World Civilizations from 1453 to the First World War:

Revolution, the State, and the Good Society

Core 133:  Scarboro / Spring 2015

 

A detail from the silk scroll 'The Mission of Commodore Perry to Japan' (1854)

 

Section F

MWF 9:00 (Hafey-Marian 303)

Office

Hafey-Marian 306

E-mail         

cristoferscarboro@kings.edu

Website         

http://staff.kings.edu/cristoferscarboro

Phone          

(570) 208-5900 ext. 5637

Office Hours 

TTh 9:30-12:00

Moodle Site

http://kings.mrooms2.net/course/view.php?id=3

    

 

 I. Description:

While contact between cultures and civilizations is as old as recorded history, in the 15th century the world became knitted together through trade and conquest as never before.  This course traces the development of this interconnectivity between and among cultures and civilizations from the mid-fifteenth century to the present in order to better understand the history and meaning of globalization, its horrors and triumphs, perils and possibilities.  Central to understanding these processes is the relationship between the growing role of the state and the lives of its would-be subjects or citizens.  This period—the era of modernity—was most importantly characterized by ever more powerful attempts to create ideal subjects and societies (understood, among other things, in terms of empire, nation, religion and economic model).  Our discussion of the last 500 years will focus on the manner in which societies sought to order, control and transform the world, communities and individuals around them according to their own understanding of the correct relationship between people, the state and ideology. 

 

II. Purpose:

A. Mission Statement:

As listed in the King's College Catalog 2014-2015, the goals of the Core Curriculum at King's are as follows:

All of these goals are developed through a series of Core courses in several categories. The civilizations CART contributes most to "a critical understanding of history, civilization, art, and literature," but also to nearly all of the other goals on the list.

B. CART Goals

The Civilizations category of the Core develops critical thinking skills in an historical context, helps students reflect on their own heritage, and constructs the cultural knowledge that unites many other areas of the Core.

C. Student Learning Outcomes

III. General Requirements

A. Course Readings:

Ansary, Tamim, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes, Public Affairs, 2010.

Baptist, Edward E., The Half has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Basic Books, 2014.

Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Revolutions: 1789-1848, Vintage, 1996.

Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Capital: 1848-1875, Vintage, 1996.

Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Empire: 1875-1914, Vintage, 1996.

 

B.  Course Readings, Primary Sources:

Each week you will also be expected to examine a series of primary sources consisting of texts, visual art and/or short video clips.  These sources will either be websites (links are provided in the syllabus) or files found on the course moodle site: 

 

Moodle Site: <<http://kings.mrooms2.net/course/view.php?id=624>> 

 

These primary sources are to supplement the readings in the textbook and place you in dialogue with another time and place.  The primary sources in the course sharepoint site will be filed under the "shared documents" folder. You will need to examine these sources as a historian.  What can they tell us about the past and the worldview of past cultures?  How do they help us understand the historical theme of the week and the class as a whole?  Further, these documents will be the source upon which you will base your microthemes and paper for the class. 

   

C.  Written Assignment:

Your larger writing assignment of 8-10 pages is due in its final form on April 29th .  This paper is intended to familiarize you with the basic mechanics of historical scholarship and writing: locating and interpreting primary and secondary sources—placing them into conversation with one another in order to frame a historical problem.

 

Roughly speaking your paper should consist of two sections—the first (the historiographical section) reviewing the historical scholarship on your topic, and the second placing your own interpretation of the primary sources within this discussion. 

 

This paper is to take place in several stages to facilitate the development and integration of these two parts of your paper: 

 

1)         Chose a topic that you are interested in exploring and then begin thinking about the sources that you will need to utilize to answer these questions.  You will need to turn in a topic sentence on January 19th.

 

2)         On January 26th you will need to list three historical questions associated with your topic that you are interested in researching.  Note these questions should be questions of historical interpretation—detailing not what happened but rather how we should interpret and understand  what happened.  These are questions that historians and scholars disagree over.  Your paper is designed to place your own research within these historical conversations.

