HIST055

Description

Section information text: In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, students at Clark and other universities across America remarked again and again that "everything is different now." Nine years after al-Qaeda brought down the World Trade Center, however, many Americans question whether anything at all has changed, either at home or abroad. This first-year seminar will examine this apparent contradiction by placing the events of 9/11 into historical context. Among the questions we will explore are: Were the events of 9/11 truly unprecedented in American history? Were the American public and their leaders aware of the rising tide of Islamic extremism during the 1990s? How did al-Qaeda's assault on America affect Arabs and other Muslims living in the United States? How have civil liberties in America more generally fared in the age of the Patriot Act? How have the events of 9/11 been depicted in literature, film, and popular cultural phenomena such as interactive video games? Each student will be expected to undertake an oral history evaluating the impact of 9/11 on his or her own family and to participate in a collaborative group project examining how the events of 9/11 affected the Clark community. The class will also take a field trip to New York City to visit Ground Zero. History 055 carries an HP designation.