20th Century Intellectuals and Society
Professor Kornfeld
How can a thinking individual act in a world of political rupture, virulent nationalism, economic crisis, lies, and violence? In a seminar format, we will explore the dramatically changing responses of 20th-century intellectuals to challenges strikingly similar to our own. Three principal postures will be examined in detail: an initial desire of intellectuals to turn inward, manifested in the development of psychology and “modernism” between 1890 and World War I; a period between the wars of social and political activism by “engaged” intellectuals; and, finally, the search by intellectuals after World War II for a synthetic stance between isolation and cooptation. We will compare formulations of these roles in a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, physics, art, architecture, music, drama, and fiction. The seminar will culminate with individual research and group presentations on intellectuals and the Cold War, and intellectuals and post-colonialism around the world in the late 20th and 21st centuries. Requirements include active participation in seminar discussions, group presentations, and an individual research paper on an intellectual of your choice from anywhere in the post-WWII world. There are no prerequisites for the seminar, beyond a willingness to read/view and discuss some of the most exciting works of the twentieth century.
How can a thinking individual act in a world of political rupture, virulent nationalism, economic crisis, lies, and violence? In a seminar format, we will explore the dramatically changing responses of 20th-century intellectuals to challenges strikingly similar to our own. Three principal postures will be examined in detail: an initial desire of intellectuals to turn inward, manifested in the development of psychology and “modernism” between 1890 and World War I; a period between the wars of social and political activism by “engaged” intellectuals; and, finally, the search by intellectuals after World War II for a synthetic stance between isolation and cooptation. We will compare formulations of these roles in a variety of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, physics, art, architecture, music, drama, and fiction. The seminar will culminate with individual research and group presentations on intellectuals and the Cold War, and intellectuals and post-colonialism around the world in the late 20th and 21st centuries. Requirements include active participation in seminar discussions, group presentations, and an individual research paper on an intellectual of your choice from anywhere in the post-WWII world. There are no prerequisites for the seminar, beyond a willingness to read/view and discuss some of the most exciting works of the twentieth century.
Dr. Eve Kornfeld is Senate Distinguished Professor and Professor of History at San Diego State University. She earned her B.A. at Princeton University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in History at Harvard University, and has taught in Harvard’s History and Literature concentration, Princeton’s History and European Cultural Studies departments, and SDSU’s History, MALAS, Honors, and Arts Alive Collaborative programs. Her teaching and scholarship are interdisciplinary, transnational, polyphonic, and informed by post-colonial, post-structural, gender and critical race theory. Her books were published in the Bedford Series in History and Culture of St. Martin’s Press, and her articles appeared in the William and Mary Quarterly, Journal of the Early Republic, Journal of American Studies, Canadian Review of American Studies, New England Journal of History, Pennsylvania History, History Teacher, and the Journal of American Culture. She served on the governing board of the American Culture Association. She received SDSU’s Excellence in Teaching Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2017, the Senate Excellence in Teaching Award in 2018, the Exceptional Service Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences in 2021, and the Darlene Shiley Honors Faculty Fellowship Award in 2023.
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