This course examines the dynamics of disruption in leadership, culture, and institutional life through the lens of historical imagination. Disruptors challenge established systems not only through power, but through reframing perception, exploiting asymmetries, and redefining what is considered “normal.” This is important for leaders because they are responsible for instituting and fostering a healthy, efficient, and grace-filled culture within their organizations. Occasionally, the leader will need to disrupt an existing culture in order to do this. This course will provide insights into both discerning when such changes are needed and how to go about making them happen. Students will develop the ability to interpret historical and contemporary conflicts not simply as clashes of power, but as contests of narrative, identity, and imagination.
The course will cover:
- Kingsnorth’s Against the Machine—a critique of modernity, technological systems, and the cost of resistance. This is a strategic-level overview of cultural change.
Required Texts:
- Paul Kingsnorth. Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity. United Kingdom: Penguin Publishing Group, 2025.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89439020707?pwd=ia5jfyhZKuYqwjhaLo0isTVsHM9kA9.1
7/7 Class Notes: /https://stacollege.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Historical-Imagination-Lecture-One-Notes.pdf
7/14 Class Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12bJ1C1vhbL-nzVJmQSNz0FhRjk_8dkH0/view?usp=sharing
7/14 Class Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15dJCSI9MetjLYXW03W8kCHLvqWfPasEZ/view?usp=sharing
7/21 Class Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qsyFI3g-4ymXkdYbAefk_kxILZ3Zxh2b/view?usp=drive_link
7/21 Class Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13wfGjkB92-FnN9VPOGyuptmW-Z-BzgnP/view?usp=drive_link
7/28 Class Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ftOeY2UDVNsJR1Y5RoT4kVmIwLH_mL3-/view?usp=drive_link
7/28 Class Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13wfGjkB92-FnN9VPOGyuptmW-Z-BzgnP/view?usp=drive_link
8/4 Class Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cMGdrslCLoJjjmhcfaBxAyKwUw0s93Kd/view?usp=drive_link
8/4 Class Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FffCcZ3k9c2M2ed8WLfdpB_-NF7Baev9/view?usp=drive_link
Study Guide for Oral Exam: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hMmZ7Ow7A2PqjY6TFpt_V2YqV5z7S2xK/view?usp=drive_link
Sign-up Sheet for the Oral Exam: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CMfzoyyRH3b9o4uqFO-YYsAmf8kUmp6BCbsr-JygyZg/edit?usp=sharing
