HIS102: Empires, Encounters, Exchanges
Matt Price
May 19, 2022
Contents
Logistics
Instructor:
Email:
Meeting Times
Office Hrs:
Tutorials
Matt Price
matt.price@utoronto.ca
MW 17:00-19:00 ET via Zoom (password: HIS102)
TTh 11-12 ET via Zoom (password: MPOffice) Please make an appointment to ensure tha
M19:00 & W16:00/19:00 via Zoom (Passcode: 181212)
About This Course
This course examines the rise and evolution of large-scale political organization, with a special
emphasis on the relationships between technology, political organization and cultural forms. We
begin in antiquity and move forward to the modern era, and so our journey is necessarily episodic
and incomplete. Our goal will not be to acquire a comprehensive knowledge of world history (!),
but instead to learn how to ask and answer historical questions. Does geography determine the
course of history? Do technologies and scientific knowledge? What similarities and differences
do we find as we investigate how various empires absorbed new territory and new peoples, how
they they interacted with the “barbarians” at their borders, how they sought and acquired wealth,
and how they competed with each other? How are cultural forms, such as literature and religion,
related to political power? In an effort to answer, or at least make sense of, questions such as
these, we will examine imperial formations of various scales in Asia, North Africa, Europe, and
the Americas. Much will be left out of our story, leaving plenty of room for you to follow your
interests in more advanced classes.
Course Objectives
In addition to gaining an understanding of the processes of global interaction, students will develop basic skills for studying and writing history at the university level:
• to think critically about historical issues and the ways in which people interpret those issues
• to read and analyze primary documents within their historical context
1
• to critically evaluate secondary sources
About Your Work in the Course
Required Reading
Available at the University of Toronto Bookstore:
• A History of World Societies, 12th edition, Combined Volume (value edition), by Merry E.
Wiesner-Hanks, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Roger B. Beck, Jerry Davila, Clare Haru Crowston, and
John P. McKay. Please purchase this version of the textbook, as it includes Launchpad,
which we will be using in the course.
• All other required readings will be available through Quercus, sometimes via Launchpad,
sometimes through the ordinary file storage mechanism, and sometimes through links to
U of T library resources.
Course Work and Marking
Assignment
Primary Source Analysis 1
Term test
Primary Source Analysis 2
Secondary Source Analysis
Final Assessment
Lecture Preparation
Tutorial Participation
Total
Length
3-5pp.
2x 3pp.
3-5pp.
5-7pp.
3x 3-4pp.
-
%
10%
10%
10%
20%
25%
5%
20%
100%
Due Date
June 10
June 27
July 22
August 12
August 22
-
• The Primary Source Analyses (one each semester)are brief analytic papers organized around
primary source readings from class.
• The Term Test will ask you to respond to two brief essay questions; the test is untimed, and
you will be given the questions several days before the due date.
• The Secondary Source Analysis, due near the end of the teaching term in August, is a
slightly longer essay in which your respond directly to the arguments made i na single secondary source
• The Final Assessment, like the term test, will be untimed, and questions wil lbe given out
several days before the due date
Normally, students will be required to submit their course essays to the University’s plagiarism
detection tool for a review of textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In doing
so, students will allow their essays to be included as source documents in the tool’s reference
database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that
apply to the University’s use of this tool are described on the Centre for Teaching Support &
Innovation web site (https://uoft.me/pdt-faq).
2
Lecture Format and Participation
We have four hours of lecture per week. In an ordinary week, three of those hours will be “standard” lectures, in which I hold forth on a variety of topics. The fourth hour will, whenever our
hectic schedule permits, be somewhat different. Sometimes we will work on specific skills (such
as reading comprehension, essay writing skills, and citational practices). Other times, we will discuss specific course readings together. In order for these sessions to be successful, you will need
to come to class prepared to ask your own questions, and to answer mine. In an online forum,
this will take some getting used to, but we will work on it.
The 5% Lecture Preparation Grade is not an attendance mark. Instead, you will be asked to complete a brief (20-minute) pass-fail quiz on the required textbooks once a week before Monday’s
class. There are 10 of these quizzes, so each of them counts for 0.5 points of your grade.
