12 December 2016, Monday (posting 10:30 a.m. Tuesday -- may make some further additions/changes)
A first set of slides has been uploaded on Vklass.
ENGLISH
We've been focusing on abbreviations that you can use when writing your notes.
Here is a table of abbreviations you can think about incorporating into your notes:
Brief summary of material we've gone through regarding Swedish history:
(See also slides in pdf files on Vklass)
1 - Gustav Eriksson coming to power in Sweden, and taking Sweden out of the Kalmar Union. Sweden is now independent. As a result of the warring against Christian II, large debts are created.
Sweden by the end of Gustav I's reign:
-Sweden united
-Sw. centrally governed
-Sw. has own foreign policy
-Sw. has own military force
-Sw. has substantial degree of self-subsistence
-Sw. has stable transfer of power
-Sw. is still independent
I noted that all of these are still true today with the possible exception of the high degree of self-sufficiency. And, indeed, three days after I said this to you, the Swedish news came with this report. Here's the webpage with the story from P1.
2 - Gustav I (today known best as Gustav Vasa) introduces the Reformation to Sweden, changing the state religion from Roman Catholic to Lutheran.
3 - GV centralizes power in Sweden, in large part through his ability to weaken the power that regional leaders had, and by creating a tax and administration system that was centrally governed.
4 - Succession of the throne: In 1544, GV, with the help of the Riksdag, introduces a new law establishing transfer of power to the monarch's eldest son, and then following by age and sex, the other children of the monarch. Sweden becomes a hereditary kingdom (arvsrike), which contributes to a more stable transfer of power.
And here is the Riksdag's page on the Swedish Constitution. It explains things such as the lack of freedom of religion for the monarch, and that the government must give consent to prince and princesses of the royal house before they can marry -- otherwise they risk forfeiting the right to the throne.
5 - Expansion of territory/loss of territory.
We discussed various issues that can be associated with the addition of territory -- including economic issues (taxes, trades, resources as well as defense). We will connect back to the point that Swedes are "out and about" when in connection to intellectural development. One thing I want you to see is that by reflecting on issues (e.g., what does it matter if Sweden has control over Skåne and Bohuslän) you can come up with different ideas. You might not always have the historical information to back up an idea, but you have something that can then be tested, discussed, analyzed.
Here's a website where you can see the change of territory over time -- different maps than what I have put in the pdf of slides: Time Maps
Here are maps of Sweden from the webpage:
6. Literacy: We discussed how the switch from Catholicism to Lutheranism can be connected to an increase in literacy. We will contine and discuss how this high rate of literacy can be connected to intellectual development, political change, and industrialism in Sweden.
Gustav Vasa Bible:
7. Change in political power over time. I am planning on discussing this on Friday.
One of the things I noted was the importance of avoiding opinion. Even though opinion is not allowed in history writing, it is still possible to present a point of view through logic and to then support that view with evidence. For example, here is an opinion:
It is wrong for women not to be able to
have control of their own bodies.
Here is an argument that can then be supported with specific information:
Women who are denied access to birth
control are in many cases prevented from being able to decide if and when they
want to bear children. And unplanned pregnancies can result in women being
forced to abandon their education, it can create economic hardships, and it can
interfere with the ability to get and keep a job or to develop a career.
The second example is in line with the opinion, but it uses logic based in evidence (which would then need to be provided further in the text to support these statements).
SWEDISH HISTORY
We started with Swedish history. I can provide you with the slides I showed in class. If you missed class, you want to get notes and ask questions about what isn't clear. I will wait until after Friday's lessons before I put up the slides on Vklass.
