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Villanova
University HIS 1050: Themes in Modern World
History Fall 2008, MWF 9:30-10:20 am,
Bartley Hall, Room 026 |
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Dr.
Paul Steege STAUG 428 x9-6963 |
Office
hours: MW
3-4 pm and
by appointment |
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Course Objectives: |
With
its theme of revolutionary violence, this course will introduce you to
history from a global perspective. But world history does not restrict our approach
only to big processes and grand events. Rather we will explore the
interconnectedness of micro and macro perspectives—global explanations
also rest on the practices of everyday life. This
course also emphasizes the vital role history plays in helping us to
comprehend the present. It takes the “themes” approach quite
seriously and makes no effort to “cover” world history. Thus it
will not offer a single narrative and makes no apology for omitting
“key” events from the modern period we will be exploring. Exploring
the writing of history from diverse perspectives, I aim to offer students in
this class: ∙ the opportunity to
hear a variety of historical voices; ∙ the necessary
critical analysis tools in order to effectively engage the material; but ∙ I also expect that
they will actively work to explore the connections between these
critical/analytical approaches and the “real” world that is the
subject of our historical study. |
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Required Materials: |
There
are no books required for purchase. Readings will be made available on-line
or via electronic reserve. For reference purposes, the following textbooks
will be placed on reserve in Falvey Library. Bentley, Jerry H. and
Herbert F. Ziegler, Traditions and Encounters:
A Global Perspective on the past, Vol. 2: From 1500 to the present. 3rd
ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2005. Tignor, Robert, et al. Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History
of the Modern World from the Mongol Empire to the Present. New York: W. W.
Norton, 2002. Each
week, I will provide page listings from
these texts for those students in search of additional background
material. Additionally, I will post questions
to help guide your reading each week. |
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Course Organization: |
This
course will focus on a series of locations at particular moments in time.
Each week we will spend one day delving in some detail into that particular case.
We will use the other days to build on this exploration to try to make
connections across time and space and to build larger historical arguments. One
film will be screened on Tuesday evening, November 11. Please plan to fit
this event into your schedule. The film will comprise an important portion of
the second midterm exam. During
the course, I will at times distribute critical information via e-mail using
your official Villanova e-mail address. You are responsible for checking that
account regularly. If you use an outside e-mail address, be sure to set the
preferences on your Villanova account to automatically forward messages to
your preferred address. The online syllabus will be updated from time to
time. Check it regularly. |
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Assignments: |
EXAMS:
All in-class exams are open book/open note. You may not, however, access your
materials electronically during the exam. Two
in-class midterm exams (October 3 and
November 21) The two midterms will ask you to approach history in a variety
of different ways. Midterm 1) Document analysis:
you will be asked to choose one document (out of two) and analyze its content
and relevance for the broader themes of the course. The documents will be
drawn from the historical moments we have studied, but you will not have seen
them before the exam. In preparing for the exam, you may find it helpful to
look over the guidelines for the
document analysis assignment. Midterm 2) This exam will draw
on material studied since the first midterm. Part 1 will give you a choice of
questions to answer about the film, The
Battle of Algiers. Part 2 will present several images for you to discuss and
analyze. I will provide questions to help guide your responses. The images
will be drawn from the historical moments we have studied, but you will not
have seen them before the exam. One in-class final
exam (Saturday, December 13) The final
will be cumulative. You will be asked to answer two broad questions that test
your ability to integrate the various elements of the course. One of these
two questions will ask you to integrate the subject of your location essay
(see below) into an analysis of other course material. Note: Any student who
misses an exam without making prior arrangements will receive a failing grade
(zero) for that exam. Students should alert me to any conflicts with a
scheduled exam as soon as possible to make arrangements to take the exam
before the scheduled date (I reserve the right to determine whether the
conflict is reasonable). Should an emergency require you to miss an exam, you
must contact me before the class
period in which the exam is to be given. Document Analysis (must be submitted by Friday, October 10)
This
2-page essay must discuss the content and historical context of one of the
primary source documents assigned during the first part of the semester.
Options are marked with an asterisk (*) on the syllabus. This essay is due by
9 am on the day for which the document is assigned. TIP:
Since the first midterm also asks you to complete a document analysis, you
are strongly encouraged to submit this assignment before the midterm exam. Location Essay (due Friday, December 5) This
3-4 page essay will analyze a moment in history (a temporal and physical
“location”), similar to those we explore each week during the
semester. You should choose your subject in consultation with the instructor
and use at least one book, one scholarly article, and one primary source to
support your claims. I
will provide questions (online) to help guide your analysis. Remember. Style
and coherence counts. I encourage you to write drafts and revise your essay.
