Global History Since 1914
Core 191
Scarboro / Fall 2017
“Living Room – Corner for Relaxation” from the Domestic Encyclopedia:
Book
for Every Home and Every Day, Sofia, Bulgaria, 1977.
Section |
A: MWF 9:00
(Hafey-Marian 303)
B: MWF 10:00 (Hafey-Marian
303)
C: MWF 11:00
(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 understandings of the “good society”:
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:
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 disciplinary 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-specific knowledge and methodologies in various social sciences
(currently, history, geography, and international business).
This kind of learning prepares students to think creatively in one’s
capacity to articulate and employ existing ideas or expertise according to
social scientific disciplinary standards and practices.
III. General Course Requirements:
A. Course Readings:
Buruma, Ian, Inventing Japan: 1853-1964, Modern Library Classics, 2004.
Césaire, Aimé, Discourse on Colonialism, Monthly Review Press, 2001.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi, Between the World and
Me, Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, The Great Gatsby, Scribner, 2004.
Hobsbawm, Eric, The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991,
Vintage Books, 1996.
Satrapi, Marjane, The Complete Persepolis,
Pantheon, 2007.
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.
Chaplin, Charlie, Modern Times, 1936.
Coppola, Francis Ford, Apocalypse Now, 1979.
C. Written Assignments
1. Primary Source Analysis: Film
due September 29th
(4-5 pages)
On September 29th 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.
Films (all on reserve at the King’s College Library):
Ernst D. Schoedsack, King Kong, 1933
Chaplin, Charlie, Modern Times, 1936
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. Primary Source Analysis: Essays
due November 27th
(4-5 pages)
On November 27th 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.
Essays (all found on the Course Moodle Site)
Milan Kundera, “The Tragedy of Central Europe,” 1984
Andrei Sakharov, “Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom,” 1968
Aleksadr Solzhenitsyn, “Address at Harvard University,” 1978
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)
To start the semester, you will be asked to reflect on the meaning of several
terms that we will be using this semester: modernity, ideology and the good
society. You will not need to
research the terms, this is an exercise geared to gauging how you understand
these terms and their usage. 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
4th at 11:59 p.m.; the second due November 10th 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.:
Source |
Date |
September 13th |
|
Aleksandur Deineka, Stakhanov
Workers, 1937 (word moodle site) |
October 9th |
October 25th |
|
November 1st |
|
Bulgarian Domestic Encyclopedias c. 1970 (powerpoint moodle site) |
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: Film |
15% |
Primary Source Analysis: Essays |
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 collee
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, August 28th
|
Modernism and Westernization: Setting the Stage
Wednesday, August 30th
**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? |
The Scramble for Africa: Race, Nation and Progress
Friday, September 1st
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? |
19th Century Nationalism
Wednesday, September 6th
Lecture Question:
What factors contributed to the emergence of 19th century
nationalism? What forms did
it take? What was its
impact on the traditional European state system?
What were the difficulties in defining the nation? |
Imperialism and Westernization in Asia
Friday, September 8th
Lecture Question: How
did the encroachments of European powers into Asia influence Asian
understandings of Modernity? In India?
In China? How is the
Japanese experience with modernization shift the paradigm? |
World War I and the Death of the Modern (!)(?)
Monday, September 11th
**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 13th
**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: For
Hobsbawm, how is the Russian Revolution a challenge to the established
order of the 19th Century? What transformations did it
bring?
***Quiz 1: Gandhi, “Civilization,” from Hind Swaraj, 1909*** |
Post War Crisis and the Age of Nationalism
Friday, September 15th
**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 18th
**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 20th
**Reading: Hobsbawm, 85-141
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:
According to Hobsbawm, what are the immediate consequences of the “Great
Slump”? What does he mean by the “fall of liberalism”? 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
Friday, September 22nd
**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”
Monday, September 25th
Lecture Question: What
is "double consciousness? How is it a reflection of modernity?
How do Garvey and Dubois understand the issue? |
Discussion: Japanese Modern
Wednesday, September 27th
**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
Friday, September 29th
Lecture Question: What
larger social, economic, and cultural problems was the Russian
Revolution designed to solve? What programs did Stalin enact to meet
them? What were the results of these plans?
***Primary Source Analysis: Film*** |
Discussion: Hobsbawm and the Age of Catastrophe
Monday, October 2nd
**Reading: Hobsbawm, 1-198 |
Degenerate Art
Wednesday, October 4th
**Reading: Hobsbawm, 141-198
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 does it relate to the question of modernity?
