CLAR 108  

World Views

Course Description:  An interdisciplinary, team-taught introduction to major issues in various world regions, with special attention to global diversity of experiences and perspectives.  Course content will vary from semester to semester, but some possible topics are human rights, the legacy of colonialism, indigenous peoples, comparative religions, women’s issues, and people and the environment.

(Common Syllabus)

READINGS


The New Comparative World Atlas (Maplewood, NJ: Hammond, 1998; ISBN 0-8437-7100-3).
Edward Kissam and Michael Schmidt, eds. Poems of the Aztec Peoples. Bilingual Press, 1993.
Rigoberta Menchu, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. London: Verso, 1984.
Pablo Neruda, "The Heights of Macchu Picchu," from Pablo Neruda: A Basic Anthology. Oxford: Dolphin Press, 1975.
Octavio Paz, "The Day of the Dead," from The Labyrinth of Solitude. New York: Grove Press, 1981.

UNIT 1. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA.

Week 1. General Introduction to Indigenous Cultures in Central and South America;

Religion and Folklore.

The focus will be on the importance of traditional religion in the lives of indigenous peoples and how these religious beliefs are embedded in modern life.

                                    Topics and Readings:

Aztec and Mayan Religion, Past and Present--Octavio Paz, "The Day of the Dead"
Inca Religion, Past and Present --Pablo Neruda, "The Heights of Macchu Picchu"
Video: The Fall of the Maya (28 minutes), a presentation of Mayan traditions revealed through excavations deep in the Honduran jungle and through modern translations of Mayan hieroglyphic writings.

Week 2. Literature and the Arts

Video: Splendors of Mexico (28 minutes), a magnificent museum exhibition spanning 33 centuries of Mexican art, from 1300 BC onward. The featured artworks are grouped into four periods: Pre-Columbian (Olmec, Aztec, and Maya), Viceregal, 19th Century, and 20th Century.

                                    Topics and Readings:

Mayan, Aztec, and Incan poetry --Selected poems from Poems of the Aztec Peoples
Selected Mayan and Inca poems
Contemporary interpretations of indigenous music
Mayan, Aztec, and Inca art and architecture

Week 3. Social and Political Systems

Video: Legacy of the Incas (43 minutes), a historical analysis that charts the growth and political struggles of the Inca Empire through footage of impressive Inca sites.

                                    Topics and Readings:

The Aztec Empire under Montezuma
The Inca Empire and socialism
Contemporary interpretations of traditional social systems--Chapters from I, Rigoberta Menchu
Evaluating student learning: 2 quizzes, 4-page comparative essay

UNIT 2. UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN A CULTURALLY DIVERSE WORLD
                                                            READINGS:

Arthur, John, ed. Morality and Moral Controversies. Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996.
May, Larry, and Shari Collins Sharratt, eds. Applied Ethics: A Multicultural Approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, 1994.
Video: Pratibha Parmar and Alice Walker, Warrior Marks (1993; 54 minutes)


Week 1.

I. Are there any rights which all humans can claim regardless of the laws and customs of their society?

(a) Philosophical Background: The problem of relativism and the idea of universal human rights. What is a right? What is the difference between a civil right and a human rights? What is the difference between positive rights and negative rights? Do only individuals have rights or do groups have rights as well?

--Reading: Ronald Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, May and Sharratt 26-34

(b) Examining various conceptions of human rights by a comparative study of current and classic rights-bearing texts.

                                          Readings:

United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
The U. S. Declaration of Independence
The U. S. Constitution, Amendments 1-10 & 14
The Seneca Falls Declaration
Excerpts from selected national constitutions.

Week 2.

II. Does any group have the authority to interfere with the customs and practices of another in the name of human rights?
(Are human rights a Western and patriarchal concept?)

                                           Readings:

Claude Ake, "The African Context for Human Rights," May and Sharratt 35-40
Charlotte Bunch, "Women's Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-Vision of Human Rights," May and Sharratt 41-50
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, "Islam, Islamic Law and the Dilemma of Cultural Legitimacy for Universal Human Rights," May and Sharratt 51+
Xiaorong Li, "'Asian Values' and the Universality of Human Rights," Philosophy and Public Policy 16.2 (Spring 1996): 18+.

