National Humanities Center Professional Development Seminars

National Humanities Center ~ Schedule of Courses

Leader:

Thurs., Feb 2
4:00-5:30 pm Pacific

Register

Use promo code CSUC

The Role of Medical Care in the Civil War: The Hospital and the Battlefield
During the Civil War, in Northern hospitals men shot rats for target practice; in Southern hospitals they roasted them for lunch. The differences that lay behind that comparison offer insights into why the North won and why the South lost. This seminar will explore the best and worst of Civil War medicine to assess what role it played in the outcome of the War. To what extent can we say that disparities in such things as food, medicine, staffing, and cleanliness tipped the balance in favor of the North? How did treatment in the hospital affect combat on the battlefield? .

Margaret Humphreys
Josiah Charles Trent Associate Professor of Medical Humanities Duke University National Humanities Center Fellow

Thurs., Apr 12
4:00-5:30 pm Pacific

Register

Use promo code CSUC

Teaching Catcher in the Rye: Holden Caulfield and Adolescent Rebellion
Holden Caulfield is an unlikely rebel. The son of affluent parents, enrolled in (and expelled from) expensive prep schools, untouched by poverty or racism, he would seem to have it made in the booming 1950s. Yet he is estranged from his parents, teachers, and friends. For him the world is insincere and untrustworthy or, as he would say, “phony.” His downward spiral through “madman stuff” in Manhattan leaves him contemplating suicide. Why? And why did his story resonate with so many white middle class kids that they made it an American classic? What was Holden rebelling against, and what does his rebellion tell us about America in the 1950s and 60s? A role model over half a century ago, is he one today?

Grace Elizabeth Hale
Corcoran Department of History University of Virginia National Humanities Center Fellow

Thurs., Apr 19
4:00-5:30 pm Pacific

Register

Use promo code CSUC

Nation, Race, and Genocide
The study of 20th-century history provides us with an enigmatic contrast. Most casual American observers view the last century as a time of great technological and social progress. And doubtless, technological advances in medicine and transportation, social movements such as decolonization, civil rights and the women’s movement, and communications revolutions resulting in globalization improved human life in a number of ways. Yet, in stark contrast, the 20th century also stands out also as a century of genocide. Most scholars agree that 20th-century genocides cost far more lives than did even such epic conflicts as WWI and WWII. This seminar will examine exactly how genocides came to be such a defining element of the 20th century. In so doing, the discussion will focus on how two of the 20th century’s most influential ideas, the notions of nation and race, played a role in fostering one of the greatest forms of human evil. Specific topics to be addressed will include the legal and scholarly definitions of genocide, the history of genocide prior to the 1900s, an examination of selected case studies of genocide from across the 20th century and around the world, and an analysis of international efforts to eradicate the practice of genocide.

Johnathan Reynolds
Professor of History, Northern Kentucky University

Tues., Apr 24 and Thurs., Apr 26
4:00-5:30 pm Pacific

Register

Use promo code CSUC

Using Art in History and Literature Classes: What’s the Story? Parts 1 & 2
Works of art are rich primary documents that can enhance student understanding of American culture. This two-part seminar, a collaboration between the North Carolina Museum of Art and the National Humanities Center, will explore three American paintings — Christian Friedrich Mayr’s Kitchen Ball at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia (1838); Charles Felix Blauvelt’s A German Immigrant Inquiring His Way (1855); and Thomas Hart Benton’s Spring on the Missouri (1945) — to see what they can tell students about slavery, immigration, and the plight of the American farmer. In the first session the seminar will model discussion strategies that help students build observational skills and understand historical periods. In the second it will demonstrate how historical information can inform our understanding and interpretation of works of art. The seminar will also provide lesson plans that demonstrate how to integrate art into the teaching of history and literature.

Ashley Weinard and John Coffey
North Carolina Museum of art

Wed., May 16
4:00-5:30 pm Pacific

Register

Use promo code CSUC

Spain and Its North American Empire in the Eighteenth Century: The Other Revolution
The story seems familiar. A North American colonial empire, firmly established since the 1500s, is, by the 1700s, funneling great wealth to the mother country in Europe. The colonies are ethnically, ecologically, and geographically diverse. Slavery, an important part of the colonial economy, is widespread; yet some of the African-descendant population live as free people. Village-dwelling indigenous peoples maintain their community traditions, but along parts of the frontier nomadic tribes live beyond colonial dominion, and the relations between native inhabitants and colonists are tense at best, hostile at worst. By the mid-1700s the colonists are chafing under royal rule. Revolution is in the air. We are, of course, referring not to the British Atlantic seaboard, but to the Spanish empire in what is now the American Southwest. In the eighteenth century the Spanish, like the British, struggled to hang on to their North American colonies. How does Spain’s imperial crisis compare to Great Britain’s? Can we say the eighteenth century witnessed two American Revolutions?

Cynthia Radding
Gussenhoven Distinguished Professor of Latin American Studies Professor of History & Director of Graduate Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill National Humanities Center Fellow