HISTORY 276A
HISTORY 276B
M-W-F 1:00-1:50
M-W-F 3:00-3:50
Prof. WEBB
LV 215
FALL 2007
PATTERNS AND PROCESSES IN WORLD HISTORY
This course is an introduction to world history in the period 1200 to the present. It is designed to
teach basic historical and geographical knowledge about our human past and to explore
comparative perspectives on historical processes. Toward this end, it requires the student to
become familiar with key concepts and historical cases and to develop the ability to use the key
concepts in historical thinking. No previous knowledge of world history is required, and there are
no course prerequisites.
This is a reading-intensive course. It requires sustained effort to assimilate new information and
new perspectives.
Your grade will be determined in the following manner:
10 percent
20 percent
30 percent
40 percent
100 percent
class attendance and participation
midterm examination
final examination
four short papers
The papers are short (minimum length: 2.0 pages; maximum length: 2.25 pages). Use Times 12
point font with 1 inch left, right, top, and bottom margins. Use a double space format for the text
of your essay. Use a single space format to enter your name, section (i.e. HI276A or HI276B),
and group number (I, II, or III) in the top right hand corner of the first page. Papers should be free
of spelling and grammatical errors. A penalty of one third of a letter grade will be imposed for
late submissions.
The mid-term and final examinations are open-book. They will test your ability to synthesize
historical materials and to use historical concepts to explain patterns and processes of historical
change.
You will need to read the journal articles and book chapters to answer for yourself the following
questions:
1. What is the main purpose of the essay?
2. What are the types of evidence consulted?
3. What are the main conclusions?
4. Are new important concepts introduced?
5. What are the assumptions upon which the author proceeds?
6. What is the significance of the essay for the study of world history?
7. What are the strengths and limitations of the essay?
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You are required to read the assigned materials before class.
You will need to purchase the following materials:
(1) Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002).
(2) William H. McNeill and John R. McNeill, The Human Web: A Bird’s Eye View of World
History (New York, 2003).
All other readings are available on reserve in Miller Library.
Attendance Policy. Students are expected to attend all classes and scheduled course events. I may
call on students to answer questions in class about the readings and lectures. If you have missed
class and your absence is noted, I will deduct two points from your final grade for every absence.
Repeated absence can lead to dismissal from the course with a failing grade. If a student wishes
to be excused from a class in order to attend a College-sponsored activity such as musical
performance or an athletic competition, it is the responsibility of the student to communicate
promptly and directly with me concerning these matters.
Excuses will be granted for critical emergencies (normally verified by the Dean of Students
Office), athletic or organizational trips, or illness (normally verified by the College Health
Center). Students on academic probation should know that they can not be excused from any
class because of extracurricular or athletic activities.
Students who are dismissed from a course due to unsatisfactory attendance through the midsemester deadline (with the exception of first-year students) will receive a grade of WF. Students
dismissed after mid-semester day will receive a grade of F in the course, with the exception of
first-year students who will be dismissed with a mark of WF.
Contact Information
Faculty Office: room 245 (second floor) of Miller Library
Telephone Extension: 5328
Email: jlwebb@colby.edu
Office hours: 2:00-3:00PM on M and W, or by appointment
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HISTORY 276
M-W-F
FALL 2007
Mr. WEBB
LOVEJOY 215
PATTERNS AND PROCESSES IN WORLD HISTORY
W SEPT 5:
Introduction to Patterns and Processes in World History
Read: W.H. McNeill and J.R. McNeill, Human Web (New York, 2003), 3-40.
Key Concepts:
Historical Pattern
Historical Process
Comparative Historical Approach
Framework of Analysis
Event History
Unit of Analysis
Webs of Interaction
F SEPT 7:
A Unity to Afro-Eurasia? Patterns and Processes Before 200 C.E.
Read: W.H. McNeill and J.R. McNeill, Human Web (New York, 2003), 41-81;
David Christian, "Silk Roads or Steppe Roads? The Silk Roads in World History," Journal of
World History, vol. 11, no. 1 (2000): 1–26; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History.
Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 52-53.
Key Concepts:
Ecological Exchange
Epidemiological Accommodation
Civilizational Exchange
M SEPT 10: Competing Geographical Frameworks
Read: Martin W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen, The Myth of Continents: A Critique
of Metageography (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: 1997), 124-188.
