hist192: global history since 1500 - frederick c....

The College of William and Mary

Department of History

Fall 2015

HIST192: GLOBAL HISTORY SINCE 1500

Dr. Frederick Corney

TAs: Caylin Carbonell; Amanda Gibson; Mark Guerci; Nathaniel Holly; Michaela Kleber; Mark Mulligan;

Peter Olsen-Harbich; Kasey Sease; Ian Tonat; Stephen Vickory; David Ward.

Classroom: Millington 150

email: [email protected]

Office: James Blair 321

Office hours: M. 2.30-5 pm, W. 3-5pm, (and by appointment)

Class time: M., W., 12-12:50 (plus Friday discussion section with a Teaching Assistant)

Classroom: Millington 150

This syllabus can be found at my website under "Courses Offered" (http://fccorn.people.wm.edu/)

This course will provide a survey of world history from the fall of the Aztec and Inca Empires in the early

1500s to the late twentieth century. It is designed to introduce students to the major political,

ideological, social, and demographic patterns by which we have come to understand global history. The

readings include a general textbook and a companion volume of primary source texts. Students will be

exposed to a critical evaluation of the general narrative of global history, to the evolution and influence

of primary writings on that narrative, and to the arguments they advance about the nature of the world

as a whole. By the end of the course, students will have a conceptual grasp of the patterns of world

history over five centuries, as well as a notion of how to read primary source materials in a sensitive

way. In this way, the course will help to teach students how to think about global history (and by

extension history in general) in conceptually subtle ways.

Required reading (all available at WM College Bookstore, textbook division):

Tignor, Adelman, Aron, Kotkin, Marchand, Prakash, Tsin, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, vol. 2:

From 1000 CE to the Present, 4th edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014). [ISBN

978-0-393-12376-0]

Pomeranz, Given, Mitchell, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader, vol. 2 (New

York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011). [ISBN 978-0-393-91161-9]

Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World. A Global and Environmental Narrative from

the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, 3rd edition (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015)

[ISBN 978-1-4422-1240-4]

(http:/fccorn.people.wm.edu/

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Sections for Global History (HIST192), Fall 2015

Section Day and Time Room

D1 Friday, 8-8:50 Blair 213 Mark Mulligan ([email protected])

D3 Friday, 9-9:50 Blair 213 Nathaniel Holly ([email protected])

D7 Friday, 10-10:50 Blair 213 David Ward ([email protected])

D8 Friday, 10-10:50 Blair 228 Caylin Carbonell ([email protected])

D9 Friday, 10-10:50 Blair 219 Mark Guerci ([email protected])

D11 Friday, 11-11:50 Blair 213 Michaela Kleber ([email protected])

D12 Friday, 11-11:50 Blair 228 Peter Olsen-Harbich ([email protected])

D15 Friday, 12-12:50 Blair 213 Kasey Sease ([email protected])

D16 Friday, 12-12:50 Blair 228 Stephen Vickory ([email protected])

D17 Friday, 12-12:50 Blair 219 Ian Tonat ([email protected])

D18 Friday, 12-12:50 Blair 202 Amanda Gibson ([email protected])

Course Design

This course is taught collectively by me and eleven graduate teaching assistants. Regular attendance is

required. You must come to class having already read the texts assigned for that week. I will lecture on

Mondays and Wednesdays, and the TAs will conduct discussion sections on Fridays. You should already

have signed up for a TA section on Fridays when you registered for the course. My lectures are intended

to complement the assigned texts by highlighting key concepts and themes, often on the basis of a case

study. I do not intend to repeat what is in the text, so you must read the text before the lecture. The

TAs will discuss with you key themes from that week‛s readings, as well as a selection of primary source

texts drawn from our primary source reader. You must come to these sections having already

completed the readings, and ready to discuss them with your fellow students and your TA. Your

attendance and participation reflect your interest in the class. Your participation in the TA-guided

discussion sections must be informed, civilized and respectful.

General Education (GER) Criteria

This is a GER 4C course. The following is quoted from the 2011-2012 Undergraduate Course Catalog, p.

58. [http://www.wm.edu/offices/registrar/documents/catalog/UGCatalog.pdf]:

“GER 4 – World Cultures and History (one course in category A, one course in category B and one additional course in either category A, B or C)

To satisfy this requirement, a student must take one of the following combinations of GER 4 courses (AAB, ABB or ABC):

4A History and Culture in the European Tradition 4B History and Culture outside the European Tradition

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4C Cross-Cultural Issues The World Cultures and History GER is designed to introduce students to major ideas, institutions, and historical events that have shaped human societies. The courses that would meet this objective have the following features:

1. they are courses covering more than one period, or covering critical periods, or movements which are designed primarily to explore topics, issues, or themes (as opposed to teaching the methods/theories of a discipline);

2. they are informed by an historical perspective (in the sense of addressing the changes in institutions, movements, or cultural practices);

3. they emphasize critical events, institutions, ideas, or literary/artistic achievements;

4. and using disciplinary or interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks, they focus on a European or a non-European tradition, or explore topics comparatively across traditions.”