In the last two lessons we've brought in sounds that are commonly problematic for Swedish speakers. The first step is realizing that these sounds are different. The second step is actively practicing them -- even looking at yourself in the mirror or filming yourself so that you can see and hear yourself.
th
all four of these sounds are different
1 - three, thing, think
2 - that, there, then
3 - free, fling, fink
4 - tree, ting, tinkle
y and j
Y: Yale, yet, yellow
J: jail, jet, Jello
SAVING THE BLACK RHINOS
One of the student papers written this fall was about the poaching of rhinoceroses, which is a practice in which the horn is hacked out of the rhino's body, and the animal then dies. Because of poaching these animals are under extreme threat.
But the horn of a rhino can be cut off (albeit not easily) and it will grow back -- just like our fingernails. Here's a story about a South African veterinarian Mike Toft, who has been working with a group to de-horn the rhinos in a particular reserve in order to save the animals' lives. The horns are tehn stored in a undisclosed location, to keep them safe from poachers and illegal markets.
The story explains how the process of removing the horns works, and how this is considered the best option in the current climate. The hope is that once attitudes and regulations gradually change (particulalry in societies such as Vietnam and China, which are pushing the illegal trade), there will no longer be a need for these measures. Listen here.
I am in the process of putting up information on Vklass for the Source Evaluation assginment. This includes
the assignment
a handout with information regarding things to reflect upon in your analyses
the slides from class from w. 46
a sample assignment from a former student (which is by no means perfect but which has many good qualities)
YOU and YOUR
Many students used the word "you" in their history papers. This is understandable (it feels like using man in Swedish), but it's something to be avoided. It's not good writing, and when writing about history, it can be very, very strange. ("When you torture someone . . . " Excuse me?)
The trouble is, it can be hard to figure out how to rephrase to avoid "you." Usually the trick is to re-cast the sentence -- to turn things around in the sentence. Here are some examples that I hope that help.
It gives you information that
you can not find so much about
--> It offers
information that cannot easily be found elsewhere
It is a site with a lot of
information. It takes you from the 19th century through World War
One and World War Two, which gives you a broad picture of the roles of women at
this time.
--> It is a site
with information ranging from the 19th century through World War One
and World War Two, offering a broad picture of the roles of women during these
times.
If you then click on the tab
“A,” you will find all of the assignments by Mr. Z.
-->Clicking on
tab “A” leads to a site with all the assignments by Mr. Z.
When you read the text you can’t
see any author, but after looking around on the website you can read that they
have two authors.
-->No author is
indicated for the text, but elsewhere on the website there is information
noting that the text has two authors.
Either / Neither
For those who would like a little more information to help figure out the differences between the words either and neither, here's a webpage that may help.
Here's some information that I'll present at the beginning of class on Friday:
FOOTNOTES:
In your paper you need to have footnotes and a bibliography
(källförteckning). I have uploaded a
file to help you with how to write your footnotes. BUT, as I will say in class
on Friday, it is okay if there is a certain messiness to your footnotes when
you turn in your paper. I still need to see where your information came from,
but if the notes or bibliography are not done completely to style, we can fix
that on Monday after the break.
So, to summarize:
1 – You have to have footnotes and a bibliography when you
turn in the paper.
2 – The notes and bibliography can be inconsistent in style.
3 – We will have time to polish the notes and bibliography on
Monday after the break.
If you are using your
book as a source, you can use the following reference:
Roger B. Beck, Linda Black, et al. World History: Patterns of Interaction,Orlando, FL: Holt McDougal, 2012, p.
#.
You need to add the proper page # or page numbers that you
have used. For example:
p. 630
pp. 630–631.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography is alphabetized by the LAST NAME of the author, or the name of the organzation group behind the information.
Example:
Bassiouni, Mahmoud Cherif. “The Social System and Morality of Islam.” Middle East
Institute. http://www.mei.edu/content/social-system-and-morality-islam (accessed 2013-10-
12).
Calhoun, Craig. Dictionary of the Social Sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Dictionary of World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Groothuis, Rebecca Merrill. “The Bible and Gender Equality.” Christians for Biblical
Equality. http://www.cbeinternational.org/files/u1/resources/14-groothius-pdf.pdf (accessed
2014-01-28).
