Humanities 122: Utopia/Dystopia Wyatt 306, MWF 10:00 to 10:50 Fall 2011

William Breitenbach Office: Wyatt 141 Office phone: 879-3167 Office hours: E-mail: [email protected] MWF 11-12, TTh 9-10 Web: http://www.pugetsound.edu/faculty-sites/bill-breitenbach/ and by appointment

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the process of scholarly inquiry by letting you engage in it. The hope is that you will thereby become more proficient in doing what inquiring scholars do: framing questions, making and supporting claims, and responding critically to questions and claims advanced by other inquiring scholars. To accomplish all this, we’ll set three subsidiary goals. The first goal is to help you make yourself a better writer of academic expository prose—the kind of writing that you will be called upon to do repeatedly during your years at the University of Puget Sound. The word expository means serving to expound or explain. Expository writing is thus distinguishable from personal reactions or musings. It is concerned instead with describing, analyzing, and interpreting the words, ideas, and assumptions in a text. It is about explaining some implication that you have found in a text, not about explaining how you feel about what you have found there. By calling it academic prose, I do not mean to suggest that you will be learning a kind of writing suitable only for students and scholars. Making an argument— organizing information, developing a disputable claim, and using clear writing to persuade readers—these are skills applicable in any future endeavor that requires you to put words on paper or on a computer screen. The second goal is to help you make yourself a more sensitive and sophisticated critical reader. This goal follows naturally from the first one. Good writers have good ideas. One way to get them is to train yourself to read closely, probing the assumptions and implications that lie beneath the surface of difficult texts. We have plenty of difficult texts in this course, and our encounters with them will give you frequent opportunities to practice alert, attentive, and analytical reading and thinking. Meanwhile our encounters with each other in class discussions will provide frequent opportunities to expound and support your insights in conversations with other alert, attentive, and analytical readers. The third goal is to help you learn about utopianism and anti-utopianism in western thought and society from the ancient world to the twenty-first century. Although it might not seem so when you’re plowing through the readings, our coverage will be very selective, making gigantic leaps in time and space. Because I am by trade a historian of the United States, we’ll pay particular attention to utopian thought and communitarian experiments in America. Not unique to America, however, are the themes treated in our readings: the translation of utopian theory into community practice; the tension between communal coercion and individual freedom; the conflict between leaders’ authority and community members’ rights; the role of gender, family, and private love in utopias; and the relationship of utopian communities to the outside world. We’ll find, in the writings about utopias, attempts to answer some of the most important questions that can be asked: What is the perfect society? Is it possible to achieve such a society? What is human nature? Is it malleable or fixed? What is human happiness? Can human beings live together in harmony? Humanities 122 Fall 2011

BOOKS AND WEBSITES These books are for sale at the Bookstore; ones marked with an asterisk are also on library reserve: Readings Packet for Hum 122 (a photocopied course reader; listed in the syllabus as “RP”) Plato, Republic, trans. G. M. A. Grube, revised C. D. C. Reeve (Hackett) Thomas More, Utopia, trans. Clarence H. Miller (Yale)* Voltaire, Candide and Related Texts, ed. David Wootton (Hackett) Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (Dover) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (Dover) Yevgeny Zamyatin, We, trans. Mirra Ginsburg (HarperCollins)* Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (Anchor)*

The following books are not assigned, but they can help you make yourself a better writer: Michael Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Hackett) [good on writing style] Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing (Norton) [explains how arguments are structured in academic essays]

The following book contains interesting essays about communal living and brief descriptions of intentional communities now existing throughout the world. It is shelved in the Reference section of the library. The book is also available online at http://www.ic.org: Communities Directory: A Comprehensive Guide to Intentional Communities and Cooperative Living (2005 ed.) Call number: HQ970. C64. 2005 Ref.

These sites have material on utopianism and intentional communities. Links are also on Moodle. http://www.ic.org/. Intentional Communities site, with a list of communities and many links. http://www.thefec.org. The Federation of Egalitarian Communities. http://www.utoronto.ca/utopia/. The Society for Utopian Studies, with links to other sites. http://utopia.nypl.org/Pt1exhibit.html. New York Public Library exhibit on utopia; many links. http://people.cornellcollege.edu/btooley/Courses/EN203Tooley/index.html. Syllabus with links.

