DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
TRENT UNIVERSITY
PETERBOROUGH CAMPUS
HISTORY 1400Y
Going Global: How everyday things and ideas shaped world history
2014-2015
Lecture: Mondays 11-1 pm, Gzowski College 114
Seminar: one hour per week
Please check www.trentu.ca/timetable/ to confirm times and locations.
Course Coordinator: Van Nguyen-Marshall
LEC S101.4
(705) 748-1011 (x 7169)
[email protected]
Office Hours: Mondays 1-2 pm and by appointment
Department’s Administrative Assistant: Trisha Pearce
LEC S101.3
(705) 748-1011 (x7706)
[email protected]
Course Description:
Who makes history? In traditional historical narratives the force of history is typically associated
with rulers, politicians, and military leaders. Granted, major decisions resulting in radical changes
were often made by those men in power. Nevertheless, ordinary people played critical roles in
shaping world history through their labour, tastes, consumer habits, and cultural practices. By
focusing on the transnational and transcontinental flows of goods, ideas, and cultures, this course
highlights how the production, circulation, and consumption of these commodities changed the
course of world history.
Each section of the course focuses on one discreet item, finished good, idea, or cultural practice and
traces its impact on local and global communities, economies, and politics. The goods and ideas
covered in this course will include: domesticated animals, rubber, opium, wine, real estate, milk and
the breast, modern art, and the idea of blackness
Course goals:
As a first year history course, History 1400 is intended to introduce students to the study of
history. Students will be encouraged to evaluate and interpret historical information through
seminar discussions and writing projects, exploring the relative merits of different methodologies,
interpretations, and approaches; conducting research; and honing their speaking and writing skills
and ability to formulate a logical argument. Students on completing the course successfully should
understand the basic conventions of historical writing, the rules of academic integrity and
professionalism, the importance of personal initiative and accountability, and the evolving nature of
historical knowledge.
Lecturers
Dimitry Anastakis
Office
LEC N112
Telephone
(705) 748-1011 (x 7839)
Email
[email protected]
Arne Bialuschewski
Marion Boulby
(705) 748-1011 (x 7857)
(705) 748-1011 (x 7837)
[email protected]
[email protected]
Antonio CazorlaSanchez
Caroline Durand
LEC N115
LEC
S101.1
LEC
S101.8
LEC S103
(705) 748-1011 (x 7095)
[email protected]
(705) 748-1011 (x 7109)
[email protected]
Ivana Elbl
LEC S114
(705) 748-1011 (x 7833)
[email protected]
Jennine Hurl-Eamon
Oshawa
campus
LEC 101.5
(905) 435-5102 (x 5047)
[email protected]
(705) 748-1011 (x 7625)
[email protected]
LEC
S101.4
LEC
S101.9
LEC
N130.1
(705) 748-1011 (x 7169)
[email protected]
(705) 748-1011 (x 7843)
[email protected]
(705) 748-1011 (x 6270)
[email protected]
Carolyn Kay
Van Nguyen-Marshall
David Sheinin
Tim Stapleton
Seminar Instructors
Ashley Neale
[email protected]
Justin Sutton
[email protected]
Ross Mocheregwa
[email protected]
Course Format
History 1400 involves one two-hour lecture and one seminar weekly. Lectures will offer a broad
overview of themes relevant to the course and are supported by weekly reading assignments, which
will also be the focus of seminar discussions.
Required Readings: available electronically on Blackboard
Evaluation:
Academic Integrity Module
First Essay
Second Essay
Winter Exam
Proposal
Research Paper
Spring Exam
Participation
No assigned grade, but is
mandatory
5%
10%
20%
5%
20%
20%
20%
Must submit with the First
Essay
Week of Oct 6th
Week of Nov 10th
Formal exam period
Week of Feb 9th
Week Mar 23rd
Formal exam period
10 % first term;
10% second term
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Class Participation (20%):
In addition to attending the weekly lecture, students will also meet once a week with their seminar
group. Students should come prepared to discuss the readings and lecture material. Seminars are
also used for discussing techniques for researching and writing history paper. All assignments and
exams will be marked by your Seminar Instructor. Seminars are an essential part of the course. If
you do not attend seminars and submit your work to the Seminar Instructor, you will not pass the
course.
Academic Integrity Module: All students are required to complete an online module on academic
integrity, which can be found on Blackboard: Academic Integrity at Trent. This module will inform
you of the major academic integrity regulations and the consequences for academic dishonesty. It
will also provide you with instructions on how to avoid academic dishonesty when completing
assignments, tests, group-projects, and papers. At the conclusion of each of the three sections, you
will be required to take a multiple choice quiz. You must earn 100% on each quiz, and you may take
each quiz as many times as you need to in order to do this.
The module will provide you with instructions on how to print-out proof of your quiz scores. You
must attach your proof of a 100% score to your First Essay. No assignments will be accepted
without this proof. You may be in other courses that require completion of this module. If this is the
case, you only need to complete this module successfully once per academic year. Simply print out
additional proof of your quiz scores.
First Essay (5%)
Length: Approximately two double spaced pages (ie 500 words max). The assignment will ask
students to analyze a primary document. More information is available on Blackboard—click on
“Assignments” in the side-bar menu. Be sure to include a copy of your integrity test scores when
submitting your first essay.
Second Essay (10%)
Length: Approximately four double spaced pages (ie 1000 words max). The second essay
assignment will ask students to analyze a secondary source. More information is available on
Blackboard—click on “Assignments” in the side-bar menu.
Winter Exam (20%)—Written during the official exam period
The winter exam will be composed of essay questions and will allow students an opportunity to
review and synthesize the material learned so far in the course.
Paper Proposal (5%)
Length: one page plus bibliography. This task is mandatory. If you do not submit a proposal, your
Seminar Instructor may refuse to accept your research paper. Go to “Assignments” in the side-bar
menu on Blackboard for more information.
Research Paper (20%)
Length: Approximately 10-12 typed, double spaced pages (ie 2,500-3,000 words)
The research paper should be built upon your proposal and on the feedback from your Seminar
Instructor. If for some reason you want to deviate from your proposal, you must consult with your
Seminar Instructor or else he/she may not accept your paper.
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As this is a research paper, you are expected conduct research by consulting scholarly monographs,
journal articles, and books. The paper should have a clear purpose and thesis, and your thesis should
be substantiated by evidence found in your research. You should make reference to at least 10
relevant and scholarly sources. Generally, popular websites, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, and news
magazines are not considered scholarly sources. All these sources should be cited in your paper and
not just listed in your bibliography. You are advised to keep good research notes, as your Seminar
Instructor may ask to see them.
Spring Exam (20%)—Written during the official exam period
The spring exam will be based on essay questions and will ask students to consider and synthesize
the material learned throughout the entire year.
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Documentation:
For all your writing assignments (including the first essay, proposal, and research paper), please
make sure to document your work in the Chicago Style (footnotes and bibliography). In other words,
make sure to provide footnotes for all your written work. For a guide on this style, see the
“Documentation Guide” on the Academic Skills Office’s website:
http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/documentation/chicago.php
Policies for Due Dates:
Assignments are to be submitted to your Seminar Instructor on the day they are due. Since you
already know the deadlines for all your assignments, please make sure to organize your work
schedule accordingly. The penalty for late work is 5% per day. If you have a problem meeting the
deadline, make sure to contact your Seminar Instructor in advance. Written documentation is
usually required for extensions. Papers that are more than a week late will not be accepted unless
you have a written medical excuse or documented personal emergency.
Academic Integrity
Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism and cheating, is an extremely serious academic
offence and carries penalties varying from a 0 grade on an assignment to expulsion from the
University. Definitions, penalties, and procedures for dealing with plagiarism and cheating are set
out in Trent University’s Academic Integrity Policy. You have a responsibility to educate yourself –
unfamiliarity with the policy is not an excuse. You are strongly encouraged to visit Trent’s
Academic Integrity website to learn more: www.trentu.ca/academicintegrity
Plagiarism:
Essays are to be original works produced by you specifically for this class. In other words, you
cannot submit an essay that has been used or is intended to be used for another class. If for some
reason you would like to pursue research that is closely related in topic to another paper, please talk
to your Seminar Instructor before you proceed.
