I.  Introduction:

This course will survey Western Civilizations since the three great modern revolutions--the Scientific, Industrial and French--with an emphasis on the social and cultural forces and ideas that have shaped Western societies. In coordination with other honors classes on Art, Literature, Philosophy and Theology, this class will emphasize the political, social cultural and economic perils and possibilities encountered by the “Western World” since the 17th century. Subjects discussed in the class will include such topics as, the invention of the "West" and "Western Civilization" and its perils and possibilities, the revolutionary transformation of daily life by new science and technologies; visions of a global economic interdependence arising out of rapid industrialization and urbanization; new understandings of the world created and mirrored by revolutions in art and literature; the rise of a mass consumer culture; socialism and socialist humanism; feminism; colonialism, decolonialization and the collapse of European Empires; evolutions in understandings of sex and leisure; the creation and disintegration of the Soviet Union and socialist regimes in Eastern Europe; conflicts among evolving, ascendant and declining social classes and interest groups; contestation over cultural forms; liberal democracy and its discontents.

II. Purpose:

Civilization courses are designed to explore in some depth the complex dimensions of our world and the cumulative experience of the past, to provide an understanding of how yesterday influences today and the outlook for tomorrow.  We study the major developments of Western peoples because most of the problems and institutions of contemporary society have distinguishable roots in the historical past.  Moreover, because of the physical and material expansion of the West in the modern period, many of these forms have, for good or ill, become global in nature.  Understanding and critiquing the place of western civilization is a fundamental to making sense of the world today.

Writing and reading history are political acts that are about framing the world in a particular way.  How to come to terms with history, how to glean its role in shaping us as human beings, are fundamental questions that strike at the heart of our very notion of ourselves as individuals.  How we understand history is, at its root, an act of self-definition.  As such, History is fundamental to liberal arts education.  The discipline of history gives us better understanding of ourselves and culture, of the cultures and practices of others while honing academic skills and the ability to think critically.  History resides in the knotty interplay of countless cultural forces—the charge of this class is to enable our students to understand and convey the complexity of historical events clearly. While we understand that not all of our students will become academic historians or even history majors, the skills they develop and hone in our history courses: to analyze insightfully, think critically, and express ideas clearly and persuasively, will serve them well in any field that they choose to enter.

III. Course Objectives:

Objectives for the student: 

·        To understand history as a series of competing and reinforcing historiograhical narratives.

·        To understand and participate in the production of historical narratives and to evaluate competing historical and historiographical claims.

·        To develop a familiarity with the use of historical sources (both primary and secondary).

·        To develop critical reading skills through demonstrated through class participation, written assignments and group presentations. 

Goals for the student:

·        To improve understanding of the major events which have influenced the modern world.

·         To understand the influence of the past on contemporary events and problems, or, in other words, to develop Historical Mindedness.

·        To be an intelligent consumer and evaluator of information about events in the world.

General Learning Outcomes for the student:

·        To manage information, which involves sorting data, ranking data for significance, synthesizing facts, concepts and principles.

·        To understand and use organizing principles or key concepts against which miscellaneous data can be evaluated.

·        To differentiate between facts, opinions and inferences.

·        To frame questions so as to more clearly clarify a problem, topic or issue.

·        To compare and contrast the relative merits of opposing arguments and interpretations, moving between the main points of each position.

·        To organize your thoughts and communicate them clearly and concisely in written form.

·        To obtain practice in selecting and presenting information and arguments within a restricted environment, especially the limitations of time in exams.

IV. General Course Requirements:

A. Course Readings:

Alloula, Malek, The Colonial Harem, University of Minnesota Press, 1986.

Arendt, Hannah, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Penguin Classics, 2006

Freud, Sigmund, Civilization and its Discontents, W. W. Norton, 2005

Pavlac, Brian, A Concise Survey of Western Civilization: Supremacies and Diversities throughout History, Vol. 2: 1500 to the Present, Rowman and Littlefield, 2011.

Pleshakov, Constantine, There is no freedom without Bread: 1989 and the Civil War that brought Down Communism, Picador, 2010.

Spiegelman, Art, Maus: A Survivors Tale: My Father Bleeds History / Here My Troubles Began (Boxed Set), Pantheon; Boxed edition, 1993

Recommended:

Bukharin, Nikolai and E. Preobrazhensky, The ABC of Communism, Merlin Press, 2006.

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 (please remember that there are roughly 20 people taking this class so plan accordingly).  A subscription to Netflix <<www.netflix.com>> (shared or otherwise) is an inexpensive way to watch the films on your own time.    