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?
***First Midterm Due—11:59 p.m.*** |
Holocaust
Friday, October 6th
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? |
Cold War, Part I: “Sovietization” and “Normalization” in Europe
Monday, October, 9th
**Reading: Hobsbawm, 225-257
Lecture Question: What
role did ideology play in the development of the Cold War? How did
the Soviet Union and the United State each approach the question of
modernity? How did the
United States and the Soviet Union work to reorganize European
societies?
Reading Question: Where
does Hobsbawm find the roots of the Cold War? How does he periodize
it?
***Quiz 2: Aleksandur Deineka, Stakhanov Workers, 1937*** |
Cold War, Part II: Atomic Civilization
Wednesday, October 11th
**Reading: Hobsbawm, 257-286
Lecture Question: What
are the consequences (geo-politically) of Atomic Civilization?
How does it shape the Cold War? How does it influence the manner
in which the Soviet Union and the United States measured the relative
success of their systems? 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 16th
Lecture Question: What
is the “logic of the Cold War” in the Third World? What are its
implications there? What
are the lessons of the Korean War as it relates to superpower conflict? |
Chinese Revolutions
Wednesday, October 18th
Lecture Question: Whose
revolution was the Chinese Revolution? How did it seek to
reorganize Chinese society? What programs did it institute? How do
we get from Mao to Deng?
What were the results of their programs? |
Inventing India
Friday, October 20th
**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
Monday, October 23rd
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? |
Africa and Decolonialization
Wednesday, October 25th
**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?
***Quiz 3: Journey to Bananaland, 1950*** |
Discussion: Discourse on Colonialism
Friday, October 27th
**Readings: Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (entire)
Reading Question: How
does Césaire understand colonialism? Modernity? What are his
prescriptions for a new world order? |
Discussion: Apocalypse Now (!) (?)
Monday, October 30th
**Film: Coppola, Apocalypse Now!
Reading Question: How
does Coppola understand colonialism? Modernity? Civilization? Who is the
hero of the story? |
Post-War Middle East
Wednesday, November 1st
Lecture Question: How
are the connections between modernity, nationalism, and religion
demonstrated in the 20th century Middle East?
***Quiz 4: Cabral, “National Liberation and Culture,” 1974*** |
1968
Friday, November 3rd
**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”? |
Discussion: Hobsbawm and the Golden Age
Monday, November 6th
Readings: Hobsbawm, 199-402 |
Stagnation
Wednesday, November 8th
**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, November 10th
**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 Due—11:59 p.m.*** |
Bob Marley and the Post-Colonial
Monday, November 13th
**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? |
Discussion: Convergence?
Wednesday, November 15th
**Readings: Solzhenitsyn, Address at Harvard University, 1978 (course
moodle site)
Reading Question: What
does Solzhenitsyn mean by a “world divided?” Where is the division?
What are the implications?
***Quiz 5: Bulgarian Domestic Encyclopedias, c. 1970 |
1979, Part I: Iranian Revolution
Friday, November 17th
Lecture Question: How
is the Iranian Revolution a commentary on modernity? Westernization?
Colonialism? |
Discussion: Persepolis
Monday, November 20th
**Readings: Satrapi, Persepolis
(entire)
Reading Question:
How does Satrapi understand the good society?
Modernity? The
Iranian Revolution? The
European model? |
1979, Part II: Afghanistan, Mecca, and the Moral Majority
Monday, November 27th
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?
***Primary Source Analysis: Essays*** |
1989 and 1991
Wednesday, November 29th
**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? |
Discussion: The End of History (!)(?)
Friday, December 1st
**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? |
Post-War
Monday, December 4th
Lecture Question:
What is left of the idea of the good society in 2017?
Of the ideological movements of the 20th century that
pursued the idea? Where do
we go from here? |
Discussion: Between the World and Me
Wednesday, December 6th
**Reading: Coates, Between the
World and Me
Reading Question:
How does Coates understand the uses of history?
The creation of modern identities?
The End of History?
The nature of the good society? |
Discussion: Hobsbawm and the Landslide
Friday, December 8th
**Readings, Hobsbawm, 403-587
Reading Question:
How does Hobsbawm “approach the millennium?” How does he make sense of
the collapse of communism?
The transformation of ideology and the good society at the “end of
history?” What are we to
do?
***Reflection Assignment*** |