European Studies 242 - Eur Intell Hist 20th C

(Offered as HIST 232 [EU] and EUST 242). This class will explore European intellectual history in the twentieth century, focusing on the important trends such as psychoanalysis, phenomenology, structuralism, and post-modernism. While studying thinkers such as Freud, Lacan, Heidegger or Levi-Strauss, we will pay special attention to how world-historical events shaped their thought.  How did European intellectuals react to World War I, Communism, Nazism, or de-colonization? How did they imagine a way out of totalitarianism and the assured mutual destruction of the Cold War? How did abstract ideas about the individual, freedom, or beauty develop in response to the historical circumstances in which they were forged?  Finally, the class will draw on local archival sources to highlight the thought of several influential European intellectuals who found refuge in the Five Colleges.  Two class meetings per week.

Fall semester.  Five College Professor Glebov.