Fall 2021
FRSH 1200.02
© Bill Barrett 2021
Feedback (general opinions, problems, suggestions, etc.) on this hypersyllabus is encouraged! Bookmark this, but don't rely on printing it out. It is very likely that this page will be updated in the course of the semester.
Class description: The ideal of a Utopian society has long appealed to many people. Is Utopia really an impossible dream, or have we just not found what works yet? To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, is it that Utopia has “not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried”? We will consider the journeys of several American Utopian experiments, how they succeeded and where they failed, including the Amana Colonies, the Harmony Society, Fruitlands, and the one that still has living members, the Shakers. We will think about the possibility of a Utopian society, and what it really means in real life.
The Role of the Global Cornerstone Seminar in the Global Citizenship Program:
The Mission of Webster University: Webster University, a worldwide institution, ensures high quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence.
The Global Cornerstone Seminar is the first course in the Global Citizenship Program which includes a sequence of courses designed to cultivate broad knowledge and skills.
Goals for First Year Seminars:
Class attendance is very important this course. Your participation and attendance are a large part of your grade -- make sure both are exceptional. If you miss more than one class, your grade will be affected, unless is it health or quarantine related. Under normal circumstances, if you miss eight class sessions, you cannot pass the course. Written assignments and class presentations must be completed on schedule.
How you're graded: Your final grade is based on your performance throughout the semester. Your attendance and active participation count for 40%, but PLEASE do not come to class if you may be sick (keeping you safe is my top proirity, and there will be no attendance penalty if you talk to me; your class presentations count for 30%; your collaborative research project counts for 30%. Doing more than required can earn you extra credit; talk to me outside class if you're interested. This is what the grades mean...
REMINDER: Follow Health and Safety Guidelines!
What we're doing and when:
Week 1 (8/23 & 25). Let's talk about some of examples of "utopia" that might come to mind for you. More theoretically, what would utopia look like to you? What are some of the characteristics of a utopia that need to be considered? Authority structure, economy, work, personal relationships
In class assignment: Write a description of what would be utopia for you, even if it seems totally unrealistic. Post it in canvas right after class if you didn't do it during class. It's late if I don't have it by 7 pm on Wednesday.
"My Perfect Country" A BBC series. Estonia - A Digital Society. I will guide today's discussion, but you will lead the class in discussing future episodes, as indicated at each week.
The edisodes are listed here. Email me with your two choices and I will build out the assignments according to who asked first.
Every time we start the discussion in future classes, I will collect your (signed) questions and comments to give to the discussion leader as ideas for discussion if desired. Also, note that you will be writing about the series as a whole when we finish it, so taking good notes along the way is a smart strategy. From now on, be sure you listen to the episodes before the class when we will discuss them.
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style. Read "the little book" and put it into practice!
Week 2 (8/31 & 9/2). Thomas More, the author of Utopia: A Man For All Seasons But he wasn't all sweetness and light.
Thomas More: Utopia (the text).
A visual look at some of the ideas that made up Utopia.
How might The Rule of St. Benedict (the actual text is here) have given ideas to Thomas More for Utopia?
Consider especially chapters 3, 21-23, 25, 27, 31-37, (40 is fun), 55-57, 72-73.
[Funny aside: While chapter 40 does say "Everyone know that wine is not a drink for monks, but the brothers cannot be convinced of it," there is an old legend, not true, that chapter 61 says "If a pilgrim shall have been found contumacious during his sojourn in the monastery, then it shall be said to him, firmly, that he must depart. If he will not go, let two stout monks, in the name of God, explain the matter to him."]
My Perfect Country: Costa Rica - Green Energy (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 3 (9/9). (No class on Labor Day.) An (incomplete) consideration of some "Utopian" social movements.
Why so many utopias in the 19th century in America? What was in the water?
1 = Canterbury Shaker Village
2 = Enfield Shaker Museum
3 = Hancock Shaker Village
4 = Shaker Museum and Library
5 = North Union Shaker Village
6 = Mt. Lebanon Shaker Village
7 = Shaker Museum at South Union Kentucky
8 = Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
9 = Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village
10 = Watervliet Shaker Village - Shaker Heritage Society
(Simple Gifts by Elder Joseph Brackett of the Alfred Maine Shaker Community in Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring.)
My Perfect Country: Portugal - Drug Decriminalization (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 4 (9/14 & 16). The Shakers, continued.
A Shaker Easter: a student film about the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community today.
An exploration of Shaker furnishings.
and how to identify Shaker furniture
I Don't Want to Be Remembered as a Chair
My Perfect Country: Michigan, USA - Preventing Suicide (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 5 (9/21 & 23). An (incomplete) consideration of some "Utopian" social movements (continued)
Shaker Worship (a reenactment).
My Perfect Country: India - Sanitation for Women (My Perfect Country discussion led by)
Week 6 (9/28 & 30). An (incomplete) consideration of some "Utopian" social movements (continued)
An (incomplete) consideration of some "Utopian" social movements (continued)
My Perfect Country: Uganda - Legal Advice (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 7 (10/5 & 7). UPDATE Monday: Our librarian will meet us in our regular classroom.
