History 145:
Asia and the World
Asia and the World
Professor David Wittner Room: Hubbard 208
office: 110 De Perno TR: 8:30–9:45
office phone: 792-3332 office hours: TR 10:00–11:00
dwittner@utica.edu W 4:00-5:00 and by appointment
Description & Objectives
This course is a survey of the relationship between Asia, broadly defined as the area of land that lays between the eastern Mediterranean and the Pacific Ocean (islands included), and the world. We will go beyond micro histories of specific countries or regions. Our focus is on cross-cultural interaction and the factors that drive political, economic, social, and cultural exchange. Some of the issues we will study this semester include: Chinese domination of the ancient world, interaction between East Asia and the Islamic world, Europe’s role in Asia over the course of five centuries, the role of trade and technology in cross-cultural interaction, non-Western intellectual traditions, and the “Asian Century.” Rather than assume a “sweep of the world” approach to World History, this course intends to “look out” on the world from an Asian perspective. By the end of the semester you will have expanded your scope of understanding of the world from a non-Western perspective and have a firm grasp of the historical trends that have contributed to the development of much of today’s world.
Required Reading
• This syllabus (no, I’m not kidding)
• Rhoads Murphey, A History of Asia, 5th edition, Longman Publishers, 2005
• Arnold Pacey, Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History, MIT Press, 1991.
• Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik, The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World Economy 1400 to the Present, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999.
• Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Course Requirements
• 2 midterm exams 40% (2@20% each)
• 10 weekly question write-ups 20%
• Comprehensive final exam 25%
• Participation* 15%
* Note: participation means active engagement in the class. Simply being in class is not participation, it is existence. Until noted otherwise, your existence is not worthy of credit.
You are responsible for all material presented in this class, including
announcements and changes to procedure or the schedule. If you miss a
class, find out what happened. If you are having problems, see me!
announcements and changes to procedure or the schedule. If you miss a
class, find out what happened. If you are having problems, see me!
Course and Discussion Format
Each week class time will be dedicated to lectures, student-led discussions, and the occasional video. The class will be divided into groups. Every week, the members of one group are responsible for leading discussion. To ensure a productive discussion session, everyone will prepare a brief discussion paper, i.e. weekly write-up, using the format outline below. Since you WILL do the reading before coming to class, you will have the basic vocabulary of history that can be put to use in discussing your group’s question. I strongly recommend that you take notes and jot down your ideas as you do the reading and think about the weekly questions. This will greatly facilitate discussion and make your time in HIS145 more enjoyable.
Weekly write-up format:
1) statement or question for discussion based on Pacey, Pomeranz, or Whitfield. (If a question, it must be open ended, i.e., not who, what, when, or where)
2) assertion or thesis statement responding to the discussion topic
3) evidence to support your assertion or thesis statement
Recitation and Teaching Assistant
This semester Chris Fobare will be our Teaching Assistant. Chris is a History Major and is here to help you. He will be holding recitation sessions Wednesdays from 1:30–2:30. Recitation sessions can be used for discussion review, help with your papers, quizzes, or exams. Chris WILL NEITHER DO YOUR READING NOR WRITE YOUR PAPERS. He will help those who are prepared to help themselves!
If you have a documented disability for which you are requesting accommodation, you must notify my be the end of the second week of class. Please contact me and Kateri Henkel in Academic Support Services (khenkel@utica.edu or 792-3032)
Matters of Policy and Procedure
Papers and weekly assignments:
•All written work is to be typed (word processed). Please double space and use one inch (1") margins with either a 10 or 12 point font such as Times New Roman or Geneva. Do not use script fonts. One page is approximately 300 words. Papers should have a title page that gives your name, class info, and an appropriate title for the paper. Do not include this information on the first page of your paper! Number all pages except the title page. Include a reference list if you use outside sources. Use citations when appropriate. Make sure you staple your paper together before handing it in. Please do not use plastic covers.
• All assignments are due in class on the assigned day. As a rule, I do not accept late papers. I will accept late papers only if you have a documented excuse, (as outlined below) and you notify me at least two days before the assignment is due.
• Acceptable excuses must be documented and include: serious illness, death in the family (one per relative per semester), accidental death or dismemberment (yours), and natural disasters.
• There are no personal extra-credit assignments. If you have problems completing an assignment on time, see me early. Do not wait until the last minute!
Food and Drink:
• Building regulations permitting, I do not mind if you drink (non-alcoholic beverages) in class providing you can open and drink them quietly. Unless you bring enough food to share with everyone, eating in class is not permitted. Please throw away any empty beverage containers and clean up any spills!
Other Distractions:
• Please do not read newspapers (or the like) during class.
