I. Course Description & Purpose

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I walked into my “Teacher, School, and Society” class in the school of education knowing that it would be utterly absurd to try to have a regular class that day. Some two hours before, 19 Al-Qaeda hijackers had flown jetliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and into the Pentagon. As we all now know, a fourth plane, slated to crash into the White House or into Congress, had gone down in the hills of Pennsylvania. Thousands of people had died. My students were, to say the very least, stunned; a number of them were sobbing, the others were silent, grim. I invited them to talk with me and with one another about what had happened. We wound up spending several classes talking about the long history of conflict between and among the three great religious traditions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – the sources of that conflict, the rise of Islamic radicalism in recent decades, and a number of related issues.

Since that time, I have continued to read and learn as much as I can about the long history of inter-religious conflict and to apply my intellectual training to understanding the nature, origins, and consequences of that conflict. In addition, I am firmly convinced that this is a topic about which we all need to know as much as we can, not least because you – my students – and I will likely live out much of our lives in the wake of the holy war that was officially “declared” by Osama bin Laden some 15 years ago. The goal of this course, then, is for all of us to be able to think clearly and systematically – that is, sociologically – about these events and dynamics. During the course of the semester, you and I will draw upon the sociological theories, concepts, and methods you have learned in your work as sociology majors to make sense of and to fully understand the factors that have shaped and will profoundly influence our society and the larger social world for the foreseeable future.

N.B.: The course is a seminar: the general description and schedule of assignments, expectations, requirements, etc., follows in the sections below. However, I want to offer a few observations here, as well. The intellectual life of a seminar draws its strength from the dedicated work of all participants. Although I will do some lecturing, lecture, per se, is not the format or purpose of a seminar. Rather, seminars are a collective, in-depth, and good faith inquiry into a given topic, in which all of us are engaged. This means that you will need to: (1) do all assigned readings by the date that they are assigned (note: this means read, not “look over”); (2) write down any and all thoughts, questions, etc., that you want to bring to the class for further clarification, elaboration, and discussion; (3) be prepared each week to contribute to the seminar, in terms of observations, discussion, questions, and so on. As noted below, you will be evaluated as to whether your participation in the seminar constitutes a pattern of ongoing and thoughtful contribution.

II. Course Requirements/Texts

A. There are two required texts for the course:

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, by Bernard Lewis

Holy War, Inc., by Peter Bergen

As neither of these books is written by a sociologist (though both have strong sociological leanings), there will also be additional readings assigned at various points throughout the semester. The online syllabus for the course has hyperlinks to pertinent web sites and/or to public domain, full-text PDF (Adobe) files for these additional readings throughout the semester. Students will be expected to read, digest, and lead informed seminar discussions on, these original source materials, and – as explained below – will be evaluated, in part, on their abilities to meet these expectations.

B. It is possible to earn 100 total points in this course. As this is a seminar, there will be no examinations (however, see “alternative plan,” below); rather your scores will be based upon your performance on the following criteria.

1. Consistent preparation for and regular, meaningful participation in the intellectual life of the course, throughout the semester: 30 points.

a. Note: 8 of these points can be earned by completing short written assignments on pertinent topics. Each assignment is worth one point, and is described on the syllabus. Assignments are due for the following week’s class. No late assignments will be accepted.

2. A term paper worth 50 points, (10 of these points will be decided by a preliminary draft, to be submitted about 1/3 to ½-way through the semester – both the draft and the paper requirement are described in more detail below).

3. Lead a lecture/discussion: During the course of the semester each person in the seminar will, for one class, have principal responsibility for leading the discussion and analysis of one of the assigned readings for that evening’s class: 10 points.

4. Presentation of Term Paper: The last 2-3 seminar meetings of the semester (depending on enrollment), students will do a 10-15 minute (maximum) presentation, providing an overview of their research, and a cogent, concise summary of their key findings.

Alternative Plan: If it becomes apparent that you, the students, are not holding up your end of the seminar bargain – i.e., are not doing the readings in advance, not participating in the intellectual life of the course, and so on – I will institute examinations. I will give you one warning before switching to this alternative plan. If I wind up switching to “Plan B,” the grading structure will be as follows:

1. Consistent preparation for and regular, meaningful participation in the intellectual life of the course, throughout the semester: 15 points.

a. Note: 4 of these points can be earned by completing short written assignments on pertinent topics. Each assignment is worth ½ point, and is described on the syllabus. Assignments are due for the following week’s class. No late assignments will be accepted

2. A term paper worth 15 points, (5 of these points will be decided by a preliminary draft, to be submitted about 1/3 to ½-way through the semester – both the draft and the paper requirement are described in more detail below).

