The Global Sixties (HIST*3440) | College of Arts

The Global Sixties (HIST*3440)

Code and section: HIST*3440*01

Term: Winter 2021

Instructor: Alan McDougall

Details

Method of Delivery: 

The class format will follow a mixture of asynchronous lectures (recorded and posted at the start of every week) and synchronous (i.e. real time) seminars.

Audio recordings of each week’s lecture will be posted on Courselink before each week’s seminars, along with lecture-accompanying PowerPoints. 

There will be two seminars (19 students each), which will meet in real time on Microsoft Teams (during the allotted lecture time, on either Tuesday or Thursday).

Course Synopsis:  

This course examines the political, social, and cultural history of the twentieth century’s most contested decade: the sixties. It adopts global perspectives to ask how and why the sixties mattered in the development of the modern world. A diverse range of themes will be covered, from the political controversies stirred up by the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, decolonization in Africa, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and 1968 to the social and cultural changes occasioned by the birth control pill, the Beatles, and television. Each week’s classes will focus on a single theme, combining a pre-recorded audio lecture with seminar discussions based on assigned readings (and sometimes viewings).

Methods of Evaluation and Weights:

  • Class contributions - 30%
  • Short assignments (x2) - 30% (15% each)
  • Essay plan - 5%
  • Essay - 35%         

Texts and/or Resources Required:

  • Gerard DeGroot: The Sixties Unplugged (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008).
  • Additional readings will be available on the HIST*3440 Courselink site.

*Please note:  This is a preliminary web course description only.  The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description.  The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.

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