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CF 3333 FALL 2005
CLASH OF CULTURES:
1450-1850
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Syllabus
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CF 3333 will meet for lectures on Tuesday evenings in 119
Fondren Science. In addition to attending lectures, all students
will participate in an assigned discussion section, which will convene at the
times appointed in the accompanying “Schedule of Meetings and Assignments.”
CF3333 701 119 FOSC
Carter
CF3333 702H 115 Dallas Hall
Kemper
CF3333 703 142 Dallas Hall
Phinney
CF3333 704 157 Dallas
Hall Adkins
CF3333 705 343 Dallas Hall
Covey
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ABOUT THIS SYLLABUS
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CF (Cultural Formations) courses are probably a bit different from
other courses you have taken in college. The point of view for courses in the CF
series is interdisciplinary, drawing on the insights of several fields of study.
The chances are that you have never taken a course quite like this before. In
any case, it normally takes students several weeks to become accustomed to the
distinctive outlook of a CF course. We urge you to be patient. You will be able
to master this approach. Over the years the staff of CF 3333 (previously listed
as CORE 1333) has designed and redesigned this syllabus to make the point of
view taken by this course more clear to you. That is why our syllabus contains
much more than a listing of required books, written assignments, readings, and
due dates.
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We shall approach the problem of “cultural formations” from a particular perspective; namely, the
perspective of “institutions.” What are institutions [note the use of the
plural!]? Every human population, from a band of hunter-gatherers to a
large-scale industrial society, faces certain problems. It has to maintain
itself in its environment, supplying the immediate needs of the individuals of
which it is composed. It has to perpetuate itself through successive generations
of individuals, and it has to give its members the sense that the benefits of
belonging to their society outweigh the costs; otherwise, it disintegrates. It
has to provide directions for common under-takings (leadership), to enforce
norms of socially approved behavior (reinforcement), and to find means of
settling disputes within the group (mediation). It has to answer people's
questions about the place of humankind in the world at large and the worth of
their own existence.
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The simplest way to think of institutions is to regard them as
subsystems of the society oriented toward the solution of one or more of these
problems. The subsystem may be so large as to include nearly the whole
population of a given society, or it may be relatively small (think of food
supply as a problem, agriculture as a solution; then contrast the proportion of
agricultural workers to total population in a peasant society with the
corresponding proportion for agriculture in the United States). The members of
the subsystem may have highly specialized functions (contrast a group of
fishermen all mending their nets with the workers in a Ford factory). The
members of the subsystem may all enjoy roughly the same status, or they may be
sharply differentiated as to the status they enjoy (contrast a New England town
meeting with Queen Elizabeth's opening of Parliament).
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Thanks to their problem-solving orientation, institutions are not just
subsystems or groups of people considered from any point of view. They are
subsystems or groups whose members have more or less similar roles to play, and
these roles are governed by rules. The study of roles and rules is a major part
of the study of institutions, so that institutions thus form a bridge between
society and culture. At times an ambiguity creeps into our speaking and writing
about institutions. It is not always clear when we refer to “the king,” for
example, whether we are referring to the king as a person or as a role in a
certain kind of state (a monarchy).
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To some extent this ambiguity reflects our own experience of
identification with the roles we play in various institutions: we are unique,
named individuals, but we also have an identity by our membership in particular
institutions: as Republicans or Libertarians, Baptists or Episcopalians,
Teamsters or Bank Presidents. Abstracting slightly from these identifications,
we find ourselves considering such institutions as political parties, churches,
labor unions, and the nobility.
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To organize our abstractions, we can classify institutions according
to the particular kinds of problem they solve, and speak of those concerned with
the production and distribution of goods as the economic institutions of a given
society, those concerned with the transmission of knowledge to new generations
as its educational institutions, those concerned with leadership, mediation, and
reinforcement as its political institutions, and those concerned with meaning
and value as its religious institutions.
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But these neat pigeonholes work only as abstractions, as instruments
of thought. In practice, institutions usually show a blend of functions. A
college of priests may pass on secret religious teaching to a few disciples:
does this make them an educational institution as well as a religious one? A
bank president may bring home a few trout from a weekend's fishing: does this
shift him from finance to food-gathering? And finally, we might ask whether such
classification by function tells the whole story about institutions. The
problems remain constant throughout the spectrum of human societies, but the
particular institutional arrangements found in different societies vary widely.
Particular institutions (e.g., a hunting party, a group of farmers maintaining
an irrigation system, a royal court, a university, a temple, an army, a factory,
a prison) can only be understood if we look both at their role(s) in their own
society and at how they compare with institutions of similar types found in
other societies.
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No human population exists in a vacuum. It has an environment that
favors some kinds of activity and discourages others. It makes contact with
other human groups. It faces short-term and long-term change. If it is to
thrive, or even to survive, it must adapt to these changes, just as an
individual organism must. Institutions adaptive at one stage of a society's
career may be neutral or even maladaptive at another. The persistence of
institutions which have ceased to be adaptive is one sign that a purely
functional approach to institutions does not tell the whole story about them.
