HIST 2640 - GLOBAL APPROACHES TO THE CONCEPT OF MODERNITY

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
When did modernity start? Is our society postmodern? Are some societies more modern than others? Should we altogether jettison the word "modernity"? Modernity is not only a word whose use you may one day be asked to justify, it is also a gateway unto debates about whether humanity has progressed, about Western expansion, and about how to compare global societies. The first part of this class will give you an overview of three key debates surrounding the concept of modernity: 1) whether modernity is primarily related to capitalism, to the nation-state system, or to transformations in forms of subjectivity, 2) how the temporal markers of modernity, early modernity, and postmodernity have been debated, and 3) how people in societies on the receiving end of Western expansion wrote about modernity and about its twin concept, tradition. The second part of this class will look at actual uses of the concept of modernity by inviting half a dozen faculty members to discuss how they use modernity in their own work. Although based in the history department, this seminar seeks to foster an inter-disciplinary conversation among students from a broad array of disciplines.
Academic Career: Graduate
Course Component: Seminar
Grade Component: Grad LG/SNC Basis

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