The Twentieth Century and Beyond: A Global History
MMW 15
Spring 2015
T-Th, 2-3.20
Center Hall 101
Jeremy Prestholdt
Office Hours, Thurs. 5-6
HSS rm. 6085, x4.1996
Welcome to MMW15. In this course we will explore the cultural, economic, political, and
social forces that forged the contemporary world. Over the last one hundred years
trade, migration, communication technologies, and travel have created a world that is
both interconnected and interfaced. The human population has grown exponentially
and we have radically changed our habits, including how we think. These, in turn, have
strained the limited natural resources of the planet, altering the biosphere in decisive
ways. The last one hundred years has seen genocides, two global conflagrations, and
extreme repression. Yet, the century has also seen advances in human freedom,
including liberation from colonial rule and challenges to an array of inequalities. By
addressing multiple themes that have affected all of humanity, we will sketch a history
of planetary change and ask what this history means for our collective future.
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME
I would be delighted to speak with you after class, during my office hours, or by
appointment. You can reach me anytime at jprestholdt@ucsd.edu.
MMW Program website: http://roosevelt.ucsd.edu/mmw/
Required Texts
Andrea Lunsford, Easy Writer. 5th Ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010 with ESL
supplement if purchased at UCSD Bookstore.
Jerry Bentley and Herbert Ziegler, Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on
the Past. 4th ed. Vol. II: 1500-Present. McGraw-Hill, 2008. ISBN: 0077559223.
Course Reader: Available for purchase from University Readers: 800.200.3908. Order
on-line at: https://students.universityreaders.com/store
No Internet Use During Class
This policy is in place for the benefit of your fellow students who may find it
difficult to pay attention to lecture and/or discussion should you use the internet in
class. You are encouraged to use laptops or tablets to take notes during lecture, but
you may not access the internet in the classroom for any reason. Also, you may not
text, make telephone calls, or engage in loud conversation during class. If you engage
in any of these activities, your participation grade will be reduced. This policy is
enforced by the teaching assistants who will inform me of any infractions.
Course Requirements
To pass the course you must satisfy all course requirements; i.e., you must take all
exams, turn in all writing assignments to section instructor and www.turnitin.com. Your
instructors require you to complete assigned readings for the day of lecture;
furthermore, they expect you to come to section prepared to discuss texts, films, and
issues related to the week’s readings and lectures. Section attendance is required,
therefore, your grade will be reduced for each unexcused absence. Three absences
(excused or unexcused) result in a grade of ‘F’ for section; more than three absences
result in a grade of ‘F’ for the course.
In order to fulfill the ERC General Education requirement, MMW 15 must be taken for a
Letter Grade (no Pass/No Pass). You must satisfy all course requirements below in order
to pass the course.
Midterm examination : 20%
Final examination : 35%
Research paper : 35% (see below)
Participation : 10%
Research Paper (detailed breakdown)
Research Question (5%) Week 3
Prospectus (10%), Week 5
Rough Draft (5%) Week 8
Final Paper (15%) Week 10
Academic Integrity: It is your responsibility to know and observe all of the UCSD
rules concerning academic integrity and plagiarism. You should familiarize yourself with
your responsibilities and rights under the UCSD Policy on Integrity of Scholarship
(http://senate.ucsd.edu/Operating-Procedures/Senate-Manual/Appendices/2) and MMW
policies governing academic integrity included in the MMW Program Policies Sheet that is
posted on the MMW Website. Any student found to have committed a substantial
violation of the university rules concerning academic integrity will fail the entire course
and the professor will initiate a charge of academic misconduct that may be noted on
your academic record. A second offense will generally result in suspension or permanent
expulsion from the university. If you have any questions about what constitutes
plagiarism, how to credit the work of others properly, or how to evaluate sources for
quality and reliability and how to avoid it, please talk to your TA and/or me to discuss
the matter.
Office for Student Disabilities: Students requesting accommodations and services for
this course due to a disability must provide a current Authorization for Accommodation
(AFA) letter issued by the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), which is located in
University Center 202 behind Center Hall. Students are required to present their AFA
letters to Faculty (please make arrangements to contact me privately) and to Vilaya
Roberts, the OSD Liaison in the MMW Office, in advance so that accommodations may
be arranged prior to eligibility for requests. Receipt of AFAs in advance is necessary for
appropriate planning for the provision of reasonable accommodations. OSD Academic
Liaisons also need to receive current AFA letters if there are any changes to
accommodations. For additional information, contact the Office for Students with
Disabilities: 858-534-4382 or email: osd@ucsd.edu. OSD Website: disabilities.ucsd.edu.
US-Related topics: A rule for this track of MMW is that you may NOT write a paper
about the US or the territories that became the fifty United States. The actors may
include Americans, but the geographical focus of your research topic must be outside of
the US. So, for instance, you may write about the effects of US imperialism in the
Philippines, but not on the work of policy makers in the US as they dealt with the
Philippines. Similarly, you may write on American missionary work in the Congo, or the
development of their ideas in the Congo, but you may not write on their work in the US.