                            CASE STUDIES:

(a) Female Genital Mutilation. In many African societies young women are obliged to undergo this painful and dangerous ritual. In 1979 the World Health Organization unanimously condemned the practice on medical and humane grounds. It was outlawed in the U. S. in 1993.

--Video: Warrior Marks

--Reading: Editors, Harvard Law Review, "What's Culture Got

to Do with It? Excising the Harmful Tradition of

Female Circumcision," Arthur 108-115

Week 3.

(b) Population Policy. The need to control population, particularly in the underdeveloped world, has led to many questions concerning the authority of local custom. Should custom and tradition be compromised for the sake of effective population control? Are there reproductive rights claimed by individuals against societies, such as China, which uses coercive techniques to limit family size, or formerly Communist Romania, which forbade birth control in an effort to boost population.

                                       Readings:

Xiaorong Li, "Two Concepts of Reproductive Rights," Philosophy and Public Policy 13.4 (Fall 1993): 22-23.
Judith Lichtenberg, "Population Policy and the Clash of Cultures," Philosophy and Public Policy 13.4 (Fall 1993): 23-27.
 

(c) Cruel and Inhuman Punishments. Both the US Constitution and the UN Declaration uphold a right to be free from cruel and inhuman punishment. How is such a right to be defined? Some societies punish by amputation and caning, which are considered cruel and unusual here. Yet the US has been widely condemned for its use of the death penalty, especially in the case of children and mentally deficient offenders. This gives us a case in which the US has been found wanting in terms of universal human rights.

                                        Readings:

Gregg vs. Georgia
Amnesty International Report 1997 (excerpts)

 Evaluations: Each student is required to write one 5-page paper on questions I and II with reference to cases in III. a, b, and c. Drafts of essay sections on questions I and II are due at two points during the unit as indicated above. Final drafts are due on the first Monday after completing the unit.

UNIT 3. STATUS OF WOMEN READINGS

Selected essays from Jill Ker Conway and Susan Bourque, eds.
The Politics of Women's Education: Perspectives from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1995. ISBN 0-472-08328-7.
Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John (1986; Antigua; 148 pp.)
Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions (1988; Zimbabwe; 204 pp.)

Videos:
Shirini Heerah and Enrique Beerios, Beyond Beijing (1996; 42 minutes; various issues regarding the 1995 UN 4th World Conference on Women. Has a discussion guide/action kit).
Safi Faye, Selbe: One Among Many (1983; 30 minutes; Senegal).
 
Week 1.

1. Brief introduction to major issues facing women around
the world (education, work, family, population
control, war, commodification of women's bodies,
postcolonial tensions). Video, Beyond Beijing.

2. Reading: Jill Ker Conway, "Rethinking the Impact of
Women's Education," Conway and Bourque, 245-258.

Lecture/discussion on postcolonialism and feminism.

Week 2.

1. Reading: Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John. Issues of girls'
formal education in postcolonial cultures.

2. Family relationships in the novel, including issues of
patriarchy and the conflict of traditional and
colonial cultures. Reading: Dorothy L. Njeuma, "An
Overview of Women's Education in Africa," Conway and

Bourque, 123-131.

Week 3.

1. Reading: Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions; Fay
Chung, "Educational Expansion, Cost Considerations,
and Curriculum Development in Zimbabwe," Conway and
Bourque, 149-167.

Video: Selbe: One Among Many (30 minutes), a view of a
woman's daily life in rural Senegal, focusing on
women's social roles and economic responsibilities.
Discussion of girls' formal education in Zimbabwe as
portrayed in the novel.

2. Lecture/discussion of Nervous Conditions mirroring
themes discussed in 2.2.
Summary of the unit and forecasts for the status of
women in postcolonial societies.

