Texts: McNeill, William H., Plagues and Peoples, 1976,
Preface Copyright 1998
Wills, Christopher, Yellow Fever Black Goddess: The Coevolution of People
and Plagues, 1996
First-Year Colloquium Handbook
Hacker, Diana, A writer=s
Reference, 3rd Ed.
Other Materials: Book and articles will be on reserve in the
library and will be used for
assigned reading..
Course Grading: Your grade for the course will be based on the
following criteria.
3 one hour exams at @100
300 points
Quizzes and short-writes
100 points
Research project
Oral Presentation
50 points
Paper
50 points
Time-Line
25 points
Class Expectations:
Class Attendance-You will be expected to attend class regularly.
Students find it difficult to follow what is happening when they develop
a habit of skipping classes plus a number of special activities will be
conducted in class in which you will be expected to participate. These
activities include pop quizzes, short-writes, and class discussion.
Preparation for Class-Reading assignments are to be completed before class because each day I will have some class discussion over assigned reading in the text or from articles held on reserve in the library. Some assignments will include web sites on the Internet. If you have questions over the readings or other materials assigned to you, please contact me by coming to my office or by e-mail.
Plagiarism- I expect the written work that you hand in to be your own. If you do use material directly from books, journals, newspapers or from the Internet, you are to give proper credit for these sources. Failure to site sources is considered to be an act of plagiarism and will dealt with as described in the Spartan-Q.
Guest Speakers and Videos-I will be using several videos in class and I have also invited guest presenters to help us with some of the class topics. You are expected to take notes during the viewing of the videos and during the guest lectures because the material will be covered in class discussions and during quizzes and tests.
Exam and Quiz Policy - Dates of exams are listed on the Class Calender included in this syllabus. You are expected to be present and on time for scheduled exams. If you should miss a quiz (quizzes are unscheduled) and you have an excused absence, you will not be asked to make it up. In such cases, a grade will be given for excused quizzes at the end of the semester; with the grade being based on the average scores on the quizzes that you did take.
Schedule of Topics
Aug. 30-
30th How Hollywood looks at disease
Sept. 1
1 Examples of human plagues
Starting to work on plague time-lines
September 4-8
A quick introduction to using the library
Plagues and Peoples-A look at the Preface and Introduction
Plagues and Peoples- Man the Hunter
Construction of plague time-lines
11-15
Plagues and Peoples-Breakthrough to History
Yellow Fever/Black Goddess - Anatomy of Plagues
A plague in Athens - Thucydides on the Peloponnesian War and plague
18-22
Yellow Fever/Black Goddess- Penumbra of Bacteria and Worst of Times
An introduction to the library resources - Clark Computer Center (25th)
Choosing your research topics
Camp Mack (20th)
25-29
Casting blame for disease - articles on reserve
Leprosy- An introduction - articles on reserve
Responses to leprosy
October 2-6
Bubonic plague - video and Internet
First Examination
9-13 Cholera - Yellow Fever/Black Goddess
16-20
Cholera - Yellow Fever/Black Goddess
India: historic focal point for epidemics - Jim Bishop
23-27
Fall Break on the 23rd
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis and the industrial revolution - Katherine Tinsley
October-31
Syphilis - Yellow Fever/Black Goddess
November 3
Origins of syphilis
Second Examination
November 6-10
Small pox - Yellow Fever/Black Goddess
Indian myth - reserve copy
Yellow fever and other hemorrhagic fevers - Yellow Fever/Black Goddess
13-17
Malaria - Yellow Fever/Black Goddess
Influenza
Influenza epidemic of 1918 - Katherine Tinsley and video
20-24 Thanksgiving Recess
November 27-
Emerging Diseases - Medical Doctor (?)
December 1 Oral
presentations
4-8
Remaining oral presentations
Course wrap-up
Individual research papers are due
11-14
Final Exams
LINKS TO INTERNET WEB-PAGES
Bubonic Plague
The
Decameron
Who
is Boccaccio and what is the Decameron?
Leprosy
History
of Leprosy
Correctly
Diagnosing Skeletal Remains
Biblical
References
Armadillos: Do They Carry
Mycobacterium
leprae?
Initial
Evidence
Gulf
South Research Institute
Summary
of the Evidence
Germ Theory of Disease
Louis
Pasteur
Robert
Koch
Cholera
Questions Over Smallpox Presentations