History 110A Syllabi:  World History, Ancient to 1500.

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HISTORY 110A, Fall 2008

SECTION # 14118

INSTRUCTOR: PROFESSOR BRUNELLE

Class Time and Location: MW, 1-2:15pm, H 125

Office: H 710E

Tel.: (714)278-7045

Fax: (714)278-2101

Email: gbrunelle@fullerton.edu

Web Site: http://faculty.fullerton.edu/gbrunelle

Office Hours: MW, 2:30-4:00,

Final Exam Date and Time: Take-home exam due in hard copy Monday, December 15, by 5 pm.

Please note that this course meets the General Education learning requirements in Category IIA.

Required Reading:

Felipe Fernández-Armesto, The World: A History, (New York: Prentice Hall, 2006) 0-13-177764-5, vol. 1.

Please note: your primary source assignments will be based on the Primary Source CD bound with the book. If you buy the book used, make sure that the CD is still included with the book. If it is not, you will have to purchase the CD separately from Prentice Hall to complete the assignments.

Description

History 110A is a general survey of World Civilizations from antiquity to the 16th century, which marks the beginning of what historians call the Early Modern Era. Because this is a survey class, the emphasis will be on the acquisition of a general knowledge of broad sweeps of historical development. The course will be organized around certain broad themes, such as the role of religion in society, political organization of societies, gender, and contacts between the West and the rest of the world.

Learning Goals

The goal of this course is to provide students with an integrative, holistic introductory survey of the historical development of civilization within a global context. Specifically, it will explore the impact of both Western institutions and ideas upon non-Western societies and cultures and of the influence of non-Western cultures and peoples upon Western societies and cultures. It is designed to provide students with a common intellectual experience by broadening their understanding of ideas and values drawn from different strands of our own culture and to increase their understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity and the process of cultural interaction.

To understand holistically the origins and historical development of world civilizations within a global context.

To describe and analyze critically the reciprocal influence of Western and non-Western institutions, values and ideas.

To recognize the forces that contributed to the particular development of diverse societies and shaped our present world.

To recognize and understand the contributions of ethnic and gender groups to past and present societies in contexts of accommodation and resistance.

To understand and describe critically major political, economic, intellectual and cultural themes recurring throughout the history of the world.

Requirements and Assessment

Survey courses, by their very nature, move quickly through large amounts of material. This class will combine lecture with small group and whole class discussions of the readings. If students are not prepared to discuss the readings in class, they will also be unprepared to discuss them on the exams. The readings will appear on the exams! Moreover, is a student falls behind in reading the textbook, he or she will be likely to feel confused in class, as lectures will build from and presume a prior reading of, rather than reiterate, the background material found in the textbook. Readings are assigned on a weekly basis and should be completed by the beginning of the week in which they are to be discussed in class.

Students in this course will be expected to read a textbook, Armesto, The World. They will also be expected to prepare the primary source assignments for class discussion, based on the CD packaged with the book. The single most important requirement of this course is that students must keep up with the reading, which you can expect to average about thirty to fifty pages a week.

Finally, students will also have three essay exams, the dates of which are marked on your syllabus. The midterm exams will be drawn from the "Focus questions" at the beginning of each chapter and the "Problems and Parallels Questions" at the end. These questions will constitute your study questions for the exams. The third mid-term will be the date and time of the final exam (Monday, December 15, 2:30-4;20 pm.

Students will also be expected to write two short papers of 4-5 double-spaced typed and spellchecked pages based on the Primary Source CD packaged with the Armesto text. (Please note that "4-5 pages" means at least three full pages!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) In the papers students will choose one of the sources for each of the three chapters they choose, respond to the focus question posed in the unit about that source, and support their response using the primary sources. The papers will be due the day the chapter is assigned, and must be handed in during class (emailed papers or papers dropped off at my office or the history office will not be accepted!). I will distribute guidelines to completing these assignments on the first day of class. Please read and follow them carefully! They will also be available on my website.

Grades: there will be three essay exams offered during the course of the session. I will drop the lowest grade. This includes any exam a student might miss for illness or other reasons. Your grade, therefore, will be based on your best two out of the three midterms.

Makeup Exam Policy: There will be no make up exams. Instead, I will drop the lowest of the three midterm exams. The final exam will be a take-home handed out during the final class of the semester. There will be no extra credit.

Mid-term exams will consist of two essay questions worth 25 points each. The exam questions will be based on the "Focus Questions" and "Problems and Parallels" questions at the beginning and end of each chapter, although they may combine two questions or vary somewhat in scope or wording.

bulletStudents who do poorly on the first midterm are strongly advised to meet with me for some suggestions as to how to study for the exams.

