"Bloody Conflict" US & Ireland 1968-1969

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Globally, the late 1960s were volatile and deadly. A decade that began with young idealism and revolutionary possibilities, ended with raised fists and the beginnings of violent terror. 1968 was particularly transformative. It was the year that Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated; the year that the Chicago Eight were arrested for conspiracy and inciting riots at the Democratic National Convention; the year that students across France brought the French economy to a halt; and the year that demonstrations in Northern Ireland demanding equal representation for Unionists and Nationalist escalated.In this course we will examine the political, religious, and cultural events of 1968-69 by exploring texts that were created during that period, and texts that have been created since to reflect the era. We will focus our attention on theatre, literature, music, and art created in the United States and Ireland that captures how class, generational, gender, and racial conflicts led to bloody violence.