WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION
Thursday
8/23 |
Introduction: One Story |
Consider: | Film as Argument
Story Image |
WEEK 2: Memory
Tuesday
8/28 |
Survivors – Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl Sections from Part One
|
Thursday
8/30 |
Contemporary Interpretations – Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl Sections from Part Two |
Consider: | What stories does Franklin Delano Roosevelt tell? What actions do New Dealers take in the Dust Bowl? What do the survivors remember? Should the government have saved the farmers? |
WEEK 3: The Danger of Stories
Tuesday
9/4 |
Post Structuralism and the Demand for Narrative
Reading: William Cronon, “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative” Quiz: Cronon |
Thursday
9/6 |
Cronon Walkthrough |
WEEK 4: The Land
Tuesday
9/11 |
Discussion: Webb
Reading: Walter Prescott Webb, The Great Plains, Chapters 2 and 5 We will focus on Webb’s argument and how he makes it. It’s as much about it is constructed as it is the argument itself. Be prepared to discuss each of these. Try to see your graf summaries in outline form. Due Sunday 9/10 at 5:00 pm: Graf Summaries of Webb 2,5 |
Thursday
9/13 |
Discussion Webb
Today we will begin a larger conversation about the Great Plains on the eve of the Dust Bowl. From what you’ve seen in Lorentz and Burns and from you’ve read in Cronon and Webb and from our brief descriptions try to think through how you might describe the plains and its people at various times in its history. If you want more description and detail of the pre-agriculture era, chapters 3 and 4 of Webb are as excellent as the rest of the book. His descriptions of the plains Indians and the cattle era represent the very best scholarship on the subjects in 1930. Of particular importance to Webb are the physical characteristics of the plains. Indeed, they are the crux of much of his argument – and to the arguments surrounding agriculture on the plains – its important to understand this chapter. Equally as important, if occasionally more subtle are Webb’s arguments in Chapter Five. Be prepared to discuss them. |
WEEK 5: The People
Tuesday
9/18 |
Discussion Webb
We will follow the same format this week as in week 4. Reading: Webb, Chapters 7-9 Due Sunday 9/17 at 5:00 p.m. Paragraph Summaries of Webb 7-9 |
Thursday
9/20 |
Discussion: The Big Picture
Midterm I We will add one more consideration to our discussion this week – constructing the Big Picture. Let’s keep Cronon in mind, but also to have our own opinions about this book. It’s an important work of history and the most important book on the region where the Dust Bowl took place. Ponder on this book. |
WEEK 6: Understanding the way that people understand the world
Tuesday
9/25 |
Discussion
Frederick Jackson Turner and the Importance of History. What was the Turner Thesis? What question was it trying to answer? Why would Americans find it so convincing? Where does agrarian fundamentalism fit into his argument? How have New Dealers interpreted Turner? How do particular programs or suggestions reflect a commitment to Turnerian logic? Be prepared to point to particular passages from the readings in our discussion. Due Sunday at 5:00 p.m. A one paragraph summary of Turner’s argument, Tugwell’s argument, Lorenz’s argument, Kesselman’s argument, chapter summaries of the Great Plains Committee report, and a paragraph on how you might use Jinks and Cody Canada and the Departed songs. No Quiz Reading: Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” Tugwell, “No More Frontiers” I Tugwell, “No More Frontiers” II Lorentz, The Plow that Broke the Plains Great Plains Committee, The Future of the Great Plains This is a very, very long piece. |
Thursday
9/27 |
Discussion:
We will continue our discussion by, as a class, writing an outline for a mini research paper that argues that New Dealers were heavily influenced by the ideas of Frederick Jackson Turner. |
WEEK 7: Failure
Tuesday
10/2 |
Discussion – Worster, Chapters 1-5
Due by Midnight Monday 10/3: Mini Research Paper 1 Reading: Worster, 3-97 Due: in Class: Graf Summaries, Worster, 3-97 This is a book that makes a forceful argument. Worster is perfectly okay with those who disagree with him. Do you? Why? Be prepared to demonstrate how and why you might. Do you agree with him? Why? Be prepared to demonstrate how and why you might? Be prepared to ask questions of your classmates.
|
Thursday
10/4 |
Discussion:
Due: In class: Graf Summaries, Worster, 99-243 We will continue our discussion of Worster, but in this class, with a special emphasis on how he builds his argument by using a theory as his structural frame. |
WEEK 8: The World Looks In
Tuesday
10/16 |
Discussion
Quiz: Readings Reading: Hogue, “Mother Earth Laid Bare” |
Thursday
10/18 |
Discussion: We will continue our discussion by, as a class, by considering what sort of research question we might ask of these resources and how we might incorporate previous readings into a short research paper. |
WEEK 9: Living through the Nightmare
Tuesday
10/23 |
Discussion
Due: by Midnight Monday 10/22: Mini Research Paper 2 Due: Short chapter summaries of Babb Reading: Babb, Whose Names are Unknown We will base our discussion on student-submitted discussion questions. Levi will lead this discussion. |
Thursday
10/25 |
Discussion: We will expand our discussion to include how we as scholars treat and use works of fiction. |
WEEK 10: The Wrath of God
Tuesday
10/30 |
Discussion
Midterm 2 (will include questions from this week’s readings) Reading: |
Thursday
11/1 |
We will continue our discussion of religion and the Dust Bowl. We will add into our conversation ideas about the construction of a third or even fourth research paper. |
WEEK 11: Grab a Root and Growl
Tuesday
11/6 |
Discussion – Student generated questions
Quiz: Readings Reading: Davenport, “Land Where Our Children Die” McCarty, “A Tribute to Our Sandstorms” Bishop, “When a Country is Down” |
Thursday
11/8 |
Discussion – We will discuss how we might craft various research papers from our last set of primary readings. |
WEEK 12: New Stories
Tuesday
11/13 |
Discussion
Due: by Midnight Monday 11/12: Mini Research Paper 3 Due: Chapter Summaries for the first 16 chapters of Egan (one paragraph summaries of each chapter). Also mark any possible information that you might use in your own research Reading: Egan Chapters 1-16
|
Thursday
11/15 |
Reading: Egan Chapters 17-25
Due: Chapter Summaries for Egan last nine chapters |
WEEK 13: What to do with the Plains?
Tuesday
11/20 |
Discussion – The Future of the Southern Plains
Quiz ReadingsReading: Morris, “When Corporations Rule the Llano Estacado”
|
Thursday
11/22 |
Happy Thanksgiving |
WEEK 14: Climate Crises
Tuesday
11/27 |
California Wildfires
TED Talk – Why Wildfires are Getting Worse
|
Thursday
11/29 |
Desertification
Hazards and Humans in the Gobi Resettling China’s Ecological Migrants Conserving Mongolia’s Grasslands |
WEEK 15: Climate Crises
Tuesday
12/4 |
Florida’s Red Tide
Images (wait a moment for it to load) Environmentalists’ Unlikely Republican Ally in Florida |
Thursday
12/6 |
Student Group 4 |