History 14

 

1. Imperialism. African Slavery, Amistad. Upshur 490-496

Why? Who started it?  Who were the first non blacks to enslave blacks?  What caused racism?  Does Calvinism have anything to do with it?  The European Players, the Middle Passage and the Golden Triangle.

 

2. Latin American Conquest, Apocolypto, 1492. Upshur 496-505

What was Pre- Columbian life like in the America’s? What motivated the Conquistadores?  What was the Columbian Exchange?

 

3. The Pre-Enlightenment World, Christendom, Feudalism, Absolutism, Plato, St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Hobbs, Divine Right, English Civil Wars Upshur 579-593

Why?

 

4. Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, Science, Deism, Secular Humanism, Liberalism, Capitalism Upshur 463-490, 593-609 Why? How does the racy tale of Petronella, the literature of Rabelais, and the philosophy or Erasmus reflect a change in Medieval European values?  How could these people get away with this?  How did Hobbs’s philosophy differ from Locke’s?  How did Bacon and Descartes change the way in which truths were arrived at?  What were the advancements and struggles of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton?

 

5 Rousseau, Voltaire, The French Revolution, Conservatism, and Napoleon.  Upshur 646-668

 

6. The Industrial Revolution and Marxism.  Upshur 689-702

 

7. Romanticism, Freud, Nietzsche, Atheism, Darwinism, Social Darwinism, Existentialism, Nihilism, Narcissism, Absurdism, Postmodernism.  Upshur 702-715, 827, 828, 839-845

 

MIDTERM EXAM: 2-20

 

8. China, Ming, Manchu, Imperialism, Portuguese, Dutch, British, Opium War, Christianity  Upshur 512-523-534-559, 740-741

 

9. WWI, Nationalism, Russian Revolution.  Upshur 675-689, 717, 749-771, 814-824

 

10. WWII, Fascism, Japan, For Those I Loved, Night.  Upshur 560-570, 850-887.  Why was Japan quicker to “westernize” than China?  Is “westernization” an appropriate description or is there a better way of expressing what happened?  Analyze the causes and consequences of WWII for Japan

 

ANALYTICAL BOOK REVIEW ON WWII BOOK DUE 3-26

 

11. The Cold War 887-899, 934-956

 

12. Chinese Independence, Maoism, Analyze the role that China plays today with respect to North Korea, Taiwan, the Middle East, the United States, and international relations generally.  807-813, 904, 916-918

 

13. Latin American Life, Independence, Revolution,  Mexico, Castro  Upshur , 609-615, 797-800, 924-933. Read the article on reserve regarding Hugo Chavez and analyze for discussion.

 

14. African Independence, South Africa, West Africa, Darfur, Congo  Upshur 720-731, 794-797, 901-913, 922-924, 969-972  What are the causes of the current African Civil Wars? In what way are these conflicts sui generis versus intertwined?  Read the articles on reserve about Darfur.  Like most of the articles on the internet, these articles depict the government in Khartoum and the Janjawid as the bad guys.  Research the internet or any other sources you wish.  Try to find an article defending the Janjawid and/or Khartoum.  What is their argument?  Read the articles on reserve regarding the Congo, and other African Civil Wars.

 

15. India, Pakistan, and South East Asia  Upshur. 513-534, 736-738, 800-807.  Read the article on reserve by Fareed Zakaria and analyze for discussion.

 

16. The Middle East, Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, Imperialism & Independence, Israel & Palestine, Iran & Iraq, 911 and Terrorism.  Upshur 451-462, 731-736, 787-793, 959-969.  Why did Europe break free from its traditional thinking while much of the Muslim world did not?  Why did the Ottoman Empire fall and what were the consequences?  Read the articles on reserve, beginning with Samuel Huntington’s thesis that a clash of civilizations is upon us.   How does the cartoon crisis, the Pope Benedict controversy, the Azzam Dua (Bodansky, 224-225), and the other articles fit into this thesis?  Go to the following website  http://tinyurl.com/ze772   Navigate through it and analyze it. Can you present a convincing argument that Islamic Civilization is NOT on a collision course with the West?  Read the articles on reserve by SuddeutsscheZeitung, Chandra Muzaffar, and Edward Said.  Do these change your analysis of Huntington’s thesis?  Read the articles on reserve entitled “The Indictment of the West” and “The Origins of Occidentalism,” which tie together themes of Islamic Fundamentalism, The Enlightenment, the Romantic Movement, Imperialism, and modernization.  Analyze the authors’ theses.  On reserve in the library are several chapters from Paul Fregosi’s book Jihad in the West. What is his thesis?  What evidence does he use to support it?  Analyze any problems you find with it.  Read the article on reserve entitled “Islam” from the book The Religions of Man.  What is the difference between this author’s thesis and Fregosi’s?   For example, what is the difference in terms Muhammad’s attitudes toward fellow human beings, his business life, why he fought, his mercifulness, and his relationship with Jews?  What is the difference in terms of how Islam spread, the Jihad, the character of Allah, the purpose of the Hajj, Muslim attitudes toward wealth, the status of women, and polygamy?. Read the article on reserve entitled “Ghosts of Our Past” by Karen Armstrong. Also read the biographical information and book reviews that go with it.  What is her thesis as to the root of Islamic Terrorism?  Analyze any problems you find with it.  Read “Islam’s Medieval Outposts” and “Lifting the Veil,” two short articles on reserve.  Analyze their theses.  Read the article on reserve by Michael Doran entitled “Somebody Else’s Civil War.”  Analyze his thesis.  Read the article on reserve by Bernard Lewis entitled “The Revolt of Islam.”  Does Lewis add anything new to the discussion we’ve had so far?  Is his thesis closer to Armstrong’s, Doran’s, or Fregosi’s?  Analyze the articles on reserve regarding Iraq and Iran.  Why did 911 happen?

 

FINAL EXAM: 4-21  11:00-1:00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History 13

 

 

7.  General background reading regarding Islam, Sunni, Shi’i, Jihads, Crusades, Mongols, Ottomans.  Upshur 270-282, 395-462

 

8.  Paper Due  10-1.

 

9. Paleolithic culture, Neolithic change, and Environmental Determinism.  Read Upshur pp 1-13

 

10. Mesopotamia/Sumer/Babylon/Assyria.  Read Upshur pp. 15-22

 

11. Egypt. Upshur 24-30

 

12. Hebrews and Phoenicians.  Upshur 99-106

 

13. Persia.  Upshur 40-44

 

14. India, Hinduism, Janism, Buddhism, Osaka Mauryan, Gupta, Moghul.  Upshur 55-72, 123-130

 

15. China, Shang, Chou, Confucius, Taoism, Chin, Han, Sui, Tang, Sung, Ming.  Upshur 73-96, 132-153, 200-219

 

16. South East Asia, Korea, Japan.  Upshur 328-349

 

17. Midterm Exam 11-5

 

18. Greece, Homer, Athens, Sparta, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great.  Upshur 32-38, 106-122, 156-      165                                                                                                                                                                        

 

19. Rome, Republic, Empire, The Rise of Christianity, Huns, The Fall.  Upshur 168-185, 228-246

 

20. Medieval Europe, Feudalism, Byzantine Empire.  Upshur pp. 247-268

 

21. Renaissance, Reformation.  Upshur 463-487

 

22. Africa.  Upshur 369-391, 490-492 

 

23. The Americas, Mayan, Aztec, Inca, Spanish.  Upshur  351-364, 496-508 

 

24. Final Exam. 12-10  11:00-1:00