• History 145 is not the place to do your homework.
• Please try to get to class on time. Coming in late is disruptive. If you must come in late, or leave early for an appointment, please do so quietly and unobtrusively. Please let me know ahead of time if you have to leave class early for an appointment.
• Turn off cell phones and pagers before class begins!
• Failure to follow any of these points will result in rude comments and insults from the professor.
Office Hours
• Office hours are for your benefit. Please use them! If you are having problems with the class materials, see me at your earliest convenience. Don’t wait until the day before an assignment is due to ask questions. You can also stop by just to say hey...
• If my hours conflict with your class schedule, see me and we’ll schedule an appointment.
Grade Scale
Numerical grades will be converted to letter grades for the college by the following scale:
>92.5 A 76.5–79.49 C+ <59.5 F
89.5–92.49 A- 72.5–76.49 C
86.5–89.49 B+ 69.5–72.49 C-
82.5–86.49 B 66.5–69.49 D+
79.5–82.49 B- 59.5–66.49 D
Academic Misconduct and the Academic Honor Pledge
Plagiarism is the is the theft of intellectual property. It is representing someone else’s words or ideas as your own. This means if you copy from a book, journal or magazine, web page, paper—ANYTHING—without giving the author proper credit, you are guilty of plagiarism. Poor paraphrasing can easily lead to plagiarism. If you copy a passage swapping out words here and there, you are guilty. Paraphrasing is summarizing and condensing in your own words. It requires that you think about the meaning of the text, not transpose it. Handing in someone else’s work as your own also qualifies as plagiarism. The same goes for handing in your own papers multiple times.
How to avoid plagiarism: Avoiding plagiarism is very simple—give credit where it is due. This means putting someone else’s words in quotes (“ ”) and providing a citation that clearly states the source from where the quote is taken. In cases of close wording, paraphrasing, or using someone else’s ideas, a citation is necessary.
Academic Misconduct is the general term used to cover all forms of cheating (including plagiarism). One word on cheating in my class (or any other), don’t! See page 119 of the college handbook for details.
Academic Honor Pledge
Utica College provides a range of punishments for violations of academic integrity ranging from failing the assignment to receiving an “F” for the course with “for cheating” noted on your official academic transcript. Because I don’t like playing god, and don’t want you to take your chances with faulty logic such as “copying one sentence will only get me in a little trouble,” know now that there is only one penalty in my class for violating Utica College’s Standard of Intellectual Honesty: an “F: for the course with “for cheating” on your official transcript. Before I accept and grade any of your work, you need to read, understand, sign, and return the following pledge:
(you may print this out and hand in this copy in lieu of the one in the syllabus)
I, ____________________________ , recognize the seriousness of violating standards of Intellectual Honesty at Utica College. In the process of fulfilling the requirements of this course, I pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, or in any way violate the college’s academic standards. Further, I understand and accept that in this class, the penalty for any violation of Intellectual Honesty will be automatic failure of the course with “for cheating” appended to my official college transcript.
Signed ___________________________________ Date ___________________
• A Note on Studying History
People either love or hate history, very few think it is just OK. Those who love it do so because of all the exciting stories that go with all of the names and dates. They know that history is not just interesting, they know the importance and utility of understanding the story of human interaction. People who hate history hate all the names and dates. They think history is useless and that studying the past is a waste of time. If you fall into the latter category, I hope that will change before the end of the semester.
Every student of history wants to know whether he or she needs to memorize names and dates. To an historian, names and dates are like numbers to a mathematician or words to a writer. The short answer is yes, you need to know them. But like numbers and words, if you do not know the context or significance of the name, date, (or event), these “facts” are useless.
Studying history in college is different from anything you have done before. From kindergarten through 12th grade, history teachers have had you read passages and answer questions that require you to target bits of information contained in the reading. To accomplish this all you had to do was look for the “facts” with which to answer the questions. You know, things like: Who was the president during the Civil War? What were the five causes of World War II? When did the Great Depression end? In a college-level history class, we focus on causality, critical analysis, and context. The questions you will have to answer have less to do with substance, i.e., “the facts,” and more to do with significance. You are expected to know “the facts” just as you are expected to know numbers in a math class or vocabulary in a language class. Thus a question in a college history class would look something like: “How is it possible to call the Indian Ocean during the eighteenth century a crossroad of the world?” You will not “find” the answer to this question in any single sentence or paragraph. As a student of history you will need to analyze, interpret, and contextualize “the facts,” in order to construct a logical and thorough answer.
One thing common to most history classes is reading, and there is usually a lot. Beyond the great personal satisfaction you will derive from mastering a variety of texts, there is another benefit to doing all of the reading in a history course. You will become familiar with the names and dates you need to know—in their historical context—and, therefore, you probably won’t have to sit down and try to memorize bits and pieces of information.