Moodle Website Readings identified in the syllabus with “[M]” may be found online at the Moodle website for Hum 122. You can login to Moodle at https://moodle.pugetsound.edu/moodle/login/index.php . I’ll also place on Moodle the syllabus, paper assignments, recommended readings, general advice, and links to useful websites.

PROCEDURES, REQUIREMENTS, EXPECTATIONS Class attendance and participation This will be a discussion class. That means everyone needs to show up on time with the reading assignment completed and ideas to talk about. To help you get ready, I have provided “prep” questions in the syllabus for each session. I recommend that you take notes, reducing the main points of each reading assignment and each class discussion to what you can write on one 3x5 index card. Always bring the day’s assigned readings to class, so you can refer to particular passages during discussion. In class it’s your job to put your ideas out there for classmates to endorse, challenge, and transform. Be willing to ask a question, confess confusion, take a stand, and change your mind when presented with better evidence and reasoning. Listen attentively and respond respectfully to what your classmates have to say. Speaking directly to them (rather than through me) is a way of showing that you take them and their ideas seriously.

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Your regular, informed participation will be important in determining both the success of the course and the grade you receive in it. After every class, I’ll evaluate your contribution to other students’ learning. These daily evaluation scores will be used to calculate a participation grade, which will count for 20% of the course grade. Students who miss too many classes will be dropped from the course. For details, see the handout on “Participation, Attendance, Classroom Conduct, and Late-Paper Penalties.”

Papers and other graded work. Assignment sheets will be provided well before due dates. The percentage in parentheses indicates the weight of the assignment in calculating your course grade.  Due Friday, September 9, by 4:00 at Wyatt 141: a close reading (1 page) of a brief passage in Plato’s Republic (5%).  Due Monday, September 19, by 4:00 at Wyatt 141: a comparative analysis (2 pages) of a significant similarity or difference between Plato’s Republic and More’s Utopia (10%).  Due Friday, September 30, by 4:00 at Wyatt 141: an interpretive essay (3 pages) answering the question, Is Candide a utopian or anti-utopian book? (15%).  Due Friday, October 14, by 4:00 at Wyatt 141: an annotated bibliography on the Shakers or the Oneida Community (5%).  Due Monday, November 21, by 4:00 at Wyatt 141: an interpretive essay (5-7 pages) on a theme of your choosing in the novels assigned for Unit Three (25%).  A final exam on Wednesday, December 14, from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. in Wyatt 306 (20%).  Participation: based on your contribution to classmates’ learning and on your attendance, engagement, and daily preparation (20%).

Grading scale Grade ranges are A (93-100), A- (90-92), B+ (87-89), B (83-86), B- (80-82), C+ (77-79), C (73- 76), C- (70-72), D+ (67-69), D (63-66), D- (60-62), and F (below 60). I will round up to a higher letter grade when the numerical score is within 0.2 points of the cut-off (e.g., 89.8 will get an A-).

Writing help The UPS Center for Writing and Learning is located in Howarth 109. Its mission is to help all writers, whatever their level of ability, become better writers. To make an appointment, call 879-3404, email [email protected], or drop by Howarth 109. Harvard University’s Writing Center has a website with useful advice on writing academic essays: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr. Click on “Writing Resources” and then on “Strategies for Essay Writing” to find eighteen online “handouts.”

Paper and exam extensions; late papers Normally I do not grant extensions or “Incomplete” grades, except for weighty reasons like a family emergency or a serious illness. If you are facing circumstances beyond your control that might prevent you from finishing a paper or taking an exam on time, talk to me early about the possibility of getting an extension. Provide written documentation supporting your request from a medical professional; the Counseling, Health, and Wellness Services; the Academic Advising Office; or the Dean of Students Office. Late papers should be slipped under my door at Wyatt 141. If Wyatt is locked, you may send me the paper by email in order to stop the penalty clock, but you must subsequently give me an unaltered hard copy. Late papers not granted extensions will be marked down. For details, see the handout on “Participation, Attendance, Classroom Conduct, and Late-Paper Penalties.”

