Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "HS 201"
COURSE NAME: "Long-Term History of Globalization"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2022

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Gene Ogle
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 3:00 PM 4:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS:
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS: Tuesday and Thursday 10-11 a.m. and By Appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Contemporary discussions of globalization often suffer from a certain short-sightedness. It is all-too-frequently treated as a recent creation of twentieth- and twenty-first-century world economies and information networks. Both its advocates and its critics too often assume that the history of globalization has been the history of the “westernization” of economic and cultural practices. This course provides a deeper and longer term introduction to the complex forces and far-from-one-sided cross-cultural interactions that have been “globalizing” our planet since the development of settled agriculture. Among the aspects of globalization’s history that are covered are the development of market conventions, the spread of religious and cultural traditions, ecological exchanges, transport technologies and networks, migration, the role of violence, and industrialization and deindustrialization.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

This course is run as a discussion seminar in which we will collectively examine and explore the course readings. Your regular preparation and active participation are essential 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 past few years, we are beginning this semester with some uncertainty as to how it will unfold. The University plans to maintain in-person classes throughout the semester (making official exceptions for students who must attend remotely) and we will begin this course with the assumption that we will be able to do so. While we will plan on streaming and recording class sessions, unless you have compelling medical reasons and have obtained permission from the University administration to attend remotely, you should plan on being in class in person—being in the same classroom together (to the fullest extent possible) does make a tremendous difference in our learning experiences both at the individual and the group levels. Still, the ways in which we may be mixing in-person and on-line interactions as well as possible unanticipated rapid transitions between them will likely present challenges to us all.

Whatever may come, I am convinced that we will have a meaningful semester in which we all learn a lot, but doing so may require even greater flexibility, consideration for one another, and self-discipline on all of our parts than is normally the case. We will all likely continue to face learning curves as we go forward and we may 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 remain 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). At times 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. If you wish, we can 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 as such 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 to and thought about (and continue to do to and think about) 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.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

You should develop an understanding of key developments and phenomena in the complex, long-term history of globalization. You should also cultivate an awareness of the varied forces and actors that have played a role in that process as well as the approaches historians and other scholars have developed to analyze and reconstruct this history. You should develop your capacity to critically analyze a range of source materials in an interdisciplinary manner. You should also improve your ability to effectively communicate your ideas orally and in writing.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Comments
In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler’s Tale	Amitav Ghosh	Vintage	9780679727835	Available at the Almost Corner Bookshop.
The World That Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World Economy, 1400 to the Present 4th Edition	Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik	Routledge	978-1138680746	Available at the Almost Corner Bookshop.
The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century (World Social Change) Fourth Edition	Robert Marks	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers	978-1538127032	Available at the Almost Corner Bookshop.