 

3)         On February 9th you will turn in your first annotated bibliography investigating your topic within the secondary literature.  This bibliography should include at least 5 secondary sources on the topic and should not include internet sources (not including those peer-reviewed sources accessed from on-line databases, i.e. JStor and EBSCO Host).  Your annotations should include the major thesis of each of the works and indicate how they relate to your three historical questions.  See the online form for annotated bibliographies on the course moodle site

 

4)         On February 23rd  you will turn in a draft of your historiographical section of your paper (4-5 pages). You will flesh out your annotated bibliography to outline the way in which each historian approaches your historical questions.  Where do they agree?  Disagree?  What sources do they use to buttress their arguments?  How are they speaking to one another?   Please remember this section is the first draft of your final paper due at the end of the semester.  This assignment will be turned in both through the appropriate turnitin link on the course moodle page and in paper form in class. 

 

5)            On March 9th you will turn in your second annotated bibliography outlining the primary sources you will be using in paper.  You will need at least 5 primary sources and your annotations of the sources will indicate how these sources will fit within the secondary literature and the argument that you are developing.  These sources will be the subject base for your paper and for the five microthemes that you will be writing over the course of the semester (see below).  See the online form for annotated bibliographies on the course moodle site

 

 

6)         Five times during this semester you will be responsible for writing a 1-2 page microtheme on the assigned primary source material that you have chosen for your larger paper (the sources outlined in your annotated bibliography of primary sources).  Each microtheme should answer three     questions: 1) what is the thesis of the work (what claims is the author making about how we   should understand the world); 2) how is this claim reflect of the time and place in which it was     created; and 3) how does it reflect the historical questions you have outlined?  See the online form for microthemes on the course moodle site

 

            You are responsible for the primary sources you will be using.  I will be happy to meet with you      to talk through search strategies and starting points.  To begin with, you will want to follow up and trace down documents mentioned in your secondary sources readings (bibliographies and footnotes in these works are a good place to start). Another good place to start is Fordham University’s “Internet Modern History Sourcebook”             <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.asp>

   

            Due dates for Microthemes:

 

First Microtheme

March 16th

Second Microtheme

March 23rd

Third Microtheme

March 30th

Fourth Microtheme

April 8th

Fifth Microtheme

April 15th

 

7)         On April 15th you will turn in your thesis statement explaining the central argument of your     paper.  This statement should not be a statement of fact but rather of historical interpretation—explaining how we should understand your topic in dialogue with your secondary and primary sources.

 

8)         On April 20th you will turn in your complete rough draft demonstrating a synthesis of your historiographical section with your own interpretation of a set of primary sources.  This draft will have to be accompanied by a stamp demonstrating that you have visited the King’s College Writing Center before turning it in.  This assignment will be turned in through the appropriate turnitin link on the course moodle page and in paper form in class. 

 

9)         The final draft of your paper (8-10 pages) is due on April 29th.  This assignment will be turned in through the appropriate turnitin link on the course moodle page and in paper form in class. 

 

D. Exams:

There will be three exams in this class: two midterms: the fist due on February 16th at 11:59 p.m. and the second due March 23rd at 11:59 p.m. and a final given during finals week.  All exams will be taken on the course moodle site.  The exams will cover material from class lectures, readings and discussions. 

 

The exams will consist of three parts: 1) questions from the syllabus dealing with lectures covered during the course of class meetings (these are listed on the syllabus and will be randomly chosen for the exam) 2) questions from the syllabus dealing with readings covered during the course of class meetings (these are listed on the syllabus and will be randomly chosen for the exam), and 3) source interpretation—you will be asked to interpret (place in time and assign a historical meaning to) a source (written or visual) that we have discussed in class. 

 

E.  Class Discussion and Participation

As well as providing you with the methodological and analytical tools for engaging in historical thinking, this class will ask you to actively take part in a larger conversation of historical issues within the class.  I expect this class to allow us to delve deeply into the historical topics of each week’s readings.  To that end you need to make sure that you arrive to class on time ready to discuss the weekly readings, having carefully read and thought over the material.  You must take an active role in the class discussions.  Thus a portion of your grade will depend on your in-class performance and presence. 

