HIST 367 - Seminar in American Social History

(SOC 367) FDR: HU
Credits: 4
Planned Offering: Spring 2014 and alternate years

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. An examination of selected topics in the social history of the United States. Requirements include a major research paper based on original source material. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Spring 2014 topic:

HIST 367: Seminar: 9/11 and Modern Terrorism (4). Terrorism is a form of collective violence famously illustrated in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington on September 11, 2001. This course provides an intensive interdisciplinary examination of the origins of the 9/11 attacks and the terrorist organization that launched them. The course also addresses the impact of the attacks and the future prospects of mass violence against civilians, as well as the role of the media in covering (and dramatizing) terrorism. Much of the course focuses on the social divisions and conflicts that lead to terrorism and its increasingly lethal nature over time. Topics include “old terrorism” (as seen in Northern Ireland and Algeria), “new terrorism” (such as that associated with Al Qaeda), the logic of terrorist recruitment, and the nature of and spread of weapons of mass destruction. (HU) Senechal. Spring