Midterm exams @45% each = 90%

Primary Source Papers @ 5% each = 10%

I will be using +/- grades this semester, according to the following scale:

97-100 = A+ 87-89 = B+ 77-79 = C+ 67-69 = D+

93-96 = A 83-86 = B 73-76 = C 63-66 = D

90-92 = A- 80-82 = B- 70-72 = C- 60-62 = D-

Below 60 = F

ATTENDANCE POLICY: I will pass around an attendance sheet at the beginning of each class. Students may have a maximum of three absences for any reason (illness, family difficulties, not in the mood for class). I will administratively drop any student who misses more than three classes before census. After census, if you miss more than three classes during the entire semester, your final grade for the course will drop by 5% for each class you miss. If you cannot make a commitment to be present in class most of the time, you should consider taking the class another semester when you can make such a commitment.

BEHAVIOR IN CLASS POLICY: Unfortunately I have found in recent years that it is also necessary to remind students of proper behavior in class. It is rude to distract your fellow students from following the lectures and discussions by talking in class. Moreover, being present in class means being present in mind and body and paying attention and prepared to participate in discussion. You should not be text messaging, listening to your IPOD, preparing your agenda, chatting with your neighbor or playing computer games during class. All these behaviors are potentially distracting to me and to the rest of the class. If you need to engage in these activities, do not attend class. If you do engage in these activities in class, I will mark you "absent" for the day. This is a university. Your education is costing you a lot and the taxpayers of this state a lot more. Class time is not multitasking time!

Honor Policy

Students may work together to discuss the readings and prepare for exams. All work performed for a grade in the class should be the student’s own, however. University Honor Policy will be observed.

Additional Information

Information about students’ right to accommodations for documented special needs via the Disabled Student Service Office, UH 101, (714) 278-3117can be found at www.fullerton.edu/disabledservices/;

CSUF policy on Academic Integrity (see UPS 300.021) will be followed.

Topics and Reading Assignments

Week One:

August 25, 27: Introduction and Pre-history. Armesto, ch. 1, "Out of the Ice: Peopling the Earth" and primary sources for chapter 1 of Armesto, on CD.

Week Two:

September 1, 3: Early farming and herding. Armesto, ch. 2, "Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding after the Ice Age" and primary sources for chapter 2 of Armesto, on CD.

Please note: September 1 is Labor Day – No Class!

Week Three:

September 8, 10:

The first great complex societies. Armesto, ch. 3, "The Great River Valleys: Accelerating Change and Developing States’ and primary sources for chapter 3 of Armesto, on CD.

Week Four:

September 15, 17:

New regional civilizations challenge the dominance of the river valleys. Armesto, ch. 4, "A Succession of Civilizations: Ambition and Instability" and primary sources for chapter 4 of Armesto, on CD.

Week Five:

September 22, 24: Recovery after the instability of the second millennium. Armesto, ch. 5, "Rebuilding the World: Recoveries, New Initiatives, and their Limits and primary sources for Chapter 5 of Armesto, on CD."

Week six:

September 29, October 1: The Axial Age part one – Axial-Age thought. Armesto, ch. 6: "The Great Schools" and primary sources for chapter 6 of Armesto, on CD

First midterm will be during class on Monday September 29. No bluebooks are required.

Week Seven:

October 6, 8: The Axial Age part two – Axial-Age empires. Armesto, ch. 7: "The Great Empires" and primary sources for chapter 7 of Armesto, on CD.

Week Eight:

Ocotber 13, 15: The end of the Axial Age and post-classical civilization. Armesto, ch. 8, "Postimperial Worlds: Problems of Empires in Eurasia and Africa, ca. 200 CE to ca. 700 CE and primary sources for chapter 8 of Armesto, on CD."

Week Nine:

October 20, 22: The expansion of "universal" religions. Armesto, ch. 9, "The Rise of World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism and primary sources for chapter 9 of Armesto, on CD."

Week Ten:

October 27, 29: The expansion of "universal" religions. Armesto, ch. 9, "The Rise of World Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism and primary sources for chapter 9 of Armesto, on CD."

Week 11:

November 3, 5: New powers and recovery after the fall of the Axial-Age empires. Armesto, ch. 10, "Remaking the World: Innovation and Renewal on Environmental Frontiers in the Late First Millennium" and primary sources for chapter 10 of Armesto, on CD.

The second midterm will be on Monday, November 3.  No bluebooks are required.

Week 12:

November 10, 12: The creation of Intra-Hemispheric Contact Zones. Armesto, ch. 11, "Contending with Isolation: ca. 1000-1200" and primary sources for chapter 11 of Armesto, on CD.

Week 13:

November 17, 19: Nomads – mediators of contact, disrupters of settled societies. Armesto, ch. 12, "The Nomadic Frontiers: The Islamic World, Byzantium, and China ca. 1000-1200" and primary sources for chapter 12 of Armesto, on CD.

Note: Fall Recess will be November 24-30 – no classes!

Week 14:

December 1, 3: The impact of the Mongols. Armesto, ch. 13, "The World the Mongols Made" and primary sources for chapter 13 of Armesto, on CD.

Week 15:

December 8, 10: Natural disasters and social disruptions – plague, cold, and upheaval. Armesto, chapter 14, "The Revenge of Nature" and primary sources for chapter 14 of Armesto, on CD.

Week 16:

Monday, December 15, Third Midterm, 2:30-4:20 pm.

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