First Class

WELCOME to World History since 1500! And, since we ARE a part of world history, let’s also take a moment to welcome the rest of our inter-related Humanity, Life, and Matter as we know it:

1) Homosapiens who have gotten us here today -- the last 150,000 years

2) Hominid, human-like ancestors, going back another 5 million years

3) Mammals, of which we are one species, linking us to another 60 million years

4) Plant life, on which we sustain ourselves, links us to the first bacteria and algae 3 billion years ago. Indeed, for 2.5 billion years plant life in the sea made possible the formation of the ozone layer which filters the most damaging rays of the sun which has allowed life to expand onto land for the last 600 million years.

5) The earth from which the water and minerals in our body are derived, 4 billion years ago; the solar system 6 billion years ago, our galaxy (11 billion years ago) and the universe, at least 15 billion years ago. That’s as far back as we have been able to verify through math and science, anyway!

If thirty of us joined hands to create a timeline, galaxies would begin forming by the fourth person, our galaxy by the 9^th person, our solar system by the 20^th person. The Ozone layer did not form until the 29^th person, and human life only within the last half inch on the 30^th person. If you magnified that last half inch across the breadth of your hand, migrations out of Africa would not occur until the last digit of your fingers, and the last 500 years, would be represented only on ends of your fingertips. Using wider views of space and time, EVERYTHING can be seen as connected and interdependent on a number of levels. For most of human history, people have attempted to see and understand these connections through all fields of their vision of space and time and have incorporated this knowledge into the “telling” of world history. Humans have synthesize data in attempt to solve the problems of their day, and answer timeless questions like, “why are we here?,” “Who or what is behind this drama called life?” In this class you’ll be challenged to use all of the fields of vision available to you to take consider issues relevant in our day. The timeframe of our survey of history makes it especially challenging because over the last five hundred years, so many new fields of vision – both scientific and cultural – have come into our view for the first time on a truly global scale. World history as a separate field of study has only taken shape during the last two decades after a century of regional based history. Fields of science like Astronomy, Geology, and Paleontology, Biology, and Anthropology have revealed contexts, or fields of vision, for understanding global processes that we are only beginning to utilize. That is, we are only now beginning to see how such perspectives of space and time can be relevant. We’ll learn to use different world historical time frames, like the Long Duree (thousands or years), the Long Term (hundreds of years), and the Current (the last few decades) like different camera lenses to bring into and out of focus details to gain new insights.

In-Class Assignment #1: To get accustomed to changing lenses for utilizing different historical and geographical frameworks, let’s begin by reflecting on our own view of the world as it has taken shape since we were born. Even before we study world history, we have probably constructed personal views of the world over the course of our lives. Try to identify, illustrate, and then analyze the key events and experiences that have formed your view of the world over the course of your life.

1) Individual: Think back on the first experiences you had in your life that gave you a clues that there was a WORLD out there, one in which you are a part. On a piece of paper, illustrate graphically using a timeline, or other graphic, how these events or experiences in your life formed your view of the world. Write a paragraph in which you analyze how your view of the world has changed-over-time. To what extent have factors like the mass media, movies, religions, family members, and other parts of the world influenced the formation of your view of the world? What do your findings say about the culture and region from which you are from? Turn this work in for credit and complete the following group activity if time permits.

2) Group: Share your work with a group in class, taking notes on commonalities and differences among your group members as you share your work. Write a paragraph that describes the factors that have affected your group’s view of the world. Include consideration of commonalities and differences. To what extent have factors such as the mass media, movies, religions, and other parts of the world influenced everyone similarly and differently?

Turn in your work to me in class