History

WHAT WILL THIS COURSE HELP YOU TO LEARN? 

Why do wars happen?  Why do some cultures seem to persecute others?  Can individuals change the course of history?  Is there a right or wrong way to approach relations with other cultures?  This course presents the history of the world between 1500 and the present within the framework of these questions.  When you complete this course, you will be able to identify the main civilizations of the world on a map, discuss the main cultural characteristics of major civilizations of the modern world, read primary sources, evaluate the reliability of evidence, draw conclusions from evidence, and construct sophisticated arguments using evidence.  You will be able to use these skills to answer the questions posed by the course for yourself.

HOW WILL I EVALUATE YOUR LEARNING?

Primary Source Quizzes and Participation (20%): If you decide to take this course, there are certain things you must agree to do.  One is to complete questions about your readings that are on the syllabus. These may be factual or speculative questions that direct you to the important themes in the primary reading for that week, or they may direct you to apply themes from the reading to a short assignment. I trust that you will prepare them for your own benefit, but you will not have to turn them in unless they are assigned as an essay.  Most weeks, we will break up into small groups and use the assigned questions as the basis for in-class discussion or debate, so you should bring notes and be prepared to convince your classmates that your answer is valid.  On any day when the primary sources (in Human Records or on Blackboard) are assigned, there may be a pop quiz.  These quizzes will be a single question that you should be able to answer if you have prepared the questions on the syllabus.  The quizzes and questions are there to help you learn, and if you do not prepare for them, you will be harming not only yourself but also the learning of others in your group, who will not be able to learn from your unique insights. 

Three take-home essays (30%): These essays help you practice skills that you would use as a professional historian.  The questions, which are related to the major themes of the class, are on the syllabus.  Like most real-world historical writing, they must be concise, informative, convincing, and based on evidence from primary sources.  The discussions are designed to help prepare you for the essays, so pay attention to skills taught during discussion.

Midterm Exam (25%): Will include multiple choice, true/false, short answer and map questions.  These questions test your knowledge and require you to demonstrate the skills in textual analysis that you will learn. The questions will be drawn from the first half of the course; see the study guide in Blackboard Assignments.

Final Exam (25%):  The final exam will be the same format as the midterm, except that there may be more questions.  See the study guide in Blackboard Assignments.

Extra Credit: I believe that it is important for you to pursue your own interests and enjoy investigating historical subjects that are not addressed in class.  To encourage this, I allow you to earn up to five points of extra credit that will be added to your final percentage grade.  Extra credit can also help make up for missed quizzes or poor exam grades.  See Blackboard External Links for details.

 WHAT WILL YOU READ?

• Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past (TE), by Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler.  Vol II: from 1500 to the present.  3^rd edition.
• The Human Record: Sources of Global History (HR), edited by Alfred J. Andrea and James H. Overfield.  Vol II Since 1500.  5th ed.  Other editions do not have the same readings.
• Handouts of photocopies, study guides, and the Atlas in Blackboard Documents.  The Atlas will help you learn world geography and will aid you in studying for map sections on exams.

EXPECTATIONS:

• I will do everything in my power to help you achieve the learning objectives for this class, but I can only do so much.   Ultimately, how much you learn depends on your own effort.
• I do not take attendance.  Since I give frequent quizzes, if you miss a class, you will not only miss the lecture or discussion for that day but risk losing points on quizzes as well.  I know that everyone gets sick or has an occasional emergency that prevents class attendance once in a while, but because of federal privacy laws, I do not collect excuses for absences.  If you miss an occasional class, get the notes from a classmate and do an extra credit assignment to make up for the missed quiz.  Keep in mind that only five points of extra credit are available, and that missing over three days of class could have a serious impact on your learning. If you have a serious illness or other problem that requires a lengthy absence, you must contact the Dean of Students and ask her to send an explanation to all your professors.
• Missed essays will receive a grade of zero.  Note that a zero is worse, mathematically-speaking, than an F (anything below sixty percent).  If an essay is due on a day when you must miss class, please use the digital drop box in Blackboard to turn it in (I accept MS Word and Corel WordPerfect formats).  Please practice professional standards in your work and turn materials in on time.
• Students who know that they will miss the midterm or final exam due to planned absence may schedule a make-up. 
• Any student with a documented disability (e.g., mobility, learning, psychological, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange accommodations must contact both me and Disability Services for Students (826-2188) at the beginning of the term.
• Plagiarism and cheating are ways of avoiding true learning.  If you learn to rely on them in college, they will become bad habits that may embarrass or ruin you as a professional.  If I suspect you of either, I will make you re-do the assignment until I am sure you have learned to do the work on your own.  Deliberate violations of the “Policy on Academic Honesty” detailed in the Baldwin-Wallace College Catalog will be reported for disciplinary action.  In that event, your case will be decided by college judicial authorities, which can take up to a year.
• I strongly encourage you to make use of my e-mail and office hours.  This is the best way to ensure that I get to know you as a person, so that I am aware of your individual strengths and any difficulties you may experience.  I offer help preparing essays or for exams, or if you would like help on a more regular basis, I can arrange for tutoring.  If you need to meet with me outside of regular office hours, contact me to schedule an appointment. 