Tutorials
Tutorials are an integral part of the course; they provide an opportunity for students to discuss
course materials and readings in a small group. They will also be the setting in which you work
on short “skills exercises,” which are designed to give you practice in the basic skills of reading,
writing, and discussing history. There will be 10 tutorials over the summer. Your tutorial participation grade is based not merely on attendance but on the extent to which you contribute to
class discussions in an informed and critical manner.
Late Work
Because the summer term is short, and late work is a significant burden on your TA, late work will
normally be penalized at a rate of 3%/day, and will not be accepted more than 5 days after the
due date. No extensioms for the final assessment will be granted.
However, we do also recognize that these are extraordinary times, and that health, family matters,
and other circumstances may sometimes interfere with your ability to complete your work. This
course therefore uses a Life Happens policy similar to other first year classes in the History
Department. All students are given 5 days of “LIFE HAPPENS” extension to be used over the course
of the summer. You can use them all at once to submit one assignment almost a week late, or
distribute the days across different assignments. To use this extension, please contact your TA
via email. All your TA needs is your name, the assignment, and “I’m going to use x days of my ‘life
happens’ extension.” No explanation is necessary.
If your circumstances require more sigificant accommodation, please see the Health section below for more information.
About You in This Course
Health, Mental Health, and Personal Circumstances
If you become ill and it affects your ability to do your academic work, notify your TA as soon as
possible. We will work together to help you succeed in the course.
As a student, you may experience challenges such as anxiety, financial concerns, family problems,
3
substance use, or other personal issues that affect your academic work, you should speak to your
College Registrar. There are many helpful resources available through your College Registrar or
through Student Life. An important part of the University experience is learning how and when
to ask for help. Please take the time to inform yourself of available resources; they are there to
help you.
Accommodation for Disabilities.
Students with diverse learning styles and needs are welcome in this course. If you have an acute
or ongoing disability issue or accommodation need, you should register with Accessibility Services
(AS) as early as possible. Please do not wait until after the first assignment or test; it is much more
difficult to make allowances after the fact. AS will assess your situation, develop an accommodation plan with you, and support you in requesting accommodation for your course work without
disclosing details of your disability.
Religious Accommodations.
As a student at the University of Toronto, you are part of a diverse community that welcomes
and includes students and faculty from a wide range of cultural and religious traditions. For our
part, we will make every reasonable effort to avoid scheduling compulsory activities on religious
holy days not captured by statutory holidays. Further to University Policy, if you anticipate being
absent from class or missing a major course activity (such as a test or in-class assignment) due to
a religious observance, please let us know as early in the course as possible, and with sufficient
notice (at least two to three weeks), so that we can work together to make alternate arrangements.
About You and Us in This Course
Course Communication
Website: Most course communication takes place through Quercus, where you are probably
reading this syllabus. We recommend turning on email notification for course announcements,
as this will help you stay up to date.
Email: University policy requires that all students use their university-issued email address for
all university-and course-related business. Please be sure to include “HIS102” in the subject line
to ensure that your email reaches us promptly. Whenever possible, we will try to respond within
36 hours, except weekends and holidays. Please don’t send a question the night before a test or
a paper deadline and expect an answer right away! For questions that cannot be answered in a
brief email, we will suggest that you come to office hours (see Logistics, above). If your question
can easily be answered by information in the course documents, we may “triage” your email –
that is, you may not receive a response.
Classroom Ethics
There are many ways to understand a University-level course. You may, for instance, approach it
as a consumer who is paying for a service, or as a game-player who looks for hacks and tricks to
win at any cost. I prefer to approach the classroom as a kind of contract. I commit to a sincere
and honest effort to teach; you commit to a sincere and honest effort to learn. In an online envi4
ronment, it is easy to disengage. I ask you to maximize your chances for success by shutting down
social media, turning off or distancing yourself for your phone, and finding a quiet space to concentrate on lectures and tutorial. Before class, complete the assigned reading, and be prepared
to discuss issues that arise from it. During class, be respectful and engaged. Your participation is
essential to the success of the course, even in letures.
