WORLD HIST AFTER 1500-CLIO - 21771 - HIST 05120 - 2
Instructor: David R. Applebaum, Ph.D.
Class Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:45-3:00 – Robinson 323
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 12:30-1:30 and by appointment
Required Books
Eric Wolf, Europe and the People Without History (University of California Press,
1982).
Catalina de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun: Diary of a Basque Transvestite in the New
World (Beacon Press, 1997).
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Norton
Press, 2000).
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, This Earth of Mankind (Penguin, 1996).
Tong Shen, Almost a Revolution: The Story of a Chinese Student’s Journey from
Boyhood to Leadership in Tiananmen Square (Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1998).
Chalmers Johnson, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire
(Holt Paperback, 2004).
Course Goals

Read, analyze and critique secondary and primary source materials.

Think analytically about continuity and change, convergences and
divergences in World History.

Assess the interplay between “means” and “ends” in the development
of World History.

Evaluate the interplay and relationships of gender, race and class in
World History

Demonstrate knowledge and understandings of different and opposed
theories about the causes and effects of change in World History

Present ideas orally in a clear, concise and coherent manner

Engage with one another in debates about the meaning and
significance of the past.

Write well organized historical essays that demonstrate your ability to
evaluate and use evidence to illustrate and illuminate your knowledge
and understanding of World History.
1
Proposed Assessments and Evaluations
There will be a series of three “pass-fail” writing assignments, designed to
develop skills in critical reading of a) primary source texts, b) historical
images (including maps) and c) quantitative data. These assignments will
used in your first take-home essay.
1. Take Home Midterm: Lieutenant Nun and the Spanish Empire - 20%
(5-7 pages)
2. Take Home Midterm: Olaudah Equiano, Enslavement and the
Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions - 20% (5-7 pages)
3. Take Home Midterm: Toer, Indonesia and the Struggle for
Decolonization – 20% (5-7 pages)
4. Final Research Essay:
Contemporary Historical Problems of
Globalization - Problems of Empire since 1945 30% (8-10 pages)
5. Optional Spring Break Essay – Enslavement in Indonesia and China
(Students who select this option can use it as a replacement for one of
the two first essays.)
University Attendance Policies
The student is responsible for all assignments and announcements made in class. If the
student is absent for any reason, the student is expected to be aware of any assignments
and/or announcements, and to keep up with the class work. Attendance will be taken
at all classes. The student is expected to attend all classes. A student who has more
than 4 absences may result in an average being lowered by one full grade.
Students with Special Needs
If you have a learning disability and need accommodation for any reason, please advise me
during the first week of the term. Appropriate accommodations will be arranged, but
adequate lead-time is essential. If testing is involved, extended time is provided through
the test center in the Savitz Hall and the Office of Student Affairs.
Academic Integrity and Honesty
All members of the Rowan community are responsible for understanding what
constitutes academic dishonesty; upholding academic integrity standards and
encouraging others to do likewise; and knowing the procedures, rights and
obligations involved in the Academic Integrity Policy. Academic dishonesty, in
any form, will not be tolerated. Students who commit an act of academic
dishonesty are subject to disciplinary sanctions up to and including expulsion
from the university.
2
Plagiarism
What is Plagiarism and Why is it Important?
In college courses, we are continually engaged with other people’s ideas: we
read them in texts, hear them in lecture, discuss them in class, and
incorporate them into our own writing. As a result, it is very important that
we give credit where it is due. Plagiarism is using others’ ideas and words
without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.
How Can Students Avoid Plagiarism?
To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use
another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;
any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of information—
that are not common knowledge;
 quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or
 paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.


Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml (Accessed,
August 24, 2009.)
3
Schedule of Reading, Research and Writing Assignments
NOTE: Readings should be completed before the date scheduled for discussion.
Research requirements are to be completed and turned in on the date listed.
Writing assignments are due on the date listed.
Reading
January 19
January 21
January 26
Syllabus
Wolf – 1-2
Wolf – 3-4
January 28
February 2
Wolf – 5
Lt. Nun
February 4
February 9
Garber
Scholarly
Article(s)
Wolf – 6-7
Equiano –
Text (all)
Equiano –
Context
(Selections
February 11
February 16
February 18
February 23
February 25
March 2
March 4
March 9
March 11
March
16
March
18
Writing
Articles on
Blackboard
Image
Analysis
Data Analysis
Document
Analysis
First Essay
Historiography of
capitalism and
slavery.
Piracy and Terrorism
Second Essay
Spring
Human Capital, Slavery and
Low Rates of Economic and
Population
Growth in Indonesia, 16001910
Break
Slaves and Forms of Slavery
in Late Imperial China
(Seventeenth to Early
Twentieth Centuries)
March 23
Wolf – 8
March 25
Wolf – 9
Reaction
Papers (PassFail)
4
Sugar Plantations in
Java
March 30
Begin Toer
Wolf – 10
Fugitive women: Slavery and
social change in
early modern Southeast Asia
April 1
Continue
Toer
"Read All about It":
The Press and the
Rise of National
Consciousness in
Early TwentiethCentury Dutch East
Indies Society
Toer, Mao and China
Remembering
History, W/Righting
History
April 6
April 8
April 13
April 15
April 20
April 22
April 27
April 29
May 4
May 6
Complete
Toer
Johnson and
Shen
(Choices
and
Decisions by
the Glass)
Wolf - 11
Wolf – 12
Finals
Week
Third Essay
Research
Essay
Peer
Assessment
5
Model of Welfare Capitalism?
The United States Rubber
Company in Southeast Asia,
1910–1942. (A Business
History Defense of Policies and
Practices)