World Civilizations from 1453 to the First World War:

Revolution, the State, and the Good Society

Core 133:  Scarboro / Fall 2017

 

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

 

Section

C: MWF 12:00 (H-M 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.  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 models).  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. CART Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

Students who complete courses in the Civilizations CART (Core 13x) will be able to:

III. General Requirements

A. Course Readings:

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

Conrad, Joseph, The Heart of Darkness, Classics Deluxe Edition, 2012.

DeTocqueville, Democracy in America, Signet Classics, 2010.

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.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engles, The Communist Manifesto, Signet Classics, 2011.

 

B. Written Assignments

1. First Primary Source Analysis: due September 25th                                             (4-5 pages)

On September 25th you will historically contextualize three films used as primary sources.  This will require you to place the films in dialogue with one another, analyze how they are asking similar questions (if coming to different answers), and articulating their theses. Your analysis should make use of the Hobsbawm text (and potentially additional texts) in order to situate the films, and their themes, historically.

 

Essays:  All Found on the Course Moodle Site:

 

Diderot, Supplement to the Voyage of Bougainville, 1771

            Rousseau, The Social Contract (excerpts), 1762

Voltaire, Treatise on Tolerance, 1763

 

Your analysis will need to be turned in both on the turnitin link on the course moodle site and in paper form in class.

 

2. Second Primary Source Analysis: due December 4th                                            (4-5 pages)

On December 4th you will historically contextualize three essays used as primary sources.  This will require you to place the films in dialogue with one another, analyze how they are asking similar questions (if coming to different answers), and articulating their theses.  Your analysis should make use of the Hobsbawm text (and potentially additional texts) in order to situate the essays, and their themes, historically.

 

Sources:

 

Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness, Penguin Deluxe Edition, 2012

Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Imperialism, Science and Religion (two Essays), 1883 and 1884

José Martí, “Mother America,” 1889

 

Your analysis will need to be turned in both on the turnitin link on the course moodle site and in paper form in class.

 

3. Reflection Assignment:                                                                 (1-2 pages)

At the end of the semester you will be asked to write a short reflection on what you have learned this semester, how you experience the question of modernity, and the good society.

 

Your reflection will need to be turned in both on the turnitin link on the course moodle site and in paper form in class.

 

D. Exams:

There will be three exams in this class: two midterms: the first due on October 2nd at 11:59 p.m.; the second due November 6th 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 four 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), 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, and 4) questions pertaining to your primary sources used in your essays. 

 

E. Source Quizzes

Five times over the course of the semester you will have to interpret a primary source connected to a course discussion or lecture in a one page analysis.  The due dates for these quizzes are as follows—all quizzes are due on the date assigned by 11:59 p.m.:

 

Sources

Date

An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, c. 1519 and

Excerpts from Hernan Cortes’ Second Letter to Charles V, 1520

September 11th

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789 and

Olympe DeGouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen, 1793 and Maximilien Robespierre,Justification of the Use of Terror, 1794

October 9th

Johann Gottfried von Herder, Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind, 1784

October 25th

Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877

November 1st

Yoshitora, The Complete Enumeration of Scenic Place in Foreign Lands, 1850-1880

November 15th

 

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-

91-89

B+

88-85

B

84-83

B-

82-80

C+

79-77

C

76-75

C-

74-70

D

69<

F

 

Your grade distribution for class assignments is as follows:

 

First Midterm

15%

Second Midterm

15%

Final Exam

15%

Primary Source Analysis #1

15%

Primary Source Analysis #2

15%

Primary Source Quizzes x5

10%

Reflection Assignment

5%

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.

  

  

Introduction: Sources and History

Monday, August 28th

Modernity, Revolution, and Ideology

Wednesday, August 30th

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, September 1st

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

Wednesday, September 6th

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?

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

Friday, September 8th

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

Humanism

Monday, September 11th

Question:  What is humanism?  How was it a challenge to the established powers of Medieval Europe? How does it change the way people think of themselves in the world?

