Bases of the Modern World
Code: 100337 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| History | FB | 1 |
| Humanities | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Pau Casanellas Peņalver
- Email:
- pau.casanellas@uab.cat
Teachers
- Arnau Muniesa Juan
- Eduard Page Campos
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites are not considered necessary, but it is advisable for students to have some knowledge of foreign languages (especially English) and to have done some reading on late modern history.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the main events and historical processes of the late modern period, from the crisis of the Ancien Régime to the present. The syllabus integrates different geographical areas from a non-Eurocentric perspective and a gendered view. At the same time, it combines social, political, economic, and cultural history. Throughout the course, some introductory notions on the theory and methodology of history will also be provided
Competences
- History
- Contextualizing the historical processes and analysing them from a critical perspective.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Humanities
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Accurately using specific lexicon of science history.
- Analysing a contemporary fact and relating it to its historical background.
- Analysing historical cases about scientific facts.
- Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
- Critically analysing the past, the nature of the historical speech and the social function of historical science.
- Developing the ability of historical analysis and synthesis.
- Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Enumerating historical facts that could have affected the scientific development.
- Explaining aspects of the history of science by using the discipline's specific terminology.
- Explaining the specific notions of the Contemporary History.
- Explaining the specific notions of the History of Science.
- Explaining the specific notions of the Modern History.
- Identifying the characteristic methods of the history of philosophy and using them in the analysis of concrete facts.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Identifying the relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, and politics that derive from the sociocultural context.
- Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
- Indicating political, artistic, literary, social and other movements that had an impact in an historic event.
- Interpreting the plurality and heterogeneity of the cultural development of Humanity.
- Organising and planning the search of historical information.
- Relating elements and factors involved in the development of historical processes.
- Relating elements and factors involved in the development of scientific processes.
- Solving problems autonomously.
- Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
- Working in teams respecting the other's points of view.
Content
Syllabus
1. Capitalism and industrialization
2. Enlightenment and liberal revolutions
3. Resistance to capitalism and emancipatory projects
4. The era of imperialism
5. The world in conflict: from fascism to the Cold War
6. The neoliberal era
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lecture, presentation and explanation by the teacher, encouragement to participate in classrooms debates. Theoretical or practical works. | 60 | 2.4 | 5, 4, 6, 14, 17, 15, 19, 7, 25 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials, guidance, and correction of the exercises prepared by the students | 15 | 0.6 | 5, 4, 6, 14, 17, 15, 20, 7, 25, 24 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Study of class materials and the proposed readings, preparation of written exercises | 75 | 3 | 5, 23, 6, 14, 17, 19 |
-Theoretical sessions with the support of various materials and discussion with students.
-Reading and discussion of papers.
-Personal study: integration of acquired knowledge.
-Writing of assignments and/or structured learning exercises.
-Tutorials: scheduled sessions for resolving doubts and discussing syllabus content or readings.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coursework | 30% | 0 | 0 | 5, 23, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 15, 18, 19, 7, 21 |
| Exams | 70% (35% + 35%) | 0 | 0 | 3, 5, 2, 23, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 13, 17, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 7, 22, 21, 25, 1, 24 |
Continuous assessment will consist of three tests:
-A first partial exam on the first half of the syllabus: 35% of the final grade.
-A second partial exam on the second half of the syllabus: 35% of the final grade.
-One or several practical assignments or exercises: 30% of the final grade.
Students who have completed at least two-thirds of the assessment activities and do not achieve a final average grade of 5 will have the right to take a resit exam, which will cover the entire course syllabus.
There will be no possibility of single assessment.
At the time of completion or submission of each assessment activity, the professor will inform the students about the procedure and date for grade review.
If a student fails to submit at least 30% of the assessment activities, they will receive a grade of "not assessable".
Erasmus students who request to advance the date of an exam must submit to the professor an official written statement from their home university justifying the request.
This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Bibliography
ARTOLA, Miguel; PÉREZ LEDESMA, Manuel: Contemporánea. La historia desde 1776. Madrid: Alianza, 2005.
ARRUZZA, Cinzia; CIRILLO, Lidia: Dos siglos de feminismos. Los ejemplos más significativos, los problemas más actuales. Barcelona: Sylone, 2018.
BAYLY, Christopher A.: El nacimiento del mundo moderno. 1780-1914. Conexiones y comparaciones globales. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 2004.
BOSCH, Aurora: Historia de Estados Unidos. 1776-1945. Barcelona: Crítica, 2010.
BRIGGS, Asa; CLAVIN, Patricia: Historia contemporánea de Europa. 1789-1989. Barcelona: Crítica, 1997.
CANFORA, Luciano: La democracia. Historia de una ideología. Barcelona: Crítica, 2004.
CHOMSKY, Noam: El nuevo orden mundial (y el viejo). Barcelona: Crítica, 2003.
EICHENGREEN, Barry: La globalización del capital. Historia del Sistema Monetario Internacional. Barcelona: Antoni Bosch, 2000.
FONTANA, Josep: Europa ante el espejo. Barcelona: Crítica, 1994.
—: Por el bien del imperio. Una historia del mundo desde 1945. Barcelona: Pasado & Presente, 2011.
—: El siglo de la revolución. Una historia del mundo desde 1914. Barcelona: Crítica, 2017.
—: Capitalisme i democràcia. 1756-1848. Com va començar aquest engany. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2018.
FREEDMAN, Estelle B.: No Turning Back. The History of Feminism and the Future of Women. New York: Ballantine, 2003.
GERGES, Fawaz A.: The Far Enemy. Why Jihad Went Global. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
GRAEBER, David: En deuda. Una historia alternativa de la economía. Barcelona: Ariel, 2012.
HOBSBAWM, Eric J.: La era de la revolución. 1789-1848. Barcelona: Crítica, 1997 [1962].
—: La era del capital. 1848-1875. Barcelona: Crítica, 1998 [1975]
—: La era del imperio. 1875-1914. Barcelona: Crítica, 1998 [1987].
—: Historia del siglo XX. 1914-1991. Barcelona: Crítica, 1995 [1994].
HUSTVEDT, Siri: Els miratges de la certesa. Reflexions sobre la relació entre el cos i la ment. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2021.
KERSHAW, Ian: Descenso a los infiernos. Europa 1914-1949. Barcelona: Crítica, 2016.
—: Ascenso y crisis. Europa 1950-2017. Un camino incierto. Barcelona: Crítica, 2019.
LEWONTIN, R.C.; ROSE, Steven; KAMIN, Leon J.: No está en los genes. Crítica del racismo biológico. Barcelona: Grijalbo, 1996.
NASH, Mary: Mujeres en el mundo. Historia, retos y movimientos. Madrid: Alianza, 2012.
PRASHAD, Vijay. Las naciones oscuras. Una historia del Tercer Mundo. Barcelona: Península, 2012.
TRAVERSO, Enzo: Els usos del passat. Història, memòria, política. Valencia: PUV, 2006.
—: A sangre y fuego. De la guerra civil europea (1914-1945). Valencia: PUV, 2009.
ZINN, Howard: La otra historia de los Estados Unidos (Desde 1492 hasta hoy). Hondarribia: Hiru, 2005.
Software
None.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 2 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 3 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 4 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 2 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 3 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 4 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |