HISTORY 390: GLOBAL DIVERSITY AND THE FATES OF HUMAN SOCIETIES
FALL
2003
Professor
Joe Lunn, Department of Social Sciences - History
Room: 2119 CX Telephone:
436-9184; Home: (734) 741-4465
Office Hours: Monday 11:30-12:00
and 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. or by appointment
TEXT:
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.
Norton.
READINGS:
Bernal
Dias, The Conquest of New Spain. Penguin.
Bartolome de Las Casas, In Defense of the Indians.
Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano. Longman.
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. Fawcett.
FILM:
The Mission
SCHEDULE:
Week
Topics
Text (Chapters) Readings/Film
|
9/8 |
Introduction:
"Why Is the World As It Is?" (taped discussion among students) |
|
|
|
9/15 |
Yali's
Question |
Prologue |
|
|
9/22 |
The
Continents before 11,000 B. C. |
1* |
|
|
9/29 |
Geography
and Social Evolution in Polynesia |
2* |
|
|
10/6 |
The
Spanish Conquest of the Incas |
3* |
Dias
or Las Casas** |
|
10/13 |
The
Onset of Food Production |
4-8* |
|
|
10/20 |
Animal Domestication and Continental Axes |
9-10* |
|
|
10/27 |
From
Ultimate to Proximate Factors: Germs, Writing, and the Evolution of
Technology, Government and Religion |
11-14* |
|
|
11/3 |
Histories
of Australia, New Guinea and Polynesia |
15-17* |
The
Mission |
|
11/110 |
History of
East Asia |
16* |
|
|
11/17 |
Comparison
of the Histories of Eurasia and the Americas |
18* |
|
|
11/24 |
History of
Africa |
19* |
Equiano
or Achebe** |
|
12/1 |
The Future of Human History as a Science |
Epilogue |
|
|
12/8 |
Conclusion:
"Why Is the World As It Is?'"
(taped discussion among students) |
|
|
*
Outline of themes contained in the weekly readings, which you wish to
discuss in class.
** 4-5 page summary comparison of selected themes presented in the reading with
those presented in the text.
***10-12 page "think" paper, which incorporates themes from the
lectures, readings, and discussions, and assesses
factors contributing to global
diversity.