History 436 EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM IN THE MODERN WORLD
Professor Heather Streets
Washington State University
MWF 10:10-11:00
email: streetsh@wsu.edu
Course Description:
European imperialism profoundly altered social, political, and economic relationships all over the Earth. Yet these changes were not simply unidirectional from a European "center" to a colonial "periphery": rather, the colonial encounter was as critical to the growth and development of Europe as it was for colonized regions themselves. In this course, we will focus on the impact and experience of European imperialism on world economies, societies, and ideologies in both Europe and the colonies. Through readings, written responses, class discussion, and group projects, we will focus on the growing global connectedness of the world s populations, governments and economies under European imperialism, and the consequences of conquest and colonial rule.
Required Readings:
Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology and Ideologies of Western Dominance (1989)
Alice Conklin and Ian Christopher Fletcher, European Imperialisms 1830-1930 (1999)
Scott Cook, Colonial Encounters in the Age of High Imperialism (1996)
Rudyard Kipling, Kim (1901)
Adam Hoschild, King Leopold s Ghost (1998)
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1963)
Reserve Readings, available for purchase at the Copy Center
Requirements and Grades:
In-class Participation: 20%
E-mail discussion: 35%
Research papers: 25%
Group Presentations based on the research papers: 20%
Note that participation in one form or another is the foundation of this course, and accounts for 55% of your total grade. THIS IS NOT A LECTURE COURSE the success of this course will depend in large part on how much you as students put into it. For this reason, attendance and active participation are REQUIRED, and students will be evaluated on participation daily. For further explanation of participation and e-mail guidelines, see the attached information sheet.
The last two weeks of this course will be devoted to group presentations of research projects. While all papers will be individual creations, related themes will be grouped and presented together.
Group presentations-You will be evaluated both on your overall performance as a group, and on written evaluations of both your own contribution to the group and of the other members.
January 11, 13, 15
Monday: Introduction
Wednesday: *Woodruff Smith, Ch. 1
Friday: *Hobson, "Imperialism," *Lenin, "Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism," *Robinson and Gallagher, "The Imperialism of Free Trade."
sign up for group projects
January 20, 22 European imperialism before 1800
Wednesday: Adas, Chapter 1
Friday: Adas, Chapter 2
January 25, 27, 29 Slavery and the Slave Trade
Monday: *Black Jacobins, ch s 1-2.
Wednesday: *James Walvin, "A Taste of Empire, 1600-
1800," *The Strange Tale of Olaudah Equiano
Amistad clip
Friday: * Stavrianos, Ch. 10
Meet in groups
February 1, 3, 5 Industrialization and its consequences
Monday: *Woodruff Smith, Ch. 3
Wednesday and Friday: Adas, Ch. 3 "Global Hegemony and the Rise of Technology as the Main Measure of Human Achievement."
February 8, 10, 12 The Civilizing Mission
Monday: Adas, Ch. 4. "Attributes of the Dominant: Scientific and Technological Foundations of the Civilizing Mission."
Wednesday and Friday: Part II in Alice Conklin
Friday: Paper topic with bibliography due
February 17, 19 British India
Wednesday: Scott Cook, ch. 6
Friday: Kim, Introduction
Film: Heat and Dust
Group conferences in my office
February 22, 24, 26 British India, cont.
Monday-Friday: Kim
Group conferences in my office
March 1, 3, 5 Gender, Race, and Imperialism
Monday: Adas, ch. 5
Wednesday: Chapter 7 of Scott Cook
Friday: Part III of Alice Conklin
Film: Chocolat
March 8, 10, 12 The Imperial Relationship
Monday: *Ashis Nandy, Psychology of Colonialism
Wednesday: * Said, "Knowing the Oriental."
Friday: Part IV of Alice Conklin.
Annotated bibliography and outline due
March 22, 24, 26 The New Imperialism
Monday: Scott Cook, Ch. 1 on African Partition
Wednesday: Scott Cook, ch. 2 on the Belgian Congo
Friday: Begin Hoschild
Meet in groups
March 29, 31, April 2 The African Congo
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Hoschild
April 5, 7, 9 Nationalism
Monday: Part V of Alice Conklin
Wednesday: *Kwame Nkrumah
Friday: *Gandhi
Rough drafts for peer review due
April 12, 14, 16 Decolonization
Monday: *Woodruff Smith, Chapter 8
Wednesday and Friday: Frantz Fanon, "Concerning
Violence"
Film: Overseas
April 19, 21, 23 Group Presentations
April 26, 28, 30 Group Presentations
E-Mail Discussion Group Expectations and Ground Rules
Subscription:
In order to post to the discussion group, you must have a valid WSU e-mail address AND you must subscribe to the group. All WSU students have access to free e-mail: if you do not yet have an e-mail address and need help setting one up, you can obtain help by going to the HelpDesk at the IT building, or by calling 5-HELP.
To subscribe to the group, you must send an e-mail message, using your own account, to:
listproc@listproc.wsu.edu
Leave the subject area blank, and in the text of the message, type:
subscribe hist436 firstname lastname
After you have done this, you should soon receive a welcome message via e-mail telling you that you are subscribed.
To post to the list, you must send your messages to:
hist436@listproc.wsu.edu
Postings must be submitted by 6:30 p.m. the day before class, ie. 6:30 Sunday evening, Tuesday evening, and Thursday evening in order to get credit for the posting.
The first posting is due Thursday, January 14 by 6:30 p.m. Specific questions and responses will be detailed in class Wednesday.
Grading:
Your postings will be evaluated in three ways, 1) whether you have done them consistently over the course of the semester (you will be allowed three, and only three, unexcused "absences" from the postings), 2) whether you have addressed the issues I have asked you to address, when applicable, and 3) whether your postings are thoughtful and intelligent. Superficial postings will be given the evaluation they deserve.
Rules:
Students are encouraged to respond to one another s postings, and disagreements are fine, but all postings must be written respectfully there will be no flaming on this list.
You should keep a hard copy of all of your submissions, just in case there is a problem with the listproc and postings are lost.
Anyone who experiences problems with the list needs to let me know right away.
Copyright 2000 Project South Asia and Heather Streets. May be copied for educational purposes only. Commercial use is prohibited without permission of Heather Streets.