General Information

Attendance

This course focuses on developing the ability to read critically, listen attentively, and construct knowledge from the readings and through conversations with other members of the class in both spoken and written discourse. Consequently, the most basic requirement for this course is attending the class sessions.

The attendance policy reflects national norms based on data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Full-time employees on average receive eight days of paid sick leave per year. The semester consists of approximately sixteen weeks, or one third of a year, so you may miss up to three class meetings for whatever reason without penalty. For each session you miss after those three allowed absences, I will subtract three points from your attendance grade. So, for the fourth time you miss class, your attendance grade will go down to ninety-seven from one hundred. Your grade for attendance will account for ten percent of your final grade.

Students my be excused to participate in university-sanctioned activities such as athletic competitions if they inform me in advance and provide documentation of the absence from the coach or faculty sponsor.

Students will, however, be responsible for the material we cover in class during their absence.

Discussions

This course seeks to develop “proficiency in verbal and analytical skills” and to “promote intellectual openness” and an “informed and compassionate understanding of social and human relations.” To this end, everyone must contribute substantively to the discussions that take place during class.

Contributing to those discussions will require you to

1. Engage thoughtfully with the reading before coming to class
2. Have access to a copy of the text and your notes during the discussion
3. Listen carefully and respectfully to what other members of the class say
4. Express your ideas clearly, concisely, and politely
5. Support your views with appropriate evidence and references to the readings

Our study of slavery in the ancient will involve the careful and thoughtful examination of documentary evidence in ancient sources, which will represent examples or “cases” that will contribute to our overall understanding of slavery in different cultural contexts and historical periods. All of us in the course will work through the assigned readings and come to class prepared to

1. Share an impression or observation about the text (i.e., the case), cultural or historical context of the document or artifact, or the observations we have made (You must support your impressions and observations with specific reference to the texts.)
2. Pose at least one question, which may be related to the text, cultural context, or the observations we have made.

All the participants in the class will have a number, based on alphabetical order. At the beginning of class, random.org will generate six numbers. The first number will designate the team manager, who will help orchestrate the activities of the class, for example, by consulting online information to supplement the conversations, taking attendance, and recording questions or points to which the class will return in the future, or issues that the class should investigate further. The manager will also help address any technical matters and monitor the chat room and list of participants. The other five numbers will designate the members of the class who will share their observations and pose questions to facilitate the investigation and discussion of the text.

Cultural note: using a random number generator is the modern equivalent of ancient lottery systems, which allowed the supernatural forces of the kósmos to exert an influence in the affairs of human beings. One example comes from the Hebrew Bible when Samuel uses a lottery to select Saul as the first monarch of the Israelites (1 Samuel 10:17-24). Another comes from the depiction of the Trojan War in the Iliad when the Achaeans select a warrior to answer the challenge of Hector (7.67-192).

It is possible that random.org selects the same number more than once. We will discard duplicates to ensure that at least five members of the class can present their findings. Those whose number is selected, who are in attendance, and present their observations and pose their questions, will receive one point of extra credit, which they may apply to their grade on the examinations or project. Participants whose number is selected and are present but are not prepared to offer their observations will be counted absent for that class.

You must be visually present, i.e., have your camera on. If the other members of the class cannot see you, you will not be counted present for the class.

We will occasionally take other approaches to our study, which might involve debates and working in small groups. For every class, regardless of the format, we will observe a professional decorum and comply with the following guidelines:

