Art historian Padma Kaimal performed classical dance for her India class, a core selection in the Cultures of Africa, Asia and the Americas . The Challenge of Modernity As in Core 151, students in the 152 course, The Challenge of Modernity , read from a selection of works written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the emerging modern era. W.E.B. Du Bois' The Souls of Black Folks and Friedrich Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals , students examine the social, political and human consequences that accompanied the scientific revolution, industrialization and urbanization at a pivotal period for the modern West. Response texts for 152 vary among instructors but include such readings as Cornel West's Race Matters , Richard Dawkins' River Out of Eden and Peter Saunders' Capitalism , as well as performances of American jazz and screenings of films such as the Carl Sagan story Contact . Calo explained that different instructors approach the material from different points of view.
Humans have the ability to resist or deny nature, and with that control comes responsibility.
I don't teach what is or is not moral, but rather the tools to enable students to sort that out given the pressures of modern civilization. As University Professor for the course, Calo organizes discussions where instructors explain their approaches to the course. It's one of the wonderful things about teaching this class. Modernity is not a clear break with history. But then the contemporary is not a clear break either.