FYS 100: Italy through the Ages
Scott Erb, Roberts 302, ext. 7486, scotterb@maine.edu
Preceptor: Ashley Crosby, ashley.e.crosby@maine.edu (don’t forget the ‘e’!)
Class Meeting: EDU 112, 8:00 – 9:30, TuTh
Office Hours: MWF, 10:30 – 11:30, TuTh 10:00 – 11:00
What is this course?
This course is a first year seminar designed to introduce you to what college is all about. This includes academics, student services, campus life, and how to deal with the challenges of college life. As your instructor, I’m also here to be a resource, someone you can come to with problems, especially if you do not yet have a lot of contact with your advisor. I may not be able to help you with everything, but I should be able to point you where to go. Also, we go into issues that may seem silly – how to read, how to write, how to take notes. You may think you know how to do all this just fine, but college requires skills beyond those of high school. If you can get these early, you’ll do very well. Many people have their worst grades their first year as they learn both to cope with the new freedom of college life, the fact that professors ‘don’t hold their hands’ (warn the about assignments do or test day s – the only warning you might get is if it’s on the syllabus), and the challenge of college assignments. If you can get past this early, you’ll do better, have less stress, and be on an easier path to success. My goal is to help you get started.
One goal is to get you interested in academic thinking NOT from the stand point of “here are a bunch of facts you need to memorize, and things you have to do.” We won’t give you a list and say, “here’s what you have to do for an ‘A’, or for a ‘B.’ Instead, we want you to be actually interested in the questions, intrigued by the issues, and find yourself surprised by how interesting and puzzling the world actually is. We want you to feel that sense of liberation and joy at discovering aspects of life and this world that you didn’t even think about before. That is what draws us to teach and research; too often college courses get so focused on tests and assignments that joy gets lost. We do not want to allow that to happen here!
Preceptor?
Officially UMF does not allow teaching assistants. Yet we believe that for first year seminars its very valuable to have an upper level student to go to with questions as you work through the course. We are lucky to have Ashley Crosby on board. She is a creative writing major (with a political science minor), and has been on the Italy trip twice. She does a superlative job working with students on writing, and every student who has actually taken her up on her willingness to help has benefited, often dramatically! She’ll announce her office hours and location, and will be at most classes. Ashley is also an expert in gelato, a delicious Italian version of ice cream.
Course Description: The Italian scholar Ghambattista Vico argued that history goes through cycles, “corso e ricorso,” with the fall of the Roman Empire the end of one cycle, and the start of another. If one follows Vico’s logic, it appears we are at the end of another cycle, with the United States playing the role of Rome, nearing a collapse due to reasons which on their face are similar to those that led Rome to fall. Or, perhaps, the US is undergoing something similar to the move Rome took when it went from a Republic to an authoritarian Empire. This course will try to answer the question posed by the second book Are we Rome?
However, we will approach this question by first stepping back and asking Who Are We? We are Americans, but what does that mean? My argument will be that we are part of a culture known as the West, with its roots in Europe and, in fact, ancient Rome. So with the first book we’ll start a long path from ancient Rome to the present, focusing on Italian history, but moving outwards into Europe and ultimately the US. Only by first asking who we are can we make comparisons to Rome or other civilizations.
After that we turn to the second book, which takes a close look at Rome and its fall (bringing us back to Rome after traveling 2000 years in the first part of the course), augmented in class by consideration of recent events, ranging from the election of Barack Obama, the financial crisis threatening the West, and current events in world politics. This will be a wide open discussion which hopefully be engaging, entertaining, but perhaps also a bit frightening.
Course Requirements: This course has six basic requirements:
1. Course attendance and participation
2. Weekly academic journals for the first part of the class (7 due)
3. Short inclass writing assignments covering the day’s reading for the second book (not daily, but also not announced ahead of time)
4. A research paper addressing some aspect of “Italy through the Ages”
5. A presentation of your research
6. Short essay: Are We Rome?
Note: The ‘inclass writing’ during the second book is the same as a kind of quiz to assure people are doing the reading. Since you won’t be turning in journals for this book, class participation showing knowledge of the material will be valuable, and help your grade immensely.
The reason no journals are due during the second book is because time will be spent on drafts and rewrites of your research paper, so you in the end have a quality paper.
