History and Society Division Spring 2009 Semester

History and Society Foundation Course
HSF1300 HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD (Spring Semester) (Foundation Liberal Arts) Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world?

Spring 2009 H&S Foundation-related Performances, Screenings and Events

A Conversation with Filmmaker Socheata Poeuv on the Cambodian Genocide
April 9, 2009
Olin Auditorium 5:00 - 6:30 pm

In 2004, Socheata Poeuv started interviewing her family on videotape about their story of survival. What has evolved from her own personal journey is the creation of New Year Baby, a documentary film that helped her family heal. New Year Baby has won several awards, including Amnesty International’s “Movies That Matter” Award. A graduate from Smith College, Socheata is the co-founder of Broken English Productions and the founder and CEO of Khmer Legacies: Capturing Stories of the Cambodian Genocide.

BFRF Faculty Research "Chat"
Part of a Series of Informal Research Luncheon Presentations for Babson Faculty and Staff

Stephen Deets - History and Society
February 19, 2009

"The Institutions and Unfulfilled Vision of the Sami"
This research is part of a book project: Imagining National Autonomy: Emerging Models in the New Europe. This chapter uses the three Sami Parliaments in Scandinavia to examine the problems and prospects of non-territorial autonomy operating both inside states and across state boundaries. Despite significant differences in power, the Sami Parliaments do exercise considerable control over their culture, but their powers over education and land rights are limited. Still, the international networks between the parliaments and with other international institutions illustrate how governance of trans-boundary nations could operate.

BFRF Faculty Research "Chat"
Part of a series of informal Research Luncheon Presentaitons for Babson Faculty and StaffJames Hoopes - History and Society
January 27, 2009

"Hail to the CEO: the Failure of George W. Bush and the Cult of Moral Leadership"
An unethical and undemocratic cult of business leadership seems to hold sway over the minds of President George W. Bush and many other leaders in our society. This cult claims that leadership is attained and exercised through morality. But by instilling false pride and moral egotism in executives, the leadership cult intensifies the tendency of power to corrupt. The notion of leaders as moral exemplars began in business schools and is increasingly influential in the rest of society. Bush, a veteran of corporate life, is our first president tho hold the degree Master of Business Administration. As a result of his business education and business experience, he has carried the leadership cult into the White House--with disastrous results. Hoopes explains that his failures--from faith-based initiatives to the unconstitutional war on terror--relfect not just on him but on the business culture that created him. Hail to the CEO offers a new model of leadership in which moral influence is earned, not used, by managing as competently and justly as possible.

History and Society Division Fall 2008 Semester

History and Society Foundation Course
CRISES IN COMMUNITY AND CITIZENSHIP(Fall Semester) (Foundation Liberal Arts) In this History and Society foundation course, students will explore the challenges that individuals face as they struggle to exercise personal agency in the face of social, cultural, political, economic, and historical structures. Focusing on the tensions between and within communities, as well as those that are internal to the individual, this course asks a series of related questions: How is identity socially constructed? How do individuals negotiate belonging in communities defined by nation, region, race, religious affiliation, class, ethnicity, gender or sexuality? How do these identities affect one's ability to be recognized as a citizen of these communities? What strategies do individuals apply to reconcile the self with social expectations? What impact do these struggles have on the way community boundaries are redrawn over time? How do we resolve the multiple vectors of identity and the multiple sites of citizenship? To answer these questions, we will draw on the work of historians, documentarians, graphic artists, environmentalists, philosophers, journalists, cultural critics, and memoirists.