You may find it useful to consult the Villanova Writing Center (see below). All assignments must be submitted electronically via WebCT. Assignments submitted after the deadline will be substantially
penalized. Should some emergency require an extension on any assignment, you
must contact me before the
scheduled due date. Attendance and participation: Attending class and completing
assigned readings are quite simply the best ways to succeed in this class.
Regular, engaged participation in class discussion will have a positive
influence on your final grade. In assessing your participation, I do not
expect you always to have the answer. In many ways, asking good questions
most effectively demonstrates your ongoing engagement with course material.
For continuous, outstanding contributions to class (measured not just in
quantity but in quality), students will have their final grade raised by one
letter increment (from B to B+, from B+ to A-, etc.). Please note: For first year students, the
university attendance requirements apply. Thus, a first-year student will
receive a grade of "Y" (failure) if he/she misses more than 6 classes without valid excuse. |
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Final Grade:
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2 In-class midterm exams
In-class final exam Document Analysis Location Essay |
40% (20% each) 35 10 15 |
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TOTAL
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100% |
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Academic Integrity and Grading: |
Academic
integrity rests at the foundation of intellectual life in a university.
Plagiarism or cheating on any
coursework will not be tolerated. Any
case of academic fraud (copying of another student’s work, illicit use
of notes on an exam, undocumented use of an outside source, etc.) will
automatically result in a failing
grade for the course and the submission of an academic integrity report
to the university. If you have any questions about documenting sources or
what constitutes academic fraud, please speak to me or consult the student handbook.
I will discuss this in detail during the first week of the course. Grades
will adhere to the criteria stated in the undergraduate catalog. As a
reminder, an "A" is defined as: “the highest academic grade possible; an honor grade which
is not automatically given to a student who ranks highest in the course, but
is reserved for accomplishment that is truly distinctive and demonstrably
outstanding. It represents a superior mastery of course material and is a
grade that demands a very high degree of understanding as well as originality
or creativity as appropriate to the nature of the course. The grade indicates
that the student works independently with unusual effectiveness and often
takes the initiative in seeking new knowledge outside the formal confines of
the course.” |
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Disabilities: |
Students
with disabilities who may need academic accommodations are encouraged to discuss
options with us after class or during my office hours during the first two
weeks of class. More information about documenting or addressing learning
disabilities is available from Nancy Mott, Director of the Office of Learning
Services (tel. x9-5636 or e-mail nancy.mott@villanova.edu) or from that
office’s web
site. |
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Campus Services: |
Villanova Writing Center in Old Falvey:
610.519.4604 Consultations
should be arranged by appointment. |
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Villanova
Counseling Center in Corr Hall: 610.519.4050 The
Counseling Center can help you make an adjustment in your study habits, deal
with a crisis, or address an ongoing matter. |
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Lecture/Reading
Schedule |
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Read
all assignments before the class for
which they are scheduled. Most readings are available via web links from the
online syllabus. You can access questions to help guide your readings by
clicking here. Please
note: I will occasionally adjust the readings on this schedule. These changes
will be announced in class and posted on the online version of the syllabus. |
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Mon.,
Aug. 25 |
Introduction:
Looking back and trying to picture history |
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Prologue: Baghdad,
1258 |
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Wed.,
Aug. 27 |
Reading:
Ian
Frazier, “Invaders,” The
New Yorker (25 April 2005) |
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Fri.,
Aug., 29 |
Conquest and Empire |
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Mon., Sept. 1 |
LABOR DAY—NO CLASS |
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Saint Domingue, 1791 |
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Wed.,
Sept. 3 |
Reading: Slavery and the French
Revolution |
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Fri.,
Sept. 5 |
Imperialism and the
Slave Economy Reading: *Bartoleme de Las Casas,
Excerpts from Brief Account of the
Devastation of the Indies (1542) |
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Vienna, 1848 |
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Mon.,
Sept. 8 |
Reading: 1848
Chronology |
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Wed.,
Sept. 10 |
Revolutionary
trajectory Reading: *The Levée en Masse (1793) |
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Fri.,
Sept. 12 |
Reading: Karl
Marx, Excerpt from The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon |
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Nanjing, 1864 |
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Mon.,
