INHABITING OTHER LIVES: REACTING TO THE PAST
FIU HONORS COLLEGE
Faculty: John Bailly, Gwyn Davies, Jose Rodriguez

ATHENS POSITION PAPER

FACULTY
Gwyn Davies
Department of History/daviesg@fiu.edu/DM 395A/305.348.3348/Th 15:00 -16:00

FOR ALL STUDENTS
The first paper should be c.3 pages long (a minimum of 1000 words). It should be written ‘in character’.

FOR INDIVIDUALS IN FACTIONS
1. You should convene a factional meeting ASAP for which the first order of business should be the election of a leader for each faction. Each faction should then discuss the allocation of papers for the first written assignment. In the absence of agreement, the faction leader will be responsible for allocating assignments…there will be no appeal against this decision.

2. The assignments will be divided AS FOLLOWS:

Individuals from each faction (allocated as per the distribution in parentheses) will prepare a position statement that reflects the CURRENT view of the faction on each of the following core issues:

i. Government Agency and the Electorate (2RD;  2MD;  2OLG;  2SOC)
ii. The Reconciliation Agreement ( 3RD;  1MD;  3OLG; 1SOC)
iii. Athenian empire and foreign policy ( 3RD;  2MD;  2OLG;  1SOC)
iv. Education ( 1RD; 1MD;  1OLG;  2SOC)
v. Social welfare ( 1RD;  1MD;  1OLG;  1SOC)

FOR INDETERMINATES
Unless your roles specify otherwise, you will prepare biographical sketches that reflect your own individual character’s background and political position. What role has your character played in the last couple of decades and what motivates his political agenda?

Whatever you are assigned, remember that this is not an exercise in purely imaginative speculation. Your character must be grounded in the social and political realities of the day and you WILL be expected to do some research into the type of background that your character is likely to have possessed. For example, an oligarch is unlikely to have been a naval rower in the past – poor citizens were recruited as thetes, and a radical democrat is unlikely to have been an exile in Sparta during the Peloponnesian War. Do not simply rely on material in the Gamebook to get by…any such paper is likely to receive a VERY low grade indeed.

This course does not require you to undertake a lot of written work so we expect your formal submissions to be of a high standard! Start your independent research immediately…you will not do well if you leave everything to the last moment. Also, the sooner you become established in your persona for this game, the better you are likely to do in the debates in the Assembly and the more persuasive you will appear.

All papers must be submitted both in hard copy AND through Turnitin.com. No exceptions. Late submissions in either format will be penalized.  NO MAKE-UPS OR REWRITES WILL BE POSSIBLE.