HIST1113: Institutions and Ideas of World Civilization I - History

HIST1113: Institutions and Ideas of World Civilization I
Section 009
Instructor: Dr. Thomas Goldstein
Fall 2011 Office: Old Main 419
SCEN610
Office Hours: W 1-3 pm or by appt
Tu-Th 11:00 am-12:20 pm
Email: tgoldst@uark.edu
Office Phone: 5-5704
Course Overview and Objectives
This course focuses on the history of major world civilizations through the year 1500. We
will cover thousands of years this semester, examining the diversity of human experiences
and the many ways ancient and medieval civilizations helped shape our world today. We
will proceed in a roughly chronological manner through three broad stages of history: the
earliest civilizations of the bronze age, the growing regional empires of the iron age, and
the period of increased global contact and conflict in the Middle Ages. At each turn, we will
explore the most important developments in various areas of the world.
The goals of this course are simple. First, to present a basic chronology of major events,
ideas, and people from world history until about the year 1500. Second, to help you think
historically about our modern world and your role in it as an informed citizen. Third, to
introduce you to a variety of ethnic and cultural perspectives that shaped how various
groups of people developed and continue to shape the world in which we live. And fourth,
to sharpen your analytical and communication skills through reading, writing, and
examinations, skills that will help you continue to be engaged and critical participants in an
increasingly global society well after you leave this classroom.
With any survey class, we need larger themes to help organize our knowledge, so the
guiding themes of this course will be as follows:
1. How geographical and environmental constraints impacted early societies
2. Major patterns of human economic, political, gender, and social organization
3. The origins of the five major world religions
4. Growing global interactions and the mutual impact of western and non-western
civilizations
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5. Humans’ search for a usable identity in a changing society and world
Readings
The following books are required for this course. They are available for purchase at the
Arkansas campus bookstore. You may find these books cheaper online at any of a number
of sites (e.g., half.com, abebooks.com, amazon.com), but it will likely take a week or more
for the books to arrive (so order them soon).
• Cullen Murphy, Are We Rome The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America
• Peter N. Stearns, ed., World History in Documents: A Comparative Reader, 2 nd edition
• Jiu-Hwa L. Upshur et al., World History: Volume I – Before 1600: The Development of
Early Civilizations, 5 th edition
There will be additional smaller readings available via our class blackboard website.
NOTE: You are to complete the assigned reading by the beginning of class on the day on
which it is listed in the schedule of classes below.
Requirements and Grading
Lectures:
Much of the information you will receive will come from lectures. Information from
lectures will be used in constructing the midterm and final and will also help “set the scene”
for your readings and provide context to help you write your papers.
Attendance:
Attendance is required for this course. You may miss up to four classes for any reason
without consequences, but beyond that, you will lose 2% off your final exam grade for each
additional absence. Also note that arriving late to class three times will be considered one
unexcused absence. If you have perfect attendance for the semester, you will receive a 2%
bonus on your final exam.
If you need to miss a class for a legitimate reason (medical or otherwise), you must provide
documentation as far in advance as possible. This means that if you miss class because you
are feeling a little under the weather but do not have a doctor’s note, the absence will not be
excused. In other words, you must document every absence if you want it to be excused.
Response Papers:
At five points during the semester, you must turn in a response paper addressing a specific
question about two of the course readings. These papers should be 1-2 paragraphs in
length. On one of these five occasions (of your choosing), in place of a short response paper
you must write a 4-5-page paper offering a more detailed answer to the question.
Exams:
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There will be two exams in this course, each consisting of a mixture of term identifications,
objective components, and essay questions. The questions will all be drawn from lecture
and the course readings and will cover both larger themes and more specific details. An
exam guide will be distributed one week prior to the exams to aid your studying.
Grading:
Short Response Papers (4) 15%
Long Response Paper 25%
Midterm 25%
Final exam 35%
Rules and Policies
Blackboard Website:
The primary means of communication and the distribution of information for this class will
be through our course blackboard website. To this end, you should check our site regularly
for updates, assignments, paper guides, and grades. If you are having difficulties accessing
our class blackboard site, let me know ASAP.
Laptops:
Laptops will be permitted in this class but if they become a distraction for you or your
fellow students, you will not be permitted to use them. In other words, don’t let me catch
you playing Angry Birds on your iPad lest you want me to confiscate it so I can play Angry
Birds (but only AFTER lecture).
Classroom Behavior:
You are expected to be in class on time, pay attention in lecture, turn off your cell phone,
and refrain from disruptive behavior (talking, surfing the internet, texting, eating loudly,
passing notes, sleeping, reading the newspaper, practicing semaphore, etc.). Failure to do
so could lead to you being asked to leave the classroom, which would mean an unexcused
absence counted against your grade.
Late assignments:
Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day listed below in the course
schedule. I will accept late assignments, but out of fairness to the other students who
meet the deadlines, your paper will be graded down by half a letter grade (for example
from 85 to 80) for every twenty-four-hour period for which it is late. Computer failure,
printer jams, or limited computer access are not legitimate excuses for late assignments.
