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Instructions for HITS This
is a theoretical interdisciplinary course which is based on a Neo-Mahanian
(modified social Darwinism) theory of the evolution of sea based societies.
Each student will conduct a study of the root or the roots of his/her family with the view of confirming, denying or
modifying the hypothesis as it relates to the particular family history of
their study. This spring class lectures begin at the dawn of the industrial
revolution and projects to the end of time. The end of time is defined as the
life expectancy of the youngest member of the class plus twenty-one years
(the lawyers rule against perpetuities). It is not expected that each student will have a similar or
parallel mastery of the many disciplines involved in the case studies and
analysis but the course is conducted on a graduate level through the
insistence that each graduate student carry out his/her analysis of the case
study at a sophisticated level as it relates to her/his discipline
(anthropology, oceanography. law, history, political science etc). The fall
semester covers the period from the dawn of civilization until 1850. The
spring semester covers the period from 1850 to a projection of the future
circa 2070. This year the course is taught on the Hawaii Interactive
Television System so there are substantial changes with respect to the
"Laboratory" sessions and the discipline of the course. There are
both undergraduates and graduates in the course at the 400 and 600 level.
Thus the differentiation is in the Laboratory sessions and the homework
assignments. The HITS session will take place at 1030 on Thursdays. A second session for students at Manoa will be held in room HIG 213a Laboratory sessions (one hour or more) will be open sessions from 0800 to about 1100 every Monday in Room 213a In the past it was easy for nearly all students to get an A. This year it will be difficult to get a C. You will have to offend the instructor greatly, but there will be a substantial difference between A's and B. How will this work. First there will be a weekly lecture which will appear on the web, all semester long. The web site is http\\www.aloha.com\~craven It is now the site of Craven who is aidentified as The Ancient Mariner On the index page at the bottom there is an icon of a mediaeval scholar. Click on that and you will enter the world of this course. There are two lectures already posted and more to come. There is lots of other pertinent stuff on the web but there is no requirement to browse. Each week each student may send me an email with a discussion and/or questions relating their land-sea configuration to the lecture. The weekly essay or report must not be clueless. Graduate students should include some sophisticated knowledgeable comments or questions which relate their graduate discipline to the lecture. At the end of the semester a report is submitted which at the minimum is the sum of the emails and at the maximum is a report that qualifies in competition for an honors paper. But there is no requirement for any student to produce any documents unless they want to. You are taking this course because you want to learn something about the Sea and Society and I am just one of your colleagues. I have absolutely no motivation to evaluate any individual on this planet much less students who are overburdened with rote replication of the instructors dogma. It will not be possible for me to respond each week but I will respond with an electronic essay. Now I will be going to neighbor Islands from time to time during the semester an I will arrange to meet with and have a field trip with the neighbor island students. There will also be at least two field trips in Oahu. All of this will be arranged on an ad hoc basis. But it is virtually mandatory that you send me an email to craven@aloha.com. If you do you will become part of my world. If you do not then you do not exist . |