Important Policies about This Course
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is fundamental to learning and scholarship at the University of Toronto. Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in this academic community ensures that
the U of T degree that you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic
achievement, and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves. Familiarize
yourself with the University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. It is the rulebook for academic behaviour at the U of T, and you are expected to know the rules. Potential
offences include, but are not limited to: In papers and assignments:
• Using someone else’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgement;
• Copying material word-for-word from a source (including lecture and study group notes)
and not placing the words within quotation marks;
• Translating material from a source in another language and presenting it as your own work;
• Submitting your own work, in whole or in part, for credit in more than one course without
the permission of the instructor;
• Making up sources or facts;
• Including references to sources that you did not use;
• working in groups on assignments that are supposed to be individual work;
If you have any questions about what is or is not permitted in this course, please do not hesitate
to contact us. One of the goals of this course is to teach you the skills so that you can submit your
own work with confidence and integrity. If you have questions about appropriate research and
citation methods, seek out additional information from the instructors, your TA, or other available
campus resources like the U of T Writing Website or your College writing centre. Ignorance of the
rules is not an acceptable excuse under the Code. If you are experiencing personal challenges
that are having an impact on your academic work, please speak to one of us or seek the advice
of your college registrar. If you are not able to get an extension on an assignment, taking the late
penalty is a much better choice than handing in dishonest work. For more information, see the
Faculty’s AI resource page.
5
Schedule (first semester)
Origin Stories
In the first week of the course, we inquire into basic questions: what is history? What are empires?
What kinds of questions can we ask about them? Also, what exactly is this course about?
1. (May 09) Introduction: What is History, What are Empires?
No Reading
2. (May 11) Reading “Against the Grain”
Reading:
• Cline, Eric H. 2011. “What Is an (Ancient) Empire?” In Ancient Empires: From Mesopotamia
to the Rise of Islam, 1–9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Scott, James C. 2017. “Agro-Ecology of the Early State.” In Against the Grain: A Deep History of
the Earliest States, 116–49. Yale Agrarian Studies. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University
Press. https://www-degruyter-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/document/doi/10.12987/
9780300231687/html.
• Section “Writing, Cities, and States” in Ch.2 (“Complex societies in Southwest Asia and the
Nile Valley”) in Wiesner-Hanks
The First Empires: Mesopotamia and the “Near East”
More on the very earliest empires; we explore their similarities and differences, and also begin
to ask questions about basic categories of social order: what, today, we would call “politics”,
“religion”, “economics”, etc.
3. (May 16) Sedentarism: From City-States to Empires
Reading:
• Ch. 2, “Complex societies in Southwest Asia and the Nile Valley” in Wiesner-Hanks
4. (May 18) Gods, Kings, and Priests
Reading:
• Selections from “The Epic of Creation” in Dalley, Stephanie. 2000. Myths from Mesopotamia:
Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Rev. ed. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford ;
Oxford University Press. (on Quercus)
• “A Mesopotamian Quest for Immortality” (via Launchpad)
• “Law and Order in Ancient Babylonia” (via Launchpad)
6
Tutorial 1: Interpreting Sources
The Early Mediterranean
While East Asian traditions were consolidating (see Weeks 4 and 5), new cultural formations were
also flourishing on the other side of the Great Steppe and the Caucasus Mountains.
(May 23) Victoria Day - no class
5. (May 25) Persia & Greece
• Ch. 5, “The Greek Experience, 3500 - 30 BCE” in Wiesner-Hanks
Tutorial 2 : Alexander
NOTE: At this point in the semester, the rhythm of our tutorials shifts; Monday tutorials
will now take place the week after they are listed in the syllabus
Readings:
• Book VII, Chapters I-XI, of Arrian. 2014. The Anabasis of Alexander or, the History of the
Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great. Translated by Edward James Chinnock. https://
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46976?msg=welcome_stranger%20(this%20one%20can%20be%
20downloaded). (Project Gutenberg)
Ancient China
The establishment of a roughly stable “Central Kingdom” in the heart of Asia had profound effects
on the course of global history. The Chinese imperial model also arose independently from the
Near Eastern states, and therefore provides a fascinating comparison.
