This course is designed as a general survey course. Its purpose is not only to introduce students to the many diverse cultures that helped to shape our world today, but also to develop critical thinking skills though discussion of primary sources and focus issues, and foster writing skills and the ability to formulate and sustain an argument through the use of evidence, particularly from primary sources.
We will be mainly concerned with broad patterns of human development across cultural boundaries and emphasize the exchange of ideas, goods, and technology since 1500. Special emphasis will be given to the emergence of a global community with ties built by a world economy. The central theme this semester will be trade and the global community that it created. We will examine various themes within the creation of a global economy: roles played by the elite as well as the merchants and commoners, influence of science and technology, intellectual traditions, and the relationship between culture and economy.
Class time will consist of lectures, visuals such as videos and slides, and discussions of readings of primary documents. Students should complete the assigned readings prior to class time and are expected to actively participate in discussions.
These goals fulfill TBR and MTSU’s General Studies Learning Outcomes:
1. Analyze significant primary text and works of art, ancient, pre-modern, and modern, as forms of cultural and creative expression.
2. Explain the ways in which humanistic and/or artistic expression throughout the ages expresses the culture and values of its time and place.
3. Explore global/cultural diversity.
4. Frame a comparative context through which they can critically assess the ideas, forces, and values that have created the modern world.
5. Recognize the ways in which both change and continuity have affected human history.
6. Practice the critical and analytical methodologies of the humanities