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
3 Reaction Papers (1 1/2 to 2 double-spaced pages/350-500 words each)	In each of the reaction papers (see the course schedule for due dates), you will develop a brief but coherent and well-supported argument regarding the discussion readings for the day on which the paper is due. In these papers, you should not summarize the reading, but rather develop a main thought of your own building on those readings. Ways of developing such arguments include, but are not limited to: critiquing some part of the argument of a secondary source, testing some part of the argument of a secondary source through the analysis of a primary source, comparing and contrasting different readings, or developing a point made by one of the authors more fully and in doing so explaining more of what it may tell us about the subject under discussion. Your grade for these reaction papers will be determined by the strength and focus of your analysis, the persuasiveness of your argument (including quality of writing), and the originality of your thought. For further guidance, see the guidelines posted on the course Moodle page.	20%
Participation	Your regular participation in our class discussions will be key to making this course work, and by actively participating not only will you learn more, you’ll develop useful communicative skills and likely find course material to be more interesting. Participation also counts for a significant portion of your final course grade, and it is the only component of that final course grade in which simple effort and regular activity translate directly into a high grade. What do you need to do for this? Simply do the discussion readings on time, be ready to talk about them, and engage regularly and actively in some combination of our in-class discussions and the Moodle discussion forums for the course. For further information on the nature of our Moodle discussion forums and 'minimum' expectations for on-line participation see the course schedule (and the forums themselves on Moodle).	20%
Take-Home Midterm Exam	The midterm exam will be composed of two essay questions I will give you the week before the exam is due. You will answer one of those questions in a take-home essay (4-6 double-spaced pages, c. 1000-1500 words). You are expected to cite any authors and works you use in developing your arguments. Your grade on the exam will depend upon the analytical strength and persuasiveness of your arguments, your capacity to discuss the material we cover in the course to date as a whole (including level of mastery of course readings), and the factual accuracy of your answers. Remember that what you are being tested on is your ability to develop and present a strong, well-supported argument building on the course materials, not simply provide a 'correct' answer to the question you choose. See the course schedule for the take-home essay's due date.	20%
Take-Home Final Exam	The final exam will be composed of two essay questions I will give you the week before the exam is due. You will answer one of those questions in a take-home essay (4-6 double-spaced pages, c. 1000-1500 words). You are expected to cite any authors and works you use in developing your arguments. Your grade on the exam will depend upon the analytical strength and persuasiveness of your arguments, your capacity to discuss the material we cover in the course as a whole (including level of mastery of course readings), and the factual accuracy of your answers. Remember that what you are being tested on is your ability to develop and present a strong, well-supported argument building on the course materials, not simply provide a 'correct' answer to the question you choose. It will be due on the last day of the final exam period.	25%
Article/Book Chapter Review and Presentation (2-3 double-spaced pages/500-750 words)	In the article/book chapter review you will prepare an analytical review of an academic journal article or book chapter of your choice from a list of possibilities provided by me. In addition, you will make a brief presentation (c. 10-15 minutes) to the rest of the class on the day in which we are discussing readings that are related to the subject of your chapter/article. This presentation should include a brief summary of the article/chapter, your analysis of it, and reflections on how it relates to the other readings for the day in question. Your grade will be determined by the strength of your analysis, the persuasiveness of your argument (including quality of writing), and the originality of your thought. I will provide you with further guidelines regarding this assignment, and you will sign up for your review and presentation during the second week of classes.	15%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant, thorough, and insightful engagement with the course reading and other materials.
BThis is a highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised. There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluate theory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture and reference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of significant engagement with the course reading and other materials.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performance demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material. Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included. In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
See above on participation. To participate regularly, you have to be present regularly.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Course Readings

The books should be available at the Almost Corner Bookshop (Via del Moro, 45) or directly from the publishers' websites in eBook form. You also may be able to find copies of them through the STAND Book Fundraiser sale at the beginning of the semester. 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, and So Forth

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 a range of times and days 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 whenever you wish--I'll respond as soon as I can the next week or the next day). In the context of mixed on-line and in-class education, it is both more difficult and 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 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.”)

“Your Discussion Questions and Observations” Forum: For at least one of our two weekly sessions, you should post a question or observation about the readings (e.g., for the second class of the second week, Bentley, 29-66 (Ch. 2)) 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 2 p.m. on the day 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 by 2 on Tuesday) so that I have time to read them, think about them, and try to work them into our classroom discussions. Try to read through them 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). (Maximum expected time per week, not including the time needed to do the reading: 10-20 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 discussion readings and the material I anticipate us discussing in class. On occasion, as the week goes on, I may 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 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 any student(s) attending remotely turn on your webcam(s) 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 books listed above are accessible via the course Moodle page.)

Part 1. The Big Picture: A Quick Overview of Globalization and Its History

1/18 First Impressions—What is Globalization? What is its history?

1/20 Conceptualizing the History of Globalization
Chanda, Bound Together, 245-269; and Osterhammel and Petersson, Globalization: A Short History, 1-11

Part 2. Beginnings, or Deglobalizations and Globalizations to c. 1400 CE

1/25 Conceptualizing "Old World" Globalization--Processes and Periods

Bentley, Old World Encounters, vii-viii, 3-28 (Preface, Ch.1)--available through the Frohring Library via the course Moodle page.

