Ps 456g Syllabus Spring 2009

PS 456G SPRING 2009

APPALACHIAN POLITICS TR 9:30AM-10:45AM CB 233 AppalachianPolitics.pbwiki.com INTRODUCTION: Then: “Almost heaven, West Virginia…”. Now: “Almost level, West Virginia…”. Welcome to the st Appalachia of the 21 century! This course on Appalachia is designed to gaze Janus-like on this mountainous region, looking at the examples, culture and political struggles of the past as we seek to understand its present, and from there to explore the future of the people, politics, culture and economics of Appalachia. Geographically, we will be focusing on what is commonly referred to as “central” Appalachia – the mountains of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, southeast Ohio, southwest Virginia, northeast Tennessee and western North Carolina. Intellectually, we will be grappling with the following themes: • Understanding the Dynamics of Space and Place and the Construction of Appalachia – What do we mean by the terms Appalachia and Appalachian? How can we conceive of Appalachia as a site of multiple and contested spaces and places, and how does this impact our understandings of power, knowledge, culture, community, democracy, economy and environment? • Power/Knowledge and Resistance – What is power? How is it constructed and used (and by whom)? What role does the construction of knowledge play in this process? What are the sources and methods of resistance? • Policy Roads Taken and Not Taken and their impacts on the past, present and future of the region. • Sustaining Appalachia – Building a region that works environmentally, economically and politically. The lens through which we will explore these themes will be through the conceptual and methodological frameworks of futures studies. Harold Lasswell is rightfully recognized as the father of policy studies within the discipline of Political Science. Less well-known, however, is Lasswellʼs interest in future studies as a legitimate policy analysis and development framework. In Appalachian Politics this semester, we will be thinking about the possible futures of Appalachia as futurists. To this end, a good deal of our class time will be spend learning methods of environmental scanning, systems thinking and analysis and scenario building. The goal for the course is that you will complete the course with a good working knowledge of contemporary Appalachia, itʼs promises and problems, and a good introductory knowledge of what it means to be a working political futurist. If you are looking for a class in the “horse race” approach to local and regional politics, this is not the class for you. Rather than focusing on local governments and elections and a procedural/institutional/constitutional approach to studying politics, we will be focusing on the political processes underlying these phenomena. To do so, we will largely focus on political theoretical approaches to the subject, but always grounded in local case studies and histories. If youʼre interested in interrogating the “why” and not just the “what” of Appalachian politics, then this is the course for you. Be advised that the reading level for this course will at times be quite heavy, and how well things go for you individually, and for the class as a whole, will depend to a large extent on how well you participate in class, to what extent you keep up with the readings, and how ready you are to discuss and critique the subject matter and course materials. This will be an active learning environment, so be ready for all that entails! Welcome aboard!

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INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION: Instructor: Dr. Christopher S. Rice Office: 1649 Patterson Office Tower Office Hours: TR 3:30pm-5pm

Email: [email protected] Telephone: 257-7030 Web: christopherscottrice.com

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Grades and Examinations:

Your final course grade will be based on four (4) components: • Class Preparation & Participation – 15% • Systems Thinking Take-Home Exam – 15% • Environmental Scanning Journal – 30% • Scenarios Project – 40%

Course Readings: • • • •

The following texts are required reading for this course: Ronald Eller, Uneven Ground. ISBN:978-0-8131-2523-7 Andy Hines & Peter Bishop, eds. Thinking About the Future. ISBN: 978-0-9789317-0-4 Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline. ISBN: 978-0-385-51725-6 Readings Packet (Available @ UK Bookstore in February)

Class Participation & Preparation: Because this course is designed around a collaborative research and learning approach, attendance is absolutely necessary to your success, as well as that of the course. You will be expected to come to each class session having completed all readings assigned for that class period and prepared a brief (one-page or less, bullet points optional) summary of key points for that dayʼs readings with a few questions or provocative points to guide our dayʼs discussion. You must bring two printed copies of this paper with you to each class session (one for me, one for you). If you feel that you cannot devote the time to this course that is expected (2.5 hours inclass + 8-10 hours out of class per week), then you may want to consider dropping the course. For those of you willing to invest the time, however, I promise you a rewarding experience! Class participation counts for 15% of your total course grade.