SCHEDULE OF CLASS MEETINGS
Meetings + Readings
3.31
Introduction
4.02
Connectivity
reader: Edward O. Wilson, “Is Humanity Suicidal?”; Thomas Friedman, “Opening Scene:
The World is Ten Years Old,” The Lexus and the Olive Tree, excerpt; Daniel Yergin,
“Prologue” The Prize, excerpt
4.07
Empire
reader: F.D. Lugard, “The Rise of Our East African Empire”; Rubén Darío, “To
Roosevelt”; Sven Lindqvist, “Bombing the Savages”
online text: M. Gandhi, “Statement from the Great Trial,” http://www.gandhimanibhavan.org/gandhicomesalive/speech3.htm
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 730-754
4.09
World War I
reader: Eric Hobsbawm, “Age of Total War”; Modris Ekstein, “Rites of War”; Woodrow
Wilson, “Fourteen Points and Four Points”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 764-787
RESEARCH QUESTION DUE IN SECTION THIS WEEK
4.14
Revolution
reader: V.I. Lenin, “The Tasks of the Proletarian Revolution” and “Marxism and
Insurrection”; J.V. Stalin, “The Socialist Drive”; John Womack, “Plan de Ayala”, and
“Agrarian Program”; “The League of Nations Mandate for Palestine”
textbook: 802-805, 812-31
4.16
Consciousness
reader: John Maynard Keynes, “The Economic Consequence of Peace”; Sigmund Freud,
“Why War? (Letter to Einstein)”; Albert Einstein, “The World as I see it”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 791-802
4.21
World War Two
reader: Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, excerpt; Hanneh Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A
Report on the Banality of Evil, excerpt
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 835-853
4.23 Resources (The Prize - Episode Four)
reader: Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Farewell Address”; National Security Council, Selections
from “United States Objectives and Programs for National Security”
online text: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
textbook: none
PROSPECTUS DUE IN SECTION THIS WEEK
4.28
Cold War
reader: Winston Churchill, Excerpts from the “Iron Curtain” speech; Henry Luce, “The
American Century”; Mao Zedong, “Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist
Party” and “Combat Liberalism”; Fidel Castro, “Second Declaration of Havana”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 853-861
4.30
Decolonization
reader: Ho Chi Minh, Selected Writings; Nelson Mandela, “An Ideal for which I’m
Prepared to Die”; Kwame Nkrumah, “Neo-Colonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism”
online text: “Palestinian National Charter”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 864-878
5.05 MIDTERM EXAM
no reading
5.07 Inequality
reader: Betty Friedan, “The Problem That Has No Name,” The Feminine Mystique; Gay
Liberation Front, “Manifesto”; Students for a Democratic Society, “The Port Huron
Statement”
online text: Martin Luther King, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
http://www.loveallpeople.org/letterfromthebirminghamcityjail.html
textbook: none
5.12
Population
reader: J.R. McNeill, “More People, Bigger Cities,” Something New Under the Sun;
Richard Atkinson, "The Role of Research in the University of the Future”
textbook: none
Ideology (film: Power of Nightmares, part 2 - Phantom Victory)
reader: Ayatollah Khomeini, “The Uprising of Khurdad”; Osama bin Laden, “America
5.14
‘Filled with Fear’”; Michael Scott Doran, “Somebody Else’s Civil War”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, 879-887
online text: V.S. Naipaul, “Among the Believers”
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/81jul/believers.htm
ROUGH DRAFT DUE IN SECTION
5.19
Neoliberalism
reader: Mikhail Gorbachev, “Speech to the Central Committee”; David Harvey,
“Freedom’s Just Another Word,” A Brief History of Neoliberalism; Timothy Garton Ash,
“Ten Years After”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 890-899
Poverty (film: Black Gold)
reader: Mike Davis, “Planet of Slums”
online text: Adam Hochschild, “Blood and Treasure”
5.21
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/congo-gold-adam-hochschild
textbook: none
5.26
Consumerism
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 900-902
online
texts:
Thomas
Frank,
The
Conquest
of
Cool,
excerpts
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/259919.html; Institute for the Analysis of
Global Security, “How Much Are We Paying for a Gallon of Gas?” http://www.iags.org/
costofoil.html
5.28
Environment
reader: Paul Kennedy, “The Dangers to Our Natural Environment”; “World Scientists’
Warning to Humanity”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 903-913
video: “Rachel Carson: Silent Spring”
http://ahiv.alexanderstreet.com/View/571218
FINAL PAPER DUE IN SECTION
6.02
Globalization
reader: Bruce Mazlish, “A Tour of Globalization”
online text: Samantha Power, “Bystanders to Genocide”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/09/bystanders-togenocide/304571/?single_page=true
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 914-917
video: T-shirt Travels
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/744mEYlHuIU
6.04
Futures
reader: Arundhati Roy, “The New American Century”; Gar Alpervitz, “Another World is
Possible”; Wangari Maathai, “Trees for Democracy”
textbook: Traditions and Encounters, pp. 918-24
film: Why We Fight (available at Geisel Media Desk and streaming)
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, June 9, 3 – 6 pm