Key Concepts:
Oppositional Constructs
Universal Motivations
Cross-cultural Exchange
Geographical Constraints
Processes of Integration
Consequences of Integration
Necessary But Not Sufficient Conditions
Cases:
Civilizational Zones
Continental Paradigms
Area Studies Paradigms
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W SEPT 12: The Expansion of Religious Zones
Read: Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and
Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (Oxford, 1993), 67-110; McNeill and McNeill, Human Web,
82-108; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002),
62-63, 68-69.
Key Concepts:
Religious Zones
Culture Zones
Karl Jaspers’ Age of Axial Thought
Missionization and Conversion
Cases:
Buddhism
Islam
Christianity
TH SEPT 13: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP I / DUE AT 12 NOON
Discuss the strengths and limitations of geography and religion as organizing
principles for historical study.
F SEPT 14:
Nomads and Sedentary Peoples
Read: Thomas J. Barfield, “The Devil’s Horsemen: Steppe Nomadic Warfare in
Historical Perspective,” in S. P. Reyna and R. E. Downs (eds.), Studying War: Anthropological
Perspectives, 157-182; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition
(New York, 2002), 76-77, 88-89, 98-99.
Key Concepts:
Pastoral Nomadism
Sedentarism
Symbiosis
Coercion
Cases:
Eurasian Steppes
Saharan Fringes
Americas Before Columbus
Ottoman Empire
Almoravids
Mughal Empire
M SEPT 17: Shifting Balances on the Afro-Eurasian Continent
Read: McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 116-154; Robert S. Gottfried, The
Black Death (New York, 1983), 129-160; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History.
Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 104-105, 106-107.
Key Concepts:
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Disease Gradients
Microparasites and Macroparasites
Balance of Power
Sources of Energy
Cases:
China
Europe
Islamic World
W SEPT 19: African States and International Trade to 1600
Read: Philip D. Curtin, The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex (Cambridge,
1990), 29-45; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York,
2002), 80-81, 82-83.
Key Concepts:
Language Zones
Genetic Markers
Disease Zones
Cases:
Bantu Expansions
Tropical Africa and North Africa
Tropical Africa and Europe
TH SEPT 20: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP II / DUE AT 12 NOON
Discuss the strengths and limitations of microparasitism and macroparasitism as
modes of historical explanation.
F SEPT 21:
The Americas Before Columbus
Read: McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 108-115; Felipe Fernández-Armesto,
Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature (New York, 2001), 229-246;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 84-85,
108-109, 110-111.
Key Concepts:
Demographic Expansion
Imperial Expansion
Literacy
Agricultural Productivity
Cases:
North American Political Entities
Aztec Empire
Incan Empire
Spanish Empire
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M SEPT 24: Maritime Contacts and Expansion
Read: Jerry H. Bentley, "Sea and Ocean Basins as Frameworks of Historical
Analysis," Geographical Review, vol. 89, no. 2 (1999): 215-225; McNeill and McNeill, Human
Web, 155-172; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York,
2002), 64-65, 78-79.
Key Concepts:
Oceans as Unifying Regions
Maritime Traditions
Maritime Technologies
Maritime Explorations
Cases:
Indian Ocean
East Asia Trade
Polynesia Trade and Exploration
West Africa
New World
Mediterranean Europe
Northern Europe
W SEPT 26: Integration of World Ecosystems
Read: Alfred W. Crosby, Jr., The Columbian Exchange: The Biological
Consequences of 1492 (Westport, CT, 1972), 3-63; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World
History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 116-117.
Key Concepts:
Integration of Disease Environments
Ecological Exchange of Flora and Fauna
Cases:
Africa
Americas
Eurasia
TH SEPT 29: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP III / DUE AT 12 NOON
Discuss the strengths and limitations of demography and ecological exchange as
themes in early modern world history.
F SEPT 28: Iberian Empires
Read: McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 172-192; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford
Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 118-119, 120-121, 122-123.
Key Concepts:
Protection Rents
Monetary Systems
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Inflation
Mercantilism
Multiplier Effects
Cases:
Portuguese Empire
Spanish Empire
West Africa
M OCT 1:
The Gunpowder Revolutions
Read: Carlo Cipolla, Guns, Sails, and Empires: Technological Innovation and the
Early Phases of European Expansion, 1400-1700 (New York, 1965), 132-148; McNeill and
McNeill, Human Web, 192-200; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise
Edition (New York, 2002), 134-135, 140-141, 158-159.
