Current course offerings

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Course description

This course is about revolutions in global history - sudden turning points that transformed the world. It considers different kinds of historical revolutions relating to politics, science, social life, ideas, culture, and behaviour that have decisively shaped the modern condition. Key topics include the French, American, and Haitian Revolutions of the end of the eighteenth century inspired by new forms of representative government and human rights, and the scientific revolutions (associated with Copernicus, Newton, and Darwin) that changed the way humans understood themselves in relation to the natural world. The course also examines the various Industrial Revolutions that witnessed dramatic changes in economic relationships due to the respective adoption of coal-fired, chemical, and digital technologies; and social and cultural revolutions, such as arguments for the emancipation of women, the Modernist cultural revolution, and the Russian Revolution of 1917, all of which imagined a reordering of society and human experience. In recent history, both the post-war Green Revolution and the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s have radically challenged social conventions and behaviours. Taken together, these revolutions all had global ramifications that shaped the political, social, cultural, and intellectual landscapes of our world today. Throughout the course, students will read both primary and secondary sources to gain insight into these transformative moments in global history. They will be challenged to think about some of the deeper conceptual issues related to "revolution" itself: as an idea, as an event, and as a category of historical analysis. What makes a historical event a "revolution"? How do historians use the term to make sense of the past, compared to its everyday usage? Why are some events considered a revolution while others are not? Can our present world be understood as the result of previous revolutionary outcomes?