French President Visits Haiti

Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, is on a visit to Haiti. While his personal presence is largely symbolic, he has pledged aid for the ravaged country. His visit is a reminder of the continued ties France and other former imperialists have with their former colonies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8519835.stm

Spring '10 MIDTERM Instructions

I will post THREE questions on this blog and you will be responsible for answering TWO in essay form. Your response should be 3-5 pages and you should adhere to the same formatting guidelines that I have listed for your research papers. The questions are purposely open-ended to give you the flexibility to demonstrate what you have learned so far. You will be graded on how well your responses use evidence from the course readings and discussions.

You are strongly encouraged to discuss these questions among yourselves on this board. I will monitor the discussions and participate in them from time to time.

CLICK THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW TO ACCESS THE QUESTIONS

Tea Parties in 1950's France

This article by Robert Zaretsky, an American historian of France, shows some striking parallels between the current Tea Party movement and a short-lived populist movement in France.

Discussion Questions for Strayer

Montsegur, the site of the final stand of the Albigensians

Here are some questions that you should think of during your reading that will guide the discussion on Wednesday and Friday:

• What was Occitania? How did it differ from northern France in terms of social structures, economics, and culture? How were these differences significant in the Albigensian conflict?
• How did the structure of the church differ in Occitania? How did this affect religious attitudes and the willingness/ability of the local bishops to respond to the heresy?
• Who were the main players in the conflict? What were their motives? Describe the rivalries among the Occitanian lords.
• Why didn't the French monarchy get involved at first? Why did they get involved later?
• Why was Simon de Montfort so successful at the onset? What troubles did he face in the aftermath of his successful invasion?
• Why was northern France ultimately successful with the Crusades?
• How did the Albigensian Crusade strengthen the French monarchy?

Syllabus for Spring 2010

Link is fixed, sorry about that. I realized that it did not have the http:// prefix, and so the link was looking for a local file that doesn't exist.

http://faculty.kutztown.edu/ejohnson/h234s10.htm