Systems Thinking Take-Home Exam: There will be a 5-6 page take-home exam assessing your understanding of systems thinking and analysis, worth 15% of your total course grade. The exam question will be posted to the course wiki on March 5 and must be turned in to me at the beginning of class on March 12.

Environmental Scanning Journal: One of the key tasks for any futurist is to perform environmental scanning. We will discuss this activity in the semester and learn how some professional futurists go about it. For purposes of this class, you will need to keep a public record of the sources you acquire during the semester and the open files you build in the interest of contributing to a course knowledge base for the Scenarios Project (see below). There are many ways to go about this, some more centralized, some decentralized. Many of you will likely use a tumblelog system, or a blog/social bookmarking/shared items process. Some of you may elect to keep your notes in a personal wiki. We will review all of these options in class. Whatever method you choose, you must give me a one-paragraph (word processed) description of your method – including all relevant page links – at the beginning of class on January 27. This assignment should not be terribly onerous. All it requires is that you begin the

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environmental scanning process related to Appalachia at the beginning of the semester, building the common knowledge base that will provide much of the research for the Scenarios Project. I expect good grammar and spelling, but I donʼt wish you to obsess over such things. Essentially, you will be keeping an open research notebook for the semester, to be contributed to at least weekly. I will be checking your Scanning Journal at least every other week, so you will need to stay up-to-date with your work on this assignment. Your participation sheets (see above) can also be entered into this journal. This is your place to store links to websites, articles, data sources, pictures, videos, etc. that are relevant to our exploration of trends analysis in Appalachia. I will explain this requirement in full in class on January 20 and 22. Your journal work will constitute 30% of your total course grade.

Appalachian Futures Scenario Project: The largest part of your work for the class this semester will be the production of a scenario or scenarios examining potential policy futures for the Appalachian region. We will decide as a class how to proceed with this project – as one large group or as several smaller groups – before Spring Break. At that point I will determine the total requirements for each class member. You should, however, expect to contribute at least 3500 words to the text portion of the project, as well as contributing research, bibliographic work, photos, video, infographics, editing, etc. Your work for this project will constitute 40% of your course grade. While you will be graded primarily on your individual work, a portion of your grade will be determined by the overall quality of the scenario project. In other words, both your work as an individual and as a group member is important! All work on the scenario project must be completed and posted to the course wiki by May 1, 2009.

Technological Willingness: This course requires the use of various Internet technologies. At minimum you will be required to use email and set up an account on PBWiki. To do the Envionmental Scanning Journal properly, you will likely need to set up a social bookmarking account (Delicious Ma.gnolia). a feed reader (Google Reader, Bloglines), and a blogging platform (Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress). You may even want to use a service like Twitter or Plurk for collaboration with your classmates. I will show you how to do this in class. You donʼt need to be an expert in these things, or even familiar with them to enroll in this class. However, you must be willing to become familiar with these tools and get somewhat comfortable using them. Donʼt Panic! Iʼll be there to help you, but you must be willing to try.

COURSE POLICIES: Classroom Standards: I expect all students to behave in a professional manner during class time. This means coming to class on time and being ready to start class at 9:30am. It is disrespectful to me and to your fellow students to come late and disrupt class, so be on time. I will not tolerate chronic tardiness, and if you arrive to class more than 5 minutes late, you may be asked to turn around and leave. Also, unless you have obtained prior approval from me, you may not leave class early. Furthermore, I do not tolerate rude and disruptive classroom behavior. During class, refrain from engaging in non-relevant and distracting side-conversations, reading a newspaper, doing crosswords, sudoku or other puzzles/games, sleeping, text messaging or other cellphone use, or listening to your iPod or other .mp3 players. When in class, turn-off your cell phones – silencing will not suffice when many of your phones have a “vibrate” function that could crack a walnut. Laptops and other internet access devices ARE permitted in class for taking notes and looking up material relevant to that dayʼs work on the internet. Please do not abuse this privilege by using your internet access device to Facebook, do email shop online or play games. I reserve the right to dismiss from class any student in violation of these policies.