6. (May 30) China in Ancient Times
Readings:
• Ch. 4, “China’s Classical Age to 221 BCE” in Wiesner-Hanks
7. (June 01) The Warring States and Political Unity
Readings:
• Michael Nylan,“Notes on a Case of Illicit Sex from Zhangjiashan: A Translation and Commentary,” Early China 30 (2005-2006): 25-45
Tutorial 3: The Mandate of Heaven
Readings:
7
• Laozi, From Dao De Jing: Administering the Empire (ca. 500–400 b.c.e.) (Launchpad)
• Han Fei Lays Out the Legalist View of Good Government (Launchpad)
• “Heaven’s Mandate” (via Quercus)
The Indus Valley: Vedic Traditions and Geographical Connections
On and near the “sub-continent” that lies south of the Himalayan Mountains, a series of sometimesoverlapping empires rose and fell. The Vedic religious and philosophical tradition that developed
here had profound influences around the world.
8. (June 06) Peoples of Ancient India
Readings:
• Ch.3, “The Foundation of Indian Society to 300 CE” in Wiesner-Hanks
9. (June 08) Travels of the Buddha
Readings:
• Ch. 7, “East Asia and the Spread of Buddhism” in Wiesner-Hanks
Tutorial 4: “Ancient Religion”
• Mahabarata, selections (Quercus).
• “The Buddha Attains Enlightenment” (via Launchpad)
• Ashoka, “From 13th Rock Edict” (via Launchpad)
Rome
From its humble origins, Rome became the first major empire in the western reaches of the
Eurasian landmass. Its history is also remarkably well-preserved in documentary sources, and
many Roman traditions retained substantial importance in the European cultures that developed
in and around the former imperial territories.
10. (June 13) The Rise of Rome
Readings:
• Ch. 6, “The World of Rome” in Wiesner-Hanks
11. (June 15) Spotlight: From Republic to Empire
Readings:
• Brunt, “The Fall of the Roman Republic” (on Quercus)
8
Tutorial 5: Citizens, Slaves, and Barbarians in the Roman World
Readings:
• Tacitus, Agricola, ch. 10-13 (on Quercus)
The Centre of The World
For hundreds of years, the Western historical tradition imagined the Rome was the centre of the
ancient world. But the truth was very different.
12. (June 20) Silk Roads
• “Prologue: The Hero and his Friends” in Beckwith, Christopher I. 2009. Empires of the Silk
Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/lib/
utoronto/reader.action?docID=457749&ppg=74.
• Chin, Tamara. 2013. “The Invention of the Silk Road, 1877.” Critical Inquiry 40 (1): 194–219.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/673232. (on Quercus)
• Ch 9, “The Road to Hell” in Frankopan, Peter. 2016. The Silk Roads: A New History of the
World. New York: Alfred AKnopf. (
No additional Tutorials this week!
Schedule (second semester) FINAL SCHEDULE WILL BE RELEASED IN
SECOND SEMESTER
The precise topics for the second semester are subject to change.
Two Abrahamic Empires
13. (July 04) Christian Rome
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch.8, “Continuity and Change in Europe and Western Asia, 250-800”
14. (July 06) Early Islam
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch.9, “The Islamic World 600-1400
9
Tutorial 6: The Kingdom of Christ
Readings:
• Roberts, Walter. 2017. “‘Soldiers of Christ’ from the Byzantine Perspective: Monks, Emperors, and Conflict in the Early Byzantine Empire.” Journal of Religious History 41 (3): 291–311.
• “The Monks of Kubla Khan.” n.d. Accessed May 19, 2022. https://pages.uoregon.edu/sshoemak/
324/texts/monks_of_kubla_khan.htm.
Islam Takes Hold
15. (July 11) Gunpowder Empires
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch. 17 “The Islamic World Howers 1300-1800
16. (July 13) Gunpowder Empires 2
• Streusand, Douglas E. 2011. Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals.
First. Milton: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429499586. pp.29-87
• Dale, Stephen Frederic. 2010. The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals.
