About:

About this class:

This is a 8-meeting virtual class using the Zoom platform.

Tuesdays, Jan 23, 30, Feb 6, 13, 20, 27, March 5, 12 from 6:30-8:30 pm Central time.

This humanities course explores themes of war and reconciliation through philosophy, literature, art, music, and history. The course is organized into three parts. During the first third, we will assess the meanings of sacrifice, honor, bravery, and trauma in ancient Greece and consider how classical learning can inform and enhance our experiences of war and its aftermaths in the present. The second third of the course focuses on the era from the US Civil War to the end of the 19th century. Many foundational American ideas and expectations about war were defined at this time, and we will evaluate the meanings of patriotic sacrifice and freedom from a variety of perspectives. The final third of the course will focus on the Vietnam War. By this time, the nature of American wars looks much more familiar: soldiers fought on distant soils as part of the world’s most massive, bureaucratic, technologically advanced military. We will examine how soldiers and their loved ones experienced this war and the challenges and controversies over how it should be remembered.

Instructor bio:

Charity Anderson is Academic Director of the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative Newark, a humanities course for veterans and military-connected civilians. Charity holds masters degrees in art history, education, and social work. She earned a PhD in social work from the University of Chicago.

Humanities North Dakota classes and events are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

HND VALUE STATEMENT

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Humanities North Dakota. However, in an increasingly polarized world, we at Humanities North Dakota believe that being open-minded is necessary to thinking critically and rationally. Therefore our programs and classes reflect our own open-mindedness in the inquiry, seeking, and acquiring of scholars to speak at our events and teach classes for our Public University. To that end, we encourage our participants to join us in stepping outside our comfort zones and considering other perspectives and ideas by being open-minded while attending HND events featuring scholars who hold a variety of opinions, some being opposite of our own held beliefs.