Wednesday: An (incomplete) consideration of some "Utopian" social movements (continued).
My Perfect Country: UN Debate is part of the series, but we're not going to spend class time on it. Rather, Germany (My Perfect Country discussion led by Kelly Bowen)
Week 8 (10/12 & 14). Individual times to check in. Please come to my office, Sverdrup 246 (over the west lobby) at your time.
Monday: individual student meetings:
Week 9 (10/19 & 10/21).
An (incomplete) consideration of some "Utopian" social movements (continued)
READ FOR NEXT CLASS: "Transcendental Wild Oats" by Louisa May Alcott
My Perfect Country: Tunisia: 'State Feminism' (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 10 (10/26 & 28).
Fruitlands
"Heaven on Earth: A History of American Utopias" (excerpt) from BackStory
In Search of Utopia: Fruitlands Museum in Harvard
"Transcendental Wild Oats" by Louisa May Alcott
When Rapp the Harmonist embargo'd marriage
In his harmonious settlement (which flourishes
Strangely enough as yet without miscarriage,
Because it breeds no more mouths than it nourishes,
Without those sad expenses which disparage
What Nature naturally most encourages)—
Why call'd he 'Harmony' a state sans wedlock?
Now here I've got the preacher at a dead lock.
Because he either meant to sneer at harmony
Or marriage, by divorcing them thus oddly.
But whether reverend Rapp learn'd this in Germany
Or no, 't is said his sect is rich and godly,
Pious and pure, beyond what I can term any
Of ours, although they propagate more broadly.
My objection's to his title, not his ritual,
Although I wonder how it grew habitual.
(George Gordon, Lord Byron. Don Juan, Canto XV excerpt)
From Harmony to Revolution: Birth and Growth of Socialism (excerpts)
My Perfect Country: Bermuda - Solving Water Scarcity (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 11 (11/2 & 4). The Mission (1986) Screenplay by Robert Bolt, who also wrote the screenplay for A Man For All Seasons. See the Course Schedule tab in WorldClassroom.
Week 12 (11/9 & 11). About your presentations...
Oneida
photograph © Bill Barrett
The 'free-love utopia' that chased immortality
My Perfect Country: Shanghai: A Model for Teaching Maths (My Perfect Country discussion led by Josh Hansen)
Week 13 (11/16 & 18). Frank Capra's Lost Horizon (1937). The orginal titles and changed during WWII. See the Course Schedule tab in WorldClassroom.
My Perfect Country: Australia: Has it Cracked the Solution to Curb Smoking? (My Perfect Country discussion led by )
Week 14 (11/23 & 25) & 15 (11/30 & 12/2). Student presentations.
We will go in this (randomized) order:
Kelly L.
Kaiden
Katie
Jack
Julia
Josh H.
Joi
Kelly B.
Joshua W
You need to confirm with me ahead of time that the utopia you will present fits our criteria. Email me when you know what you want to do, or come and talk to me. For the assignment, use Adobe Spark, or Powerpoint, or Google Slides, or other presentation format of your choice. Tell the story of a Utopian community using a combination of approved articles from academic databases, and books if they are available. Be sure to include
Use text, images, video (if available), graphics, audio (if it makes sense) and anything else that tells the story while keeping the viewer engaged. Cite all your sources at the end. Your presentation should go 10-12 minutes. Practice ahead of time! |
My Perfect Country: Norway (My Perfect Country discussion led by , Wed. 11/25)
My Perfect Country: Japan: Gun Control (My Perfect Country discussion led by , Wed. 12/2)
My Perfect Country:Cuba (My Perfect Country discussion led by , Wed, 12/2)
We will not discuss Rwanda and Peru in class, but if you write comments, I will consider them for extra credit.
My Perfect Country:Rwanda
My Perfect Country: Peru - Cutting Poverty
Using the same utopia that you presented,write a brief paper (approximately 5 pages of text) recapping what you learned. Be sure to cite all your sources. Be sure any direct quotes are between quotation marks, and whether or not you are quoting directly, be sure to properly cite all references within the text to all informaiton you learned from your sources. You may use APA, MLA or Chicago styles. Spelling and grammar count! |
Week 16 (12/9). Final class, Wednesday 1:00-3:00. (to be confirmed) Note the schedule change from our usual time!
Considering the various Utopian experiments and societies we have looked at, decide what elements you would want to include in a society structured to make life better for its participants, perhaps so that it would be "easier to be good." Incorporate elements from the My Perfect Country podcasts as appropriate.
Elements to consider could include (not necessarily in this order)
Write your proposal as first an outline, then a short essay explaining why you made the choices you did. The essay part should be 3-5 pages in length, so you go into some detail about your choices. You may use visual elements as part of your project, but there is no expectation or requirement that you do so. We will discuss your various ideas for a utopia in class, so be prepared to explain and defend your choices.
Send it all by email, or post in WorldClassroom. (If you do choose to use visuals, be sure to include that part as well.)