1. You must be on time.
2. You MUST have the texts we are discussing at hand. This is an absolute and non-negotiable rule for our colloquia. Athletes do not go to practices or a games without their required gear, e.g., shoes; carpenters, plumbers, and electricians do not show up for work without their tools; musicians do not attend rehearsals and performances without their instruments. All of the assigned texts are will be available to you electronically. They are also available in multiple formats from a variety of vendors and repositories, such as libraries.
3. You MUST have a notebook dedicated to this class and the tools you need to record your thoughts in the notebook (e.g., pencils or pens). You may not take notes by typing on a keyboard. The act of typing not only disrupts the conversation it is also yields fewer cognitive benefits. (For more on this, see Mueller and Oppenheimer 2014.) You must record your notes and observations by hand in your notebook.
4. Because a majority of our class meetings will take place online, we all need to observe a set of guidelines for making our experience as productive as possible. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more businesses were making us of online meetings, and the trend toward meeting and collaborating online will only accelerate as a consequence of our recent experiences. Consequently, we will follow a set of guidelines compiled by Betsy Morris and outlined in an article, “Seven Rules of Zoom Meeting Etiquette from the Pros,” which appeared in the July 12, 2020 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Those rules (in slightly abbreviated form) are:
   • Do not Be Late. Video meetings make it obvious when colleagues show up late, wasting the time of those who log in promptly. A rule of thumb: There’s no need to recap for a late arrival.
   • Turn on the Camera. Avatars and stock photos are no longer acceptable stand-ins at many workplaces. They’re difficult to take seriously and make everybody wonder what you’re up to. Even for introverts, even on bad hair days, it’s important to show up in person. If you are not present and visible, you will counted absent. [Let me add that you should be sitting at a desk or table just as you would in a classroom. You should also be appropriately dressed just as you would if you were here on campus.]
   • Sit Still. Don’t pace. Colleagues stop listening because they’re watching you. If you need to change location, don’t just grab the laptop and go, making everybody else feel like they’re on a wild amusement ride. Turn off the video momentarily so you don’t make them dizzy.
   • No Eating. Don’t eat on a video call. [We will observe the protocol appropriate to the behavior of teams during a competition or musicians during a performance. Having access to a beverage is appropriate. Consuming food of any type is not.]
   • Develop the Skill of Productively Interrupting. Conventional wisdom has been: Don’t interrupt. But that makes it too easy for grandstanding by the so-called loudest voice in the room. Asking permission to talk via chat or raising your hand is awkward. Those moves make it impossible to achieve what’s becoming the ultimate video chat: when everybody in attendance forgets they’re meeting remotely. Video gamers know how to volley through conversations naturally. They anticipate and watch for signals; coming off mute means “I’m about to say something.” A good moderator is also a gatekeeper, drawing people into the conversation or giving them the hook. [As noted below, members of the colloquia will have roles to ensure that our discussions are as productive as possible.]
   • Close the Office Door. Turn off your phone. Stop notifications and Twitter alerts. Arrange for family to stay out of the way. At many places, pets and children are no longer the cute intrusions they were in the early days of the pandemic. Nobody wants to hear a housemate in the background unloading a dishwasher. [We cannot always “close the office” door, but the idea is sound, and we should make the effort to minimize distractions. This also includes non-static backgrounds, i.e., those that change and distract the viewer, for example, the scene of palm trees waving in the background.]
   • Do not Multitask. It’s really tempting. It’s also really obvious. [This is vital. You should put your phones away, close all other applications and windows, so you can focus on what the other members of the colloquium have to say.]
5. Unless there is some emergency you should plan on remaining online in our Zoom meeting for the full fifty-minute period.

Please bear in mind that the time we spend in the class will never be sufficient to address the full range of ideas, topics, and concerns that will arise from engaging with the materials we study.

Preparation

Properly preparing for class will require you to spend two hours each night Sunday through Thursday. You can increase the productivity of these periods of study by following these guidelines:

1. Since your preparation will involve writing, study sitting down at a desk with adequate space for your books and journal and sufficient lighting. (Natural is better than artificial light.) DO NOT study in bed or while lying down on a couch.
2. Eliminate distractions. You cannot concentrate on more than one task at a time. In other words, attempting to “multitask” is nothing more than sequentially switching your focus from one task to another. This switching back and forth actually diminishes one’s ability to perform any of the individual tasks. Therefore, you cannot pay attention to what is happening on television, for example, and engage with a text at the same time. Isolate yourself from social media, email, telephone conversations, and videoconferencing. That means, essentially, putting your electronic devices into “airplane” mode during your study sessions.
3. Establish a routine and ask your friends and members of your family to avoid contacting you during your study sessions. Likewise, do not contact or disturb others during their periods of study.

