AMST 301 Rogues and Rebels Monday Syllabus etc

AMST 301 Rogues and Rebels Monday

Syllabus etc American Rogues and Rebels: AMST 301 Professor: Dr. Ian Chambers Fall 2008 Contact Details: Office: History Department, 315 Administration building Phone: (208) 885 -6551 - E-mail: chambers@uidaho. edu Office hours: Monday 2: 00 pm – 3: 00 pm Wednesday 2: 00 pm – 3: 00 pm Additional office hours available by appointment

Texts Eric Larson, Devil in the White City Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America A pack of six books from the book store (all books from Bedford/St. Martins): Kenneth S Greenberg, The Confessions of Nat Turner and Related documents Jonathan Earle, John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry: A Brief History with Documents Shelia l, Skemp, Judith Sargent Murray: A Brief Biography with Documents Victoria Bissell Brown, Twenty Years at Hull-House Jane Adams David Howard-Pitney, Martin Luther King Jr. , Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950 s and 1960 s: A Brief History with Documents Richard W. Etulain, César Chávez: A Brief Biography with Documents Additional reading as issued during the semester I will also be showing various documentaries and movies outside of class hours. Details to be issued during the first week of class

Course Requirements Exams: A final on Thursday, December 18. 30% Research proposal 10% Group Class Presentation 20% Research paper: Students will select a topic, in consultation with the professor, and prepare a research paper of 7 -8 pages, type-written and double spaced. The paper will be due on November 19 th and count as 30% of the final course grade. Class Participation Class participation counts as 10% of the course grade and is determined by the following criteria: attendance and classroom discussion. Class Rules and Regulations Three-One System You must wait ONE day before contesting any grade You must write ONE paragraph explaining why your grade should be adjusted You must challenge the grade within ONE week of receiving it. Plagiarism WILL NOT be tolerated Late Papers You will lose one point per minute for any late work.

Schedule (subject to change) The class will follow a weekly format Monday – General historical overview Wednesday – Specific topic lecture Friday – Group presentations and discussion

Groups: Class will divide in 13 groups (min 3 people max 4 per group) Each group will present on the Rogue/Rebel under discussion that week

Additional Readings For discussion this week James Clavell A Children’s Story Ø How is power worked out in this book Eric Hobsbawm chapter from Bandits Ø Can, as I suggest, Hobsbawm form a theoretical base for this class

Hobsbawm and Banditry What interests the social and economic historian is primarily the structure of banditry. . . rather than the effects on the wider history of events in their time

In this class we are going to attempt to do more We need to know the make up of the people we study But also their position and impact in America

Why? I want to examine America through the idea of rogues and rebels for two reasons 1) to find out why America loves them 2) to find out if America has ‘progressed’ because of their actions

For this class I will use the following definition Rogue – someone who goes against society for no reason or for personal gain Rebel – someone who goes against society to correct a wrong within society

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Who are what are Rebels? John Smith Pilgrims Thomas Paine Nat Turner John Brown Jessie James 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Judith Murray Jane Adams HH Holmes Eleanor Roosevelt Martin and Malcolm James Dean and the teenager Ceaser Chavez

Rogues and Rebels Wednesday

Group work clarification Each group will present on one of the listed Rebels/Rogues That group will also turn in a written report on the day of their presentation If the Rebel/Rogue does not have a corresponding book I will supply some suggestion to the group I expect other people in the class to have read about and have knowledge of the Rebel/Rogue to enable a discussion

Groups Rogue/Rebel Presentation Group Who are what are Rebels? Whole Class John Smith Group 2 Pilgrims Group 3 Thomas Paine Group 5 Nat Turner Group 6 John Brown Group 7 Jessie James Group 8 Judith Murray Group 1 Jane Adams Group 10 HH Holmes Whole Class Eleanor Roosevelt Group 12 Martin and Malcolm Group 13 James Dean and the teenager Group 11 Ceaser Chavez Whole Class

Paper Clarification Research paper of 7 -8 pages, type-written and double spaced. Based on a Rogue/Rebel of your choice Paper must deal with the historical time period and the impact that the individual or group had on society Check your paper topic with the Professor before starting your paper.

