Core 191: Global History since 1914

Scarboro / Fall, 2014

 

German Soldier after the Battle of the Somme, 1916

 

 

Class Meetings

Section A: MWF 9:00 (McGowan 109)

Section B: MWF 10:00 (McGowan 109)

Office

HM 306

Office Hours

TTH 9:30-12:00

E-mail

cristoferscarboro@kings.edu

Phone

(570) 208-5900 ex. 5637

Moodle Site

http://kings.mrooms2.net/course/view.php?id=624

Course Site

http://staff.kings.edu/cristoferscarboro/Core-191-Global-History-since-1914.html

 

I.  Course Description: 

This course is intended as an introduction to the major political, social and cultural developments of the 20th Century.  As a starting point we will investigate the Twentieth Century as a period of “high modernity,” when regimes throughout the world sought to create and perfect particular types of subject-citizens within competing universalizing ideological frameworks and visions of the future and the past: Liberal Democratic Capitalism, Nationalism, Communism, and Colonialism first among them. Our discussion of the last century 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. Mission:

Mission: Courses in the Contemporary Global Studies (CGS) CART promote critical analysis and engagement with the complex, wide-ranging global issues in the world today. These issues, explored in meaningful ways through a variety of disciplines, emphasize interdependent global systems (historical, economic, geographic, and political) as well issues related to human rights and social justice, and the impact of global business. Important goals in King's mission statement include fostering social responsibility in our students and preparing them intellectually to lead satisfying lives. King’s believes that these goals, when recognized in a global context, enhance a students’ sense of identity, community, and citizenship.

The Learning Outcomes in the Contemporary Global Studies CART align broadly with the overarching King’s College CORE curriculum goal to make students aware of global issues and to give them knowledge of foreign cultures. 

 

·        Goal 1: Identify the interconnected nature of global systems.  Students completing a CGS course will develop a complex understanding of the relational nature of global systems, which should include 1) an understanding of contemporary globalization as a product of long-term historical processes and 2) the ability to situate ongoing global interrelationships within both local and worldwide frameworks and from the vantage point of different disciplinary perspectives.

 

·        Goal 2: Recognize and understand cultural diversity in a global context.  Students completing a CGS course will gain the ability to engage and learn from perspectives and experiences different from one’s own and to understand how one’s place in the world both informs and limits one’s knowledge.  This includes the curiosity to learn respectfully about the cultural diversity of other people and on an individual level to traverse cultural boundaries.

 

·        Goal 3: Apply interdisciplinary knowledge and methodology to understand contemporary global issues.  Students completing a CGS course will identify and analyze significant global challenges as they relate to the continuing issues of contemporary life using disciplinary knowledge and methodologies in the social sciences.  This kind of learning prepares students to think creatively in one’s capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas or expertise in original ways.

III. General Course Requirements:

A. Course Readings:

 

Adiga, Aravind, The White Tiger, Free Press, 2008.  

 

Buruma, Ian, Inventing Japan: 1853-1964, Modern Library Classics, 2004.

 

Césaire, Aimé, Discourse on Colonialism, Monthly Review Press, 2001.

  

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, The Great Gatsby, Scribner, 2004.

 

Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991, Vintage Books, 1996.

 

B.  Course Films:

The films for the course are an intrinsic part of the course--they will be the centerpiece of class discussion on the week they are shown, and viewing them is a requirement for the course.   The films will be available on reserve at the King's College Library. A subscription to Netflix <<www.netflix.com>> (shared or otherwise) is an inexpensive way to watch the films on your own time.  

 

Becker, Wolfgang, Good Bye Lenin, 2003.

 

Chaplin, Charlie, Modern Times, 1936.

 

Coppola, Francis Ford, Apocalypse Now, 1979.

 

C.  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. 

   

D.  Written Assignment:

Your larger writing assignment of 8-10 pages is due in its final form on December 5th.  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 September 3rd.  

 

2)      On September 17th 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.  Your annotations should include the major thesis of the works and indicate how you intend to use them in your paper. 

 

3)      On October 1st 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).

 

4)      On November 7th 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.

 

5)      On November 12th you will turn in a draft of your historiographical section of your paper (4-5 pages).  This will be the section of your paper where you review how other historians and scholars have understood your topic. This assignment will be turned in through the appropriate turnitin link on the course moodle page and in paper form in class. 

