About:

About this class:

This is a 6-meeting virtual class using the Zoom platform.

Wednesdays Jan 31, Feb 28, March 13, 27, April 3, 10, 17  from 6-8 pm Central time.

Can we choose our past? Can we imagine an alternative future – does that even make sense? If we could select an event that changed the course of history, what would it be, and what would be the effect? That sure would make quite the story… In fact, writers have been playing around with questions like these for as long as there have been stories. (I’m personally drawn to Shakespeare’s history plays, where he’s always imagining battles that go opposite to how he finds them in the chronicles of his day.) In this course we’ll stick with more modern examples.  Some will be sci-fi, some from other genres, but they’ll all be examples of what we can think of as counter-histories. We’ll visit worlds where the Confederate armies have won the Civil War, or the Axis powers have won WWII. We’ll find out what goes on in a place where slavery was never abolished. And we’ll meet a world where California has become what we only know as Kesh. You won’t need an actual time machine – I suppose one will be made available for you. Just be ready to imagine your world, both as it is and as it could have been.

Instructor bio:

Adam Kitzes grew up in Chicago. After a very brief career in the world of investor relations research, he decided he wanted to become an English professor. After attending graduate school in Wisconsin, he moved around the Midwest until he wound up at the University of North Dakota. He’s made Grand Forks his home since the year the White Sox won it all, and he really has been living happily ever after.

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.