 

In a class of this nature it goes without saying that a classroom environment in which everyone feels comfortable is essential.  You should treat your fellow classmates with respect, listen carefully to their comments and respond to them in a polite manner. 

 

F. Grading:

It is your responsibility to understand why you have achieved a certain grade, and what steps you can take to maintain or improve your grade.  You should consult with the instructor during office hours or by appointment before and after exams and written assignments.  Your final grade will be based on the following percentages

 

100-95

A

94-92

A-

91-85

B+

88-85

B

84-83

B-

82-80

C+

79-77

C

78-75

C-

74-70

D

69<

F

 

Your grade distribution for class assignments is as follows:

 

First Midterm

15%

Second Midterm

15%

Final Exam

15%

Microthemes

10%

First Bibliography

5%

Second Bibliography

5%

Thesis

5%

Historiography

5%

Synthesis Draft

5%

Final Paper

10%

Class Participation

10%

 

G. Academic Integrity:

The Department of History adheres to guidelines on academic integrity outlined in the Student Conduct Code in the Student Handbook: 

 

http://www.kings.edu/student_handbook/studentregulations_rights/conductcode.htm

 

Cheating and plagiarism will be penalized in accord with the penalties and procedures indicated in that source.  All students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the definition of these infractions of academic honesty. 

 

H. Absences:

I will regularly take attendance in this class. Absences due to college activities, emergency or extended illness may be excused by the appropriate college official. You should consult with the professor about making up missed work in advance or as soon as possible after your return.  Other absences are unexcused and will lower the class participation portion of your grade. After any absence, you are responsible for requesting hand-outs and already returned assignments from me or borrowing notes from other students. If you miss an exam, contact me as possible. You may take a missed exam only at the discretion of the instructor.

 

I.  Disabilities:

King’s College and I will make every effort to accommodate students with a bona-fide disability that impacts on their ability to learn the course material.  Please meet with me privately so that appropriate arrangements can be made to help in the learning process.

  

IV. Course Schedule

 

IV. Schedule

 

 

Introduction: Sources and History

Monday, January 12th 

Modernity, Revolution and Ideology

Wednesday, January 14th

Question:  What do we mean by modernity?  How is it related to new and revolutionary ways of understanding the world and building national, imperial and religious communities?

Growth of the Global / Growth of the Local—Exploration, Conquest, and Trade

Friday, January 16th

Question:  Why did Europeans become the leaders in 15th century overseas exploration, conquest and discovery?  What models of colonization did they establish?

New Worlds, Old Worlds

Monday, January 19th

Question:  How and why did the Spaniards conquer the Aztec Empire?  How is this conquest emblematic of other European conquests of the non-European world? How did the Spaniards and Portuguese seek to remake America?  How did this conquest transform American Societies?

***Topic Sentence***

Discussion: Revelation, Codification and the Problem of the State: The Birth of Islam

Wednesday, January 21st

Question: How does Ansary understand Islam as a political project?  What are its ends?  Implications?  How does this play out in the period prior to the “arrival of the Turks?”

**Readings: Ansary, 1-117

Epistemological Revolutions: Scientific Revolution, Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment

Friday, January 23rd

Question:  How did the Protestant Reformation and the Wars of Religion remake Europe?  What was the impact of the Scientific Revolution in transforming the worldview of those in Europe? How did the Enlightenment challenge traditional societal organization?  How did it change the way in which people understood their place in the world?

Absolutism: The Growth of the Modern State

Monday, January 26th

Question:  How was Absolutism an answer to the chaos of the European 16th Century?  How did it lead to the development of the European state system?  How did it seek to arrange the word around it? 

**Readings: Hobsbawn, The Age of Revolution, 1-27

***Historical Questions due in class***

Discussion: Bougainville’s Voyage: Enlightenment and “the Other”

Wednesday, January 28th

Question: How is Diderot’s text reflective of the Enlightenment project?  How does it understand the good society?  How does it presage and challenge colonial understandings of order?

