New AMS 332 online-- take it this summer from wherever

This summer our very own Ray Pence is offering AMS 332-United States in Global Context in a new, online form. This is a core course in our major and meets a social science distribution requirement. Work at your own pace, and from a distance if you're not in Lawrence. If you are self-motivated and need AMS 332, consider taking the online version. Dr. Pence's description:

UNITED STATES IN GLOBAL CONTEXT ONLINE (USGCO)

AMERICAN STUDIES – SOCIOLOGY 332

SUMMER 2011 (8 week session, June 7 – July 29 2011)

Teacher: Ray Pence, Ph.D.

USGCO looks at how war shapes relationships among the United States and other nations. The course covers a sixty-year period starting with the Cold War and continuing to the present Wars on Terror.

Although war is the main course theme, this is not a class about military battles and strategies. Nor is the class a survey that requires comprehensive knowledge of all major leaders and events during the period under study.

Instead, USGCO looks at historical, social, and cultural impacts of these wars on individuals and groups in the US and elsewhere. Here is a sample of topics:

· Cold war competition between the US and former Soviet Union to “hunt Nazi scientists”

· Impact of the Korean War on 1950s America and on video games of the 21^st century

· Cuba’s sex industry in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union

· Martin Luther King, Jr. and his opposition to the Vietnam War

· Vietnam in the 21^st century: A country, not a war

· The importance of music and poetry in understanding the Vietnam War

· Media portrayals of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and Jessica Lynch in Iraq

· How US soldiers in Iraq use music and photography to cope with wartime

· The specificity and significance of women soldiers’ experiences in Iraq

· Barack Obama’s perspectives on Afghanistan before and after becoming President

All readings and resources USGCO will be available online. There are no books or supplies to purchase.

Students will write four papers, each with a 500-word minimum.

The course has two exams: a midterm based on the first two units and a final based on the third and fourth units.

Students may work through the course at their own pace but must complete tasks in the sequence they are presented.

To qualify for taking the midterm exam, students must complete their papers for Units 1 and 2.

To qualify for taking the final exam, students must complete the midterm exam and their papers for Units 3 and 4.