Modernushistoryonline.weebly.com Website Review

AMH 2042, MODERN AMERICAN HISTORY: “THE ART OF HISTORY” . Professor: Dr. Micah Oelze Email: Use the “Message” feature via Canvas Teaching As*istants: Ayinde Madzimoyo & Maureen Thompson TA office hours: Wednesdays, 1:30-4:30pm, GL 150          Modern American Civilization. A weird name for a course on history. If by civilized we mean that everyone in “Modern America” eats with silverware and avoids hate-speech, then we should probably end the course title with a question mark. ¿American             But civilization is also a scholarly term for culture that has been made material. Ideas are soldered into steel (architecture), flavors put in a pot (cooking), sounds structured to tell a story (music), and fictions teach us about our own politics and possibilities (literature).             So “Modern American Civilization” is actually an attempt to tell the history of the last 150 years through the arts. This means at least two things. First, you will have to solo could denounce it? Probably not. But learning to read the arts will change that. So our    FIRST OBJECTIVE in this clas* is to learn how to read new types of communication, most especially paintings, jazz music, and installation art.             Then we will ask how art has influenced society and vice versa. Our SECOND OBJECTIVE is to figure out—in rough terms—what the relationship is between ideas and this cultural production. In other words, we need a vocabulary that enables us to talk about art’s role in society and in politics. Trust me, it gets real political real fast.             Finally, we need to learn how to speak about these things like scholars. By the time you finish this semester with me, I want you to have the tools necessary to speak, read, and write like a scholar. That is our THIRD OBJECTIVE. Doing so will ensure you perform well in other courses throughout your college career and it will allow you to become a thought leader and credible speaker in