World Civilization II

 

World Civilization II/ HISTORY 182/Fall 2009

 

HIST 182-03

9:25-10:40am @ Williams 202

 

HIST 182-02

            1:10pm-2:25pm @ Center for Health Sciences 105

 

Dr. Jonathan Ablard

Muller 403/Office Hours: T 11am-Noon; W 2-3pm; Th 4-5pm and by appointment.

607-274-3558/ jablard@ithaca.edu

 

Course Description:

 This course will provide students with an understanding of world history from 1492 through the present. Global interactions, whether peaceful or violent, have profoundly shaped the course of world history. The major focus of this course, then, is the examination of how different national, religious, ethnic and racial groups have shaped and influenced one another. The course will begin with an examination of the balance of economic and military power in the world before 1492. After examining European exploration and conquest and the variety of responses by Asians, Africans and Native Americans we will consider the growth of the nation-state, the development of trans-Atlantic slavery, and the subsequent rise of revolutionary ideologies, industrialization, and imperialism in the nineteenth century. We will conclude with an examination of the impacts of the First and Second World Wars on global history up to the First Gulf War.

 

The learning outcomes for this course are as follows. Students will develop a basic knowledge of world history and will familiarize themselves with the basic methods of historical inquiry. They will also develop an understanding of what historiography is and why it is important to the study of history. Students will also improve their writing and critical thinking skills through in-class exam essays and formal written assignments, class discussion and careful reading of the texts. Finally, students will gain a basic understanding of the opportunities and pitfalls that the World Wide Web offers.

             

 

Academic Honesty

“Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (e.g., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable.”

-Article 7.1.4. Ithaca College Policy Manual

Students found to be in violation of this policy will be expelled from the class, will receive a failing grade and will have their name reported to the appropriate college authorities.

Class Policies

Students are expected to come to class well-prepared to discuss the readings. I welcome questions about the readings and do not expect students to always understand everything that they have read. Consistent failure to come to class prepared, however, will lead to a reduction in your final grade. Students who consistently come to class late will be asked to explain their chronic tardiness to the entire class. Disruptive behavior, be it use of cell phones, loud eating, passing notes, falling asleep, leaving the classroom and returning, etc. will result in a public discussion of these behaviors, as well as other sanctions. 

 

Attendance Policy

Excused absences include medical and family emergencies, religious holidays, and IC sanctioned activities. Whenever possible, please give me advanced warning that you will be absent. Every three unexcused absences will lead to a ½ step reduction in your final grade. Although getting notes from a classmate is fine, you should not count on getting a full report of discussions, observation of films, etc. 

 

Books

Tignor, et. Al. Worlds together, Worlds Apart 

Voltaire, Candide (Norton) 

 Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost

Course Reader-available in Muller 434 for $5.00 (this is a required text)

 

Assignments and Grading:

 

Note: I reserve the right to change or add assignments provided that the changes are reasonable and that I provide at least a week’s notice.

 

Participation: Students are expected to come to class prepared to answer questions from the readings. Please bring the day’s assigned reading to class as it will facilitate discussions. A consistent failure to show up with some level of preparation will hurt your participation grade. Put another way, if you hate history try to fake it twice a week! Sometimes, the effort put into pretending to like it makes you begin to enjoy history. You never know.

  

Personal Essay Assignment (5%)

Length: 2 pages

 

a.         Families, like nations, create myths about the past. At the same time, it has been argued that myths and stories are as important as the truth. Are there any myths or stories in your family’s history that you suspect are not entirely true? Or, have you ever discovered that a piece of your family’s history was not true? What does the gap between myth and historical fact tell you about the historical experience of your family? Did the myth serve a particular function? Did it help or hurt individuals or the family in some way?

 

b.        What major news stories were reported on the day that you were born? In what ways are the events still a major part of the human condition today? What explains how the situation or condition has or has not changed since you were born? 

 

 

Brief Essay on Voltaire, Candide (10%)

Choose one of the following options and write a three page essay.