Email Policy: You may always feel free to contact me via email. However, I do have a few general guidelines you must follow when doing so. Always begin the subject line of an email to me with “PS 456G:”. This will put your email into the appropriate inbox, allowing me to respond to your email in a timely fashion. Emails that do not have “PS 456G:” at the beginning of the subject line may not receive a

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response. Also, emails are NOT text messages/IM communications. When emailing me you should open the email by addressing me as Dr. Rice, identifying who you are and which course you are in (and at what time the course meets), concisely providing the nature of your problem/request, and then signing off with your name. If you have followed these directions, you may expect a response within 48 hours of its receipt. If you have a pressing emergency, you should speak to me during office hours, before or after class, or by phone. As a final note, I will NOT provide your grades (nor discuss any personally-identifiable grade information) by email or over the phone.

A Brief Note on Cheating & Plagiarism: In addition to being in generally poor form, plagiarism and cheating are theft of othersʼ intellectual property. Plagiarism or cheating will NOT be tolerated. If cheating or plagiarism is found to occur, it will be dealt with according to University Senate Rule 6.4 DISPOSITION OF CASES OF ACADEMIC OFFENSES.

Classroom and Learning Accommodations: Any student with a disability who is taking this course and needs classroom or exam accommodations should contact the Disability Resource Center, 257-2754, room 2 Alumni Gym, [email protected].

One Last Thing – Dropping the Course: Not that I hope you choose to leave our little soiree, but there are a couple of dates you should keep in mind should the need arise. The last day to drop this course without it appearing on your transcript is February 4, 2009. The last day to withdraw from the course is April 3, 2009.

COURSE SCHEDULE: NOTE: All items in the Course Schedule are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor. These changes will be announced in class and/or on the course website. You are responsible for all announced changes, so come to class and visit the course website often.

Introduction to Futures Studies January 20 – Environmental Scanning I TAF, Ch.1 Joseph Coates, “Thinking About the Future” (Podcast @ http://www.natasha.cc/josephcoates.htm) January 22 – Environmental Scanning II TAF, Ch.2 George Stalk on Environmental Scanning Methods Podcast @ http://ceomemo.harvardbusiness.org/2008/02/memo_from_george_stalk_where_d.html. January 27 – Scenarios I TAF, Ch.3 Jim Dator, “Four Generic Images of the Futures” (Podcast @ http://www.natasha.cc/jimdator.htm) January 29 – Scenarios II Andy Hines, “The Current State of Scenario Development” (http://profuturists.org/content/view/166/33/) Jay Forrest, Thoughts on Methodologies – Targeting Results” (http://profuturists.org/content/view/210/67/) Michelle Bowman, “The Role of Ethnofutures and Environmental Scanning” (Podcast @ http://www.natasha.cc/michelebowman.htm) February 3 – Scenarios III TBA Derek Woodgate, “Futures Lab” (Podcast @ http://www.natasha.cc/derekwoodgate.htm)

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History of Public Policy in Appalachia February 5 – Eller, Intro & Ch.1 February 10 – Eller, Ch.2& 3 February 12 – Eller, Ch.4 February 17 – Eller, Ch.5 February 19 – Eller, Ch.6

Introduction to Systems Thinking and Analysis February 24 – Senge, Ch.3-5 February 26 – Senge, Ch. 6-7 March 3 – Senge, Ch. 9 & 16 March 5 – In-Class Systems Analysis March 10 – FILM March 12 – In-Class Systems Analysis Take-Home Exam Due

Spring Break (March 17,19) –– NO CLASS Thinking About the Futures of Appalachia March 24 – Thinking about The Big Project: The Futures of Appalachia Team-Building/Assignments TAF. Ch. 4 “Visioning” Senge, Ch.11 “Team Learning” [Podcast TBA] March 26 – Review of Scenarios and Scenario Building Reading and Podcast TBA March 31-April 30 – Combination of Films, Readings Discussions, Visits from Subject Matter Experts, and Scenario Labs, Readings & Assignments TBA April 30 – Scenario Project Work Due

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