According to the Trent University calendar: “Plagiarism is knowingly presenting words, ideas,
images, data, or any other form of work of another person (including essays, theses, lab reports,
projects, assignments, presentations and posters) in a way that represents or could be reasonably seen
to represent the work as one’s own. “Knowingly” includes ought reasonably to have known.
Plagiarism includes failure to acknowledge sources correctly and submitting materials copied from
the internet or other sources without proper acknowledgement of the source. Draft work submitted
for evaluation is subject to the same standard as final work.” (Trent Calendar, 2011-12,
p. 24)
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If you are unsure of what constitutes plagiarism, please talk to your seminar leader or consult the
document “Avoiding Plagiarism and Good Writing Techniques” on the Academic Skills’ Website:
http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/resources.php.
Access to Instruction:
It is Trent University's intent to create an inclusive learning environment. If a student has a disability
and/or health consideration and feels that he/she may need accommodations to succeed in this
course, the student should contact the Student Accessibility Services (SAS) at the respective campus
as soon as possible, Peterborough campus contact, (BH Suite 132, tel: 748-1281,
[email protected]); for Trent University in Oshawa, contact 905-435-5102 ext. 5024 as
soon as possible. Complete text can be found under Access to Instruction in the Academic Calendar.
Use of Laptop and other electronic devices: Students may use laptops in the class for taking notes
during the lecture and seminar. If it comes to my attention that students are using their laptops for
extracurricular activities, then they will not be allowed to use laptops thereafter.
If you have special circumstances that warrant keeping your cell phone on (such as being parents
with young children or a health professional on call), inform me in advance. Otherwise, make sure
all communications and electronic devices are turned off during class. Any form of electronic
communication, including text messaging, is not allowed in the class.
Resources:
Students are encouraged to make use of the History Online Workbook, which is a detailed guide,
providing information and tips to help students develop essential academic skills. Topics cover in
this handbook range from effective note taking, and exam preparation to research and writing papers:
http://www.trentu.ca/history/workbook/
Students can also get academic support from the Academic Skills Centre, which offers individual
and group tutorials on writing and study skills: http://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/
Weekly Lectures and Reading Assignments—see next page
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Date
Lecture Topic
Sept 8
Introduction to Course
Prof. Van Nguyen-Marshall
Sept 15
Animals
that Shaped the Pre-Modern
World I:
Mobile Wealth: Cattle and other
Livestock
Fernand Braudel, The Structures of Everyday Life. The
Limits of the Possible, Vol. 1 of Civilization & Capitalism,
15th-18th Century (New York: Harper & Row, 1979), 341352 (“Animal Power”) and 115, 126, 156 and 538
(illustrations); 190-203 “Carnivorous Europe”).
Prof: Ivana Elbl
Questions to consider:
 Animals supported crucial aspects of human life in
premodern world. Compare their importance in
different areas of activity and in different regions.
 Do you agree with Fernand Braudel about
“carnivorous Europe”? If so, why? Why would meat
have been so important as a mark of status and
prosperity there? How did the patterns of meat
consumption change in premodern Europe, and why?
Sept 22
Animals
that Shaped the Pre-Modern
World II:
Travelers, Warriors,
Companions: Horses, Camels,
and Dogs
Reading Assignments
Ann Hyland, The Warhorse, 1250-1600 (Phoenix Mill
Thrupp, Stround: Sutton Publishing 1998), Chapter 7
“Ottoman Empire” (130-143).
Stanley Coren, The Pawprints of History. Dogs and the
Course of Human Events (New York, etc.: The Free
Press), 51-65; 157-165; Endnotes (312-315).
Prof: Ivana Elbl
Questions to consider:
 How important were horses and cavalry to the rising
Ottoman Empire and why?
 What role did they play in its military successes and
defeats, both from the point of view of modern
historians and of late medieval Europeans with firsthand experience?
 The relationships of King Frederick II and Tokugawa
Tsunayoshi to dogs differed significantly but both are
relevant in the context of today's issues and dilemmas
involving our canine companions. How and why?
