Global History: Modern World (250-B-66)
Instructors
Sian Christina Olson Dowis
Sian Olson Dowis is a doctoral student in modern U.S. history. She holds a B.A. in History (highest honors) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research interests include social movements, political economy, urban planning and the built environment. She is particularly interested in how the national and global upheavals of the 1970s and 1980s manifested in American industrial cities. Her paper, “The Moral Economy of the Urban Crisis: Detroit, Poletown, and the Industrial Imaginary in the Age of Capital Flight,” won the history department’s George Romani Prize.
Meeting Info
Online: Thurs 6:15PM - 9:15PM
Overview of class
This course offers an introduction to the main episodes and themes in modern history from around 1750 to the present. Unlike traditional history courses that focus on a single nation or region, our focus is on the entire world, taken as a whole. We will use this broad global scope to better understand large-scale historical phenomena, including empire, industrial technology, revolution, race and racism, capitalism, communism, the two world wars, decolonization, human rights, terrorism, pandemics, and globalization. We will pay particular attention to the unlocking of energy from fossil fuels in the eighteenth century and to the unprecedented prosperity, inequality, and ecological change that resulted as humanity unevenly switched from a low-energy to a high-energy regime. This reading- and writing-intensive course includes weekly reading assignments, papers, and take-home exams. Classes will include lecture followed by a discussion of weekly There are no prerequisites for this course—newcomers and history buffs alike are welcome.
Schedule note: This course will meet remotely, with weekly remote synchronous sessions held on the scheduled day.
Class Materials (Required)
Confirm course texts and materials by contacting instructor or viewing course Canvas site.
Class Attributes
Synchronous:Class meets remotely at scheduled time