4. Presentation of Term Paper: The last 2-3 seminar meetings (depending on enrollment) of the semester, students will do a 10-15 minute (maximum) presentation, providing an overview of their research, and a cogent, concise summary of their key findings: 10 points.

5. Two essay examinations – a mid-term and final – worth 25 points each.

The preliminary draft referred to in #2, above, will be a 2-3 page, typed, double-spaced paper, in which you will provide evidence of serious preliminary efforts towards completing a more substantial work of scholarly sociological analysis. This draft will cover the following topics: (1) the subject you have chosen to study and how it pertains to the sociological issues we will deal with in the seminar; (2) the analytical approach you will be taking and why; and, (3) a complete list of some of the relevant references you will be using. The prospectus/draft will be due at the beginning of class on February 28^th. The early draft will be handed back to you, with detailed suggestions for improving your final papers, early enough in the semester that you will have time to make changes or select a new topic if the need arises. You will be expected to incorporate those suggestions into the final paper.

The final term paper itself will be 12-15 pages (including the appropriate references and end-note sections). The content of the paper should develop a sociological analysis of some issue related to the seminar topic. The analysis may (AND MUST) employ any of the major sociological perspectives we will be covering during the semester; you should draw upon sociological theories, concepts, and methods of research that you have learned over the course of your studies as sociology majors. The papers must present a coherent, well-organized, and carefully-written sociological analysis of the phenomenon you have chosen to study.

III. Due Dates, and Policies Regarding Absences, Late Papers, Grading, and Other Important Matters.

A. The term paper draft will be due February 28^th at the beginning of class

B. The final term paper will be due on April 25^th, the last class meeting of the semester.

C. You must notify me in advance if you have to turn in work late. If you do not, and you do not have a legitimate (e.g. emergency surgery) and provable excuse:

1. Late Drafts/Papers will be docked one letter grade for each day late

D. Grades: Your Course Grades will be based upon a standard conversion of the total points you have earned into a corresponding letter grade. (Because you can earn 100 points, your scores are your percentages.)

A = 93 and above B+ = 87-89 C+ = 77-79 D+ = 67-69 F = 59% or less

A- = 90-92 B = 83-86 C = 73-76 D = 63-66

B- = 80-82 C- = 70-72 D- = 60-62

E. Cheating, Plagiarism: All work – tests, papers – must be the product of your own efforts. Any attempt by a student to represent the work of another as his or her own is considered plagiarism. Plagiarism includes copying the answers of another student on an examination or copying or substantially restating the work of another person or persons in any oral or written work without citing the appropriate source, and collaborating with someone else in an academic endeavor without acknowledging his or her contribution.

Pay close attention to this definition, because if you are guilty of plagiarism you will receive an “F” for the entire course. It is not difficult to tell when a term paper or exam has been plagiarized, and I do take the time and make the effort to apprehend cheaters. Academic dishonesty is nothing other than lying and stealing; if you choose to lie or steal you will be treated accordingly.

IV. An Important Note About the Course: Especially in the second half of the semester, the material we will cover is politically and culturally sensitive, to say the least. I would remind you of, or tell you (if you’ve not had a class with me before) two vitally important things: (1) I am, as you all know, a sociologist; in particular, I am primarily grounded in the sociological tradition as articulated by Max Weber. As such, I concur with Weber’s position – spelled out in his classic essay, “Science as a Vocation” – that it is not my job to try to indoctrinate you, or to try to tell you what to think; indeed, I believe that skirts far too close to unethical practice. I do believe, however, that my charge is to show you how to think as sociologists do. What we think about, of course, are the origins, nature, and consequences of socially (and culturally) structured events in the empirically observable world. This brings me to the second point: (2) the controversial issues we will cover in the second half of the semester are observable responses and forms of social action brought into being in the wake of 9/11/2001 and the current war. As such, the point is not to attempt to validate one view over another, but to examine and think sociologically about these views, both as a consequence of empirical events and as empirically observable events in and of themselves.

