PITC 314 Post-World War II Amsterdam

Division of Liberal Arts

3 credits 45.0 hours
300 level undergraduate course

Amsterdam is known as a place of tolerance. By concentrating on Amsterdam’s history, art, and culture following World War II, this concept of tolerance will be described and analyzed, with the ultimate purpose of seeing if it really exists, and if it does exist, what it is and why it is. Also, given the recent murders of politician Pim Fortuyn and filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by extremists in traditionally non-violent Holland, the course will examine whether this famed tolerance in now under threat. The first part of the course will look at early Dutch history and culture as a prerequisite for understanding contemporary Amsterdam. The great bulk of the course will concentrate on the post-World War II period through a study of history, philosophy, literature, film, architecture, painting and photography. Included in this course will be a reading of Albert Camus’s novel ‘The Fall’, an analysis of art movements like DeStijl and CoBrA, a look at modern Dutch architectural movements such as the Amsterdam School, a viewing of the film ‘Submission’, directed by Theo Van Gogh, and a reading of ‘Infidel’, an autobiographical work by the controversial politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Prerequisites Completion of HUMS course

This course is not repeatable for credit.