 

6)      On December 1st 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. 

 

7)      The final draft of your paper (8-10 pages) is due on December 5th.  This assignment will be turned in through the appropriate turnitin link on the course moodle page and in paper form in class. 

 

E.  Microthemes:

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).  These microthemes are intended to allow you the opportunity to analyze and write about these sources historically and should consist of two parts: first, you should summarize the argument of the sources—you should ask and elucidate what the author, director or artist was trying to say.  Second, you should place the piece and argument within the larger context of the time and place.  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 this connect to the other primary and secondary sources you are incorporating into your paper.

 

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>

These assignments will be turned in through the appropriate turnitin links on the course moodle page and in paper form in class.

   

Due dates for Microthemes:

 

First Microtheme

10/8/13

Second Microtheme

10/15/13

Third Microtheme

10/22/13

Fourth Microtheme

10/29/13

Fifth Microtheme

11/5/13

 

F. Exams:

There will be three exams in this class: two midterms on September 29th and November 3rd  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 two parts: 1) questions from the syllabus covered during the course of class meetings (these are listed on the syllabus and will be randomly chosen for the exam) 2) 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. 

 

G.  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. 

 

H. 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%

Rough Draft

5%

Final Paper

10%

Class Participation

10%

 

I. 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. 

 

J. 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.

 

K.  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

 

Introduction

Monday, August 25th

Modernism and Westernization: Setting the Stage

Wednesday, August 27th

**Readings: Hobsbawm, 1-17 

Lecture Question: What do we mean by modernity? What are its defining characteristics?  In what way is it related to westernization?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm periodize [divide into historical periods] the short 20th century?  What are the elements of each period marking the move from one period to another?  What are some of the themes that thread through the whole century?

Reading the Historical Source (Primary)

**Readings on the course moodle site (“Primary Source Exercise”)

Friday, August 29th

The Scramble for Africa: Race, Nation and Progress

Wednesday, September 3rd

Lecture Question: What were the European motivations for the Scramble for Africa?  What ideological work did colonialism do in the European imagination?  What did colonialism look like on the ground in Africa?

***Topic Sentence***

Imperialism and Westernization in Asia

Friday, September 5th

Lecture Question: How did the encroachments of European powers into Asia influence Asian understandings of Modernity?  How is the Japanese experience with modernization shift the paradigm?

World War I and the Death of the Modern (!)(?)

Monday, September 8th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 21-53

Lecture Question: What accounts for the destruction of the First World War?  How does it challenge notions of progress and modernity?  What are its social consequences? How did it transform culture? Politics?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the transformations of the “Age of Total War”?  What were the basic principles of the Treaty of Versailles?

Russian Revolutions, Part I: Crisis and Experimentation

Wednesday, September 10th 

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 54-84

Lecture Question: What larger social, economic, and cultural problems was the Russian Revolution designed to solve? What programs did early Revolutionaries enact to meet them? What were the results of their efforts?

Reading Question: How is the Russian Revolution a challenge to the established order of the 19th Century?  What transformations does it bring? 

Post War Crisis and the Age of Nationalism

Friday, September 12th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 85-141

Lecture Question: How did World War I complete the 19th Century process of creating European nation-states? How did the question of the nation play out in interwar Germany?  In the colonial world?  What is the “logic of the nation-state?”

Reading Question: According to Hobsbawm, what are the immediate consequences of the “Great Slump”?  What does he mean by the “fall of liberalism”? 

Discussion: Great Gatsby and the Lost Generation

Monday, September 15th 

**Reading: Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (entire)

Reading Question: How is Fitzgerald’s work a reflection of larger social anxieties of the post-war world?  What does it say about questions of capitalism and consumption? Class? Identity? How does it connect to Chaplin’s vision of the interwar years?

Age of Anxiety

Wednesday, September 17th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 178-198

Lecture Question: What is meant by the Age of Anxiety?  What are people anxious about?  How is this interwar anxiety reflected culturally? Politically?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the arts of the interwar period?  What does he mean when he claims that “scandal was their cohesion”?

