Professor Charles Evans
Office hours (room 308): TF (7-8 AM, 10:45-11:45 AM), W (5:30-7 PM) and by appointment
Office phone: 703.450.2520
Division phone: 703.450.2505
Division fax: 703.404.7368
Phone mailbox at NOVA Online: 703.323.3713#0846
NOVA Online fax: 703.323.3392
E-mail: cevans@nvcc.edu
Home page: novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/default.htm
OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES: This course reviews the
history of the world from about 1600 CE to the present and allows students to reach a basic
understanding of the historical development of the world's major civilizations and their main
characteristics. The course also helps students to develop an understanding of the academic
discipline of history and supports the general educational goals of the college. Grading in the
course is based on written assignments and on class work that demonstrates critical
thinking. It is expected that students possess college-level writing skills. It is recommended that
students should have already taken (or be taking) English composition.
BOOKS: The text for the course is
Bulliet, et al, The Earth and Its Peoples (Volume 2). There are a
number of short paperbacks required: Ningh Tai-T'ai, A Daughter of Han; Chinua
Achebe, Things Fall Apart; Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front;
Mohandas Gandhi, Gandhi on Non-Violence (Any editions are acceptable).
ONLINE ITEMS: The www site for this course is
novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/campus/HIS112/syllabus.html.
All of the class materials, assignments and some of the very short readings are
linked at that site.
ACCOMMODATION: If there is any student
in this class who has the need for some form of classroom accommodation, please feel free to
discuss this with me or one of the college's counselors.
PLAGIARISM: Any student caught plagiarizing
or cheating in this course will be subject to appropriate disciplinary
action.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:
| Week 1 |
24 August, Tuesday: Introduction
Assignment for class: Read the Textbook Introduction
27 August, Friday: The Geography of the Modern World; What is History?
Assignment for class: Read the Guizot excerpt on civilization
|
| Week 2 |
31 August, Tuesday: English, French and Russian Modernization and Revolution (18th century)
Assignment: read
the French Declaration
of the Rights of Man (Please read the sample
documentary and Hammurabi
analyses first.); read the Textbook
chapters 18, 23, 24. Please note that many of these links are to assignments/readings from
various NOVA Online courses. Use the "BACK" button on your browser to return to this syllabus. You may print out whatever
information you feel is necessary.
3 September, Friday: Nineteenth-century ideology
Assignment for class: Read
the
Communist
Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and answer the study questions;
read the Textbook chapter 28.
|
| Week 3 |
7 September, Tuesday: China and
the Western Challenge
Assignment: Read the Textbook chapters 22, 27.
10 September, Friday: Tai-T'ai discussion
Assignment for class: Read Tai-T'ai, Daughter of Han and
answer the study questions.
|
| Week 4 |
14 September, Tuesday: Upheaval in the Middle East
Assignment for class: Review the general comments on
papers in this course; submit the
Daughter of Han paper; read
the Textbook chapters 21, 27. The Han paper is due by the start of
class. If you are not in class, you may e-mail me the paper
before the start of class.
17 September, Friday: Discussion of first
papers
|
| Week 5 |
21 September, Tuesday: Imperialism in Africa
Assignment for class: read the Textbook chapters 26 and 29.
24 September, Friday: Achebe discussion
Assignment for class: Review the short
background information on Things Fall Apart; read
Achebe, Things Fall Apart and answer the
study questions.
|
| Week 6 |
28 September, Tuesday: World War I
Assignment for class: Review the general comments on
papers in this course; submit the
Things Fall Apart paper;
read the Textbook chapter 30.
1 October, Friday: Remarque discussion
Assignment for class: Review the
short background
information on All Quiet on the Western Front, read Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front and
answer the study questions.
|
| Week 7 |
5 October, Tuesday: video: All Quiet on the Western Front
Assignment for class: Review the general comments on
papers in this course; submit the
Remarque paper
8 October, Friday: video: All Quiet on the Western Front
|
| Week 8 |
12 October, Tuesday: NO CLASS
15 October, Friday: Midterm exam
|
| Week 9 |
19 October, Tuesday: Russia's Socialist Experiment
Assignment for class: Review the reading for the midterm exam
22 October, Friday: China in Revolution
Assignment for class: Read the Textbook chapters 37 and 41; review
some excerpts from Mao's Little Red Book
|
| Week 10 |
26 October, Tuesday: video: The Last Emperor
29 October, Friday: TBA
|
| Week 11 |
2 November, Tuesday: video: The Last Emperor
Assignment for class:
Article abstract due
5 November, Friday: Mussolini, Hitler and the Origins of War (video: Triumph of the Will)
Assignment for class: Read
the Textbook chapter 31
|
| Week 12 |
9 November, Monday: video: Genocide
Assignment for class: Web site evaluation paper
due
12 November, Friday: India in the modern world
Assignment for class: Read the
Textbook chapters 26 and 32.
|
| Week 13 |
16 November, Tuesday: Gandhi discussion
Assignment for class: Read Gandhi, Gandhi on Non-Violence and
answer the study questions.
19 November, Friday: Development
Assignment for class: Read the textbook chapter 33; review
the general comments on
papers in this course; submit the
Gandhi paper; browse the
World Bank web page, paying
particular attention to the overview of
the 1998
Annual Report. The Gandhi paper is due by the start of
class. If you are not in class, you may e-mail me the paper
before the start of class.
|
| Week 14 |
23 November, Tuesday: The United Nations
Assignment for class: Read the textbook chapter 35; browse the
United Nations web page, paying
particular attention to the overview of
U.N. Peacekeeping
Operations.
26 November, Friday: NO CLASS
|
| Week 15 |
30 November, Tuesday: Modernity
Assignment for class: Read the textbook chapter 34; browse the
Yahoo web page.
3 December, Friday: No Class, Technology Conference
|
| Week 16 |
7 December, Tuesday: Final Review
Assignment for class: Extra
credit presentations
|
| Week 17 |
Final exam (0830, Friday, 17 December, room 144)
Assignment for class: Course Evaluation
|
ATTENDANCE: Attendance is expected.
It is also expected that students are prepared for class. Absences beyond
two (2) will result in a reduced grade for class discussion (five points
deducted from class discussion grade for each absence in excess of two).
Excessive late arrival will also affect class grade (every three late arrivals
will be counted as one class absence).
GRADES:
-
200 points book papers (4, one-page papers)
-
50 points article abstract (one-page paper)
-
50 points www site evaluation (one-page paper)
-
200 points midterm exam
-
200 points final exam
-
300 points class discussion (may include surprise
quizzes, papers and/or group work)
-
Total of 1,000 points (plus possible
extra credit)
NOTE THAT PROPER GRAMMAR, SPELLING
AND STYLE ARE AN INHERENT, AND NECESSARY, PART OF EACH ASSIGNMENT IN THIS
COURSE.
NOTE THAT ANY ASSIGNMENT NOT HANDED IN
ON TIME WILL BE REDUCED BY FIVE POINTS PER CALENDAR DAY.
|