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]
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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
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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.
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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
Fri. Sep 11: TA Session
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Week 4: New Worlds
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Sep 14 class):
Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, chapter 2
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 13
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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)
Fri. Sep 18: TA Session
Week 5: African Kingdoms, the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Origins of Black America
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Sep 21 class):
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch.14
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Sep 25: TA Session
!! FIRST PAPER DUE (Saturday, Oct 3 at 11:59 pm)
Week 6: The World As the East
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Sep 28 class):
Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, chapter 3
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 15
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Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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):
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 16
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Oct 9: TA Session
Week 8: Roots of Industrialization
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Wednesday Oct. 14 class):
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Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, chapter 4
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 17
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Oct 16: TA Session
Week 9: Industrialization
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Oct 19 class):
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 18
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Oct 23: TA Session
Week 10: Modernity, East Asia and the Old Empires
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Oct 26 class):
Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, chapter 5
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 19
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Oct 30: TA Session
Week 11: The New Imperialism and the New Independence
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Nov 2 class):
Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, chapter 6
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 20
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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?
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Nov 9 class):
Marks, The Origins of the Modern World, Conclusion
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Nov 13: TA Session
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Week 13: Reconstruction, Cold War, Re-Reconstruction
Readings (please be sure you’ve read these texts by Monday Nov 16 class):
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, ch. 21 and Epilogue
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart. A Companion Reader:
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
Fri. Nov 20: TA Session
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