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Sept 29
Milk and the Breast I:
Colonizing and Commodifying
the Breast: the decline of wetnursing and the growth of
maternal modesty in early
modern Europe
Prof. Jennine Hurl-Eamon
Oct 6
Marilyn Yalom, “The Commercialized Breast: From
Corsets to Cyber-Sex” in A History of the Breast (New
York: Ballantine Books, 1998), 159-204.
Questions to consider:
 In what ways is the breast a commodity, according to
Yalom?
 Are there any other ways the breast might be
commodified, or does Yalom cover things fairly
thoroughly?
 How might one's historical context (including gender
and class) affect one's experience of the
commodification of the breast?
 How does age or race figure in Yalom's treatment?
 What other factors affect the way in which breasts are
viewed/represented/valued?
 This book was written in 1998; does Yalom offer an
accurate anticipation of the future?
Milk and the Breast II:
Cow's milk and canned milk:
the science and expertise of infant
feeding in the 20th century
Helen MacMurchy, The Canadian Mother’s book
(Ottawa, Department of Health, Division of Child
Welfare, 1921), 5 (presentation of the book); 27-31; 4548; 74-78.
Prof. Caroline Durand
Janet Golden, “From Commodity to Gift: Gender, Class,
and the Meaning of Breast Milk in the Twentieth
Century,” Historian 59, no. 1 (Fall 1996): 75-87.
First essay is due this week
Questions to consider:
MacMurchy’s article:
 What is the place of nationalism, health, nature and
emotions in the arguments used by MacMurchy to
convince mothers to breastfeed their child?
 What role did science and technology play when
cow's milk was introduced into children's diet?
Golden’s article :
 How and why was breast milk transformed into a
commodity in the twentieth century?
 Is it possible to reverse this commodification process?
How, and why?
Oct 13
Thanksgiving
NO CLASS
Oct 20
Reading Break
NO CLASS
Oct 27
Wine I:
In Vino Veritas:
History, Culture and Society
Robert Davis, “Venetian Shipbuilders and the Fountain of
Wine,” Past & Present 156 (Aug., 1997): 55-86.
Prof. Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez
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Norman Bennett, “The Golden Age of the Port Wine
System, 1781-1807,” The International History Review
12, no. 2 (May, 1990): 221-248.
“Wine, Mighty Wine,” The British Medical Journal 2, no.
245 (Sep. 9, 1865): 268-269.
Questions to consider:
 What was the role of wine in the pre-contemporary
workplace?
 Why was this the case?
Nov 3
Wine II:
In Vino Veritas:
The Fashions and Business of
Drinking
Linda Nash, “The Fruits of Ill-Health: Pesticides and
Workers' Bodies in Post-World War II,” Osiris, 2nd
Series, 19, Landscapes of Exposure: Knowledge and
Illness in Modern Environments (2004): 203-219.
Prof. Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez
Kym Anderson, “Wine's New World,” Foreign Policy 136
(May - June, 2003): 46-54.
Questions to consider:
 Why has wine become fashionable?
 Do (or should) fashionable people care about those
who harvest wine?
Nov 10
Real Estate
in the Israel-Palestine Conflict I:
Sacred Spaces
Karen Armstrong, "The Holiness of Jerusalem: Asset or
Burden?" Journal of Palestine Studies 27, no 3 (Spring
1998):5-19.
Prof. Marion Boulby
Yaakov Ariel, "Doomsday in Jerusalem? Christian
Messianic Groups and the Rebuilding of the Temple,"
Terrorism and Political Violence 13, issue 1 (2001): 1-14.
Second essay is due this
week
Questions to consider:
Karen Armstrong
 What is the significance of sacred space in Jerusalem
for the Palestinian Israeli conflict?
 Why is the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif one of the
most contested pieces of real estate in the world
today?
Yaakov Ariel
 Why do Christian Messianic groups want to the build
the temple?
 Discuss the various efforts of Jewish and Christian
groups to blow up the mosques on the mount. What
has been the relationship between these groups?
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Nov 17
Real Estate
in the Israel-Palestine Conflict II:
Construction and Dispossession
S. Ilan Troen, "Contested Metropolis: Jerusalem after the
1967 War,” Imagining Zion. (Yale 2003), Chapter 12, pp
259-280.