Core Skills: HIS 102 is writing-intensive, teaches critical thinking skills, and encourages students to work in small-group settings on collaborative in-class assignments.

WHAT WILL YOU DO, AND WHEN? Reading assignments from HR (Human Records) and on Blackboard should be completed for the day on which they are assigned. You may do the reading assignments from TE (Traditions and Encounters) and the Atlas (on Blackboard) before or after lecture, whichever is most useful for you, but you should complete the week’s assignments before the discussion.  It is especially important to complete readings in HR and TE before doing the essays.

Week One: Beginnings of Global Integration: The World in 1500

T 1/9 Introductions and pre-semester test: What do you know?

Th 1/11 Religious Reformations in Europe.  READ TE (Traditions and Encounters) pp. 594-595, 597-627, 631-640, 648-652; HR (Human Record) pp. P1-P18 (exercises on using primary sources), 69-85 (on the Reformations), 165-169 (Colbert on mercantilism); Blackboard Atlas maps 23-24.   Assignments: (1) Familiarize yourself with the course web site and the resources it offers. (2) Print out this syllabus.  (3) Photocopy your student ID for me, and write on the copy your year in school, major(s), reasons for taking this class, and something to help me remember who you are. (4) Do the assigned readings for this day (above). Remember there may be a quiz based on assigned primary sources in HR or on Blackboard. Questions to consider: (1) What kinds of things did Luther write that would have angered Catholic Church leaders?  (2) How did Luther view women?  (3) According to the Decree of the Council of Trent, what Protestant beliefs did the Catholic Church reject?  (4) What reforms did the Council of Trent recommend?  (5) According to the woodcuts, what were the abuses of the Catholic Church?

Week Two: Explorations and Encounters in the Americas

T 1/16 TE 665-692; HR 127-133 (Sahagun on conquest of Tenochtitlan); Atlas 21.

Th 1/18 First discussion section: HR 136-146 (various sources on the encomienda system); Blackboard Course Documents: Spanish Perspectives on the New World (Juan Gines de Sepulveda, “Democrates Secundus” and Bartoleme de Las Casas, “In Defense of the Indians”).  Discussion: Be prepared to discuss the following questions in small groups and present your answers to the class.  The discussion will depend on your having read ALL these sources.  Come prepared, with notes.  (1) Using evidence from the primary sources in HR and on Blackboard, explain Sepulveda’s arguments for and Las Casas’s arguments against enslavement of native Americans. (2) How are the mita, encomienda, and repartimiento systems similar? (3) What does it mean to “have someone in encomienda”? (4) What financial and human rights arguments for or against forced labor can you derive from the sources in HR?

Week Three: Explorations and Encounters in Africa

T 1/23  TE 695-719; Atlas 20, 26; HR 113-116 (intros), 117-118 (Duarte Pacheo), 119-121 (Benin saltcellar); 206-216 (Olaudah Equiano, Thomas Phillips); Blackboard Course Documents: “Loading plan for the slave ship Brookes.” Questions to consider: What was it like to be a slave in Africa? On a European slave ship? Would it be possible for a slave on a ship to rebel?  What would slaves have to do to end the practice of slavery?

Th 1/25 Discussion HR 121-124 (Nzinga Mbemba/Afonso I), 124-127 (Joao dos Santos on the “Zimba”) (1) Describe the effects of the European presence on African societies. (2) How did Africans try to limit European influence on their countries?  (In preparing these questions, you may want to include evidence from earlier readings.)

Week Four: Interfaith Relations in the Islamic Empires

T 1/30 TE 753-754; HR 61-64 (Abu al-Fazl), 42-47 (Busbecq on Suleiman); Atlas 16, 20, 25.  Questions to consider: (1) Note that the Ottomans were the Europeans’ most powerful enemy–how did Busbecq describe the strengths of the Ottoman Empire? (2) How does Busbecq make the Ottomans sound at once powerful and silly? (3) Note also that the soldiers whom Busbecq claims are afraid of gunpowder are not the famous Janissaries.  Who are they?  (4) How did Abul Fazl describe Hinduism do that it would be acceptable to Muslims?