Communication:
E-mail is an efficient, reliable, and useful form of communication, but it is also a highly
impersonal way of getting in touch with someone. For professional correspondences, it is
important that you personalize an e-mail message as much as you can in order for it to
come across as polite, courteous, and professional. One of the best ways is to make sure
that you address an e-mail like you would a normal letter; use “Dear Dr. Goldstein,” or “Hi
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Dr. Goldstein,” before you begin the rest of your e-mail. End it by saying “Thanks, The
Situation” or “Best regards, Snooki.” These little touches, so easy to do but so often
forgotten in the rush to press “send,” go a long way to making your e-mails much more
pleasant, personal, and courteous.
More generally, communication with the instructor is expected in any situation that may
affect your ability to fulfill course requirements. All such communication is the
responsibility of the student.
Outside Sources for the Response Papers:
Outside sources such as wikipedia, spark notes, or any other online or printed work are
forbidden for your response papers. The papers iare designed to test your ability to think
analytically and creatively about our course readings and other primary sources and hence
relying on someone else’s interpretation defeats the entire purpose of the assignment and,
more seriously, could constitute a violation of Arkansas’s academic integrity policy.
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional use of someone else’s words or ideas without
explicitly citing it as such. It is strictly prohibited at Arkansas and is something I take very
seriously. Besides, it usually takes more effort to plagiarize than to do the assignment
honestly, so it’s not worth risking your academic career for an assignment worth only a
small percentage of your grade. If you are caught plagiarizing on any of your assignments, I
am required to report it, so don’t do it.
Seriously – don’t.
If you are unsure what constitutes plagiarism, see Arkansas’s guide to paper citation:
http://libinfo.uark.edu/reference/citingyoursources.asp.
Schedule of Classes
* Reading available via the course blackboard site
Part I: The Origins of Civilization
Week 1
8/23 Course Introduction: What is “Civilization”
8/25 Early River-Valley Civilizations: Mesopotamia and Africa
Read: “The Epic of Gilgamesh”*; Upshur et al., World History, 1-33
Week 2
8/30 Early River-Valley Civilizations: China, India, and Mesoamerica
Read: “The Ramayana of Valmiki”*; Upshur, 33-53
9/1 The Origins of Monotheism: Zoroastrians and Hebrews
Read: Upshur, 98-106
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Week 3
9/6 Discussion: Creation Stories and Ancient Laws
Read: Stearns, World History in Documents, 14-33; “Theogeny”*
Response Paper #1 Due
Part II: Ancient Empires
9/8 Classical Greece: Society, Culture, and Philosophy
Read: Upshur, 106-123
Week 4
9/13 Classical Greece: War and Decline
Read: Stearns, 38-40
9/15 Ancient India: The Origins of Hinduism and Buddhism
Read: Ushur, 56-74, 123-132, 185-200
Week 5
9/20 Ancient China: Confucianism, Taoism, and the Stirrings of Empire
Read: Stearns, 36-38; Upshur, 74-94, 132-147
9/22 No Class: Dr. Goldstein has a conference
Week 6
9/27 The Hellenistic Kingdoms: The First Global Civilization
Read: Excerpt from Epictetus, “The Handbook”*; Upshur, 154-167
9/29 The Rise of Rome and Fall of the Republic
Read: Website on Gladiatorial Games*; Upshur, 167-177
Week 7
10/4 Discussion: Ancient World Comparisons
Read: Stearns, 41-67
Response Paper #2 Due
10/6 The Origins and Expansion of Christianity
Read: Stearns, 74-78; Upshur, 221-233
Week 8
10/11 Midterm
10/13 “Barbarian” Invasions and the Decline (and Fall) of Rome
Read: Upshur, 177-185, 262-270
Week 9
10/18 No Class: Fall Break
10/20 Discussion: America and Rome
Read: Murphy, Are We Rome, introduction, chapters 2, 3, 5, epilogue
Response Paper #3 Due
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Week 10
10/25 The Rise of Islam
Read: “The Pact of Umar”*; Upshur, 270-279
10/27 Imperial China
Read: Upshur, 200-214, 305-330
Part III: The Middle Ages
Week 11
11/1 The Medieval African Empires
Read: Stearns, 150-153; Upshur, 369-387
11/3 The Advent of Feudalism in Europe
Read: Stearns, 102-105; Upshur, 233-262
Week 12
11/8 The Crusades
11/10 Discussion: Medieval Religious Customs and Warfare in Christianity and Islam
Read: Stearns, 82-99, 111-120
Response Paper #4 Due
Week 13
11/15 The Mongol Conquests
Read: Stearns, 138-41; Upshur, 395-444
11/17 Asia in the Middle Ages
Read: Stearns, 106-110, 286-305, 335-346
Week 14
11/22 The Ottoman Empire Between Worlds
Read: Upshur, 451-463
11/24 No Class: Thanksgiving
Week 15
11/29 The European Renaissance
Read: Upshur, 463-474
12/1 Worlds Colliding: The “Discovery” of the New World
Read: Upshur, 491-506
Week 16
12/6 Discussion: The Columbian Encounter
Read: Stearns, 161-189
Response Paper #5 Due
12/8 The World in 1500
Final Exam: Tuesday 12/13 10:15-12:15 am
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