Proseminar: 1968
Tuesdays and Thursdays – 204 Robinson Hall – 12:15 to 1:30
Instructor: David R. Applebaum, Ph.D. (Applebaum@rowan.edu)
Office Hours: Before and After Class or by Appointment – Phone: 856/256-4500 X3988
Reference Numbers - CRN: 41617 HEGIS: 22054292
(Prerequisites: Historical Methods or Special Permission)
This proseminar will study and analyze four (4) chapters in the history of 1968; the May-June
“revolution manquée” in Paris, the Prague Spring, the Chicago Riots, and the Mexico City
massacre and riots. We will use models of critical historical scholarship developed during the
events of 1968. There will be shared readings for all students. The last four weeks of the semester
will be devoted to “bottoms-up” student directed learning. Research proposals completed in the
proseminar will be accepted for work in the capstone research seminar I will be teaching in the
Spring of 2009.
Assessment and Evaluations
1.
2.
3.
Group Presentations – 40% of the final grade
Individual Research Proposals – 40% of the final grade
Comment and Critiques of Group Presentations – 20% of the final Grade
Required Texts
Mark Kurlansky, 1968: The Year that Rocked the World (2004), Paperback: 464 pages Publisher:
Vintage, New Ed edition (February 3, 2005) ISBN-10: 0099429624 ISBN-13: 978-0099429623.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative ISBN-13: 978-0233961064.
Vaclav Havel, Open Letters: Selected Writings, 1965-1990 (Paperback) ISBN -13: 978-0679738114.
Bettina Aptheker, Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a
Feminist Rebel (Paperback) ISBN-13: 978-1580051606.
Paco Ignazio Taibo, ’68 (Paperback) ISBN-13: 978-1583226087.
Case Study of Paris and France
Keith Reader and Khursheede Wadia, The May 1968 Events in France: Reproduction and
Interpretations (Hardcover) (1993).
Michael Seidman, The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968 (International
Studies in Social History – 2004).
Alain Schnapp and Pierre Vidal-Naquet, translated by Maria Jolas, The French Student Uprising,
November 1967-June 1968: An Analytical Documentary (1971). Madame Jolas was the widow of
Eugene (Joyce’s publisher), a “salonière” in Paris and one of my mentors in 1970. With Vidal-Naquet
and others – she was part of the community of scholar-activists who were the role models for my work
as a historian.
Films that interpret and analyze 1969 include Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin’s Tout Va Bien
(1972), Lous Malle’s May Fools (1990), Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003) and Philippe
Garrel’s The Regular Lovers (2005).
Case Study of the United States of America
David Dellinger, From Yale to Jail: The Story of a Moral Dissenter (Dellinger’s 1993 autobiography),
and his essays Revolutionary Nonviolence (1970) and Andrew Hunt’s The Life of a Nonviolent
Revolutionary (2006)
Bobby Seale, A Lonely Rage: The Autobiography of Bobby Seale (1978)
Abbie Hoffman, Revolution for the Hell of It (2005 reprint)
Jonah Raskin, For the Hell of It; The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman (1996).
Jerry Rubin Do It! Scenarios of the Revolution (1968)
Films to be viewed might include Brett Morgan’s Chicago 10 (Screened at Sundance in 2007) or
Spielberg/Sorkin’s Dreamworks production - The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Scheduled for release in
2
2008) or Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (a 1987 made for television film). The “7” “8” and
“10” inflect and reflect historiographical interpretations and different approaches to the “borders and
boundaries” needed to engage in critical historical analysis. .
Students will read selections from the “official story” in the report of the National [Advisory]
Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.
Students will consult and review the on line materials on the Trial of the Chicago 7 at the
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Chicago7/chicago7.html.
Case Study of Prague
Kieran Williams, The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics 1968-1970 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997).
Jaromir Navratil (Author), Antonin Bencik (Editor), Vaclav Kural (Editor), Marie Michalkova (Editor),
Jitka Vondrova (Editor), Mark Kramer (Translator), Joy Moss (Translator), Ruth Tosek (Translator),
The Prague Spring 1968: A National Security Archive Documents Reader (Hardcover). (April 2006 –
paperback).
The key films are Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Jan Nemec’s Oratorio for
Prague (1968). The key historiographical question: Was 1968 a “prelude” to 1989?
Case Study of Mexico
There are thirty (30) declassified documents in the National Security Archive relating to Mexico in
1968 (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB10/nsaebb10.htm).
Students will study and analyze the on-line resources on the events at the Latin American Studies at
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/tlatelolco.htm.
Students will view Jorge Fons’ Rojo Amanecer (Red Dawn) the award winning (Ariel – Mexican and
his historical interpretation (fictional) of the events.
The key historiographical problem they will address is “Were the events of 1968 a turning point in the
history of Mexico?”
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Proposed Schedule of Assignments and Topics
Date
September 2
September 4
ASSIGNMENT
Course Planning
Working Group
Planning/Organization
Kurlansky – Part I
Kurlansky – Part II to p
158.
Kurlansky – Part II to 253.
September 9
September
11
September
16
September
18
September
23
September
25
September
30
October 2
Kurlansky – Part III to 287
Kurlansky – Part III to 347
Research Team
Organization
Cohn-Bendit –
Students/Workers
Cohn-Bendit –
Students/Workers
Cohn-Bendit – State
Strategy
Cohn-Bendit –
Stalinists/Conclusion
Havel
Havel
Havel
October 7
October 9
October 14
October 16
October 21
4
October 23
October 28
October 30
November 4
November 6
November 11
Taibo
Taibo
Aptheker
Aptheker
Aptheker
WORKING GROUP
PLANS
Paris/France Working Group
Paris/France Working Group
Prague/Czech Working
Group
Prague/Czech Working
Group
NO CLASS
Mexico City Working Group
Mexico City Working Group
Chicago Working Group
Chicago Working Group
SUBMIT RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
November 13
November 18
November 20
November 25
November 27
December 2
December 4
December 9
December 11
December 16
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