TIP FOR ORGANIZING YOUR PAPER
This is something I do when I write a paper. I write a draft
of the paper. I then print it out and cut apart the paragraphs, and I lay out these
paragraphs on a table and I test out different orders that I could put the
material in, in an attempt to find a logical order for how to present my
material.
Doing this often requires that I think about new ways to
create bridges (transitions) between the paragraphs.
CAPITALS
Make sure you have capitalized historical periods, proper
nouns, religions, countries, ethnic and national groups
All of the following are capitalized:
Scientific Revolution
Enlightenment
Renaissance
Middle Ages
Industrial Revolution (but industrialization)
American Revolution, French Revolution
England, English, Britain, British, United Kingdom, UK
United States, U.S., America, American
France, French
Sweden, Swedish
Are you unsure? Look in the dictionary you have in the dock
on your computer?
PAGE NUMBERS
Make sure you have page numbers
HEADER
Have a header with your name
TITLE
Have a title for your paper
TIP FOR CATCHING ERRORS IN YOUR SENTENCES OR SPELLING
Read you paper out loud. This tactic will often help you catch
errors – which we often hear even the eyes don’t see them.
Monday, 17 October
ENGLISH:
When quoting material, use quotation marks: “”
Do not use italics.
Thus:
Sandy Smith said, “Always use quotation marks for quotes.”
Not:
Sandy Smith said, Always
use quotation marks for quotes.
And definitely not:
Sandy Smith said, “Always
use quotation marks for quotes.”
Save italics for emphasis:
Sandy Smith said, “Always
use quotation marks for quotes.”
-social consequences of the IR: (urbanization, rise of the middle
class, increased in education for large sections of society)
-political consequences (formation of organizations such as labor
unions, women’s rights movements, abolitionists, even animal rights activists)
-economic consequences (rise of the middle class, gradual increase
in wages)
-further political/economic consequences (colonization or economic
domination of lands in order to secure natural resources needed for industrial
process AND/OR to secure trading partners and opportunities.
The IR is discussed in chapter 25 in your book. There are
some very nice summaries, tables, and graphics. See, for example:
pp. 724–725: “The Day of a Child Laborer, William Cooper”
P. 727: “Industrialization” – a summary of some of the
effects of industrialization + the growth of cities
p. 724: “Visual Summary – The Industrial Revolution”
The Industrial Revolution starts in England in the 18th century. In
class, I didn’t go into the reasons why the IR starts in England, but here’s a
little info. If you need more explanations about this, let me know.
England had the necessary “factors of production”:
1.land – natural resources – coal,
iron ore (malm), + harbors that made
it easy to transport
2.capital – money, tools, machinery –
rich Britons from 1700s (agricultural surplas à capital)
3.labor – growth in population *(better agricultural methods meant that fewer farm
workers were needed)
ALSO
A.markets – overseas colonies, U.S.,
India
B.best naval fleet in the world (by
mid-18th c. about ½ the world’s sea trade carried on Br. ships)
C.laws to help business owners
(Parliament passed laws that protected businesses)
Consequences of the IR:
Factories
With the move from making things by hand to making things
with machines, factories are built to house the machines and workers. And as is
discussed in Section 2, these factories were often dirty and dangerous. They
were often also very uncomfortable places to work in terms of temperature, air,
and general sanitation.Often
child and women were employed in the textile factories: there small hands made
them suitable for adjusting parts in narrow spaces, and their lack of political
and economic power made it easy to take advantage of them as workers.
Urbanization
As factory work expanded, more and more people moved away
from the country into the city – which can also be called urban areas. People
often lived in very cramped quarters, frequently without good sanitation.
Rise of Middle Class
Over time, wages for factory workers increased, and more
people moved opened businesses, allowing them to rise in their socio-economic
status.
