UB Comparative Literature -- UGC 112c | World Civilizations

Week 1:
January 16:	Introduction: Inner and Outer Space. The concept of history. The concept of civilization.
January 18:	Andrea & Overfield, The Human Record (4th ed.), ch. 1: Europe in an Age of Conflict and Expansion
Week 2:
January 23:	The Human Record, ch. 2: Africa and the Americas; Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of Guiana (1595) Film: Werner Herzog, Aguirre, Wrath of God (1973)
January 25:	Film: Herzog, Aguirre, Wrath of God
Week 3:
January 31:	Réné Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637), Parts I, II & IV & Meditations II (1639) Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1662) (selections)
February 1:	William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1604)
Week 4:
February 6:	Shakespeare, Hamlet (1604)
February 8:	John Locke, Two Treatises (1690)(excerpts) Women's Rights: Jane Anger, Her Protection for Women Esther Sowernam, Esther Hath Hang'd Haman
Week 5:
February 13:	The Human Record, ch. 3: "The Islamic Heartland and India" Mary Wortley Montagu, Turkish Embassy Letters, 1717-18 (excerpts)
February 15:	The Human Record, ch. 4: "Continuity and Change in East and Southeast Asia"
Week 6:
February 20:	The Human Record, ch. 5: "Europe and the Americas in an Age of Science" Immanuel Kant, "What is Enlightenment?" (1784) Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations. Bk. IV, ch. 2
February 22:	The Human Record, ch. 6: "Africa, Southwest Asia and India"
Week 7:
February 27:	The Human Record, ch. 7: "Equilibrium Found and Lost in East and Southeast Asia"
March 1:	MID-TERM EXAM
March 5-9:	*Spring Break*
Week 8:
March 13:	"Equilibrium Found and Lost in South-east Asia: The Tokugawa Shogunate"
March 15:	Bourgeois Revolutions, 1688-1789: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract, Bks I & II Jefferson et al, "Declaration of Independence "(1776) French Revolution: "Declaration of the Rights of Man" (1789)
Week 9:
March 20:	The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia: The Romanov Tzars, 1610-1917 Peter the Great, Decrees (in The Human Record, ch. 5) Chi'en Lung, "Mandate to George III"
March 22:	Guest lecture: Alla Ivanchikova Georg W. F. Hegel, Reason in History
Week 10:
March 27:	Hegel, Reason in History
March 29:	The Human Record, ch. 8: "The West in the Age of Industrialization and Imperialism" §§ 61-64, 68, 70
Week 11:
April 3:	The Human Record, ch. 9: "Western Pressures, Nationalism and Reform in Africa, Southwest Asia and India in the 1800s" §§ 72, 74-75, 77 Simon Bolivar, The Jamaica Letter (1815) in The Human Record, ch. 5, § 47
April 5:	Guest lecture: Antoine Polgar Lord Macauley, "Minute on Indian Education" (1835) Edward Blyden, Liberal Education for Africans (1881) Froude, The English in the West Indies (1888) J.J. Thomas, Froudacity (1889)
Week 12:
April 10:	The Human Record, ch. 10: "East Asia confronts the West" §§80-84 The Human Record, ch. 7, §58 The Human Record, ch. 9 §78
April 12:	*Guest lecture:* Rares Piloiu World War I: Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Balkans The Human Record, ch. 11: "The Industrialized World in Crisis" Readings to be announced
Week 13:
April 17:	Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Hobson, "Political Significance of Imperialism" (1902)
April 19:	Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Hobson, "Political Significance of Imperialism" (1902)
Week 14:
April 24:	Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Ambiguous Adventure (1961)
April 26:	Kane, Ambiguous Adventure, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, "The Language of African Literature" in Decolonising the Mind (1986)
16-20 April: FINAL PAPER DUE

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Regular attendance and active participation are prerequisites for this class. There will be frequent short quizzes in the recitation sections. In addition there will be a midterm and a final exam.
There is also a final paper of about 5-7 pages.

Syllabus

Course Description