Fall 2008 H&S Foundation--related Performances, Screenings and Events

BFRF Faculty Research "Chat"
Part of a Series of Informal Research Luncheon Presentations for Babson Faculty and Staff

Jeffrey Melnick - History and Society
September 11, 2009

"Under Consruction: America's Cultures of 9/11"
Under Construction serves as a useful introduction to the complexities of American culture in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. With a broad purview that includes film, music, literary fiction and other popular arts, the volume is designed for anyone interested in probing how American cultural agents and audiences have processed the national trauma of 9/11. Under Construction constructs a number of common-sense approaches for the study of all of the works of popular and literary art. Offering balanced examinations of a catalogue of artifacts culled from across the cultural landscape--film, music, rumors, photos, memorials, comic strips, fiction, telethons, poetry--Melnick probes the multiple ways that 9/11 has exerted a shaping force on a wide range of social formations from the politics of masculinity to the poetics of redemption

History and Society Division Spring 2008 Semester

BFRF Faculty Research “Chat”
Part of a Series of Informal Luncheon Research Presentations for Faculty and Staff

Marjorie Feld - History and Society Division
February 12, 2008

Lillian Wald: Ethnic Progressive
A second-generation German Jewish American, Lillian Wald (1867-1940) won international acclaim for her pivotal role in the creation of a more pluralist society and the American social welfare state. This study challenges conventional views of Wald and of the Progressive reform movement. Her innovative work on behalf of immigrants and industrial laborers was rooted in Jewish cultural identity, yet it expressed a universal vision at odds with the ethnic particularism with which she is now identified. By recovering Wald’s neglected legacy, Ethnic Progressive contributes to historical – and contemporary – understanding of such major issues as feminism, Zionism, immigration, and ethnic identity.

Foundation Spring 2008 Semester
HSF1300 HUMAN AGENCY AND COMMUNITY IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
Over the past century human societies have changed at an unprecedented rate and with an unprecedented scope. These changes have been often traumatic, sometimes revolutionary and nearly always unpredictable. This course examines the impact of a number of different kinds of upheavals and transformations on individuals, communities and nations, as well as transnational formations. The course will focus on periods of dramatic change in different parts of the world. As we move from one historical and geographic context to another, we will address the following set of related questions. What are the different ways that individuals can "belong" to a society? How is social identity constructed and deconstructed? How do individuals exercise human agency in the face of institutional oppression? What are the possibilities for individual and communal healing from historical trauma? What is the relationship of memory to history? What does citizenship mean in a globalizing world?

Spring 2008 H&S Foundation-related Performances, Screenings and Events

Speakers:
Natasha Trethewey, Thompson Poetry Reading,
Wednesday February 13, 7:30 pm Sorenson Theater

John Edgar Wideman, "Borthers and Keepers: Freedom and Self-Determination in the Global Era,"
Wednesday, February 27, 5:00 pm, Sorenson Theater
Martin Luther King Jr., Legacy Day

Jonathan Shay,
Wednesday, April 23, time TBD, Olin College Auditorium

Webcast:
"The 2% Solution," live 1-hour webcast as part of the Teach-In on climate change" Focus The Nation
January 30, 8:00 pm

Films:
Ellen Frankenstein and Louise Brady "Carved from the Heart," viewing in class

Terry George "Hotel Rwanda"
Tuesday, April 8, time TBD, Sorenson Theater

Public Art:
Stanley Saitowitz Boston Holocaust Memorial

FOCUS THE NATION
Global Warming Solutions for America
http://www.focusthenation.org

GLOBAL WARMING TEACH-IN
GLOBAL WARMING TEACH-IN
This national event is taking place at over 1000 institutions in America to raise awareness of global climate change. Students and citizens alike will engage with political leaders and decisions makers about Global Warming Solutions.

Thursday January 21, 2008
11:00am - 2:00pm Activities/Displays in Reynolds and Trim
5:00pm - 6:00pm Keynote Address in Sorenson Theater

Keynote Speaker STEVEN STRONG
Steven strong is regard as the pre-eminent authority on integration of renewable energy systems in buildings in North America. Drawing on his background in Architecture and Engineering, he has earned a reputation for pioneering integration of renewable energy systems, especially solar electricity, with environmental responsive building design.

6:00pm - 7:30pm "Green" business presentations in Sorenson Theater