To understand banditary and its history we must see it in the context of power That is control by governments of what goes on in the territories and among the populations over which they claim control The history of banditry Ø including social banditry Cannot be understood or properly studied except as part of the history of political power

Power to control increasingly concentrated in territorial or ‘national’ states Claiming and exercising power over everything that goes on within its boarders Power reaches down to interact with every person in its territory.

In modern world volume of information travelling and number of people make it difficult for American government to control all power If it could there would be no people in jail Inability to stop certain acts of behavior displays a similar gap between claimed and real power

But power limited by ability to maintain large and effective body of armed and civil servants an efficient system of information, communication and transportation These potential weakness of power contain the potential for banditry

Social Banditry For the law, anyone belonging to a group of men who attack and rob with violence is a bandit, Historians and sociologists cannot use so crude a definition. Social bandit : -People not regarded as simple criminals by the people

Power of bandits to operate is always, ironically, defined by the same gap that allows their creation. Eventually state power will react and either negotiate or crush Bandits have to come to terms with whatever centers of power are prepared to tolerate them or go under

Social Banditry Universally found wherever societies are based on agriculture and consist one groups ruled, oppressed and exploited by someone else Ø lords, towns, governments, or even banks 3 main forms Ø Ø Ø Noble robber Primitive resistance fighter Terror bringing avenger

social bandits state regards as criminals considered by their people as Ø Ø Ø heroes champions Avengers fighters for justice leaders of liberation

It would be unthinkable for a social bandit to snatch the peasants harvest in his own territory. Those who do lose the peculiar relationship which makes banditry ‘social’ In practice such distinctions are less clear than in theory

Modern agrarian systems no longer those of traditional peasant society and cease to produce social bandits except in countries of what has been called ‘settler capitalism’ = The USA, Australia, Argentina Settler capitalism exploitation by one country over another

Britain, the country which gave the world Robin Hood Ø the international paradigm of social banditry has no records of social bandits th after the early 17 C

And Now something completely different

Banditary becomes epidemic in times of pauperization and economic crisis more than able bodied men who take what they need by arms rather than starve. the resistance of entire communities or people against the destruction of its way of life

Unless It becomes the symbol, even the spearhead, of resistance by the whole of the traditional order against the forces which disrupt and destroy it. Or If the dream of every peasant for a society free from evil and oppression is awakened

What part if any do Bandits play in the transformation of societies According to Hobsbawm banditry itself is not a program for peasant society but a form of self help to escape it in particular circumstances However, reformist or revolutionary, banditry does not constitute a social movement

Friday

When banditry merges into a large movement, it becomes part of a force which can and does change society. But the results are not always what were expected This does not devalue their historical position or power however

To understand social composition of banditary look primarily at the mobile margin of peasant society Importance of age Ø Ø Male youth between puberty and marriage Before the responsibility of family life Men not integrated in society Ø Ø Ex service men shepherds

But possibly the most important type of person to contribute to the bandit category People who were unwilling to accept the ‘meek and passive social role’ “men who make themselves respected”

Friday Discussion

I want to make Friday a regular discussion day I want to spend a little time today organizing the structure of the discussion First I want you to individually think about and then write down: Ø Ø A) The best group discussions you have been in and why were they good? B) The worst group discussions you have been in and why were they good? Think about what factors made them the way they were they Ø structured, free flowing, did they build on previous weeks, did everyone have to speak etc

Now I want you to get into your groups Compare and discuss you individual answers Then I want each group to come up with three ideas/rules for the class discussion

Not everyone has to speak Ø Although you all can Use examples – from text or from your life that relate to discussion Ø Read the text Be respectful to other participants Be to the point Teacher to encourage not run discussion

Some start up questions What struck me most about the text we read to prepare was…. . The question I’d most like to ask the author is … The part of this weeks class that made the most sense was …. . The part of this weeks class that made least sense was ….

Not everyone has to speak Ø Although you all can Use examples – from text or from your life that relate to discussion Ø Read the text Be respectful to other participants Be to the point Teacher to encourage not run discussion