Courses Designed to Meet General Education Requirements World Cultural Studies

St. Lawrence University
The Cultural Encounters Program

Dr. Judith DeGroat

History 247: The Rise of the New Europe

Course Content and Requirements:
We will examine the changing meanings of the terms "Europe" and "European" by studying the people who have claimed those labels over the past two centuries. In particular we will look at the impact of non-European immigrants--often from countries dominated by European rulers--on the culture and society of Europe. We will ask several questions beyond basic definitions and their change over time: What are the definitions of citizenship in culturally diverse societies? How do those definitions influence policy? How do secular constitutional regimes make space for citizens from cultures defined by religious law? These and many other questions will emerge in our discussions throughout the semester.

As that last sentence notes, you will have a significant role in this course, which is structured as a seminar. There are weekly readings that will form the basis of our discussions. That reading and your participation in discussion are class requirements. Each week, you will submit a written summary of and questions on the readings. These will be graded and returned to you (10%). Each of you will be responsible for leading the discussion of one of the readings and then you will write a review (3-4 pages) of the selection (10%).

You will keep a journal that includes your reflections on class discussion and a log of current intra-European ethnic issues that you will collect from the library's periodical holdings. The latter source will be the basis of an in-class project. In this journal you will also begin to develop questions for a research trip abroad (20%).

You will conduct research on a community composed of old and new Europeans. The results of that research will be presented to the class in oral form and in a research paper of 8-10 pages (15%). Finally, there will be two in-class essay exams: at the mid-term and a cumulative final (15% each).

You will receive more information about all of these assignments throughout the course of the semester. Let me say here that the majority of your grade will derive from active participation in class (15%). Attendance is a class requirement; absences will have an adverse affect on your final grade. In order to participate, you must be in class. Also note that the value of each assignment is approximate. Your efforts, including revision, will be taken into consideration in the final grade. If you have questions about the course, the course material or the classroom activities, ASK.

Required Texts

• Bjorgo and White, Racist Violence in Europe
• Hobsbawm and Ranger, The Invention of Tradition
• Kramer, Unsettling Europe
• Ozdamar, Mother Tongue

In addition, a packet of selected essays will be available for purchase in the history department.

ASSIGNMENTS

Changes in the schedule of assignments are the prerogative of the instructor. It is your responsibility to remain aware of any changes that are announced in class.

Readings marked with an * are in the course packet.

I. Introduction: The Meanings of Cultural Identity

• Discussion of Syllabus
• Methodology of Course
• Assignment of Discussion Topic
• Discussion of Research Topics

II. Nationalisms

• Hobswanm and Ranger, Ch. 1-3
• Johnson, "The Making of the French Nation" *
• Fanon, "On National Culture" *
• Schmidt, "The Nation in German History" *

III. Movements within Europe

• Cross, "Immigrant Laborers" *
• Marrus, selections from The Politics of Assimilation*
• Wolf, from Europe and the People without History*

IV. Building Empire

• Chaudhuri, "Shawls, Jewelry, Curry and Rice in Victorian Britain"*
• Fraser, "Nineteenth Century West Indian Migration to Britain"*
• Hobswanm, Ch. 4-7
• Said, from Orientalism*

V. Designing Empire

• "Punch Projects"-an assessment of the changing representation of empire and the peoples of the emerging colonial empires from the British journal "Punch."

VI. MIDTERM

VII. World Wars and Decolonization

• Freeman, "Caribbean Migration to Britain and France" *
• Ignatieff, selections from Blood and Belonging*
• Tabili, "We ask for British Justice"*

VIII. Guest Workers

• Kramer, Unsettling Europe, entire.

IX. The Languages of Identity

• Ozdamar, Mother Tongue, entire
• Carpentier, Cesaire Paz-selected poems*
• Guest Lecture, Professor Stephen White

X. Resistance and Hate

• Bjorgo and White, Racist Violence, entire.
• Husbands, "National Front"*
• "My Beautiful Launderette" -film

XI. Assimilation or Segregation?

• Kramer, "Affaire de Foulards"
• Frank, "The Exodus of Turks from Bulgaria, 1989"*
• Ireland, "Facing the True Fortress Europe': Immigrant Politics in the EC"*

XII-XIII. Research Presentations, Summary, FINAL EXAM.