Political Activism
With a more money and more time, people were able to
participate in political activities working for expanded political and economic
rights. Examples:
-labor
unions
-women’s
rights movements
-abolitionist
movements
-animal
rights movements
The basis for these political movements are found in the ideas of the Enlightenment.
We can also note the publication of The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848.
Exploitation of Resources
With industrialization came the need for new and more
resources, such as
-raw
material for textiles (cotton and wool)
-material
for making machines (various metals)
-material
for new inventions (rubber)
-energy
to run machines (such as coal and, later, oil)
Europeans took advantage of their presence in many parts of
the world to continue to spread their political and economic domination of the
Americas, Africa, and much of Asia. The marked increase in European colonies
and other forms of domination in the 19th century and early 20th
century is know as the Age of Imperialism. And we refer to this
political/economic domination and exploitation as colonialism.
On p. 777 you’ll find a map of Africa after it was divided
among the various European nations. And on p. 792 you’ll find a map of some of
Europe’s possessions in Asia and the Pacific. While countries such as Sweden,
Norway, and the Netherlands are not found on the map on p. 777, they
nonetheless played a role in systems of colonialism in Africa. Trading
companies run either by the countries or businesses with the countries counted
on trade that benefited the European countries. Many of these trade agreements
were established at the Berlin Conference of 1884.
Here's the schedule I showed at the beginning of class:
Once you start the paper assignment, I will be able to help you determine which issues to focus on as well as how to tie your topic together with the material that I've been presenting in class.
***
ENGLISH
OK = okay (not okey)
You can use okey in English, but usually only to write okey-dokey.
***
I have loaded up on Vklass the slides from today's lesson.
I started the lesson by talking about different developments
that can be connected with the printing press:
-criticism
of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century, which then leads
to the Protestant Reformation and the formation of new Churches in Europe.
-the
Scientific Revolution
-the
rise in literacy in Europe, particularly in countries that become Protestant.
I then explained that there is a key connection between the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. During the Sci. Rev., in the 16th and 17th centuries, scholars use rational thinking to try and understand the natural world. In the late 17th century and the 18th century -- primarily in England and France, this same rational thinking is used to try and answer questions and solve problems about society -- specifically, governments and human rights.
ENLIGHTENMENT
Social constructs, such as human rights, are not the same
thing as natural phenomena. All groups of humans experience natural phenomena
and come up with different explanations (for why there are different seasons,
why sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn’t, why volcanoes erupt, why the
stars in the heavens move, why the sun appears to move, why some metal are
magnetic, how the heart pumps blood,etc.)
But the idea of rights is not something that all groups of
people experience or have a common view about. The concept of rights is a
construct. We may argue that we believe in a certain set of rights, but they
are not a natural phenomena.
However, in the 17th and 18th
centuries, intellectuals began to argue that there are natural rights that
humans should enjoy (have) just because they are humans — not because they
belong to a particular class (e.g., nobility /adel), because they have a certain amount of money, because they
belong to a particular profession, or because they are a member of a particular
club.
When these ideas are introduced, they are new. And when they become part
of the founding documents of the American and French Revolutions, they are,
well, revolutionary.
ENGLISH:
incorrect: Me and Bob are going to the library
correct: Bob and I are going to the library.
One way to check whether you should use me or I is to take away the other person and say the sentence with just yourself You would never say "Me am going to the library." Thus, "Me and XX are . . . is also wrong." :-)
Main issues covered in the lesson:
-How
the change in worldviews from the
Middle Ages to the Renaissance is visible
in art (in the Middle Ages when spiritual matters were more important than
human achievements, we see that humans are portrayed in a very stylized manner
(odd proportions, odd positioning of the body, very simplified description of
the body. And in the Renaissance, where worldly matters are much more important,
we see that the human form is portrayed in a much more believable manner. There
is a greater sense that the figures represent beings of flesh and blood that
exist in a believable space (even if the work is 2-dimensional, as in a
painting). (Further discussion of the Renaissance and art: chap. 17, section 1, pp. 470–479)
-How
the printing press played a role in
allowing ideas (of all kinds) to spread. The invention is credited to Johannes
Gutenberg. (chap. 17, section 2, p. 484)
-How
the Protestant Reformation
contributed to new forms of Christianity + allowed some European leaders to
gain more political power (This last point is something I wrote down but didn’t
discuss). (chap. 17, section 4)
-How
the Scientific Revolution saw the use of rational thinking to solve questions
about the natural world. This is exemplified through the development of the
heliocentric theory in the 16th and 17th centuries. This
theory contradicted the geocentric theory that the Catholic Church supported.
