NHD 2017-18: Conflict and Compromise

Here are some arts and STEM topics ideas for this year's NHD theme! I expect it to be a pretty low year for both arts and STEM projects; "Conflict and Compromise" isn't the easiest theme for either one. I'll be adding to this post for the next month or so.

STEM

-- The War of Currents (AC vs DC current). This has had a winner to an extent, but there are a lot of ways in which we still use each of AC and DC current today, so this does feel like it involved a compromise to me.
-- Wave-Particle Duality. I feel a little odd calling this a compromise, but the answer to "Is light a wave or a particle?" is well, yes. It took us a while to figure that out, and the history of the experiments and discussions that finally led us to the current model is really interesting.
-- Galileo. This was recommended in the theme book, maybe because Galileo compromised his values in recanting, maybe because he had earlier come to a compromise with the church (and then in the church's eyes crossed the agreed upon line). I'm hesitant to strongly recommend this topic because of its familiarity and applicability to a wide range of NHD themes.
-- Ethics of Human Subject Research. This is pretty broad, but it's a subject based on compromise. Biomedical and behavioral research is often very valuable, but we need to do it in a way that is safe and respectful of the people involved as research subjects. Key documents to consider: the Nuremberg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, the Belmont Report, the National Research Act of 1974.
-- Munsell Color System. This paper argues that Albert Henry Munsell's system of describing color was a compromise that largely resolved a conflict around color science. It might be difficult to use this paper as a starting point; either it makes the argument you want to make, or you effectively argue against it. But this seemed interesting, so I wanted to throw it in.
-- Endangered Species Act. The ESA has existed in several forms and has been amended a number of times, generally seeking compromise between industry and protection of species.
-- Echo Park Dam and Glen Canyon Dam. Glen Canyon Dam was the compromise after there was controversy about the proposed Echo Park Dam, which was on protected land. (There are also similar other projects that you could look at; I found an Army document about development of the Snake River titled "Controversy, Conflict, and Compromise: A History of the Lower Snake River Development.")
-- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. This park includes less area than originally planned because of Native American (especially Ojibwe) activism advocating for their land rights. There are probably other cases of preservation or conservation movements and Native American land rights coming into conflict that you could look for.
-- Cooperative Game Theory. So this is a kind of sideways take on the topic, but cooperative game theory is a mathematical field founded on ideas of conflict and compromise. Looking at its history (and in particular the early work of John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern) would be really cool and, I think, unique.

Arts

-- Ballet in the early Soviet Union. In the 1920s, there was a lot of discussion in the Soviet Union around ballet as an art. It had a strong history in Russia, but it was tied heavily to the nobility and especially to the tsars. It was virtuoso and didn't tell stories of the common people... but the classical, Imperial-era ballets still drew huge crowds. I think one could do a good project about that conflict and how the leadership eventually reconciled ballet with socialist ideals. Book recommendations: Swans of the Kremlin, Apollo's Angels, Bolshoi Confidential.
-- An Actors or Writers Guild strike; there have been several large ones in the US over the past century. Most labor negotiations involve a lot of conflict and compromise, and some of these have had major impacts on the affected industries. (I'd recommend against the Disney animators' strike because of the minimal compromise involved.)
-- Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Maya Lin's design for the memorial was controversial, and more traditional memorial elements were added to the plans as a compromise.
-- Rodgers and Hammerstein. This is suggested in the theme book, and the reasoning isn't entirely clear, but here's my best guess. Several R&H shows have liberal political messages but don't fully commit to them. (South Pacific has a good deal of uncondemned Orientalism while also addressing racism and interracial marriage, for example.) Robert Gordon's The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies definitely refers to this as a compromise.

Literature as Ballet

A number of ballets are based on literary works, so a class around literature, ballet, and the translation between them could be really interesting! This is an outline for the content of such a class; note that this will be far better with students who have reasonable familiarity with ballet and preferably know basic ballet history.

The ballets in the recommended list are all available on DVD. There are some ballets that would be good fits for a class like this (ex. John Cranko's Onegin) but have not been released on film. And of course, if there are ballets based on literary works being performed by nearby companies, go see them!

National History Day 2016: Arts and Religion Topic Ideas

The theme for 2016 NHD is Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange History.

Art topics tend to be underrepresented in NHD, so here are some arts topic suggestions for this year's theme! I also included religion topics because this year's theme is particularly good for them; so much of religion is about encounter. The theme book encourages pulling in elements of all three parts of the theme, but it's not required, and it's natural for a project to focus much more on one than the others. This post might be updated occasionally throughout the year.

Religion
--John Wesley and the Moravians. Wesley was the founder of Methodism, and his theology was heavily influenced by a group of Moravians he met on a ship to Georgia.
--Methodist Circuit Riders in the early United States.
--The establishment of the San Antonio Missions. You could do similar things throughout much of the southwest US (as well as Mexico and Central and South America), these are just the missions I'm most familiar with. They're Spanish missions that were established to spread Christianity (and as part of colonization).

