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In 1992, I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul. As I walked through the streets of that magnificent city, I was amazed by the unique results of the cultural mixing. I gazed upon Egyptian hieroglyphs etched into an obelisk, Roman temples, Byzantine churches, and Muslim palaces. In that place, time and space seemed to have lost their meaning as the old and new stood side-by-side and cultures from around the world seamlessly blended together. There, I found a microcosm of the history of the world, and there is where I began to understand that world history is all about interactions.
As I began to engage in historical studies, the more I realized that the roots of our modern globalized world are not centuries or even a millennium old, but they can be traced back to the very origins of humanity (and some even say the origins of the Universe). This site is my attempt to explain the pre-modern roots of the globalized world. |
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World history extends the boundaries of traditional historical studies to reveal patterns and processes that occur on a global scale. Throughout this course, we will employ a wide variety of methods to study world history, such as comparative, thematic, and systematic approaches, and we will reflect upon how transitioning between various frameworks of time, space, and events alter the questions that we ask and the complex patterns that are revealed.
Each week, presentations, readings, discussions, viewings, and projects will be used to place topics of study into a global context. |
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| Rather than strictly being a world history course, this site constitutes a world studies program. It is centered around two principles: human centered and integrated studies. |
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| Often civilizations are used as the primary unit of analysis in a world history course, and each civilization's unique and distinct characteristics are emphasized. However, during this course, greater emphasis will be placed on the common aspects of humanity, such as revealing one's purpose in the universe, dealing with conflict, searching for ethics, and seeking justice. |
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Academic disciplines are artificial divisions that have been used for centuries to organize institutions of learning. However, they do little to reflect the way that the human brain seamlessly allows for the flow of information. As a result, and also due to advances in telecommunications and the Internet, disciplinary divisions are becoming increasingly blurred.
By placing art, architecture, literature, music, and philosophy into their proper historical setting, deeper insights can be revealed about the human experience at a particular time and place.
Therefore, please keep-in-mind that the emphasis is not on strictly following academic lines, but it is on the skills acquired, such as critical reading, effective writing, supporting conclusions, and using evidence. |
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| I dedicated this site to my family. Thank you for your patience and support. |
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