But despite the Church’s objection’s, the evidence provided via scientific
methods helped new areas of scientific inquiry and study to expand. (chap 22, section 1)
-Also in the 15th and 16th
centuries we have Europeans setting out to explore the world. They are sailing
around Africa to get to Asia (so as to be able to trade directly with India and
other parts of Asia without having to go through so many middlemen.) They are
setting up trading centers throughout Africa and Asia. And from 1492 onward,
they are setting up industries (primarily agricultural) in the Americas (first
in South American and the Caribbean).(chap. 19, section 1, pp. 527–535 + chap 20,
section 1)
Christian holy book = (the) Bible (always capitalized).
bible = any authoritative book (not capitalized). Example: Zlatan's autobiography is my bible for how to succeed in life.
In the lecture part of the class, we reviewed the build-up
to the Crusades and we discussed the outcomes written below under Monday.
I went on to discuss how the Crusades helped lead to the
Renaissance. The Renaissance represents a number of significant changes that
develop in Europe post-Crusades, and these changes can be seen to be in
-trade
and other areas of economics and finance,
-literature
-philosophy
-education
-art
and architecture
-and
basically everything
The expansion of trade, and the ensuing financial changes
that come about, was partly the outcome of movement of people and goods back
and forth to the areas of the Crusades. But there was also the need for
equipment and goods (from boats, to clothing, to food, to weapons, and so much
more) for the Crusaders, which spawned and expanded many an industry within
Europe.
As a result, cities grew up in places such as Rome, Venice, Genoa,
and later also in northern cities. This wealth and trade in Italy helps explain
why the Renaissance starts in Italy.
As I noted in class, the most important issue at the heart
of all these other changes is a new worldview
that comes about. During the Middle Ages, the Church and religious
teachings/texts are the source of most intellectual pursuit. Questions are all
sorts (astronomy, philosophy, history, biology, and, of course, theology) are
answered through these religious teachings and texts. And as a result, the view
of man and his place in the world during
the Middle Ages is one that essentially says
-man
is sinful
-the
earthly world is something to be suffered through
-human
life lacks significant value except in religious terms
-the
afterlife is the only true worthwhile aspiration
During the Renaissance, this worldview changes, in part
because new sources of knowledge are now being used alongside the religious
texts. Writings from Ancient Greece and Rome — from philosophers, historians,
dramatists, artists, scientists — are also being used as sources of
information. Christian ideas are still important, but they are not the only
source of information.
As a result, a new
worldview develops, one where man and the earthly life are seen through
different eyes. So now
-man
may still be sinful, but he (and she) is capable of accomplishing or achieving
things here on earth (because, after all, man is God’s creation)
-if
all things come from God, then using various forms of knowledge or using human
skills can be understood as a way of celebrating God
As a result of this new worldview, humans start becoming
gradually more individualistic. During the Renaissance they are no where as
individualistic and egocentric as we are today, but take this example: we know
the names of hardly any individual artists and architects from the Middle Ages
— because individual honor and distinction was not important. (And there is a
lot of medieval art and architecture.) Only glorifying God was important. But
once we get to the Renaissance, we now know the names of hundreds of artists
and architects. You know the names of at least some of them: Donatello,
Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.
This difference in how man was viewed comes through in the art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. We see it in the sort of stories or narratives told through art. But even when the exact same subject is portrayed, we see a very different sort of style.
