HIST 435 Fall, 2008

European Expansion Overseas, 1400-1800

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:35-11:50 VMMC 1  

Prof. Sue Peabody, peabody@vancouver.wsu.edu

Office: Multimedia Building, 202D (360) 546-9647

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00-1:00 and by appointment

Department Number (inclement weather, etc.): (360) 546-9441

Themes

This course looks at the lives of explorers, soldiers, settlers, and missionaries from Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France and England, as well as the people and societies they encountered in the Africa, the Americas, and Asia during 400 years of exploration and colonization. The emphasis will be on how Europeans' expectations, cultures, and institutions shaped what they found in the foreign lands they "discovered," conquered and colonized. We will also analyze how the people native to America, Asia and Africa viewed the European intruders. To what extent was it possible for Europeans to cross cultures  -by "becoming Indian" or for non-Europeans to assimilate into European beliefs and ways of life? We will analyze how these cultural concerns interrelated with the biological, economic, and social realities of the 15th through the 18th centuries.

Required Books (Prices are approximate)

Blussé, Leonard. Bitter Bonds: A Colonial Divorce Drama of the Seventeenth Century 1558762531. $24.95

Clendinnen, Inga. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570, 2^nd ed. 0521527317 $24.99

Dubois, Laurent and John Garrigus, Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents. 0-312-41501-X. $15.95.

Symcox Geoffrey and Blair Sullivan, Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, (Bedford/St. Martin's) 0-312-41021-2. $15.95.

Coursepack: Your required course-packet is being sold online through University Readers (www.universityreaders.com).  See “Assignments,” below, for more information about accessing these materials. $14.28 (optional bound print version costs $ 7.53 extra).

Hammond Historical World Atlas, 0-8437-1391-7 $11.95. An extremely valuable personal reference book. Highly recommended for purchase.

Grades

15% Class Participation (including Attendance)

50% Travel Narrative and 4 Think Questions

15% Preview & Bibliography

20% 8-page Research Paper

To get good grades in this class:

• Come to every class or email the instructor if an unavoidable conflict comes up.

• Complete all reading assignments in time for class, as indicated on syllabus.

• Submit all writing assignments on time.

• Work with the writing center staff to make sure that your papers have a clear thesis and organization.

• Participate in class discussions.

Learning Outcomes

This capstone (T) class is appropriate for all majors and does not require deep prior knowledge of European history. It aims to acquaint students with the major chronology and circumstances of European colonial expansion, 1400-1800, as well as the perspectives of some of the peoples encountered in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. There is a heavy reading load in both primary and secondary sources and significant writing expectations, with ample opportunities to practice revision. A significant portion of class time is devoted to critical discussion of primary and secondary readings. It is absolutely critical that students come to class prepared in order to participate effectively in class discussions. This course helps prepare students to:

History

1. Identify and state problems of historical analysis.

2. Communicate the solutions to the above in words.

3. Understand the difference between fact and interpretation.

4. Recognize the contested nature of evidence and the value of historical scholarly debate.

5. Show awareness of change over time.

6. Be able to place the present in a historically based context.

7. Demonstrate information retrieval skills required for historical research.

General Education

Critical Thinking

1. Define the question or problem and its contextual boundaries.

2. Identify and define key concepts that are the foundation for a line of reasoning.

3. Identify personal beliefs, values, etc. that can be barriers to knowing other belief systems, values, etc.

4. Identify and evaluate underlying assumptions and values such as unstated conceptual and cultural paradigms.

5. Employ symbolic reasoning to interpret and communicate abstract concepts within and across contexts (i.e. cultural, social, political, ethical contexts).

6. Identify the presence of traps and blocks to creative thinking such as perceptual, emotional, or cultural blocks that interfere with the ability to explore, manipulate ideas freely.

7. Select and evaluate evidence as appropriate to the context or situation.

8. Distinguish between fact and opinion.

9. Identify and apply relevant causal relationships, explanations, and/or theory for addressing the problem.

10. Identify contradictions and faulty logic.

11. Evaluate possible alternative perspectives, explanations, and solutions.

Information Literacy

1. Determine the extent and type of information needed.

2. Implement effectively-designed search strategies.

3. Access information effectively and efficiently from computer, print, and human data sources.

4. Assess credibility and applicability of information sources.

5. Use information effectively to accomplish a purpose.

6. Access and use information ethically and legally.

Communication

1. Qualify message by context: Identify how an audience's circumstances, background, values, interests and needs filter messages sent and received.

2. Express concepts, propositions and beliefs in coherent, concise and technically correct form.

3. Choose and use communication medium (visual, written, graphic, audio) effectively.

4. Choose and use communication technologies (ranging from pencil & paper to cell phones and computers) effectively and intentionally.