Chaplin, Charlie, Modern Times, 1936

Kusturica, Emir, Underground, 1995

Kubrick, Stanley, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

Schoedsack, King Kong, 1933

C. Class Participation:

King’s College regards student participation in class as essential to the learning process.  Therefore, regular class attendance is required of all students.  After three unexcused absences your class participation grade will drop a letter grade (from A to B).  Each subsequent absence will result in another letter grade deduction.  Please see the King’s College Student Handbook for policies regarding excusing absences and campus attendance policies.

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. 

Your class participation component of your final grade will be assessed on several criteria.  You will be responsible for leading class discussion twice during this semester.  This will entail reading the assigned text, song collection or film closely, arranging a list of topics and themes to discuss in class and preparing a series of questions to discuss during class.  You will e-mail a list of 8-10 questions to me and your classmates no later than 5:00 the evening before class so that we will have time to reflect on them and prepare responses.

Further, as part of this class participation, prior to each class discussion you will be responsible for turning in a written description (no more than a paragraph) of the thesis of the class readings.  These will collected at the beginning of class and no late assignments will be accepted.

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. 

Students are responsible for making up any work they miss while absent from class.  Work missed should be turned in the day you return from an excused absence (unless otherwise agreed to).  Late work due to an unexcused absence will be penalized a 1/3 a grade (from A to A-) for each day late.

D. Written Assignments:

The primary written assignment in this class is a 10-12 paper that incorporates both primary and secondary sources.  Much of this work will be done collaboratively within a group.  On the first day of class you will chose three other people with whom you will be working closely together both in researching your paper and in preparing and presenting your final group project.  Each of your individual papers will be on the same general topic. Your individual papers will all contribute to the final project so you should be sure to closely collaborate with your peers.  Your paper will be written in several steps much of it collaboratively:

1) On Friday, February 18^th you will turn in a group bibliography of secondary sources.  This will consist of a minimum of 30 sources and be the basis of your first draft of the paper your historiographical essay.

2) Your historiographical essay is due on Friday, March 25^th.  This essay (which will be incorporated into your final paper) will synthesize the historical scholarship on your topic against which you will situate your own readings of your primary sources.  This essay will need to be a minimum of 5 pages.  Besides a hard copy for me turned in in class, you will need to e-mail copies to each member of your group. 

3) On Monday, April 4^th your group will turn in a group bibliography of primary sources.  This will consist of a minimum of 20 sources and be the basis of the second draft of the paper.

4) On Friday, April 15^th you will turn in your second rough draft of your paper which will focus on interpreting and integrating primary sources within the framework of your historiographical understanding.  This draft should be unique (that is not include sections from your historiograohical essay) and a minimum of 5 pages.  Besides a hard copy for me turned in in class, you will need to e-mail copies to each member of your group. 

5) Your final paper of 10-12 pages is due the last day of class Wednesday, May 4^th

E. Final Group Presentations

Each group will be responsible for a final presentation during the last weeks of the semester.  These presentations should present the findings of the group in an integrated and coherent manner and present a clear thesis supported by collected evidence (both primary and secondary sources). Your project will be allotted for 20-25 minutes with a question and answer session to follow.  You project should be multi-media and can include power-point images, music and video clips.

You will also be responsible for grading your group mates’ performance during your work together this semester.  Ten percent of your final grade will consist of your group mates’ assessment of your work.

F. Exams:

There will be two examinations in this class a midterm due on March 14^th and a final given during finals week.  Both exams will be taken on the course moodle site.  The exams will consist of three parts: 1) identifications—these terms will be taken from the list of key terms accompanying the outline for each day; 2) essay questions—these questions will be assigned randomly from the questions assigned to each class meeting on the syllabus; 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. 

You may take a missed exam only at the discretion of the instructor.

G. Grading:

Your final grade will be based on the following percentages

Your grade distribution for assignments is as follows:

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. Disabilities:

 King’s College and this instructor 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:

I. The Birth of the Modern

Introduction:

Monday, January 17^th

What is the “West”? What is “Civilization”?  What’s the Point?

Wednesday, January 19^th

Question: What is "the West"?  What is "civilization"?  What is the point?

**Pavlac, Epilogue, 389-387

The Political, Social and Cultural World of the 18^th Century: Absolutism and Enlightenment

Friday, January 21^st

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?  How did the Enlightenment challenge traditional societal organization?  How did it change the way in which people understood their place in the world?

**Pavlac, Chapter 9, 163-198

**Reading: Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment?, 1784 <http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/kant.html>

Discipline and Punish

Monday, January 24^th   

Question:  How does Michel Foucault understand the process of modernization? 

**Reading: Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 1976

Part I. "Torture: the Body Condemned" <http://foucault.info/documents/disciplineAndPunish/foucault.disciplineAndPunish.torture.en.html>

Part III. "Panopticism" <http://staff.kings.edu/cristoferscarboro/Panopticism.htm>

Birth of the Modern, Part I: the Scientific Revolution

Wednesday, January 26^th   

Question:  How does the scientific revolution presage the arrival of the modern world?  How does it transform our understanding of knowledge and authority?  Understandings of time and space?

