WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FALL 2011 KNAUSS 3502 MW 3:30-4:45 PM HISTORY 3030 WORLD HISTORY SINCE 1500 SYLLABUS DR. ELI RUBIN, PHD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents...1 Contact Information...2 Course Objectives...3 Required Readings...4 Grading Policy...5 Other Policies and Disclaimers...6 Schedule of Lectures and Assignments...7 1
CONTACT INFORMATION Instructor: Dr. Eli Rubin Office: Friedmann Hall 4418 Office Phone: (269)387-4646 Email: eli.rubin@wmich.edu Office Hours: Mondays & Tuesdays, 12-1 pm Teaching Assistant: Yoon-Rim Kim Office: Friedmann Hall 4409 Office Phone: (269)387-4620 Email: yoon-rim.kim@wmich.edu Office Hours: MW 1:30-2:30 pm / by appointment Note: Friedmann Hall is the building connected to Knauss (where your classroom is). The history department is on the fourth floor of Friedmann Hall. 2
COURSE OBJECTIVES Welcome to History 3030, World History since 1500. This course is designed to give you tools to understand an increasingly interconnected world. The feedback that Western Michigan University gets from most employers from the auto industry to the paper industry to the state public school system is that they want WMU grads to have more of a global awareness and understanding of the big issues and themes of the history of global interaction. This course is structured with these employers in mind. This course will focus specifically on the interaction of cultures from around the world, with an emphasis on empires, trading networks, and other cross-cultural experiences, and the things that connected cultures. This includes slaves, coffee, opium, gin, clothes, viruses, pigs, and religion. This course will also focus on one very particular question why is there such a massive disparity in wealth and standard of living between the first world (US, Western Europe, Japan etc.) and the developing world (Africa, India, central Asia etc.)? Is it racial superiority? Colonial oppression? Bad luck? Course Objectives: 1. To understand the way that cultures around the world have interacted with each other since approximately the year 1500. 2. To understand the way in which non-western cultures have influenced, and been influenced by, Western culture. 3. To understand why Europeans and their descendants have risen to a status of economic and political dominance over other cultures during the last 500 years, and what the ramifications of that are. 4. To identify certain issues and debates such as agency versus determinism, or negative versus positive freedom, that lay at the core of major world historical events and also remain highly relevant in our own lives and own world. 5. To be able to see the ways in which major trends of world history have impacted and shaped your daily life and will shape your life as an adult in the 21st century. 3
REQUIRED READING There are two required readings for this course: 1. Robert Strayer: Ways of the World: A Brief Global History With Sources. Volume 2: Since 1500.! (Boston & New York: Bedford St. Martin s Press, 2011). ISBN-13: 978-0-312-48918-2 Ways of the World is your textbook. You have required readings from it every week. You will have chapter quizzes on the week s reading at the end of each week. The quizzes are on this course s e-learning site. Your textbook, Ways of the World also contains primary source documents in addition to the secondary source text. You will need to use these documents for your writing assignments. 4
GRADING POLICY 1. Midterm and Final= 100 points each. The midterm and final exams will be written, using a blue book that you yourself must provide. They will consist of two short essay questions and one long essay question, and you will have a choice of questions to answer. They are based on the lectures. Anything in the lectures is fair game, but they are more thematically organized than factual. Both the midterm and the final will be worth 100 points each. 2. Written Assignments=100 points each. The two writing assignments will be five and eight pages, respectively. There will be time devoted in lecture to helping you to prepare for the writing assignments. Both assignments will be worth 100 points each. They will involve use of the textbook and the primary source accompaniment, but are also based on themes in the lecture. No electronic submissions of assignments. I reserve the right to decline to accept papers that are extremely late or which do not allow me enough time to grade them before the grade submission deadline at the end of the semester. 3. E-learning quizzes=100 points total. You are assigned twelve chapters from your textbook to read, and there is an online quiz for each of the chapters. This quiz is accessible on the courses e-learning page, accessible through GoWMU. You have until midnight on Friday of the week that the reading is assigned. Each quiz consists of ten questions from the reading. The quiz is open-book and you have five hours to complete it. You are allowed one do-over per quiz. There are twelve ten-point quizzes you may do as many as you like. You will be awarded as many correct answers as you get from all the quizzes together. If your total goes over 100, then this is considered extra credit and still counts towards your overall course grade. There are therefore a maximum of 500 points available in the class. Your final grade is determined by taking your total points and doubling them, and then converting that to the Western Michigan University scale for grading, available on the registrar s website: 100-93 = A 92-88 = BA 87-83 = B 82-78 = CB 77-73 = C 72-68 = DC 67-60 = D Under 60 = E (Failing) So for example if your total grade was a 450, you would have a 900, or, a 90, which equals a BA as a final grade. 5
OTHER POLICIES AND DISCLAIMERS Make Up tests You must have a documented, valid reason for missing an exam in order to make it up. There is one day provided by the University, the last final exam day. This is the make up exam day for the whole semester. Late Assignments Each day that an assignment is late without a valid, documented excuse, it loses one letter grade. However, at the end of the semester, the TA and the Professor reserve the right to refuse to accept any late papers that do not have a valid documented excuse. Classroom Demeanor You (or your parents) paid for this education if you choose to neglect it, that is your choice. However, you may not in any way distract or interrupt others in the class who want to access the education for which they and/or their family have paid. So, anything which is a distraction in the lecture hall at all is strictly prohibited. This means talking, goofing off, or doing anything wireless. NO LAPTOPS, NO CELL PHONES, NO CAMERA PHONES, TEXT-MESSAGING, NO iphones/blackberries/google PHONES OR ANYTHING ELSE. No coming and going during the class, unless you have some prior authorization. Plagiarism DO NOT COPY OUT OF THE BOOK WITHOUT QUOTING AND CITING. DO NOT COPY TEXT FROM A WEBSITE AND PASTE IT INSTEAD OF WRITING A PAPER. THIS WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE FAILURE AND PROSECUTION THROUGH OFFICE OF STUDENT CONDUCT. Official WMU Disclaimer: You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate Catalog (pp. 274-275) that pertain to Academic Integrity. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test. Electronic Mail: E-mails that are not sent from official WMU e-mails will not be read. E-mails that contain no subject line, or which are not phrased respectfully, may take longer to receive a reply. At times, e-mails may be sent to the entire class. It is your responsibility to check your WMU address regularly to receive these e-mails. Official WMU Disclaimer: The only email address that should be used for communication between WMU students and WMU faculty and staff is the email address associated with a BroncoNet ID. This email address typically takes the form "firstname.middleinitial.lastname@wmich.edu." An example is buster.h.bronco@wmich.edu. Students cannot automatically forward email from this address to other addresses. Students can access this email account or get 6 instructions for obtaining a BroncoNet ID at GoWMU.wmich.edu.