Visual Art and Architecture
--Paul Durand-Ruel and Impressionism. Durand-Ruel was an art dealer and one of the first supporters of the Impressionists. See this National Gallery exhibition for more information.
--Frank Lloyd Wright. This is more on the exploration side. Wright was known for incredible innovation in his work.
--Picasso. Again on the exploration, but he also drew from a lot of different influences as he explored different styles. He was one of the earliest Cubists and Neo-Expressionists.
--Matisse or Duchamp. Along with Picasso, really helped shape 20th century art across a variety of media. Matisse helped lead Fauvism but also did great work in classical painting, collages, and sculpture.

Dance
--1956 Bolshoi performances in London. There hadn't been touring between the East and the West in decades, and ballet had gone in very different directions on the two sides of the Iron Curtain. The Bolshoi's tour to London in 1956 created exchange that led to the modern story ballet in the West and choreographic symphonism in the Soviet Union. Read Swans of the Kremlin and Apollo's Angels.
--Ballet defections from the Soviet Union. There are three famous/major ones: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, and Rudolf Nureyev.
--Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Ballet truly came to the US through the Ballet Russes, and their travels brought Russian technique out of Russia. Also, this is how Balanchine ended up in the West, which even without the rest would be significant. Again, read Apollo's Angels.
--Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. This was a touring company formed by members of the Ballet Russes, and they primarily toured in the US. While the Ballet Russes was responsible for exposing Americans in large cities to ballet between 1910 and 1930, from 1940 or so on the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo brought ballet to cities throughout the US, and their dancers established companies and schools. (Look for a local example!) And yes, read Apollo's Angels. (Seriously, for any ballet ideas: read Apollo's Angels.)
--Vernon and Irene Castle. This pair helped expose large audiences in the early 1900s to a variety of popular dances and music styles, popularizing them and making them "respectable."
--Martha Graham. This definitely falls most into exploration; Graham made modern dance what it is. Read Agnes de Mille's Martha.
--Lester Horton. Horton was another leader of modern dance, as much in his role as teacher as in his role as choreographer. He developed a technique still widely studied today, drew from a variety of styles for inspiration, and he was the greatest influence on Alvin Ailey. Alternately, talk about Ailey (the person or the company).

Music
--Stravinsky. Stravinsky pushed music to new places just as Martha Graham did for dance. It was strange and revolutionary and provocative and very controversial.

National History Day 2014: Arts Topics

No topics related to the arts are mentioned in the NHD Theme Book or list of suggested topics this year. Here are a few suggestions, split up by type of art. I might update this throughout this semester, and given the topic this year, this will be shorter than the science lists.

Dance
Soviet ballet defection (I think it's a stretch to relate this to responsibilities, but if you come up with something, it could be fantastic!)
Censorship/propaganda in Soviet-era Russian ballet (a really good starting resource would be Apollo's Angels)
I haven't read it, but there's a book called Dance, Human Rights, and Social Justice that looks really interesting and could be a good jumping off point for a project!
Dancing bans (legal or religious, and again, responsibilities might be a stretch)

Film
The Hollywood blacklist -- could go a lot of directions from here. Could talk about naming others to HUAC or not, pamphlets like Red Channels, or the Writers' Guild working to give proper credit to those who were blacklisted.
Propaganda films and how that relates to rights and responsibilities, either of people or of governments.
Man With a Movie Camera and revolution in the Soviet Union -- this is a really cool film impacted by the idea that a social and political revolution should also induce a revolution in the arts, and it really shows the industrialization occurring in the late 1920s.

Literature/Writing/Philosophy
Thomas Paine's Common Sense and/or Rights of Man
John Locke
Thomas Hobbes
Ayn Rand and objectivism
Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations
Banned books and freedom of speech -- either in general or focusing on specific books
What is To Be Done? (by Chernyshevsky, by Lenin, or both!) and Bolshevism
Literature and civil rights -- could focus on James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, or Lorraine Hansberry
Uncle Tom's Cabin
To Kill a Mockingbird
(This could be such a long list, and here I've focused on just a couple of ideas and given some suggestions. If you come up with a rights issue, search for related literature!)

Visual Art
Political cartoons and freedom of expression. Could choose particular cartoonist, incident/cartoon, etc.
Propaganda posters and the relationship to the rights and responsibilities of people/governments. Choose a country and time period and possibly even a theme within it. (I'm in a Soviet Union class right now, and there are some great examples of propaganda posters here: http://www.iisg.nl/exhibitions/chairman/sovintro.php)


(So sorry there is no music or theater here! I think a lot of the ideas from the others could be carried over to those, but I just don't know the details.)

Education Through Arts: Dance and Theater in Oklahoma City 2013-2014

Local arts events can supplement curriculum or even provide a framework for it. Many ballets and plays are based on books which can be used in literature curriculum (and history to a lesser extent). For students interested in a particular type of art, these performances also provide an opportunity to learn about the history and influential figures of the art form.

This post focuses on the major dance and theater performances in Oklahoma City over the next year. Note that some of these seasons are over the summer (Lyric and Shakespeare in the Park) and some are throughout the school year.