**Pavlac, Chapter 10, 199-236

**Reading: The Crime of Galileo: Indictment and Abjuration of 1633 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1630galileo.html>

Birth of the Modern, Part II: the French Revolution and the Birth of the Nation

Friday, January 28^th   

Question: Whose Revolution was the French Revolution?  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 newly revolutionary France? What role did nationalism play?

**Reading: Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 1789 <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/rightsof.htm>

**Reading: Johann Gottfried von Herder, Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind (excerpts), 1784  <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1784herder-mankind.html>

Birth of the Modern, Part III:  the Industrial Revolution

Monday, January 31^st 

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

**Pavlac, Chapter 11, 237-266

**Reading: Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of the Manufacturers, 1835 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1835ure.html> 

Birth of the Modern, Part IV: Colonialism

Wednesday February 2^nd 

Question: What are the motivations for European colonialism?  How does colonialism as an ideology seek to reorder the world?  What ideological worldviews does it require and create?

**Pavlac, Chapter 12, 267-296

Discussion:  Colonial Harems

Friday, February 4^th

Question: How does Alloula understand the process of colonialism

**Reading: Alloula, Colonial Harem

~Discussant(s):   Kamila Hacia

                                   Jen Momenzadeh

The Making of the Western Middle Class and the Marxist Critique

Monday, February 7^th

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

**Reading: Freidrich Engels, Conditions of the Working Class in England, 1844 (excerpts) <http://www.cis.vt.edu/modernworld/d/Engels.html>

Empire in Europe / Europe in Empire and the Rise of European Nationalism

Wednesday, February 9^th

Question: How are nations created?  What factors contributed to the development of European nationalism?  What forms did it take?  What was its impact on the traditional European state system?  What impact did it have across the world? What is the "logic of the nation-state"?

**Reading: Johann Gottlieb Fichte, To the German Nation, 1806 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1806fichte.html>

Gauguin and Colonial Fantasies

Friday, February 11^th

Question: How are the work of Gauguin and Van Gogh a reaction to 19th Century bourgeois morality?  How does Gauguin illuminate colonial ideologies of the time?

II.  Assault on the Modern:  The Modern and the Absurd

Discussion: Freud, Civilization and its Discontents

Monday, February 14^th 

Question: What does Freud mean by "civilization and its discontents"?

**Reading: Freud, Civilization and its Discontents 

~Discussant(s):   Allison Baumgartner

W. E. B. Dubois and “Double Consciousness”

Wednesday, February 16^th

Question: What is "double consciousness?  How is it a reflection of modernity?  How is it a reflection of the creation of colonial and nation ideologies?  How do Garvey and Dubois understand the issue?

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

Friday, February 18^th

Question: How did World War I complete the 19^th 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?

**Reading: World War I Posters <<http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/index.htm>>

***Group Annotated Bibliography of Secondary Sources***

The Great Depression and the Crisis of the Mind

Monday, February 21^st

Question: How did the Great Depression and the Destruction of the First World War Transform the worldview of the west in the 1920s and 1930s?  How was this age of anxiety reflected in art of the time?  How was it reflected in politics?

**Pavlac, Chapter 13, 297-334

**Reading: Tzara,  Dada Manifesto, << http://www.ralphmag.org/AR/dada.html>>

Discussion: Modern Times

Wednesday, February 23^rd

Question: What does Chaplin mean by Modern Times?

**Film: Chaplin, Modern Times, 1936

~Discussant(s):   Anthony Scaccia

                                  Jen Momenzadeh

Discussion: King Kong

Wednesday February 25th

Question: How does King Kong reflect the general theme of anxiety?  What are people anxious about?

**Film: Shoedsack, King Kong, 1933

~Discussant(s):   David Rugge

                                  Mike Zurek

III.  The Modern Strikes Back

The Revolutions in Russia

Monday, February 28^th

Question: Whose revolution (in theory) was the Russian Revolution?  How did the Russian Revolution seek to reorganize Soviet society?  How did it transform the politics and economy of the Russian Empire? What effect did it have on society and culture? 

Discussion: The ABCs of Communism: Crisis in Capitalism and The Communism Order

Wednesday, March 2^nd 

Question: How do Bukharin and Preobrazhenski understand the forces leading to the crisis in crisis in capitalism and the Russian Revolution?  What is Bukharin and Preobrazhenski's programme for order in Revolutionary Russia?  How is the Modern Striking Back?

**Reading: Bukharin and Preobrazhinski, ABCs of Communism, 1920 (1-4) <<course moodle site>> 

~Discussant(s): Angela Lopez

Fascism and Degenerate Art

Friday, March 4^th

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?