UNIT 4. NORTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS CULTURE READINGS:

Joseph Bruchac. The Good Message of Handsome Lake. Unicorn Press, 1979. ISBN 0-87775-113-7.
Melvin Harris, Culture, People, Nature, 7th edition. Longman, 1997. (Chapter 7, pp. 87-103)

This unit will provide a general historical overview of North American Indians with an anthropological and sociological focus. By the end of this unit, the student will be familiar with traditional Native American cultural practices. The student will also have analyzed contemporary issues and barriers that exist for Native American peoples in North America and will have attempted to understand their viewpoint by developing a "plan" which incorporates culturally appropriate strategies for survival in the 21st century.

Week 1.

Introduction. This section will begin with an overview of the four major societal types, with emphasis on the hunting and gathering societies and horticultural societies. A general survey of different cultural/language groups of North America will be provided.

Religion. This section will highlight Native American traditional religious systems in North America, with a specific focus on the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee.

--Reading: Bruchac, The Good Message of Handsome Lake, pages 1-61 (entire text)

Week 2.

Culture. Kinship structures and the family as an institution in traditional societies will be examined, and the meaning and nature of culture will be discussed. This week will focus on cultural change and assimilation.

--Reading: Harris, Culture, People, Nature, ch. 7 (87-103)

Week 3.

Native American Issues Today. This section will wrap up the unit with a discussion of contemporary social, political, and economic issues confronting Native Americans, including issues of sovereignty, land rights, and economic development.

UNIT 5. POPULATION, RESOURCES, AND THE ENVIRONMENT READINGS:

Douglas Ian Stewart, After the Trees: Living on the Transamazon Highway. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1994. ISBN 0-292-77680-2.
Lester R. Brown, "Global Resource Scarcity Is a Serious Problem," and Julian L. Simon, "Global Resource Scarcity Is Not a Serious Problem," in Global Resources: Opposing Viewpoints, San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1991. ISBN 0-89908-152-5.
Charles C. Mann, "How Many Is Too Many?" Atlantic Monthly Feb. 1993: 47-50, 52-53, 56, 59, 62-64, 66-67.
William K. Stevens, "Threat of Encroaching Deserts May Be More Myth than Fact." New York Times 18 Jan. 1994: C1, C10.

Videos: Preserving the Rain Forest (24 minutes). Focus on Brazil and the Ivory Coast. Films for the Humanities & Sciences.
Life in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (28 minutes). Focus on India's Thar Desert. Films for the Humanities & Sciences.

Week 1.

1. Introduction: the Culture-Environment tradition
--human dependence on, adaptation to, and modification
of the environment (physical to cultural landscapes)
--the significance of wilderness and attitudes toward it
(e. g., the Bible and Frederick Jackson Turner's "thesis")
--human impacts on environment over space and time
(a) hunting and gathering societies
(b) settled agriculture and pastoralism
(c) industrial societies
--environmental perception and changing concepts of
nature
(a) hunters-gatherers (animism, totems, and the
harmony between society and nature)
(b) agriculture and the separation of nature and
society
(c) modernity and anthropocentrism (solving problems
for humans)
(d) contemporary globalizing society and the (hoped-
for) transition from anthropocentrism to
ecocentrism (environmental policy that considers
the interests of both nature and humans)

READINGS:

-Brown, "Global Resource Scarcity Is a Serious Problem"
-Simon, "Global Resource Scarcity Is Not a Serious Problem"
-Stewart, After the Trees (selection)

Week 2.

1. Population growth and environmental change --overcrowded or underpopulated? (opposing views on population growth and its impact on the environment: the "Cassandras" vs. the "Pollyannas") --examples of current government policies vis-à-vis population (India and China)

READINGS:

-Mann, "How Many Is Too Many?"
-Stewart, After the Trees (selection)


                    2. Contemporary examples of resource utilization and environmental change* --Tropical deforestation in South                       America ("torching the Amazon"): immediate and root causes, consequences, solutions

READINGS:

-Stewart, After the Trees (selection)
Video: Preserving the Rain Forest

Week 3:

1. Desertification in Africa (the "spreading barrens"):
where, why, and alternatives

2. Summary and Conclusions
--projected population growth and an environmentally
sustainable future (changes in human institutions, the
development of new technologies, and changes in
environmental perception)

READINGS:

-Stewart, After the Trees (selection)
-Stevens, "Threat of Encroaching Deserts May Be More Myth
than Fact"

Video: Life in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands

* Topics (and regions) can be changed from semester to semester (for example, soil erosion in Africa, air/water pollution in Central America, climate change and its ramifications in developing regions of the world, etc.).

