Global
Modernity
Prof. Pablo Ben
Arts & Letters, Office 523
pben@mail.sdsu.edu
HIST 640: Section 1: Global Modernity : Fall 2013
Arts and Letters, Room 566 every Thursday 4:00pm-6:40pm.
Office Hours
Thursdays, 12:00 – 3:00 pm or by appointment.
Course Description
In this seminar students will learn about the coming of global modernity in the last three
centuries with a special focus on the 1850 to 1950 period. The readings discuss a variety of
topics but they share one common element: all of the scholars you will be reading are trying to
grasp an epochal historical change: the peculiarity of modernity at a global level. Some of the
most important questions they address are:
What is modernity? What does it mean to be a modern person or to live in a modern society?
How has our world today come to be different from the way it was in pre-modern times? Are
there parts of the world that are more modern than others? Is the idea that some regions are
more modern problematic? Why? How can we understand modernity in a global manner
outside of a Eurocentric framework?
Some of the most prominent topics that historians of global modernity explored in the
twentieth century include the Industrial Revolution and the rise of democracy in the so-called
Age of Revolutions. In this course we will address the economic and political transformations
of the last three centuries throughout the world, but the emphasis will be in our discussion of
how modernity has made an impact in the daily life of everyone, how it has affected even some
details that we usually take for granted or consider to be universal and inherent to human life
throughout time. Students will learn how global modernity has changed our mindset and
worldviews, the ways in which it has shaped religion, how we eat, feel, and experience
friendship, love, and sexuality. In addition, the readings consider how modernity has changed
our understanding of gender and racial identity in the last centuries.
By reading Sigmund Freud, the “father” of psychoanalysis, students will discuss how he
and his contemporaries understood the emergence of a new kind of modern psyche. By
discussing Marx, students will consider the political tensions brought by global
transformations. Other classical readings include the work of Durkheim and Weber, who
offered alternative views of the rise of modernity. In their final essay students will consider a
variety of different approaches to the issue of global modernity written by classical authors and
by more recent scholars. They will write an essay analyzing the turn to the twentieth-century
classics as primary sources and will consider a new reading of them that addresses the concerns
of scholars in the last decades.
Learning Outcomes Statements
This course includes the following learning outcomes:
-
-
Analyze the rise of global modernity and compare the impact it had on different regions
of the world.
Debate about the different approaches to the study of global modernity.
Formulate an educated opinion on the topics taught in the course and articulate such
point of view with the reading material.
Contextualize historical documents against the backdrop of the historical processes
considered by the bibliography and the lectures.
Define the meaning of concepts such as: clues, paradigm, psychoanalysis, unconscious,
power, capitalism, social division of labor, abstract time and space, work discipline,
mechanical reproduction, aura, abolition of space, print capitalism, imagined
communities, global revolutions, sexuality as a modern social construction, commodity
fetishism, protestant ethic, etc.
Empathize with a variety of historical experiences of throughout the world identifying
the similarities and differences between different regions.
Explain the conditions under which the different cultures of the world became
translatable and global.
Summarize the most important arguments made by the scholars whose work students
will be reading.
Students should develop their own analysis of global modernity based on the readings
provided throughout the course and any other relevant material they may find by
themselves.
Asses the importance of cultural difference and similarities between different regions of
the world.
Distinguish the characteristics of the rise of modernity under colonial and metropolitan
contexts.
Analyze a variety of reading and visual materials offered throughout the course (both
secondary bibliography and primary sources).
Organize the historical events discussed in the course in chronological order and asses
the importance of the sequence of events.
Narrate the complex history of global modernity i through the essay assigned by the
professor and through class participation.
Formulate questions about the most important topics in the reading materials.
