INTERNET ASSIGNMENTS

Operation Ajax: This assignment evaluates secondary accounts and a primary source, a leaked CIA report, about the 1953 CIA plot and coup that overthrew Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq and restored Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to power, asking you to evaluate the event on the basis of these sources.

What Would Muhammad Drive?: This assignment examines perceptions, images, and portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the US media in several steps, beginning with a backgrounder on the misperceptions and stereotypes Westerners hold of the Middle East (and vice versa) and then turning to controversies involving media portrayals of Arabs and/or Islam.

Reel Bad Arabs: This assignment examines the portrayal of Arabs and Muslims in Hollywood films by looking at excerpts of the work of Jack G. Shaheen on that subject and clips from a Porky Pig cartoon and two controversial movies, ending with a choice of topics for a brief write-up based on these materials.

 

The Commissar/Комиссар: This assignment relies on two excerpts from the controversial 1967 Soviet film The Commissar as well as two reviews of the film to examine themes and issues associated with the crucial formative stage of Soviet history, the Civil War era, 1918-1921.�� �К

Life in a Kommunalka (communal apartment): This assignment relies on images, snippets of Soviet literature, and brief excerpts from several films to illustrate life in a Kommunalka or communal apartment in the post-World War II period.

Apartheid on Trial: What do truth, justice, and reconciliation mean amid a history of white-minority rule over a black majority population?  This assignment addresses that question by comparing two well-known cases from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s: that of Stephen Biko, a popular black opposition leader killed by Security Forces in 1977; and that of Amy Biehl, an American college student killed in South Africa while there on scholarship in 1993.

Rigmarole Over Rigoberta: What do truth, justice, and genocide mean against a backdrop of violence and civil war?  This assignment draws on an NPR news report, book reviews and several news releases, and an online debate from The Chronicle of Higher Education to look at the controversy sparked in 1999 by the claims of anthropologist David Stoll that some of the details of the autobiography of Rigoberta Menchu are untrue.

Covert Action and the Cold War: This assignment utilizes declassified U. S. government documents from the National Security Archive to examine two major events of US policy toward Latin America during the Cold War.  Part I examines the planning and rationale for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, and Part II uncovers the covert operation to overthrow of Socialist President of Chile, Salvador Allende, in 1973, in the coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.

Soviet-Afghan War: This assignment draws on a very interesting primary source, a Handbook of Materials for Counterpropaganda Work published by the Soviet military for its troops in Afghanistan in January 1987, asking you to analyze the source for what it can tell us about that conflict.