History 102H
World Civilization Since 1200
Fall
2003
Instructor:
Dr. Scott S. Reese
Office: Bio
Sciences 208
Phone:523-9049
Email: scott.reese@nau.edu
Class
time and room: MW 3-4:15; Rm. LA 204
Office Hours: MWF
Course
Description
The
world we live in today has been shaped in meaningful ways by our past. Exploration, revolution, industrialization
and imperialism are all elements which have been instrumental in creating the
global community we live in today. This
course will focus primarily on an examination of each of these themes and the
ways in which they have combined to make up the world we live in today. The primary objective of this course is to
build skills in critical thinking and analysis that will form an essential part
of your university careers. This class
will be taught in a combined lecture/discussion format so that the active
participation of everyone in the class is essential. Please come to class having read all the
weekly assigned readings and ready to take part in lively discussion.
Books
for purchase:
Michael
Adas, Islamic and European Expansion
Mike Davis, Late
Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the
Miguel Leon-Portilla, The
Broken Spears
Andre Malraux, Man’s
Fate
All the above texts can be purchased at the NAU
Bookstore. Other weekly readings are listed within the body of the
syllabus. These include primary
documents and secondary readings intended to add depth and texture to our
understanding of the development of world civilizations. Most of these will be
available on electronic reserve via the following link: http://www.nau.edu/library/courses/history/his102h-reese/reserve/
A few readings will be on print reserve.
Students are expected to bring all required
readings to class during the week assigned (you are responsible for following
the syllabus, I will not remind you).
Course
Requirements:
1)Intellectual Journals The purpose of the assignment is to
encourage you to keep up with your reading, enliven discussion, and offer a
forum to record your personal responses to the readings while also sharpening
your skills in thinking critically and writing fluidly. Journal entries should
be typed, and you should keep a copy on the hard drive of your computer. They
should be approximately 250 words which is about one typed page. Entries must
be typewritten, double spaced and in a font no larger than 12 point. In
addition each one should be headed with your name, the class # (i.e. HIS 102H),
a brief citation for the readings and the date. When your journal entries are
returned to you (normally within 7 days) you should collect them in a thin
binder or folder. On the last day of class you will turn in the whole journal. The journal entries are due Wednesdays
at the beginning of class. These cannot be turned in late. There is no
way to make up for lost work in this project.
Each journal entry should (1) quote or
summarize one passage/idea from one of the assigned texts for that week, and
(2) record your honest and informed reflections on that reading. Each entry
should engage the ideas expressed in the text in some direct and thoughtful
way. These entries will be graded as either acceptable (check) or unacceptable
(minus). A check means that you handed it in on time (at the start of the class
session) and followed the instructions fully. Journals are not graded for
thesis or grammar, as done for other written work. You control how well you do
on this journal assignment since your grade is determined by how many
acceptable journal entries you submit (ones with a check, that is). Here is the
scale:
A=14 entries (scattered over at least
10 weeks);
B=11 entries (scattered over at least 8 weeks);
C= 8 entries (scattered over at least 6 weeks);
D= 6 entries (scattered over at least 5 weeks);
F= 4 or fewer entries.
2) Take Home
mid-term exam This exam will consist
of essay questions based on readings and class notes. Essays must demonstrate a grasp of the
historical material and be expressed in your own words. Answers must be typewritten,
double spaced with one inch margins (and font no larger than 12 point). Exams,
if missed, may be made-up only for documented medical or grave personal reasons.
NO DOCUMENTATION=NO MAKE-UP!!
3) Two (2)
Analytical Essays (1000-1250 words. each)
While
exams are designed to test your knowledge of the course material these essays
are intended to hone your ability to analyze historical arguments based on
questions relating to the readings. Each
essay will be typewritten and 1000-1250 words in length (double-spaced with one
inch margins and font no larger than 12 point). Essay topics will be handed out
in advance of the paper due date. Late papers will lose one full letter grade
per day late, NO EXCEPTIONS (this
includes weekend days). Make and
retain a copy of your essay before handing it in-- the instructor is not
responsible for “lost” papers. (It is suggested that you back-up all computer
work on at least 2 separate disks)
Note:
Papers
delivered as e-mail attachments will not be accepted without prior
approval of the instructor.
4)Class
participation and discussion.
Discussion is a major component of this course hence, active
participation in class is mandatory. All
students must come having read the material and ready to engage in meaningful
dialogue (just showing up is not
sufficient). On occasion discussion
activities will be announced, often they will not. The moral of the story, always come to class prepared.
5) Attendance As a discussion oriented class it is
imperative that you arrive in class each day having read the material and
prepared to engage the material. Failure to do so may adversely affect your
participation grade. More than two to three absences *will* lead to a low
class participation grade when the final course grade is assessed.
6) Final Examination The final exam for this course will be take-home
in format. It will be distributed during the last week of classes and will be
due at the time listed for your section’s final exam. This exam must be taken and handed in on
time to pass the course. Absolutely no late exams will be accepted.
