Course Description

Welcome! This site is for students, parents, teachers and anyone else interested in the tenth-grade World History 2 Course at Santa Fe Prep.

The overall course covers the history of the world from roughly 1500 to the present. The first quarter opens with the time when Asia was the center of world affairs, then traces European encounters with Asia and the Americas, and the complex interactions and consequences of the so-called "Columbian Exchange" between Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The first quarter ends with a survey of the European Renaissance and Reformation, in both its local and global dimensions. The second quarter will focus on the rise of absolute monarchies and new ideas and practices, especially with the scientific revolution and Enlightenment. The second quarter ends with assessments of the legacies of the French Revolution, Napoleon and the emergence of the British Empire. The third quarter starts with the implications of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars in the wake of the Congress of Vienna, i.e., the discourse on rights, reaction, revolution and reform, the rise of new ideologies, in particular, Classical Liberalism, nationalism, and romanticism, and conservative reactions to the changes wrought by the American and French Revolutions. The course then examines the rise of industrialization and social change in 19th-century Europe, and the emergence of middle and working class cultures, followed by new iterations of liberalism and conservatism, the proliferation of more ideologies, e.g., socialism, communism, ultranationalism, social Darwinism, and antisemitism. Then the course examines the unification of the Italian and German nation states, and the creation of the modern welfare state. From there the course traces the rise of a new wave of Western imperialism, followed by the rest of the world's reactions to the rise of European empires and ideas, and in particular, the emergence of industrial Japan and their surprising victory over Russia. The third quarter ends with the outbreak of the First World War. The fourth and final quarter surveys the effects of the First World War, followed by the brief peak of classical liberal nation states and promises for peace, and the rapid rise of authoritarianism, in both communist and fascist variations, with a special focus on the rise of Nazism, the Nazi racial transformation of Germany and the Holocaust and Shoah of modern Europe. The fourth quarter concludes by looking at the causes and effects of the Second World War, the Cold War, the end of European empires in Asia and Africa, the emergence of the Modern Middle East and China, the end of the Cold War, history since 1989, all the way to the present, including current events.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

I Am World History


How Am I World History?

Writing Assignment: Respond to the question, "How am I World History"? In other words, how does your life connect with the world, world history or events?

One tip: Refer to your autobiographical questions, "Who am I?", "Where am I from?", "What inspires me?", and "What are my aspirations?" for some ideas (See also handout posted link under Class Readings). So for example, if you say, "I am a soccer player", or "actress", then think about where your style of acting or even the sport of soccer comes from in crafting part of your response. LENGTH: at least 2-3 paragraphs. Final draft DUE by the end of the first week.

Week One Reading Questions: Introductions to Pomeranz/Topik & Mann


Santa Fe Prep
Modern World History
Reading Questions

I.      Questions for the Prologue to Charles Mann, 1493, xxi-xxx.
            1. Where do tomatoes come from (xxi)?

            2. Does it require an explanation that Europeans and their descendants are all
            over the place (xxii)? Does it even matter?


            3. How do historians typically explain Europe's spread across the globe?


            4. How did Alfred W. Crosby explain it?


            5. What is meant by the "Columbian Exchange" and what are the implications of
            this idea for how we study the history of the modern world, or how history
            happens?

                       


            6. What does "transculturation" mean?

            7. What has been the impact of globalization (xxv)? Is there, as Charles Mann
            concludes, "grandeur"?





II. Questions for the Prologue to Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik, The World the Trade Created, xi-xv.
            1. How did China affect the world in the 15th century through its monetary policy?


            2. How did different peoples and cultures respond (xi)?



            3. What is the object of their book (xii)?

           

            4. What do the authors mean about a "Eurocentric teleology", and is it something
            to reject? Why?
           


            5. Are things like markets or history itself inevitable?



            6. What do the authors mean when they say they believe that markets are
            "socially constructed and socially embedded"?



            7. What do they mean that goods have "social lives"(xiii)?



            8. What do they mean when they say they want to avoid a "simple-minded anti-
            imperialism"?

Monday, August 27, 2012

Course Guidelines and Expectations

Format: This course follows the seminar format, which combines student-led discussions, presentations and debates with brief lectures by the instructor. Lectures will provide background, key content and problems to consider. However, the most significant aspect of the class will be group discussions of the readings. Readings will come from a wide variety of materials, and emphasize training in how to identify, interpret and assess the use of primary source materials. Students will also learn how to engage the arguments that historians, scholars and others make in the interpretation of the available historical evidence, in order to formulate their own, informed arguments and opinions, and ultimately, develop their own independent research projects.

Participation: Participation starts with the assumption that both students and instructor come to this class as various kinds of experts and beginners, coming from different perspectives and experience, each with the potential to teach and learn from others in the class. 

Students are expected to prepare the readings assigned for that day’s class. Assigned reading questions will usually accompany the selected readings to help students prepare for discussion. Students should be able to recall the content of the readings, discuss the historical significance of the source materials, identify historians’ arguments from the secondary literature, assess the usefulness of different theoretical and methodological approaches, and contribute to the advancement of class knowledge in as many of these areas as possible.  

Contributions include active listening and note-taking, helping to maintain a respectful and supportive learning environment, asking questions during the lecture or class discussion, leading class in closer readings of assigned materials, offering points for discussion, interpreting and using archival source materials, advancing theoretical, methodological and historical knowledge and/or debating points, and presenting their own research and analysis.  

The instructor will keep records of general attendance, participation, contributions and improvement over the course of the semester, but students are also expected to keep track of their own efforts in this class and offer their own assessments at the end of the semester (see notes on self-evaluation portfolios below). If YOU do not know something, by all means please ASK! Asking helps everyone.

Projects: Students will also follow, as well as chronicle current world affairs, take weekly reading quizzes, write in-class essays on questions from class discussions and document-based questions, develop an independent research project (one in the fall and one in the spring), compose a book review on a book chosen from individual research interests, present findings from research to the class, and take a final final exam (more notes to follow).  Alternative and/or additional projects will be considered, based upon discussion with the instructor and are subject to his approval (more notes to follow).  Students are also expected to submit a final self-evaluation and portfolio at the end of each semester (more notes to follow). 

Materials Needed and Required Readings

Materials Needed: A three-ring binder with divider sections, labeled: 1. Notes (with well-stocked lined paper), 2. Reading Questions, 3. Quizzes, 4. Essays & Document-based Questions, 5. Current Events Chronicles, 6. Independent Research Project & Book Review,  7. Final Exam, and 8. Self-Evaluations & Reflections.

Required Readings for Fall Semester (To be handed out in class):
1. Fall course packets
2. Charles Mann,1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.
3. Kenneth Pomeranz & Steve Topik, The World that Trade Created: Society, Culture & the World Economy.
4. J.M. Roberts, A Short History of the World.
5. Dennis Sherman, Western Civilization: Sources, Images and Interpretations from the Renaissance to the Present.