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Student Learning Outcomes -

• Explain how the art and architecture of Teotihuacan functioned to record cosmological narratives.
• Explain how the ideas and values of classical Greek culture are manifested in the artistic creations of the time.

Description -

An interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the history of human culture and ideas. Major areas covered include Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, China's Han and Tang Dynasties, India's Indus Valley Civilization, the Olmec Civilization of Meso-America, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, as well as the Flowering of World Religions. As an honors course, this is a full seminar with advanced teaching methods focusing on major writing, reading and research assignments, student class presentations, group discussions and interactions.

Course Objectives -

1. engage in critical, creative, and independent thinking.
2. stimulate curiosity about intellectual and artistic life.
3. broaden perspectives on the diversity and dilemmas of human experience and knowledge.
4. apply critical approaches to the analysis of various modes of cultural production in relation to the political, economic, social, and religious context of the time.
5. explain the relationship between art, social organization and political institutions in both Western and non-Western contexts.
6. use diverse historical periods and cultural traditions as a framework for a more complex understanding of the contemporary world.
7. analyze cultural production as both instruments of social control and ideological change.
8. develop the habit of learning and responding to new ideas and challenges.
9. think through moral and ethical problems and to examine one's own assumptions.
10. improve both oral and written communication, especially through critical reading and analysis.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment -

1. When taught as an online section, students and faculty need ongoing and continuous Internet and email access.

 

Course Content (Body of knowledge) -

1. The Peopling of the World
1. Africa: Origins of Mankind
2. Paleolithic Art
3. Neolithic Revolution
2. Early River Valley Civilizations
1. Mesopotamia
2. Egypt
3. Mesoamerica
1. Mexico
2. Peru
4. The Greek World
1. Early Greece
2. Classical Greece
3. Hellenistic Period
5. The Roman Empire
1. Etruscans
2. Republican and Imperial Rome
6. Ancient Civilization of India and China
1. The Gupta Empire
2. The Han and Tang Dynasties
7. The Flowering of World Religion
1. Judaism
2. Christianity
3. Islam
4. Hinduism
5. Buddhism

Methods of Evaluation -

1. Systematic and continuous participation in the course.
2. Three or more one-page response papers.
3. Development of research project related to the ancient world.
4. Demonstration of critical, analytical research and writing skills.
5. Final examination.

Representative Text(s) -

Disciplines -

Method of Instruction -

1. Lecture
2. Discussion
3. Cooperative learning exercises
4. Oral presentations

Lab Content -

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing and Outside of Class Assignments -

1. Philosophical and literary critical readings (15-50 pages) designed to familiarize students with ongoing debates and perspectives related to the intersection of religion, culture and politics.
2. Bi-weekly 1-3 page essays requiring summary, interpretation, analysis, and synthesis of both original and secondary texts.