Viewing: HIST 121 C1: Silver&Gold in Americas

Last approved: Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:20:05 GMT

Last edit: Tue, 18 Sep 2018 16:11:08 GMT

Rationale for Inactivation

Last Effective Term

Requested By

First Name	Last Name	Userid	Title	Home School	Org Short Name
Ann	Farnsworth-Alvear	farnswor	ASSOC PROFESSOR HISTORY	School of Arts and Sciences	Department of History

Course Subject

HISTORY

Course Number

121

Start Term

Spring 2019

Committee Term

Fall 2018

Course Title

Silver&Gold in Americas

Course Description

Precious metals shaped pre-Colombian economies and socio-cultural processes in the Americas for thousands of years, before Europeans arrived. After 1492, gold and silver sent from the "New World" to the "Old World" changed economies all over the world. Locally, mining centers were places marked by forced labor, conspicuous consumption, and the destruction of ecosystems. Internationally, gold and silver prices have long had outsized effects on monetary and trade policies. This course uses case studies to delve into the fascinating history of precious metals and mining in North and South America. We will analyze documents describing the gold objects ransacked by Spanish conquistadors, examine 17th Century proto-industrial silver mining at Potosi, trace the impact and human cost of the huge gold strikes in Minas Gerais, in colonial Brazil, read new work on the California and Yukon moments of "rush" and their long-term impact on US monetary policy, and follow new reports about the conflicts at the heart of transnational gold mining in the present. Students will gain experience working with primary sources and will produce an in-depth research paper.

Also Offered As

LALS 121 - Silver and Gold in the Americas from pre-history to the present

Syllabus

Hist121_proposed Spring 2019.pdf

Course Frequency

Every Other Term

Foundational Approach

Term Offered

Course usually offered in spring term

Foundational Approaches

Cross Cultural Analysis

Format

Instructor Name

Ann Farnsworth-Alvear

Instructor Type

Standing Faculty

Instructor Status

Standing Faculty

Place in Curriculum

Instructor's objectives

Methods of Assessment

Number and size of paper(s) assigned

One in-depth research paper, with course infrastructure designed to coach undergraduates through the note-taking process, the preparation of a professional-quality annotated bibliography, and a final paper of 20 pages.

Number and type of exams

Weekly quizzes based on readings.

Other Requirements

In-class exercises centered on primary source material.

Cross Cultural Analysis

How does the course examine the social values, institutions, and patterns of organization of a culture from within its own perspective?

We take precious metals as a lens through which to look at labor, environmental change, and monetary processes.

How does the course consider the relationships AMONG the following aspects of the culture(s) in question: art, religion, literature, philosophy, social behavior and institutions, and responses to other cultures?

May I ask who wrote this question? I would love to talk for a few minutes with the colleagues who drafted this, to better understand what they imagine an instructor would write here. The short answer is we consider the 'culture aspects' listed here through visual evidence, texts, and work by historians. A longer answer would require many pages.

If the course focuses on a particular element in a culture, can you explain how it relates that element to other more general aspects?

By tracing economic, environmental, political, and cultural processes that hinge on the production of silver and gold across centuries.

How does the course teach students the methods required for sensitive and critical cultural analysis, such as the informed reading of texts, artifacts, and social institutions?

Through structured, in-class exercises such as those I developed in Hist070 and 071.

Cultural Diversity in the US

The course should examine one or more of the following forms of differentiation: race/ethnicity, immigrant status, social class, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation. Which does it emphasize?

The course may emphasize a comparative perspective within a particular classification scheme (for example, African Americans and Hispanics). If so, please describe:

The course may examine the intersection between two or more of these means of differentiation (for example, race and immigrant status, minority status and sexual orientation). If so, please describe:

The course should address issues of inequality, stratification, and power. Please explain how it does so.

What is the primary method of analysis for the course? (For example, analysis of social scientific data, critical reading of literature, and so forth.)

Quantitative Data Analysis

Prerequisites

Who is the course intended for?

Sample assignments or exam questions.

Do students actively analyze and interpret quantitative data? Explain.

Do students interpret quantitative data to evaluate hypotheses and/or to understand phenomena in the real world? Explain.

What types of quantitative analyses are included in the course? For example, do students learn concepts of random variability and elementary level of statistical analysis of data?

Formal Reasoning

Do students learn formal structures of thought and how to apply them to understand phenomena in the real world? Explain.

If the course also engages students in the statistical analysis of empirical data, is the preponderance of attention give to formal structures implicated in deductive reasoning rather than on inductive reasoning from data to empirical generalizations? Explain.

Types of Analysis: What types of formal analysis are included in the course? For example, do students learn concepts of mathematics, formal logic, formal linguistics, computation and algorithmic thinking, decision theory, or some combination of these?

Administrative Fields

College reason for proposal

Committee

Committee Reader

Administrative Status

Reviewer Comments

History

Viewing: HIST 121 C1: Silver&Gold in Americas

Last approved: Wed, 26 Sep 2018 17:20:05 GMT

Last edit: Tue, 18 Sep 2018 16:11:08 GMT

Foundational Approach

Methods of Assessment

Cross Cultural Analysis

Cultural Diversity in the US

Quantitative Data Analysis

Formal Reasoning

Administrative Fields