Courses tagged with "Fine Arts" (60)

The course surveys the entire length of human history, from the evolution of various human species in the Stone Age up to the political and technological revolutions of the twenty-first century.

How do we understand architecture? One way of answering this question is by looking through the lens of history, beginning with First Societies and extending to the 16th century. This course in architectural history is not intended as a linear narrative, but rather aims to provide a more global view, by focusing on different architectural "moments."

How did the introduction of iron in the ninth century BCE impact regional politics and the development of architecture? How did new religious formations, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, produce new architectural understandings? What were the architectural consequences of the changing political landscape in northern Italy in the 14th century? How did rock-cut architecture move across space and time from West Asia to India to Africa? How did the emergence of corn impact the rise of religious and temple construction in Mexico?

Each lecture analyzes a particular architectural transformation arising from a dynamic cultural situation. Material covered in lectures will be supplemented by readings from the textbook A Global History of Architecture.

Join us on a journey around the globe and learn how architecture has developed and interacted with the world’s culture, religion, and history.

The Great Depression and World War II permanently changed American politics and society. Topics include: the Great Crash, the New Deal, Roosevelt, the home front, the Normandy Invasion, and the atomic bomb. Explores those events through film, novels, newspapers, and other historical documents.

This course focuses on the Great Depression and World War II and how they led to a major reordering of American politics and society. We will examine how ordinary people experienced these crises and how those experiences changed their outlook on politics and the world around them.

This course examines the American experience at home and abroad from Pearl Harbor to the end of the Cold War. Topics include: America's role as global superpower, foreign and domestic anticommunism, social movements of left and right, suburbanization, and popular culture.

Perhaps no story is as essential to get right as the history of capitalism. Nearly all of our theories about promoting progress come from how we interpret the economic changes of the last 500 years. This past decade’s crises continue to remind us just how much capitalism changes, even as its basic features—wage labor, financial markets, private property, entrepreneurs—endure. While capitalism has a global history, the United States plays a special role in that story. This course will help you to understand how the United States became the world’s leading economic power, revealing essential lessons about what has been and what will be possible in capitalism’s on-going revolution.

FAQ

Do I need to have taken economics before?
No. Though there will be discussion of economic ideas, professors will assume no prior economic training.

I am not familiar with American history, but I am interested in how capitalism works. Can I take this course?
Yes. We will have relevant links to helpful background material for each section that should make it possible for those with no knowledge of U.S. history to take the class.

Is this class about economic thought like Smith, Marx, Ricardo, Hayek, etc.?
This class is primarily about what actually happened rather than theories of what happened. While we will touch on important economic thinkers, this class will focus more on the people and institutions that developed capitalism in the United States. If you want to know how capitalism works and came about, this is the class for you.

Will certificates be awarded?
Yes. If you complete the work and achieve a passing grade in the course, you can earn a Honor Code Certificate, which indicates that you have completed the course successfully. Certificates will be issued by edX under the name of CornellX, designating the institution from which the course originated.

What will help me complete this course?
We have found that the best help you can get is other people in the real world. Enlist friends, co-workers, family, and other people to take the class with you. Ask your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Arrange a time during a lunch break or an evening to discuss the week’s videos and readings. Think of this “MOOC club” like a book club! You will get more out of the material and be much more likely to finish.

I want to read more about American Capitalism!
Professors Baptist and Hyman just wrote a course reader expressly for this MOOC (though it is also being taught at Cornell University).

Containing every reading from the MOOC, as well as additional readings from leading scholars (that could not be had for free!), this course reader provides the student with more background for every topic.

Each reading is introduced and discussed by the professors. Each reading, as well, has additional questions for the student to discuss with their friends.

Are there prerequisites?

This course is designed to be accessible for people without a strong background in U.S. history. Nevertheless, we make reference to many people, locations, events, or developments that may be unfamiliar to some students. Below are sources for additional information.

Wikipedia is a very helpful source for a quick definition or description of most of the material in this course. It can help you answer most factual questions you might have.

Digital History is a website that can serve as an online text book if you need a stronger grounding in U.S. history.

For more difficult questions, you can post a question on the discussion board where your fellow students may be able to help you.

