In Discussion this week students will have THREE options. STUDENTS ARE ONLY REQUIRED TO DO ONE OF THE THREE OPTIONS BELOW:
OPTION 1
Address the Discussion Topic provided.
TWO POSTS REQUIRED
Discuss ways in which the GI Bill and the rise of suburbia post-World War Ii influenced art and culture in the United States.
FIRST (MAIN POST–minimum 300 words)
Identify and explain at least two ways the GI Bill influenced American culture, art, society or literature–there is so much one could choose from. Please review the articles in the case study Post World War II: GI Bill, Suburbia and Pop Art for information and ideas. Or, one could discuss both the benefits and discrimination associated with the implementation of the GI Bill. If another student has already posted your idea–either develop it further or explain another way in which the GI Bill influenced culture, art, society or literature.
SECOND POST
Reply to the post of another student. Attempt to generate a dialogue.
OPTION 2
(MAIN POST 300 Word Minimum)
Describe the Civil Rights Movement in the United States as it emerges in the aftermath of World War II. What are some of the key events and influences? Do your best to explain using the resources provided in both the required readings and Additional Resources.
How do these events and this movement relate to you and current events today?
Second Post
Respond to the comments of another student.
OPTION 3
TWO POSTS REQUIRED
FIRST POST (MAIN POST)
Create YOUR own case study of a thinker, writer, artist or political figure whose work is related to the general theme of questions of meaning after World War II.
Your post should include:
A biography page: britannica.com pages are usually a good start. These are available among the databases in the GGU Business Library without ads.
At least two or three Sites or informational items about the person.
In your post 1) explain why you choose this particular person and 2) what you find most interesting about the person’s life, thought, or work.
Suggested thinkers are presented below (you may choose any writer, artistic, thinker related to mid to late 20th century thought):
Philosophy, Literature, Religion, Politics, Social Thought:
Mahatma Ghandi
Gendün Chöphel
Dorothy Day
D.T. Suzuki
Eleanor Roosevelt
Viktor Frankel
James Baldwin
Elie Wiesel
Martin Luther King
Zora Neale Hurston
Bertrand Russel
Simone Weil
Albert Camus
C.S. Lewis
Claude Lévi Strauss
Joan Mitchell
Samuel Beckett
Mao Zedong
Mark Rothko
Robert Frank
Jack Kerouac
Alan Ginsberg
Andy Warhol
Ralph Ellison
Romare Bearden
Kurt Vonnegut
(These are merely ideas. You may choose any thinker, artist, writer, leader or other person relevant to questions of meaning [broadly construed] post-WWII.)
SECOND POST
Comment on the post of another student.
OPTION 4
TWO POSTS REQUIRED
FIRST POST (Main post)
Offer your reflections on the different approaches atheistic existentialists and Christian existentialists take to the general question of the meaning of life.
This is not an easy topic. Do your best to work through how, say, Sartre would approach the question of the meaning of human life, and then consider, say, Niebuhr’s or Tillich’s approach. You may also discuss de Beauvior as well.
How would you approach this question? Did did you learn anything from the study of these existentialists?
SECOND POST
Comment on the post of another student.
550 words
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Please read the following Khan Academy article on Abstract Expressionism:
Khan Academy: Abstract Expressionism
Please view the following resources on various artists and abstract expressionism and the idea of ‘action painting’:
Khan Academy, Jackson Pollock:
Mark Rothco
Willem de Kooning, Woman 1:
Willem de Kooning, Woman, I – Bing video
Britannica: Action painting
https://www.britannica.com/art/Action-painting
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism
https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/simone-de-beauvoir
REQUIRED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2Y2cWme8c
REQUIRED (first two paragraphs): Beauvoir, Simone de | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu)
OPTIONAL: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/books/excerpt-introduction-second-sex.html
OPTIONAL: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/
5) Required: Read the following resources on Christian Existentialism:
Required: https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl_258/Lecture%20Notes/christian_existentialism.htm
OPTIONAL: Reinhold Niebuhr: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reinhold-Niebuhr
OPTIONAL: Kierkegaard
OPTIONAL: Tillich Resource
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (OPTIONAL)
Albert Camus
https://www.iep.utm.edu/camus/
https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/simone-de-beauvoir
REQUIRED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2Y2cWme8c
REQUIRED (first two paragraphs): Beauvoir, Simone de | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu)
OPTIONAL: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/books/excerpt-introduction-second-sex.html
OPTIONAL: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/
5) Required: Read the following resources on Christian Existentialism:
Required: https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl_258/Lecture%20Notes/christian_existentialism.htm
OPTIONAL: Reinhold Niebuhr: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reinhold-Niebuhr
OPTIONAL: Kierkegaard
OPTIONAL: Tillich Resource
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (OPTIONAL)
Albert Camus
https://www.iep.utm.edu/camus/
https://www.iep.utm.edu/camus/
Post World War II: GI Bill, Civil Rights, Suburbia and Pop Art
In this case study we will examine very briefly a few important social and artistic development in post-War America, notably, the GI Bill, the growth of suburbia, Pop Art, and well as the post-WWII beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
REQUIRED
Read the articles below in the following Khan Academy pages:
The GI Bill
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/postwar-era/a/the-gi-bill
GI Bill: African Americans and Women
African American Veterans and the Civil Rights Movement
Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement
Growth of Suburbia
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/postwar-era/a/the-growth-of-suburbia
Pop Art
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-american-art/popart/a/pop-art
