PLEASE NOTE THAT READINGS, ASSIGNMENTS, AND SPECIFIC TOPICS DISCUSSED MAY CHANGE.  FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION REGARDING THE COURSE, SEE THE COURSE MOODLE PAGE.

This course will primarily be run as a seminar in which we discuss the assigned readings and your research projects.  As such, your active participation in our discussions is absolutely necessary to making the course work well. 

A Note on How to Approach this Semester (and How I Am Doing So)

As was the case for the Fall 2020 semester, this Spring Semester will likely continue not to be business as usual.  The ways in which we will be mixing in-person and on-line interactions as well as possible unanticipated rapid transitions between them may present challenges to us all. 

I am convinced that whatever may come we can and will have a meaningful semester in which we all learn a lot, but we will have to keep in mind doing so may require even greater flexibility, consideration for one another, and self-discipline on all of our parts than usual. We will all continue to face learning curves as we go forward and in all likelihood we all will make judgments that afterwards we would not make again (I hesitate to call such judgments mistakes as that suggests that we know that in advance, as opposed to being things we try and then learn from).

For these reasons, please know that the ways in which I am proposing structuring classroom sessions and on-line discussion activities in this syllabus are admittedly experimental and may change.  Please share your thoughts on them and feel free to suggest approaches, ways of organizing discussions (in-person or on-line), or other activities that you believe may help you and your classmates to better engage with the course material.  I cannot neglect my responsibility to set the rules for the game that is our course in ways that I believe best assure both academic rigor and fairness across the class, but you can be assured that I will value and carefully consider any suggestions you may make. 

More generally, I am committed to the principle that my aims as an undergraduate history instructor should be to push (and to help) you to develop the skills, capacities, and modes of interpretation and understanding that will allow you to engage critically with the human past, the traces it has left, the ever-renewing knowledge we have of it, and its meanings for our present.  My role is that of a ‘coach,’ not a performer playing a show or a talking head telling you what’s what (although sometimes I will suggest my understandings of that too).  With this approach, you will without doubt learn more and develop abilities that are useful in other settings more fully than if I simply lectured and asked you to repeat that material on exams, and you will likely find what we do more interesting too. However, for this approach to work, you need to commit yourselves to the following:

1.  Do the course reading (and especially the discussion reading) on a timely basis.  You absolutely must complete it before the class in which we are discussing it and/or the deadline for making a related forum post (if you can finish it even earlier and thus have a bit more time to think about it, that’s even better).  Frequently this course will involve a significant amount of out-of-class reading.  I know that this may be a challenge for some of you, but we collectively need an ample amount of solid material to work with to make our discussions meaningful.  Also, do know that with practice you will develop your abilities to deal with larger amounts of reading in limited time frames.  We will talk more about how to do the reading and the kinds of things you should be looking for in doing it in class.

2.  Respect deadlines for discussion forum posts, and whenever possible post (and respond to classmates’ posts) sooner rather than later.  While these posts do count towards your participation grade, they are not ‘homework’ that you should do to show me that you are doing the work.  Rather, they are opportunities for you to develop, share, and debate your thoughts and questions about the reading and other course material with one another.  We have to meet deadlines to give that interaction space to happen.

3.  Maintain a respectful, professional tone in your posts and responses, but don’t be afraid to experiment with ideas and interpretations out of fear that they may be controversial (just work on clearly expressing your reasoning).  On this note, I think our discussions will function best if we all work on the assumption that each of us is openly and forthrightly attempting to grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of our shared human past and its relationship to our present (and that the things we say and write are never intended to harm or to insult).  Engaging with that past often forces us to look at the many horrid and ugly things that humans have done (and continue to do) to one another, which can be a difficult and painful experience.  Frank and open discussion is the best way both to seek to understand that past and to forge civil and tolerant ways of interacting and living with it and one another in the present.

4.  Give credit where credit is due, and be sure that all work you hand in is your own.  I do not believe that point needs extensive discussion.  Not only does plagiarism or any other form of cheating defeat the whole purpose of going to university to learn and to improve one’s abilities, it undermines the basic trust any community needs to learn and work together.