An e-book has been designed for this class, containing all the readings and some additional essays by leading scholars in the history of capitalism, including the professors. American Capitalism: A Reader [Kindle Edition] Amazon.com.

This class examines how and why twentieth-century Americans came to define the "good life" through consumption, leisure, and material abundance. We will explore how such things as department stores, nationally advertised brand-name goods, mass-produced cars, and suburbs transformed the American economy, society, and politics. The course is organized both thematically and chronologically. Each period deals with a new development in the history of consumer culture. Throughout we explore both celebrations and critiques of mass consumption and abundance.

This course provides a basic history of American social, economic, and political development from the colonial period through the Civil War. It examines the colonial heritages of Spanish and British America; the American Revolution and its impact; the establishment and growth of the new nation; and the Civil War, its background, character, and impact. Readings include writings of the period by J. Winthrop, T. Paine, T. Jefferson, J. Madison, W. H. Garrison, G. Fitzhugh, H. B. Stowe, and A. Lincoln.

The letters of Paul are the earliest texts in the Christian scriptures, written by a Jew at a time when the word “Christian” hadn’t yet been coined. What is the religious and political context into which they emerged? How were they first interpreted? How and why do they make such an enormous impact in Christian communities and in politics today?

Archaeological materials and ancient writings will help you to enter the ancient Mediterranean world and to think about religious groups, power, poverty, health, and the lives of elites and slaves in the Roman Empire. We’ll explore how immediately controversial these letters were, and how these letters are used today to debate relations between Christians and Jews; issues such as love, law, and grace; and topics such as charismatic Christianity, homosexuality, and women’s religious leadership.
 
Whether you’ve been studying Paul’s letters for years or are merely curious about what Christian scriptures are, this course will provide you with information to deepen your understanding of the ancient contexts and present-day controversies about these texts.

Before your course starts, try the new edX Demo where you can explore the fun, interactive learning environment and virtual labs. Learn more.

HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.

HarvardX pursues the science of learning. By registering as an online learner in an HX course, you will also participate in research about learning. Read our research statement to learn more.

Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.

This course is intended to provide an up-to-date introduction to the development of English society between the late fifteenth and the early eighteenth centuries. Particular issues addressed in the lectures will include: the changing social structure; households; local communities; gender roles; economic development; urbanization; religious change from the Reformation to the Act of Toleration; the Tudor and Stuart monarchies; rebellion, popular protest and civil war; witchcraft; education, literacy and print culture; crime and the law; poverty and social welfare; the changing structures and dynamics of political participation and the emergence of parliamentary government.

This course is presented in both English and Hindi. Videos will feature Hindi subtitles.

This course offers an overview of contemporary India and explores its role as one of the dominant economic and military powers of Asia. We begin with a discussion on India as a multilingual society.  The entire course will be available in both English and Hindi.

The central focus of the course is an examination of contemporary issues in India. This includes perspectives on how Indian culture and language are being affected by the boom in technology; sections on politics and nationalism; economics and the implications of recent moves toward liberalisation of the economy; and security, international relations, and regionalism. In addition, we will examine India’s role in South Asian politics and current issues relating to its regional neighbours in Asia. The aim of the course is to provide students with a comprehensive and wide-ranging overview of India in order that they may better understand its role in the world.

यह पाठ्यक्रम हमें आधुनिक भारत के बारे में एक संक्षिप्त विवरण देता है। और उसके साथ यह भी दर्शाता है कि किस तरह से भारत आज एशिया का एक प्रभावशाली आर्थिक और सैन्य सत्ता बन गया है। इस पाठ्यक्रम की शुरुआत हम भारत के बहुभाषी समाज पर चर्चा से करेंगे।   