Schedule of Readings, Discussions, and Assignments
Week 1 (January 19) Introduction to Asia
Reading:
Murphey: Introduction
Pacey: Chapter 1
Food for Thought:
Is it fair to look at Asia as a whole or is it more appropriate to subdivide and examine regionally or on a country by country basis? Explain your answer.
Week 2 (January 24 & 26) Intellectual Traditions
Reading:
Murphey: Chapters 2–3
Pacey: Chapter 2
Whitfield: Introduction
Food for Thought:
How does social organization influence the development of technologies and how did religion affect the dissemination and development of technologies?
Week 3 (January 31 & February 2) The Silk Roads
Reading:
Pacey: Chapter 3
Whitfield: Chapters 1–6
Food for Thought:
What is the influence of trade on the dispersion of ideas and technologies and some of the results of this dispersion?
Week 4 (February 7 & 9) East Asia, the World and the Rise of the Mongols
Reading:
Murphey, Chapter 8
Whitfield: Chapters 7–11
Food for Thought:
What are the varieties of cross cultural exchange seen along the silk roads and how are they manifest?
• Note: Midterm Exam Next Week, February 14
Week 5 (February 14 & 17) Rise of the East Asian Periphery
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 9
Pacey, Chapter 4
• Note: Midterm Exam Tuesday, February 14
• Note: No Weekly Write-up due this week
Food for Thought:
Discuss the relationship as it evolved between political and economic systems and social status.
Week 6 (February 21 & 23)Rise of Islam and India
Reading:
Murphey: Chapters 6, 7, & 10
Pacey: Chapter 5
Food for Thought:
Discuss the relationship between society, political organization, and technology in the Gunpowder Empires.
Week 7 (February 28 & March 2)Asia’s Encounter with the West
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 11
Pomeranz: Introduction & Chapter 1
Food for Thought:
Examine and discuss the varieties of trade encounters, the advantages, disadvantages and difficulties in the early modern world.
•Note on Weekly Write-ups: After reading the assigned chapters in Pomeranz, you should select one subsection upon which to base your write-up and discussion. Alternatively, you may select a chapter or chapter subsection from Pacey (if one is assigned for the week) as the basis of your write-up.
Week 8 (March 7 & 9)The Indian Ocean World
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 12
Pomeranz: Chapter 2 (and finish any of Chapter 1)
Food for Thought:
Given the problems of transportation in the early modern world, what other factors helped determine success and failure in trade ventures?
Week 9 (March 14 & 17) Spring Break
Week 10 (March 21 & 23) An Unwelcome Opening
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 13
Pacey: Chapter 6
Pomeranz: Chapter 2 (left over)
Food for Thought:
How did Westerners and Asians view each other? How did this contribute to or detract from their understanding of each other?
•Note: Midterm 2 next week...
Week 11 (March 28 & 30) The West in Asia
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 14
Pacey: Chapter 6
Pomeranz: Chapter 3
Food for Thought:
How did commodities that were traditionally considered drugs become part of consumer culture and what was technology’s role in the process?
•Note: Midterm Exam Thursday, March 30
• Note: No Weekly Write-up due this week
Week 12 (April 4 & 6) Triumph of the West
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 15
Pacey: Chapters 7–8
Pomeranz: Chapters 3–4
Food for Thought:
How did the exchange (commodity, technology, etc.) between the East and West influence societies? Who do you think was the greatest beneficiary of this global exchange and why?
Week 13 (April 11 & 13) Asian Reactions to Western Imperialism
Reading:
Murphey: Chapters 15–16
Pomeranz: Chapters 5–6
Food for Thought:
The nineteenth century is the first true era of international trade. Discuss the effects of the world’s “first globalization.”
Week 14 (April 18 & 20) Wartime Asia
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 17
Pacey: Chapters 9–10
Food for Though:
How did technology tip the balance of world power to a few nations—or did it?
• Note: No Weekly Write-up due this week
Week 15 (April 25 & 27) In the Aftermath of Two World Wars
Reading:
Murphey: Chapter 18
Pomeranz: Chapter 7
Food for Thought:
How do differences in countries’ levels of economic development and military preparedness effect their relative success in the international arena, i.e., what determines the winners and losers?
Week 16 (May 2 & Finals) Asia and the World in the 21st Century
Reading:
Murphey: Chapters 19–21
Pacey: Chapter 11
Food for Thought:
Given what you’ve learned this semester, what do you see as Asia’s future world role?
• Note: No Weekly Write-up due this week
• Final Exam: Monday, May 8 @ 1:00pm