**Annotated Bibliography (Secondary)***

Discussion: Modern Times

Friday, September 19th

**Film: Chaplin, Modern Times

Reading Question: How is Chaplin’s work a reflection of larger social anxieties of the post-war world?  What does it say about questions of capitalism and consumption? Class? Identity? How does it connect to Fitzgerald’s vision of the interwar years?

Discussion: Japanese Modern

Monday, September 22nd

**Reading: Buruma, Inventing Japan (entire)

Reading Question: What does Buruma mean by Inventing Japan? How does he understand Japan’s experiment with modernity?  How does it challenge notions of “westernization”?  How does it confirm them?

Russian Revolutions, Part II: High Stalinism

Wednesday, September 24th

Lecture Question: What larger social, economic, and cultural problems was the Russian Revolution designed to solve? What programs did Stalin Revolutionaries enact to meet them?  What were the results of these plans?

Degenerate Art

Friday, September 26th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 142-177

Lecture Question: What accounts for the rise of Fascism in Europe?  What are its motivating principles?  How does fascism as an ideology seek to order society?  How is fascism’s relationship to art a metaphor for its larger programs?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the combined struggle against fascism?  How is it an international civil war?  What are the fault lines?

Holocaust

Monday, September 29th

Lecture Question: How is the Holocaust a reflection of Nazi ideology?  How does it compare to other attempts to create order in Europe and in the colonial world?  How does the Holocaust help us come to terms with the modernist attempt to create subjects?

***First Midterm Exam***

Cold War, Part I: “Sovietization” and “Normalization” in Europe

Wednesday, October 1st

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 225-256

Lecture Question: What role did ideology play in the development of the Cold War?  How did the United States and the Soviet Union work to reorganize European societies?  How was the "good life" defined in each camp?

Reading Question: Where does Hobsbawm find the roots of the Cold War?  How does he periodize it?   

***Annotated Bibliography (Primary)***

Cold War, Part II: Atomic Civilization

Friday, October 3rd

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 257-286

Lecture Question: How did each side in the Cold War approach the question of modernity?  How did they measure the relative success of their system?  What were the implications of these decisions?

Reading Question: Where does Hobsbawm find the roots of the Golden Age?

Cold War, Part III: Cold War, Hot War

Monday, October 6th 

Lecture Question: What is the “logic of the Cold War” in the Third World? What are the lessons of the Korean War as it relates to superpower conflict?

Chinese Revolutions

Wednesday, October 8th 

Lecture Question: Whose revolution was the Chinese Revolution?  How did it seek to reorganize Chinese society?  What programs did it institute?  What were the results of these programs?

***First Microtheme***

Inventing India

Monday, October 13th 

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 199-222

Lecture Question: How was India “invented?”  How was (is) its invention a commentary on the larger question of modernity and identity? What role does violence play?

Reading Question: What does Hobsbawm mean when he claims that “the greater part of the world’s history in the short twentieth century are derived, not original” (200)?  What, for him, are the consequences of this dynamic?

Cold War, Part IV: Latin America: Cold War Dirty War

Wednesday, October 15th 

Lecture Question: How did the Cold War play out in Latin America? How did the interests of superpowers align with the interests of local actors? 

***Second Microtheme***

Discussion: Journey to Bananaland

Friday, October 17th

**Film: Journey to Bananaland (course moodle site)

Reading Question: Where and what is Bananaland?  What ideological work does it engage in? How does it relate to the cold war and questions of colonialism?

Africa and Decolonialization

Monday, October 20th  

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 344-371

 Lecture Question:  What is the “Curse of the Nation-State”?  What is a Vampire State? What were the challenges of the Independence movements in Africa?  How did they meet their goals?  What role did the cold war play in Africa in the mid to late 20th century?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the relationship between the state and individual in the post-colonial world?  How does this relate to Césaire’s understanding?

Discussion: Discourse on Colonialism

Wednesday, October 22nd  

**Readings: Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (entire)

Reading Question: How does Césaire understand colonialism?  Modernity? What are his prescriptions for a new world order?

***Third Microtheme***

Discussion: Apocalypse Now (!) (?)

Friday, October 24th 

**Film: Coppola, Apocalypse Now!

Reading Question: How does Coppola understand colonialism? Modernity? Civilization? Who is the hero of the story?