Schedule of Lectures and Assignments Note on classes and lectures: Because this is a summer course, class is twice as long as normal, lasting from 12-2:30. It will contain essentially two normal class periods, meaning two lectures, with a ten minute break in between. Therefore, there will be a first lecture from 12-1:10, and a second from 1:20-2:30. Though we do not take attendance, it is highly important in this class to attend lecture, and to pay attention and take notes during lecture. The midterm and final exams are based exclusively on lecture. In addition, assignments will be handed out first in class, and only later placed on the e-learning site. Finally, I will often give very helpful tips and hints for how to do well on the papers and exams (i.e., I will tell you exactly how what we are looking for) in class. If you miss a lecture, we encourage you to seek out a classmate and ask them to copy their notes. If that does not work, and you have a valid, documentable excuse, we will arrange for you to get a copy of either the TA notes or the power point slides or both. Once again, laptops are not allowed (see above, page 6). If you have special need of one for taking notes, however, you may speak with us. We encourage you to sit in such a way that your screen is not visible for other students in such a case. WEEK ONE Wednesday, September 7th Course Intro, the Mongols, Islam, and Marco Polo WEEK TWO Monday, September 12th The Black Death and the Ming Dynasty Wednesday, September 14th Columbus: God or Monster? Weekly Reading: Strayer, Chapter 13 Chapter 13 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Sept. 16th at midnight 7
WEEK THREE Monday, September 19th Slavery from India to Brazil and Beyond Wednesday, September 21st Three Empires: The French, The Ottomans, and the Mughals Receive First Writing Assignment Reading: Strayer, Chapter 14 Chapter 14 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Sept. 23rd at midnight WEEK FOUR Monday, September 26th The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment Wednesday, September 28th Drugs and the New World Economy Reading: Strayer, Chapter 15 Chapter 15 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Sept. 30th at midnight WEEK FIVE Monday, October 3rd The French Revolution Wednesday, October 5th Napoleon Bonaparte and Toussaint L Overture First writing assignment due at end of class Reading: Strayer, Chapter 16 Chapter 16 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Oct. 7th at midnight WEEK SIX Monday, October 10th The Industrial Revolution Wednesday, October 12th The Second Imperialism Reading: Strayer, Chapter 17 Chapter 17 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Oct. 13th at midnight 8
WEEK SEVEN Monday, October 17th The American Empire/study session for midterm Wednesday, October 19th Midterm Exam in-class Receive final writing assignment in class No reading or quizzes this week WEEK EIGHT Monday, October 24th World War One Wednesday, October 26th Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Mussolini: the rise of Communism and Fascism Reading: Strayer, Chapter 18 Chapter 18 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Oct. 28th at midnight WEEK NINE Monday, October 31st World War Two, pt. one Wednesday, November 2nd Lecture Two: World War Two, pt. two Reading: Strayer, Chapter 19 Chapter 19 quiz on e-learning due Friday, November 4th at midnight WEEK TEN Monday, November 7th The Cold War pt. one: From Berlin to Tehran Wednesday, November 9th Asia, Inc: Japan, China and Korea Reading: Strayer, Chapter 20 Chapter 20 quiz on e-learning due Friday, November 11th at midnight 9
WEEK ELEVEN Monday, November 14th The Cold War pt. two: Congo, Cuba and Afghanistan Wednesday, November 16th Aliyah and Intifada (Israel and Palestine) Reading: Strayer, Chapter 21 Chapter 21 quiz on e-learning due Friday, November 18th at midnight WEEK TWELVE Monday, November 21st The Fall of the Wall Wednesday, November 23rd No class: Thanksgiving holiday Reading: Strayer, Chapter 22 Chapter 22 quiz on e-learning due Sunday, November 27th at midnight WEEK THIRTEEN Monday, November 28th Rwanda and Congo Wednesday, November 30th From Belfast to Baluchistan: Global terrorism in the 20th century Reading: Strayer, Chapter 23 Chapter 23 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Dec. 1st at midnight 10
WEEK FOURTEEN Monday, December 5th The Arab Spring Wednesday, December 7th Open date/final exam study session Final writing assignment due at end of class Reading: Strayer, Chapter 24 Chapter 24 quiz on e-learning due Friday, Dec. 9th at midnight FINAL EXAM MONDAY DECEMBER 12TH 12:30-2:30 PM IN REGULAR CLASSROOM