History and Political Science Department
Syllabus
Spring 2009
History 114: World in
the 20th Century
Instructor: Rebecca Harris
Section CRN 34338 Office Hours:
TR
TR
SW 40 Email: Rebecca.Harris@montgomerycollege.edu
Course Texts:
William Duiker, Twentieth
Century World History
Ngugi wa
Thiong'o The River Between
General Course Information:
"To be ignorant of what happened before you were born
is to be ever a child. For what is man's
lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier
times?”
Knowledge of the past is perhaps one of the most important tools to understanding the present. The politics, culture, values, technology and the environment of our world today have been shaped by developments in the past. While the events that shaped our modern world can be found in the more distant past, the changes that have taken place in the last hundred and fifty years are more immediate and profound. More so than any other time, the twentieth century drew the people of the world together in a new global community. Advances of science changed the way people thought about the world around them; new technologies changed how millions of people lived their everyday lives, in both positive and negative ways. New reigning philosophies, like Marxism changed how people viewed the role of governments. While this course will not have the time to discuss all of the metamorphisms that have affected our world in the past century, we will focus on some of the broad changes. Hopefully a deeper understanding of our global past will give you all the tools to understand our very international modern world.
Aims and Objectives:
This is an introductory survey of the world in the twentieth century. As an introductory course, HS 114 is designed to meet two broad objectives:
1) To provide the student with an overview of the historical period.
2) To develop critical thinking skills which include, but are not limited to the following:
a) To synthesize information from a variety of sources
b) To distinguish cause from effect and understand the “why” of historical events
c) To draw inferences from historical evidence
d) To distinguish facts from opinions and/or conclusions
e) To see art and artifacts as equally important as documents and historical evidence
f) To view events from a variety of viewpoints
g) To present coherent and informed oral and written arguments
Course Requirements:
Learning to be an effective reader is an important skill for both life and school. This course will require readings every week. Weekly readings will be from the textbook, and online. Some weeks, the online material might be audio files, visual images, and other forms of multimedia, but for most weeks, it will be readings from scholarly publications, or reputable online sources. Historians use media other than the written record, and as we live in a world that increasingly uses visual and audio media to convey ideas, they are important sources of information.
This course will also require students to respond to the class discussions and readings in writing. Students are required to turn in a total of five reading responses. The response should be roughly 4-5 questions or comments in length that have been prompted by the readings. The response will be due the Tuesday before our scheduled discussion session.
Students are required to write two 4-5 page papers. The first paper will be a book review of The River Between. The second paper will involve historical analysis and research.
There will be a mid-term and a final exam, the format for these exams will be discussed in class.
Part of studying history is learning how to conduct a civil discussion about controversial topics. Many of the subjects that will be discussed have many different interpretations, students are highly encouraged to join in the general discussions in class, to ask questions, and to employ their intellect. Participation in class is taken into consideration when deciding on a course grade.
Grading:
Reading Responses – 5 responses – 25pts
Review Paper – 100pts
Analysis Paper – 100pts
Mid-Term – 150pts
Final Exam – 175pts
Attendance – 50pts
Total Grade Value : 600pts
A= 100-90% B= 89-80% C= 79-70% D= 69-60% F= 59% or less
Policies
Attendance: Attendance is required. You are allowed to miss as many classes as the class meets per week for unexcused reasons. (Hist. 114 meets T-TH so a maximum of 2 classes may be missed) Excessive absence will result in your involuntary withdrawal from the course or a reduced course grade.
Make-up: If exceptional circumstances necessitate your absence on the day of the mid-term/final exam, you must contact the instructor prior to the exam and timely submit a written request, along with an official document, for a make- up.
Late Work Policy: You are required to turn in all the assignments at the beginning of the class period given on the syllabus. Absence from the class does not excuse a student from not turning in the assignment before the start of the class period. Late work will be penalized 20% a day.
Academic Honesty: Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for the course.
In addition, it is your responsibility to understand other policies indicated in the Code of Student Conduct. The relevant information is available on the College’s web page.
Any student with a disability might want to contact the Disability Support Service (CB 122) and obtain an authorizing letter so that their needs can be accommodated. Please feel free to talk to the instructor in regard to necessary arrangements.
Course Schedule:
|
Week 1 Jan 27, 29 |
Introduction Read: Chapter 1 in the textbook |
|
Week 2 Feb 3,5 |
Looking at the 19th
Century Read: Chap 2,3 Thiong'o: Chapter 1-11 |
|
Week 3 Feb 10, 12 |
High Imperialism Read: Excerpts from Adam Hochshild’s King Leopold’s Ghost Thiong'o: Chapter 11- 19 Discussion Session |
|
Week 4 Feb 17,19 |
The Inevitability of
World War I? Read: Chap 4 Thiong'o: Chapter 19- pg 152 |
|
Week 5 Feb 24,26 |
World War I and its
Legacy Read: Chapter 5 Book Review Due |
|
Week 6 March 3,5 |
Post-War Read: “Mohandas Gandhi” by “Educational "Subcontracting" and the Spread of
Religious Nationalism: Hindu and by Vickie Langohr Discussion Session |
|
Week 7 March 10,12 |
Setting the Stage
for World War II Read: Chap 6 “A Sense of Place: Donald Worster's Dust Bowl” by Jeffrey K. Stine Midterm Exam March
12 |
|
Week 8 March 17,19 |
SPRING BREAK |
|
Week 9 March 24, 26 |
Results of WWII –
Ideology Read: Chap 7 Sino-Cuban Relations
during the Early Years of the Castro Regime, 1959–1966 Cheng, Yinghong Discussion Session |
|
Week 10 March 31, April 2 |
Results of WWII-
Technology Read: Chapter 9 |
|
Week 11 April 7, 9 |
Modern Nationalism Read: Chap 8,11 Discussion Session |
|
Week 12 April 14, 16 |
Read: Chap 13,14 Historical Analysis
Paper Due |
|
Week 13 April 21, 23 |
Race, Gender and
Modernity Read: Chap 10 The Forgotten
Compass of Death: Apocalypse Then and Now in the Social History of Benedict Carton Discussion Session |
|
Week 14 April 28, 30 |
The Environment in
the Modern World Read: Chap 16 The Trouble with
Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature Discussion Session |
|
Week 15 May 5,7 |
Problems of
Modernity and Review Read: A "Long Walk to
Freedom" and Democracy: Human Rights,
Globalization, and Social Injustice Havidán Rodríguez |
|
Final Exam May 12 |
|