Cultural Heritage II: The Present

Environmentalist Movement (1960s-Present)

            Minemata, Japan: Industrial Pollution by Mercury (1956)  

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962), DDT

            Endangered Species and Environments

            Global Warming

 

Collapse of Soviet Union (1991):

Geographic:

 

Political:

 

Economic:

 

Military:

 

Technological:

 

Literature and Art (Culture):

 

Individual Leaders:

 

Missed anything? 

Berlin Wall (1989) and German Reunification

 

The European Union, “the Euro”          

 

Civil Wars in the Balkans

 

The Rwandan Genocide (1994):  

 

Discussion?:  How can a global environmental catastrophe be avoided (particularly if the major powers do not abide by international protocols, and rising powers cannot industrialize without an era of heavy pollution)? 

 

Islamic Fundamentalism:

Israel

 

Western culture  

 

Western imperialism in Middle East

 

Pan-Arab imperial/nationalistic ambitions  

 

Economic strength of OPEC

 

International Terrorism:

 

Iraq, Kuwait, Saddam Hussein, and Desert Storm (1991), George H. W. Bush

 

U.S. Presidential Election of 2000 and the Electoral College, George W. Bush, questions of legitimacy. 

 

September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden (1957-):

 

 

Preemptive War, Unilateralism

 

Invasion/occupation of Afghanistan  

 

Discussion?: What other reasons are there for the Iraq War?  What do you think the average American thinks are the reasons?  Why do they think as they do? 

 

Postmodernism

            Cindy Sherman (1954-):

 

Michel Foucault (1926-84):  

 

The Internet (mid-1990s):

 

The Human Genome Project (1986-): entering the “posthuman” era? 

 

Discussion?: What do you think will be the biggest changes in your lifetime to come? Are you more optimistic or pessimistic? Why? Does history teach us anything that might help us avoid the worst possibilities? What do you think is the most consistent theme/lesson/pattern of the last 500 years?  What events in this course do you think people (if we exist) regard as most the important in 500 or 1,000 years?  

Do you have a better understanding of how the events of today originate in the past? How there are always multiple reasons for big events?  Do you find yourself interested in new things--developing little colonies of new knowledge?  Pausing to watch history programs that you wouldn't have watched before?  More exited about trips to other countries?  Feeling like you have more to say when you visit museums and old cities?  More ready to philosophize about ethics and politics?  Saying “yes” will make me happy!  J