New Approaches to Asian History. Cambridge: University Press. pp.97-141
Tutorial 7: Law and the Peoples of the Book in Medieval Islam
Readings:
• Ibn Rushd on Jihad. Excerpts from Averroës, Mah.mūd Shaltūt, and Rudolph Peters. 1977.
Jihad in Mediaeval and Modern Islam: The Chapter on Jihad from Averroes’ Legal Handbook
’bidāyat Al-Mudjtahid’ and the Treatise ’koran and Fighting’ by the Late Shaykh-Al-Azhar,
Mahmūd Shaltūt. Nisaba V. 5. Leyden: Brill.
• Letter from Shah Abbas I to Emperor Jahangir (c. 1620), in Khafipour, Hani. 2019. The
Empires of the near East and India: Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal
Literate Communities. New York: Columbia University Press.
Barbarians
17. (July 18) Vikings
Readings:
• Ch. 3, “The Expansion” in Roesdahl, Else. 1998. The Vikings. 2nd revised ed. London:
Penguin Books.
10
18. (July 20) Law and the State in Commonwealth Iceland
• Ch. 4, “The Pursuit of Liberty” in Price, Neil S. 2020. Children of Ash and Elm: A History of
the Vikings. First edition. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Tutorial 8: Law and Violence
• “Sudden and Unforeseen Attacks of Northmen” in Somerville, Angus A., and R. Andrew McDonald. 2014. The Viking Age: A Reader, Second Edition. Toronto, UNKNOWN: University of Toronto Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/utoronto/detail.action?docID=
4931345.
• Trial of Flossi, Ch 135, 141-45, in Cook, Robert. 2001. Njal’s Saga. Penguin Classics. London
; Penguin Books.
Europe Stirs
19. (July 25) Crusades & the Black Death
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch. 14, “Europe and Western Asia in the Middle Ages 800-1450
20. (July 27) New States and Industries
• Thompson, E. P. 1967. “Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism.” Past & Present,
no. 38: 56–97. http://www.jstor.org/stable/649749.
• “The Spirit of Capitalism in Weber, Max. 2012. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315063645.
Tutorial 9: The Black Death
• “Religious Mentalities” in Aberth, John. 2005. The Black Death: The Great Mortality of 13481350 ; a Brief History with Documents. The Bedford Series in History and Culture. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://books-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/
en/read?id=/ebooks/ebooks3/springer/2016-09-19/1/9781137103499.
• Hammond, Mitchell. 2020. “Chapter 1: Bubonic Plague and the Modern State.” In Epidemics
and the Modern World, 17–56. London, Toronto, Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. https:
//books-scholarsportal-info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/en/read?id=/ebooks/ebooks5/upress5/
2019-12-16/1/9781487593766#page=17.
• Cohn, Samuel Kline. 2018. “Black Death: Persecution and Abandonment.” In Epidemics:
Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to Aids, First edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.
com/view/10.1093/oso/9780198819660.001.0001/oso-9780198819660.
11
Europe Encounters the Americas
(August 01) NO CLASS (August long weekend)
21. (August 03) Aztec and Haudenosaunee political formations
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch. 18, “European Power and Expansion 1500-1750
Tutorial 10: The Great Law of Peace
Note: As in the first semester, the rhythm of tutorial changes here. From now on, Monday
tutorials will take place the week after they are listed.
Readings:
• Williams, Kayanesenh Paul. 2018. Kayanerenkó:Wa : the Great Law of Peace. Winnipeg,
Manitoba: University of Manitoba Press. (selections)
European Age of Empire
22. (August 08) Race, Industry, and Empire
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch. 23 “The Revolution in Energy and Industry” & Ch. 26 “Asia and the Pacific
i n the Era of Imperialism”
23. (August 10) Contradictions of Nationalism
Readings:
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch. 29 “Nationalism in Asia 1914-1939”
Tutorial 11: Globalization
• Wang Xingjian, “Interview for the Global Feminisms Project” (Launchpad)
• John Yoo, Memoranda Regarding US Military Interrogations (Launchpad)
The New Globalization
24. (August 15) Globalization and its Discontents, from Pax Americana to the Ukraine
• Wiesner-Hanks, Ch. 33 :The Contemporary World in Historical Perspective
12