Asian and African Civilizations: Course Description, Topical Outline, and Sample Unit. INSTITUTION Columbia Univ., New York, NY
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 423 174 SO 028 555 AUTHOR Beaton, Richard A. TITLE Asian and African Civilizations: Course Description, Topical Outline, and Sample Unit. INSTITUTION Columbia Univ., New York, NY. Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Center for Independent School Education. PUB DATE 1995-00-00 NOTE 294p.; Photographs and illustrations may not reproduce well. AVAILABLE FROM Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Center for Independent School Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, Box 125, New York, NY, 10027. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses Practicum Papers (043) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *African Studies; *Asian Studies; Course Content; *Course Descriptions; Ethnic Groups; Foreign Countries; *Indians; Non Western Civilization; Secondary Education; Social Studies; World History IDENTIFIERS Africa; Asia; India ABSTRACT This paper provides a skeleton of a one-year course in Asian and African civilizations intended for upper school students. The curricular package consists of four parts. The first part deals with the basic shape and content of the course as envisioned. The remaining three parts develop a specific unit on classical India with a series of teacher notes, a set of student readings that can be used according to individual needs, and a prose narrative of content with suggestions for extension and inclusion. (EH) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be z:Lad *s from the original document. ******************************************************************************** C Asian and African Civilizations: Course Description, Topical Outline, and Sample Unit Submitted for The Klingenstein Seminar (TA5587) Professor Pearl R. Kane By Richard A. Beaton Lr) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement kr) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) ITK-his document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization 00 originating it. fPV Kane._ . Minor changes have been made to N improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this C.) INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent 1 official OERI position or policy. CIO EST COPY AVM 8RE Asian and African Civilizations: Course Description, Topical Outline, and Sample Unit Submitted for The Klingenstein Seminar (TA5587) Professor Pearl R. Kane By Richard A. Beaton 3 Acknowledgments This project is in partial fulfillment of the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fellows Program, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York. Thanks to the Board of Trustees of Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg, Florida and Mary H. Booker, Head of the School, for their support of my participation in a wonderful year of growth andchallenge in New York City. Thanks to the many Columbia faculty members who generously gave of their time to share insights and provide feedback; in particular, to John Cort, Visiting Professor of Religion on leave from Denison University; to Mohammed Mbouj and Marcia Wright, Professors of African History; and to Joan Cummins, Preceptor in Asian Humanities. Heartfelt thanks to Professor Pearl R. Kane and the 1 994-9 5 Klingenstein Fellows John Beall, Jim Handrich, Alan James, Steve Kramer, John Leistler, Lynn Livingston, Mike O'Toole, Theodora ("Teddy") Reynolds, Clay Squire, and Stephen Thomas -- for being such personable models of professionalism and excellence .in independent education. 4 Introduction What follows is a work in progress:the skeleton of a one year course in Asian and AfricanCivilizations intended for Upper School students. The course has not actually been taught yet so the ideas and materials remain theoretical.It is ambitious in what it hopes to accomplish, but I believe it can be done. Various of the Klingenstein Fellows have read portions of what follows.Offering useful suggestions which are incorporated into the final product, they seemed to think that the course is on the right track. The Humanities are emphasized throughout the course.History as such plays more of a secondary role in the first semester; it looms larger in the second which concentrates on more recent developments.In the hope of engaging more active involvement from students, the course draws upon a significant number of excerpts from primary sources, permitting students tothink about issues for themselves rather than in some predigested form.With the same intent, the course incorporates a variety of visual and audio-visual resources: slides, posters, videotapes, and representativeartifacts. In general, I plan to use these to introduce new concepts rather than as follow-up materials, eliciting student reactions and interpretations before (and after!) they have done more formal study. A partial list of specific resources and suppliers is included in the Teachers Notes section. The curricular package which follows consists of four parts.The first part deals with the basic shape and content of the course as it is envisioned at present.This includes a prose Course Description which is followed by a set of Broad Themes and a set of Key Questions.I believe that these will provide an element of continuity between and within civilizations which will facilitate student comprehension of the rich variety of approaches to human existence that these civilizations represent. A reasonably detailed Topical Outline of the course follows. At intervals, the course considers modern phenomena as approximate parallels to developments being studied; these are marked with a triple asterisk (***).The inclusion of such phenomena provides an opportunity for students to reflect on what they have learned, internalizing the past by thinking of it in terms of contrasts and comparisons with the present, making better sense of other civilizations by thinking about them relative to our own. A list of possible student projects follow the Outline. The remaining three parts of this curricular package develop a specific unit within the curriculum, namely Classical India.Given its enormous emphasis on spiritualityand the complexity of that spirituality over time and between Hindu, Jain,and Buddhist variations,Ifelt that teachers and students both might feel somewhat overwhelmed in the abstract. The unit consists of a prose narrative of content, a series of Teacher Notes (TN), and a set of Student Readings (SR) which can be mixed and matched according to individual needs. The narrative could be used as a background information source forteachers and/or students; individual sections might serve as the basis for a teacher's own notes and/or as supplemental student reading assignments. The Teacher Notes relate to specific assignments from the Student Readings.In some cases, they expand upon the assignment; in some cases, they explain allusions which might not be readily comprehensible; in most cases, they suggest ways of using the assigment to spark discussion and reflection. The narrative indicates the moments in the unit where the TN and SR seem most appropriate although, again, teachers need not be limited by this. As suggested above, the choice of Classical India as a sample was deliberate.Rightly or wrongly, Ibelieve that the civilizations of China, Japan, and of the Islamic world are somewhat more accessible to learners on both sides of the desk. This is certainly not to deny the existenceof stereotypes and misinformation with regard to these civilizations; addressing and correcting these are key underlying goals of this course! At a minimum, however, the West's enduring fondness for the products of China and the aesthetics of Japan have resulted in a surface awareness of these two East Asian civilizations.The monotheism of Islam and its prominence in global affairs serve something of a similar role.It does not seem to me that India or Africa enjoy even this degree of popular awareness.Like India, Africa defies accurate generalization.Its size alone has resulted in enormous diversity of civilization and cultural expression.It remains a sensitive topic given the lingering effects of the slave trade and the racist attitudes which accompanied that trade. Time and space limitations preclude the inclusion of a comparable African sample unit here, but it is in development. In an effort to be more inclusive in reference to dates, the course uses Before Common Era (B.C.E.) and Common Era (C.E.) designations.While far from being genuinely common to the world, they are somewhat more objective than the traditional system's obvious Christian roots. Asian and African Civilizations Rationale The need for a comprehensive introduction to the culture and history of the non-Western world reflects both global realities and local choices. The concept of the "shrinking globe" is a relatively new one, but the reality is much older than many may realize.The "global village" is not merely the product of enhanced communications and transportation systems in the twentieth century.It is the result of a process of growing exchanges between various parts of the world which have been increasing in volume and intensity for the last several hundred years and whose roots go back some two thousand or more years. That this process is likely to continue into the twenty-first century and beyond is a virtual given.The industrialized world remains heavily dependent upon oil resources concentrated in the