William Butler Yeats: "The Second Coming" (1921)

William Butler Yeats: "The Second Coming" (1921)

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand;
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Term 3: Week 2: Syllabus

Week 2

The Relationship between Nationalism and Capitalism, Loyalty, Patriotism

Monday, January 31

Class

-          Take thirty minutes and carefully discuss Nationalism and Capitalism

-          Examine focus questions #10 and #11

-          Review requirements of the Africa and Igbo presentations

Assignment

-          Work on Africa and Igbo presentations

Tuesday, February 1

Class

-          Take twenty minutes and discuss the concepts of loyalty and patriotism

-          Harkness on the difference between patriotism and nationalism

-          Continue work on research for focus questions #10 and #11.

Assignment

-    Work on research for focus questions #10 and #11

Wednesday, February 2

            Class

-          Group work on presentations on Africa and the Igbo

Assignment

-          Work on research for focus questions #10 and #11

Thursday, February 3

            Class

-          Watch clips on patriotism and loyalty

-          Take forty minutes to carefully consider the relationship between of Nationalism and Liberty

-          Take forty minutes to read and harnkess on Mazzini and Constant excerpts on Nationalism and Liberty with a look at focus question # 10  

Assignment

-          Read through chapter 6 of Things Fall Apart

Friday, February 4

            Class

-          Take twenty minutes to examine Gale Stokes review article on Nationalism and Capitalsim: http://www.jstor.org/stable/178866

-          Take twenty minutes to explore Procrustean Logic with a view toward understanding mistakes and mistaken understanding (think Okonkwo)

-          Take forty minutes to read and discuss chapters 5 and 6 of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

o   Discuss

-          Take twenty minutes to write on focus question #12

Assignment

-          Catch up on all unfinished reading; work on research for focus questions #10 and #11; Work on presentations on Africa and Igbo; Read Strayer: 

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Focus Questions

1.      What is a nation, and how is it distinct from a state?

2.      When did the idea of a “nation” develop?

3.      Why is the nation a “novel form of political community”?

4.      Why is Nationalism an “infinitely flexible and enormously powerful idea”?

5.      What is the value of instilling nationalist identities into citizens?

6.      Who belongs to a nation? Who can speak for a nation?

7.      Is Nationalism a Western idea?

8.      What was the cause of the Thirty Years Way, and how did it end?

9.      How might have the flexibility of Nationalism affected the Religious Wars of the 17^th Century?

10  How are Nationalism and Capitalism related?

11  Did Nationalism give rise to Capitalism or did Capitalism give rise to Nationalism?

12  What are examples of Procrustean Logic?

Term 3: Week 1: Syllabus

 

Week 1

Nationalism, Liberal Democracy, Constitutionalism, Free Market Economies, Hobbes, Locke, Public vs. Private Distinction

Monday, January 24

Class

-          Take twenty five minutes to carefully consider the concept of “Nationalism”

-          Read Ways of the World, 796-800

o   Write in your notebook an answer to focus question #1

§  Discuss

o   Write in your notebook an answer to focus question #2

§  Discuss

o   Write in your notebook an answer to focus question #3

§  Discuss

Assignment

-    Write a well crafted, one-to-two page essay, answering focus question #4

Tuesday, January 25

Class

-          Take twenty minutes and discuss answers to focus question #4

-          Read Ways of the World, 723-727

-          Write in your notebook an answer to focus question #8

o   Discuss

Assignment

-    Write a well crafted, one-to-two page essay, answering focus question #9

Wednesday, January 26

            Class

-          Group Discussion on focus questions #5, 6 and 7

Assignment

-          Read selections from handout on Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Thursday, January 27

            Class

-          Take forty minutes to carefully consider the concepts of Liberal Democracy and Constitutionalism

-          Take forty minutes to write a well-crafted essay that answers focus question #6

Assignment

-          Read Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on “Nationalism” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nationalism/

Friday, January 28

            Class

-          Take forty minutes to review the Stanford Encyclopedia article on “Nationalism”

-          Take forty minutes and begin reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (first two chapters)

o   Discuss

Assingment

-          Catch up on all unfinished reading

_____________________________________________________________________

Focus Questions

1.      What is a nation, and how is it distinct from a state?

2.      When did the idea of a “nation” develop?

3.      Why is the nation a “novel form of political community”?

4.      Why is Nationalism an “infinitely flexible and enormously powerful idea”?

5.      What is the value of instilling nationalist identities into citizens?

6.      Who belongs to a nation? Who can speak for a nation?

7.      Is Nationalism a Western idea?

8.      What was the cause of the Thirty Years Way, and how did it end?

9.      How might have the flexibility of Nationalism affected the Religious Wars of the 17^th Century?

10.  How are Nationalism and Capitalism related?

11.  Did Nationalism give rise to Capitalism or did Capitalism give rise to Nationalism?

Term 3: Conflict: Imperialism and World Wars

 Global Perspectives

Term 3

“Conflict”

Imperialism and World Wars

Texts: Ways of the World, Things Fall Apart and The Samurai’s Garden

Essential Questions for the term:

1. What is a civilized culture?
2. What are the responsibilities of global citizens and states?
3. Is it wrong to be critical of different cultures?
4. What does war produce?
5. What are the responsibilities that result from a modern conflict?
6. What are the causes and effects of genocide?
7. What obstacles impede the goal of universal human rights?
8. What is a nation? What is a state?
What are the dilemmas between individuals, state and nations?