Agenda+-+Day+Seven


 * Introductory Comments, questions**: 15 min

Activity One:

 * Introduction: "Fog of War" is a film that addresses an individual's experiences, issues, and conflicts that emerged during a lifetime of participation and engagement in wars of the 20th century. "On Killing" addresses the experiences, issues, and conflicts that individuals encounter as a result of killing other human beings in military conflicts. It is, however, difficult to imagine anything more distinct than McNamera's account of his experiences and Grossman's stories of the experiences of soldiers in the same wars. In her chapter "Animal Agression" Temple Grandin discusses aggression and provides a classification of seven types of aggression that she differentiates one from another. A question emerges as to whether the sorts of aggression that Grandin describes connect to human participation in modern wars and/or the elemental act of killing fellow human beings.
 * Recall a story from "On Killing" that struck you as particularly poignant or powerful and jot it down (one or two min.)
 * Recall a story, precept, or anecdote from "Fog of War" and jot it down. ( one or two min.)
 * Recall a concept, conclusion, or story from "Animal Aggression and jot it down. ( one or two min.)
 * Note differences and note connections. (5 min.)
 * Note the lessons that can be drawn from each and jot down your reaction(s) both intellectual and emotional.(5 min.)
 * Meet in small groups that Dr. T will organize. (15 min)
 * Discuss what you have written down.
 * Expand the discussion to what you have learned about the nature of war from the bio-pic of McNamera, Grossman's inquiry into killing, and Grandin's observations on aggression
 * Reform into seminar and summarize small group discussions (10 min.)

Activity Two:

 * Introduction: Next week is Spring Break which means that we are half way into the course. So far we have viewed and considered "@Dead Birds" and "Fog of War." We have read and considered substantial sections of The Iliad and On Killing. We have read Chris Hedges book: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and considered that source. Finally we've read the chapter on animal aggression fromTemple Grandin's book __Animals in Translation__
 * Expand your considerations to include all of the above and jot down lessons that can be drawn from each of them about the nature of war. (5 min)
 * Note the way that your own knowledge and/or views of war have grown or changed since the seminar began in January - jot these down. (5 min)
 * Meet again in small groups that Dr. T will organize (20 min.)
 * Reform into seminar and summarize small group discussions (10 min).

//For March 12, students should// //have a great Spring Break and avoid Darwinian dynamics - no class meeting//

 * // For March 19, students should: // **
 * Visit the wiki page On Killing
 * Read/review the sections of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's book listed on the wiki page.
 * Read the Interview with Dave Grossman that is also linked on the wiki page.
 * Note that the next written assignment is an Analytic Essay due March 26. I recommend that the topic of this essay should be the subject of your research project.