Engaging thoughtfully with the readings during these study sessions typically includes such activities as

1. Marking the text (underlining, highlighting)
2. Annotating the text with observations, explanatory notes, and cross-references to other passages and texts. These annotations may appear in the margins of the text, on pages at the beginning or end of the text, or in another document such as your project notebook.
3. Writing brief summaries of the readings and outlines of the arguments.

Recording your ideas and questions is as important as conceiving and developing them.  You should not be under the impression that you can productively study the materials, effectively participate in the discussions, and perform successfully on the examinations without recording your observations, questions, and responses to the questions and perspectives of others. It is a way to organize and clarify your thoughts. (This process is vital for your cognitive development. See Karpicke 2012.) Your contributions to the discussions during every colloquium will come from what you have WRITTEN in your notebook, and you can expect me from time to time to ask you to READ or SEND me AN IMAGE of what you have recorded. Consequently, you must document your scholarly work for this course in a notebook.

Examinations

There will be a 50-minute midterm, which will be available after class (at 4:00 pm) on Monday, October 3. You will have until 1:00 pm on Wednesday, October 5, to submit your responses. The midterm will account for fifteen percent of your final grade. The final examination will be available on Thursday, December 8, at 5:00 pm. Your responses will be due by the end of the scheduled examination period at 7:00 pm on Friday, December 9. The final examination will be worth twenty-five percent of your final grade.

Project

The project will involve comparing the experiences of “modern” enslaved person, i.e., one who lived sometime between the beginning of the seventeenth century and the present, with one or more examples from the ancient world. This comparison will necessarily involve a discussion of similarities and differences and the careful, critical use of sources. It will be due at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, December 6.

Summary of Graded Components

For each of the following components, you will receive a grade of one to one hundred, which will then contribute to the final semester grade in the following percentages:

Tentative Schedule

Important Dates

• Wednesday, October 5 at 1:00 pm: Midterm examination due
• Friday, October 14: Midterm grades are due
• Friday, November 11: last day to add/drop a course
• Tuesday, December 6: Final projects are due (by 11:59 pm)
• Friday, December 9 at 7:00 pm: Final examination due

Selected Bibliography

The following materials are among those we will consult during our study of slavery in the ancient world.

Austin, M. M. and Vidal-Naquet, P. (1977). Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece: An Introduction. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bradley, K. R. (1987). Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Davis, David Brion (1966). The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

_______ (2006). Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Finley, M. I. (1980). Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.

_______ (1981). Economy and Society in Ancient Greece. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Ltd.

Garnsey, Peter (1996). Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Patterson, Orlando (1982). Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

_______ (1991). Freedom. Volume I: Freedom in the Making of Western Culture. New York: Basic Books.

Rotman, Youval (2009). Byzantine Slavery and the Mediterranean World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Urbainezyk, Theresa (2008). Slave Revolts in Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Wiedemann, Thomas (1981). Greek and Roman Slavery. London: Routledge.

Resources and Policies

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. Post your questions in the discussion forum. I will check this forum at least twice a day between 9am and 5pm Eastern Standard Time on business days during the semester and respond so that everyone in the class can see my answers. Save any private concerns for email. My office hours are listed above, or email me to set up an appointment in person or via Google hangout. Also take advantage of the resources available at the Writing Center, which has resources and tutors to assist you. http://www.coas.howard.edu/writingcenter/

“Writing Matters”:

Writing is an essential tool for thinking and communicating in virtually every profession. Therefore, in this course I expect you to produce writing that is not only thoughtful and accurate, but also organized, clear, and consistent with the rules of Standard English. If your writing does not meet these standards, I may deduct points or ask you to revise. For assistance with your writing, go to the student section of the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) website http://www.cetla.howard.edu/wac/students.aspx

Center for Academic Excellence

The Center for Academic Excellence provides tutors to assist undergraduates with a variety of subjects. You can request a tutor online (undergraduatestudies.howard.edu/cae/tutor-clearinghouse). The center also provides academic counselors and student success workshops to help you stay in school and excel.