Academic Journal
Seven of these will be due for the first half of class, each Tuesday, reacting to the readings and class discussion/lecture. In general, each journal should deal with the classes of Tuesday and Thursday the week before, and the readings for Thursday the week before, and the Tuesday when the journal is due (since you will be reading Tuesday’s assignments before class). So the first journal, due the 27th, will react to class on the 20th and 22nd, and the reading due for both the 22nd and 27th. This pattern should be followed. This is informal writing, meaning you don’t have to be as focused on putting together a formal organization or rewriting – it can be reactions, at times a stream of consciousness. However, you should always aspire to good grammar, correct spelling, and text that is easy to follow and understand. During the first half of the semester we’ll discuss more the different types of writing. Important in these journals is that you react critically – you assess the material, give your own opinions, grounded in logic and information from class/readings. These journals should be four or five pages long.
Research paper and presentation:
You will choose one question about anything to do with Italy – from Montessori schools to gelato to politics to music to Roman times to philosophy to Christianity to art to the renaissance to Ferraris to Italian cuisine…well, you get it. You really have a LOT of leeway to investigate something you find interesting. Your paper will be 8 to 10 pages, with the following due dates:
Topic chosen: January 29 (you can change this later)
Bibliography of sources: February 5
Thesis question: February 12
Draft Introduction: February 26
Draft “so far”: March 12
First first draft: March 26
Final first draft: April 16
Final final draft: finals week (finally)
Exact dates and format of the presentation will be given in class, you won’t need to worry about that until later in the course. You will present information on the topic you are researching.
On-line lecture notes
Online notes can be found at: http://academic.umf.maine.edu/~erb/
Since this isn’t primarily a lecture course, and many topics we’ll discuss will go into their own direction, these notes will not be inclusive of everything covered in class. You are responsible for all information covered in class, this simply offers some help in going over complex issues.
Office Hours
The office hours are listed at the top of the syllabus. If they are inconvenient, feel free to contact me to set up an appointment. I will be checking my e-mail daily, and urge you to communicate via e-mail if you ever have a question or concern.
Day by day syllabus (* denotes academic journal due)
January 20 – Introduction: Vico’s theory
January 22 – The Glory of Rome, read Spezzatura, pp. 3 – 30
*January 27 – The heritage of Rome, Spezzatura, pp. 31 – 58
January 29 – The “dark ages,” Spezzatura, pp. 59 – 78
*February 3 – Rediscovering knowledge, Spezzatura, 79 – 111
February 5 – The Renaissance, P I, Spezzatura, 112 – 142
*February 10 – Art and Politics a new, Spezzatura, 163 – 181; 190 – 200
February 12 – Writing workshop with Ashley
*February 24 – Machiavelli, Spezzatura, pp. 182-89, and selected parts of The Prince on line
February 26 – Italian culture and cuisine, Spezzatura, pp. 201 – 231
*March 3 – Into the baroque: Opera and Science, Spezzatura, pp. 232 – 265
Opposition: The Fideists
March 5 -- Italian trailblazers, Spezzatura, 266 -280, 319 – 325
Northern Europe: Deists and the Age of Reason
*March 10 – Venezia; and Italian unification, Spezzatura, 281-290, 300 – 310
March 12 – Italy after the war: politics and education, Spezzatura 310 – 330
*March 17 – Mussolini and Italian fascism, Spezzatura, 331-352
March 19 – Italy Today (reading to be assigned)
March 24 – Are we Rome? Why the question? Murphy, 1 – 23
March 26 – The capitals, Murphy, 24 – 58
March 31 --- Power, Murphy, 59 – 90
April 2 – The State and Society, Murphy, 91 – 120
April 7 – Globalization, Murphy, 121 – 151
April 9 – Present and future, Murphy, 152 – 184
April 14 – Are we Rome, finish Murphy
April 16 – Wrap up (no reading – final first draft due)
April 28 – Presentations (Short essay due) Jess Leavitt, Brittany, Kim, Sarah
April 30 – Presentations, Lizz, Breann, Alanah, and Renate
May 5 – Presentations, Natalie, Rob, Jess Martin, Dani
May 7 – Presentations, Niki, Haley, Amanda
Research papers due finals week
Equal educational opportunity is offered to students with special needs due to disability. Please notify the instructor of a reasonable accommodation is needed to meet course requirements.