Courses

This course examines the history of Europe from the Enlightenment in the 18th century to the end of the Second World War in the middle of the 20th century. It was during these two-and-a-half centuries that traditional European society—rural, agrarian, aristocratic, monarchical—dissolved in a series of political, economic, and social revolutions that led to the formation of the modern world. Students learn about the political and social thought of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of nationalism, the role of women in an age of separate spheres, the growing role of science, the First World War, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Fascism and Communism, the Second World War, and the Holocaust. Students examine the key events in European history which were most responsible for shaping the modern world. Students are also encouraged to consider the degree to which our current society is still a product of the ideas, debates, and controversies generated between 1700 and 1945.

This course explores all aspects of the history of Nazi Germany from Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s to his death at the end of the Second World War in 1945. Students examine the Nazi experience from as many vantage points as possible. The class explores the following: the Nazi seizure of power, the Hitler cult, the role of women in Nazi Germany, antisemitism, the Holocaust, Hitler's foreign policy, the appeasement policy of the Western democracies, the Second World War, and daily life in the Third Reich. Because many of the issues touched on in the course have their roots deeper in the German past, the class also spends some time examining the unification of Germany in the late 19th century, the impact on Germany of World War One, and the history of the doomed Weimar Republic (1919-33). The class also watches several films, including a documentary on the Holocaust and the infamous Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will.

This course explores the history of German cinema between 1919 and 1945. In the first half of the semester we will be examining the films produced in the era of the Weimar Republic, that decade and a half following the First World War in which democracy failed to take permanent root in Germany. Although associated with political failure, the Weimar years were a time of artistic experimentation, and the films of the 1920s and early 1930s reflect the social, political, and cultural tensions of the period. In the second half of the course we will turn our attention to the cinema created in Germany during the Nazi dictatorship. In Hitler's Germany movies were no longer simply entertainment; they also served as an important form of propaganda: glorifying the regime, creating a sense of national (and racial) unity, demonizing Germany's Jewish minority, and justifying an aggressive foreign policy of war and expansion. In the course of the semester we will be looking at horror films, thrillers, science fiction fantasies, dramas, musicals, love stories, documentaries, and action pictures. And all of them—even those intended as light entertainment at the time—convey historical lessons about how an open and democratic society could disintegrate and be overtaken by a ruthless and genocidal dictatorship.

History Topics courses enable students to choose from a variety of course themes that change each semester. Topics focus on a variety of historical periods and ideas. In History Topics courses, students explore the role of historical sources in the formation of ideas, as they examine various historical interpretations, debates, and methodologies. Students come to recognize that not all questions have simple yes-or-no, right-or-wrong answers. Students learn to appreciate and respect diversity and are able to identify bias in written and media sources used to document history. Individual course descriptions are available to registering students at berklee.edu/liberal-arts/courses/liberal-arts-topics-courses.

Throughout the history of world civilizations, many societies developed mystical and contemplative traditions that radically questioned the authority, hierarchy, and dogma of religious and political establishments. The mystics sought wisdom and compassionate action through cultivation of concentration, mindfulness, broader and deeper conscious awareness, and awakening the heart. In this course, we explore their teachings in three ways: through reading ancient texts, practicing meditation, and community learning, which includes visiting communities that practice these teachings. The texts include ancient creation stories such as those in the Hindu Rig Veda (India), and Hebrew Genesis (Israel); important figures such as Socrates and Marcus Aurelius (classical Greece and Rome), and Buddha (India); and contemplative traditions in Lao Tzu's Taoism (China), Buddhism (China, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Tibet), the Islamic Sufism of Rumi and Hafiz (Middle East), the Christian mysticism of Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart (Europe), and the Jewish mysticism of Kabbalah (Spain).

In this course, we will survey contemplative practices from different spiritual and secular traditions, exploring similarities and differences among the systematic ways humans have altered their attention and consciousness. With a focus on contemplative music, mysticism, and stories, we will look at traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Transcendentalism. Along the way, we will ask questions about contemplation’s relationship to: action and social change; community and solitude; time and space; the spirit and the body; and secularization and appropriation. Some assignments will ask students to reflect on their own attention; conduct interviews with members of local contemplative communities; and experiment with a contemplative practice of their choice, reporting on the process in a written or creative project.

The 20th century, often referred to as The American Century, was a time of turbulent transformation in which Americans were forced to rethink their political ideals, their commitment to social justice, and their definitions of art and culture. In this course, students focus on the big ideas in American culture that shaped the nation's history from the roaring '20s to the radical '60s. Students examine American music within the context of US history, studying folk music and the labor movement, modernism and jazz, and student activism and rock.