You don't need to buy the textbook for the class as I make the chapters available digitally. But you may want to purchase it to avoid printing lots of pages at home. You won't actually need the book until 9/02. New and used copies available here

Syllabus

 

Important things to know as you read the syllabus

 

1) ASSIGNMENTS ARE LISTED ON THE DAY ASSIGNED, NOT THE DAY DUE

2) Items assigned on Friday will generally be due the following Thursday at 11:30 PM

3) Some days will list two assignments, one for each track (writing-intensive or less-writing-intensive) in this course. You need only do the assignment in the track you've chosen.

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LEARNING OBJECTICES FOR THIS CLASS

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

A) Be able to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of different forms of historical evidence.

B). Be able to construct a historical argument grounded in evidence from primary and/or secondary sources.

C)Be able to locate an event and sources in historical context

D) Be able to determine the interrelationship among themes, regions, and periodization.



Looking Back From The Present: Hip-Hop Culture & Global Economics

Friday, 8/26
(CLASS 1)

in class: Introductions; signing of prof/student contracts and plagiarism contract; review computer-related issues, including blackboard.

 

Bling (2007) The first of the course's four films follows recording artists Tego Calderon (left), Raekwon, Paul Wall, and writer Ishmael Bael to Sierra Leone in order to chart the connections between hip-hop culture in the United States and the recent civil war in that West African country. In doing so, this documentary introduces a recurring theme of the class: the deep but often invisible linkages between seemingly disparate events and phenomena throughout the world. view trailer

You must submit your written work by blackboard. If you have trouble with Bb, contact DoIt at 212 237-8200

assigned viewing watch the video Bling (10 copies available at the library's 3-hour reserve desk under my name; also available for INSTANT VIEWING on netflix). You only need to watch the first hour and seven minutes; if you want to answer the extra-credit questions, you need to watch from 1hr:13 min until the end. YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK AT THE ASSIGNED WRITING BELOW BEFORE STARTING THE VIDEO.

assigned writing (due 9/01 by blackboard by 11:30 PM ):do short answer questions (questions available by clicking here).

Your answers to these questions will serve as the basis for your next assignment

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The Worlds of 1300

Friday, 9/02
(CLASS 2)

assigned reading: read pp. 1 to 9 from Introduction to Origins of the Modern World Origins of the Modern World (on blackboard as a .pdf under "course documents"if you haven't purchased it).

assigned writing: (A) continued questions (click here) on Bling (due 9/08 by blackboard at 11:30 PM); Prep introduction, pp. 1 to 9 , of Origins of the Modern World

(again, these are the notes you will have with you when you take the final; the questions for these notes will be distributed by e-mail. You will submit your handwritten notes in class on 9/09)

Be sure to read over the prep questions bf and quiz BEFORE starting on the reading itself, then take notes as you read; doing so will help you know what to look for in the reading and, accordingly, save you time.

 

Concepts for Quiz 1 (9/09) closed note worth 2.25% of your final grade		what does the author mean in this reading by "contingency," "narrative" and "conjuncture"?
	What is "The Gap" and what are three different explanations that historians have proposed over the years?	What is "euro-centrism"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Friday, 9/09

in-class: quiz 1 (see above for terms)

assigned reading/writing (due 9/16 by start of class time):Prep remaining pages of introduction and bring handwritten notes to class (again, recall that these are the only notes you will be able to have with you at the final; if you don't submit notes you won't have them for the final).

assigned writing: none (except notes, see above)

 

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assigned reading 2 or 2 (due 9/22 by blackboard by 11:30 pm): introduction to claim/evidence/warrant (click here)

assigned writing (due 9/22 by 11:30 pm): quotation exercises (click here) although this assignment is worth 6% of your grade, if you don't submit this assignment you will lose 15% of your semester grade with the points coming from your final exam.