Incomplete Grades and Withdrawals:

The last day to withdraw from this course is Friday, November 11. An incomplete will be considered only if a student has completed 70% of the coursework with a passing grade, and only in cases of extreme emergency or unusual circumstances that the instructor feels would warrant an extension. If an incomplete is granted, a temporary grade of IF will be entered. The student will establish a schedule to make up the work with the instructor, and it will be the student’s responsibility to abide by that schedule.

Disability disclosure statement:

Howard University is committed to creating an accessible, inclusive, and safe learning environment for all students and providing equal access to students with documented disabilities. Students seeking reasonable accommodation must first register with the Office of Student Services (OSS). There you can engage in a confidential conversation about the process for requesting reasonable accommodations in the classroom and clinical settings, which the Office of Student Services (OSS) determines. Accommodations must be requested each semester. Accommodations are not provided retroactively. If you want to request accommodations, please contact OSS via email at oss.disabilityservices@howard.edu or visit https://howard.edu/disability-services.

Statement on interpersonal Violence

Howard University’s Policy Prohibiting Sex and Gender-Based Discrimination, Sexual Misconduct and Retaliation (aka, the Title IX Policy) prohibits discrimination, harassment, and violence based on sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or marital status. With the exception of certain employees designated as confidential, note that all Howard University employees – including all faculty members – are required to report any information they receive regarding known or suspected prohibited conduct under the Title IX Policy to the Title IX Office (TitleIX@howard.edu or 202-806-2550), regardless of how they learn of it. For confidential support and assistance, you may contact the Interpersonal Violence Prevention Program (202-836-1401) or the University Counseling Service (202-806-7540). To learn more about your rights, resources, and options for reporting and/or seeking confidential support services (including additional confidential resources, both on and off campus), visit titleix.howard.edu.

Statement on Academic Freedom:

Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Intellectual Freedom and Responsibility and Student Rights available at the following link:

http://www.howard.edu/policy/academic/codeofconduct.htm

Howard University affirms that the central purpose of a university is the pursuit of truth, the discovery of new knowledge through scholarly research, the teaching and overall development of students and the transmission of knowledge and learning to the world at large. The establishment and maintenance of a community where there is freedom to teach and to learn, however, is dependent on maintaining an appropriate sense of order that allows for the pursuit of these objectives in an environment that is both safe and free of invidious disruption.

Policy on Academic Honesty:

The following statement is quoted from the Academic Code of Conduct available at the following link:

http://www.howard.edu/policy/academic/student-conduct.htm

Howard University is a community of scholars composed of faculty and students both of whom must hold the pursuit of learning and search for truth in the highest regard.  Such regard requires adherence to the goal of unquestionable integrity and honesty in the discharge of teaching and learning responsibilities.  Such regard allows no place for academic dishonesty.  To better assure the realization of this goal any student enrolled for study at the University may be disciplined for the academic infractions defined below.

Definitions of Academic Infractions

Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person’s labor, another person’s ideas, another person’s words, another person’s assistance. Normally, all work done for courses—papers, examinations, homework exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations—is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting other resources—journals, books, or other media—these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the course. It is the instructor’s responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from other sources—suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language—must be cited. Failure to cite borrowed material constitutes plagiarism. Undocumented use of materials from the World Wide Web is plagiarism.

Academic cheating is, generally, thwarting or breaking the general rules of academic work or the specific rules of the individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor’s approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one’s own or another’s work; or actually doing the work of another person.

Students must assume that all graded assignments, quizzes, and tests are to be completed on their own unless otherwise noted in writing in this syllabus. I reserve the right to refer any cases of suspected plagiarism or cheating to the University Disciplinary Committee, and to assign a grade of “F” or “0” (zero points) for the assignment or for the course itself, if deemed necessary.

Any academic infraction in this course will result in a failing grade for the course.

Emendations

August 27: Explanation of the protocol for discussions emended to note that participants whose number is selected must be in attendance and present their observations and question to receive extra credit.

September 15: The section on participation was emended to maximize the opportunities for participants to receive extra credit and clarify the outcome for participants who are present but unprepared to contribution to the discussion.

November 29: Due date for the final project moved to Tuesday, December 6.