Th 2/1  TE 754-769; HR 52-56 (Jahangir), 48-52 (Simon), 58-60 (Selim). Many students find it hard to keep the different Islamic Empires straight. I strongly suggest that you make a chart for your notes that includes the names of the Empires, the regions that they ruled, the titles of their rulers (sultans or shahs), the sect of Islam they followed (Sunni or Shi‘a), and the primary sources (assigned for Friday) that relate to each empire.   Discussion questions: (1) Why did the early Mughal emperors tolerate the non-Muslim population of India (from HR 52-56)? (2) Why did the Safavid shah ‘Abbas appear to tolerate only certain types of Christians (from HR 48-52)? (3) Why did the Ottoman sultan Selim declare war on the Safavid shah Isma‘il, even though Isma‘il was Muslim (from HR 58-60)? (4) What were the underlying reasons behind these rulers’ choices to tolerate or not?

Week Five: East Asian Resistance to the European ‘World System’

T 2/6 TE 723-749; Atlas 22; HR 5-9 (intros), 9-14 (“Meritorious Deeds at No Cost”), 22-27 (on Eunuch Wei), 15-18 (teachings for Japanese children and women). Questions to consider: (1) How does the source “Meritorious Deeds at No Cost” reflect Confucian ideas? How would these ideas help to create social stability? (2) According to the source on the eunuch Wei, how did Wei’s actions violate Confucian philosophy? What effects did this have on the Ming Empire? (3) Why do you think teachings for children and women are grouped together in the source on Japan?

Th 2/8 HR 27-29 (Tokugawa laws), 29-32 (“Closed Country Edict of 1635”), 33-36 (Matteo Ricci), 235-241 (Emperor Kangxi).  Discussion questions: (1) How did the Tokugawa shoguns limit the powers of the Japanese daimyos?   (2) According to Matteo Ricci, what objections did some Chinese have to Christian teachings?  How did the missionaries deal with those objections?  (3) How did Qing Emperor Kangxi respond to European ideas? (4) Compare and contrast the attitude of the Tokugawa shoguns to Europeans with Kangxi’s attitude. (5) What consequences might the Japanese and Chinese attitudes toward European contact have had for East Asian economic development?

Week Six: The Transformations of the 17th and 18th Centuries

T 2/13 First essay due! One of the things a historian must do is be able to enter imaginatively into the life of another person from a different time and/or place.  To do this, the historian uses primary sources–sources written by people who lived in the time and place being studied.  The historian can infer from these sources what life may have been like for an individual at that time.  Your assignment is to imagine that you are an inhabitant of any one of the non-European civilizations we have discussed in the past five weeks (choose one).  (1) Tell me who you are (what country, religion, social class).  (2) Describe how your life has been affected by contact with Europeans.  (3) Tell me what you plan to do about it (your plans should be appropriate to your culture and social class).   Your essay should be NO MORE THAN two pages, double-spaced, but you may adjust your font and margins to make your essay fit. Part of this assignment is to allow you to demonstrate how well you understand the readings, so you must make specific reference to at least one relevant primary source.  Because strong historical arguments require strong evidentiary support, you may want to use multiple references to relevant primary sources, and/or to secondary sources such as TE and the introductions in HR.  Historians always cite the sources they use so that others can locate the same sources and judge their conclusions, so you must cite yours, using MLA parenthetical reference citations we practice in discussions.  For example, if you were to imagine yourself as a Kongolese slave, you should cite a source on African slavery that tells you how a slave would behave.  Before writing, review the Instructions for Concise Essays, the Assessment sheet for Concise Essays, and Avoiding Plagiarism in Blackboard Assignments.  I provide these extensive instructions because I want you to learn how to tell the between primary and secondary sources, and how to avoid mistakes that as a professional could embarrass you or even ruin your career, like plagiarism. If you do not fulfill the assignment because you have failed to read the instructions or the material on plagiarism, you will receive a failing grade–just as an employer would reject your work if you did not follow instructions or if you violated the ethics of your profession.  I know what sources you are using, so I do not require a works cited page.  For additional advice, see http://www.bw.edu/academics/his/faculty/igesink/aids/index.html#papers.

Th 2/15 TE 641-648, 652-661; HR 106-107, 151-154 (intros), 158-160 (Voltaire, “Treatise on Toleration”), 107-109 (Galileo), 109-112 (Bacon), 154-157 (LeClerc engravings), 160-164 (Marquis de Condorcet), 169-173 (Adam Smith). Discussion questions: (1) What are Voltaire’s arguments for tolerance? (2) How was the understanding of the relationship between science and true knowledge changing? Where did true knowledge come from?  Where did it NOT come from? Note that in Francis Bacon’s writing, “axioms” are theories and explanations about how the universe works, and “senses and particulars” are facts about this world that can be understood by observation and experimentation.  He is describing the difference between the old, Church-approved way of explaining the world, and the new methods of science and inductive reasoning.  (3) According to the Marquis de Condorcet, what is the proper role for Europeans in regards to their colonies? (4) According to Adam Smith, what motivates humans to trade? In a free trade economy, how will prices of “commodities” be determined? What happens when monopolies exist?  How does free trade benefit the society? What is the proper role of government in regulating the economy? Most of our in-class discussion will focus on Adam Smith.