WORLD CIVILIZATIONHISTORY 106 – A COMPARATIVE

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF HUMAN SOCIAL ORGANIZATION FROM THE

EARLIEST TIMES UNTIL THE 17TH CENTURY

Universals?

Necessities: (reproduction based): food, water, shelter, reproduction/child raising?, waste, reflection, creativity, spiritual expression.

Subsistence: scavenging – hunting-fishing/gathering – slash & burn (swidden) – horticulture - pastoralism – agriculture

Social Organization: family – clan – band/tribe – nation (semi-nomadic, or nomadic) – village – town – city – city/state – state – nation/state.

Civilization

Organized human responses to change, seeking equilibrium or being civilized. Well bred and complaisant. Highly developed social organization.

Change may be gradual or catastrophic –

Adaptations to change Agents of change Culture Environment Beliefs Observations (receptivity) Geographic Social Theo-philosophic Political Economic Ideological Technologic Technologic >war/ invasion Economic

History: History is the interpretation of the incomplete written record or oral tradition of the experiences of humans through the contexts of time. While history demands many types of critique – such as political, economic, technological, or social critique – all are dependant on documents and their interpretation. History, like language, is very plastic.

Society: A society is an artificial construction of a collection of linked formal and informal institutions that govern group behavior.

Culture: Culture is the set of conscious and unconscious beliefs and assumptions about the way in which world works that governs individual behavior.

Diffusion: The movement or spread of one or more elements of a society or culture from one place to another.

Community: Communities are formed from the interactions of culture and society. When individuals are united into groups by complimentary internal (cultural) and external (social) influences, the groups of people can be identified as communities.

Race: Biologically, there is only one race – human. All other categories of race are artificial social constructs of classification based on visual differences, cultural expressions, political necessity, and economic priority. What is commonly called race is really racism. The history of the concept of race parallels the development of the human identity.

Racism (also called ethnocentrism) When a labeled group is disadvantaged socially based on the artificial classifications of race by another group in possession of the unearned power and privilege to do so*.

Ethnicity: Ethnicity refers to heritage or culture expressed over time. The cultural history of a group of people produces differences in populations that give rise to ethnicity.

Class: Class is the stratified level of economic opportunity within a

culture or society. Class differences – differences in opportunity and access – may be based on racism, ethnicity, gender, education, age, disability or a host of other recognized group classifications.

Gender: For the purposes of this discussion, the term gender

will include gender orientations as in the case of gay men and lesbians.

Nationality: Nationality is a political description of place of

birth or naturalization.

Asibiya: Social glue (voluntary to coercive). What happened to the ancient and old civilizations? Are all civilizations temporary? What about ours? Is there progress? Why do civilizations seem to “ rise and fall?”

Determinism: Causation. Cause and effect models. Dialectic x+ y = z. If you drop a ____, when it hits the ____, it makes_____. Theoretical orientation.

Critique: Identification of apparent conflicts and resolving those conflicts

Thesis Antithesis

\ / \ / \ / \ / \ /

Synthesis

In addition there are some concepts that are useful in the discussion of world civilization.

Push Factor: Push factors cause individuals or groups to relocate from one place to another.

Pull Factor: Pull factors draw individuals or groups to a specific location.

Diaspora: Diaspora refers to the (often forced) dispersal of populations from a specific location to several locations throughout the world.

POLITICAL SYSTEMSMatriarchical societies and patriarchical societies.Families, bands, and tribes.Hunting and gathering.Horticulture and settled agriculture.Pastoralism, nomadic and semi-nomadic societies.Agriculture and the rise of the state.Monarchy and theocracy.Military organization and civilized life.The nation-state. Oligarchy and democracy. The republic & empire

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS Altruism and egalitarian exchange. Agricultural surplus, division of labor, and

class divisions. Specialization of labor, labor organization,

and production. The role of private property. The concept of monetary capital and

capitalism. Class and caste. Trade, mercantilism and economic

specializations.