5.  Try not to be too nervous about grades.  We learn by practice, we all fall short of our aims sometimes, and we sometimes learn more from falling short than anything else.  I purposefully keep many assignments fairly open in terms of the types of topics and arguments you may develop to give you the freedom to present your ideas and sharpen your abilities, and such freedom always entails risks.  Know that I put mechanisms in place to weigh the improvement that you make over the course into the calculation of your final course grade.

6.  Keep lines of communication open—if you have questions or concerns, raise them.

See above on participation.  To participate regularly, you have to be present regularly.

Course Readings

The book should be available at the Almost Corner Bookshop (Via del Moro, 45) or directly from the publisher's website in eBook form.  All course readings provide the basis for our classroom and on-line discussions. You must read and think about those assigned for a particular class period and/or the deadline for making a related forum post.  Otherwise, you will be unable to participate adequately and your participation grade will suffer. You should also bring this material to class on the days that we are discussing it.

Important Course Policies

All assignments should be handed in through the Moodle portal for the assignment--I encourage you to double-check on the Moodle to be sure that work has been submitted after you believe you have done so.  If for some reason it is not working, send them to me as e-mail attachments. 

All late work will suffer a grade penalty. No late work will be accepted following the final examination.

Any documented case of academic dishonesty on any assignment will result in a failing grade for the assignment in question and may also result in a failing grade for the course as a whole, regardless of the assignment's weight in terms of the final course grade. Please remember that, as the University's policy states, "Plagiarism can be deliberate or negligent; students are responsible for ensuring that any work submitted with their name on it is properly referenced."  If you have questions about how to cite material properly, refer to the appropriate sections of the MLA Style Manual or Chicago Manual of Style--if you have questions as to whether particular pieces of material should be cited, ask me. Note that submitting work that you have previously submitted (or plan to submit) for credit in another course is also a form of academic dishonesty, unless you obtain explicit approval from both instructors to do so. For this course, no such double submission is allowed. Please note that your papers and take-home exams are to be submitted to turnitin.com to check their content for plagiarism. I am setting up the turintin submission options so that you can see the similarity reports the service generates and resubmit your papers up until the due date.

Office Hours, Scheduling Appointments, E-mail Guidance, etc.

My office hours are posted on the course Moodle page along with a link for attending them--following JCU suggestions, they will be carried out remotely using MS Teams this semester.  If you need to schedule an appointment to speak with me, simply send me an e-mail identifying times during the upcoming week when you are available.  Please know that I do not normally respond to e-mails during the weekend or after 6:30-7 p.m. (but do feel free to write me at those times--I'll answer at the beginning of the next week or the next day).  In the context of mixed on-line and in-class education, it is even more important for all of us to set aside time to work on other things, disconnect, recharge, and 'stay human.'  I encourage you to do the same in ways that work with your schedule, and am trying to do what I can to provide as much flexibility as possible for you in structuring on-line and other out-of-class activities.

Types and Formats of On-line Moodle Discussion Forums

“Questions for the Professor” Forum:  Use this forum to ask for clarifications regarding material that we discussed in class or if there is something in the readings that you feel remains unclear, confusing, etc..  Also try to read through this regularly to see if a classmate asked a question that you too have, but just hadn’t thought of yet.  When you do so, if you feel that you can answer a classmate’s query, please feel free to go ahead and do so.  I will review this forum the Mondays and Wednesdays before class meetings—depending on the nature of the question I’ll either respond directly in the forum or we’ll talk about it at the beginning of the next class session.  (This forum closes at noon on Monday of the following week—if you realize you have a question after it’s closed simply post your question on the next week’s “Questions for the Professor Forum under the “Questions about something from earlier in the semester” topic.”)