Course
Evaluation
Your
course grades will be based on the following distribution:
Mid-term grade Final course grade
Journal
entries 30% Journal
entries 15%
Take home exam 35% Mid term exam
20%
1st Essay 15% Essays 30%
Part. &
Attend. 20% Part. & Attend. 15%
Final
exam 20%
Failing
to complete any major component of the course will seriously jeopardize one’s
ability to pass the course.
Note
on PLAGIARISM: University standards against plagiarism and
cheating will be strictly upheld. Cheating includes, but is not limited to,
copying, paraphrasing, or summarizing the work of another (including a fellow
student) without proper acknowledgment. ANY
coursework found to have been dishonestly completed will result in a failing
grade for the course.
Course
Objectives:
In addition to increasing your knowledge of
our past, this course will also give you the opportunity to develop and utilize
various skills -- especially regarding analytical thought and writing-- which
will be valuable throughout your university career and beyond.
As a Liberal Studies course this class will follow
certain themes and is intended to help you develop particular intellectual
skills in addition to studying the history of the ancient and medieval
worlds. The Thematic Focus of the course is Understanding
and Valuing the Diversity of Human Experience, which falls under the Cultural Understanding Distribution Block. There are a variety
of Essential Skills you are expected
to develop during the course of the semester including: Critical thinking, Critical Reading and Effective Writing.
In particular by the end of this course you should
gain:
·
An acquaintance with
methods of historical inquiry and terminology.
·
A basic chronology of
history from the 13th through 20th centuries.
·
Practice in critical
thinking and writing skills through historical interpretation.
·
Comprehension of the ever changing structures and
institutions which have functioned as the framework of human society over
thousands of years such as: custom, law, religion, gender and personal status.
Lectures
and Assignments
Make
certain you have the readings done in advance of each class session. Also,
remember, the following is merely a guideline and adjustments may be made to
the schedule as necessary
Part
I The World Around 1200
Wk.
1 Aug. 25-29
Introduction: themes, problems; earlier concepts of
world history
Space and boundaries. Maps, Maps, Maps
Issues:
Assumptions embedded in maps. How is the world divided today? Are civilizations
the major units primed for conflict?
Wk. 2 Sept. 01-05 (No Class Monday – Veterans Day)
What
is World History—Anything New?
Issues:
How have historians of the past conceptualized the world around them? What were their concepts of what constituted
“history”?
Wk.
3 Sept. 08-12
Islam as a Global system
Issues:
Islam as a world civilization, cultural meaning of religion.
Part II. 1492 and its consequences
Wk.
4 Sept. 15-19
European Expansion and the conquest of the
Portillo, The Broken Spears
[entire]
Documents:
Diaz, Sahagun, Cortes (on e-reserve)
Issues:
different types of sources; What and how do we know about the
Wk.
5 Sept. 22-26
The Columbian Exchange
Issues:
disease pools and ecology, culture conflict, types of colonies.
Wk.
6 Sept. 30-Oct. 03
1st
Essay Due
The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Numbers Game
Walter Rodney How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa, Ch IV pp. 93-113 (on e-reserve)
Documents:
David Northrup, “Contemporary views of Slaving and Slavers” in The Atlantic
Slave Trade pp. 70-95 (on e-reserve)
Issues:
Quantitative vs. Qualitative sources; slavery and racism; underdevelopment
Wk.
7 Oct. 06-10
The impact
of the Slave Trade on
Take Home Exam Distributed
Issues:
Was slavery in
III. The 18th Century: Approaching the
Modern?
Wk.
8 Oct. 13-17
Take Home Exam Due
Science and
the Enlightenment
Science and the `other’ -- ideas of race
Documents:
Francis Bacon, Marquis de Condorcet (in Andrea and Overfield The Human Record v. II
Since 1500 pp.153-157,160-165
on-reserve)
Issues:
How did ideas of the Enlightenment pave the way for later colonialism?
Wk.
9 Oct. 20-24
The
Enlightenment and Revolution in
Guest Lecturer—Dr. Paul Dutton
Documents:
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Social Contract”
Issues:
Causes of the French Revolution.
Wk.
10 Oct. 27-31
… and elsewhere
Issues:
Is violence a legitimate tool to transform oppressive governments?
IV.
The Industrial Age:
Nationalism, Empire and Technology
Wk.
11. Nov. 03-07
The Industrial Revolution in
Oiling the Machines—Colonial Resources
Eric Wolf “The New
Laborers,” from Europe and the People Without History (on e-reserve)
Issues:
impact of industrialization on social relations, capitalism in the
underdeveloped world.
Wk.
12 Nov. 10-14
Technology and the New Imperialism—Creating the
Issues:
Did technology make empire inevitable?
Wk.
13 Nov. 17-21
The Impact of Empire
Issues: What were the long-term consequences of European
empire? Can we learn anything from this?
Wk.
14 Nov. 24-28 (Thanksgiving, No Class Friday)
Decolonization I:
The Empire Strikes Back
2nd Essay Due
Issue:
Does colonialism inevitably doom itself?
Wk.
15 Dec. 01-05
Decolonization II:
Guest Lecturer—Dr. John Leung
Wk.
16 Dec. 08-12
Documents:
Shariati, Khomeni (web pages TBA)
Issues:
What is the state of the world?