HSRF 1000-003: HISTORY OF THE WEST: ENLIGHTENMENT TO THE
PRESENT
Room: Keating 114
TWF 12:30 p.m.-1:20 p.m.
Instructor: Tomas Zahora
Office: Dealy 647
Office Hours: Tuesday 9:30 a.m.-11:20a.m.
1:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.
Friday 1:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m.
and by appointment
E-mail: tzahora@highstream.net
(checked at least twice daily: this is the best way to reach me when I am not
in Dealy Hall)
Web Page: www.tomaszahora.org
syllabus, handouts, lecture outlines, and helpful links will be updated
throughout semester
Required texts:
Textbook:
Kishlansky,
Geary, and OBrien, Civilization in the
West, vol. II: Since 1555, 6th ed. (2003). ISBN: 0-321-23625-4
Primary source readings and recommended editions:
Voltaire, Candide
(Penguin
paperback, trans. John Butt, ISBN 0140440046)
e-text:
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/v/v93c/
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
(Penguin paperback, ISBN 0141439475)
John Stuart Mill, On
(Penguin
paperback, ISBN 0140432078)
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist
Manifesto
(Penguin
paperback, ISBN 0140447571)
Virginia Woolf, A Room of Ones Own
(Harvest
books, ISBN 0156787334)
Albert Camus, The Rebel
(Vintage
paperback, ISBN 0679733841)
Course objectives:
The
course will focus primarily on
Class
will be conducted in the form of lectures and source-based discussions.
Students are encouraged to participate by raising questions and commenting on
assigned readings or research projects. All students are welcome to continue
class discussion during the instructors office hours or via e-mail.
Course requirements and evaluation:
Class participation 10
%
Five
short essays 5 x 7% 35 %
Final
essay 15
%
Midterm 18
%
Final exam (comprehensive) 22
%
Total 100%
No
incompletes will be given in this course.
Attendance policy:
You
do not need to bring documentation to excuse your absence. Likewise, you do not
need to ask me for permission to miss class. However, class attendance and
participation in discussions constitute ten percent of your total course grade.
Since discussions are a vital part of the class, I will count them as 2
attendance points. There are six discussion classes (12 points) and 31 lecture
classes (31 points), which adds up to 43 points worth 10% of your class grade.
You do the math: in other words, a couple of missed classes will not
automatically shift you down on the grade scale. On the other hand, absences do
add up, missed lectures tend to hurt at exam time, and the difference between
an A- and a B+ can amount to a single missed class.
Short essays:
You will write five short (at least four
double-spaced pages, 1 margins throughout, size 12 font) analytical
reflection essays based on primary sources. Each essays thesis is entirely up
to you, as long as it is directly related to the discussed work. For instance,
you may begin by determining the overall thesis of the primary source, and then
address the authors treatment of several issues (your essay can treat
Voltaires Candide as a playful self-criticism of Enlightenment philosophes,
particularly in their attitudes toward metaphysics and social theory). An
excellent reflection essay will not only present a brief synopsis of the
primary source, but will also point to broader historical contexts and
references, and will use specific examples (with chapter/section/page citation)
from the primary source to support its arguments.
► Essays will be due by
Primary source discussions (see syllabus for dates):
To prepare for discussion sessions, you will formulate
three questions that can, in your opinion, stimulate class discussion of the
primary source. You can base your questions on issues you found especially
intriguing, important, or simply difficult to understandor on anything that
captured your interest. E-mail me the questions, together with brief
explanation (1-2 paragraphs) of your reasons for selecting these questions by
Final Essay:
The
final essay will be a longer project (8+ pages) based on Albert Camus essay The
Rebel, and will attempt to trace the development of a broader historical
movement or idea. A handout with
more specific information will be provided.
Course Schedule:
► NOTE: Chapter assignments refer
to the textbook by Kishlansky et al. You should have them read by the end of
the week as noted.
Week 1: INTRODUCTION; EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY WORLD [Chapter 17]
Wednesday 31 August
Friday
2 September DISCUSSION:
Francis
Fukuyama, introduction to The End of
History and the Last Man http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/fukuyama.htm
Ward
Churchill, Some People Push Back: On
the Justice of Roosting Chickens. http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/churchill.html
Week 2: THE AGE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: POLITICS, SOCIETY,
CULTURE [Chapters 18, 19]
Tuesday 6 September
Wednesday 7 September ► NO CLASS
Friday 9 September
Week 3: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON [Chapter 20]
Tuesday
13 September
Wednesday
14 September DISCUSSION:
Voltaire, Candide [Essay due by 5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 13 September]
Friday
16 September
Week 4: NAPOLEON; INDUSTRIAL
Tuesday
20 September
Wednesday
21 September
Friday
23 September
Week 5: ROMANTICISM; REVOLUTIONS [Chapter 22]
Tuesday
27 September
Wednesday
28 September
Friday 30 September DISCUSSION:
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
[Essay due by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, 29
September]
Last day to withdraw without incurring a
WF
Week 6: A CENTURY OF IDEOLOGIES [Chapter 22]
Tuesday
4 October
Wednesday 5 October
Friday
7 October
Week 7: NEW VISIONS OF
FREEDOM
Tuesday
11 October DISCUSSION:
John Stuart Mill, On
Wednesday
12 October ► MIDTERM EXAM
Friday
14 October
Week 8: THE BIRTH (AND
REBIRTH) OF NATIONS [Chapter 23]
Tuesday
18 October
Wednesday
19 October
Friday
21 October
Week 9: SCIENCE OF NATURE, SCIENCE OF HUMANKIND [Chapter
23]
Tuesday 25 October DISCUSSION: The Communist
Manifesto [Essay due by 5:00 p.m. Monday, 24 October]
Wednesday 26 October
Friday
28 October
Week 10: BUILDING BETTER
TOMORROWS: 19TH-CENTURY SOCIETY [Chapter 24]
Tuesday 1 November
Wednesday 2 November
Friday 4 November
Week 11: EMPIRES [Chapter
25]
Tuesday
8 November
Wednesday
9 November
Friday
11 November
Week 12: WAITING FOR
SOMETHING TO HAPPEN: THE GREAT WAR [Chapter 26]
Tuesday
15 November
Wednesday
16 November
Friday
18 November
Week 13: A ROOM OF ONES
OWN
Tuesday 22 November DISCUSSION:
Virginia Woolf, A Room
of Ones Own [Essay due by 5:00
p.m. Monday, 21 November]
Wednesday
23 November ► THANKSGIVING: NO CLASS
Friday
25 November ► THANKSGIVING: NO CLASS
Week 14: THE LOST
GENERATION [Chapter 27]
Tuesday
29 November
Wednesday
30 November
Friday
2 December
Week 15: THE APOCALYPSE
AND AFTER [Chapter 28]
Tuesday
6 December
Wednesday
7 December
Friday
9 December DISCUSSION:
Albert Camus: The
Rebel [See handout for Final
essay]
Week 16
Friday,
December 16 ► FINAL EXAM 1:30 p.m.