Global History Since 1914
Core 191
Scarboro / Spring 2015
Soviet Advertisement for a UAZ Jeep, 1975
Section |
A: MWF 11:00 (Hafey-Marian 303)
B: MWF 12:00 (Hafey-Marian 303) |
Office |
Hafey-Marian 306 |
E-mail |
|
Website |
|
Phone |
(570) 208-5900 ext. 5637 |
Office Hours |
TTh 9:30-12:00 |
Moodle Site |
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.
Judt, Tony, Ill Fares the Land,
Penguin, 2010.
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
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.
E. 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.
F. 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.
G. 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% |
H. 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.
I. 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.
J. 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, January 12th |
Modernism and Westernization: Setting the Stage
Wednesday, January 14th
**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)
Friday, January 16th
**Readings on the course moodle site (“Primary Source Exercise”) |
The Scramble for Africa: Race, Nation and Progress
Monday, January 19th
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
Wednesday, January 21st
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 (!)(?)
Friday, January 23rd
**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
Monday, January 26th
**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?
***Historical Questions due in class*** |
Post War Crisis and the Age of Nationalism
Wednesday, January 28th
**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
Friday, January 30th
**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
Monday, February 2nd
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”?
|
Discussion: Modern Times
Wednesday, February 4th
**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? |
Nationalism and “Double Consciousness”
Friday, February 6th
Lecture Question:
What is "double consciousness? How is it a reflection of
modernity? How do Garvey and Dubois understand the issue? |
Discussion: Japanese Modern
Monday, February 9th
**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?
***Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Sources due in class*** |
Russian Revolutions, Part II: High Stalinism
Wednesday, February 11th
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, February 13th
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, February 16th
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 Exam due 11:59 p.m.*** |
Cold War, Part I: “Sovietization” and “Normalization” in Europe
Wednesday, February 18th
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?
|
Cold War, Part II: Atomic Civilization
Friday, February 20th
**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, February 23rd
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?
**Historiographical Essay due in class*** |
Chinese Revolutions
Wednesday, February 25th
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? |
Inventing India
Friday, February 27th
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
Monday, March 9th
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? |
Discussion: Journey to Bananaland
Wednesday, March 11th
**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
Friday, March 13th
**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
Monday, March 16th
**Readings: Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (entire)
Reading Question: How
does Césaire understand colonialism? Modernity? What are his
prescriptions for a new world order?
**First Microtheme due*** |
Discussion: Apocalypse Now (!) (?)
Wednesday, March 18th
**Film: Coppola, Apocalypse Now!
Reading Question: How
does Coppola understand colonialism? Modernity? Civilization? Who is the
hero of the story? |
Post-War Middle East
Friday, March 20th
Lecture Question: How
are the connections between modernity, nationalism, and religion
demonstrated in the 20th century Middle East? |
1968
Monday, March 23rd
**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”?
***Second Microtheme due***
***Second Midterm due 11:59 p.m.*** |
Stagnation
Wednesday, March 25th
**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
Friday, March 27th
**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) |
Bob Marley and the Post-Colonial
Monday, March 30th
**Reading: Hobsbawm, 433-460
and Bob Marley
Lyrics from the Course Moodle Site
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?
***Third Microtheme due*** |
Discussion: Convergence?
Wednesday, April 1st
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) |
1979, Part I: Iranian Revolution
Wednesday, April 8th
Lecture Question: How
is the Iranian Revolution a commentary on modernity? Westernization?
Colonialism?
***Fourth Microtheme due*** |
1979, Part II: Afghanistan, Mecca, and the Moral Majority
Friday, April 10th
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? |
Mandela and Mugabe
Monday April 13th
Lecture Question: How
do Mugabe and Mandela offer differing responses to the perils of
post-colonialism? What are the implications? |
1989 and 1991
Wednesday, April 15th
**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?
***Fifth Microtheme due***
***Thesis due in class*** |
Discussion: The End of History (!)(?)
Friday, April 17th
**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, April 20th
**Film: Becker, Good Bye
Lenin!
Reading Question: How
does Becker understand the collapse of communism? The end of history?
The future?
***Synthesis Draft 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
|
Ill Fares the Land
Monday, April 27th
**Reading: Judt, Ill Fares the
Land (entire)
Reading Question:
How does Judt understand the condition of liberal democratic capitalism
at the turn of the millennium?
Why is the land faring ill?
What are his solutions? |
Discussion: White Tiger!
Wednesday, April 29th
**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)*** |