“Your Discussion Questions and Observations” Forum:  For each class session, you should post a question or observation about the readings (e.g., for the second class of the first week of class, the Klooster chapter and/or the piece by Linebaugh and Rediker) that you believe would provide a good way of starting a discussion about them and the subject they treat.  You should post your questions/observations by the beginning of the class in which we will be discussing the readings in question (e.g., if they are on Tuesday’s reading, make your post no later than 11:25 a.m. on Tuesday).  Try to read through what is posted before class yourselves too—in that way you can better prepare yourself for whatever we end up talking about.  Feel free to build on your classmate’s questions/observations, and if there’s a post you want to respond to that we don’t end up talking about in class, please feel free to continue the discussion here.  There is no specific required length for your posts (if you likely need 2-3 sentences to situate and raise your question/make your prompt).  This weekly forum closes at 12 p.m. on Monday of the following week, but if there’s a strand of discussion you think we should continue into the next week because it remains relevant to the next topics we are discussing feel free to start it anew in the next week’s forum. (Maximum expected time per week, not including the time needed to do the reading: 15-30 minutes)

“Reflecting on the Week, Continuing our Classroom Discussion” Forums: For this weekly forum, I will post a few discussion questions or prompts based on the week’s readings and the material I anticipate us discussing in class.  On occasion, as the week goes on, I’ll also add a few of the questions/prompts that you put up on the “Your Discussion Questions and Observations” Forum.  You should post at least one response to at least one of these threads and at least one response to a classmate's post each week. Of course, feel free to post as much as you like. There is no specific required length for your posts (if you likely need a few sentences to make your point effectively).  This weekly forum closes at 12 p.m. on Monday of the following week. (Maximum expected time per week, not including the time needed to do the reading: 15-30 minutes)

In-Class Organizational Matters Whenever Some Students Are Either Absent or Attending Remotely

In light of the very particular nature of this semester, should any member of the class not be physically present in the classroom, we will have to record the class session.  In addition, whenever any member of the class is following the day's session remotely, I will need to ask one or more of those of you who are present to monitor the MS Teams stream and inform me should a remote student raise the hand icon or intervene by means of the Teams chat.  I also ask that you all turn on your webcams at least at the beginning of class session, only turning them off if there are serious issues with connectivity--doing so will help us all feel that we remain a classroom community as a whole.

Accessing the Course Remotely

If you are obliged to follow the course remotely, you can find a link for accessing the course stream at the top of the course Moodle page.  Clicking on the link there should then bring you to the MS Teams meeting where we will stream class sessions.

Course Schedule (Please note that the following is subject to change--any updates will be made directly to the course Moodle page.  All discussion readings beyond the book listed above are accessible on the course Moodle page.)

1/19  Introductions—Revolutions and Comparative History

1/21  Setting the Stage—The World’s First World War and the Crisis of Empire

Klooster, 1-11 (Ch. 1); Gould, "Revolution and Counter-Revolution," 214-227, Recommended 227-231 (Moodle)

PART ONE:  NORTH AMERICA

1/26  Origins—Imperial Reorganization and British Political Culture

Klooster, 12-17 (First Section of Chapter 2); Breen, “An Empire of Goods,” 467-499

1/28  Dynamics and Ideology—Patrician Leadership, Plebian Support?

Klooster, 17-44 (Second through Next-to-the-Last Section of Chapter 2); Linebaugh and Rediker, “A Motley Crew in the American Revolution,” in Linebaugh and Rediker, The Many Headed Hydra, 211-247

2/2  Founding Mothers—Women in the Revolution

Gundersen, “Independence, Citizenship, and the American Revolution,” 59-77; “Sarah Osborn Recollects Her Experiences in the Revolutionary War, 1837;” “Abigail Adams and John Adams Debate Women’s Rights;" “Eliza Wilkinson on Women and War”    

2/4 “Empire of Liberty”—The View from “Indian Country”

Calloway, “‘We Have Always Been the Frontier’: The American Revolution in Shawnee Country,” 39-52; “The War for Independence Through Seneca Eyes: Mary Jemison Views the Revolution, 1775–7;” “Jefferson's Confidential Letter to Congress;” Read a few of the speeches in Jefferson, “Indian Addresses”

2/9  American Freedom, American Slavery—Afro-Americans and the Revolution

Klooster, 45-48 (Last Section of Chapter 2);  Crow, “Slave Rebelliousness and Social Conflict in North Carolina, 1775 to 1802,” 79-102;

