War: Ancient and Modern

FAIN: AV-255505-17

University of West Florida (Pensacola, FL 32514-5750)
David Paul Ramsey (Project Director: November 2016 to March 2021)

Two semester-long colloquia for veterans and military students, and a preparatory program for discussion leaders.

This project will recruit and train three faculty("faculty tutors")and three graduate students("graduate tutors")by means of an intensive preparation program ("Summer Institute") in July 2017 at the University of West Florida (UWF). Following the Institute,tutors will work in tandem to facilitate discussion-based reading groups("colloquia") for veterans beginning their education at UWF. Each colloquium focuses on a theme arising from reflection on the experience of war. The colloquia focus primarily on two wars, the Peloponnesian War and World War II, but the curriculum also includes selections that touch on the Persian War, the American Revolution, and the Spanish Civil War. The curriculum includes work from several different disciplines in the humanities: history, literature, philosophy, and art. It includes one ancient and one modern text in their entirety. The curriculum as a whole is designed to introduce veterans to the humanities and improve their quality of life on campus.