Boğaziçi University Department of History
HIST 106: THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, SPRING 2010
Coordinator: Meltem Toksöz
e-mail: toksozme@boun.edu.tr office hours: Wednesday 10:00-11:45, Museum
Teaching Assistants: Ümit Fırat Açıkgöz (Head T.A.), Uluğ Kuzuoğlu, Gizem Tongo, Sinem Erdoğan, Ceren Abi
Lectures: MWF 4, GKM
Discussion sessions: Fridays, Kuzey Park, hours TBA
Web: hist106-2010.blogspot.com
Course Description:
The Making of the Modern World (Hist 105; Hist 106) is a two-semester elective course providing a thematic history of the world from ancient to modern times. The course surveys the major patterns and events of human activity from a global perspective within a broad chronological framework, while familiarizing students with interactions, parallelisms, and incongruities in the historical and cultural patterns of diverse societies and civilizations. The course aims to develop an understanding of modes and patterns of historical change, and provides a perspective on the complex ways in which the legacy of the past shapes our present.
Hist 106 explores the paths of specific historical change in the early modern and modern periods in different regions of the world, covering the period between the later 15th and the early 20th centuries. Therefore the course is as much about the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe as about culture and society in the early modern Middle East; as much about transformations in European feudalism as about the methods of rule of East Asian polities; as much about the revolutions of 1789 and 1848 in Europe as about the transformation of Ottoman political power in relation to the Habsburg and Russian empires. Issues regarding political, cultural, ideological and institutional structures and transformations that ushered in the modern era are discussed, as well as aspects of daily life and material culture. Connections and interactions across spatial and cultural divides remain a focus throughout the survey.
Format:
Hist 106 is team-taught by members of the History Department. Lectures of each week will be followed by one-hour discussion sessions led by the teaching assistants on Fridays.
There are two types of reading for the course. Two textbooks [P.N. Stearns, M. Adas, S.B. Schwartz, M.H. Gilbert, World Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York, 2007), and C. A. Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914 (Oxford, 2004)], provide an introduction and background to the topics to be covered in the lectures. The primary source readings for each week introduce a set of particular issues and themes directly related to the lecture topics. The Friday sections with the teaching assistants will be devoted in part to the in-depth discussion and interpretation of the primary sources, and in part to the discussion of the main themes and issues of the week. Four historical movies or documentaries related to course themes will be screened through the semester.
It is highly important that you participate fully in the course by attending the lectures, doing the readings (preferably before lectures, certainly before the Friday discussion hours), and partaking in the discussions led by the teaching assistants.
All readings will be available as electronic documents on the Boğaziçi Library web site (go to Catalogue Search; Search Course Reserves). Stearns, et. al, World Civilizations: The Global Experience is also available in the Boğaziçi University Bookstore. Lecture outlines and course announcements will be posted on the course website.
Requirements: (There are no pre-requisites for Hist 106.)
Mid-term exam: 40%
Final exam: 45%
Attendance and participation in discussion sessions: 15%
HIST 106 THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, 2 SPRING 2010
22 February M Introduction Toksöz
A.) DISCOVERIES AND EXPANSION
24 February W Early Expeditions and Asian Trade Esenbel
26 February F European Expansion in the Atlantic
and Indian Oceans Terzibaşoğlu
1. Discussion:
Readings: Stearns, chapter 20 (pp. 434-438), chapter 21, ch. 24 (pp. 514-531), ch. 27 (pp. 592-601)
B.) RELIGION, CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN THE EARLY MODERN ERA
1 March M The Renaissance in Italy and
Northern Europe Babaoğlu
3 March W The Reformation: Change in Society and Culture Babaoğlu
5 March F The Counter Reformation: Society and Culture
in the Early Modern Era Babaoğlu
2. Discussion: From discovery to cultural and religious change
Readings and sources: Stearns, ch. 20 (pp. 438-442), ch. 22 (478-486)
Francis Drake, Voyages, 1580
Dante, from the Divine Comedy
Suggested: Paul Lunde, “Piri Reis and the Columbus Map,” and “A Muslim Discovery of the New World”
Film: Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance 1 March 17.00 İbrahim Bodur
C.) THE AGE OF ABSOLUTISM: STATE-BUILDING AND POLITICAL CONFLICTS
8 March M The Power of the Prince: the Renaissance state Toksöz
10 March W The Power of the Prince: post-Mongol Middle East Toksöz
12 March F Ottoman Absolutism and its Limits Toksöz
3. Discussion: Mirrors for princes
Readings and sources: Stearns, ch. 26, Bayly, ch. 1
Machiavelli, from The Prince, 16-19, 67-71 [parts IV ve IX]
Castiglione, from The Book of the Courtier
Mustafa Ali, from The Tables of Delicacies
15 March M Absolutism in South Asia: The Mughal Empire Toksöz
17 March W The Ming Bureaucratic Empire in China Esenbel
19 March F Tokugawa Centralised Feudal Order in Japan Esenbel
4. Discussion: Absolutism in Asia
Readings and sources: Stearns ch. 27 (pp. 601-612)
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, (1659-1719), Hagakure and The Way of the Samurai, pp. 473-480.
