainn perhaps not the true hero of the Tain?
Does anyone else strike you as a more heroic representative of
ancient Irish culture?
|
| F Aug 31 |
Táin Bó Cuailgne
(114-168).
Focus Questions: (1) This
regards Fergus
and divided loyalties. What's the source of patriotism? Do you
feel more
loyalty to people who share your ideas, your religion, your culture,
your ethnic background, your neighborhood, or your nationality?
(2) Politics: Do we want leaders who are pragmatic and effective, or
idealists who remain true to ethical priniciples no matter the result
or lack thereof? Another way of posing this question is this:
what do you want your national leaders to privilege, the ends or the
means?
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| Week
3 |
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| W Sep 05 |
Táin Bó Cuailgne (168-205; 243-253). Reading Response due. For your reading pleasure (optional!): Lady Gregory's
translation of The Death
of Cuchulainn. |
F Sep 07
|
“India’s Heroic Age,” Intro to The Mahabharata & The Mahabharata I (CR 1-21). The background info on this handout may help you with your reading.
Focus
Questions: (1) Read the background and introductory material carefully; we'll be
reviewing key ideas to explore the importance of this epic to Indian
culture. (2) We'll be discussing this one for the next few
classes: How do this epic's attitudes toward war,
death, justice, honor, loyalty, and possessions compare to the cultural
values
reflected in The Táin? Note
significant similarities and
differences.
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| Week
4 |
|
| W Sep 12 |
Mahabharata
II (CR 21-27). Bhagavad Gita (5-83)
Focus questions:
- How is Draupadi
represented in this
epic? What is implied by the miraculous regrowth of her clothing
after the dice game?
- As we see in much
ancient literature, the Mahabharata tells a tale of a family that just
can't get along. What's the cause of this family's
strife? Are they fighting over "stuff" or something else?
- In the Bhagavad-Gita, what arguments does
Krishna use to persuade Arjuna of his duty to battle his cousins in the
great war?
- How does self-knowledge elevate
individuals, according to Krishna? See especially Teaching Four:
Knowledge.
- As Krishna instructs Arjuna on different
aspects of
life, religion, and faith, he presents several ideas on the essential
nature of Divinity. What are they?
|
| F Sep 14 |
Bhagavad Gita II (85-146). Intro paragraph due.
Focus question : The modern
Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi argued that nonviolence is the only
logical culmination of Krishna's doctrine of "desireless action."
Do you agree? Do you think the Gita reconciles its "be hostile to
no creature, Arjuna" (109) advice with Krishna's injunction for Arjuna
to fight in a war that will kill his kin? How?
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Su Sep 16
|
Barrett Movie Night at 6:00 p.m.: Sophocles' Oedipus the King
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| Week
5 |
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T
Sep 18
|
Email complete
draft of your
paper to your reviewers and submit to Blackboard by 5:00 p.m. The handouts "How to Write a Human Event Paper" and "Questions to Address as You Review/Review Guidelines" are available on our class blackboard under "Documents"
|
| W Sep 19 |
In-class writing workshop (bring
reviewed drafts and one or two copies of your complete essay)
|
F Sep21
|
Class content to be announced on Wed. Sept 19th |
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| Week
6 |
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| M
Sep 24 |
Paper
#1 due to my office by 3:00 p.m.; submission to blackboard due by
5:00 p.m. |
| W Sep 26 |
Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Focus questions:
- Identify the gender stereotypes circulated by various characters throughout the play.
- During the strike, both the men and women suffer, but the men suffer more. Is this fact consistent with the gender stereotypes you identified?
- Which metaphor does Lysistrata use when telling the Commissioner how she will use diplomacy to resolve the war? Does the metaphor refute the idea that Athenian women were unskilled and inexperienced in public concerns such as politics?
- Do you note significant thematic or cultural value similarities between Lysistrata and other texts we've read this semester?
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F Sep 28
|
Aristophanes, The Clouds |
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| Week
7 |
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| W Oct 03 |
Plato, Apology (CR 30-52). Focus Questions. |
| F Oct 05 |
Ssu-Ma
Ch'ien (CR 53-63)
Focus questions:
What is the nature of heroic
self-assertion in The
Prince of Wei and the story of Yü-jang (individualism,
self-sacrifice for
common good, etc.)?
On p. 60, Hou Ying says, "On the day when you are to reach Chin Pi's army, I will face north and cut my throat as my farewell to you, my prince." Explain the significance of this quotation.
On p. 54, Ssu -Ma Ch'ien
says, "a man does something for the sake of someone who
understands him." At the end of the story of Nieh Cheng he is willing
to die for someone who understands him. Why is this idea so important to
this culture?
Comparative cultural values:
- How do perceptions of death as illustrated by Ssu-ma Ch'ien's writings compare with the perceptions of death that Socrates held? From The Táin?
- When Ssu-Ma Ch'ien describes Li Ling's battle, what values of ancient Chineseculture does he reveal? How do these compare with the values we discussed with The Táin? What other values are revealed throughout Ssu-Ma Ch'ien's letter?
- In Ssu Ma Chi'en's "Letter in Reply to Jen An," he says, "I have learned that cultivating one's person is the treasurehouse of wisdom, that a love of offering things is the beginning of feeling for others, that taking and giving is the counterpart of a sense of right, that feeling shame determines courage, and that making one's name known is the ultimate end of action." How do Ssu Ma Chi'en views on wisdom, courage, good, and honor differ (if they do at all) from those of Socrates, Plato, and The Táin? Do you personally agree/disagree with any of these statements?
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| Week
8 |
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| W Oct 10 |
Confucius,
Analects: Introduction and Chapters 1-11. Handout on
Ancient China;
Reading Response due: Focus
questions and Response prompts
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| F Oct 12 |
Confucius, Analects: Chapters 12-20.
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