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 as hard copies in class and electronically 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 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.
Academic Honesty Policy—Generative Artificial Intelligence Update
The University’s Academic Integrity policies were recently updated to include “[t]he unauthorized use of generative AI” as one of the forms that academic dishonesty can take. In light of this change, here are the policies for this course regarding generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT). The use of generative AI for the direct composition of course assignments (e.g., papers and exam essays) is not permitted. Simply put, your papers and essays should not include text generated by Artificial Intelligence unless that text is placed in quotation marks and identified as such. Any papers handed in that appear to contain unauthorized AI generated text (as detected by detection software or otherwise) will not receive a grade and cannot be used to fulfill course requirements. As the detection software can produce 'false positives,' in such cases you will be allowed to write an additional reaction paper or article review on a different set of readings to fulfill those requirements. Depending on the specifics of the individual cases, a late penalty may be applied to additional papers handed in for these reasons.
Other uses of AI (e.g., as “idea generators,” bibliographic or source-finding assistants, proof-readers) are discouraged as they may limit the fuller development of the skills, capacities, and habits of mind that constitute some of the primary aims and benefits of university education, but do not necessarily fall into the category of “unauthorized use.” If you do use generative AI in any of these or other manners, however, you must identify that you have done so explicitly in the paper or exam essay in question.
Office Hours, Scheduling Appointments, E-mail Guidance, and So Forth
My drop-in office hours are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 9:45 a.m.. I am also available by appointment--to set one up, simply e-mail me or ask me just after class. My office is on the Frohring/ex-Tiber Roof.
Please know that I do not normally respond to e-mails during the weekend or after 6:30 p.m. (but feel free to write me whenever you wish--I'll respond as soon as I can the next week or the next day). We all need 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 try to do what I can to provide you with as much flexibility as possible in structuring out-of-class activities.
On-line Moodle Discussion Forum
“Reflecting on the Week, Continuing our Classroom Discussion” Forum: For this weekly forum, I will post 1-2 discussion questions or prompts based on the week's discussion readings and the material I anticipate us discussing in class. These prompts/questions usually push us to think about how the varied material we discuss fits together into larger pictures and themes. As such, participating in this forum is also useful for making such connections yourselves, and through that preparing for the course exams. Feel free to post as much as you like. There is no required length for your posts (if you likely need a few sentences to make your point clearly and effectively). This weekly forum closes on Monday the following week. (Maximum expected time per week, not including the time needed to do the reading: 15-30 minutes)
Course Schedule (Please note that the following is subject to change--any updates will be made directly to the course Moodle page.)
Part 1. The Big Picture: A Quick Overview of Globalization and Its History
1/16 First Impressions—What is Globalization? What is its history?
1/18 Conceptualizing the History of Globalization, I (Chanda, Bound Together, 245-269 and Osterhammel and Petersson, Globalization: A Short History, 1-11)
1/23 Conceptualizing the History of Globalization, II (Marks, 1-18 (Introduction) and Osterhammel and Petersson, Globalization: A Short History, 13-29)
1/25 First Globalizations?—Conquerors, Merchants, and Missionaries to c. 1500 (Marks, 19-68 (Ch. 1, 2))
1/30 The Birth of a Modern World Order, Pt. 1—Ships, Germs, and Empires, c. 1500-c. 1800 (Marks, 69-101 (Ch. 3))
2/1 The Birth of a Modern World Order, Pt. II—Industrialization, c. 1750-c. 1850 (Marks, 103-133 (Ch. 4))
2/6 The Opening of the "Gap"—Industry, Imperialism, and Inequality, c. 1800-1900 (Marks, 135-173 (Ch. 5))
2/8 A "New" World?—The Twentieth Century (Marks, 175-235 (Ch. 6); Recommended: Marks, 237-247 (Conclusion), Reaction Paper 1 Due)
Part 2. Closer Looks, I: Seventeenth Century "Globalization," Trade, and Material Culture
2/13 "The View from Delft": Looking Outward From The Dutch Republic (Brook, 1-25 (Ch. 1), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
2/15 "Vermeer's Hat": Furs, "Indians," and the Northwest Passage (Brook, 26-53 (Ch. 2), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
2/16 OFFICIAL UNIVERSITY MAKE-UP DAY (FRIDAY) "A Dish of Fruit": How Porcelain Became "China" (Brook, 54-83 (Ch. 3), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
2/20 "Geography Lessons": Visions of the World from Europe and China (Brook, 84-116 (Ch. 4), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
2/22 "A School for Smoking": Tobacco and Opium (Brook, 117-151 (Ch. 5), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
February 26-March 1 Spring Break
3/5 "Weighing Silver": Precious Metals and the 17th-Century World Economy (Brook, 152-184 (Ch. 6), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
3/7 "Journeys": Sea Travel and Its Hazards (Brook, 185-230 (Ch. 7, 8), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
3/12 Midterm Exam
Part 3. Closer Looks II: Forging Local Links c. 1400 to the Present
3/14 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)
3/19 From Here to There and Back Again: Transportation (Pomeranz and Topik, 49-80 (Ch. 2), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
3/21 Chocolate, Opium, Coffee and Cocaine: Drug Trades and Drug Wars (Pomeranz and Topik, 81-107 (Ch. 3), Last Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 2)
3/26 Production, Consumption, and Meaning: The Lives of Commodities (Pomeranz and Topik, 108-151 (Ch. 4), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3)
3/28 “Now we see the violence inherent in the system!”: Force and Fortunes (Pomeranz and Topik, 152-192 (Ch. 5), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3)
4/2 A Moment of 'Glocal' Resistance?: New York, 1741 (Rediker and Linebaugh, "'The Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth,'" Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3)
4/4 Setting Standards: Making Modern Markets (Pomeranz and Topik, 193-243 (Ch. 6), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3)
4/9 Uneven Growth: Industrialization and Deinsdustrialization Revisited (Pomeranz and Topik, 244-287 (Ch. 7), Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3)
4/11 Global Cultures?: Sports (Appadurai, "Playing with Modernity: The Decolonization of Indian Cricket," Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3)
4/16 and 4/18 Global Cultures?: Music (Reading and Film Screening TBA, Last Possible Due Date--Reaction Paper 3, 4/18)
4/23 Globalization: Where, when, how, why, and so what? (Marks, 237-247 (Conclusion); Pomeranz and Topik, 288-304 (Epilogue))
Final Exam Date TBA