From the Fatwa on Jizya by Aurangzeb
22 March M Expansion of Russia: Tsarist Primacy Toksöz
D.) REASON AND REVOLUTION
24 March W Absolutism and beyond: France and
the English Revolution Eldem
26 March F The Scientific Revolution: from the Renaissance
to Newton Eldem
5. Discussion: Critique of Absolutism
Readings and sources: Stearns ch. 22 (pp. 486-496)
Voltaire, from the English Letters
Montesqieu, from The Persian Letters
29 March M The Enlightenment: Man as an object of science Eldem
31 March W An Enlightenment Experiment: The
American Revolution Mazzari
2 April F Destroying the Ancien Régime:
The French Revolution Eldem
6. Discussion: Enlightenment and Revolution
Readings and sources: Stearns ch. 28 (pp.622-631), Bayly ch. 3
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
Rousseau, from The Social Contract
From The Encyclopedia: “Philosophe”
Film: Danton 2 April 17.00 İbrahim Bodur
E.) AGE OF CAPITALISM
5 April M Transition to capitalism: agricultural origins Terzibaşoğlu
7 April W Diverging Paths: Mercantilism vs. Free Trade Terzibaşoğlu
9 April F Industrial Revolution Terzibaşoğlu
7. Discussion: Review for the midterm exam
Reading: Stearns, pp. 631-639, Bayly, ch. 2
12 April M MID TERM EXAM
14 April W Colonialism and imperialism: a project for
world domination Terzibaşoğlu
16 April F Society Transformed: Peasants, Workers, Consumers
and Capitalists Terzibaşoğlu
8. Discussion: Social transformations in the age of capitalism
Readings and sources: Stearns ch. 29, Bayly ch. 4 pp. 125-138, and Bayly ch. 5
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, from The Communist Manifesto
Balzac, from History of the Thirteen
Engels, “Industrial Manchester”
F.) States and Nations
19 April M Nations and nationalism in Europe Deringil
21 April W Towards a Europe of Nations and Latecomers Deringil
Film: Les Misérables 21 April 17.00 İbrahim Bodur
23 April F NO CLASS
24 April – 30 APRIL SPRING BREAK
3 May M Old Empires, the Struggle for Survival:
Romanovs, Ottomans, and Habsburgs Deringil
5 May W 19th century Ottoman transformations Deringil
7 May F 19th century Russian transformations Deringil
9. Discussion: Perspectives on the nation
Readings and sources: Stearns ch.31 (pp.700-714), ch.32 (724-732) Bayly ch. 4, 138-148 and 155-169, Bayly ch. 6
Renan, What is a nation?
Ahmed Midhat, from The Basis of Reform
Peter the Great, “The Table of Ranks”
G.) REVOLUTION, WAR AND MODERNITY
10 May M Revolution and Nationalism in China Esenbel
12 May W Reform as Resistance: Meiji Modernity and
Japan’s Asian Empire Esenbel
14 May F Anti-colonialism and Nationalism in South Asia Toksöz
Film: All Quiet on the Western Front 14 May 17.00 İbrahim Bodur
10. Discussion: Reform and Revolution: Westernism versus Asianism
Sources: Stearns ch. 31 (pp.714-723), ch.32 (735-743), Bayly, ch. 11
Fukuzawa Yukichi, (1835-1901), Civilization and Enlightenment, pp. 705-707.
Sun Yat-Sen, (1866-1925), The Three Principles, pp.767-771.
From the Reports of the Proceedings of the Indian National Congress, “Origin and Composition of the Congress”
Suggested: Amur Society (Black Dragons) Anniversary Statement, 1930, pp. 951-953.
Liang Ch’i-Ch’ao, (1873-1929) A People Made New, pp. 755-759.
17 May M The Great war Kechriotis
19 May W NO CLASS
21 May F The Russian Revolution Kechriotis
11. Discussion: War and Revolution
Readings and sources: Stearns, ch. 32 (pp.724-735), ch. 33, Bayly, ch. 13, Barkley’s Letters
Lenin, “Our Party Programme”
24 May M Women, Power and Modernity: cross-cultural
perspectives Öztürkmen
26 May W The world between the two wars:
an overview Toksöz
Reading: Stearns, ch.34
