In 1992, Rodney King asked his famous question, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Asking that question has been much easier than answering it. Through most of human history, in fact, societies have had to get along with diversity and the challenges that accompany it. Some of the greatest accomplishments in human history have resulted from the interaction of different cultures; the same can be said of some of the greatest disasters. Why did Paul of Tarsus, a Jew, reach out to the gentiles two thousand years ago? Why did Hitler, a gentile, ship Jews to gas chambers just fifty years ago? Is ethnic diversity a source of strength for a country, or of weakness? How are Americans, in an increasingly diverse world – and within an increasingly diverse country – to define themselves and deal with the complexities of other cultures and value systems? Or can they all simply be ignored?

This course attempts to address some of these issues (no one has ever accused its authors of not being ambitious). The central focus is on the question of how individuals and societies have defined their identity and how, given that identity, they have encountered and dealt with other societies holding different (and often clashing) values. It is a course, in short, about the roots of cultural identity and ethnic diversity. While any number of cultures might be chosen for examination to see how they have dealt with these issues, the course this semester will compare the experiences of five groups: the Hebrews of the Old Testament, the Aztecs of Mexico and the impact of Spain, the Muslims of the Near East, the development of Japan, and finally Jewish immigrants to the United States. The course offers no pre-arranged answer to Rodney King’s question, either politically correct or politically incorrect. But by looking at these different examples of cultural definition and interaction, it seeks to arrive at a clearer understanding of both why groups in some situations have been unable to get along and why, in others, they have.

PREREQUISITES: At least one course in the following areas: the fine arts, the humanities, or the social sciences; CORE 1300, Ethics.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

READINGS

The Bible
Miguel Leon-Portilla, ed., The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
Peter Duus, The Japanese Discovery of America
Mary Antin, The Promised Land

Further material will be available in the electronic reserve section of the McMurry library:

Bernal Diáz, The Conquest of New Spain, pp. 216-244
Enrique Hank Lopez, “Mexico”
The Koran: The Cow, Women, The Table
Amir Abdullah, “Manufacturing Kufr”
Rikihei Inoguchi and Tadashi Nakajima with Roger Pineau, The Divine Wind, Japan’s Kamikaze Force in World War II. pp. xiii-xvii, 186-196
Cathie Gandel, “At 5 Feet 10 Inches, I Was Too Tall for Tokyo”
James Sterngold, “Life in a Box: Japanese Question Fruits of Success”

ABSENCES AND GRADING

You won’t get much out of the course unless you come to class regularly and keep up with the reading assignments. Participation and discussion will be expected, both in the lecture and in the seminar portions of the course. Bear in mind that the 2005-2006 McMurry Catalog defines three or more absences as excessive, after which a student can be administratively dropped from a class without further ado.

The grade scale will be A: 90 to 100, B: 80 to 89, C: 70 to 79, D: 60 to 69, F: 59 and below. For plus and minus grades, the following schema will be used: B-: 80-82, B: 83-86, B+: 87-89; A-: 90-92, A: 93-100; etc. There will be no A+ grades and no plus or minus grades for an F.

Your final course grade will be weighted as follows:

17% for each unit examination, a combination of objective and essay questions (85% total)
15% for seminar attendance and participation (including POP QUIZZES if people come to class unprepared!)

The professors in this course expect students to do original work. Plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and will result in an automatic failure for the assignment in question and may result in dismissal from and failure of the course.

TEACHING TEAM

COURSE SCHEDULE
Spring 2006