HISTORICIZING GLOBALIZATION: USING THE SILK ROADS TO TEACH MODERN GLOBAL HISTORY

Robin KietlinskiCUNY-Baruch College

Global History Course Description

The objective of this course is fundamentally to understand global history from 1500 to the present day. You will be using a concise history textbook along with a few supplemental sources in order to construct this understanding. The textbook we will be using, Traditions & Encounters, focuses on the origins and spread of global interdependence from 1500 to the present, so the central focus and recurring theme of the course will be globalization. In other words, how has cross-cultural interaction over the past five centuries shaped individual societies and the world as a whole? We will be doing exercises in critical reading and short writing assignments throughout the semester in order to engage with the discipline of history.

Bentley & Ziegler’s 3 Units

?

The REAL Origins of Global

Interdependence

The Real Origins of Global Interdependence

Goal: Goal: To understand “globalization” as a pre-modern phenomenon

Challenge: Challenge: To present material in both a concise and nuanced manner

non-Western^

Ideas: Ideas: •Transmission of religions•Accounts by/about pre-modern historians/travelers•E.g., Rashid Al-Din, Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Zheng He

•Museum activity

Museum Activity (part of the “historicizing globalization” mini-unit)

New York City Silk Roads Resources

The China Institute (http://www.china360online.org/) Columbia University Weatherhead East Asian

Institute (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/)

New York City Silk Roads Resources

Metropolitan Museum of Art (http://www.metmuseum.org/) Current Exhibits:

Mastering the Art of Chinese Painting: Xie Zhiliu (until 8/1/10) Celebration: The Birthday in Chinese Art (until 11/28/10)

Upcoming Exhibit: The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty

(9/28/10 – 1/2/11) Asia Society (http://www.asiasociety.org/) Korea Society (http://www.koreasociety.org/) Japan Society (http://www.japansociety.org/) Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art

(http://www.rmanyc.org/)