Syllabus

HIS 3931-1979
American Myths, American Values
Spring 2017
MWF, 11:45-12:35, Flint 101
Professor Jack E. Davis, Ofc. Flint 235
davisjac@ufl.edu 273-3398
Ofc. Hrs., MWF, 12:45-1:45

In this course, we will examine the major myths that inform, and that are informed by, American values. The unifying fabric of America culture, myths shape the meaning of the American experience, American identity, and national character, and in turn determine the prevailing understanding of social groups and their relationships with the dominant American culture. It is this dynamic of myth, culture, and society that will constitute the focus of this course.

Course Objectives:

• Expanding ones knowledge of fundamental myths and values and their place in the larger American historical experience
• Introducing the student to scholarship on the subject.
• Promoting critical thinking about American myths and values and their impact on the social relationships among different human groups.

Research Paper

(Including writing-mechanics exercise and prospectus/bibliography) 30%

Take-Home exercise #1 30%

Take-Home exercise #2 30%

Class participation 10%

Total 100%

Course Books (available at Goerings Bookstore):

• James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your History Textbook Got Wrong
• Michael C. C. Adams, The Best War Ever: America and World War II
• Stephanie Coontz, The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap
• Mike Wallace, Mickey Mouse History: And Other Essays on American Memory

Week I (January 4-6) Introduction; Defining American Myths and Values

• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, introduction, chapter 3.

Week II (January 9-13) Inventing a Nation and Its History

• Audio: Michael Parenti, The Struggle for History
• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapters 11, 12.
• No class Monday, January 16, MLK Day

Week III (January 18-20) American Values and the Prototypical American Hero

• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapters 1, 2.

Week IV (January 23-27) The American Hero cont.

• Film: The Natural
• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapters 1, 2.

Week V (January 30-February 3) Anglo-Saxon Superiority and the Red Man Myth

• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapter 4.

Week VI (February 6-8) Red Man Myth cont.

• No class Friday February 10
• Writing Mechanics Exercise Due
• Film: In the White Mans Image
• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapter 4.

Week VII (February 13-17) Myths of Race

• Film: Ethic Notions
• Readings: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapter 5.

Week VIII (February 20-24) Myths of Race cont.

• Take-Home Exercise #1 Due
• Film: Amos N Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy
• Reading: Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me, chapter 6.

Week IX (February 27-March 3) Myths of Race cont.

• Reading: Coontz, The Way We Never Were, 232-54.
• Spring Break March 6-10

Week X (March 13-17) Cold War Conformity and American Family Values

• Prospectus/Bibliography Due
• Film Leave It to Beaver
• Reading: Coontz, The Way We Never Were, 1-121, 149-179.

Week XI (March 20-24) War and Glory; Reshaping Values with Old and New Myths

• Films: The Green Berets and Platoon
• Reading: Adams, The Best War Ever.

Week XII (March 27-31) War and Glory cont.

• Reading: Adams, The Best War Ever.

Week XIII (April 3-7) The Struggle for History

• Reading: Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, section IV.

Week XIV (April 10-14) Mickeys World

• Research Paper Due April 10
• Reading: Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, section II.

Week XVI (April 17-19) Tying Up Loose Ends

• Take-Home Essay Due (April 19)
• Course Requirements Descriptions:

All written work for the course must be typed or computer generated and in 12-point double-spaced print. Your work must also be presented in third-person language. It must also must be turned in on the due date to be graded at full credit.

Course Attendance is required. A missed class will result in a deduction from your class participation grade. An absence is considered excused if there is an acceptable reason according to UF policy (http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationattendance.html). Examples of acceptable reasons are medical illness, religious holidays, military obligation, and the twelve-day rule. It is the students responsibility to notify the instructor of an excused absence and to provide documentation of an acceptable reason. Otherwise, the absence will be considered unexcused and will result in a quiz grade of zero if a quiz is administered when the student is absent. Whenever possible, the instructor should be notified prior to the absence. When this is not possible (e.g., due to unexpected emergency or illness), the instructor should be notified as soon as possible.

Take-home essays will represent responses to a list of essay questions provided on my web site at least one week prior to the due date of the assignment. The questions will be drawn from the assigned readings and the course lectures, and you will be expected to use the course readings and your class notes as sources to answer the questions. Each answer must be presented in essay format, using formal, academic language and style (i.e., complete sentences, tightly constructed paragraphs, no colloquialisms). Do not, in other words, provide answers in lists or bullets. Those es that address each question in a rigorous and organized manner are more likely to earn a decent grade. These grades will be dependent in part on your compliance with the rules in the “Writing Mechanics” exercise.

The Research Paper should run 10 to 15 pges, and represent original work that deals with the dynamic of myths and values in American history. Many students in the past have done poorly with this assignment because they made the mistake of simply debunking a myth without examining its connection to American values. Please remember that your papers inquiry should reflect the larger objective of this course. Please consult the Research Paper link on my web site for common guidelines related to writing a research paper. Do also remember that your capacity to follow the Writing Mechanics rules will, as always, count toward your grade.

