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HISTORY 3A: World History from Prehistory to the 8th Century
De Anza College
Spring 2017
Christopher R. Jackson, Ph.D., Instructor
https://sites.google.com/site/chrisjacksonshistory/Home/history-3a
Course Description: What is this new thing called “civilization”? For the vast majority of our history, humans have been content to live in small nomadic groups, living by hunting and gathering. Recently we invented a new way of organizing ourselves, and we are still getting used to it. This course will look at how humans invented different civilizations in different places, and what they all had in common. By examining both primary and secondary sources, we will look at the ancient Mediterranean, Indian, and Chinese societies (among others) and examine the choices people made regarding how to live. We will examine why those early civilizations “fell,” see how civilization spread in Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and then look at the independent civilizations of the Americas. We will try to understand the social, environmental, and geographic conditions of those societies, the impact of culture and individuals on those societies, and place historical development within the context of the social sciences as a whole.
Textbook: Felipe Fernández-Armesto, The World: A History (Penguin Academics, 2011).
Please note that much of the information and instructions in this class will be conveyed via e-mail, so it is imperative that you check your e-mail regularly.
Office Hours: I will hold office hours in L13 Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 pm and by appointment.
Assignments
Primary source analysis papers. These will be devoted to analyzing a primary source or sources available from the course web site. Typed, double-spaced, with citations and a list of works cited (formatted according to MLA style), approximately 700-900 words, to be submitted to the Turnitin website. (See instructions below.) The paper must be submitted by 11:59 pm on the date due. Note: before sending the assignment, you must rename the file in the following format: YourLastnameFirstname-papernumber. Example: JacksonChristopher-paper1. If the file is not properly named, it will not be accepted. If the file cannot be analyzed by Turnitin, it will not be accepted. These assignments will be posted on the class website. Each worth 10 points. For help on MLA formatting, consult the Purdue Owl. You can also download a sample paper here.
Paper #1: The Epic of Gilgamesh (Due April 26th)
Paper #2: Greek and Chinese political philosophy (Due May 24th)
Paper #3: Universal religions (Due June 7th)
Instructions for Turnitin. All papers in this course will be submitted to the instructor via the web service Turnitin. If you do not already have an account with Turnitin, go here to sign up for one. Once you have established an account, follow these instructions to add the class to your account. When you are finished with your paper, and ready to submit it before the due date, follow these instructions for submitting your assignments. The Class ID is 15096759. The password is enkidu (all lower-case). Please use the upload single file method for submitting your assignment, not the cut-and-paste method (which will spoil your formatting).
Quizzes. There will be four 10-question multiple-choice quizzes on the previous week’s reading, as noted on the class schedule indicated below. There are no make-up quizzes. Each worth 5 points.
Team Presentations. There will be team presentations on various empires in the eighth week of the course. Each team will investigate and present one of the following topics, as assigned by the instructor:
Team Cyrus: The Persian Empire
Team Julius: The Roman Empire
Team Roxanne: Alexander the Great’s Empire
Team Shi Huangdi: The Chinese Empire
Each learning team will be assembled by the instructor and given a specific empire on which to research and give a presentation. Each learning team will be autonomous in assigning individual tasks for the presentation. Each team will fill out a “charter” (posted on the class website) that assigns particular tasks to each member of the team (the team manager will send in the charter to the instructor on May 3rd). These tasks include manager, writers, researchers, and presenters. The team should be autonomous, and resolve conflicts by itself. The presentations should include PowerPoint slides or other audio/visual materials intended to help make the team’s point or add pertinent details regarding the empire being investigated.
This will require research outside of the textbook. The team will investigate through primary sources and secondary literature various aspects of each empire, as noted in the team assignments below.
The presentations themselves will take place in class on May 30-31. Each should last approximately 20-30 minutes. Grading for the assignment will be done partly on the quality of the overall team presentation (15 points), and partly through team self-evaluations (5 points), which can be downloaded from the class website, and which are due no later than June 14th. No points will be awarded to a student who does not return the team self-evaluation. Please send an MS-Word document, not a link.
If a team member does not participate in the learning team discussions, meetings, preparation and work, that member will not be allowed to participate in the presentation, and will receive zero points for that assignment.
In researching your empire, you will want to investigate the following points:
· How did the empire come into being? In other words, what was the basis of its power?
· What role did religion play in the creation and administration of the empire (if any)?
· What is distinctive about this empire’s art and culture?
· How were women treated in the empire?
· What does this empire have in common with the other empires of roughly the same time period? How is it different?
· Finally, why did this empire ultimately collapse?
Final exam. The final will be held in class, 9:15-11:15 am on Tuesday June 27th; a study guide will be provided. Worth 30 points.
Grading Policy. Attendance is expected and roll will be taken daily. Students who are routinely absent, late, or playing with their phones will be noted and up to 10% (one letter grade) will be deducted from their final grade. Much of the material on quizzes/exams will be covered in class; you will need detailed notes from lectures to get a good grade.
Please note that the instructor will not initiate any “W” grades; it is your responsibility to drop the course if you choose to do so. The deadline to drop the course is April 22nd. The last day to withdraw with a “W” grade is June 2nd.
Please note that the lowest grade for quizzes may be dropped; thus if you do not take a quiz, or do poorly on one quiz, that grade will be dropped and the grades for the other quizzes will be averaged and substituted for the lowest (or missing) quiz score. Make-up quizzes will not be given, and late analysis papers will not be accepted.
Quizzes: 20% of final grade
Analysis papers: 30% of final grade
Team presentation: 20% of final grade
Final examination: 30% of final grade
Grade Points/Letter Grade Equivalents
(Please note that there is no “C-minus“ grade at De Anza.)
Note that plagiarism, as well as other forms of cheating, will not be tolerated at De Anza. Please see the Student Handbook section on academic integrity. http://www.deanza.edu/studenthandbook/academic-integrity.html
Course Schedule
Week 1: (April 10-13) The Peopling of the Planet
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 1.
Please note that there are several translations of The Epic of Gilgamesh on line. The following is a good translation, but it has commercial links in it. If you use a different translation, please provide the correct citation.
The Epic of Gilgamesh: http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/
Week 2: (April 17-20) Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 2.
Quiz #1 in class covering chapter 1 April 20th.
Week 3: (April 24-27) The River Civilizations
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap.3.
Paper #1 due April 26th by Turnitin.
Week 4: (May 1-4) Ambition and Instability of Early Civilizations
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap.4.
Quiz #2 in class covering chapters 2 and 3 May 4th.
Team Charter due May 3rd.
Week 5: (May 8-11) Rebuilding the World
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 5.
Week 6: (May 15-18) The Axial Age
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 6.
Quiz #3 in class covering chapters 4 and 5 May 18th.
Week 7: (May 22-25) The Great Empires
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 7.
Paper #2 due May 24th by Turnitin
In-class work for presentations May 25th.
Week 8: (May 30-June 1) Postimperial Worlds
(No class on Memorial Day)
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 8.
Quiz #4 in class covering chapters 6 and 7 June 1st.
Team Presentations in class May 30th and 31st.
Week 9: (June 5-8) The Rise of World Religions
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chaps.9
Paper #3 due June 7th by Turnitin
Week 10: (June 12-15) Innovation on the Frontiers
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chaps.10
Team Evaluation due June 14th
Week 11: (June 19-22) Conclusions
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap.10.
Final Exam: June 27, 9:15-11:15 a.m.
History 3A Spring 2017 Due Dates
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