Grading
Assignment
- Forum Participation
- Class Participation
- Final Essay
Percentage of the grade
20%
20%
60%
Due Date
Every Class
Every Class
Dec 15th
Students will write a final essay presenting an analysis of the topics studied in this course
according to the guidelines provided by the professor. Grading of the essay will be based on the
following criteria:
1) One of the main goals of this course is to prepare you to provide complex explanations
of historical events, more specifically the rise of global modernity between 1700 and
1950 and the impact it had on every aspect of our lives. Your essay should provide a
narrative understandable for a general educated audience and not only for the professor
who already knows about the topic. If the writing is vague or unclear your grade will be
affected even if the content of the exam is correct.
2) The organization of your paper is crucial. Provide an introduction where you establish
the theme that gives unity to the essay. Make sure the narrative flows and the
paragraphs are properly organized with topical and transitional sentences. Write a
conclusion.
3) Consider all the topics listed in the guideline provided by the professor, failure to
address the totality of the topics can seriously affect your grade.
4) Make sure you quote primary sources and discuss their relevance according to the
bibliography.
5) All bibliography should be cited and the student needs to show mastery of the
mandatory readings as well as the lectures, forum comments, and class discussions.
6) Essays should demonstrate that the student has accomplished the learning outcomes.
The grading of class participation is based on a set of responsibilities the students will be
expected to fulfill throughout the course. Attendance is mandatory. If you are absent once there
will be no consequence in terms of your grade for class participation, but try to attend every
class anyway. If you don’t come, it is your responsibility to know what I said in the class. I may
change the dates of assignments or discuss a modification of something stated in the syllabus
and you should know about that even if you were not able to attend the class. Come to my office
hours or ask other students about it. I will not answer emails about a class you failed to attend
unless you had health problems or some other urgent personal matter. Consider that even one
absence can cause problems for you in a course that meets once a week because even if your
class participation grade is not affected you may miss something important. Two absences will
severely affect your class participation grade and you will fail the course if you fail to come to
class more than twice. I only make exceptions to this rule for medical reasons or other
unavoidable issues, but you need to talk to me about it. If you expect problems with this you
should let me know in advance.
In addition to attending every class, the student will come prepared to discuss the materials.
Attentive reading is fundamental for this course. The professor can ask students about the
readings and provide brief quizzes at the beginning of the class. In addition, students will:
1)
2)
Come prepared to discuss the bibliography in detail, present their
interpretation of the texts and discuss the views that other students and the
professor will present. Students should participate every class and show
mastery of the readings.
Write a 300 to 500 word comment every week that will be posted on the
forum available on blackboard “Discussion Board” by late night on
3)
Wednesday. You will be excused for not posting once if you had a problem,
but this is a fundamental part of your class participation grade.
Accomplish the learning outcomes stated in this syllabus.
Grade
Points
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
D
E
F
94-100
90-93
86-89
83-86
79-82
75-78
72-75
68-71
65-68
Below 65
Assignments and Due Dates
Students will still be expected to complete assignments on time. If you have any problems
doing so, please contact me to explain your situation at least two days before the due date;
otherwise, late assignments will lower your grade. Make-up assignments will only be granted if
a serious emergency occurs and there will be no extra-grade opportunities.
Class Attendance
Your presence is a fundamental component in the process of learning and it is mandatory. You
will fail this course if you are absent three times.
Readings and contents of the class
Students will read the bibliography and be prepared to discuss it by the dates listed in
the schedule. The reading materials may be challenging, but you will find that with patience
and practice, you can keep up and fully participate in the course. Not doing the reading – or
allowing yourself to fall far behind – will leave you unable to understand lectures and
participate in discussions. This could seriously affect your grade.
In addition to knowing the reading materials, students will also take lecture and class notes. In
addition to the bibliography, the professor will provide handouts of primary sources and other
documents and guidelines. Students will also study those materials for the assignments.
Any information provided by the professor in class is considered part of the content of this
course and students should always keep track of it.
Policy on Electronic Devices
Students cannot cellphones for the duration of the class. Laptops, E-books and I-Pads can
ONLY be used in class if students are reading bibliography and documents related to the
course.
