GISDepartment of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies

As the world becomes an increasingly globalized place, the study of history is more relevant than ever to understand the forces that have shaped our society. This course will chart some of the major political, social, and economic changes that took place in Europe from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century and assess their impact upon the rest of the world. It will adopt a thematic and broadly chronological approach.

The aim of this course is to enable students to reach a deeper understanding of the key events in European History from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century. In doing so they will enhance their ability to think critically about historical events. Students will also develop their interpersonal skills through group discussions in the classroom.

Will be able to gain “DP 1”, “DP 2”, “DP 3”, and “DP 4”.

英語 / English

Classes will be held in both lecture and seminar style. PowerPoint lectures will be followed by small group discussions in which students will compare their answers (written in note form, and submitted to the lecturer on Hoppii, before class) to questions on the assigned readings for each lecture. The discussion findings will then be reported by a member of each group and students from the other groups will be encouraged to contribute to the class discussion. Finally, feedback will be given by the lecturer to each group. Students will also receive individual feedback on Hoppii. Please note that the teaching approach may vary according to which covid threat level we are at.

あり / Yes

なし / No

授業形態/methods of teaching：対面/face to face

※各回の授業形態は予定です。教員の指示に従ってください。

1[オンライン/online]：The Catholic Church, State Building, and Economic Recovery after the Black Death

No region suffered more from the Black Death than western Christendom, and arguably no region made a more spectacular comeback. Europeans responded by creating new political and cultural forms.

2[対面/face to face]：The Renaissance

As Europeans rebuilt after the devastation of the plague, a movement called the Renaissance revived Europe's connections with its Greek and Roman past and produced masterpieces of art, architecture, and other forms of thought.

3[対面/face to face]：Interpreting Visual Evidence: Marking Boundaries, Inspiring Loyalty

The fourteenth century witnessed the emergence of dynastic states across Afro-Eurasia that endured for centuries. Rulers used a careful mixture of privilege and punishment to create a sense of unity among their subjects while at the same time justifying their own right to rule and reinforcing traditional social hierarchies.

4[対面/face to face]：European Exploration and Expansion

By opening new sea-lanes in the Atlantic, European explorers set the stage for a major transformation in world history: the establishment of overseas colonies for the purpose of enriching themselves and their monarchs.

5[対面/face to face]：The Reformation

In sixteenth century Europe frequent warfare centered on purely European concerns, above all on a religious split within the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Reformation.

6[対面/face to face]：Interpreting Visual Evidence seminar: Conflict and Consent

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European overseas empires came into conflict with indigenous societies, decimating the Amerindian population and drafting African slaves to perform labor the remaining Amerindians refused. This resulted in societies in the Americas that initially had extremely pronounced cultural differences.

7[対面/face to face]：Exchanges and Expansions in North America

Although the search for precious metals or water routes to Asia had initially spurred British, French, and Dutch efforts to establish New World colonies, colonizers soon learned that only by exploiting other resources could they generate profits.

8[対面/face to face]：The Slave Trade and Africa

Although the slave trade began in the mid-fifteenth century, only in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries did the numbers of human exports from Africa begin to soar. By 1820, four slaves had crossed the Atlantic for every European. Those numbers were essential to the prosperity of Europe’s American colonies.

9[対面/face to face]：Interpreting Visual Evidence seminar: A World of Goods

As overseas trade generated new wealth, elites displayed this wealth in diverse ways. Ranging from the purely ornamental to the modest and practical, material objects reflected the identities of the people who bought and displayed them, as well as the identities of the producers who made them.

10[対面/face to face]：The Enlightenment in Europe

The Enlightenment was an extraordinary cultural flowering, driven by trade and internal commerce, which blossomed in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This era encompassed broader developments, such as the expansion of literacy, the spread of critical thinking and the decline of religious persecution.

11[対面/face to face]：Consequences of the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment - or, more properly, Enlightenments, as there was much variation across Europe - was a movement with numerous ambivalent consequences, both for religious and political institutions and for Europe’s relationship with the rest of the world.

12[対面/face to face]：Interpreting Visual Evidence seminar: Envisioning the World

Although maps give the impression of objectivity and geographic precision, the arrangement of names and locations, as well as the areas placed at the center and the margins, reveal the mapmakers’ views of the world. In most cultures, official maps located their own major administrative and religious sites at the center of the universe and reflected local elites’ ideas about how the world was organized.

13[対面/face to face]：Revolutionary Transformations and the New Language of Freedom

Late in the eighteenth century, revolutionary ideas spread across the Atlantic world following the trail of Enlightenment ideas about political freedom and reason. The slogans of independence, freedom, liberty, and equality seemed to promise an end to oppression, hardship, and inequities.

14[対面/face to face]：Interpreting Visual Evidence seminar: Framing the Subject

Important currents of Enlightenment thought stressed the autonomy of the individual. Painters sought to capture and reflect an independent, external, stable reality - this in a period before photography. It was a confident but also a self-centered view of the world.

Preparatory study and review time for this class are 2 hours each.
Students are expected to complete weekly reading assignments.

No textbook will be used.
Handouts and reading materials will be provided by lecturer.

Students will receive information about essential reading for this course at the first session.

Marks will be allocated on exercises submitted before class (20%), participation in class (20%), a quiz (20%) and two short essays (40%)

Students will submit exercises on Hoppii before the class. They will also answer a quiz and write two short essays, to ensure that they get continuous feedback about their performance in class during the course.

Please bring reading materials provided by the lecturer together with completed assignments each week to class.

None.