 

Want to know more?

see "When Timbuktu Was the Paris of Islamic Intellectuals in Africa" from The New York Times

 

 

 

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Friday, 9/30

NO CLASS!! (BUT NOTE THAT WE HAVE CLASS ON 10/04 AND YOU HAVE HW DUE ON 10/03)

assigned reading: (blackboard) Tignor, pp. 120 - 131 (start at "Increasing Economic Linkages" and stop at "The Slave Trade and Africa," a topic we will address in great length later on); on-line reading from American Colonies (on-line through link, not black board); "Hispanics Debate Census Plan to Change Racial Grouping" from the New York Times and "ten things everyone should know about race"

assigned writing (due 10/03 through Blackboard by 11:30 pm): short answer questions

Concepts for Quiz 2
there will be 3, true/false questions on the ten things excerpt and New York Times article

 

 

 

 

in class: Quiz 2; activity on the construction of race in the New World

assigned reading: none

assigned writing (due 10/07 through Blackboard 11:30 PM): finish essay started in class on race in the New World )

YOU MUST DECIDE WHICH "TRACK" YOU WILL BE ON AFTER RECEIVING MY FEEDBACK ON THIS ESSAY.
images of trade goods

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assigned writing (due 10/20 through Blackboard by 11:30 om): short (and long) answer questions

Concepts for Quiz 3		closed note quiz
identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant): manitou (use your own words)	identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant):"The country of the Huron's is no longer where it was" (use your own words)	identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant); Kristoni (use your own words)
identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant): Deganawida (use your own words)	identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant): Great League (use your own words)	identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant): "The English have no sense"   (use your own words)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Friday, 11/11

Discuss essay. Activity comparing Trans-atlantic Slave Trade and the Fur Trade in North America; paper workshop.

EXTRA-CREDIT ASSIGNMENT TBA.

assigned reading: (blackboard), Tignor, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, p. 165 - 167. Excerpts from Mazower's, Balkan History
(through link)

assigned writing: (due 11/17 at 11:30 pm by blackboard): short answer questions

Concepts for Quiz 4, 11/18		Open Note
There will be one"explain this passage" question on this quiz	identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant): millets (use your own words)
QUESTION ON VIDEO TO BE DISTRIBUTED BY E-MAIL	Describe the significance of tekke for the textbook's argument regarding an Ottoman "synthesis" (THINK ABOUT HOW TEKKE ARE "EVIDENCE" FOR THE AUTHORS' CLAIMS RE: AN OTTOMAN SYNTHESIS.BE PREPARED TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION WITH A PARAGRAPH) BE SPECIFIC (use your own words)	identify (who, what, where, when, and why significant): devshirme (use your own words)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

images from Albania

 

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Friday, 11/18

in-class: quiz 3

assigned reading: (BLACKBOARD), Tignor, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 179-186 (start with "The Enlightenment in Europe" end with "Hybrid Cultures")

assigned writing: (due 11/23 through Blackboard by 11:30): short answer questions

NOTE THE EARLIER DUE DATE BECAUSE OF HOLIDAY

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Friday, 11/25

No Class! (but note earlier due date above for HW assigned on 11/18)

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Friday, 12/02
(CLASS 19)

in class: activity, "Enlightenment and Racism"

assigned reading: (on-line, but not Electronic Reserves) The Enlightenment and Human Rights (read only the 4 pages in this section, stop at "Paris and the Politics of Rebellion"); (black board) Lynn Hunt, Inventing Human Rights, pp. 186 - 187) Start with "Biological Explanations"

assigned writing (due 12/08 11:30 pm): short answer questions

Extra-credit Essay on Enlightenment and Racism

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Friday, 12/08

in class: discussion of industrial revolution and introduction to nationalism & Ferguson.

assigned viewing: Episode 1 ("The Clash of Empires") in Nial Ferguson, The War of the World available at the library's 3-hour reserve or netflix DVD (NOT available for instant download--note that I required you to order it on 11/04)

assigned reading:(blackboard), Origins of the Modern World, Chapter 4 AND (black board) Topik, "Sweet Success"

Prep chapter by answering short answer questions

assigned writing: (due 12/15 through Blackboard by 11:30 PM): questions

 

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Friday, 12/16

Final exams in class room at class time.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE THE FINAL IF YOU ARE ON THE WRITING INTENSIVE TRACK

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NO CLASS, BUT FINAL PAPER FOR WRITING INTENSIVE TRACK, DUE BY DEC 22nd 11:30 PM THROUGH Blackboard

(late papers accepted without penalty until 12/23 at 11:30 pm)

assigned reading: (blackboard): excerpts from Nial Ferguson, The War of the World, pp. xxxiv - xxxvii, xli, li-lxi.

Prof. Umbach’s translations of Ferguson’s professor-speak (here) will make the reading easier.

assigned reading: (blackboard): pp. 44 - 59, 102 - 105 of Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Hatians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola; excerpts from Human Rights Watch's report "Illegal People: Haitians And Dominico-Haitians In The Dominican Republic" -- read Section III, "Background" pp. 7 - 11.

final essay

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