instructor: Timothy Coates

semester: Summer One (day)

course_title: Special Topics: First Contact

number: HIST_241/261_001

phone_number: 953-8031

email_address: coatest@cofc.edu

course_level: Undergraduate

Description: The College of Charleston
History 241/261 ST: First Contacts Professor Timothy
Coates
MTWRF 11:45-1:30 Maybank 325
Maybank 317 Office Hours M-W-F 2:30-3:30
Telephone 953 8031
Fax 953 6349
Email coatest@cofc.edu
Please do not send assignments by email.

Course Description: This special topics class will focus on Europeans meeting non-Europeans for the first time, around the globe from 1400-1750. Students will explore one specific meeting as the subject for their research papers. Students taking this class as 241 (European history) will focus on the European side of the encounter, while students taking this class as 261 (non-European history) will focus on the other side.
Special emphasis will be on readings and interpreting primary sources.
Possibilities for papers include (but are not limited to) the Portuguese and West Africans, Portuguese and Swahili, Portuguese and South Asians, Portuguese and Java, Portuguese and Chinese, Portuguese and Japanese, Spanish and Carib, Spanish and Aztec, Spanish and Inca, Russian and Alaskan people, British or French and the Pacific, etc.

Grades are based on 100 points as follows:
type of work points assigned due
first draft 10 14 June 18 June
second draft 10 21 June 25 June
discussion in class 25 daily
final paper 30 7 July
final exam 25 2:45 July 8
Total 100

Course grades will be based on the following scale of
percentages: 100-90= A; 89-86= B+; 85-80= B; 79-76=
C+; 75-70= C; 69-60= D; less than 60= F. Please note
that there are no opportunities for any student to have
assignments in addition to these. That is, there is no
possibility of extra credit for any student.

Attendance Policy: Courses over the summer move at an accelerated pace. Consequently, attendance at each session is important. I do not take attendance.
Some students have misinterpreted this to mean, "The Professor does not care about attendance." That is not true. What it means is this is a college class (not high
school) and you are adults (not children). If you wish to pay for this class and not attend it, that is your decision and you will have to live with the results. Students are responsible for all the material in the readings and what is presented in each lecture, whether they attend or not. The fact that you are absent on the day something is due does not alter the due date. There are no excused absences for this class for any reason.
Please do not call me or the History Department secretaries to say that you will be absent on a given day.
The writing assignments require you to use the material from class as well as from your readings.
How can you do that if you are absent?

General Requirements for Written Work
Margins must not exceed one inch on the sides, top, and bottom and must be written in twelve point type (this is twelve point). Papers that do not conform to these basic guidelines will be returned to the student ungraded and without comment. Late papers will be penalized five points for each day late. During the course, you will be required to write a six to eight page paper on your selected encounter. We will work on producing this paper in stages throughout the course.
Pay particular attention to the following in your writing (these numbers will be used on your written assignments if needed):
1. Use active rather than passive voice. Example:
Change was started. This is a weak sentence because it is vague and especially because we do not know who started what change. Revolutionaries changed society.
Now this is still a bit vague but at least we know who did the action. Better still would be: Fidel Castro and a handful of revolutionaries changed Cuban society in the
late 1950s and early 1960s.
2. Avoid repetition and wordiness. Example: She tried to put her ideas into practice. To put something into practice... can you think of one word that means that?
3. Use your spell check always.
4. Proof read your work always.

Required texts (in the College Bookstore/University Books on King Street and available on the Internet):
Gunn, G. First Globalization
Kicza, J. Resilient Cultures
Scammell, G. First Imperial Age.

You will benefit most from the class and avoid a number of potentially serious problems if you:
1. Complete the assigned readings before, not after, each lecture.
2. Keep up with readings--do not allow yourself to fall behind. Reserve a special time in your weekly
schedules for the readings.
3. Borrow notes from a friend in the class in the event you miss a lecture. Please do not come to my office and ask me for a synopsis of a missed lecture. If you want to know what we do in class, attend!
4. Visit me during my office hours to ask any questions you may have. I am happy to meet with you and discuss any issues you might want to raise. That is why I have office hours. If you are unable to see me during my scheduled office hours, ask for an
appointment and we can arrange another time.
5. Review this syllabus carefully and note the dates when papers are due. Reserve time just for writing the essays for this class. If you plan your time in this fashion, you will be able to avoid rushing at the last minute to complete the required readings and writing an essay over material that is new. The result will actually be less work completed over a longer period.
Your essay will reflect a better understanding of the material.
6. Submit your own work on time. That may sound easy, but it means your work (not something written by someone else) on the date and time due. The first day of class we will review the course requirements and the
meaning of the term plagiarism. Students guilty of
plagiarism will be reported to the honor board of the College. All students are reminded that we are required to follow the honor code of the College. This code is explained in detail on pages 46-47 of the Student Handbook.

