Course schedule

Monday Aug. 31

Course introduction

Samuel Murray

No reading assigned

Wednesday Sep. 2

What is a civilization?

• Huntington, 'The Clash of Civilizations?' - opening argument through 'Why Civilizations Will Clash' (excerpt, pp. 1-8)PDF

Friday Sep. 4

The geography of civilizational thinking

Samuel Murray

• Huntington, 'The Clash of Civilizations?' - 'Fault Lines Between Civilizations' through 'Implications for the West' (excerpt, pp. 9-29)PDF
• Hall, 'The West and the Rest'PDF

Monday Sep. 7

Labor Day

No class

Wednesday Sep. 9

Who defines the West?

• Said, 'The Clash of Ignorance'PDF
• Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors - propositions 15-18 and 77-80 (selected handout)PDF

Friday Sep. 11

Catholicism confronts modernity

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• McGreevy, Catholicism, chs. 1-3PDF

Monday Sep. 14

The Great Divergence and the Age of Revolution

Luz Colpa

• Pomeranz, The Great Divergence, pp. 1-27PDF
• Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, pp. 1-27Required text

Wednesday Sep. 16

The Great Divergence and the Age of Revolution

• Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, pp. 27-53Required text
• Beyond Huaxia, episode 23: 'The Great Divergence'Audio

Friday Sep. 18

Lecture topic to be announced

• Patterson, 'The Constituent Elements of Slavery'PDF

Monday Sep. 21

Global slavery

Luz Colpa

• Ahmad Baba, 'Can Muslim States Enslave Muslims?'Web
• Gyasi, Homegoing, ch. 1Required text

Wednesday Sep. 23

Slavery in Africa

• The Code Noir (1685)Web
• Gyasi, Homegoing, ch. 2Required text

Friday Sep. 25

The Haitian Revolution as philosophical event

Samuel Murray

• C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins, preface to the first editionPDF

Monday Sep. 28

Toussaint Louverture and the master-slave dialectic

Samuel Murray

• Constitution of Saint-Domingue (1801)Web
• Toussaint Louverture, 1801 letter to BonaparteWeb
• Toussaint Louverture, letter to Napoleon from Fort de Joux (Sept. 17, 1802), pp. 111-12PDF

Wednesday Sep. 30

The Haitian Revolution

• James, The Black Jacobins, ch. IV, 'The San Domingo Masses Begin' (pp. 79-103 in this PDF)PDF
• Buck-Morss, 'Hegel and Haiti'PDF
• Dubois and Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean - doc. 25, Sonthonax's 'Decree of General Liberty,' and doc. 46, Haitian Declaration of IndependencePDF

Friday Oct. 2

Slavery, reproduction, and gender

Luz Colpa

• Cooper Owens, Medical Bondage, pp. 1-14PDF
• 'Remembering Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology'Web

Monday Oct. 5

Slavery, reproduction, and gender

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• Cooper Owens, Medical Bondage, pp. 89-107PDF

Wednesday Oct. 7

Slavery, reproduction, and gender

• Simpson, Behind the Sheet - entire playRequired text

Friday Oct. 9

Imperialism

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• McGreevy, Catholicism, pp. 135-155PDF

Tuesday Oct. 13

1898 and the banana republics

Samuel Murray

Monday class schedule

• Butler, War Is a Racket, pp. 3-16PDF

Wednesday Oct. 14

U.S. imperialism in Latin America

• Marti, 'Our America'Web
• García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude - ch. 12 (banana company arrives) and ch. 15 (strike, massacre, and official denial)PDF

Friday Oct. 16

Liberation theology

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• Oscar Romero, selected homiliesWeb
• Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation, chs. 1 and 9 (pp. 3-11 and 83-105)PDF

Monday Oct. 19

Church and the nation-state

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• McGreevy, Catholicism, pp. 156-186PDF

Wednesday Oct. 21

Midterm exam

In class

• Midterm study guideWord

Friday Oct. 23

No lecture

Op-ed due at midnight

Monday Oct. 26

The Mexican Revolution

Samuel Murray

• Azuela, The Underdogs, part I, chs. 1-5PDF
• Constitution of Mexico (original 1917 text) - arts. 3, 27, 123, and 130 (selected pages)PDF

Wednesday Oct. 28

Mestizaje

• Vasconcelos, 'Mestizaje' / The Cosmic Race - complete essay (the original 1925 preface, later ch. 1)PDF
• Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude, ch. IV, 'The Sons of La Malinche'PDF

Friday Oct. 30

Muralism and indigenismo

Samuel Murray

• Mariátegui, Seven Interpretive Essays - 'The Problem of the Indian' and 'Contemporary Literary Currents—Indigenism'PDF

Monday Nov. 2

The social impact of the Industrial Revolution

Luz Colpa

• Marx and Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party, pp. 14-32PDF

Wednesday Nov. 4

Marx and Manet

• Lipton, Alias Olympia, ch. 1 (pp. 1-17) and ch. 3 (pp. 50-62)PDF

Friday Nov. 6

Phlogiston

Samuel Murray

• Priestley, 'An Account of Further Discoveries in Air' - letters to Sir John Pringle and Richard Price (1775)PDF
• Priestley, dedicatory letter from Considerations on the Doctrine of Phlogiston (1796)Web

Monday Nov. 9

What is a scientific revolution?

Samuel Murray

• Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, pp. 1-9, 52-57, 92-101, 147-151, and 156-159PDF

Wednesday Nov. 11

The Chemical Revolution

• Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry - introductionWeb
• Chang, Is Water H₂O?, ch. 1, §§1.1-1.2 (pp. 1-50)PDF

Friday Nov. 13

The Nuremberg Race Laws and the age of eugenics

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• Flaws, 'The Nuremberg Race Laws'Web
• Bergen, War and Genocide, ch. 3, 'From Revolution to Routine: Nazi Germany, 1933-1938' (pp. 69-100)PDF

Monday Nov. 16

Catholic politics in the age of Hitler

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• McGreevy, Catholicism, ch. 8PDF

Wednesday Nov. 18

Nuremberg: Bergen and conspiracy

• Conspiracy (2001) - streaming filmVideo

Friday Nov. 20

Catholic resistance

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• Franz Jagerstatter - introductionCourse file forthcoming

Monday Nov. 23

A Hidden Life - setup

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

No reading assigned

Wednesday Nov. 25

Thanksgiving recess

No class

Friday Nov. 27

Thanksgiving recess

No class

Monday Nov. 30

Vatican II

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

No reading currently assigned

Wednesday Dec. 2

Conscience

A Hidden Life

Friday Dec. 4

The legacy of John Paul II

Kathleen Cavender-McCoy

• McGreevy, Catholicism, ch. 14PDF

Monday Dec. 7

Loving v. Virginia

Luz Colpa

• Pascoe, What Comes Naturally, pp. 1-77Required text

Wednesday Dec. 9

Loving v. Virginia

• Schumaker, Tangled Fortunes, pp. 1-12 and 141-164PDF

Friday Dec. 11

Course debrief

No reading assigned