Other Business:

Plagiarism:

Keep in mind that your written assignments must represent original work. You cannot copy the words, phrases, arguments, ideas, and conclusions of someone else or of another source (including Internet sources) without giving proper credit to the person or source by using quotation marks and a foot note. Do not cobble together paragraphs or passages of separate texts and then try to claim that you have done original and legitimate work. You must write with your own ideas and in your own words. If you copy the words of someone else without putting those words in quotation marks, REGARDLESS OF CITING THE SOURCE, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism is theft, and it is academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is grounds for an automatic failing grade in the course, a grade that is final and that cannot be made up. If you have any questions about how you are citing or using sources, come to me for the answers. Please also review the universitys honesty policy at: {http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/academic.htm}.

Classroom Assistance:

Please do not hesitate to contact the instructor during the semester if you have any individual concerns or issues that need to be discussed. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office { http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drp/}. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide that documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation.

UF Grading Scale

Please note UFs new grading scale with the addition of minuses.

• A = 4.0
• A- = 3.67
• B+ = 3.33
• B = 3.0
• B- = 2.67
• C+ = 2.33
• C = 2.0
• C- = 1.67
• D+ = 1.33
• D = 1.0
• D- = 0.67
• E = 0.0
• E1 = 0.0 Stopped attending or participating prior to end of class
• I (incomplete) = 0.0

Note: A grade of C− is not a qualifying grade for major, minor, Gen Ed, or College Basic distribution credit. For further information on UF’s Grading Policy, see:

http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html

http://www.isis.ufl.edu/minusgrades.html

Alpata: A Journal of History:

Keep in mind that the undergraduate- and graduate-student members of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society at the University of Florida publish an academic journal each spring. In the fall, the journal editors will be sending out a call for submissions (articles and book reviews) to the journal.

Take Home Essay #1

To complete the essay, you are required to discuss (using third-person language only) in no more than five pages the following outlined below. You have much information to include in a short space. This means that you need to put a lot of thought not only into the content of the paper but also into the presentation of your response. Your essay needs to be written in a single seamless narrative, without rephrasing the questions and without listing answers in bullets.

To be successful at this task means that you will want to employ an economy of words in tightly constructed sentences and paragraphs. You should write in clear and concise language that conveys only information that is relevant to the subject. In other words, avoid becoming bogged down in minutia but provide the information necessary to show that you have a comprehensive understanding of the subject of myths in the American historical experience.

(Remember to follow the rules in the Writing Mechanics Exercise. Retrieve it from your class notebook and put it on your desk next to your computer before your begin.)

________________________________

Drawing from the course lectures and readings, address the following.

* Define a cultural myth and define a cultural value. What role have myths historically played in the US. Who in addition to historians is responsible for creating myths (don’t simply say everyone; be specific)?

* One of the most prevalent places of myths is in history textbooks. How is their existence related to the cultural role generally prescribed to history, according to Loewen? Give an example of a myth found in a textbook and identify the values embodied within that myth?

* American heroes are a staple of US history textbooks. Discuss the purpose of heroes in American cultural and who they are modeled after (think of and weave in the Revolution myth). Give an example of an American hero and discuss the American values associated with that hero.

* Indians have come and gone in American history textbooks. Discuss the mythic image-created by white Europeans and Americans the Indian as noble and savage. Include the sources that have perpetuated those image. Ensure you talk about how emphasis in that image (and the historical backdrop) has shifted throughout the course of American history.

Take-Home Essay #2

To complete the assignment, you are required to respond to the instructions below by writing an essay (using third-person language only) of no more than five pages. This means that you will need to put a lot of thought not only into the content of the paper but also into the presentation of your response (I will not read past 5 pages). Your essay should be written in a single seamless narrative, without rephrasing the questions and without listing responses in bullets.

To be successful at this task means that you will want to employ an economy of words in tightly constructed sentences and paragraphs. You should write in clear and concise language that conveys only information that is relevant to the subject. In other words, avoid becoming bogged down in minutia but provide the information necessary to show that you have a comprehensive understanding of the history. When you respond to the questions, always think in terms of historical significance and draw on the course readings that cover the period that you are asked to discuss.

(Remember to follow the rules in the Writing Mechanics Exercise. Retrieve it from your class notebook and put it on your desk next to your computer before your begin. Many people in the class dropped a letter grade in other writing assignments because they failed to follow the rules outlined in the exercise.)

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Drawing from assigned readings and class lectures, discuss three of the four following myths: racial myths associated with African Americans; family myths as examined in Stephanie Coontz’s book; World War II myths, the cultural struggle over Enola Gay; and Walt Disney�s America, past and future. Ensure that in your discussion you refer to the various ways in which the myths were propagated, their message, and their cultural meaning (i.e., the values embodied within). Good luck.