Office of Student Accessibility

It is the policy of The College of William & Mary to accommodate students with disabilities and

qualifying diagnosed conditions in accordance with federal and state laws. Any student who feels s/he

may need an accommodation based on the impact of a learning, psychiatric, physical or chronic health

diagnosis should be referred to Student Accessibility Services staff at 757-221-2509 or at [email protected].

SAS staff will work with you to determine if accommodations are warranted, and if so, to help you

obtain an official letter of accommodation. For more information please see www.wm.edu/sas.

Classroom Policies and Conduct

Please avoid side-conversations in class. This is a large class, and even low conversations can be

distracting. They disrupt both my ability to teach and your ability to learn. It is a sign of disrespect to

me and other students to read a newspaper in class, to leave class early without informing me

beforehand, or to pack up your things early. Of course, if I have gotten carried away with my lecturing

(as I sometimes do), please let me know. Cell phones must of course be switched off during class-time.

Technology is a wonderful thing and enriches our lives (mostly), and the interwebthingy has been a

boon to learning. Still, while you are in class please avoid emailing, messaging, texting, txtng, skyping,

google-earthing, facebooking, myspacing, yourspacing, just spacing, tindering, dubsmashing (although

fun), blogging, twittering, tweeting, friending, unfriending, surfing, turfing, yahooing, googling, giggling

(except in the unlikely event I've said something funny), or any other such vital exercises.

Assignments and Grades

1. A 1000-word essay analyzing a primary source I will hand out a week ahead of the deadline. You will

be discussing some primary sources with your TAs in the sections, so this will help prepare you for this

tel:757-221-2509

https://owa.wm.edu/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=A8h1GxIjXSVfkyvwcZpm-giG9Et0Z7M63Y3TElZxhD5S08hrZa3SCG0AYQBpAGwAdABvADoAcwBhAHMAQAB3AG0ALgBlAGQAdQA.&URL=mailto%3asas%40wm.edu

https://owa.wm.edu/owa/redir.aspx?SURL=LSgQLSGg0gtQFIvDAMZ-_bgD6KRMs1um3Wy6g1nIg-lS08hrZa3SCGgAdAB0AHAAOgAvAC8AdwB3AHcALgB3AG0ALgBlAGQAdQAvAHMAYQBzAA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wm.edu%2fsas

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assignment. The source will consist of several pages of such a source, which I will distribute to you one

week before the deadline. You may use no other secondary sources in your analysis, but must delve

deeply into this primary source. Remember that this source was written in a temporal or cultural

context that may seem antiquated or exotic to us today. By examining issues of agency, language used,

and issues addressed, you can gain a real insight into the cultural context that helped shape the

document in question. What are the aims of the authors of the document? To whom is it explicitly or

implicitly addressed? What is its tone? How does the context of the period limit the content of the

documents? NB The paper must be emailed as an attachment in Word to your TA by Saturday

October 3 at 11:59 pm (your TA may ask you for a paper copy as well). This paper is worth 15% of

your course grade.

2. A midterm examination will be given on Wednesday October 7, in class. It will consist of

identifications and an essay. This examination is worth 15% of your course grade.

3. The final essay (1700-2000 words) will be drawn solely from the required book of source materials

(Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader, vol. 2). You must not use any other materials at

all, although you can draw on background from the lectures and readings. Select a theme or themes to

trace through these five centuries on the basis of these primary sources, and discuss that theme as it

evolves through history (possible themes might include the changing notions of the rights of man, the

place of women in society, the place of the state over time, and so on). The earlier you select your

theme, the better, as you can then trace it throughout the sources you will be discussing in class. This

theme MUST be approved beforehand by your TA. NB The paper must be emailed as an attachment in

Word to your TA by Sunday, Nov 22 at 11:59 pm (your TA may ask you for a paper copy as well). This

paper is worth 20% of your course grade.

4. A final examination will be given on Thursday, December 10, 9 am-12 pm. It will consist of

identifications and two essays, and will be cumulative for the entire course. This examination is worth

30% of your course grade.

5. Late Papers: Papers submitted between one and five days after the due date will be penalized one full

letter grade. Papers submitted six or seven days after the due date will be penalized two full letter

grades. Papers submitted more than one week after the due date will not be accepted.

