WORLD CIVILIZATIONS TO 1600

 

History 50                              Summer Session B 2009                   TWR 10:30 ­ 12:50

Candace Gregory-Abbott                                                                Office: TAH 3059

Email:  cgregory@csus.edu                                                               Office Hrs:  WR 9-10 am

Webpage: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gregoryc/                            and by appointment.

                                                                                                           

Required Text:

Voyages in World History, Valerie Hansen and Kenneth R. Curtis

Online primary source readings.

 

Course Description and Goals:

Study of some major civilizations of the world from the beginnings of civilization to 1600. Covers the classical and medieval traditions of the West as well as at least two major non-western cultures. 3 units.

 

Learning Objectives:

1.  To determine what is meant by the terms civilization and culture, which encompass such

disparate elements as politics, religion, philosophy, art, poetry, social customs.

2. To develop a student¹s ability to read historical documents, both primary and secondary.

3. To study how people lived, thought, and how viewed themselves and others. 

4. To study each civilization as independent units as well as how they interact with one another.  5. To examine in detail the rise, expansion, and synthesis of the world's five major religions:  

Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.

 

Requirements:

This is primarily a lecture course, although discussion by students is encouraged.   Readings are assigned daily and are to be done BEFORE you come to class.  All work is due on the assigned date; NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.  There will be three tests (including the final exam), and four précis of primary source readings.

 

Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory and will be checked daily.  You are allowed to miss two classes.  After those two absences, each subsequent absence will result in a loss of FIVE points from your final grade.  If you miss more than four classes, you will receive an F for the course.  There are sometimes extenuating circumstances.  Each student must speak with me personally (or via email) if that is the situation.

 

Tardy:

Tardiness will not be tolerated.  You are allowed to be tardy three (which is defined as arriving after the class roll has been called); after three, you will lose five points from your final exam grade for each subsequent tardy.  More than five tardies will result in an F for the course.  If you are late to class, or must leave class early, please be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. 

 

Make-up Tests and Extensions:  Make-up tests and exams will require written documentation of a serious reason; make-ups must be taken within one week of the student's return to class.  No make-ups for the final exam.

Final Grade Components:

10% (each)                  Four Précis of Primary Source

20% (each)                  Three Tests (including final exam)

 

Grading Scale:

A   93-100                   B+  88-89                    C+  78-79                    D+  68-69       F  59-0

A-  90-92                    B   83-87                     C   73-77                     D   63-67

                                    B-  80-82                     C-  70-72                     D-  60-62

 

Cell Phones:

Please turn off all cell phones or beepers before class begins.  If your cell phone rings in class, you will be asked to leave and will be counted absent for that day¹s class.

 

Integrity and Scholarship:

DO NOT CHEAT!  If you are caught cheating on a writing assignment, test, the final exam, or a daily quiz, or any other assigned work, you will receive an F for the course.  You are held accountable for all university guidelines in regard to plagiarism and cheating.

 

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is the use of another person¹s ideas or wording without giving proper credit and results from the failure to document fully and accurately.  Ideas and expressions of them are considered to belong to the individual who first puts them forward.  Therefore, when you incorporate ideas or phrasing from any other author in your paper, whether you quote them directly or indirectly, you need to be honest and complete about indicating the source to avoid plagiarism.  Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism can bring serious consequences, both academic, in the form of failure or expulsion, and legal, in the form of lawsuits.  Plagiarism is a violation of the ethics of the academic community William G. Campbell, Stephen V. Ballou, and Carole Slade, Form and Style:  Thesis, Reports, Term Papers, 6th edition (Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, 1982), p. 52.   For more information on plagiarism, and the university¹s policy in regard to it, go to http://www.csus.edu/umanual/student/UMA00150.htm

 

Précis Instructions

--Single-spaced, one FULL page of typed text:  no more than two pages total.

--Précis are to be written on primary sources.  DO NOT write a précis on your textbook readings.

--Simple header:  your name, title and author of text being summarized

--First paragraph should be a simple and BRIEF summary of what the text actually says

--Subsequent paragraphs should analyze what the text reveals about the culture it is from. 

--Analysis should answer the following questions:

--What genre is the text?  Is it law, literature, religious, myth, etc.?

--Who wrote the text and what does the text tell us about him or her personally?  Does the

author's personality come through in the text?  If it is anonymous, or the author is

unknown, ask yourself if that is deliberate and why.

--Was the text written for a specific purpose?  Why?

--What details about the culture can be picked out of the text?  What impression of the

culture does the text give you?

--Keep your own opinions out of the précis.  Write in third person; no first or second person.  

--PROOFREAD!  Which means more than just running a spell-check program.

This syllabus can and may be changed at any time.

 

LECTURE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

(Remember:  Reading assignments are to be completed before the corresponding lecture.)

 

WEEK I:

Tuesday 14 July                                Intro / Beginnings of Agriculture              

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 1     

 

Wednesday 15 July                          Mesopotamia / Egypt

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 2

 

Precis #1 due on excerpts from the Code of Hammurabi

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/hammurabi.html

 

 

Thursday 16 July                             India

Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 3

           

WEEK II:

Tuesday 21 July                                Class Canceled

                                               

Wednesday 22 July                          Shang - Qin China

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 4

            Thursday 23 July                            

                                    Americas / Pacific Islands

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 5

                                                           

WEEK III:

Tuesday 28 July                                Test I

                                                            Persia / Greece

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 6

 

Wednesday 29 July                          Rome

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 7

 

Thursday 30 July                             Hindu / Buddhist States

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 8

 

                                                            Precis #2 due on Japanese Creation Myth

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/kojiki.html

 

 


WEEK IV:

Tuesday 4 August                             Islamic Empires

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 9

 

                                                            Precis #3 due on excerpts from Qu¹ran, Surahs 1 and 47

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/koran-sel.html

 

Wednesday 5 August                       Byzantium / Early Medieval Europe

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 10

 

Thursday 6 August                          Africa / India

Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 11

 

WEEK V:

Tuesday 11 August                           Test II

            Song China

            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 12

 

Wednesday 12 August                     Late Medieval Europe

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 13

 

Precis #4 due on Urban I¹s Call for the First Crusade

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2a.html

 

Thursday 13 August                        Mongols / Ottomans / Ming China

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 14

WEEK VI:

Tuesday 18 August                           Aztecs / Inca / Atlantic Exploration

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 15


Wednesday 19 August                     Slave Trade / Mughal India

                                                            Hansen / Curtis, Chapter 16

 

Thursday 20 August                        Final Exam