5. Speak with apparent comfort in front of groups.

6. Listen actively.

Self in Society

1. Critically assess their own core values, cultural assumptions, and biases in relation to those held by other individuals, cultures, and societies.

2. Recognize how patterns & events in the present and past have structured and affected human societies and world ecologies.

3. Critically assess the cultural and social underpinnings of knowledge claims.

Written Assignments

Think Questions

There are seven “Think Questions” listed under “Reading and Writing Assignments,” below. These are designed to make sure that you do the reading and to get you thinking about an issue before a class discussion. During the semester you must submit four (out of seven) short (300-500 word), typed essays that answer the Think Questions. Pace yourself so that you don’t get stuck doing all of them during mid-terms or finals.

The best essays will have a thesis and support it with evidence from more than one reading assignment. Simple parenthetical citations (author, page number) are sufficient for the Think Questions. A bibliography is required only for TQ#2, which is the only assignment where internet-based research is permitted.

Extra Credit

If you submit more than the four required Think Questions, I will either a) replace the lowest grade(s) on previous Think Questions with the new, higher grade (s) or b) add extra points to your class participation grade.

Due Dates

All written assignments are due in class the day listed in the syllabus. Late assignments will be marked down one letter grade for each day that they are late. E.g. An assignment due October 3 that receives a "B" but is submitted on October 4 will receive a final grade of "C." But see "Revisions," next.

Revisions

You may revise and resubmit Think Questions, the preview and the bibliography. If the revised piece is an improvement on the original, the higher grade will replace the lower one. All such revisions are due NO LATER THAN the last day of classes.

Grades

Grades for writing assignments are based on the following criteria:

A = An intelligent, insightful, clear, and well organized essay that shows a sophisticated awareness of historical argumentation (i.e., that history is a written discussion with evidence offered to support a thesis).

B = Mostly correct, well written, this essay is solid but does not sparkle with independent thinking or analysis

C = This essay contains some errors of fact or interpretation and/or numerous stylistic problems

D = This essay does not show evidence of much effort or contains unforgivable errors

F = Usually reserved for plagiarism or for papers that have been submitted several days late

Preview, Bibliography, & Research Paper

The Preview, Bibliography, and Research Paper will all utilize a single travel narrative written by a European between the years 1400 and 1800. The purpose of the paper is to analyze how the traveler’s cultural and personal background shaped his or her perspective when voyaging into unfamiliar territory. What kinds of things did the traveler focus on or omit as a result of his or her upbringing or station in life? How did the author interpret or translate alien practices for readers?

For footnotes and bibliographic form, please use "Chicago Style." For guidance, see: Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, (6th edition, chapter 11, styles "N" and "B"). The WSU-V library and the Writing Lab have several copies. They are also usually on sale at the bookstore. If you don’t own a copy you should seriously consider investing in one.

Be sure to use libraries from 4-year institutions (WSU Vancouver, WSU Pullman, PSU, etc.). If your rely primarily on non-university libraries (e.g. Clark College, Vancouver Public Library), your grade will be correspondingly lower.

The Preview is a short (500 word, typed, double-spaced) essay (with thesis and in paragraph form) answering as many of the following questions as you can, based upon the travelog itself or any introductory material. At the top of the page, write a complete bibliographic citation of the book you have chosen (i.e., author, title, place of publication, publisher, date) in standard bibliographic form (e.g. see Turabian, A Manual for Writers..., 6th edition, 11.3, B, on permanent reserve in the Library: LB2369 .T8 1996).

Who wrote the book?

When did the author live?

What are the circumstances of the author's life? (E.g. profession, class, age when book was written, nationality, religion)

What are the circumstances of the author's travel? Where did he or she go? Why?

How might the author's circumstances shape, limit, or bias his or her observations?

In what ways is the author likely to be most reliable? What areas does he or she seem to overlook?

What areas will you need to research in order to better understand the author's bias or perspective?

(For example, if the author is a Dominican missionary, you may need to research more about the Dominican order. If the author is a French soldier, you may need to know more about the French military. In all cases, you should seek to learn more about the country where the author came from at the time period that the author lived [e.g. 17th-century Scotland].)

Note: A common problem that many students run into is that some travel narratives appear to be very accurate and it is hard to identify a bias or perspective, particularly in the 18th century. This is in part because the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment (17th to 18th centuries) encouraged travelers to take very accurate "scientific" observations. In such cases, this preference for "factual" information can be considered a bias in and of itself. Ask yourself, "What is left out?" It may include emotionality, observations regarding spirituality (particularly the author's), attention to women's roles in society. In your bibliography, you may want to research books on the Scientific Revolution or the Enlightenment.