PLAGIARISM
Academic integrity is expected of every student. Students must not plagiarize the work of
others. This means that if you quote directly from any author’s work (including texts on
Internet sites), you must put quotation marks around that material, and you must cite it in a
footnote or endnote. Plagiarism also includes using someone else’s phrases, strings of words,
special terms, or ideas and interpretations without citing your source, even if you have not
quoted directly from that source.
In short, you must give credit where it is due. If you have doubts, feel free to come and ask me,
or check the SDSU General Catalogue for more information. Cheating on any exam or
plagiarizing on papers will result in a failing grade for the course.
Reading and Class Schedule
Introduction
August 29th
First Week
Methodological Clues: History, Psychoanalysis and Detective Work
September 5th
Second Week
Carlo Guinzburg, “Clues: Roots of an Evidential Paradigm,” in Carlo Guinzburg, Clues, Myths,
and the Historical Method (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1989), p. 96-125.
Sigmund Freud, Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis, 1910
September 12th
Third Week
Choose one of these two novels:
Henning Mankell, The Dogs of Riga: Kurt Wallander, any edition.
Truman Capote, In Cold Blood (any edition).
The Rise of Global Modernity
September 19th
Fourth Week
Sidney W. Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (New York:
Penguin Books, 1986).
September 26th
Fifth Week
Eric Wolf, Europe and the People Without History (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1982), read part three, Capitalism, p. 263 to 383.
Time and Space in Modern Global History
October 3rd
Sixth Week
E. P. Thompson, “Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism,” Past and Present (1967)
38 (1): 56-97 doi:10.1093/past/38.1.56.
October 10th
Hashimoto Takehiko, “Introduction,” Japan Review, 2002, 14: 5-9.
Seventh Week
Nakamura Naofumi, “Railway Systems and Time Consciousness in Modern Japan,” Japan
Review, 2002, 14: 13-38.
Hashimoto Takehiko, “Punctuality and the Introduction of Scientific Management to Japan,”
Japan Review, 2002, 14: 99-118.
Nishimoto Ikuko, “Teaching Punctuality: Inside and Outside the Primary School,” Japan
Review, 2002, 14: 121-134.
October 17th
Eighth Week
Sumit Sarkar, “Renaissance and Kaliyuga: Time, Myth and History in Colonial Bengal” in:
Sumit Sarkar, Writing Social History (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 186-215.
Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” 1935.
October 24th
Ninth Week
Wolfgang Schivelbusch, The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the
Nineteenth Century (Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1986 [1977]).
October 31st
Tenth Week
William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1991), read prologue, and chapters 1, 2, and 5.
Mass Printing, Mass Migration and Modern Nations
November 7th
Eleventh Week
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
(London: Verso, 1983).
Jose C. Moya, Cousins and Strangers: Spanish Immigrants in Buenos Aires, 1850-1930
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), read chapter 1. Five Global Revolutions: The
Macrostructural Dimentions of Spanish Emigration to Argentina, p. 13 to 44.
The Rise of Sexuality
November 14th
Twelfth Week
John D’Emilio, “Capitalism and Gay Identity,” (from any edition).
Anthony Giddens, The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality Love & Eroticism in Modern Societies
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992), p. 1-64.
Lynn Hunt, The Invention of Pornography: Obscenity and the Origins of Modernity, 1500-1800 (New
York: Zone Books, 1993), Introduction, p. 9-45.
Frank Dikötter, Sex, Culture and Modernity in China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,
1995), selections.
The Devil
November 21st
Thirteenth Week
Michael T. Taussig, The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America (Chapel Hill: The
University of North Carolina Press, 1980).
November 28th
NO CLASSES
December 5th
Thanksgiving Day
Fourteenth Week
Discussion of the books listed below, which you will use as primary sources to prepare a final
essay about the different views they present on the experience of global modernity. You do not
need to have finished the reading of the three books by this date. But this week we will discuss
how to approach them to write your final essay.
Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society [1893], any edition.
Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto [1848], any edition.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism [1905], any edition.