**Reading: Diderot, “Supplement to the Voyage of Bougainville” (moodle)

Modernization and Centralization in East Asia

Friday, January 30th

Question: What elements undergird the processes of state building in early modern China and Japan? 

The Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Monday, February 2nd

Question:  How did the Ottoman Empire organize its society?  How was difference understood? What role did religion play?  What was the role of nationalism?

Reading: Ansary, 117-159

Mughal India and the Coming of the British East India Company

Wednesday, February 4th

Question: What accounts for the success of the Mughal Empire under Akbar?  What factors account for its decline?  Why were the British successful in colonizing the Indian subcontinent?

Black Atlantic

Friday, February 6th

Question: How did racial slavery develop in contact between Africans and Europeans?  What were its effects on the Atlantic World? 

Discussion: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, part I

Monday, February 9th

Question: How does Baptist explain the relationship between slavery and American capitalism?  How does this challenge traditional understandings of American history?

**Reading: Baptist, 1-145

***Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Sources due in class***

Catherine the Great and the Bronze Horseman

Wednesday, February 11th

Question: What does Catherine the Great tell us about the ambiguities of modernity?  The Role of the State?  The relationship between state and society?  Rebellion?

Revolution, Part I: France

Friday, February 13th

Outline:  What were the causes of the French Revolution?  What were the three phases of the Revolution?  How did each phase differ in its vision of the “good society?”  What was the role of Napoleon?

Discussion: The French Revolution

Monday, February 16th

Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the impact of the French Revolution?  Why, according to Hobsbawm, did it happen?  How does he periodize it?  Interpret its results?

**Reading: Hobsbawn, The Age of Revolution, 53-77

***First Midterm Exam due 11:59 p.m.

Revolution, Part II: Haiti and the Revolution of the Criollos

Wednesday, February 18th

Question: Whose Revolutions were the Haitian and American Creole Revolutions?  What were its causes and effects?  What role did new social classes have to play in its development?  How did they each seek to organize their newly revolutionary societies? What role did nationalism play?

Revolution, Part III: Industrial Revolution

Friday, February 20th

Question: How did the Industrial Revolution remake European Society?  How did it change the place of Europe in the World?

Discussion: The Industrial Revolution

Monday, February 23rd

Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the impact of the Industrial Revolution?  Why, according to Hobsbawm, did it happen?  How does he periodize it?  Interpret its results?

**Reading: Hobsbawn, The Age of Revolution, 27-53

***Historiographical Essay due in class***

Discussion: War, Revolution, Nationalism

Question: What are the impacts of the wars emerging from the French Revolution?  The Peace?  The Revolutions of 1830?

Wednesday, February 25th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 77-149

19th Century Nationalism

Friday, February 27th

Question: What factors contributed to the development of European nationalism?  What forms did it take?  What was its impact on the traditional European state system?  How did Europe and then the world become divided politically into nation states?  What were the difficulties in defining the nation?

19th Century Brazil

Question: How does the Brazilian national experience relate to the revolution of the criollos earlier in the century?  How is it a modern experience?  What role does slavery play?

Monday, March 9th

Discussion: Revolutionary Society / Industrial World

Wednesday, March 11th

Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the transformation of the European world in the era of revolution and industry?  Where is he pointing when he points “towards 1848”?  How does this frame his narrative of revolution?

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 149-309

Discussion: The Great Boom

Friday, March 13th

Question: What is the “Age of Capital?” How does Hobsbawm understand the conflicts underlying the revolutions of 1848?  How was the world unified?  What were the consequences?

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital, 1-82

Discussion: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, part II

Monday, March 16th

Question: How does Baptist explain the relationship between slavery and American capitalism?  How does this challenge traditional understandings of American history? How does Baptist interrogate historical silences?  How does he recover slave voices?  To what effect?

**Reading: Baptist, 145-261

***First Microtheme due***

Middle Class Societies and its Discontents

Wednesday, March 18th

Question: How did the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat seek to reorganize the world around them in the 19th Century?  What were the results of these processes? 