Here's a medieval portrayal of David and Goliath:
Here's an early Renaissance version by Donatello:
And here's Michelangelo's version, from the High Renaissance:
We'll discuss how these images betray a different worldview. In brief, we can say that if life on this earth is not important, then depicting humans in art in a believable manner is not so important. And if human life and human accomplishment is seen as important, then depicting the human body believably becomes more important.
On Monday, we’re going to continue with the Renaissance and than
move on to the Reformation (Martin Luther), and the Scientific Revolution.
We’ll focus, in part, on the role of the printing press for
these new developments.
If we have time, we’ll also talk a little about the
difference in organization and administration between the Middle Ages and
post-1500. This is a little confusing, so you can look in your book in chapter
13, section 2, esp. p. 361.
During the Middle Ages, as I noted before, the central
organization of the Roman Empire broke apart, and in its place, most Europeans
lived on manors (herrgård) and did
not ever travel far from their farm. Those who worked the land were peasants
(free laborers) and serfs (laborers bound to the land). Serfs weren’t slaves,
but at the same time they could not freely leave and go where they wanted. (Sweden
has a form of serf called träl.)
Most financial transactions on manors were carried out
through the exchange of goods. Very little needed to be bought from outside the
manor
The political organization of the Middle Ages was known as
feudalism. I’ll draw this out on the board in class, but one of the things
important to understand is that it is a system that does not lend itself to a
very large and efficient organization. It can work fine for cooperation among a
limited number of people. But it won’t work well for a large kingdom or empire.
A large and efficient kingdom (or nation) requires a central authority, and
rules that are passed down from the top and are applied to and followed by all.
Monday, 12 September
ENGLISH: God vs. god
I have put up a pdf file on Vklass with slides connected to Monday's lesson. "Middle Ages, w. 37:
Here are some key things to take away from Monday’s lesson:
Throughout the early Middle Ages, Christianity spread throughout Europe (with the exception of Spain,
which was Muslim up until the 15th century (actually, it was mostly
Christian already by the 13th century)).
The Catholic Church
had a clear hierarchy (see the pyramid I did in class and that is also in the
slides from Monday), which allowed for the Church to have a uniform message; it
also allowed for those higher up in the organization to wield power over those
lower in the organization.
The Crusades (a
variety of battles between European Christian knights against Arab and Turkish
Muslims in the Middle East from 1096 to around 1300) are most significant not
because of the military aims but because of other outcomes: The Crusades can be
understood to have contributed to
-greater trade within Europe and outside of
Europe (and this increase in trade helps develop new wealth in Europe,
particularly in centers in Italy to begin with)
-a re-introduction and interest in areas of study,
including math, science, history, language, art, architecture
-an interest in further contact with lands
outside of Europe
-greater competition between European kingdoms
for power and wealth
Thus, there are economic, political, intellectual, social
issues connected with the Crusades that have long-term effects on the world.
*****
Where this will lead us:
Throughout the Middle Ages, the primary source of knowledge
and reasoning was the Church and its texts. Thus, the Bible as well as writings
by key Christian thinkers, such as St. Augustine and Thomas of Aquinas, are
used to try and understand all key questions relating to the world.
After the Crusades and the renewed contact with material
from Ancient Greece and Rome, Europe begins to slowly seek out non-theological
sources of information for answering questions about the world. This new way of
seeing the world (also known as a worldview) allows for new schools of
thinking, new philosophies, and scientific experimentation.
***
Regarding the research you're doing on your topic:
Look for infomration that is relevant to the development of your topic up to this point. Try to find specific information -- not just interpretation or opinion. What are developments that have led to current issues connected to your topic?
It is quite okay if you are a little uncertain here. It is important, though, that you ask questions regularly. If I don't get to you during class, write me. I promise I'll answer quickly. Trust me that this process of thinking and talking with me is an important part of the learning process.
