| Class | 18955 HIEU 2072 - 100 (Lecture) Modern Europe and the World |
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| Instructor | Jennifer Sessions | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Description | NOTE: This description is from Spring 2022, so details will be updated.
This course offers an introduction to European history since the French Revolution, with an emphasis on the ways that social, cultural, and political change in Europe has been shaped by the continent’s connections with the wider world. Our goal is to develop a framework for understanding the processes that changed a society of peasants, artisans, nobles, and monarchs into a class-based, industrialized world of liberal democracies (at least in theory), how these changes took place, and where Europe is now. We’ll talk about the political and social legacies of the French Revolution, industrialization, European imperial expansion, the rise of mass culture, the two world wars and the Holocaust, European unification, decolonization, the Cold War, and contemporary crises of liberal democracy and nationalism. Throughout the semester, we’ll focus on how ideas about state power and citizenship, social and class relations, religious and cultural life, racial and gender identities, and the very meanings of “Europe” itself have changed, and consider how people, both ordinary and notable, experienced these dramatic changes. Our two weekly lectures and discussion sections will work together to allow you to develop your knowledge and deepen your understanding of the course material. Both lectures and sections will be participatory, and you should come to each class prepared to discuss the associated readings or other homework. Readings, in-class activities, and formal assignments are designed to help you develop the skills to identify and analyze historical problems, to evaluate evidence and construct historical arguments, and to move beyond memorizing facts into a larger conversation about how studying history can help us to understand the dynamics of our world today and our own place within it. The required books below are available for purchase at the UVA Bookstore, on reserve at Clemons Library, or as ebooks through the Virgo library catalog. All other readings and streaming films are posted on Collab. Edward Berenson, Europe in the Modern World: A New Narrative History since 1500, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2020, ISBN 9780190078850). Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four (Penguin Classics, ISBN 9780140439076) Susan Kingsley Kent, Queen Victoria: Gender and Empire (Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 9780190250003) Heda Margolius Kovály, Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968 (Granta, ISBN 9781847084767). Amara Lakhous, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vitorio, trans. Ann Goldstein (2006; Europa Editions, 2008, ISBN 9781609452353) We’ll be assessing your learning in several ways this semester. If you have any concerns about any of the below or need any accommodations in order to participate fully in the course, please come see us early in the semester. The Student Disability Access Center will help to facilitate academic accommodations and support services (https://www.studenthealth.virginia.edu/sdac). Section Discussions: Ongoing discussions of the course material will be the foundation of our collective inquiry in this course. We should all remember that different norms about how best to engage in conversation differ and open ourselves to different modes of expression and thinking, while also keeping in mind that listening is as important as talking to the exchange of ideas. If you have any concerns about participation, come and see us early in the semester so we can figure out the best way for you to participate. Each discussion section will develop its own set of guidelines for class participation together at the beginning of the semester. Weekly Writing: Each week, we will do some short, reflective writing about our readings, either at home or in class. The goal here is to consider major themes or questions, draw connections across time and space, and assess the significance of what we have been studying. Some days we will offer a guiding question, other times you can reflect freely on the material. Whether you choose to write by hand or type, please keep weekly writings in one place as a “course journal” that you can turn in periodically. These will be graded for ongoing, informed engagement with the course material and readings. Annotated Timeline: An ongoing annotated timeline will help you organize your thinking about the history we are studying and situate key events and processes chronologically. Like the weekly writing, you can create and keep your timeline by hand or digitally, in whatever form makes sense to you. Whatever you choose, dates or date ranges should be added to your timeline as our lectures and readings move forward, with an annotation for each “entry” explaining what it is and why it’s important in the history of modern Europe. There is no set number of entries, but each class meeting is likely to include at least 5 dates/periods important for understanding the historical developments under discussion. Timelines will be turned in with the installments of weekly writings and graded similarly for evidence of thoughtful consideration of the material. Short Essays: Two short essays of 3-4 and 5-6 pages will allow you to explore major historical questions and to practice your analytical reading and writing skills. Because improving your writing is one of the most important things you can do with your college education, we will be using an online tool called Peerceptiv for peer review of drafts of both essays. Deadlines for the steps in the Peerceptiv process are marked in the semester schedule, and we’ll go over how to use it in class. Final Project Because we each come to this course with different interests, purposes, and goals, there are two options for a final assignment that will allow you to demonstrate what you have learned over the course of the semester. We’ll hand out more detailed instructions for each option and do signups after Spring Break, so you have some time to think about which you’d like to choose. a) Creative Unessay: You can propose a project that uses skills you have developed in and out of class to demonstrate what you’ve learned this semester. This can take any form you wish: you can sew a quilt, build a digital map or timeline, cook a meal, make a short graphic novel or a film, write a play or piece of music, create a fake primary source…. All ideas are welcome, and the only limit is your imagination. Along with the completed project, you’ll turn in a 3-page written reflection on what you learned from your project and a bibliography of at least 3 primary sources and 3 secondary sources (from our syllabus or other peer-reviewed, academic sources) that you used. OR b) Take-Home Essay: You can write a 7-8 page essay that uses the materials we have read, viewed, and discussed over the semester to explain how the history we have studied helps you to understand one of the central themes raised in Amara Lakhous’s Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio. The specific genre is up to you—you can write a letter to a friend or family member, a book review, an op-ed, a policy brief, etc., or a traditional essay. The only requirement is that it must include 7-8 pages of writing and reference at least 5 primary and/or secondary sources that cover all the main units of the semester. If you choose this option, you’ll turn in your final essay along with a bibliography and a 1-page cover letter reflecting on why you chose the theme you did and what you learned from writing the essay. |
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