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HIS42950

Academic Year 2024/2025

How the West came to rule (HIS42950)

Subject:
History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
History
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Professor Catherine Cox
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Capitalism has recently reemerged as a major concept in the historical literature, and the historiographical debate about its origins continues to be one of the most significant, lively, and stimulating debates between historians. This course examines successively the history of this debate, the academic discussions about the key factors in the rise of capitalism, and the rise of capitalism in case studies central in the debate. It particularly focuses on England, France, the Netherlands, the United States and Vietnam, but also ventures on the rise of capitalism in Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Turkey, Ireland, and French colonies. By the end of the module, participants should be able to critically reflect upon the historiographical debate on the origins of capitalism, its key concepts, and its main case studies.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module participants should:
- Be able to critically reflect upon the historiographical debate on the origins of capitalism, its key concepts, and its main case studies.
- Demonstrate an ability to discuss in class the historical literature as (future) historians rather than as students.
- Review critically an article or chapter just as professional historians do.
- Have acquired a specialized knowledge and understanding of the rise of capitalism through a case-study approach.
- Have developed a reflexivity on the historicity of capitalism.

Indicative Module Content:

This module will address such topics as:
- The rise of capitalism in debate: a (pre)history
- From the transition debate to the Brenner Debate
- How the West came to rule? The academic discussion on the origins of capitalism since the Brenner Debate
- Commerce or capitalism? The capitalist character of markets, money, trade, and finance in debate
- European exceptionalism or luck? Institutional, technological, ecological, and ideological factors in debate
- Primitive accumulation? The role of production and property relations in debate
- The rise of capitalism in commercial city states and empires? 12th-18th centuries
- The rise of capitalism in England, 14th-19th centuries
- The rise of capitalism in settler colonial societies, 17th-19th centuries
- The rise of capitalism through state-led catch-up modernizations, 18th-20th centuries
- The rise of capitalism in semi-peripheries and peripheries, 15th-20th centuries

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

22
Specified Learning Activities

95
Autonomous Student Learning

95
Total

212

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a small-group, seminar-based module, taught through a two-hour weekly seminar. The seminar is focused on individual and collective active/task-based learning by means of discussion, presentations, and essay writing. Advanced reading, analytical and communication skills are developed through class discussions of the mandatory readings and the review presentation, and advanced research and writing skills through the extended research essay.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Contribution to the class discussion, and notably critical discussion of the mandatory readings Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No

20

 No
Individual Project: Critical review of an article or chapter (oral presentation of 15 minutes) Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No

30

 No
Assignment(Including Essay): An extended research essay of 5 000 words on a case study using relevant primary and secondary sources, in consultation with the module coordinator Week 14 Graded No

50

 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on presentations is given individually, verbally and in writing. Feedback on end-of-semester essays is given individually and to the class on essay planning before final submission, and by appointment after submission and grading.

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