***First Quiz Due 11:59 p.m.

Epistemological Revolutions: Scientific Revolution, Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment

Wednesday, September 13th

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 does it reflect questions of authority over knowledge?  How did the Enlightenment challenge traditional societal organization?  How does it change the way people think of themselves in the world?

Absolutism: The Growth of the Modern State

Friday, September 15th

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

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

Monday, September 18th

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)

The Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Wednesday, September 20th

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

Discussion: Aquirre the Wrath of God

Friday, September 22nd

Question: What is Werner Herzog saying about the colonial experiment?  The relationship between civilization and madness?

Mughal India and the Coming of the British East India Company

Monday, September 25th

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?

***Primary Source Analysis

Black Atlantic and the Invention of Race

Wednesday, September 27th

Question: How did race develop in the Atlantic World?  What are its connections to slavery and capitalism?  Colonialism and modernity? 

Catherine the Great and the Bronze Horseman

Friday, September 29th

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

Monday, October 2nd

Question:  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?

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

Discussion: The French Revolution

Wednesday, October 4th

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

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

Friday, October 6th

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?

Discussion: Democracy in America, part I

Monday, October 9th

Question: What does De Tocqueville see as the underlying tensions in the American democratic experiment?  What are the perils and promises of democratic structures? 

**Reading: De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 37-161

***Second Quiz Due 11:59 p.m.

Revolution, Part III: Industrial Revolution

Wednesday, October 11th

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, October 16th

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

Discussion: War, Revolution, Nationalism

Wednesday, October 18th

Question: According to Hobsbawm, what are the impacts of the wars emerging from the French Revolution?  The Peace?  The Revolutions of 1830?

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

19th Century Nationalism

Friday, October 20th

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?

Discussion: Democracy in America, part II

Monday, October 23rd

Question: How does De Tocqueville understand the development of American identity and political philosophy?  (In other words, what makes America, America)? 

**Reading: De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 163-217

19th Century Brazil

Wednesday, October 25th

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?

***Third Quiz Due 11:59 p.m.

Discussion: Revolutionary Society / Industrial World

Friday, October 27th

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 Communist Manifesto

Monday, October 30th

Question: How do Marx and Engles understand the contradictions of capitalism?  How are they to be resolved? 

*Reading: Marx and Engles, The Communist Manifesto (entire)

Discussion: The Great Boom

Wednesday, November 1st 

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

***Fourth Quiz: Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877

Middle Class Societies and its Discontents

Friday, November 3rd

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

Monday, November 6th

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

***Second Exam Due 11:59 p.m.

Discussion: Democracy in America, part III

Wednesday, November 8th

Question: Question: According to De Tocqueville, what is American Democracy?  How does it shape American identity?  Is he right?

**Reading: De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 218-372

19th Century Japan

Friday, November 10th

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:  Havoc Rebirth and the Coming of “the West”

Monday, November 13th

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

The Chinese 19th Century

Wednesday, November 15th

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

***Fifth Quiz: Yoshitora, The Complete Enumeration of Scenic Places in Foreign Lands, 1850-80

India and Colonialism / India and Capitalism

Friday, November 17th

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

Discussion: Age of Empire!

Monday, November 20th

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

Discussion: The Heart of Darkness

Monday, November 27th

Question: How does Conrad understand the colonial experiment (how does his vision compare with Herzog’s)?  Modernity?  Horror?

Reading: Conrad, The Heart of Darkness (entire)

European Imperialism: Scramble for Africa

Wednesday, November 29th

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

Friday, December 1st

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

Discussion: Rise of Secular Modernism / The Crisis of Modernity

Monday, December 4th

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

***Primary Source Analysis

Discussion: New Uncertainties: New Worlds / Old Worlds

Wednesday, December 6th

 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

Friday, December 8th    

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?