This course aims to give the students the general outline of the history of humanity. The purpose of this course is to teach basically human history on a global scale which is beyond the national, regional, ethnic, religious and sexual boundaries and identities. The main objective of the course is to show that human being is the subject of his or her own life. Another important point this course aims is to make the students realize that all vital features and identities of human beings are historical and conditional, all of which could change in time. This course will provide you a framework for understanding the world in which we live, keeping in mind humanity’s accomplishments as well as failures and the main reasons lying behind these accomplishments and failures. Learning about history is not just memorizing a sequence of events, or a bunch of facts and dates; the point is to critically examine major dynamics, actors and causes of historical developments as well as continuity and change over time. The large scope of this course will encourage more synthesis of ideas and integration of knowledge than thorough information on particular topics. The course also avoids two common pitfalls of teaching and learning about the history of civilizations. First, we will read the history not from the perspective of European hegemony. Second, literature on the world history generally focuses on the glorious empires, states, great leaders, armies and their wars at the expense of ordinary people, poor, slaves, peasants, working class, women and children. In this course, we will see how the ordinary people and their everyday life, which were omitted from the world histories, experiences contributed to the making of the humanity.

The major milestones of human history from the first civilizations to today; technological, economic, cultural, social and administrative developments in history which created today’s humanity, and processes and dynamics which influenced the formation of modern society. Costs and benefits, advantages and disadvantages, winners and losers of the developments in the world history.

Lecture by the Dr. Murat Metinsoy (50 min.) Short documentary screening (Andrew Marr's "History of the World", BBC Production) (50 min.) Presentations by students and discussion (50 min.)

Two required books: James C. Davis, The Human Story: Our History from the Stone Age to Today (New York: Harper Collins, 2005) (Required) J.M. Roberts, History of the World (London: Penguin Books, 1990) (Partly required) Additional optional texts in Turkish and English: William H. McNeill, A World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) (Optional but strongly recommended) Chris Harman, A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millenium (New York: Verso, 2008) (Optional but strongly recommended) William H. McNeill, Dünya Tarihi (Ankara: İmge Kitabevi, 2013) James C. Davis, İnsanın Hikâyesi (İstanbul: İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2005) Clive Ponting, Yeni Bir Bakış Açısıyla Dünya Tarihi (İstanbul: Alfa, 2013) Server Tanilli, Yüzyılların Gerçeği ve Mirası, vols. I, II, III & IV (İstanbul: İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2015- 2017)