6. Identifications (IDs): in preparation for the midterm and final examinations, your TA will ask you each

week to come up with 5 IDs from the week’s readings. What are the things you think you should know

from this week. These can be individuals, places, events, movements, etc. The TAs will send me your

five choices and I will choose the five most common and add them to a cumulative file on Blackboard.

For the exams, I will choose a number of IDs from this file.

7. Section attendance and participation. Discussion section meetings are a crucial component of this

class, and you miss them at your peril. Unexcused absences will negatively affect your

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attendance/participation grade (see also Excused Absences below). In addition to showing up for class,

you are expected to be prepared to discuss the weekly readings. And don’t forget to bring your

textbook and sourcebook to discussion sections! It is crucial for a class discussion that all students have

the readings in front of them. Section attendance and participation will count for 20% of your course

grade.

8. Excused Absences: If you are unable to attend class through illness or other unforeseen

circumstances, please have the courtesy to inform your TA. In the case of illness, please give the

doctor’s note to your TA within a week of your recovery. If you are an athlete with a game schedule for

the semester or a student with regular demands on your schedule that conflict with class times, please

see me before the end of the first class, as I will need to know beforehand if you can accommodate this

course. Please keep your TA informed of excused absences well before they come due.

The following grading scale will be used:

93-100 % (A) 90-92.99 % (A-) 87-89.99 % (B+) 83-86.99 % (B) 80-82.99 % (B-) 77-79.99 % (C+) 73-76.99 % (C) 70-72.99 % (C-) 67-69.99 % (D+) 63-66.99 % (D) 60-62.99 % (D-) N.B. Late assignments will be accepted with the express permission beforehand of your TA, and only if

you are prepared to accept substantial grade penalties. There is no reason for your dog or your

computer to eat your paper. Please make backups.

Written Assignments:

I take the writing assignments very seriously, regardless whether they are papers prepared at home or

examinations taken in class. Papers should be typed, double-spaced, and paginated with margins that

do not mask a lack of material. Any phrases or sentences that are not entirely your own must be clearly

indicated and referenced. For the two papers in this course, you should use in-text citations (author,

page number) and a works cited page (if necessary for the second paper). Most importantly, all written

assignments must be well-structured and clearly argued arguments. Please proofread them for

syntactic and grammatical accuracy.

Grade Breakdown

First source paper: 15%

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Second source paper: 20% Midterm Examination: 15% Final Examination: 30% Attendance/participation: 20 %

Academic Honesty

I have a zero tolerance for plagiarism. If any assignment is plagiarized, you will receive a fail for the

entire course. I will submit all cases of suspected plagiarism to the Honors Council, as required by the

College. If you are unclear about plagiarism, check out the College guidelines on this, and the Honor

Code at the following site:

http://www.wm.edu/offices/deanofstudents/services/studentconduct/honorcodeandstudentconduct/h

onorcode/

History Writing Resources Center

The History Department offers a special resource for students taking history courses who want some

additional assistance with history writing and research. The History Writing Resources Center in James

Blair 347 is staffed by advanced graduate students who are very familiar with all of the types of history

papers. If you would like some help writing a history paper or doing historical research, feel free to make

an appointment at the HWRC by calling 221-3756, e-mailing [email protected], or going to

www.wm.edu/hwrc. The web site also offers information about the Center, such as current hours of

operation and what to bring with you for your first consultation. In addition, it lists announcements of

special events and includes a vast number of helpful handouts and links that will assist you with every

facet of history writing.

http://www.wm.edu/offices/deanofstudents/services/studentconduct/honorcodeandstudentconduct/honorcode/

http://www.wm.edu/offices/deanofstudents/services/studentconduct/honorcodeandstudentconduct/honorcode/

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Lecture Schedule

Week 1

Wed. Aug 26: Introduction

Fri. Aug 28: TA Session

Week 2: Perceptions of ‘The World’

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Aug 31 class):

Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, Introduction

Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 10

Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion reader:

o The Rise of Chinggis Khan (c. 1206), pp. 1-5

o Yuan Cai, The Problems of Women (12th century), pp. 5-10

Mon. Aug 31: What Do We See When We Look At The World Map?

