WAR AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

This course examines the impact of war on individuals and groups of people world-wide. Inquiry is central to the course’s presentation of war, as a topic of history and as a sociological event. Students examine universal causes of war and their universal effects on countries and the world, regardless of the time period or participants in a specific war, by examining the social upheaval and atrocities associated with war. Students will also explore the human condition during war as well as analyze the psychology of all involved in war and how war affects the world, in the past and in the modern world today. Video, historical literature and selections from various time periods, in both World and U.S. History, offer the student deeper experience and empathy for those affected by the horrors of war, as well as for those who perpetuate it. Use of primary and secondary sources within an inquiry model will serve as the catalyst for much class discussion and research. Ongoing research papers and presentations will serve as the core assessments in the course.