This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Calendar

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS ASSIGNMENTS VIEWINGS
1
  • Introduction to course. Africa and Interregional Trade before 1500
  • Islam Before 1500 and the Ottoman Empire

Mbemba (Affonso I). "Letters to the King of Portugal" (1526).

Unnamed author. "Letter to the King and Queen of Spain."

 First essay topic distributed. Suleyman the Magnificent
2
  • Mexico, Christendom, and the Iberian Peninsula during the 15th Century
  • The Conquest of the Aztecs
  • Discussion of readings from weeks 1 and 2

Las Casas. Excerpts from In Defense of the Indians (ca. 1548-1550).

Durán. Excerpts from Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar (ca. 1580).

 First essay due. Il Decameron (this film is not in the media office, but is widely available in the foreign film section of large video stores). Warning: this film contains nudity and graphic sexual representations.
3
  • Society and State in East Asia
  • The Entry of Iberians, English, and Dutch into the Indian Ocean and East Asia
  • Discussion

Pereira. "Certain Reports of China…" (1565).

Iemitsu. "The Edict of 1635 Ordering the Closing of Japan," and "Completion of the Exclusion, 1639."

 Responses due. (1) Double Suicide
4
  • The Splintering of Christendom and the European State
  • Science as a Revolution
  • Discussion

Documents on Witchcraft Persecution.

Monter. "Women in the Age of the Reformation," table 8.1.

 Responses due. (2) The Return of Martin Guerre
5
  • Changes in the Land: Colonists and Amerindians in New England
  • The United Kingdom Abroad and Divided at Home
  • Discussion

Locke. Second Treatise of Government (1698).

Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania (1742-1743).

Responses due. (3)

Topic for second essay distributed.

 A Man For All Seasons
6
  • The Invention of Racism, Part I: The Beginnings of the Slave Trade and New World Plantations
  • The Invention of Racism, Part II: The American Paradox of Slavery and Freedom
  • Discussion

Craton. Searching for the Invisible Man: Slaves and Plantation Life in Jamaica.

Optional Book: Brown, Clotel (available electronically at www.knowledgerush.com/books/clotl10a.html). Start with Chapter one--do not need to read the preface or the narrative of life and escape.

 Second essay due. Last Supper
7
  • The French and Haitian Revolutions
  • The French and Haitian Revolutions (cont'd)
  • Discussion

Documents on the French and Haitian Revolutions:

Excerpts from Beik, ed. The French Revolution.

Excerpts from Levy et al., eds. Women in Revolutionary Paris.

Excerpts from Tyson, ed. Toussaint L'Ouverture.

 Responses due. (4) Danton
8
  • The Industrial Revolution and International Trade, British India (1757-1850)
  • Whatever Happened to New World Slavery?
  • Discussion

Documents from British Parliamentary Committees during the Industrial Revolution.

Blake, "Chimney Sweeper," "London," and "The Human Abstract."

 Responses due. (5) Oliver Twist
9
  • The Market of Their Dreams: Economy, Fantasy, and Opium in the Western Assault on China (1800-1840)
  • The Marxist Critique of Capitalism (1840s-1860s)
  • Guest Discussant

Marx. Excerpts from Capital (1867). Vol. 1.

Yataro. "Letter to Mitsubishi Employees" (1876).

 Responses due. (6) Ancestors in the Americas:  Coolies, Sailors, Settlers
10
  • The New Empire: The US Conquest of Native Americans (ca. 1820-1870)
  • The New Empire: US Interventions in Latin America (ca. 1870-1920)
  • The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Parallels with the Anglo-Indian Confrontation
 Casement, Putumayo Report (1911). Responses due. (7) El Norte
11
  • Russia and "Backwardness"
  • Discussion of Week 10 and 11 readings

Turgenev. Fathers and Sons. Chap. 1-10.

Figner. Part I in Five Sisters.

 Responses due. (8) My Childhood
12
  • WWI-WWII
  • Consuming Habits: The Invention of Modern Consumerism and Advertising (1920s-50s)
  • Discussion
 DuBois. "The Concept of Race" (1940), and "The Damnation of Women" (1920). Responses due. (9) Gallipoli and/or Avalon
13
  • State Socialism in the Soviet Union and China
  • Decolonization (1940s-present)
  • Discussion

Lenin. Excerpts from "The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government" (1918).

Haraszti. Excerpts from A Worker in a Worker's State, and "The Culture of Censorship."

 Film project due. Unbearable Lightness of Being and/or

Battle of Algiers and/or

To Live (Huozhe)
14
  • The Cold War (1945-89) and Poverty, Prosperity, and Diversity Today
  • Discussion
 Buchanan. Excerpts from Death of the West.   Cannibal Tours