HUAS90907 - From Western to World Civilization I

Course Description

This three-quarter sequence will examine the roots of World Civilization from its beginnings in the West through its interactions with other cultures up to the present. In Autumn Quarter it will look at its Hellenic and Hebraic origins through the fall of the Roman empire. Winter Quarter will explore the rise of Islam, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to the beginnings of globalization. Spring will move from the French Revolution through imperialism and decolonization to the present. The course will emphasize two major themes: comparative political and social developments, and how to think historically through a common and contested narrative framework. Rather than a survey, this class will use primary documents, supplemented by modern histories, to illuminate the development of World civilization.