Key Concepts:
Gunpowder Revolution
Cases:
Europe after feudalism
Ottoman Empire
Japan
Tropical Africa
Russia
W OCT 3:
European Capitalism and the South Atlantic System
Read: David T. Courtwright, Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the
Modern World (Cambridge, MA, 2001), 9-30; McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 200-212;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 124125, 126-127, 128-129.
Key Concepts:
joint-stock companies
sugar cane plantation template
New World patterns of social and economic organization
Cases:
southern European powers
northwestern European powers
the Dutch seaborne empire
the African slave trade
TH OCT 4:
SHORT PAPERS / GROUP I / DUE AT 12 NOON
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Discuss the significance of innovation in military and agricultural technologies in
the period 1500-1750.
F OCT 5:
Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce
Read: Anthony Reid, “A Religious Revolution,” in Southeast Asia in the Age of
Commerce 1450-1680 (New Haven, 1993), 132-201; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World
History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 118-119, 130-131.
Key Concepts:
subregional patterns
geographical constraints
Cases:
mainland and island SE Asia
Dutch rule on Java
Spanish rule in the Philippines
M OCT 8:
Expansion Into the Continental Interiors, Part I
Read: R. Elphick and V. C. Malherbe, “The Khoisan to 1828” in Elphick and
Giliomee (eds.), The Shaping of South African Society, 1652-1840 (1989), 3-65 but particularly
3-28; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002),
148-149.
Key Concepts:
processes and patterns of expansion
Cases:
the Bandeirantes
the sugar mill complex and its hinterlands
gold mining and Minas Gerais
the horse on the Great Plains of North America
the South African frontier: Khoikhoi, trek boer, and Xhosa
W OCT 10:
South Asia in the Age of Commerce
Read: Irfan Habib, “Merchant Communities in Precolonial India,” in James D.
Tracey (ed.) The Rise of Merchant Empires (Cambridge, 1990), 371-399; Patrick K. O’Brien,
Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 142-143, 144-145.
Key Concepts:
South Asian patterns of diversity
merchant capitalism
Cases:
Mughal Empire in northern India
Safavid Empire in Persia
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Hindu major states in northern India: Rajput, Maratha
Hindu major state in southern India; Vijayanagar
Bhakti (Hindu), Sufism (Islam), Sikhism
British East India Company
TH OCT 11: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP II / DUE AT 12 NOON
Discuss the comparative significance of capital in South Asia and the South
Atlantic.
F OCT 12:
The Trades in African Slaves
Read: Roland Oliver, The African Experience (New York, 1991), 116-129;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 136137.
Key Concepts
racial and abolitionist ideas about African life
horse/slave cycle
gun/slave cycle
Cases:
influence of Atlantic trade on Africa
Afro-European trading communities
influence of African trade on the Atlantic economies
M OCT 15:
MID-TERM EXAMINATION
W OCT 17:
Warfare and Revolution in the Atlantic Basin, 1776-1804
Read: John Thornton, “‘I am the Subject of the King of Kongo’: African Political
Ideology and the Haitian Revolution,” Journal of World History, vol. 4, no. 2 (1993), 181-214;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 164165, 166-167.
Key Concepts:
Atlantic revolutions
political ideologies
Themes
distinctiveness of North American British colonies
Seven Years War, 1756-1763
social conservatism and political radicalism
links between American Revolution and French Revolution
Haitian revolution
TH OCT 18: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP III / DUE AT 12 NOON
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Discuss the strengths and limitations of considering the American, French, and
Haitian revolutions as linked phenomena.
F OCT 19:
Class Rescheduled to show the film Battle of Algiers
Two Options: W DEC 5 at 7PM or TH DEC 6 at 7PM in LV100
FALL BREAK
W OCT 24:
Warfare and Revolution in the Atlantic Basin, 1808-1824
Read: Philip D. Curtin, The World and the West (New York, 2000), 73-91;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 172173, 190-191.
Key Concepts:
decline of empire
distinctive outlines of Latin American demography
Cases:
Spanish colonies and their relations with Spain
Napoleonic conquest of Spain, 1808
three movements for political independence
caudillos and rural-urban political patterns
TH OCT 25: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP I / DUE AT 12 NOON
Compare the political movements for independence in Spanish America with
either the American or Haitian movements for independence.