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Other policies Students who want to withdraw from the course should read the rules for withdrawal grades in the Academic Handbook (link provided below). Monday, October 10, is the last day to drop with an automatic W; thereafter it is much harder to escape a WF. Students who are dropped for excessive absences or who abandon the course without officially withdrawing will receive a WF. Students who cheat or plagiarize; help others cheat or plagiarize; deface or steal library materials; or otherwise violate the University’s standards of academic integrity will be given an F for the course and will be reported to the Registrar. Before turning in your first paper, read the discussion of academic integrity in the Academic Handbook (link provided below). Ignorance of the concept or consequences of plagiarism will not be accepted as an excuse. In matters not covered by this syllabus, I follow the policies set down in the current Academic Handbook, which is available online at http://www.pugetsound.edu/student- life/student-resources/student-handbook/academic-handbook/.

CLASS SCHEDULE Reading assignments are to be completed before the class meeting for which they are listed. Bring to class the syllabus, the assigned readings for the day, and your reading notes.

Unit One. In Theory: Utopia as Idea, Ideal, and Fantasy

1. Mon., Aug. 29: Introduction Introduction to the course. In class: Write a brief description of your own vision of utopia. What for you constitutes an ideal society? Do you think your ideal society could work in practice?

2. Wed., Aug. 31: Defining and Designing Utopia Humanities 122 syllabus (This is your agreement with me. Read it!) George Kateb, “Utopias and Utopianism,” Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1967 ed. [M] Krishan Kumar, “The Uses of Utopia” in Utopianism, 95-99 [M] Geoph Kozeny, “In Community, Intentionally,” Communities Directory, 2000 ed. [M] Browse the Intentional Communities website at http://www.ic.org/ [M]. Find something interesting to report to the class. I recommend “What’s True about Intentional Communities: Dispelling the Myths,” in the section headed “Useful Articles.” Prep: Take notes on your reading. Be ready to discuss the following questions: What causes utopian thinking? What are the essential elements of utopia? How does utopia differ from other forms of wishful thinking? Why has the word utopian come to have derisive and derogatory connotations? What is the use of utopia? To be useful must utopianism involve the creation of actual communities in the world? Are today’s intentional communities properly called utopias?

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3. Fri., Sept. 2: The Ideal City and Its Guardians Plato, Republic (c. 380 BCE). Front matter, pp. xiv-xviii (“The Main Argument”) and p. 1 (headnote to Book I); Book II, pp. 32-33 (headnote) and pp. 43-59 (#368c-383c); Book III, p. 60 (headnote) and pp. 88-93 (#412b-417b); Paul Bloom, “First Person Plural,” Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 2008 [M]; read the start of the article, up to the paragraph beginning “Like any organ.” Then jump to the paragraph beginning “The population of a single head” and read to the end of the article. Prep: How and why is the city founded? How are the guardians selected and educated? Do you agree that censorship and lies are justifiable means to promote social good? What metaphors does Socrates use in making his arguments? What assumptions about human nature and human society are implicit in them (e.g., pp. 91-93)?

— Mon., Sept. 5: LABOR DAY. No class.

4. Wed., Sept. 7: Communism and the Guardians Plato, Republic Book IV, p. 94 (headnote) and pp. 95-101 (#419a-425e), 102-10 (#427e-434c), 121 (#444e-445e); Book V, p. 122 (headnote) and pp. 122-141 (#449a-466d) Prep: In an ideal city, must the happiness of individuals be sacrificed to ensure the happiness of the community as a whole? Why must the guardians have both communism of property and communism of women and children? Why have rigged sexual lotteries to determine which guardians can reproduce?

5. Fri., Sept. 9: Philosopher-Kings and the Allegory of the Cave Plato, Republic Book V, pp. 148-51 (#472e-476d); Book VI, p. 157 (headnote) and pp. 157-70 (#484a-497a), 173 (#499b-499d); Book VII, p. 186 (headnote) and pp. 186-93 (#514a-521b), 212 (#540d-541b) Book VIII, p. 213 (headnote) and pp. 213-15 (#543a-545d); Book IX, p. 241 (headnote) and pp. 262-63 (#590d-592b) Prep: Why should rulers be philosophers and philosophers be rulers? What is the meaning of the Allegory of the Cave? Are philosopher-kings the victims or beneficiaries of their position? Why are they forced back into the cave? When Socrates says that individuals are like cities, what does that imply about cities and about individuals? Which concerns Socrates more—governing the ideal city or governing the individual soul? Would you call Plato a utopianist? Does he believe the ideal city can be created in the real world?