Post-War Middle East

Monday, October 27th 

Lecture Question: How are the connections between modernity, nationalism, and religion demonstrated in the 20th century Middle East?

1968

Wednesday, October 29th 

**Readings: Hobsbawm, 287-343 and “Posters: Paris, 1968,” and “Graffiti: Paris 1968” (course moodle site)

Lecture Question: How are we to understand the demonstrations of 1968?  How do they relate to the question of the “good life” and modernity?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the social revolution of the post-war years (particularly in Europe and the United States)?  How does this relate to the “Golden Age”?  The “Landslide”?

***Fourth Microtheme***

Stagnation

Friday, October, 31st

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 371-400

Lecture Question: What is meant by stagnation?  How do the 1970s represent both a crisis and a golden age of the good life as outlined in the post-war years?  What is a 1970s “good life?”

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm understand the “Real Existing Socialism” in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union?  What accounts for its successes?  Why did it collapse?

Vietnam and Afghanistan

Monday, November 3th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 403-433

Lecture Question: How were the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan examples of forgetting the virtues of the Cold War logic of proxy wars?  How do they demonstrate the retention of the vices of those same proxy wars?  How do they demonstrate the limits of the superpowers’ ability to structure the world in their image? 

Reading Question: What were the historical conditions leading to the "crisis decades" (and, ultimately, to "the landslide")?  What were the immediate consequences (see particularly section V in chapter 14)

***Second Midterm Exam***

Bob Marley and the Post-Colonial

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 433-460 and  Bob Marley Lyrics from the Course Moodle Site

Wednesday, November 5th

Reading Question: How does the music of Bob Marley help us understand the perils and possibilities of living in the colonial and post-colonial era?  How does this correspond to Hobsbawm’s understanding of the period?

***Fifth Microtheme***

Discussion: Convergence?

Friday, November 7th

Reading Question: What does Solzhenitsyn mean by a “world divided?”  Where is the division? What are the implications?

**Readings: Solzhenitsyn, Address at Harvard University, 1978 (course moodle site)

***Thesis***

1979, Part I: Iranian Revolution

Monday, November 10th

Lecture Question: How is the Iranian Revolution a commentary on modernity? Westernization? Colonialism?

1979, Part II: Afghanistan, Mecca, and the Moral Majority

Wednesday, November 12th

Lecture Question: How is 1979 a “hinge year” of the 20th century? How should we make sense of the larger social movements at play?  How are they a reaction to stagnation? 1968? Modernity?

***Historiographical Draft (4-5 pages)***

Mandela and Mugabe

Friday, November 14th

Lecture Question: How do Mugabe and Mandela offer differing responses to the perils of post-colonialism?  What are the implications?

1989 and 1991

Monday, November 17th

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 461-499

Lecture Question: What accounts for the collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union?  Do the revolutions of 1989 and 1991 represent the triumph of liberal democratic capitalism?

Reading Question: How does Hobsbawm explain the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union?  Its continuation in China?

No Class ASEEES Conference

Wednesday, November 19th

No Class ASEEES Conference

Friday, November 22nd

Discussion: The End of History (!)(?)

Monday, November 24th

**Reading: Fukuyama, “The End of History and the Last Man” (course moodle site)

Reading Question: What does Fukuyama mean by the end of history?  Are we there? What remains of the modernist project to remake the world?  The four major modernist ideologies?  Where do we go from here?

Discussion: Good Bye Lenin (!)(?)

Monday, December 1st

**Film: Becker, Good Bye Lenin!

Reading Question: How does Becker understand the collapse of communism? The end of history? The future? 

***Synthesis Draft (6-8 pages)***

Discussion: Toward the Millennium (from the Millennium)

**Reading: Hobsbawm, 558-586

Wednesday, December 3rd

Reading Question: In assessing the 20th century, how does Hobsbawm expect the 21st to unfold?  What do you think?

Discussion: White Tiger!

Friday, December 5th

**Reading: Adiga, White Tiger (entire)

Reading Question: What are we to make of Adiga’s understanding of Indian capitalism?  The place of the west? Capitalism?  How does his understanding of capitalism in 2008 square with Fitzgerald’s vision of Gilded Age America?

***Final Draft (8-10 pages)***