VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
GEHI 114
WORLD HISTORY TO 1500
Spring 2011
Instructor: Dr. Christina Proenza-Coles
Office: 101-H Colson Hall
Hours: M 2-4 W 2-6 and by appointment
Email: cproenza@vsu.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
A topical introduction to the development of civilization up to the eve of the Modern Period, covering the growth of independent cultural traditions and diffusion of ideas, institutions and people.
COURSE MATERIAL:
--This site (www.christinaproenza.org) will always have the latest assignments, required readings, study guides, and study questions. It can be updated frequently. Add it to your browser and visit it regularly.
--The readings not on the website are in Edgar et. al., Civilization Past & Present 12th Edition Volume I to 1650. Available in bookstore.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1) Students should not make or receive phone calls or text messages during class.
2) There will be four quizzes (see dates below), a midterm exam (Monday March 7) and a final test on the last day of class (Friday April 29). The midterm and final test are each 25% of the course grade. The remaining 50% is determined by attendance, class participation, and the four quizzes. There are no make-up quizzes or exams.
3) Poor attendance (repeated lateness and/or absence) will automatically lower a student's overall course grade. Chronic absence will result in course failure. Students who exhibit cheating in any form with automatically fail the course.
FAILURE TO MEET ONE OR MORE OF THE REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED ABOVE MAY RESULT IN COURSE WITHDRAWAL OR FAILURE
WEEK 1: Who Makes History? Black History as World History
Fri Jan 14: Introduction
Wed Jan 19: What is history and who decides? Case study: The American Civil War *
--Foner, Eric. “Selective
Memory: Review of Race and Reunion by David W. Blight.”
--Proenza-Coles, C. African Americans in the Military from Conflicts in American History.
Fri Jan 21:
--Edgar: Chapter 1: Stone Age Societies and Early Civilizations of the Near
East (STUDY GUIDE)
(QUESTIONS)
WEEK 2: First Civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Sudan
Mon Jan 24: Ancient Sudanic Civilizations
--Pollard, Lawrence. Sudan's
Past Uncovered
Weds Jan 26:
--National Geographic The Black Pharaohs Photo Gallery
Fri Jan 28:)
--review
WEEK 3: First Civilizations: China
Mon Jan 31: QUIZ 1 (Chapter 1)
Weds Feb 2: China
--Edgar: Chapters 2 China to 220 C.E. (STUDY
GUIDE) (QUESTIONS)
Fri Feb 4:
--The Han Dynasty
WEEK 4: First Civilizations: India
Mon Feb 7: India
--Edgar: Chapter 3 India to 300 C.E. (STUDY
GUIDE)
--Indus Valley
Weds Feb 9: The Case System: Who Were the Aryans? and India's Untouchables
--Aryan
Invasion?
--India's Dalit (Untouchables)
Fri Feb 11: Black Athena (film)
--Edgar: Chapter 4: Greece: Minoan, Mycenaean, Hellenic, & Hellenistic
Civilizations, 2000-30 BCE (STUDY
GUIDE) (QUESTIONS)
WEEK 5: Classical Greece and Rome
Mon Feb 14:
--Scarupa, Harriet. “Blacks
in the Classical World: Snowden's 50-year Search.”
--Keita, M. “Deconstructing the Classical Age: Africa
and the Unity of the Mediterranean World.”
Weds Feb 16:
--Brummet: Chapter 5: Roman Civilization (STUDY
GUIDE) (QUESTIONS)
Fri Feb 18:
--The Black Romans
--The
Paradox of Roman Power
WEEK 6: East of Europe: The Byzantine Empire
Mon Feb 21:
--Edgar: Chapter 6: Byzantium and the Orthodox World (Eastern Europe and Russia), 325-1500 (STUDY
GUIDE) (QUESTIONS)
Weds Feb 23: QUIZ II (The Ancient World, Chaps. 1-5)
Fri Feb 25: (ROMA & RUSSIAN SERFS)
History of
the Roma People
Russian Serfdom
WEEK 7: Europe’s Dark Ages
Mon Feb 28:
--Edgar: Chapter 9: The European Middle Ages, 476- 1348 C.E. (STUDY
GUIDE) (QUESTIONS)
Weds Mar 2: A Light in Europe's Darkness: Spain and Portugal
--Islam: Empire of Faith (film)
Fri Mar 4: midterm review
WEEK 8:
Mon Mar 7: MIDTERM (STUDY
GUIDE)
Weds Mar 9: :
--Islam: Empire of Faith (film)
Fri Mar 11:
WEEK 9: Rise of Islamic Civilization
Mon Mar 21:
--Edgar: Chapter 7: Islam from Its Origins to 1300 (STUDY
GUIDE) (QUESTIONS)
Weds Mar 23:
--Eaton, Richard. “Islamic History as Global History.”E-Reserves
Fri Mar 25:
--African States- Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Great Zimbabwe
--Bennet, Lerone, Jr. Before the Mayflower. E-Reserves
WEEK 10: African States
Mon Mar 28:
--Edgar: Chapter 8: African Beginnings: African Civlizations to 1500 (STUDY
GUIDE)
Weds Mar 30:
--Van Sertima, Ivan."The Lost Sciences
of Africa: An Overview," Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern.
Fri Apr 1:
--Van Sertima, Ivan, They
Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America E-Reserves
--BBC News “Africa’s
Greatest Explorer”
WEEK 11: Precolumbian American Civilizations: Mesoamerica and Peru
Mon Apr 4:
--Edgar: Chapter 11: The Americas to 1492 (STUDY
GUIDE)
--Civilizations in America WEB (follow links from Olmecs to Incas)
Weds Apr 6: QUIZ III (Islam Africa and the Americas: Chaps. 7, 8,11)
(STUDY QUESTIONS)
Fri Apr 8:
--Abu-Lughod, Janet. “The World System in the Thirteenth Century: Dead-End
or Precursor?”(SYNOPSIS)
--Marco
Polo website
WEEK 12: The Mongolian Empire
Mon Apr 11:
--Edgar: Chapter 10: Culture, Power, & Trade in the Era of Asian Hegemony
(STUDY GUIDE)(QUESTIONS)
Weds Apr 13: Marco Polo Film
Fri Apr 15:
--Edgar: Chapter 12: The Islamic Gunpowder Empires (STUDY
GUIDE)
WEEK 13: The Ottoman Empire
Mon Apr 18:
--McNeill, William. “The Age of Gunpowder Empires.”E-Reserves
--Book Reviw of Islam’s
Black Slaves by Ronald Segal
Weds Apr 20: QUIZ IV (Empires of the East: Mongols, Ottomans, etc, Chaps.10
&12) (STUDY GUIDE) Time Frames
Fri Apr 22: CLASS CANCELLED
--Edgar: Chapter 14: The Renaissance, 1300-1600 (STUDY
GUIDE)
--Alessandro
de Medici The Medici: Bankers, Patron, Popes
WEEK 14: The European Renaissance, the Protestant Reformtion, and the Rise of the Modern World
Mon Apr 25:
--Edgar: Chapter 15: The Reformation (STUDY
GUIDE)
--The Great Awakening
--Weds Apr 27:
--Proenza-Coles, C. The Rise of the Modern World.
--Fri Apr 29: FINAL TEST (STUDY
GUIDE)