CORE 133: World Civilizations from 1453
Paper Topics
Conceptions of Empire:
What are the motivations for empire? What type of understanding of the world is required to make them work? How do they function on the ground? What are the costs and benefits of empire?
Captain Cook on the Hawaiians
King Alfonso I Protests the Slave Trade
Equiano on the Middle Passage
Ghilsan de Busbecq on the Ottoman Empire
Babar on India
Kipling, White Man’s Burden
Lord Lugard, Imperialism and Indirect Rule
Ho Chi Minh, Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Vietnam
Marcus Garvey, Africa for Africans
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Self Rule is my Birthright
“Journey to Bananaland,” produced by William J. Ganz Co.
The Role of Difference:
How is difference used in creating Empires and Nation-States? What are the perils and possibilities in using difference as a manner to unify the population? Are there alternatives?
Christopher Columbus’ First Impression
Captain Cook on the Hawaiians
King Alfonso I Protests the Slave Trade
Kipling, White Man’s Burden
Kwame Nkrumah on African Unity
Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address
Science and its Discontents:
How does science help people in the modern world explain the world around them? What are the costs and benefits of a scientific worldview?
Malthus on Population
Jager Report
“Journey to Bananaland,” produced by William J. Ganz Co.
Civilization and its Discontents:
What is civilization? How have understandings of civilization (including notions of barbarism) helped organize societies? What are the costs of civilization?
Captain Cook on the Hawaiians
King Alfonso I Protests the Slave Trade
Equiano on the Middle Passage
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals
World War I Poetry
Tristan Tzara, Dada Manifesto
Trust not a Fox
Osama bin Laden, Jihad against Jews and Crusaders
The Search for Order
How do societies order themselves? How are social morays created to help societies understand their place in the world? What role do race, class and gender play? What are the benefits to an “orderly society” (give examples)? What are the costs?
Adam Smith on Capitalist Markets
Captain Cook on the Hawaiians
Ghilsan de Busbecq on the Ottoman Empire
Malthus on Population
Marx and Engles on the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
Tristan Tzara, Dada Manifesto
Kwame Nkrumah on African Unity
Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address
Osama bin Laden, Jihad against Jews and Crusaders
Creating National Communities
How are national communities created? What role does difference play? What is the relationship of nations to states? What are the costs and benefits of creating nation-states?
Christopher Columbus’ First Impression
Captain Cook on the Hawaiians
King Alfonso I Protests the Slave Trade
Babar on India
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, To the German Nation
Kipling, White Man’s Burden
Ho Chi Minh, Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Vietnam
Lenin, State and Revolution
Marcus Garvey, Africa for Africans
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Self Rule is my Birthright
“Journey to Bananaland,” produced by William J. Ganz Co.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the Need for a Muslim Pakistan
Kwame Nkrumah on African Unity
Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address
Osama bin Laden, Jihad against Jews and Crusaders
Creating Religious Communities
How are religious communities created? What role does difference play? What are the difficulties inherent in creating religious communities? What are the costs and benefits?
Christopher Columbus’ First Impression
Captain Cook on the Hawaiians
Fabian Fucan Rejects Christianity
Ghilsan de Busbecq on the Ottoman Empire
Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the Need for a Muslim Pakistan
Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address
Osama bin Laden, Jihad against Jews and Crusaders
Economy and Modernity
How does the structure of the economy reflect choices for how societies order themselves? What is the relationship between the development of colonialism and capitalism?
Quianlong on Chinese Trade
Adam Smith on Capitalist Markets
Marx and Engles on the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
Lenin, State and Revolution
“Journey to Bananaland,” produced by William J. Ganz Co.
Capitalism and Communism
How do communism and capitalism seek to organize societies through economic means? How do they understand the role of class?
Adam Smith on Capitalist Markets
Marx and Engles on the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
Lenin, State and Revolution
Khrushchev on the Capitalist Iron Curtain
“Make Mine Freedom,” John Sutherland Production, Extension Department of Harding College