Prof. Marion Boulby
Adbel Bari Atwan, “Thorns in Our Feet,” A Country of
Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to
the Front Page. (London: SAQI, 2008), Chapter 1, pp. 1550.
Questions to consider:
Troen
 What was the Israeli planning and construction
strategy in Jerusalem after the 1967 war?
 Do you see the establishment of settlements in the
Occupied West Bank as Troen puts this, as "Zionist
colonization?"
Atwan
 In describing the dispossession of Palestinians in 1948
Atwan says "It is one of history's strangest ironies that
those who had been the victim of persecution and
genocide should now become perpetrators of such
horrors themselves." Discuss.
Nov 24
Rubber I:
The Lords of Latex: The Global
War over Rubber from Brazil to
Southeast Asia
Prof. Dimitry Anastakis
Vern Bullough, “A Brief Note on Rubber Technology and
Contraception: The Diaphragm
and the Condom,” Technology And Culture 22, no. 1 (Jan
1981): 104-111.
Emily Lynn, “‘Rubber Fever’, Commerce And French
Colonial Rule In Upper Guineé,” Journal of African
History 45 (2004): 445–65.
Questions to consider:
 The Bullough article refers to the 1873 Comstock Law
in the United States. What was that law?
 Based on your reading of the Bullogh article, can you
make any comments on how the political and moral
atmosphere surrounding sex and birth control in the
late 19th and early 20th Century impacted the use of
rubber as contraception?
 What were some of the key differences between the
West African rubber trade and how it functioned, and
that of the Amazonian industry?
 Who were the main beneficiaries of the West African
rubber trade? How did the trade affect ordinary
people? Why did it eventually collapse?
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Dec 1
Rubber II:
Wheels for the World: Rubber,
Bicycles, Cars and Modern
Mobility
Linda Revie, “More Than Just Boots! The Eugenic and
Commercial Concerns behind A. R. Kaufman’s Birth
Controlling Activities” CBMH/BCHM 23, no. 1 (2006):
119-143.
Prof. Dimitry Anastakis
Donald Kennedy and Marjorie Lucks, “Rubber, Blight,
and Mosquitoes: Biogeography Meets the Global
Economy,” Environmental History 4, no. 3 (1999): 369383.
Questions to consider:
 Do you think A.R. Kaufman was more interested in
eugenics and population control, or in making money?
Should he be condemned for his support of eugenics,
or celebrated for his support of making birth control
accessible?
 How does the Kaufman story reflect the evolution of
attitudes towards birth control policy and law in
Canada? Were you surprised to discover that birth
control was illegal into the 1960s?
 Given what you have learned by reading “Rubber,
Blight and Mosquitoes,” does the story of rubber’s
globalization reflect humankind’s ingenuity, or its
wanton disregard for the planet’s well-being?
Second Term
Date
Jan 12
Lecture Topic
Readings
Blackness and Power in the 20th
Century
Carlos Alamo-Pastrana, "Con el eco de los barriles: Race,
Gender, and the bomba imaginary in Puerto Rico,"
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 16, no 5
(2009): 573-600.
Prof. David Sheinin
Questions to consider:
 What is the relevance of empire to race in Puerto
Rico?
 How is race constructed through music?
Jan 19
Boxing and Blackness
Prof. David Sheinin
Travis Vogan, "Irrational Power: Jack Johnson,
Prizefighting Films, and Documentary Affect," Journal of
Sport History 37, no. 3 (2010): 397-413.
Questions to consider:
 What role has film played in relating boxing to race?
 In what ways does Jack Johnson's "irrational power"
derive from his blackness?
10
Jan 26
Writing History Research Papers
Presented by
No readings have been in order to give students time to
work on their proposal.