1. How does Voltaire use Candide’s fictive travels in the Americas to criticize and poke fun at European society, religion, and politics?  
2. Sketch out how Voltaire might write Candide in 2008 to critique the culture, politics, and religion of the United States. You can take any angle that you wish but you must demonstrate an understanding of the original work.
3. If Voltaire were alive today and he read Mike Davis’ essay, Planet of Slums, how might he rewrite Candide?

 

Essay on King Leopold’s Ghost (15%)

 Answer one of the following questions in a carefully argued essay. The introductory paragraph should lay out a thesis statement. The body of the paper should provide evidence to support the thesis. The concluding paragraph should provide a comprehensive survey of the main points of the paper. Avoid needless descriptions of events or facts that are in the book. Focus your attention on writing an analytical essay in which the facts and information that you provide serves to enhance your argument. Excessive grammatical or orthographic errors will result in a lowered grade.

 

 

1.                  What does the international human rights campaign on behalf of the people of the Congo suggest about global social, political, and economic networks in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century?

2.                  Christopher Browning, in his study of the perpetrators of the Holocaust, reminds us that “explaining is not excusing; understanding is not forgiving.” Based on what Hochschild tells about the perpetrators of the genocide in Congo, why do you think these men engaged in such reprehensible actions against unarmed men, women, and children? Aside from racism, what other factors allowed presumably “ordinary men” to commit these crimes?

3.                  The historian Eric Hobsbawm has shown that nineteenth-century European imperialism was not incidental to developments within Europe but was essential. In what ways did the conquest and exploitation of Africa, and especially Congo, benefit both everyday people but also business interests and monarchies? In your answer, you must consider benefits other than the accumulation of wealth.

4.                  Hochschild apologizes in his introduction that he was unable to give more voice to the people of Congo who were terrorized by the Belgians. In what ways does the author manage to give voice to the Congolese? What are the benefits and limits of his methodology?

 

 

MidTerm Examination (20%)

            In Class

Essay on Revolution… (10%)

Question will be distributed a week before. Due on 10/27. This assignment will not require more than 3 hours of your time.

Final Examination   (20%)

            In Class

 

Research Paper (20%)

This will be a modest 6 page research paper. You have three options.

A.     Write an historiographic essay in which you compare the arguments, sources and context of three scholarly works that address a common event or theme. In what ways do the authors’ arguments, sources, etc. differ? What factors account for those differences? The works that you select should be drawn from as wide a range of years as possible.

B.     Read a book length primary source from the period after 1500. What is the work’s most important theme or argument and how does it help us to better understand the society, culture and history of the time? You will need to consult scholarly works on the topic. Your source can be a memoir, a novel, etc.

C.     Watch a feature film that focuses on some area of the world after 1500. Write a detailed and historically critical review of the film. Is the film historically accurate or not? How do the accounts of eye witnesses and professional historians jibe with the Hollywood (or Bollywood) version? You will need to consult scholarly works on the topic. NO FILMS FROM THE UNITED STATES!

 

RESEARCH NOTE: Because we live in a world that is dominated by electronic media, it is important that I establish rather strict guidelines for what kinds of sources are acceptable. I absolutely forbid students in this class to use Wikipedia or any other encyclopedia or web-based resource (including blogs, personal web-pages, etc.) which is not connected to a legitimate university or government agency. As a general rule, the only acceptable internet sources are those that are accessed via Ithaca College Library’s website. These include such sites as J-Stor, Project MUSE, etc. There are also useful internet sources that are connected with major research libraries. If you are not clear about an electronic source (and I would err on the side of caution), speak with me first. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in a failing grade on the final paper.

             

 

Class Schedule

Week One

8/27     Introductions (Me, You, the Class, etc.)