F OCT 26:
Early Industrial Revolution and Changing Patterns of Empire
Read: Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore (New York, 1987), 19-42; McNeill and
McNeill, Human Web, 213-229; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise
Edition (New York, 2002), 168-169, 170-171.
Key Concepts:
second expansion of Europe
plural societies
occupation and administrative rule
indirect rule
Cases:
agricultural revolution in Britain
cotton cloth mechanization
urbanization
M OCT 29:
Slavery, Abolition, and Indentured Labor
Read: J. F. Ade Ajayi, "Samuel Ajayi Crowther of Oyo," in P. D. Curtin (ed.)
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Africa Remembered (Madison, 1967), 289-316.
Key Concepts:
Slave systems
Abolitionism
Cases:
Roman and Islamic large-scale slave systems
South Atlantic slave systems
Quakers and abolitionism
British abolitionism
evolution of slavery in Russia
rise of the coolie trades from India and China
W OCT 31:
South Asia in the Nineteenth Century
Read: Dennis O. Flynn and Arturo Giráldez, “Cycles of Silver: Global Economic
Unity Through the Mid-Eighteenth Century,” Journal of World History, vol. 13, no. 2 (2002),
391-428 [Colby library journals internet]; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History.
Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 194-195.
Key Concepts:
trade balances and bullion flows
tax farming
Cases:
zamindars and Mughal overlordship
collapse of the Mughal Empire
British East India Company conquests and administrative policies
Dalhousie and the Indian Mutiny (1857-1858)
government reforms and Indian nationalism
TH NOV 1:
SHORT PAPERS / GROUP II / DUE AT 12 NOON
Compare and contrast the role of slavery and indentured servitude in the period
1600-1850.
F NOV 2:
East Asia in the Nineteenth Century
Read: Eric Jones, Lionel Frost, and Colin White, Coming Full Circle: An
Economic History of the Pacific Rim (Boulder, CO, 1993), 58-75; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford
Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 198-199, 200-201.
Key Concepts:
triangular trade
unequal treaties
Cases:
failure of British mission to China (1793)
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rise of the triangular trade
Opium War
Meiji Restoration (1868)
industrialization of Japan
M NOV 5:
Southeast Asia and the South Pacific in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries
Read: I. C. Campbell, “Culture Contact and Polynesian Identity in the European
Age,” Journal of World History, vol. 8, no. 1 (1997): 29-55; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of
World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 196-197.
Key Concepts:
ecological and political patterns
frontier zones and buffer zones
Cases:
the three Burma and British Indian wars
the French in Vietnam
the case of Siam
economic transformation of SE Asia: rubber, tin, and rice
the European occupation of the Pacific
W NOV 7:
Expansion Into the Continental Interiors, Part II
Read: James R. Scobie, Argentina: A City and A Nation, (Oxford, 1971), 112135; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002),
182-183, 192-193, 202-203.
Key Concepts:
new patterns of expansion
Cases:
Russian expansion in the Central Asian grasslands
the case of the Kazakhs
Boer and British expansion in South Africa
the Mfecane of Shaka Zulu
the North American frontiers: mining and agriculture
the collapse of Native American resistance
TH NOV 8:
SHORT PAPERS / GROUP III / DUE AT 12 NOON
Compare and contrast the impact of European expansion in Asia and the Pacific.
F NOV 9:
Industrial Competition and European Scramble for the Tropical World
Read: McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 230-267; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford
Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 204-205. 206-207, 208-209.
Key concepts:
social change and urbanization
transport revolution
13
industrial competition
Cases:
new industries: steel, chemicals, and electricity
out-migration from Europe
the scramble for Africa
medical and military advantages
M NOV 12:
Varieties of Non-western Resistance to European Expansion
Read: Terence Ranger, “Plagues of Beasts and Men: Prophetic Responses to
Epidemic in Eastern and Southern Africa,” in Terence Ranger and Paul Slack (eds.), Epidemics
and Ideas (Cambridge, 1992), 241-268.