Answers to some frequently asked questions. These questions are asked of me each semester. Because they reflect some serious differences in the importance and philosophy of a liberal arts education (in general) and this class (in particular), I think it is worth pausing a moment to consider:
1. What will happen to me if I do not turn in an
assignment? If you note the grading scale, each
assignment has a given number of points possible.
Rather than obtaining any of these, you will receive a zero.
2. The readings in this class are too long. Why don’t you cut out one/two/three texts so that they don’t
interfere with my work? The answer to this question
should be obvious. I know that many students work, and I monitor my reading assignments. You will note that I total the number of pages of assigned reading just for this reason. Isn’t paying for school the rationale behind working? I do not think that you would suggest to your boss that you should be paid for 40 hours of work when you have completed 20. Isn’t that what this question asks the professor to do--give credit for a class with half the usual reading and other assignments? The amount of reading and the type of assignments are determined by the History Department as a whole, not by individual professors.
The solution is to plan your time as carefully as possible and to keep in mind why you may be working.
The purpose of this syllabus is to inform students on the first day exactly what the expectations will be.
If you feel that the readings are too long or too hard or that the requirements are too demanding, then drop this class. When you return on the second day of class, you have agreed to the assignments outlined in this syllabus. Any further complaining is pointless.
3. Where should I be in the readings? The purpose of this syllabus is to answer that very question. Find today’s date on the syllabus and your question will be answered.
4. Is it OK if I come late/leave early? I have a doctor's appointment/to take a friend to the airport/want to go to the beach. I expect you to be in class when we start and stay until we finish. If you decide to schedule other activities during class time, that is your business and you will have to live with the consequences.
5. The books for this class are too expensive.
Together with the tuition, this class costs too much
money. Do I have to buy all the books ? I do not have
the time to read all the books for this class, do I have
to? Any of the required books which the library owns
are on reserve. Costs for books and tuition have gone up and I realize they are not cheap. Students will note that I assign every page of the books we will use in this class. Students will not be able to pass this, or any other class in history, without reading the assigned books. In fact, students are actually wasting their time and someone’s money if they register for this class and refuse to read the books.

Students are reminded that eating, drinking, and smoking are prohibited in classrooms and hallways at the College of Charleston. Students are specifically requested not to make or receive telephone calls on portable telephones during the class period. Please turn off your telephones and pagers before class begins. Students are also reminded that the classroom is not the appropriate place to apply make up, comb hair, or other similar activities of personal grooming. If necessary, on the first day of class, I will be happy to explain why these activities are not appropriate in a class. I will appreciate not being required to ask students a second time to refrain from any of the above.
I will remove students from this class if they insist upon engaging in these activities.

Schedule of Lectures and Required Readings
Please note that this schedule is subject to change due to unexpected or unforeseen circumstances (such as hurricanes), especially days scheduled for films.
During the summer, we move at a fast pace. It is extremely important that students keep up with the readings and do not allow themselves to fall behind.

Readings for this week: Gunn, First Globalization, pp.
1-144
1. Tuesday June 8 First Day of Class
2. Wednesday June 9 Library: Understanding journals and data bases.
3. Thursday June 10 Thesis statement and bibliography 4. Friday June 11. Movie: Into the Rising Sun parts 3 and 4. Maybank 100 ===========================================
=================
Readings for this week: Gunn, First Globalization, pp.
145-284.
5. Monday June 14. Thesis statement and bibliography returned.
6. Tuesday June 15. Library: Primary sources 7. Wednesday June 16. Presentations on journals and primary sources 8. Thursday June 17 Thesis statement, bibliography, outlines.
9. Friday June 18 Outline and first draft due. Movie :
TBA
===========================================
=================
Readings for this week: Scammell, The First Imperial Age, pp. 1-140.
10. Monday June 21. First drafts returned.
11. Tuesday June 22 Library: Secondary literature 12. Wednesday June 23 13. Thursday June 24 Library: Thesis statement, bibliography, outline, and draft.
14. Friday June 25.second draft due. Movie Robinson Crusoe. Maybank 100

===========================================
=================
Readings for this week: Scammell, The First Imperial Age, pp. 141-261.
15. Monday June 28. Second drafts returned. 241 only meets today 16. Tuesday June 29. 261 only meets today 17. Wednesday June 30 18. Thursday July 1. Library: Thesis statement, bibliography, outline and second draft.
19. Friday July 2. Movie Surviving Columbus (OMT
2052) Maybank 100
===========================================
==================
Readings for the last days of class: Kicza, Resilient Cultures, pp. 1-183.

Monday July 5 Holiday no classes

20. Tuesday July 6 . Movie: remaining half of Surviving Columbus(OMT 2052) Maybank 100 21. Wednesday July 7. Last day of class. Papers due.
Final exam distributed.

Final exam due in my office by 2:45 on July 8.