Dana Capell
Instructor from Trent’s Academic
Skills Centre
Feb 2
Diamonds I:
Diamonds and Conflict in late 19th
Century Southern Africa
&
"Blood Diamonds:' Diamonds and
the "Resource Curse" in PostColonial Africa, Part 1
Prof. Tim Stapleton
Feb 9
Diamonds II:
"Blood Diamonds:" Diamonds and
the "Resource Curse" in PostColonial Africa, Part 2
&
Diamonds, Bushmen and the
Botswana "Success" Story
Prof. Tim Stapleton
Philippe le Billon, "Angola's Political Economy of War:
The Role of Oil and Diamonds, 1975-2000," African
Affairs 100 (2001):55-80.
Questions to consider:
 Have African people benefited from the extraction of
raw materials (specifically diamonds) from their
continent?
 How has diamond mining contributed to conflict in
post-colonial Africa?
Jacqueline Solway, "Human Rights and NGO Wrongs:
Conflict Diamonds, Culture Wars and the Bushman
Question," Africa: Journal of the International African
Institute 79, no 3 (2009): 321-346.
Questions to consider:
 Has everyone in Botswana benefited from the growth
of the diamond industry?
 What has been the role of external forces in the
controversy over diamond mining and minority rights
in Botswana?
Proposal is due this week
Feb 16
READING BREAK
Feb 23
Human Trafficking I:
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Prof. Arne Bialuschewski
NO CLASS
James A. Rawley with Stephen D. Behrendt, The
Transatlantic Slave Trade: A History, revised edition
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 2005), Chapter 11
(212-242) & footnotes (398-401).
Questions to consider:
 How did the transatlantic slave trade work?
 What were the consequences of the trade?
Mar 2
Human Trafficking II:
The Middle Passage
William Snelgrave, A New Account of Some Parts of
Guinea and the Slave Trade (London, 1734), Introduction.
Prof. Arne Bialuschewski
Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano (London 1790), 46-57.
Questions to consider:
11



Mar 9
Art I
The Shock of the New -Modernism in Art
How does Snelgrave describe Africa?
How does Equiano describe the Africans’ experience
in the Middle Passage?
What possible biases do we have to take into account
when we analyze these sources?
Merry Wiesner, Julius Ruff, William Wheeler,
eds., Discovering the Western Past, Vol. 2, 4th Edition,
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000, ch. 10 “To the
Age its Art, 1870-1920.”
Prof. Carolyn Kay
Questions to consider:
 Why should a historian look at art to understand the
past?
 In the period from 1870-1920 how and why did
western art change in style and subject -- and become
"modern?"
Mar 16
Art II
The Nazi Looting of Art in World
War Two
Prof. Carolyn Kay
Mar 23
Opium I
Opium and European Empires in Asia
Prof. Van Nguyen-Marshall
Research Paper is due this
week
Mar 30
Opium II
The ‘Wars on Drugs’
Prof. Van Nguyen-Marshall
Andrew Decker, “Legacy of Shame: Nazi Art Loot in
Austria,” ARTnews 83, no. 10 (Dec 1984): 54-76.
Questions to consider:
 How did ordinary Austrians steal art from Jews during
the union with Nazi Germany from 1938-1945?
 After 1945, why did the Austrian government do so
little to return looted art to Jewish families who had
survived the Holocaust?
Yangwen Zheng, “The Social Life of Opium in China,
1483-1999,” Modern Asian Studies 37, 1 (2003): 1–39.
Questions to consider:
 What factors contributed to opium’s popularity in
China in the 18th and 19th c?
 How does the social life of opium reflect globalizing
forces that were at work in Chinese history?
Commissioner Lin Zexu’s Letter to Queen Victoria
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1839lin2.asp
Diana Ahmad, “Opium Smoking, Anti-Chinese Attitude,
and the American Medical Community, 1850-1890,”
American Nineteenth Century History 1, No. 2 (Summer,
2000): 53-68.
Questions to consider:
 The Chinese Emperor of the Qing dynasty appointed
Commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the use and
trafficking of opium. In 1839 Commissioner Lin
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
Apr 6
wrote a letter to Queen Victoria. What was the
purpose of this letter? Do you find letter persuasive?
Referring to Diana Ahmad’s article, how were
concerns about the negative impacts of opium
connected to ideas of race and nation in late-19th c
United States?
Making Connections (Wrap Up)
Prof. Van Nguyen-Marshall &
Seminar Instructors
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