Understanding Globalization: Global Issues in Historical Perspective

Course focus and approach:
This course provides a historical understanding of global issues related to the increasing interconnectedness of the world, by examining processes of interaction and exchange from 1500 up to the present.
The course analyzes the deep-rooted history of major issues affecting the world today by offering a clear set of theoretical frameworks about concrete themes linked to the interactions of Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe from the Columbian Exchange or the Manila Galleon to the early twenty-first century.
The course offers a historical perspective on current discussions about major challenges facing society today, from the development of economic disparities across regions and population segments, to migration and climate change. Students will compare the evolution of different issues related to political institutions, economic activity, social transformations and intellectual life, from a historical, transdisciplinary and transnational perspective. By using concrete examples and case studies, students will analyze this set of global
issues, from the perspectives of different regions of the world and incorporating a gender approach in order to rethink the social, economic, political, technological and cultural ways of relation within and between societies.
The course will address methodologically important issues, such as cultural encounter, international relations and global economic history, as well as a transdisciplinary engagement with the economics of institutions, cultural anthropology, historical geography and the politics of state formation.

Learning objectives:
This course will help students consider contemporary debates from a historical perspective. Students will acquire a new range of analytical and research skills relevant to the contemporary configuration of global society. Students will come to understand and debate large and multidisciplinary interpretative issues, such as the role of borderland regions, cultural encounters, the effects of global environment on the world economy, different forms of capital and economic integration, global migrations, the different paths of innovation, what
is soft power, the city as a driver of economic transformation and global inequalities, among others.

Course workload:
Course requirements: readings, class participation... (20%)
Each class includes both lecture and discussion. The participation grade takes into account punctual attendance; completing required readings and short assignments and submitting them when due; familiarity with, and reflection on, the assigned readings; and active and thoughtful participation in class discussion.
Midterm exam (20%)
The midterm exam is an open book essay designed to give students the incentive to pay attention in class and complete all the readings regarding the first part of the course.
Seminars and assignments (30%)
There will be three seminars. Each student or group of students will discuss a topic related to the course, present it in class, and write a short essay related to the themes of the seminar. The format of the document will be in a standard essay format with notes and bibliography. With respect to the presentation of the class, PPT presentations, videos and other multimedia resources are optional. Further information will be provided on the seminar and paper requirements.
Final short exam (30%)
Students will have to prepare one final exam (open book essay). 

Teaching methodology:
This is a seminar style course. Each class includes both lecture and discussion. The participation grade takes account of punctual attendance; familiarity with, and reflection on, the assigned readings; and active and thoughtful participation in discussion.

Assessment criteria:
Class participation (20%)
Midterm exam (20%)
Seminars and assignments (30%)
Final short exam (30%)

Weekly schedule:
- WEEK 1. (Dr. Guillermo Martínez-Taberner/ Dr. Rubén Carrillo)
Session 1. Course description / Introduction to Global History.
Session 2. Introduction to Global History.
Reading and class discussion: CONRAD, S. (2016). “What Is Global History?”. 1st ed. Princeton-Oxford: Princeton University Press, pp. 62-89.
- WEEK 2. (Dr. Rubén Carrillo)
Session 3. Expanding Spaces of Exchange and Encounter. How global forces have transformed experiences of entire areas through entanglement?
Session 4. Expanding Spaces of Exchange and Encounter. How global forces have transformed experiences of entire areas through entanglement?
Reading and class discussion: NUNN, N. and QIAN, N. (2010) “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas”, Journal of Economic Perspectives. American Economic Association, Volume 24, Number 2, Spring, pp. 163–188.
- WEEK 3. (Dr. Guillermo Martínez-Taberner)
Session 5. Forms of Integration. The relationship between trade and the emergence of the world economy.
Session 6. Forms of Integration. The relationship between trade and the emergence of the world economy.
Reading and class discussion: FLYNN, D. O. and GIRALDEZ, A. (1995) “Born with a ‘Silver Spoon’: The Origin of World Trade in 1571”, Journal of World History, Vol. 6, nº 2, pp. 201-221.
- WEEK 4. (Dr. Rubén Carrillo)
Session 7. Global Environment: How does the global environment affect human societies?
Session 8. Global Environment: How does the global environment affect human societies?
Reading and class discussion: MCNEILL, J. R. (2010) “Atlantic Empires and Caribbean Ecology”. In Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914. Cambridge University Press, pp. 15-36
- WEEK 5. (Dr. Guillermo Martínez-Taberner)
Session 9. The Ascent of Information: Similarities and differences between the era of the Reform, the Great Acceleration and the Era of information.
Session 10. The Ascent of Information: Similarities and differences between the era of the Reform, the Great Acceleration and the Era of information.
Reading and class discussion: NIALL, F. The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook. New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2018.
- WEEK 6. (Dr. Rubén Carrillo)
Session 11. People on the move: Global Migration and Mixed Societies. From colonial societies to the postracial thinking and cultural expressions.
Session 12. People on the move: Global Migration and Mixed Societies. From colonial societies to the postracial thinking and cultural expressions.
Reading and class discussion: McKEOWN, A. "Different Transitions: Comparing China and Europe, 1600– 1900", Journal of Global History, Volume 6, Issue 2 (2011), 309-319.
- WEEK 7. (Dr. Guillermo Martínez-Taberner)
Session 13. Forms of capital, labor and consumption. How and why have they changed over time?
Session 14. Forms of capital, labor and consumption. How and why have they changed over time?
Reading and class discussion: TRENTMANN, F. Empire of Things: How We Became a World of Consumers, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twenty-First (Penguin UK, 2016), pp.174-221.
- WEEK 8 (Dr. Rubén Carrillo)
Session 15. Forms of power and resistances: How sources of power and resistances have been adapted to the different globalization stages?
Session 16. Forms of power and resistances: How sources of power and resistances have been adapted to the different globalization stages?
Reading and class discussion: COLLEY, L. The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World. (Liveright, 2021), 253-304
- WEEK 9 (Dr. Guillermo Martínez-Taberner)
Session 17. Towards the Great Convergence. From the ascent of Europe as the most developed area in the world, eclipsing the Asian empires (the so-called Great Divergence), to the rapid industrialization of Asian nations (the “Great Convergence”)
Session 18. Towards the Great Convergence. From the ascent of Europe as the most developed area in the world, eclipsing the Asian empires (the so-called Great Divergence), to the rapid industrialization of Asian nations (the “Great Convergence”)
Reading and class discussion: CHANG, H. (2008), ‘The East Asian Model of Economic Policy’ in The East Asian Development Experience, Zed Books, pp.13-59
- WEEK 10 (Dr. Rubén Carrillo)
Session 19. Social movements. From peasant revolts in the early-modern world to the articulation of intersectionality.
Session 20. Social movements. From peasant revolts in the early-modern world to the articulation of intersectionality.
Reading and class discussion: FREEDMAN, E. “The Historical Emergence of Feminisms”. In No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women, pp. 45-94. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002.