Syllabus—Fall 2008
Montgomery College—Rockville Campus
Concepts of Forgiveness
HP 251
TTh
Instructor:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Office Phone:
Office:
Texts:
12:30-1:45PM
Tülin M. Levitas
tmlevitas@gmail.com
Monday, Wednesday 4:00-5:30 PM
240-567-7430
Macklin Tower 415
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Chan, Victor, The Wisdom of Forgiveness,
Riverhead Books, 2004.
Madikezela, Pumla Gobodo, A Human Being Died That Night, Houghton Mifflin
Company, 2003.
Tutu, Desmond, No Future Without Forgiveness, Doubleday, New York, NY, 1999.
Reading hand-outs of selections from the following authors will be distributed:
Krog, Antijie, Country of my Skull, 2nd Edition, Random House, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 1999, 2000.
Minow, Martha, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, Beacon Press, 1998.
Ramose, Mogobe B., African Philosophy Through Ubuntu, Monad Books, Avondale,
Harare, 1999.
Shutte, Augustine, Ubuntu: An Ethic for a New South Africa, Chester Publications,
South Africa, 2001.
Brief Introduction
This course will introduce the students to the concept of forgiveness as it has been applied
by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. In their examination of this concept,
students will explore the sources of the concept, both by investigating its Judeo-Christian roots as
well as its African roots of ubuntu. Students will then be able to determine to what extent these
sources have influenced the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, and
in what sense the work of the Commission made it possible for South Africa to establish its
democracy and ensure the future of a unified society. Students will also need to examine other
alternatives that could have been used as a response to oppression, such as retribution, revenge,
Nuremberg style trials, or forgetting past history and moving on. Having examined these
alternatives, students will consider whether or not forgiveness was indeed the best alternative, as
Desmond Tutu argues, for all South Africans as they established their democracy on April 27, 1994.
Objectives
1.
2.
To understand and appreciate how the policies of apartheid violated the human rights of
the South African people.
To understand and appreciate the nature of oppression that existed in South Africa until
the establishment of democracy in 1994.
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3.
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To learn about the struggles of those who were oppressed in South Africa and the
consequences of those struggles.
To learn about the contribution of young people to the struggle against apartheid.
To learn about the effects that apartheid had on women, and how women dealt with the
violence that was inflicted on them.
To learn about the work that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did and to
critically evaluate that work.
To assess the role that forgiveness and amnesty played in establishing democracy
peacefully in South Africa.
To determine whether forgiveness does bring about justice, healing, and dignity to
victims of oppression.
To learn about both the benefits and the challenges that a decade of democracy has
brought to the South African people.
To ascertain whether the South African model of forgiveness and amnesty can be
adopted to end other cases of racial, ethnic, religious, or gender oppression.
Expectations
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Honors students are expected to produce a minimum of 30 pages (7500) words of written
work.
Students will be assigned three current events news projects having to do with cases of
oppression and the response to it.
The current events news project is an assignment designed to keep students informed
and up to date with current cases of oppression. Each news story will be submitted
to the instructor with a brief summary and thoughtful response prepared by the
student. For the purpose of this assignment, articles, reviews, reports, and editorials
all qualify as “news stories.” These stories would be from daily or weekly print or
on-line sources.
Directions
For these assignments, students would:
1. Clip or print out an original article describing a specific case of oppression.
2. Write a brief summary of the article.
3. Write a thoughtful response to the story, which should be at least one typed
page. The response should show that the student has considered the impact,
meaning, or possible reasons for or effects of one or more major aspects of
the issues discussed in the story. The student should also provide some
personal reactions in the response; these could be fully discussed throughout
the response or provided in the conclusion as means of summing up. Of
course, in the personal responses, students should delve into the reasons for
their reactions.
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Students will be asked to produce four to five journal entries expressing their reactions to the
reading material. In these journal entries, students will be summarizing the reading
assignments as well as critically analyzing and evaluating the reading material.
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Students will be asked to write a research paper exploring the concept of forgiveness
philosophically and its application as a method to resolve situations of oppression.
For the purposes of this paper, students should explore the database of the literature
written on the concept of forgiveness. The paper ought to reflect the student’s
critical analysis and evaluation of the material under consideration. These papers
need to demonstrate scholarly work so that they could be presented at the Honors
Colloquium and/or the Beacon Conference, which takes place annually.
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Students will make copies of their papers for the rest of the class and will present their
research projects to the class before their papers are graded.
Students will be evaluated on the basis of their participation in class discussions, and their
written work.
Students will also be asked to visit the exhibit entitled “African Voices” at the Smithsonian
Institution Museum of Natural History and to write a report on their visit.
Requirements
1.
Enrollment is limited to students who can meet Honors Program eligibility standards:
a. 3.2 or higher GPA.
b. B or A in EN 101 or 101A.
c. 12 or more academic credits at Montgomery College.
2.
Attendance Policy. Attendance is required at Montgomery College. Absences of more
than the number of class meetings in one week constitute cause for
dropping students from the course and/or assigning a failing grade.
3.
Late Paper Policy. Papers may be accepted late provided that students have a legitimate
reason and that they have the professor’s agreement prior to the due date
of the paper. Late papers without such provisions will be graded down.
Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on the basis of current events news projects, journal entries on the
reading assignments, class participation, research papers on the philosophic concept of forgiveness
and how effective it can be in resolving situations of oppression.
The current events news project will constitute 25% of the course grade.
The journal entries will constitute 25% of the course grade.
The report on the visit to the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History will
constitute 25% of the course grade.
The research paper will constitute 25% of the course grade.
Classroom Behavior
Students are required to attend every class and to participate actively in classroom
discussions—participation does count. Students must complete reading assignments before class in
order to participate intelligently in class discussions. Participation in class discussions must be
entered into respectfully and courteously so that learning can take place.
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Beepers, cell phones, and other disruptive devices must be turned off before students the
classroom.
Students with disabilities must have documentation so that appropriate accommodations can
be made to facilitate the learning experience.
Notes on Preparation of Written Assignments
Format
Papers should be typed and double-spaced. All papers should have wide margins to allow
room for my comments.
Writing Style
Papers should be written clearly and concisely. The rules of grammar and punctuation must
be observed. If your prose style is not clear, I cannot grade your paper as though it were. Clarity of
writing equates to clarity of thought and understanding.
Citing Sources
Ideas that are not your own must be acknowledged. When using another’s idea, either: (1)
quote exactly as written, within quotation marks, and cite the source, or (2) write in your own words
and cite the source.
Essay Form
The essay form requires a clearly stated and supported thesis, and a conclusion.
In developing your answers to essay questions, consider the following:
1. Relevance to the essay question. You must answer the question asked. Too often,
students address topics unrelated to the question asked. Be sure to answer all parts.
2. Coherent arguments. The arguments and facts in an essay should be like the ribs on a
skeleton—all clearly related to the backbone of the question. An outline is often helpful
in achieving a coherent argument.
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