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SoSe 20: Cities in Global History: Global Urban History at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, 1880-1930

Harry Stopes

Information for students

Teaching Organisation and Adaptive Measures for Online Teaching For obvious reasons, this class will be taught online only. This will be a new experience for me and, I imagine, for students too. Sometimes, no doubt, this will be a challenging and frustrating experience for all of us. The stresses of learning in this new ‘normal’ will be compounded for many of you by the additional challenges of lost employment, changed living circumstances, additional caring responsibilities, and in some cases by direct experience of the Covid illness itself. I will try my best to mitigate these difficulties by being pragmatic, flexible and supportive as we work together to ensure that all students get as much as possible out of the module. So, to practicalities. The course will be primarily taught through Blackboard, and most of our discussion will be conducted in this medium. Students will be expected to upload weekly reading response texts engaging with the week’s set reading and discussing questions and ‘talking points’ that I will outline on the Blackboard page. I will then respond to your reading responses myself, and we will conduct a discussion on Blackboard using the forum function. I may also introduce elements of group/team work, for example dividing the class into 4/5 groups and assigning each group a different question to discuss together via whatever methods (email, WhatsApp, Skype, etc) suit you best. We will have to be patient with each other and find out what works best in this respect. There will be a new topic, with new readings, each week. All set readings will be available in PDF form from the Blackboard page (I am downloading articles / scanning book chapters now for this purpose.) In addition we will ‘meet’ for around 45 minutes using online video conferencing software, almost certainly WebEx, on 6 occasions. The dates for these meetings are 27 April, 11 May, 25 May, 15 June, 29 June, 13 July. These meetings will take place at 12:00 CEST. The first meeting will be focused on introducing the module themes, as well as outlining teaching plans in more detail. Subsequent meetings will be used to wrap up Blackboard discussions and provide a space for less formal discussion and exchange. Note: These meetings are optional. I will be available to meet BY EMAIL APPOINTMENT on WebEx during my regular office hours, Tuesdays, 1300-1500 CEST. Other timeslots will be made available when necessary and appropriate. close

Additional information / Pre-requisites

Course Requirements In order to have their active and regular participation validated and receive the standard ‘presence grade’, all students are required to do the following: 1) Read the set texts each week 2) Upload reading responses to weekly readings by the deadline of 12:00 CEST every Monday beginning 4 May. 3) Participate in group discussions on the Blackboard page 4) Other small tasks that may be set such as participation in small group/team discussions 5) All students must meet with me for a short check-in discussion at least once during Office Hours by 15 May. In addition to meeting the requirements for participation, students who wish to get ‘module grade’ for the class will write a seminar paper within the purview of the topics discussed in class. Please note that this must be submitted by the end of July to allow time for marking before the end of my contract at the Free University (31 August.) The (non-) availability of primary and secondary sources will of course be taken into account. close

Comments

‘There are more things in Johannesburg,’ a reporter wrote in the Standard and Diggers’ News in 1899, ‘than are dreamt of in the ordinary man’s philosophy.’ Cities around the turn of the twentieth century were exciting places, dynamic sites of intellectual and social innovation, and crucibles of social and political change. They held enormous reserve armies of the labour that built the world economy, and were centres of finance and exchange. For political leaders, the city was a space in which to assert state power, as well as the setting in which many new functions of the modern state were refined. Cities also saw the development of new or refined forms of social control, as well as resistance by subjugated populations to colonialism, segregation, and class power. There are many reasons for global historians to be interested in urban history, whatever their particular sub-field or regional focus. As urban historians have long known, broad historiographical problems often come into clearer focus when examined in the urban framework. The same can be true for themes in global history. The study of cities in global history also offers one possible solution to the challenge of some sceptics who charge global history with the flattening of global differences, and urge historians to turn back to the ‘small spaces’ of history, embedding their work once more in tight geographical bounds. One way to answer this challenge is to develop a global history that is firmly rooted in place, by telling globally inflected histories of cities. In this module, therefore, we use case studies drawn from urban history to cast new light on important themes in modern global history. The module focuses on the decades around the turn of the twentieth century. In order to help us identify points of connection and comparison between world regions, as well as to highlight difference where appropriate, each session is structured around a discussions of either a particular urban typology, such as ‘port cities’, or a theme in urban history such as ‘labour.’ In most cases this will involve discussing one European city and one other world city. Primary sources such as images or short texts will be incorporated into every session. The module will aid students in developing and clarifying their understanding of issues of scale, space, and the interconnectedness of world-regions in global history. Prior experience in urban history is useful, but not required. Much more important is a willingness to read carefully ahead of every session and to participate actively in class discussions. close