Course Outline

Date	Topics/Readings
Jan. 10	Course Overview Readings: Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System”
Jan. 17	General Sociological Conceptions of Religion Marx: Religion as False Consciousness Durkheim: Religion and Social Cohesion Weber: Religion and Social Action Clifford Geertz: “Religion as a Cultural System” Isn’t “Holy War” an Oxymoron? Last Day to Drop/Add Classes Readings: Lewis, Crisis, Introduction and Chapter 1 Assignment 1: 1-2 page paper. Identify the Main Islamic Sects and the differences & similarities between them.
Jan. 24	Key Elements of Islam What is Islam? Who was Muhammad? The Five Pillars Core Beliefs of Islam Jihad The Qur’an The Hadith Muslim Holy Sites Key Islamic Sects Monotheism, Binary Opposition, & The Clash of Civilizations Film: “The Crusades, Part I” (History Channel Documentary) Readings: Lewis, Crisis, Chapters 2 & 3 Assignment 2: 1-2 page paper on the origins and goals of the Crusades.
Jan. 31	Monotheism, Binary Opposition, & The Clash of Civilizations (cont’d) The Crusades & the Holy Land (Historical Overview) Film: “The Crusades, Part IV” (History Channel Documentary) Readings: Lewis, Crisis, Chapters 4 & 5; Bergen, Holy War, Prologue & Chapter 1 Assignment 3: 1-2 page paper on the Ayatollah Khomeini’s role in the Iranian Revolution (1979): who was he? What were his goals?
Feb. 7	Monotheism, Binary Opposition, & The Clash of Civilizations (cont’d) The Crusades & the Holy Land (Historical Overview) The Iranian Revolution Film: “Terror and Tehran” (Frontline) Readings: Lewis, Crisis, Chapters 5 & 6; Bergen, Holy War, Chapters 2 – 5 Assignment 4: 1-2 page paper on the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: when did it happen? Why did they invade? Did they succeed?
Feb. 14	The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan & the Rise of the Taliban Film: “Behind the Veil” (CNN/Independent Documentary) Readings: Lewis, Crisis, Chapters 7 – 9 Bergen, Holy War, Chapters 6 – 8 Assignment 5: 1-2 page paper briefly describing each of the “Prior Warnings” listed for Feb. 21 class (immediately below)
Feb. 21	9/11/2001: Origins, Nature, & Consequences Prior Warnings Beirut World Trade Center I Embassy Bombings USS Cole Film: “Flight 175” (Discovery Documentary) Readings: Bergen, Holy War, Chapters 9 – end
Feb. 27: Last Day to Withdraw from Classes with “W”
Feb. 28	Causes of 9/11: Sociological, Cultural, & Religious Antecedents Review of Key Causes Film: “In Search of Bin Laden” (PBS/Bill Moyers Report) “Searching for the Roots of 9/11” (Discovery/Thomas Friedman) Draft of Term Paper Due
No Class Week of March 5: Spring Break!!
March 14	Consequences of 9/11 Overview of the Consequences Toxicity at Ground Zero Cover-up & Conspiracy Movements (Families of 9/11 et al.) Security & Civil Liberties Film: “9/11: Press for Truth” (Film: Family Steering Committee) “Toxic Legacy” (Discovery Reporting) Readings: Griffin, Introduction and Chapter 1 (on course web page) Assignment 6: 1-3 page paper briefly explaining what is meant by “New Pearl Harbor,” and one issue that drives the demands for a full, independent 9/11 investigation.
March 21	Consequences: Conspiracy & Cover-up Movements “The New Pearl Harbor”? The Trade Center Towers Film: 9/11 Mysteries: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6708190071483512003&q=9%2F11+mysteries
March 28	Consequences: Security & Civil Liberties Are We Safer? Is the Price Too Steep? Film: “Chasing the Sleeper Cell” (Frontline Documentary) “The Price of Security” (Discovery/Ted Koppel Reports) Assignment 7: 1-2 page paper summarizing the issues surrounding the detainment and treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib
April 4	Consequences: The War in Iraq The Causus Belli Advocates & Critics The Status of Prisoners Film: “The Torture Question” (Frontline Documentary) Assignment 8: 1-2 page paper identifying and summarizing criticisms of the role of non-military contractors and firms operating in Iraq.
April 11	Consequences: The War in Iraq Advocates & Critics Film: “Iraq For Sale” (Robert Greenwald Independent Documentary) Summary and Review
April 18	Student Presentations
April 25	Student Presentations Final Papers Due

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