Sept. 15 |
Reading: *Excerpt from
the confession of Li Xiucheng (1864) [electronic
reserve] |
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Wed.,
Sept. 17 |
Reading: “The Taiping Rebellion: 1850-1864” [electronic reserve] |
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Fri.,
Sept. 19 |
China in a world of
Imperialists |
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Saint Petersburg, 1881 |
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Mon.,
Sept. 22 |
Reading: *“How
the Murder was Done,” NYT (14
March 1881) |
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Wed.,
Sept. 24 |
Populists, Anarchists,
Terrorists |
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Fri.,
Sept. 26 |
From violence to
revolution? Reading: *Vladimir I. Lenin,
“What is to be Done” (1902) |
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Chicago, 1886 |
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Mon.,
Sept. 29 |
Reading: Excerpts from
the Haymarket Affair
Digital Collection (Chicago Historical Society): |
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Wed.,
Oct. 1 |
Industrialization and
violence Reading: Hamlin
Garland, “Homestead and its Perilous Trades” |
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Fri.,
Oct. 3 |
First Midterm Exam |
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Louvain, 1914 |
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Mon.,
Oct. 6 |
Reading: *R. H. Davis,
“The Burning of Louvain,” New York Tribune (31 August
1914). |
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Wed.,
Oct. 8 |
War
in a Global Context |
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Fri.,
Oct. 10 |
Reading:
*Ernst Jünger, Excerpts from In the storm of
steel Last Day to Submit
Document Analysis! |
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October
13-17 |
FALL BREAK |
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Guernica, 1937 |
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Mon.,
Oct. 20 |
No Reading (note change) |
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Wed.,
Oct. 22 |
1937 and the coming of War |
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Fri.,
Oct. 24 |
An Age of Anxiety? Reading: Oswald
Spengler, Excerpts from The Decline
of the West |
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Berlin, 1945 |
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Mon.,
Oct. 27 |
Reading: Anonymyous, Excerpts from A Woman in Berlin [electronic reserve] |
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Wed.,
Oct. 29 |
War, air war, war
crimes Reading: Ursula von Kardorff, Excerpts from Berlin Notes [electronic reserve] |
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Fri.,
Oct. 31 |
War and Crime after
Auschwitz Reading: Tadeusz Borowski, Excerpts from
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and
Gentlemen [electronic reserve] |
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India/Pakistan, 1947 |
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Mon.,
Nov. 3 |
Reading: Samarendra
Sengupta, “Riots: Partition, 1947” |
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Wed.,
Nov. 5 |
Reading: Mohandas K.
Gandhi, Excerpts from Hind Swaraj (1938) |
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Fri.,
Nov. 7 |
Reading: Statute of
Westminster (1931) |
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Algiers,
1957 |
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Mon.,
Nov. 10 |
Reading: Proclamation
of the Algerian National Front, Libertation Front,
(FLN) November 1954 |
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Tue., Nov. 11 |
Film screening: The Battle of Algiers (1966) 7 pm, Driscoll
Hall, Room 132 |
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Wed.,
Nov. 12 |
Film Discussion: The Battle of Algiers |
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Fri.,
Nov. 14 |
Decolonization
and Violence Reading: Frantz Fanon,
Conclusion from The Wretched of the
Earth |
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Saigon, 1968 |
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Mon.,
Nov. 17 |
Reading: CIA
Memorandum (26 February 1968) |
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Wed.,
Nov. 19 |
The ethics and
efficacy of war Reading: Robert
Jay Lifton, “The American as blind giant
unable to see what it kills,” NYT
(14 June 1970) |
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Fri.,
Nov. 21 |
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Beirut, 1982 |
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Mon.,
Nov. 24 |
Reading: Thomas
Friedman, “The Beirut Massacre: The Four Days” |
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November
26-28 |
Thanksgiving Break |
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New York, 2001 |
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Mon.,
Dec. 1 |
Reading:
Tom Junod, “Falling Man” (image here) |
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Wed.,
Dec. 3 |
A post-Cold War war on terror? Reading: Reading: Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Terrorized by a ‘War on
Terror’” |
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Fri.
Dec. 5 |
Clash
of civilizations? Reading: Amartya Sen, “What Clash of Civilizations?” DUE: Location Paper |
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Epilogue |
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Mon.,
Dec. 8 |
Location and Making History |
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Tue., Dec. 9 |
NO CLASS |
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Wed.,
Dec. 10 |
Last thoughts/Review
for Final Exam |
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Sat., Dec. 13 |
Final Exam: 10:45
am-1:15 pm |
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