1/27 Culture and Trade on the Ancient Silk Roads

Bentley, 29-66 (Ch. 2)

2/1 The Spread of World Religions

Bentley, 67-110 (Ch. 3)

2/3 The Rise and Fall of Nomadic Empires

Bentley, 111-164 (Ch. 4)

2/8 By Land and By Sea: Gunpowder Empires

Bentley, 165-184 (Ch. 5); Reaction Paper 1 Due, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time

Part 3. The Modern World, or Deglobalizations and Globalizations from c. 1400 CE

2/10 Conceptualizing Globalization's History Revisited

Marks, 1-18 (Introduction); and Osterhammel and Petersson, Globalization: A Short History, 13-29

2/15 First Globalizations?: Conquerors, Merchants, and Missionaries to c. 1500

Marks, 19-68 (Ch. 1, 2)

2/17 The Birth of a Modern World Order, Pt. 1: Ships, Germs, and Empires, c. 1500-c. 1800

Marks, 69-101 (Ch. 3)--if you do not have the 4th edition, be sure to read the additions on the course Moodle page.

2/22 The Birth of a Modern World Order, Pt. II: Industrialization, c. 1750-c. 1850
Marks, 103-133 (Ch. 4)

2/24 The Opening of the "Gap": Industry, Imperialism, and Inequality, c. 1800-1900
Marks, 135-173 (Ch. 5)--if you do not have the 4th edition, be sure to read the additions on the course Moodle page.

3/1 A "New" World?: The Twentieth Century
Marks, 175-235 (Ch. 6)--if you do not have the 4th edition, read the one on the course Moodle page.
Recommended: Marks, 237-247 (Conclusion)--if you do not have the 4th edition, read the one on the course Moodle page.

3/3 Preparing for the Take-Home Midterm

3/4 (Friday) Take-Home Midterm Exam Due 11:59 p.m. Rome Time

Part 3. Closer Looks: Forging Local Links c. 1400 to the Present

3/8 The Rules of the Game: Making Market Conventions
Pomeranz and Topik, ix-xiii, 3-48 (Foreword, Introduction, Ch. 1) (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

3/10 From Here to There and Back Again: Transportation
Pomeranz and Topik, 49-80 (Ch. 2) (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

3/15 Chocolate, Opium, Coffee and Cocaine: Drug Trades and Drug Wars
Pomeranz and Topik, 81-107 (Ch. 3) (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

3/17 Production, Consumption, and Meaning: The Lives of Commodities
Pomeranz and Topik, 108-151 (Ch. 4) (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

March 21-25 SPRING BREAK

3/29 “Now we see the violence inherent in the system!”: Force and Fortunes
Pomeranz and Topik, 152-192 (Ch. 5) (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

3/31 A Moment of 'Glocal' Resistance?: New York, 1741
Rediker and Linebaugh, "'The Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth'" (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

4/5 Setting Standards: Making Modern Markets
Pomeranz and Topik, 193-243 (Ch. 6) (Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

Begin Reading Ghosh, In an Antique Land

4/7 Uneven Growth: Industrialization and Deinsdustrialization Revisited

Pomeranz and Topik, 244-287 (Ch. 7) (Last Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2, 11:59 p.m. Rome Time)

Continue Reading Ghosh, In an Antique Land

4/12 Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: Another Look, Pt I

Ghosh, 13-105 (Prologue, Lataifa)

4/14 Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: Another Look, Pt II

Ghosh, 109-237 (Nashawy)

4/19 Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: Another Look, Pt III

Ghosh, 241-353 (Mangalore, Going Back, Epilogue)

4/20 Wednesday--Reaction Paper 3 (on Ghosh) Due 11:59 p.m. Rome Time

4/21 and 4/26 Global Cultures?: Music

Reading and Film Screening TBA

4/28 Globalization: Where, when, how, why, and so what?
Marks, 237-247 (Conclusion)--if you do not have the 4th edition, be sure to read the the version on the course Moodle page.
Pomeranz and Topik, 288-304 (Epilogue)--if you do not have the 4th edition, be sure to read the the version on the course Moodle page.

Take-Home Final Exam Due TBA