Interdisciplinary Arts 0276 - Sex & Death in America

This is a research course for intellectuals who are artists and artists who are intellectuals. The course has two goals. (First) To understand the Nineteen Twenties in America as an era whose excesses and preoccupations were nothing but a dance of death performed at the edge of a mass grave containing the bodies of seven million soldiers, and fifty million civilians, killed during the pandemic that followed the war. To carry-out their investigations, students will (1) sift through large collections of on-line archival photographs (for example: The Caufield and Shook Collection at the University of Louisville), and (2) read a variety of primary and secondary written sources (newspapers, novels, and biographies). (Second) To teach students how to find and use whatever array of primary written and visual documents they find to build image/text narratives that, like documentary films, tell true stories in artful and analytic ways. Prerequisite: Secondary school Advanced Placement (AP) American history and/or American literature. Or: Introductory/Survey college courses in American/European history or American/European literature.

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Multiple Cultural Perspectives Independent Work In this course, students are expected to spend at least ten to twelve hours a week of preparation and work outside of class. This time includes reading, on-line research, and the making and informal work-shopping of photo sequences. After mid-semester,the time devoted to outside of class research and sequencing will increase from ten to twelve hours a week to twelve to fourteen hours a week.