“Proclamation of the Earl of Dunmore;” “Blacks Petition Against Taxation Without Representation March 14, 1780;”  Benjamin Banneker, “Letter to Jefferson”

Living the Revolutions Research Plan and Preliminary Bibliography Due (11:59 p.m. Rome Time)
                                                                                                                           

2/11  Aftermath—Inheriting the Revolution

Appleby, “The American Heritage: The Heirs and the Disinherited,” 798-813; Compare the “Constitution of the United States” with at least one Revolutionary era state constitution

PART TWO:  FRANCE AND EUROPE 

2/16  Origins—Imperial Reorganization, Fiscal Crisis, and Demands for Reform

Klooster, 49-55 (First Section of Chapter 3); Shovlin, "Toward a Reinterpretation of Revolutionary Antinobilism: The Political Economy of Honor in the Old Regime;" Sieyes, "What is the Third Estate?"

2/18   Dynamics—From Constitutional Monarchy to the Terror and Beyond

Klooster, 55-90 (Second Section to End of Chapter 3); Hunt, "The Rhetoric of Revolution," 19-51; "Terror is the Order of the Day"

2/23  Meanings?—Rights, Revolution, and Rationalization

Review Klooster, 55-90 (Second Section to End of Chapter 3); “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen;” "Constitution of 1793;" Explore French Revolutionary Songs; "The French Revolutionary Calendar"
First Draft of Background Research Paper Due (11:59 p.m. Rome Time)
 

2/25  Citoyennes—Women and the Revolution

Desan, “‘War Between Brothers and Sisters’: Inheritance Law and Gender Politics in Revolutionary France,” 597-634; "Petition of Women of the Third Estate to the King;" Wollstonecraft, "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman;" Olympe de Gouges, "The Declaration of the Rights of Woman (September 1791);" "Discussion of Women’s Political Clubs and Their Suppression, October 1793"  

3/2  Regeneration?--Jews and the Revolution

Lindemann, Esau's Tears, 40-50; Vital, A People Apart, 42-62; Zalkind-Hourwitz, "Vindication of the Jews (1789);" Clermont-Tonnerre, "Speech on Religious Minorities and Questionable Professions;" Abbé Maury, "Speech;" "Admission of Jews to Rights of Citizenship"

3/4  Aftermath—Napoleonic Europe

"The Napoleonic Experience" (Liberty, Equality Fraternity Website) http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap9a.html (be sure to read all of this web chapter--there are four pages);  Cole, "Playing Muslim," 125-143; Primary Sources on Napoleon

Final Draft of Background Research Paper Due (11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

March 8-12  SPRING BREAK

PART THREE:  SAINT DOMINGUE/HAITI AND THE CARIBBEAN

3/16  Origins—Sugar Island Slavery, Racial Discrimination, and Colonial Complaints

Klooster, 91-99 (First and Second Sections of Chapter 4);  Garrigus, "Saint Domingue's Free People of Color and the Tools of Revolution" in Geggus and Fiering, eds., The World of the Haitian Revolution, 49-64; "Voodoo, 1786;" Moreau de Saint-Méry, “On ‘Race’ in Saint Domingue” 

3/18  Dynamics—From Rich Whites to Poor Whites to Free People of Color to Slaves

Klooster, 99-119 (Third through Next-to-the-Last Section of Chapter 4); Fick, “Dilemmas of Emancipation: From the Saint Domingue Insurrections of 1791 to the Emerging Haitian State;" Dalmas, "History of the Revolution of Saint Domingue," 89-93

Recommended: Thornton, “African Soldiers in the Haitian Revolution” in Shepherd and Beckles, eds., Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World, 933-945

 
3/23  Meanings?—Political Ideology in a Multicultural Revolutionary Society

Thornton, "'I Am the Subject of the King of Congo': African Political Ideology and the Haitian Revolution;" Jean François and Biassou, "Letters to the Commissioners," 99-102; Sonthonax, "Decree of General Liberty," 120-125; "Insurgent Responses to Emancipation," 125-128; Louverture, “Dictatorial Proclamation” (1801); “Haitian Declaration of Independence”
Living the Revolutions Character Report (1-2 Crossroads) Due