Paper due: A close reading (1 page) of a brief, rich passage from Plato’s Republic is due at my office (Wyatt 141) by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9.

6. Mon., Sept. 12: More’s Utopia Last day to drop courses without record More, Utopia (1516), 9-14b, 46t-72m (Raphael is speaking at 46top) Krishan Kumar, “Utopia and Modernity,” in Utopianism, 48-51 [M] Prep: What is Kumar’s argument about utopianism and modernity? In what ways is More’s Utopia (the place and the book) like or unlike Plato’s Republic (the place and the book)? Are the arguments for communism the same in both books?

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7. Wed., Sept. 14: Transvaluations: Gold, Pleasures, Slaves, and Marriage More, Utopia, 72m-87b, 95m-101m Prep: What is the point of the story about the Anemolian ambassadors? Why are there slaves in Utopia? Why don’t the Utopians have communism of wives as do the guardians in the Republic? Is there a common theme that unites all of the topics?

8. Fri., Sept. 16: Warfare and Religion More, Utopia, 101m-121m, 126t-127b, 129b-135 Prep: Why does warfare get so much attention in a book about utopia? Compare the Zapoletes to the guardians. Is the Utopian religion a thinly disguised Christianity? Why did More end Books I and II by stating doubts about the Utopians’ society? Did he believe that utopia was even possible? If not, why did he write his book?

9. Mon., Sept. 19: The Puritans’ Holy Commonwealth in Massachusetts Bay John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity” (1630) [RP, 2-6] John Winthrop, “A Defense of an Order of Court” (1637) [RP, 7-8] Prep: How did Winthrop’s guidelines for an actual society resemble and/or differ from the theoretical societies imagined by Plato and More? What is the significance of Winthrop’s frequent use of a body metaphor when describing Puritan society? Was the message of his “Defense” consistent with that of his “Modell”?

Paper due: A comparative analysis (2 pages) of a significant difference or similarity between Plato’s Republic and More’s Utopia. Due at Wyatt 141 by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, September 19.

10. Wed., Sept. 21: Theodicy and Optimism: The Best of All Possible Worlds Voltaire, Candide (1759), 1-32 John Woolman, Journal (1759) [RP, 9] Optional: Wootton’s “Introduction” is helpful, esp. pp. viii-xxiii, xxvi-xxvii, and xxix Prep: How is Voltaire’s book like or unlike Plato’s and More’s? Compare the authors’ writing styles and narrative voices. Compare the character Candide to Socrates and Raphael. Compare the social evils that the books attack. Compare Voltaire’s and Woolman’s views on the causes and proper responses to human misery.

11. Fri., Sept. 23: On the Road to (and from) El Dorado Voltaire, Candide, 32-59 (If you want, you can skip pp. 51-56, from footnote 91 to 102.) Prep: Why does the setting of the story shift from Europe to American and then back to Europe? What is the point of the story about the girls and the apes? If El Dorado is utopia, why does Candide leave it? How does Europe differ from El Dorado?

12. Mon., Sept. 26: Candide’s Garden Voltaire, Candide, 59-79 Prep: Is Candide a utopian or an anti-utopian work? To answer this question, think about some related ones: What was Voltaire’s purpose in writing the book? Does the book ultimately convey a hopeful or despairing message about humans’ ability to improve their world? Is optimism merely disguised despair—a smiling way of saying that nothing can be made better? At book’s end, are the characters living in a utopia? Which character’s philosophy does Voltaire seem to admire most?

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Unit Two. In Practice: The United States as Utopian Laboratory

13. Wed., Sept. 28: USA: Utopian Society of America? Declaration of Independence (1776) [RP, 10] Robert Owen, A New View of Society (1817) [RP, 11-12] Bennet H. Barrow, “Diary” (1838-41) [RP, 13-15] George Fitzhugh, Cannibals All! (1857) [RP, 16-18] Prep: Was the U.S. created as a utopia? Is there any real difference between Owen’s optimistic environmentalism and Barrow’s system for running a slave plantation? How did Fitzhugh turn the “pursuit of happiness” into a defense of slavery? Is utopianism better suited for free or enslaved people?

