HIST 252 - Violence in History: Achilles to ISIS

Credit(s): 3

VIOLENCE IN HISTORY
Open with glorification and uses of violence in antiquity before turning to more critical analyses of violence as a type of text that can and is intended to be read and understood. Issues that include the reliance of the state on violence as means to communicate authority and power as well as the church’s use of violence to maintain authority and uniformity of belief in the name of God will form a bridge to more modern events like colonialism and imperialism. Once it was clearly established as an instrument for conveying and enforcing civilization and superiority violence soon took on a more direct and varied role in the mission civilsatrice. The acts became ever more specific with destruction of cultural memory and the humiliation of the victims and their material culture increasingly common. In time, the oppressed came to rely on violence as a weapon to strike back at (and communicate with) their enemies. Indeed, these very exchanges make it clear how well the texts of violence were understood by both sides of the conflict. Finally, the terror and violence too familiar in our own day will form a final few weeks of reading and discussion to try to understand how violence is used today as a weapon by both the weak and the very strongest.
Repeatable for Credit: N Allowed Units: 3 Multiple Term Enrollment: N Grading Basis: Student Option
University Breadth: History and Cultural Change (HIST & CLT) College of Arts and Sciences Breadth: A&S GROUP B: History and Cultural Change Course Typically Offered: Spring

General Education Objectives: