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HISTORY 3A: World History from Prehistory to the 8th Century
DeAnza College
Fall 2015
Christopher R. Jackson, Ph.D., Instructor
https://sites.google.com/site/chrisjacksonshistory/
Chris Jackson's Writing Guidelines
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 Thursdays 4:30-5:30pm 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.
Paper #1: The Epic of Gilgamesh (Due October 9)
Paper #2: Greek and Chinese political philosophy (Due November 6)
Paper #3: Universal religions (Due November 20)
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 10611990. The password is gilgamesh (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 Asoka: The Mauryan Empire
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 October 20th). 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 November 13th. 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 November 20th. No points will be awarded to a student who does not return the team self-evaluation.
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, 7:00-9:00 am on Thursday December 10th; 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 October 4th. The last day to withdraw with a “W” grade is November 13th.
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: (September 25) 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: (October 2) Out of the Mud: Farming and Herding
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 2.
Quiz #1 in class covering chapter 1.
Week 3: (October 9) The River Civilizations
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap.3.
Paper #1 due October 9 by Turnitin
Week 4: (October 16) Ambition and Instability of Early Civilizations
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap.4.
Quiz #2 in class covering chapters 2 and 3.
Week 5: (October 23) Rebuilding the World
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 5.
Week 6: (October 30) The Axial Age
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 6.
Quiz #3 in class covering chapters 4 and 5.
Week 7: (November 6) The Great Empires
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 7.
Paper #2 due November 6 by Turnitin
In-class work for presentations
Week 8: (November 13) Postimperial Worlds
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap. 8.
Quiz #4 in class covering chapters 6 and 7.
Team Presentations in class
Week 9: (November 20) The Rise of World Religions
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chaps.9
Paper #3 due November 20 by Turnitin
Week 10: (November 27—Thanksgiving, no class)
Week 11: (December 4) Innovation on the Frontiers
Reading: Fernandez-Armesto, The World, chap.10.
History 3A Fall 2015 Due Dates
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