14. Fri., Sept. 30: The Shakers’ Millennium The Millennial Laws of the Shakers (1820s) [RP, 19-22] Video in class: The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (dir. Ken Burns, 1984), 58 mins. Prep: What are the utopian principles underlying the Shakers’ Millennial Laws? Paper due: An essay (3 pages) on the question, Is Candide a utopian or anti-utopian book? Due by 4:00 at Wyatt 141 on Friday, Sept. 30.

15. Mon., Oct. 3: Bible Communism at Oneida Spencer Klaw, Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community [RP, 23-32] Oneida Community, Mutual Criticism (1876) [RP, 33] John Humphrey Noyes, Bible Communism (1853) [RP, 34-38] Prep: How did mutual criticism and complex marriage help create communal cohesion? Are you more struck by themes of control or themes of liberation at Oneida? Was Oneida a practical application of the ideals set forth in Winthrop’s “Modell”?

16. Wed., Oct. 5: Instruction for Annotated Bibliography Exercise “Research 101” an online tutorial; a link is on the Collins Library homepage under “Research Help” Mary Lynn Rampolla, “Annotated Bibliographies” [handout] “Annotated Bibliographies,” University of Wisconsin Writing Center, at http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/AnnotatedBibliography.html [also on M] Prep:

17. Fri., Oct. 7: Team Research for Annotated Bibliography Exercise “History 200 (Breitenbach)” online course guide; follow the links on the Collins Library homepage from “Research Help”>“Course Guides”>“History” “Evaluating Information on the Web” online guide; follow the links on the Collins homepage from “Research Help”>“Web Guides” Prep:

18. Mon., Oct. 10: Team Research, continued Last day to drop with automatic W “Academic Integrity @ Puget Sound” online tutorial; the link is on the Collins Library homepage under “Research Help” Diana Hacker, “Research and Documentation Online” http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/; follow links from “History”>“Documenting Sources”>“Chicago documentation style”

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Prep:

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Unit Three. In Fiction: Utopian and Dystopian Novels of the 19th and 20th Centuries

19. Wed., Oct. 12: After the Evolution: The Year 2000 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The Communist Manifesto” (1848) [RP, 39-41] Bellamy, Looking Backward (1888), 1-40 Prep: Why is the novel set in the year 2000? List two things that changed while Julian West slept and two things that didn’t. Why does Bellamy make his narrator a member of the upper middle class rather than a member of the working class?

20. Fri., Oct. 14: Annotated Bibliographies Due No assigned reading. Groups will work on preparing and proofing their bibliographies.

Assignment due: Annotated bibliographies are due at Wyatt 141 by 4:00 on Friday, October 14.

— Mon., Oct. 17: FALL BREAK. No class.

21. Wed., Oct. 19: Ends versus Means Bellamy, Looking Backward, 41-66, 73-78t, 84-87, 91m-95t, 97-102 Prep: Find a passage where Bellamy’s means and ends are at odds; i.e., where specific features of his ideal society seem to be inconsistent with his explicit or implicit goals. Why does he organize his society as an industrial army? What motivates individuals to serve society? How do the Leetes interact with other citizens?

22. Fri., Oct. 21: Industrial Strength Love Bellamy, Looking Backward, 102-09, 123-31, 140t-50m, 156t-162 Prep: What is the function of the love story in a book about industrial utopia? Is Julian converted by Dr. Leete or by Edith? Why does Bellamy return Julian to the 19th century in the final chapter? Why was this book so popular?

23. Mon., Oct. 24: Comparisons are Odious Gilman, Herland (1915), 1-31, 38-54, 56-61 Malcolm Ritter, “Y Chromosome Faces Uncertain Future,” (Tacoma) News Tribune, Nov. 2, 2000 [RP, 42] Prep: Compare Gilman’s women with Bellamy’s Edith? How do the Herland women capture the male intruders? By substituting gender conflict for class conflict, does Gilman make her utopian society seem more plausible than Bellamy’s or less so?

24. Wed., Oct. 26: Thinking in We’s Gilman, Herland, 62-71, 75t-77, 80m-81, 86t-92, 98t-124 Prep: How is women’s solidarity related to parthenogenesis and eugenics? Why do so many utopias embrace eugenics? Were you surprised by the book’s ending? Why do you suppose Gilman did not carry the main characters’ story further?

25. Fri., Oct. 28: The One State Zamyatin, We (1920-21), v-xxi, 1-69 (Introduction and First through Twelfth Entries) Video in class: Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang, 1927), approx. 5 mins. Prep: List some of the dualisms that run through the book. Choose one pair and be ready to explain what it symbolizes. Why is the protagonist a mathematician? Compare the One State to the utopian society described in Looking Backward.

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26. Mon., Oct. 31: The Shaggy Self Zamyatin, We, 70-147 (Thirteenth through Twenty-Fifth Entries) Prep: Compare the women of We to the women of Herland. Is I-330 the narrator’s savior or his devil? Is love a form of selfishness or selflessness? Who is S and what does he represent? What happens on Unanimity Day?

27. Wed., Nov. 2: The Benefactor and the Bell Zamyatin, We, 148-232 (Twenty-Sixth through Fortieth Entries) Prep: Does We have a hero? Who is it? Is the One State a utopia or a dystopia? How would our other authors answer that question? Is life any better outside the Wall? In what ways does We break sharply with the other books we have read?

28. Fri., Nov. 4: The Guardian as Behavioral Engineer World Book Encyclopedia, s.v. “Behavior” [RP, 43] B. F. Skinner, Walden Two (1948) [RP, 44-61] Prep: What is behavioral engineering? Is it compatible with freedom? Why does Skinner believe that its benefits outweigh its costs? Do all utopias rest on some form of behavioral engineering?

29. Mon., Nov. 7: Night and Day, Past and Present Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 1-127 Prep: Compare Offred’s narrative voice to Julian West’s and D-503’s. Is she a reliable narrator? Why does her tale alternate between night and day, past and present? Compare the Republic of Gilead to Oneida, Herland, and Plato’s Republic.

30. Wed., Nov. 9: The Commander Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 128-228 Prep: Who is Offred’s I-330—Moira or the Commander? Or is it Ofglen or Serena Joy? What does the Commander want? Is he like any of the three men in Herland.

31. Fri., Nov. 11: Salvaging Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 229-311 Ruud Teeuwen, “Dystopia’s Point of No Return” [RP, 62-65] J. Brooks Bouson, “A Feminist and Psychoanalytic Approach” [RP, 66-68] Prep: Why does Offred’s narrative end in uncertainty? What is the purpose of the “Historical Notes”? How do Teeuwen’s and Bouson’s essays clarify the tale?

Unit Four. In Our Times: The Continuing Quest for Utopia

32. Mon., Nov. 14: Twin Oaks as a Walden Two Experiment Kat Kinkade, A Walden Two Experiment (1973) [RP, 69-101] Prep: What unanticipated problems arose at Twin Oaks? What solutions were devised? Did the solutions sacrifice utopian ideals in order to preserve the community? Why was Kinkade called the Apostle of Expedience?

33. Wed., Nov. 16: Interpersonal Relations and Recurrent Debates Kinkade, A Walden Two Experiment [RP, 102-32] Prep: How did Twin Oaks deal with threats to the community posed by children and by private love? Did behavioral engineering work? Which of the “recurrent debates” seem to you (as a student of utopianism) to have been entirely predictable? Which ones surprised you? Why did Twin Oaks survive?

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34. Fri., Nov. 18: Twin Oaks Today Tamara Jones, “The Other American Dream,” Washington Post Magazine, 15 Nov. 1998, at http://www.twinoaks.org/community/media/articles/washington-post.html [M] William Grimes, “Kathleen Kinkade, Founder of Utopian Commune, Is Dead at 77,” New York Times, 27 July 2008 [M] Browse the Twin Oaks website: http://www.twinoaks.org/ [M] Video in class: Visions of Utopia (dir. Geoph Kozeny, 2002), 11 mins. Prep: What was the aging Kinkade’s view of the community that she had founded? What is Twin Oaks like today? What new directions has the community taken? What new problems have developed? Is Twin Oaks a utopian success story?

35. Mon., Nov. 21: The Truman Show, first half Video in class: The Truman Show (dir. Peter Weir, 1998), 52 mins. Prep: The film will begin promptly at 10:00. Be punctual! Take notes as you watch.

Paper due: An essay (5-7 pages) based on the novels assigned in Unit Three is due at my office (Wyatt 141) by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, November 21.

— Wed., Nov. 23: THANKSGIVING BREAK. No class.

— Fri., Nov. 25: THANKSGIVING BREAK. No class.

36. Mon., Nov. 28: The Truman Show, second half Video in class: The Truman Show (dir. Peter Weir, 1998), 52 mins. Prep: The film will begin promptly at 10:00. Be punctual! Take notes as you watch.

37. Wed., Nov. 30: Disney Does Utopia: Celebration, Florida Michael Pollan, “Town-Building Is No Mickey Mouse Operation,” The New York Times Magazine, 14 Dec. 1997, http://michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=63 [M] Website of Celebration, Florida, a neo-traditional community developed by the Disney Corporation: http://www.celebrationfl.com/index.html [M] Prep: Why did people move to Celebration? Is it a utopia? How do the problems that developed at Celebration resemble the problems that developed at Twin Oaks?

38. Fri., Dec. 2: Second Life: A Virtual Utopia Second Life website: www.secondlife.com [M] Robert D. Hof, “My Virtual Life,” Business Week, May 1, 2006, at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_18/b3982001.htm [M] Janet Rae-Dupree, “Pixelanthropy: Charities Tap into Second Life,” MSNBC, Jan. 10, 2008, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22574057/ [M] Tim Guest, Second Lives: A Journey through Virtual Worlds (2007) [RP, 133-39] Optional: Wikipedia, Second Life, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life [M] Prep: Browse the Second Life website. Are virtual worlds like Second Life a new kind of utopia or do they represent the debasement and the death of the utopian impulse? What features of Second Life do Hof, Dupree, and Guest admire? What features of Second Life make them uneasy? Are you tempted to join Second Life?

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39. Mon., Dec. 5: Transhumanism: Engineering Perfection Wikipedia, Transhumanism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism [M], skim the entry, esp. the sections on “Theory” and “Controversy” Bill McKibben, “The Posthuman Condition” Harper’s Magazine, Apr. 2003 [RP, 140-43] Letters to the Editor, Atlantic Monthly, July/Aug. 2004 [RP, 144-45] Ronald M. Green, “Building Baby from the Genes Up,” Washington Post, 13 April 2008 [M] Prep: Why does McKibben oppose genetic engineering? Do you agree with him or with Green? What’s the difference—morally or practically—between trying to improve peoples’ lives by forming utopian communities or doing it by using drugs, technology, and genetic engineering? Do we have a moral duty to use scientific advancements to improve people’s lives? Who decides what an “improvement” is?

40. Wed., Dec. 7: Our Conclusions Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (1975) [RP, 146-52] Prep: Has Le Guin posed the crucial question about utopianism? Where do they go—the ones who walk away from Omelas? Why doesn’t Le Guin tell us? We’ll take another look at the list of utopian features that we generated in our first class meeting. Do you walk away from our course with a changed view of utopianism? Is utopianism a good thing or a dangerous impulse?

FINAL EXAMINATION: The final exam will be held in our regular classroom on Wednesday, December 14, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

At the instruction of the Academic Vice President, I have inserted this “Classroom Emergency Response Guidance” in the syllabus:

Please review university emergency preparedness and response procedures posted at www.pugetsound.edu/emergency/. There is a link on the university home page. Familiarize yourself with hall exit doors and the designated gathering area for your class and laboratory buildings.

If building evacuation becomes necessary (e.g. earthquake), meet your instructor at the designated gathering area so she/he can account for your presence. Then wait for further instructions. Do not return to the building or classroom until advised by a university emergency response representative.

If confronted by an act of violence, be prepared to make quick decisions to protect your safety. Flee the area by running away from the source of danger if you can safely do so. If this is not possible, shelter in place by securing classroom or lab doors and windows, closing blinds, and turning off room lights. Stay low, away from doors and windows, and as close to the interior hallway walls as possible. Wait for further instructions.

12 Humanities 122 Fall 2011

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