  

 

Week Two

 

9/1       The World before 1492

            WTWA, Ch. 10-11

9/3       European Seaborne Expansion

            WTWA, Ch. 12 (to p. 537) 

 

Week Three

9/8       Primary Sources on Seaborne Expansion (Discussion)

 

9/10     Primary Sources on Transformation of Europe and Asia (Discussion)

            WTWA, Ch. 12 (537-551)

Personal Essay Assignment Due

 

Week Four

9/15     The Mission (film)

9/17     Colonial Empires in the Americas: Divergence and Convergence

WTWA, Ch. 13 (to p. 566), Ch. 14 (626-629) & Primary Sources on Colonial America (Discussion)

 

Week Five

9/22     Africa and the World Economy

            WTWA, Ch. 13 (pp. 566-572)

9/24     Primary Sources on Africa (Discussion)

 

Week Six

 9/29    Asia in a Globalizing Economy

            WTWA, Ch. 13 (pp. 572-595)

            The Reception of the First English Ambassador to China, 1792

            

10/1     MID TERM EXAMINATION

 

 

 

 Week Seven

 10/6    Voltaire, Candide (Discussion)

            Essay on Voltaire Due

(For background please read WTWA, Ch. 14)

What is enlightenment?

 

10/8     Revolution in the Atlantic World

            WTWA, Ch. 15 (to 656)

             Terror Justified, Robespierre

Week Eight

 

10/13   Primary Sources on Atlantic Revolutions (Discussion)

 

10/15   FALL BREAK

Week Nine

 

 10/20 Industrialization in Global Perspective

            WTWA, Ch. 15 (656-671)

            “Women Miners in the English Coal Pits”

            “Communist Manifesto” (Discussion)

 

10/22   Nation and State-building in the Nineteenth Century

            WTWA, Ch. 17

 

Week Ten

10/27   Imperialism

WTWA, Ch. 15 (pp.671-683)

WTWA, Ch. 17 (pp.739-761)

Essay on Revolutions, Industrialization and Nation-building Due

           

10/29   Imperialism

            Jules Ferry (1832-1893): “On French Colonial Expansion”

            The People of Canton: Against the English, 1842

            The Break Up of China and Our Interest In It (1899)

Mohandas K. Gandhi: Indian Home Rule (1909)

 

             “Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century” (Discussion)

            WTWA, Ch. 16

                       

Week Eleven

 

11/3     King Leopold’s Ghost, Part I

             

11/5     King Leopold’s Ghost, Part II

            King Leopold Essay Due in Class

 

Week Twelve

 

11/10   Era of Global Migrations

            WTWA, Ch. 18 (note: this chapter will provide a general background) 

11/12   World War One

            WTWA, Ch. 19 (to p. 819)

             Primary Sources on World War One (Discussion)

 Rosa Luxemburg, "The War and the Workers"-- The Junius Pamphlet (1916)

            The Espionage Act, May 16, 1918

            World War One Poetry

 

Week Thirteen

 

11/17   Russian Revolution

V. I. Lenin: What Is to Be Done?(1902)

 

 11/19 The Era of Global Ferment, 1919-1939

            WTWA, Ch. 19 (pp. 819-850)

            Oswald Spengler: The Decline of The West, 1922

            What is Fascism? Benito Mussolini

 

 Public Lecture: Paul Gootenberg, “The History of Cocaine” 6 or 7pm

*          Students who attend and write a 1 page single spaced analysis of the talk will receive 2 points of extra credit.

 

Week Fourteen

 

11/24-26          THANKSGIVING BREAK

 

Week Fifteen

           

 12/1    World War Two in a Global Perspective

            WTWA, Ch. 20 (to 865)  

            Days of Glory (Algeria)

 

12/3     Cold War: China and Vietnam 

WTWA, Ch. 20 (865-897)

 

Week Sixteen

 

 12/8    Decolonization

Battle of Algiers (Film)

Proclamation of the Algerian National Front, Libertation Front November 1954

 

12/10   Globalization

            WTWA, Chapter 21 & Epilogue

Questions: What is new about globalization? Compare it with earlier phases of globalization.

 

12/11  Research Papers Due by 5pm (deliver to 403 Muller)

 

FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE

 

9:25 AM Class:  Tuesday, December 15 @ 8:00am-10am

1:10 PM Class: Friday, December 18 @ 8:00am-10am