TECHNOLOGY

Lithic technology and metallurgy.Agriculture, astronomy, religion, and early scientific thought.Water technologies.Agricultural technologies.Architecture.Military technologies.

SOCIAL & CULTURAL SYSTEMS

Female and male gender roles.Feminist approaches to gender.Homosexualities, heterosexualities, intersexualities, and transgender issues.Religion and religious diversity.Art and literature.Philosophy and reason.Migrations and population movement.Urbanization and social consciousness

SOCIAL & CULTURAL SYSTEMS

Social justice, and civil rights movements.Ethnic consciousness movements.Gender movements.Generational age cohort.Disability, ability, and social identity.Disease and medicine.

 WORLD CIVILIZATION

IN THE TIME OF PRE-LITERACY

17,000 YEARS BPE

Sophisticated hunter-gatherer cultures with diverse toolkits appropriate to their environments and resources. Dogs have been domesticated. Art flourishes.

 

 12,000 YEARS BP AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA EUROPE

OCEANA SAN hunter-gathers Tehuacanos Jarmo -----------

Mammoth caveQadan horticulture (Mexico) Natufian Jericho Knossos (Egypt) (olives) Saharan cattle herders Karanovo (Tassili)

7000 BP (5000BC) AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA EUROPE

OCEANABadarian agriculture Cochise (SWNA) Yangshao Danubian Kuk (wheat/barley) (maize) (rice) (wheat)

(yams/taro) Hacilar Catal Huyuk

6000 BP (4000BC)

Pre-unification Egypt Archaic period Ubaid Minoan Melanesian

Unified archaic Egypt Harrapan Varna expansion

Narmer/Menes Non Nok Tha Loang Spean

5000 BP (3000BC) AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA EUROPE

OCEANA

Old Kingdom Egypt Preclassic Indus (Kurgan) Battle Axe Lapita

Pyramids Ban Chieng Beaker Folk Lungshan Troy Sumer

Sargon of Akkad 

 4000 BP (2000BC) Old Kingdom Egypt Early Olmecs Shang China Myceneans Intermediate Period Hitittes Thera Middle Kingdom (Iron) Babylonians Aryan Invasions Barbarian

Invasions

3000 BP (1000BC)

AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA EUROPE

OCEANA Middle Kingdom Olmecs Assyrians Hellenic Greece

New Kingdom Adena Phoenicians (Pericles through

Alexander) Late Period Hopewell Canaanites CarthageBantu Kingdoms Anasazi Gupta India Etruscans/Rome

Han China La Tene/Hallstatt Celts & Germania

2000 BP (1 AD)Ghana Maya China Rome

Polynesians

WORLD CIVILIZATION

THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY

Who was the First?

The case for Asia -MESOPOTAMIA

(Sumer)

The case for Africa - EGYPT(Kemet)

EMPIRES

WAR

AGRICULTURE

RELIGION

GENDER

RACE

CLASS

LABOR

ART & LITERATURE

African Civilizations

The Nile River Valley

West Asian Civilizations

Mesopotamia & Indus

Map of Near East with locations for Nevali Cori and Gobekli Tepe: The Oldest Megalithic Structures.

Cro-Magnon Man: Cro-Magnon Man: The Late Pleistocene Hunter and the first real artists. The Late Pleistocene Hunter and the first real artists.

about 30,000 years ago.about 30,000 years ago.

Built by hunter-gatherers (no sign of agriculture here). All bones found are wild animal. There is no evidence of inhabitation; the structures are interpreted as temples. After 8,000 BCE, the site was abandoned and purposefully covered up with tons of soil below the hill. Did humans recognize that they had made a big mistake against nature?

Segment D is one of the near circular shaped pillared areas in the best condition of Göbekli Tepe. The largest

weigh about 50 tons

MesopotamianCivilization

The Tigris & Euphrates River Valleys

Harappan Civilization

The Indus River Valley

Asian Civilizations

Early China

American Civilization

North and South America

European Civilization

Minoan & Mycenean