3/25  From Slave to Citoyenne—Women in the Revolution

Colwill, "'Fetes de l'Hymen, Fetes de la Liberté': Marriage, Manhood and Emancipation in Revolutionary Saint-Domingue" in Geggus and Fiering, eds., The World of the Haitian Revolution, 125-155

Recommended:  Moitt, “Slave Women and Resistance in the French Caribbean,” in Gaspar and Hine, eds.,  More Than Chattel, 239-258

3/30  Aftermath—Race, Freedom, and Independence in Haiti and Beyond

Klooster, 119-125 (Last Section of Chapter 4)

Girard, Haiti, 59-68; Dubois, Haiti: The Aftershocks of History, 52-68; 84-88; 104-118; “Haitian Constitution of 1805” 

PART FOUR:  LATIN AMERICA

4/1  Origins—Criollo Fears and the Threats from Below

Klooster, 126-137 ((First and Second Sections of Chapter 5); Serulnikov, “Disputed Images of Colonialism,” 189-226; “José de Galvez’s Decrees for the King’s Subjects in Mexico (1769, 1778),” in Mills, Taylor, and Graham, eds., Colonial Latin America, 316-319

4/6  Dynamics—European Upsets and Conservative Revolutions?

Klooster, 137-168 (Second Section to End of Chapter 5); Adelman, "Iberian Passages", 59-82; Bolívar, “Proclamation to the People of Venezuela, 15 June 1813;” “The Plan of Iguala and Other Documents on Mexican Independence;” “José María Morelos’s ‘Sentiments of the Nation,’” in Mills, Taylor, and Graham, eds., Colonial Latin America, 397-400; “The Argentine Declaration of Independence,” in Mills, Taylor, and Graham, eds., Colonial Latin America, 401-402

4/8  Participants, Victims, Martyrs—Women and Latin American Independence

Brewster, “Women and the Spanish-American Wars of Independence: An Overview,” 20-35

4/13  Indios—Independence?

Platt, “Simón Bolívar, the Sun of Justice and the Amerindian Virgin: Andean Conceptions of the Patria in Nineteenth-Century Potosi,” 159-185; Bolívar, “Decrees on Indian Rights, Lands, and Tribute,” in Bolívar, El Libertador, 184-190

Recommended: Archer “The Indian Insurgents of Mezcala Island on the Lake Chapala Front, 1812-1816,” 84-128, in Schroeder, ed.,  Native Resistance and the Pax Colonial in New Spain (On Reserve).

4/15  Slaves and Castas—Liberty and Equality?

Review Klooster, 159-168 (Last Section of Chapter 5); Blanchard, "The Language of Liberation: Slave Voices in the Wars of Independence," 499-523; Bolívar, “Decree for the Emancipation of the Slaves,” in Bolívar, El Libertador, 177-178; Bolívar, “ Letter to General Francisco de Paula Santander: On Slave Recruitment,” in Bolívar, El Libertador, 182-183 

4/20  TBA

4/22 Aftermath—Heroes on Horseback?

Wolf and Hansen, “Caudillo Politics: A Structural Analysis,” 170-179; Bolívar, “The Bolivian Constitution,” in Bolívar, El Libertador, 54-66;

Bolívar, “Manifesto Justifying the Dictatorship;” “Manifesto Concerning the Installation of the Constituent Congress, the End of the Dictatorship, and Announcing the End of His Political Career,” and "Letter to General Juan José Flores," in Bolívar, El Libertador, 140-149

Annotated Biography Flowchart Due (11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

PART FIVE—COMPARISONS, LEGACIES, EXPERIENCES

4/27  Comparing Revolutions and Legacies

Klooster, 169-187 (Chapter 6);  Trouillot, “An Unthinkable History,” in Trouillot, Silencing the Past, 70-107

4/29  Experiences:  Reminiscences from Living the Revolutions

“Memoir” Due (11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

Take-Home Final Exam Due on Last Day of Final Exams (Friday, May 7, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)