doesn't that just look TOO FUN??
for example . . .
About the Course
This
course explores the history of the modern world since Chinggis Khan. It
focuses on the connections between societies from the time of the
Mongol conquests and the gradual, but accelerating ways in which
connections became ties of inter-dependence. The relations between
societies are what will concern us. The forces pulling the world
together vary from religious to economic, political to intellectual.
These forces bring the world together, but they also create new
divisions. Nowadays, we call this "globalization." That term has tended
to emphasize the drive to worldwide integration; the view of
globalization taken in this course emphasizes disintegration as well as
integration. We will tackle some very basic questions: How do we explain
the staggering wealth of China in the centuries up to 1750, as well as
China's recent ascent? Where did the United States come from, and where
is it headed? What are the significance and legacies of empire in the
world? How have world wars and revolutions shaped the international
system over time? What exactly is globalization, and how does today's
globalization compare with the past? How has the relationship between
humans and nature changed over the centuries?
About the Instructor
Jeremy Adelman
is the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor of Spanish Civilization
and Culture at Princeton University, where he is also the Director of
the Council for International Teaching and Research. Educated at the
University of Toronto, the London School of Economics, and Oxford
University, he combines an interest in global history with Latin
American history. Among his books are Republic of Capital: Buenos Aires and the Legal Transformation of the Atlantic World (1999), Sovereignty and Revolution in the Iberian Atlantic (2006), and a coauthored trend-setting textbook, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of Humankind from Beginnings to the Present (3rd edition, 2011). In 2013, Princeton University Press will publish his Albert O. Hirschman and the Soul of Reform: A Modern Odyssey.
Adelman has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and the Burkhart Fellowship
from the American Council of Learned Societies.
Course Syllabus
- Lecture 1: What is World History?
- Lecture 2: Peoples, Plagues and Plunders
- Lecture 3: Warfare and Motion
- Lecture 4: Conquests
- Lecture 5: The Beginnings of Globalization in the Atlantic Worlds
- Lecture 6: The Beginnings of Globalization in the Indian Ocean Worlds
- Lecture 7: The Worlds that Merchants Made
- Lecture 8: The Seventeenth-Century Crisis
- Lecture 9: Empire and Enlightenment
- Lecture 10: The Wealth of Nations
- Lecture 11: The World in Revolution
- Lecture 12: States and Nations
- Lecture 13: Global Frontiers
- Lecture 14: Empires and Nations
- Lecture 15: Worlds in Motion
- Lecture 16: The Peak of Eurocentrism
- Lecture 17: Retreat of the Elephants
- Lecture 18: The World in 1914
- Lecture 19: Civilization and its Discontents
- Lecture 20: Worlds at War
- Lecture 21: Apex to Aftermath
- Lecture 22: Three World Orders
- Lecture 23: Our Globalization
- Lecture 24: Back to the Future
Recommended Background
Anyone and everyone is welcome to take this class.
Suggested Readings
Although the lectures are designed to be self-contained, we recommend (but do not require) that students refer to the book Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World: From 1000 CE to the Present (Third Edition) (Vol. 2), which was written specifically for this course.
Course Format
This
course is comprised of two lectures per week, which are approximately
50 minutes each, but segmented into parts with short quizzes that will
enable you to engage with the material and check your
understanding. Additionally, the course will feature a “Global Dialogue”
almost every week. These events are opportunities for students who are
taking the course at Princeton to engage in a classroom conversation
about themes and perspectives in world history with a distinguished
historian, and in some cases pairs of scholars, most of whom are members
of the Princeton University faculty. These class discussions will be
recorded and supplement the lectures and readings and they will provide
Coursera students an opportunity to participate in the classroom
activity at Princeton. In advance of each Dialogue, we will invite
students enrolled on Coursera to submit queries on that week’s theme or
perspective via the Coursera platform. Professor Adelman will select
from among these to pose to students and guests as part of the Global
Dialogues held in class. Student work for this course includes 6 short
essays, which will be given at the beginning of every second week in the
course.
Does Princeton award credentials or reports regarding my work in this course?
No certificates, statements of accomplishment, or other credentials will be awarded in connection with this course.
Categories
Humanities
