be sure to pick up our textbook, Origins of the Modern World at the bookstore. You won't need it, however, until 2/08

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 Monday at the end of class time; items assigned on Monday will be due that Friday at the start of class time.

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 trackyou've chosen.

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

Friday, 1/29
(CLASS 1)

in class: Introductions; signing of contracts; 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's dropbox. If you don't know how, see here

assigned viewing watch the video Bling (10 copies available at the library's 3-hour reserve desk under my name). 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 until the end. YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK AT THE ASSIGNED WRITING BELOW BEFORE STARTING THE VIDEO.

assigned writing (due 2/01 by blackboard at end of classtime):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

Monday, 2/01
(CLASS 2, On-line)

assigned reading (due 2/05 by classtime) read pp. 1 to 9 from Introduction to Origins of the Modern World (on blackboard as a pdf if you haven't purchased it).

assigned writing (due 2/05 by blackboard at start of classtime): continued questions (click here) on Bling; 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)

Be sure to read over the prep questions f 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 (next class) closed note worth 125 Fritz points, or 2.25% of your final grade		what does the author mean in this reading by "contigency," "narrative" and "conjuncture"?
	What is "The Gap" and what are three different explanationsthat historians have proposed over the years?	What is "euro-centrism"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Friday, 2/05

in-class: quiz 1

assigned reading (due 2/08 by end of classtime):Prep remaining pages of introduction, bring notes to History Department's Admin Assistant: Melania Clavel, BY TUEDAY FEB 16 3 pm (4317 North Hall) 212.237.8827 mclavell@jjay.cuny.edu You may want to call to confirm that she is there. DIGITAL SUBMISSIONS NOT POSSIBLE

(SINCE WE DON'T MEET FOR SEVERAL CLASSES, YOU WILL BE BRINGING SEVERAL SETS OF NOTES TO THE ADMIN ASSISTANT THIS DAY)

assigned writing: none

 

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asassigned reading (due 2/19 by start of classtime): introduction to claim/evidence/warrant (click here)

assigned writing (due 2/19 through Blackboard by start of classtime): 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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Monday, 2/22
(CLASS 7, On-line)

assigned reading: p. 102 from Tignor's Worlds Together, Worlds Apart available here;

assigned writing (due 2/26 through Blackboard by start of classtime): short answer questions

images of trade goods

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Friday, 2/26
(CLASS10)

CLASS CANCELLED (THIS IS THE REVISED SYLLABUS AS OF 3/05)

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Contact, Commerce, and Colonialization 1450s - 1600

Friday, 3/05
(CLASS10)

assigned reading: textbook, 67 - 71 (stop at the "Americas"), start again at 76 ("columbian exchange") until 92; Prep the chapter, turn notes in by hand on 3/12.

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Monday, 3/22
(CLASS 15)

 

assigned writing (due 3/26 through Blackboard by start of classtime): Essay on Blackrobe (first assignment with two seperate tracks, writing-intensive or less-writing-intensive)

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Friday, 3/26

Discussion of Slave Trade

assigned reading: (electronic reserves) Gilbert, Africa in World History, pp. 121 - 133;David Brion Davis, Challenging the Boundaries of Slavery, pp. 17 - 19; Thornton, The Birth of the Atlantic World; Tignor, pp. 131 - 136 NOTE: GILBERT APPEARS IN TWO PARTS IN THE ELECTRONIC RESERVES

Instructions on how to get to Electronic Reserves reading

assigned writing (due 4/06--yes 6th, Tuesday--through Blackboard by 11:30 pm): short answer questions (get an early start on this assignment);

assigned museum trip:

Note that you have to take the audio tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before April 9th for the mini-test (worth 3.5% of your final grade or 350 Fritz Points). See details here. Note that the Met is closed on Mondays; note also that you will have to bring to class a receipt of your visit to the Met; if not, I will count you absent for the Met visit day.

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SPRING BREAK / WAHOO

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Tuesday, 4/06 (YES, TUESDAY)

Adanggaman Directed by: Roger Gnoan M'Bala Language: In Bambara, Baule and French with English subtitles

Assigned Viewing: Film at library or home (available for instant download from netflix)

assigned writing (due 4/09 throuh Blackboard by 11:50 pm): outline on essay on Adanggaman (only for writing-intensive track)

 

assigned museum trip:

Note that you have to take the audio tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before April 9th for the mini-test (worth 3.5% of your final grade or 350 Fritz Points). See details here. Note that the Met is closed on Mondays; note also that you will have to bring to class a receipt of your visit to the Met; if not, I will count you absent for the Met visit day.

 

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Friday, 4/09
(CLASS 17)

in class: Met Test; Discuss essay. Activity comparing Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Fur Trade in North America; paper workshop

 

assigned writing (due 4/12): essay on slave trade

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Monday, 4/12
(CLASS 19)

assigned reading: electronic reserves, Tignor, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, p. 165 - 167. Excerpts from Mazower's, Balkan History

assigned writing (due 4/16): short answer questions (note that the quiz for next Friday worth significantly more than usual)

assigned viewing:Watch Video (dvd distributed in class on 4/09)

 

Concepts for Quiz 3, 4/16		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" 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, 4/16
(CLASS 19)

in-class: quiz 3

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

assigned writing: (due 4/19 through Blackboard by end of classtime): short answer questions

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Monday, 4/19

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"); (ON electronic reserves) Lynn Hunt, Inventing Human Rights, pp. 186 - 187) Start with "Biological Explanations"

assigned writing (due 4/23 throuh Blackboard by start of classtime): short answer questions

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Friday, 4/23

 

in class: activity, "Enlightenment and Racism"

assigned reading: (due 4/30 through Blackboard by end of classtime):Essay on Enlightenment and Racism
(TWO TRACK)

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Monday, 4/26
(CLASS 20 )

no additional homework

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Friday, 4/30

in class: discussion of industrial revolution

assigned reading: Textbook, Chapter 4 of textbook AND (electronic reserves) Topik, "Sweet Success"

assigned writing (due 5/03): Prep chapter by answering short answer questions

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Monday, 5/03
(CLASS 20 )

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)

assigned writing: (due 5/07 through Blackboard by start of class time): questions

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Friday, 5/07
(CLASS 21)

assigned reading: lecture on nationalism, introduction to Ferguson.

assigned reading: (electronic reserves): 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 writing (due 5/10 throuh Blackboard by end of class time): questions

 

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Monday 5/10
(CLASS 23)

assigned reading: (electronic reserves): 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.

assigned writing (due 5/14 through Blackboard by start of class time): Evidence chart using Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians and Human Rights Watch's report

This chart will both help organize your evidence for the paper (see below) and serve as the basis for your upcoming outline for that essay.

 

 

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Friday, 5/14
(class 24)

ssigned writing (due 5/18 throuh Blackboard by start of class time):Outline for upcoming paper, the essay itself is due 5/28 blackboard by 11:30 pm

optional video viewing: Race and Racism in the Dominican Republic

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Tuesday, 5/18

in-class:Discussion of essay

assigned viewing:Episode 2 ("Tainted Victory") in Nial Ferguson's The War of the World, available at the library's 3-hour reserve

assigned writing (due 5/28 throuh Blackboard by end of class time):questions on Episode 2 and optional questions on Episode 3 for extra-credit (both due 5/28)

 

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FINAL EXAM Thursday, 5/20

205-30: 12:30- 230

205-32: 3:15 - 5:15

 

 

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Friday 5/28

NO CLASS!

Final essay due via blackboard by the end of classtime