 

UNIT 6. RELIGIOUS WORLD VIEWS READINGS:

Mircea Eliade, From Primitives to Zen. NY: Harper & Row, 1977.
Frederick J. Streng, et al., eds. Ways of Being Religious:
Readings for a New Approach to Religion. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
Huston Smith, The World's Religions. HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.

Week 1. Creation of Community Through Myth and Ritual: Native American and African Cultures

This worldview is characterized by the idea that there is a Divine Act, perhaps at the beginning of time or at a special moment of fulfillment in history or both, which is understood to be both the source and the inner reality of all things. The believer seeks to conform to that act. One finds in this tradition stories that recount it, symbols that embody it, and rituals to enact it. One orders one's life, worship, sacrifices, and celebrations according to the pattern of the divine (Streng 99).

Video: Hopi Myths of Creation, Fourth World

                                                                Topics and Readings:

Ruth Benedict, "Periodic Worship of the Zuni," Streng 106- 112.
J. S. Mbiti, "Initiation and Puberty Rites," Streng 100-105.
Creation Myths: God and the Five Women, Eliade 135
Pawnee Emergence Myth, Eliade 137
Zuni Genesis, Eliade 130-134
Myths of the Origins of Death: Cast Skin, Eliade 139-140
The Stone and the Banana, Eliade 140
The Moon and the Resurrection, Eliade 140
Meaning and Value of Ritual: A Confucian Appraisal

Week 2. Living Harmoniously in Conformity with the Cosmic Law: Chinese Cultures

The way of being religious focused on in this week emphasizes social morality. It is epitomized in the statement: "Actions speak louder than words." There is a transcendent reality from which all material things, thoughts, and actions have come. However, this reality does not have to be regarded as a person. Rather, it is a neuter Cosmic Law or Natural Order. When human beings are ignorant of the Cosmic Law or the Principle of Life or when they intentionally oppose the natural flow of the Natural Rhythm that brought the universe into existence, they hurt themselves and even destroy themselves. Disregard for the natural order will lead to an unbalanced social organism in which there is stealing, killing, adultery, and fear of other people (Streng 185).

Video: Chinese Science

                                                                Topics and Readings:

Hsun Tzu, "On Li (Rites, Propriety, Rules of Decorum)," Streng 185-189.
L. G. Thompson, "Chinese Religion," Streng 203-209.
C. Humphreys, "What Karma Explains," Streng 219-223.
K. Cragg, "The Shari'ah of Islam," Streng 237-240.
Huston Smith, Chapter 5: Taoism, Smith 196-219.
Selections from the Tao Te Ching

 Week 3. Spiritual Freedom Through Discipline: Hindu and Buddhist Mysticism

In general, the focus this week will be on personal awareness of the truth, insight, vision, and the crucial nature of inner experience. The person uncovers the Eternal Truth within. One does not so much want to change the world, but to change the self in relation to the world. The highest superconscious knowledge is possible only when a person is not attached to any form. This lack of attachment to "things" transforms one's existence. Meditation is the very heartbeat of this way. It promotes spiritual development, calms the mind, and reveals the true facts of existence (Streng).

Video: Zen Discipline

                                                                Topics and Readings:

Nyanaponika Thera, "The Way of Mindfulness," Streng 264-268.
Abbot Z. Shibayama, "Training in Zen," Streng 310-313.
S. K. Majumdar, "Introduction to Yoga," Streng 299-305.
Huston Smith, "The Four Paths to the Goal," Chapter 2: Hinduism, Smith 26-50.