HIST 11: History of Western Civilization to 1650
Melissa Bullard
Why study Western Civ. in today's diverse world driven by a global economy? Good question!! Take this course and find out if those DWMs and DWFs (Dead White Males and Dead White Females) from the past have anything to tell us today. I think they do. Furthermore, it is fascinating to study ancient, medieval, and early modern peoples as they faced diversity, struggled with questions of identity and meaning, gave shape to political society, survived sweeping economic and social change, and in the process developed the self-critical tools to examine their lives. What does it mean today as Americans to be associated with the Western world and its traditions? Another good questions! But first, what are those traditions and how were they shaped? What do the political experiments of Athens and Rome have to do with Washington D.C.? A lot. How was Plato's thought foundational for Western notions of individual and society? How did contacts and conflicts with non-European peoples during the Crusades and Discoveries of the New World influence modern identities? How were gender roles defined back then? What does capitalism have to do with the economic flowering of the Middle Ages? What was the Renaissance and how did it determined our current university curriculum at UNC? How did Christianity including the Protestant Reformation mold Western modes of representation in art and culture? These are some of the themes and issues were engage in my course to understand what "Western" means and what the perspective of history can offer us today. I use lectures, readings, and discussions. Course mechanics include regular quizzes, essay topics given in advance, and T.A.-led discussion sections organized around source readings and guided by study questions, all posted on the course web page. I use lots of images and maps in lecture, even some music, to set the mood and to illustrate European art and culture. The course web page includes a mini art gallery and links to other interesting sites.