Key Concepts:
millennial movements
blendings of religious idioms
cultural renewal
Cases:
Sioux Wars
Ghost Dance
Battle of Wounded Knee
Xhosa cattle-killing 1856-57
Maji Maji rebellion in Tanganyika
Ngoni, Swahili
W NOV 14:
Defensive Modernization: The Cases of Turkey and Egypt
Read: Peter N. Stearns, The Industrial Revolution in World History (Boulder,
1998), 99-131; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York,
2002), 178-179, 200-201.
Key Concepts:
defensive modernization
international debt
Cases:
Ottoman loss of control over its provinces
Napoleonic conquest of Egypt
Muhammad Ali’s modernizing reforms
the collapse of Egyptian modernization
Turkish efforts at defensive modernization
Young Turks
the reforms of Mustapha Kemal (Ataturk)
TH NOV 15: SHORT PAPERS / GROUP I / DUE AT 12 NOON
Compare the impact of industrialization on Japanese, Russian, and European
peoples.
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F NOV 16:
Capitalism and Ecological Change
Read: J. N. Hays, The Burdens of Disease (New Brunswick, 1998), 178-211;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 208209, 210-211.
Key Concepts:
biome conversion
integration of ecological zones
Cases:
kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka / Ceylon
rinderpest and the scramble for Africa
influenza and HIV
rapid demographic growth
M NOV 19:
New Agricultural and Mining Frontiers
Read: Adam McKeown, “Global Migration: 1846-1940,” Journal of World
History, vol. 15, no. 2 (2004), 155-189; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History.
Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 206-207.
Key Concepts:
apartheid
Cases:
diamonds and gold in South Africa
Transvaal and Orange Free State
Cecil Rhodes
origins of apartheid
copperbelt in central Africa
white highlands
T NOV 20:
SHORT PAPERS / GROUP II / DUE AT 12 NOON
In what senses were the agricultural and mining frontiers of the nineteenth century
different from earlier frontiers?
THANKSGIVING BREAK
M NOV 26:
The Crisis of Industrialism and Global Warfare
Read: McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 268-298; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford
Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 216-217, 218-219, 220-221, 222223, 228-229.
Key Concepts:
nationalism and social change
global economic depression
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Cases:
the Versailles Treaty
international finance
fascism and economic crisis
communism and economic crisis
W NOV 28:
Arab and Asian Colonies and the End of Empire
Read: McNeill and McNeill, Human Web, 298-318; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford
Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 224-225, 246-247, 248-249, 250251.
Key Concepts:
global warfare and the weakening of empire
post-war bipolar world
colonial movements toward independence
Cases:
division of Ottoman and German empires
India, Indonesia, and Vietnam
the Maghrib (Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria)
F NOV 30:
African Colonies and the End of Empire
Read: Philip D. Curtin et al., African History: From Earliest Times to
Independence (Boston, 1995), 513-530; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History.
Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 256-257.
new classes of leadership
Nkrumah, Senghor, Houphouet-Boigny, Kenyatta
new working class consciousness
Mau Mau in Kenya
British and French colonies / first wave of independence
Portuguese colonies / second wave of independence
the thirty-years war in southern Africa
M DEC 3:
The Oil Economy
Read: Alfred W. Crosby, Jr., Children of the Sun (New York, 2006), 126-146;
Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition (New York, 2002), 260261, 272-273, 280-281.
T DEC 4:
SHORT PAPERS / GROUP III / DUE AT 12 NOON
What are the principal differences between the African and Asian independence
movements?
W DEC 5:
Course Evaluations
Conflict and Global Culture During and After the Cold War
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Read: Robert Strayer, “Decolonization, Democratization, and Communist
Reform: The Soviet Collapse in Comparative Perspective,” Journal of World History, vol. 12,
no. 2 (2001), 375-406; Patrick K. O’Brien, Oxford Atlas of World History. Concise Edition
(New York, 2002), 236-237, 244-245, 252-253, 254-255, 262-263.
Key Concepts:
rise of Islamic fundamentalism
global tide of consumerism
electronic communications revolution
Cases:
Russia
Afghanistan
Iraq
W DEC 5:
FILM: Battle of Algiers at 8PM in Lovejoy 215
Read: Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962 (New York,
2006), 183-207.
TH DEC 8:
FILM: Battle of Algiers at 8PM in Lovejoy 215
Read: Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962 (New York,
2006), 183-207.
F DEC 7:
REVIEW SESSION and FILM DISCUSSION