Wed. Sep 2: Eurocentrism, Sinocentrism, and the World Around 1500

Fri. Sep 4: TA Session

Week 3: Global Interactions

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Sep 7 class):

Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, chapter 1

Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 11,12

Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:

o Chihab Al-‘Umari, The Pilgrimage of Mansa Musa (1342-1349), pp. 48-51

o Leo Africanus, On Timbuktu (1526), pp. 63-65

o The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico (1519), pp. 68-74

Mon. Sep 7: The Making of ‘The World’ and Early Challenges to it, 1450-1750

Wed. Sep 9: Pushing Russia: Peter the Great and the Scientific and Military Revolution


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Week 4: New Worlds





o Thomas Phillips, Buying Slaves at Whydah (1694), pp. 118-125

o Alexander Hamilton, A New Account of the East Indies (1688-1723), pp. 125-127

Mon. Sep 14: Urban Projections of Power and Progress in the Early Age of Empires (I)

Wed. Sep 16: Urban Projections of Power and Progress in the Early Age of Empires (II)


Week 5: African Kingdoms, the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Origins of Black America


Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch.14


o Voltaire, Sixth Philosophical Letter (1734), pp. 162-164

o Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789), pp. 170-173

o Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen (1791),

pp. 173-177

Mon. Sep 21: One World: Commodities As Engines of Change

Wed. Sep 23: Sugar, Slavery, and Racism


!! FIRST PAPER DUE (Saturday, Oct 3 at 11:59 pm)

Week 6: The World As the East




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o Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Turkish Letters (1589), pp. 143-148

o Xu Jie, Economic Change in China (16th century), pp. 148-150

o Zhang Han, Tales of the Strange (16th century), pp. 150-152

o Jahangir, Policy toward the Hindus (17th century), pp. 158-160

Mon. Sep 28: The Early Modern World of Islam

Wed. Sep 30: Ming and Qing China and Tokugawa Japan: Dynamism and Stability?

Fri. Oct 2: TA Session

Week 7: Revolutions and Nation-States

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Oct. 5 class):



o Honda Toshiaki, A Secret Plan of Government (1789), pp. 198-203

o Nathaniel Isaacs, Descriptions of Shaka and the Zulu Military (1836), pp. 208-211

o Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property? (1840), pp. 216-220

Mon. Oct 5: Long Live the Revolution!

Wed. Oct 7: Midterm Examination


Week 8: Roots of Industrialization

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Wednesday Oct. 14 class):

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o Olaudah Equiano, The Case against the Slave Trade (1789), pp. 182-185

o Domingo Sarmiento, Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants (1845),

pp. 194-197

Mon. Oct. 12: Fall Break (no class)

Wed. Oct 14: Romanticism


Week 9: Industrialization

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Oct 19 class):



o Testimony for the Factory Act (1833), pp. 190-194

o Casebook: Rubber and the World, pp. 271-284

Mon. Oct 19: The Industrial Revolution

Wed. Oct 21: Sanitation and Cholera


Week 10: Modernity, East Asia and the Old Empires

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Oct 26 class):




o Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est (1918), p. 287-288

o Sol Plaatje, The Mote and the Beam, pp. 289-294

o Mohandas K. Gandhi, Second Letter to Lord Irwin (1930), pp. 295-299

Mon. Oct 26: A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down

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Wed. Oct 28: Imperialism


Week 11: The New Imperialism and the New Independence

Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Nov 2 class):




o Yamagata Aritomo, The Coming Race War (1914-1915), pp. 304-307

o Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925), pp. 307-312

o Isabel and David Crook, Chinese Revolution (1940s), pp. 340-345

Mon. Nov 2: The Challenge to Nationalism

Wed. Nov 4: The ‘War in the Head’

Fri. Nov 6: TA Session

Week 12: Competing Visions of Modernity?


Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, Conclusion


o Hanna Levy-Hass, Diary of Bergen-Belsen (1944-1945), pp. 312-319

o Perspectives on Israel/Palestine (1969, 1972), pp. 345-350

o Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1961), pp. 350-354

o Nelson Mandela, The Rivonia Trial (1949), pp. 354-360

Mon. Nov 9: Holocaust

Wed. Nov 11: Dislocation and Decolonization


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Week 13: Reconstruction, Cold War, Re-Reconstruction


Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 21 and Epilogue


o Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949), pp. 360-364

o Daily and Zwerdling, Two Reports on Water and Farming in India (2009), pp. 372-378

o Voice of Bangladeshi Bloggers, Bangladeshi Workers in Kuwait (2008), pp. 378-382

Mon. Nov 16: Globalization

Wed. Nov 18: History, Memory and Europe: Plucky Little Britain


FINAL PAPER DUE (Sunday, Nov 22 at 11:59 pm)

Week 14: Not So Brave New World

Mon. Nov 23: What to Do with Uncomfortable Pasts

Wed. Nov 25-29: THANKSGIVING (no classes)

Mon. Nov 30: Review

Wed. Dec 2: No Class

Fri Dec 4: TA Session

FINAL EXAMINATION: Thursday, December 10, 9 am-12 pm

hist192: global history since 1500 - frederick c....

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