Socialist Realism / Socialist Reality?

Monday, March 14^th    

Question:  What vision of the good life and the good society is presented by socialist realism 1917-1953?  How does it change over time?  What accounts for this transformation?

 ***Midterm Exam due <<course moodle site>>*** 

The Holocaust and the Death of the Modern (?)(!)

Wednesday, March 16^th

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?

 **Reading: The Jager Report, 1941 <http://fcit.usf.edu/Holocaust/resource/document/DocJager.htm>

**Reading: Elwira Bauer, Trust no Fox on his Green Heath <<from the course moodle site>>

Discussion: Spiegelman, Maus I and II

Friday, March 18^th

Question:  What vision of Modernity is presented by Speigelman in Maus?  What are the politics of memory involved in remembering the Holocaust?

**Reading: Speigelman, Maus

~Discussant(s):   Allison Baumgartner

                                  Kati Sudnick

Discussion: Eichmann in Jerusalem 

Monday, March 21^st

Question:  How does Arendt understand Eichmann's relationship to the Holocaust?  What are the implications of this understanding?

**Reading: Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem

~Discussant(s):   Anthony Scaccia

IV. Postmodernism and its Discontents

“Sovietization” and “Normalization” in Europe

Wednesday, March 23^rd 

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?

**Pavlac, Chapter 14, 335-364

Cold War and Atomic Civilization

Friday, March 25^th

Question: How did the Atomic bomb ensure that the cold war was a "cold" war in Europe?  How did the Soviet Union and the United States seek to demonstrate that they had arrived at (or were approaching) the "good society"?

***Rough draft Historiography***

The Ironies of Normalcy:  Pop Art and Sots Art   

Monday, March 28^th

Question: How were Pop Art and Sots Art critiques of Soviet and American visions of the "good life"?

**Pop Art and Sots Art <<from the course moodle site>>

Discussion: Bob Marley and Question of Decolonialization

Wednesday, March 30^th

Question:  How does the music of Bob Marley help us understand the perils and possibilities of living in the colonial and post-colonial era?

**Music: Bob Marley

~Discussant(s):   David Rugge

                                  Mike Zurek

Discussion: 2001

Friday, April 1^st

Question:  How is 2001 a modern fairytale?  What is the moral of the story?

**Film: Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

~Discussant(s):   Max Allegro

Discussion: 1968

Monday, April 4^th

Question:  How do the events of 1968 help us understand the socialist and capitalist visions of the ‘good life’ and the question of consumption?

**Primary Sources: Paris 1968 (Graffiti and Posters) <<from the course moodle site>>

~Discussant(s):   Amanda Lescowitch

                                  Fizza Saeed

***Group Annotated Bibliography of Primary Sources***

Discussion: I was a Playboy Bunny

Wednesday, April 6^th  

Question:  What insights does Steinem's article give us into issues of identity and performativity?  Gender roles?

**Reading: Steinem, I was a Playboy Bunny <<from the course moodle site>>

~Discussant(s):   Kati Sudnick

Stagnation

Friday, April 8^th

Question:  How was stagnation an ideological challenge for the socialist regimes of Eastern Europe?  Conversely, how did it legitimate the regimes?

Discussion: Solzhenitsyn and Harvard

Monday, April 11^th

Question:  How does Solzhenitsyn understand the conflict between Liberal democratic Capitalism and Communism? 

**Reading: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Address at Harvard University, 1978 <http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/harvard1978.html>

~Discussant(s)

1989 and 1991

Wednesday, April 13^th

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? 

**Pavlac, Chapter 15, 365-388

Discussion: Apocalyptic Present, Progressive Future?

Friday, April 15^th

Question:  How does Plesahkov understand the Collapse of Communism?  What were the sides in the "civil war"?  What were the stakes?

**Reading: Pleshakov, There is no Freedom without Bread!

~Discussant(s):   Max Allegro

                                  Angela Lopez

***Rough Draft Synthesis***

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

Monday, April 18^th

Question: What does Fukuyama mean by the end of history?  Are we there?

**Reading: Francis Fukuyama,"The End of History?" from the National Interest, 1989 <http://www.wesjones.com/eoh.htm> 

~Discussant(s):   Amanda Lescowitch

                                  Fizza Saeed

Yugoslavia

Wednesday, April 20^th

Question:  How does Yugoslavia inform the discussion of the end of history? 

Discussion: Underground

Wednesday, April 27^th

Question: How does Kusturica understand the Modern project?  The relationship between history and tragedy? Farce?

**Film: Kusturica, Underground, 1996

~Discussant(s):   Kamila Hacia

Group Presentation

Friday, April 29^th

Group Presentation

Monday, May 2^nd

Group Presentation

Wednesday, May 4^th

***Final Paper***