History 01
The Origins of the Western Tradition

Professor Hugh Dubrulle
Class Time:  TTh 10:00AM-11:15AM
Classroom:  15 (4th Floor Alumni Hall)
Office:  206 Bradley House
Office Hours:  Tuesday 2:30PM-4PM; Wednesday 1:00PM-3:00PM and by appointment
E-mail:  hdubrull@anselm.edu 
Telephone:  (603) 641-7046
website: http://www.anselm.edu/academic/history/homepage.html

Themes of the Course

A course studying the origins of the Western tradition is more than a collection of esoteric facts about strange people from far-off lands who died a long time ago. Instead, it is an argument asserting that these peoples' thoughts, deeds, and socio-political arrangments influence the way we live today. According to this perspective, the West is less a place than a collection of ideas, practices, and institutions, many of which originated outside Europe.

Over the course of this semester, we will investigate the elements that ostensibly constitute the Western tradition. First, we will study how the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt provided the foundations of Western civilization—agriculture, cities, literacy, social hierarchy, and organized religion. In succeeding weeks, we will look at how various peoples, including the Israelites, Greeks, Romans, and Germans have influenced the development of this civilization. We will conclude our survey in 1600, at which point the West had foundered in crisis for three centuries. Nevertheless, this dynamic civilization had reached a point where it would successfully turn its great energies outward and change the world.

Required Readings

John McKay, Bennett Hill, and John Buckler, A History of Western Society, vol. I, From Antiquity to the Enlightenment
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Song of Roland
Coursepack
Web Reader (Primary Sources posted on the Course Website)
Web Gallery (Images posted on the Course Website)
Web Links (Links to other Websites)

Student Requirements and Assignments

My Policy regarding Academic Honesty

According to the American Historical Association's Statement on the Standards of Professional Conduct, "the expropriation of another author's text, and the presentation of it as one's own, constitutes plagiarism and is a serious violation of the ethics of scholarship." The Statement goes on to assert the following: "Plagiarism includes more subtle and perhaps more pernicious abuses than simply expropriating the exact wording of another author without attribution. Plagiarism also includes the limited borrowing, without attribution, of another person's distinctive and significant research findings, hypotheses, theories, rhetorical strategies, or interpretations, or an extended borrowing even with attribution." So what exactly does plagiarism look like? The Statement continues by stating that "the clearest abuse is the use of another's language without quotation marks and citation. More subtle abuses include the appropriation of concepts, data, or notes all disguised as newly crafted sentences, or reference to a borrowed work in an early note and then extensive further use without attribution." If you would like more information on this topic, please refer to the AHA's statement on plagiarism (http://www. theaha.org/standard_02.htm).

Plagiarism is reprehensible. If I find you have plagiarized another person's work, I will show you no mercy: you can expect anything from a zero on a particular assignment to an F in the class. These penalties serve not only to punish the guilty, but even more important, to deter those who might feel tempted to engage in unethical behavior.

This grade depends on your class participation and your leadership of class discussion.

I will base your class participation grade on the frequency and quality of your contribution to classroom discussion. Positive contributions consist not merely of answering the professor's questions. They also include:

• Asking questions concerning the reading, the discussion, or the themes of the course in general
• Challenging what either the professor or your peers have said
• Making pertinent observations of all sorts
• Visiting me during office hours
• Displaying a positive attitude toward learning and the course

Furthermore, if you are a student, your job consists of learning. I expect you to come to class prepared to learn.

• Come to class having completed the readings assigned for that day (including the textbook readings).
• If we are scheduled to discuss a book or an excerpt out of the coursepack, bring the reading to class so that you can refer to it.
• Bring the textbook to class.
• Also, please arrive on time if not a little early. If you must leave class early, let me know in advance.

Remember, if you are not attending class, you are not participating.

Food for Thought Reading Assignments (20%)

For almost every class meeting, I will assign you a series of questions that will help you understand important issues associated with the reading. You must provide short written responses to these questions that appear in the "Food for Thought" section of the website. These written responses, preferably typed, are due in class on the day we discuss the readings to which they pertain—no exceptions. So that you derive maximum benefit from these assignments, I expect you to complete them before class starts—not during class time. If you are not in class, you will not get credit for the assignment that day.

Essays (30%)

During the semester, I will provide more information about both of these assignments.

• Essay 1 (due Thursday, September 26) (10%)
• Essay 2 (due Thursday, November 21) (20%)

Extensions: I will grant NO extensions on or after the due date. I will provide an extension only if you produce the necessary documentation from the academic dean's office.

Turning in Papers: I will not accept papers submitted to me via e-mail. You must give the paper to me in person on the day it is due—before I leave campus.

Late Papers:  Late papers will suffer a penalty of 10% for each day they are late. Thus, a B- paper turned in a day late will become a C- paper. The meter runs on weekends just as on weekdays. If a paper is due on a Friday, it will be one day late on Saturday (10% off), two days late on Sunday (20% off), and three days late on Monday (30% off). The meter also keeps running during holidays and breaks. It is your responsibility to get the paper to me in such a manner that I can verify you completed it by a certain time.

Examinations (35%)

Both examinations in this class will consist of a short identification section followed by a series of essays questions.

• Midterm Examination (15%): This examination will take place on Thursday, October 24.
  
• Final Examination (20%): This examination will take place on Wednesday, December 18, 9:00AM.

Schedule

WEEK 1

Tuesday, September 3

Thursday, September 5

WEEK 2

Tuesday, September 10

Thursday, September 12

WEEK 3

Tuesday, September 17

Thursday, September 19

WEEK 4

Tuesday, September 24

Thursday, September 26

WEEK 5

Tuesday, October 1

Thursday, October 3

WEEK 6

Tuesday, October 8

Thursday, October 10

WEEK 7

Tuesday, October 15

Thursday, October 17

WEEK 8

Tuesday, October 22

Thursday, October 24: MIDTERM EXAMINATION

WEEK 9

Tuesday, October 29

Thursday, October 31

WEEK 10

Tuesday, November 5

Thursday, November 7

WEEK 11

Tuesday, November 12

Thursday, November 14

WEEK 12

Tuesday, November 19

Thursday, November 21

WEEK 13

Tuesday, November 26

Thursday, November 28: Thanksgiving Break (no class)

WEEK 14

Tuesday, December 3

Thursday, December 5

WEEK 15

Tuesday, December 10

Thursday, December 12

FINAL EXAMINATION: Wednesday, December 18, 9:00AM