The Bibliography should consist of at least ten books and/or scholarly articles (in standard bibliographical form) that you hope will help you to inform you about the research areas you outlined above. Note: You will probably not actually use all of these in your final paper, but the titles will indicate to me the research directions that you are currently following. Remember, all books and journal articles should come from 4-year colleges and universities (use Griffin, SUMMIT).

The Paper will be 8 pages long (about 2,000-2,500 words), double-spaced. Its purpose is to integrate what you have learned about the author and the circumstances of the voyage with how the author describes the place that he or she visits. In other words, how does the author's perspective shape, limit, or form the account of the voyage? Take into account not only the author's individual personality and circumstances, but what you have learned about European society (and the society that the author visits) at the time of the encounter.

Your paper should have a thesis that is supported by evidence from both the travelogue itself (the primary source) and what historical experts have told you about the place and time you have chosen to study (secondary sources). The paper should include proper citations of evidence from both kinds of sources (including at least four secondary sources).

Consider these questions:

Primary Source

• Is the author a reliable observer? Why or why not? Under what circumstances is the author more or less reliable?

• Are there particular episodes or examples that show the author's bias?

• What subjects does the author write about? Why does the author think these are important topics?

• What subjects does the author overlook? What is the significance of these omissions?

• --What do you think is the presumed audience of the travelogue?

Secondary Sources

• --Is the author's perspective typical for someone of his or her background?

• --Can you provide additional information about the people encountered by the author that shed light on any experiences or misunderstandings?

• --Have audience read or used this account in ways unintended by the author?

A truly excellent paper will integrate both description and explanation of the author's perspective in an original and thought-provoking way. It will also take into account alternative interpretations of the evidence (where appropriate) and offer your rationale for rejecting these interpretations.

Class Policies

Attendance is required at all class meetings, even I there is no reading or writing assignment listed on the syllabus. If you cannot attend a class due to illness or other personal emergency, you may obtain an “Excused Absence” by notifying the instructor prior to the class session. Leaving a message by voice mail is sufficient to obtain an Excused Absence. Please note that whether or not an absence is excused, you are responsible for learning what happened in class and mastering that material (e.g. obtaining notes from a reliable classmate).

Tardiness disturbs the teacher and your classmates. Furthermore, it can affect your work in the class. I usually make important announcements at the beginning of class (e.g. announce the location of exams, change assignments). If you miss these announcements, there is no guarantee that information will be repeated later. On occasion, tardiness is unavoidable. If you find yourself arriving late to class, please take your seat with a minimum of commotion. Three late arrivals constitute an unexcused absence. (Note: if your work schedule necessitates regular late arrivals, please clear this with me in advance).

Disability Accommodation:  Accommodations may be available if you need them in order to fully participate in this class because of a disability. Accommodations may take some time to implement so it is critical that you contact Disability Services as soon as possible.  All accommodations must be approved through Disability Services, located in the Student Resource Center on the Lower Level of Student Services Center (360) 546-9138.

Emergency Notification System: WSU has made an emergency notification system available for faculty, students and staff. Please register at myWSU with emergency contact information (cell, email, text, etc). You may have been prompted to complete emergency contact information when registering for classes on RONet. In the event of a Building Evacuation, a map at each classroom entrance shows the evacuation point for each building. Please refer to it. Finally, in case of class cancellation campus-wide, please check local media, the WSU Vancouver web page and/or http://www.flashalert.net/. Individual class cancellations may be made at the discretion of the instructor. Each individual is expected to make the best decision for their personal circumstances, taking safety into account.

Academic Integrity: Plagiarism and Cheating are serious offenses that may be penalized severely. You are plagiarizing or cheating if you:

• present someone else’s words or ideas as your own, in writing or in speaking

• present ideas without citing the source

• paraphrase without crediting the source

• use direct quotes with no quotation marks

• use direct quotes without footnotes or other textual citation of the source

• present work in a group project that is not your own or the work of the group

• submit the same paper for credit in more than one course without discussing this option with the instructors

• submit material written by someone else as your own (this includes purchasing a term or research paper)

• submit a paper or assignment for which you have received so much help that it is no longer your own work

• do not do an equal part of the work on a group project

• copy someone else’s exam or graded homework

• refer to a text, class notes, or other materials during an exam without being authorized to do so

• purposefully allow another student to copy your work or submit work you have written as his/her own

• collaborate with others on a take-home exam, or spend more time than that specified by the instructor on a take-home exam.

Academic integrity is the cornerstone of the university and will be strongly enforced in this course.  Any student found in violation of the academic integrity policy will receive a penalty up to or including an F for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. For additional information about WSU’s Academic Integrity policy/procedures please contact (360) 546-9781.

Reading and Writing Assignments