Human behavior is a complex phenomenon, one complicated by the ability of human
beings to reflect on their own behavior. And institutions consist of human
beings and share in their complexity!
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ABOUT CF 3333
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We eat Chinese food, we worry about the conflicts in the ethnic states
emerging in the Middle East, from the former Soviet Union, and elsewhere around the globe; and we
debate the merits of the extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement to
other Latin American nations. It was not always so. In 1450 the civilizations of
Europe, Arabia, India, and China coexisted with little knowledge of each other.
In 1450 Muslims and Christians still fought in Spain. At the same time, the
peoples of the “Americas” lived in splendid isolation from the rest of the
world. By 1850, all this had changed. The outward expansion of European
societies ended the old pattern of regionalism. This breakdown of the global
equilibrium and its consequence – what we call the “clash of cultures” –
are examined in CF 3333.
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That Europeans were "successful" in this global clash of cultures
still surprises many historians and social scientists. We shall look at how
rearrangements of European institutions, first between church and state and
later between the public and private sectors, were critical to the
transformation of the global system. We shall also examine the clash of cultures
from the perspective of the non-European peoples who found their traditions
challenged, threatened, and often destroyed. We will give special attention to the impact of Europeans on the peoples
of North America. Prof. Phinney will offer three extended lectures examining the history of those
transformations.
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Thus, CF 3333 focuses on key "transformations" in our recent past:
religious transformations (the Reformation); cultural transformations (the
confrontation of Europeans and the native peoples of the Americans); political
transformations (the English "Glorious Revolution," the American Revolution,
the French Revolution); social transformations (efforts at equality in gender
relations in England and France); economic transformations (industrial
capitalism spreading from Britain across the globe); and ideological
transformations (socialism and communism as challenges to European
"democratic" capitalism).
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In the period 1450-1850, the world grew richer, more complex, and
closer together. The global village of the late 20th century was created by the
clash of cultures during the age of European expansionism. Today and in the
future we live with the consequences of this conflict.
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COURSE EXPECTATIONS
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1. It is expected that you will attend, and be on time for, all lectures and
discussions. For an absence to be considered “excused,” appropriate
documentation must be provided to your section leader. You will be expected to bring the materials appropriate for the lectures
and the materials assigned for the week to the discussion section.
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2. CF 3333 requires the following written work: two take home essays (the first
worth 15%, the second worth 20% each), quizzes (totaling 15%), an
objective midterm (counting 15%) and a final (worth 30%). The
remaining 5% will be based on attendance at lecture and participation in section; please see #4 below. The
final exam (6 December) will include an objective section (similar to
the midterm) and an
essay. Please note
that both the midterm and final will include a map quiz.
Please also note that the weighting assigned to each component is not intended to
reduce the teacher's discretion. A brilliant job on the later assignments may
serve to minimize the effects of earlier unsatisfactory work. As you can tell, we are concerned about your attendance. An
attendance roster may be distributed at class meetings.
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3. For best results on essays and exams, please arrange to contact your section
leader for any extra assistance that may be required. Late essays will be
penalized heavily (i.e., one full letter grade per class day) and missed quizzes
cannot be retaken.
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4. Section grades will be based on quizzes and class discussion. Section discussion
should be worthwhile; that is, we expect you to have read what you are talking
about. Each week, you must prepare a written question about the
readings/videos/lecture materials. The questions submitted will constitute an
important part of your section grade.
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5. The Final Examination (and the Map Quiz)
will begin at 6:30 PM
on 6 December. No examination will be scheduled at an earlier time. You must
plan to be present at this examination. To sit for an examination takes
precedence over all other obligations. See the Final
Exam Preparation Guide.
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6. If you need academic accommodations for a disability, you must contact the
Coordinator, Services for Students with Disabilities at 214-768-4557 to verify
the disability and to establish eligibility for accommodations. Then, with
documentation in hand, you should meet with your discussion section leader to
make appropriate arrangements regarding class participation, quizzes, essays,
and examinations.
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TEXTS
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Philip J. Adler, World Civilizations. Volume Two: Since 1500.
Fourth Edition. Wadsworth.
George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara [any one of several available editions will do].
Clash of Cultures: A Sourcebook.
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IMPORTANT NOTE:
The first part (pp. i-xii and 1-68) of the Sourcebook will be given to students at the first class meeting on 23 August; a second
installment will be distributed on 6 September, and the final part will be
distributed at the Midterm on 4 October. For students who pay in full no later
than 13 September, the cost will be discounted to $25 (including sales tax). Payments should be given to your discussion section
instructor, in cash or by check (made out to SMU). After September 13th, the cost of the
Sourcebook will be $30
(including sales tax). All payments are due no later than the midterm, 4
October. Note: IOUs, which will be returned to you as your receipt upon payment, will be distributed on the
first evening to all students.
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