2002
List of Universities and Syllabi
Tufts University"Cultural Legacies of the Atomic-Bomb"
All students in all Schools
Steve Cohen
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:15-2:30, Wednesday 10:30-12:00 or by appointment
Hosea Hirata
Office Hours: Monday 10:00-12:00 or by appointment
Almost every Friday, 11-11:30, both of us will be in Olin 302. If you’d like to see both of us, come knocking on my door around that time.
Writing Fellows: Jamila Moore, Tom Chen, Laura Horwitz
- Bird, Kai, and Lifschultz, Lawrence, Hiroshima’s Shadow
- Hersey, John, Hiroshima
- Greene, Bob, Duty
- Duras, Marguerite, Hiroshima Mon Amour
- Chang, Iris, The Rape of Nanking
- Ibuse, Masuji, Black Rain
- Frayn, Micheal, Copenhagen
- Ronald Takaki, Hiroshima
A packet of xeroxed readings is available from Gnomon Copy, 348 Boston Ave. in Medford. Gnomon Copy is open from 8 AM until 6 PM, Monday through Friday.
Recalling the testing of the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Director of the Los Alamos laboratory that produced the bomb, remarked:
We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita…’ I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.
The atomic bomb changed the world forever. Through an exploration of literature, photographs, film, history, the popular press, and documentaries, this interdisciplinary course will consider the lasting political, social, cultural, scientific, and ethical legacies of that event on our everyday lives.
The course will begin with an investigation of the situation in 1945. The decision to use the atomic bomb will receive a great deal of attention and will be the subject of a great many readings and discussions.
The legacies, of course, follow from that decision and need to be studied with a deep understanding of that event.
- Conspicuous attendance is required in this course. Having two instructors and long class period in which to discuss readings, view films, and raise essential questions only make sense if, in fact, all of us come together to do those things.
- Short weekly writing assignments (journal) will be due in class nearly every week. These will be opportunities to reflect on the reading and the class discussion.
- Two essays will be assigned this semester. One essay, assigned on September 16, will have a rough draft due on September 27 (to be read by the Writing Fellows). The final version of that paper will be due on October 7. The second essay (project) will be assigned on October 15 and will handed in to the Writing Fellows on November 22. The final version of that essay / project will be due on December 11.
- Participate in the virtual classroom through the Internet.
This is an opportunity to discuss various issues with some Japanese students (in English) studying at Hiroshima Shudo University.
First paper: 25%
Second paper: 30%
Journal: 25%
Class participation: 20%
For our next meeting, Monday September 16, please read the articles by Dower and Dunne, and the excerpt from the Munson report. Both will be found in your reading pocket. Start reading Takaki’s Hiroshima.
9/9(M) | Introduction Video: Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1945 (17mins)(VC3893) |
9/11(W) | Video: A Personal Matter: Gordon Hirabayashi vs. the US(30mins)(VC2988) |
9/16(M) | Was Racism Involved? Reading Assignment
First paper assignment distributed |
9/18(W) | Video:
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9/23(M) | Science and Atomic Bomb Reading Assignments:
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9/25(W) | Video: Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was dropped with Peter Jennings (67mins)(VC256) |
9/27(F) | First paper draft due to the Writing Fellows |
9/30(M) | Why were the bombs dropped? It was necessary. Reading Assignments:
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10/2(W) | Video: Barefoot Gen (83mins)(1983)(DV159) |
10/7(M) | The Early Controversy Reading Assignments:
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The first paper due | |
10/9(W) | Video: After the Cloud Lifted: Hiroshima’s stories of recovery (VC3898) |
10/15(T) | Why were the bombs dropped? Reading Assignments:
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10/16(W) | Video: The Day after Trinity (88mins)(1980)(VC490) |
10/21(M) | Literature of the Atomic Bomb Reading Assignments:
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10/23(W) | Video: Black Rain(VC2052) |
10/28(M) | Literature of the Atomic Bomb Reading Assignments:
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10/30(W) | Video: Hiroshima Mon Amour (VC515) |
11/4(W) | Survivor’s Guilt: Hiroshima as Seduction Reading Assignments:
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11/6(W) | Video: Dr. Strange Love (DV18) |
11/13(W) | Video: On the Beach (VC2431) |
11/18(M) | Our Friend the Atom Reading Assignments:
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11/20(W) | Video: The Atomic Cafe (LD192) |
11/22(F) | The Second Paper draft due to the Writing Fellows |
11/25(M) | Fall Out Fever Reading Assignments:
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12/2(M) | Enola Gay Controversy Reading Assignments: Bird, Hiroshima’s Shadow: Section IV: “Censoring History at the Smithsonian” Guest Lecturer: Professor Martin Sherwin |
12/4(W) | Video: Akira (LD96) |
12/9(M) | Now That? Reading Assignments:
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