HIST 105 SYLLABUS

Boğaziçi University, Department of History

HIST 105: THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, I FALL 2009

Coordinator: MELTEM TOKSÖZ
e-mail: toksozme@boun.edu.tr Heritage Museum
office hours: Wednesdays 13:30-14:30 and by appointment

Teaching Assistants: hist105@boun.edu.tr
Ümit Fırat Açıkgöz (head TA), umitfiratacikgoz@gmail.com
Melek Cevahiroğlu, melekcevahiroglu@gmail.com
Ceren Abi, ceren.abi@gmail.com
Selda Altan, a_selda@hotmail.com

Lectures: MWF 4, GKM
Discussion sessions: Fridays,
Web: hist.boun.edu.tr Blog: http://hist105-2009fall.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, parallellisms, 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.
The first part of the course (Hist 105) focuses on the ancient and the medieval world, and approaches the formation and transformations of specific social, political, cultural, and economic patterns through a global perspective. Beginning with the first steps of humanity and the first permanent settlements and urban centers of the ancient Near East, the course turns to the Ancient Greek, Roman, and East Asian civilizations. Broad historical transformations of the medieval era in the eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Middle East and Asia constitute the last main focus. For each of these three major periods, the course examines aspects of political, cultural, ideological and institutional structures and transformations, 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:

The course is team-taught by members of the History Department. Each week’s lectures will be followed by one-hour discussion sessions on Fridays led by the teaching assistants.
There are two types of reading for the course. The textbook [P.N. Stearns, M. Adas, S.B. Schwartz, M.H. Gilbert, World Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York, 2007)], provides 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:
Mid-term exam: 40%
Final exam: 45%
Attendance and participation in discussion sessions: 15%

HIST 105 THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD, I FALL 2009


28 September M Introduction Toksöz

PART 1: FROM PREHISTORY TO HISTORY

30 September W Agricultural Transformation and Özyar
the First Permanent Settlements

2 October F The Rise of Civilization: Early Urban Özyar
Centers of the Ancient Near East

Reading, week 1 (28 Sept.-2 Oct/): P.N. Stearns, M. Adas, S.B. Schwartz, M.H. Gilbert, World Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York, 2007), pp. 2-25.

5 October M Egypt: The Pharaonic Kingdom Özyar
and the Nile

7 October W From Accounting to Writing: Early Scripts Özyar
and Ancient Languages

9 October F Social Stratification and Historical Records: Özyar
Anatolia in the Bronze Age
Readings and sources, week 2 (5-9 Oct.): Stearns et al., pp. 25-35
from The Epic of Gilgamesh
from The Edict of Telipinus

PART 2: THE ANCIENT WORLD

12 October M Cultural Continuity and Political Özyar
Fragmentation: Anatolia in the Iron Age
14 October W Greeks and Barbarians: Vasilakeris
Cultural Exchange in the Ancient World

16 October F Rise of the Greek Civilization Durak

Readings and sources, week 3 (12-16 Oct.): Stearns et al, pp. 35-45
from Heredotos, Histories, “The Greeks in Egypt, Nubia and Scythia.”

19 October M Classical Greek World Durak
and the polis

21 October W The Hellenic Synthesis Durak
23 October F Rice Agriculture, Communal Life, Esenbel
and the Confucian State in China



Readings and sources, week 4 (19-23 Oct.): Stearns et al., chapter 5, pp. 94-115
from Homer, The Odyssey, “King Nestor Remembers”
from Aristotle, “Virtues and vices”
from Thucidydes, The Peloponnesian War, Book II, Chapter VI, Funeral oration of Pericles

26 October M Alexandrian Legacy in Asia Esenbel
28 October W No class

30 October F Early South Asia: The Land of Brahmins Toksöz

Readings and sources, week 5 (25, 31 Oct.): Stearns et al., pp. 55-93 & 116-30
from Lao Tzu, The Classic of the Way and of Virtue
from Confucius, K’ung fu-tzu, (469-399 B. C. ) Analects
from the Rig-Veda

2 November M Rome: the Republic Levy

4 November W Rome: the Empire Levy

6 November F The Fall of Rome and the Roman Legacy Levy

Readings and sources, week 6 (2-6 Nov.): Stearns et al., pp. 140-157, pp. 218-222.
from Augustus, Autobiography, “The Achievements of the Divine”
from the correspondance of Pliny and Trajan

9 November M Religion in the Mediterranean World Levy
and the Rise of Christianity

PART 3: THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

11 November W The Byzantine Empire: from Constantine Necipoğlu
the Great to the Age of Justinian

13 November F Byzantine Society from
Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages Necipoğlu

Readings and sources, week 7 (9-13 Nov.): Stearns et al., pp. 222-227.
from Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History
from Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine
Constantine's Coins, Statues and the Arch of Constantine in Rome

16 November M From the Iconoclastic Controversy to the Great
Schism: Christianity Divides Necipoğlu


17 November T Midterm at 17.00

20 November F Byzantium from the age of the Crusades
to the Ottoman Conquest Necipoğlu

Readings and sources, week 8 (16-20 Nov.): Stearns et al., pp. 304-319 (chapter 14)
from Anna Comnena, Alexiad
from Manuel Palaiologos, Letters

23 November M Medieval Europe: Rural Society Deringil
and Feudalism




25 November W Medieval European Politics: Deringil
Kings and Vassals

27 November F NO CLASS/NO PROBLEM SESSION


30 November M NO CLASS

2 December W Medieval European Politics: Deringil Popes and Bishops

4 December F Medieval Europe: Towns and Deringil
Urban Institutions

Reading, week 9 (23 Nov-4 Dec): Stearns et al., pp. 320-343 (chapter 15)
The Constitution of Emperor Conrad II Concerning the Fiefs of Italy
The Dictatus Papae, [On Papal Power]
Letter of Fulbert of Chartres on the Obligation of Vassals

7 December M Feudalism in Japan Esenbel

9 December W Medieval Chinese Society and Culture Chang

11 December F Religion in the Irano-Mediterranean World
and the Rise of Islam Pancaroğlu

Readings and sources, week 10 (7-11 Dec.): Stearns et. al. pp. 388-403
from TO BE ADDED

14 December M The Caliphate: From Medina
to Damascus and Baghdad Pancaroğlu

16 December W Religious and Political Fragmentation
in the Islamic World Pancaroğlu

18 December F Medieval Near Eastern Societies Pancaroğlu

Readings and sources, week 11 (14-18 Dec): Stearns et al., pp. 236-270.
from Mawardi, The Ordinances of Government (a Juridical Theory on the Caliphate)
from Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddima: An Introduction to History
examples of Umayyad and Abbasid Coinage

21 December M Medieval Encounters: Durak
Conflict and Coexistence

23 December W Medieval Central Asia: Togan
Sufis, Saints and Nomads

25 December F The Greco-Roman Legacy
in the Medieval World Toksöz



Readings and sources, week 12 (21-25 Dec): Stearns et al., pp. 230-235.
Stearns et al., pp. 366-387; pp. 450-451.
Letters from the documents of the Cairo Geniza
From Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354




36. 28 December M The Genghisid World-Empire Toksöz

37.30 December W Conclusion Toksöz

Review problem sessions will be announced.