Paris 1919: Self-Determination and the New(?) World Order

In the wake of the Great War (which we now know as WW1), the notion of self-determination, championed by the US president Woodrow Wilson, became an ideal of governance, spreading like wildfire across continents. It was received enthusiastically and reinterpreted creatively by former subjects of the defeated empires and those under the rule of the winners: middle class French suffragists, Black American activists, elite Egyptian women, Indians and the Irish under the British rule, warring Poles and Ukrainians, Korean students, Arab royalty, industrial laborers, and Zionists on both sides of the Atlantic. The shape of the new postwar world was to be decided at the peace conference in Paris and these groups (and more) demanded to be heard and listened to. Self-determination transformed how the contemporaries thought about empire, revolution, nation, minority, race, and gender. Paris in 1919 was the epicenter of the transformationThe course will use the creative methodology of 'reacting to the past' (LARPing but make it academic) to invite students to view history as experience. For three weeks, students will inhabit a historical character who was present in Paris in 1919 and debate the character's ideas in speeches and 'press articles' critiquing the other participants' ideas. The objective of using this methodology is the development of historical imagination (the ability to consider people and ideas in historical contexts and from the vantage point of their era) and critical empathy (the ability to analyze and understand the personal 'logic' of historical actors) as well as the crucial skills of public speaking and argumentative writing.