David Rahimi

Course Description: This course will offer a basic survey of American History from Columbus’s landfall in 1492 until the end of the American Civil war in 1865. Emphasis is placed upon a cultural perspective, setting the social, economic, religious, and political beliefs and practices of early Americans into their historic context. As often as practicable, we will examine the American past by reading the words, and viewing the buildings and images created by past Americans.

List of Texts and Educational Materials:  
1) Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History, Volume One, Sixth (Seagull) Edition, (Norton, 2020).
2) Robert Olwell, ed., The Presence of the Past: Documents in American History, 1492-1865 (Third Edition, Kendall-Hunt, 2019)
3) Cerego – students must purchase a $10 subscription for doing the map exercises; Cerego will be integrated with Canvas and students will be prompted to purchase the subscription when first signing into it via the course page

Grading Policy:
- Three Exams – 100 points each
- Cerego Map Quizzes – 40 points total  
- Canvas Discussion Board Participation – 40 points total

The exams constitute roughly 80% of the grade while the maps and discussion boards are about 10% respectively.
 
Final Grades will be awarded on the following scale out of 380 points:
A = 342 points or more
A- = 335-341
B+ = 323-334
B = 304-322
B- = 297-303
C+ = 285-296
C = 266-284
C- = 259-265
D+ = 247-258
D = 228-246
F = 227 points or fewer

Type: Asynchronous Online

This undergraduate course acquaints students with the history of British imperialism in the Middle East from 1821 to 1971, while situating this specific region within the larger question of the global British Empire and what it means for us today. The course begins by contextualizing the origins of the so-called Second British Empire in the early, post-Napoleonic nineteenth century. It ends with the British withdrawal from the Gulf. The class highlights the key economic, social, political, cultural, and religious themes and problems that surfaced during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as the problem of Orientalism, the politics of oil nationalization, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify the main factors facilitating the origins of the second empire, explain the various purposes and effects of empire, identify the major challenges to empire like nationalism, and explain what changed post-WWII that led to the end of empire. As an upper-division course, this class emphasizes intensive reading, analytical writing, and critical thinking. Through repeated writing exercises and class discussion, students are encouraged to think deeply and sensitively about the complexities and modern legacies of colonial rule in our world.