2007-08 - Pitzer College

HISTORY
100nCH. The Mexico-United States Border. (See Chicano Studies 100NCH.) Spring,
M. Tinker-Salas (Pomona).
100UBK. Pan Africanism and Black Radical Traditions. (See Black Studies 100uBK.)
S. Lemelle (Pomona). [not offered 2007-08]
Amst 103. Introduction to American Culture. (See American Studies 103.) Spring,
R. Roberts and Staff.
111aBK. African American History to 1877. (See Black Studies 111aBK.) Fall,
R. Roberts (Scripps).
111bBK. African American History Since 1877. (See Black Studies 111bBK.)
R. Roberts (Scripps). [not offered 2007-08]
118. Teaching U.S. History: Practicum. This course will examine both the politics and
practice of United States history teaching. It will explore how the California State
standards for U.S. history came to be, and the sometimes problematic classroom relation
between history and “social studies.” In the first half of the course, students will attend
lectures and examine primary documents related to the U.S. rise to world power in the
period 1898-1917, which is one of the California standards. In the second half of the
course, students will prepare for and serve an intensive internship in a local public
school, including a classroom presentation that addresses the standard we’ve studied. A
prior college-level course in U.S. history, such as History 55 or 56 at Pitzer is desirable,
but not required. Fall, S. McConnell/M. Dymerski.
119. Medieval Thought. [Also Philosophy 119] In the medieval period (400-1450 C.E.),
people sought to balance Christian and classical Greek and Roman traditions, as well as
the intellectual and material worlds. This course explores that balance in questions of
God as a philosophical concept, the self, the nature of Christ as human or divine, and the
possibility of religious plurality. We will also examine the interplay of thought and
materiality through the phenomena of universities, the Black Death, and the Renaissance.
Spring, C. Johnson/B. Keeley.
130. Modern Germany. During Germany’s brief political life, the country has been
unified, divided, and then reunified again. It is a troubled past, one that includes-in less
than 50 years-two catastrophic world wars, Nazism, the Holocaust, and the division of
Germany into two separate political units. In surveying that troubled past, we will see
how “German” was constructed and remade to serve the needs of a nascent nationalism;
how, at the same time, the notion of modernity became a central organizing principle for
the new nation; how German modernity yielded cataclysmic results; and, finally, how
government and people coped with the burdens of memory and identity in the aftermath
of catastrophe. A. Wakefield. [not offered 2007-08]
131. Marx: A Transatlantic Seminar: In this course, we read Marx in the context of 19th
century Europe, from the quiet German towns of his youth to the blaring factories of
industrial Manchester. As we begin our classes in Claremont, another group of students
in England will embark on a Marx Seminar of their own. We will work with them,
reading the same texts, discussing them online, and developing projects together.
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