Discussion: Nations and Democracy, part I: Winners and Losers

Friday, March 20th

Question:  According to Hobsbawm, who were the winners and losers of the process of nation-building?  Democratization?  How do these processes unfold? 

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital, 82-173

Discussion: Slavery and American the Making of American Capitalism, part III

Monday, March 23rd

Question: Question: How does Baptist explain the relationship between slavery and American capitalism?  How does this challenge traditional understandings of American history? How does Baptist explain emancipation?  How is the past, past? What does it mean for the present?  What sense should we make of the Economist’s review of Baptist’s work (what is the difference between “history” and “advocacy”)? 

**Reading: Baptist, 261-421 and the Economist’s review of Baptist (moodle)

***Second Microthem due in class***

***Second Midterm Exam due 11:59 p.m.***

19th Century Japan                  

Wednesday, March 25th

Question: How does the Japanese experience of nation-building in the 19th century compare to other similar (and dissimilar) processes underway simultaneously in Asia? 

Discussion: American Exceptionalism

Friday, March 27th

Question: How does Turner explain the development of the American nation (how is that different than the American state—what difference does this make)?

**Reading: Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Frontier in American History” (moodle)

Discussion:  Havoc Rebirth and the Coming of “the West”

Monday, March 30th 

Question:  What does Ansary mean by “havoc?” How does this relate to his project of understanding history read from an Islamic perspective as the conflict between “two impulses: changing our notion of ‘civilized’ to align with the flow of history or fighting the flow of history to realign it with our notion of ‘civilized’”?

**Reading: Ansary, 133-247

***Third Microtheme due in class***

The Chinese 19th Century

Wednesday, April 1st

Question: How does the Chinese experience of nation-building in the 19th century compare to other similar (and dissimilar) processes underway simultaneously in Asia?

India

Wednesday, April 8th

Question: How does the Indian experience of nation-building in the 19th century compare to other similar (and dissimilar) processes underway simultaneously in Asia?

***Fourth Microtheme due in class***

Discussion: Age of Empire!                       

Friday, April 10th

Question: What are the contradictions “penetrating” and “dominating” the age of empire?  What are its most important results?

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1-84

European Imperialism: Scramble for Africa                  

Monday April 13th

Question: Explain the motivations for European imperialism in the 19th century? What role did imperialism, racism and nationalism have to play?  What did European imperialism look like on the ground in Africa?

Discussion: Nations and Democracy, part II: Bourgeois Anxieties                        

Wednesday, April 15th

Question: Why does Hobsbawm understand the age of empire to be a period of bourgeois anxieties?  What are the implications?  Where is his narrative leading (where is the terminus)?

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 84-192

***Fifth Microtheme due in class***

***Thesis due in class***

Gauguin and the Ambivalence of Colonial Desire

Friday, April 17th

Question:  How does Gauguin illustrate the ambivalence of colonial desire?  What is the colonial administrator?  Tourist?

Discussion: Rise of Secular Modernism / The Crisis of Modernity

Monday, April 20th

Question: How does Ansary interpret the transformations put in place in Europe by the Protestant Reformation?  Does he see analogous movements in the Islamic world?  To what effect?  What does he mean by the crisis of modernity?

**Reading: Ansary, 247-349

***Synthesis due in class***

No Class: “The Pleasures of Backwardness Conference,” University of California, Berkeley

Wednesday, April 22nd

No Class: “The Pleasures of Backwardness Conference,” University of California, Berkeley

Friday, April 24th

Discussion: New Uncertainties: New Worlds / Old Worlds               

Monday, April 27th

Question: How is the late imperial world one of uncertainties?  How do they relate to Hobsbawm’s “contradictions of the era?”  How are they reflected culturally?

**Reading: Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 192-341

World War I: Glitter and Doom                 

Wednesday, April 29th

Question:  How did World War I complete the 19th Century process of creating European nation-states?  What was the war’s impact on the culture of the interwar years?  What was the war’s impact on interwar politics?

***Final Draft due in class***