यह पाठ्यक्रम हिन्दी और अंग्रेज़ी दोनों भाषाओं में उपलब्ध होगा।

इस पाठ्यक्रम का केंद्र बिन्दू भारत के समकालीन मुद्दों का विश्लेषण करना है। इस में भिन्न-भिन्न दृष्टिकोणों से विचार प्रस्तुत किये जायेंगे कि भारतीय संस्कृतियाँ और भाषाएँ किस तरह से टेक्नोलोजी में आई तेज़ी से प्रभावित हुईं हैं। इसके अलावा हम इन विषयों के बारे में बातचीत करेंगे: राजनीति और राष्ट्रवाद, अर्थशास्त्र और अर्थव्यवस्था के उदारीकरण से हुये परिवर्तन का असर, सुरक्षा, भारत की विदेश नीति और क्षेत्रवाद। इन सब के साथ हम यह भी देखेंगे कि दक्षिण एशिया की राजनीति में भारत ने क्या भूमिका निभाई है और उसके पड़ोसी देशों के संबंध में विचार करेंगे। इस पाठ्यक्रम का उद्देश्य है विद्यार्थियों को भारत के बारे में विस्तृत जानकारी देना ताकि वे ज़्यादा अच्छी तरह से भारत और विश्व में भारत की भूमिका को समझ सकें।

This course offers a broad survey of modern European history, from the end of the Thirty Years' War to the aftermath of World War II. Along with the consideration of major events and figures such as the French Revolution and Napoleon, attention will be paid to the experience of ordinary people in times of upheaval and transition. The period will thus be viewed neither in terms of historical inevitability nor as a procession of great men, but rather through the lens of the complex interrelations between demographic change, political revolution, and cultural development. Textbook accounts will be accompanied by the study of exemplary works of art, literature, and cinema.

From pineapples grown in Hawaii to English-speaking call centers outsourced to India, the legacy of the "Age of Imperialism" appears everywhere in our modern world. This class explores the history of European imperialism in its political, economic, and cultural dimensions from the 1840s through the 1960s.

This course covers the emergence of modern France. Topics include the social, economic, and political transformation of France; the impact of France's revolutionary heritage, of industrialization, and of the dislocation wrought by two world wars; and the political response of the Left and the Right to changing French society.

This subject explores the legal history of the United States as a gendered system. It examines how women have shaped the meanings of American citizenship through pursuit of political rights such as suffrage, jury duty, and military service, how those political struggles have varied for across race, religion, and class, as well as how the legal system has shaped gender relations for both women and men through regulation of such issues as marriage, divorce, work, reproduction, and the family. The course readings will draw from primary and secondary materials in American history, as well as some court cases. However, the focus of the class is on the broader relationship between law and society, and no technical legal knowledge is required or assumed.

In this course, we will study the emergence of the major civilizations of the ancient world, beginning with the Paleolithic Era (about 2.5 million years ago) and finishing with the end of the Middle Ages in fifteenth century A.D. We will pay special attention to how societies evolved across this expanse of timefrom fragmented and primitive agricultural communities to more advanced and consolidated civilizations. To do this, we will rely upon textbook readings to provide historical overviews of particular civilizations and then utilize primary-source documents to illuminate the unique features of these individual societies. By the end of the course, you will possess a thorough understanding of important overarching social, political, religious, and economic themes in the ancient world, ranging from the emergence of Confucian philosophy in Asia to the fall of imperial Rome. You will also understand how many aspects of these ancient civilizations continue to remain relevant in today’s world.

This course will introduce you to the history of the world’s major civilizations from medieval times to the early modern era.  You will learn about the pivotal political, economic, and social changes that took place in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe during this period.  The course will be structured chronologically, with each unit focusing on the expansion or decline of a particular civilization or the interactions and exchanges between civilizations.  The units will include representative secondary and primary source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the transformation of western Europe during the Renaissance, the emergence of a more inclusive world economy, and the impact of early European exploration and colonization.  By the end of the course, you will understand how many different civilizations evolved from isolated societies into expansive, interconnected empires capable of exerting global influence.

This course will present a comparative overview of world history from the 17th century to the present era.  You will examine the origins of major economic, political, social, cultural, and technological trends of the past 400 years and explore the impact of these trends on world societies.  This course will be structured chronologically and thematically, with each unit focusing on a significant historical subject.  The units will include representative primary-source documents and images that illustrate important overarching themes, such as the emergence of modern nation-states, the economic and technological interactions between Western and non-Western peoples, the changing social and cultural perceptions about religion and the state, and the development of physical and virtual networks of information exchange. This course is designed to align with Thomas Edison State College TECEP examination. Visit the TECEP website [1], and click on “World History from 1600 to Present (HIS-126-TE)” to download t…

This course will introduce you to historical research methods and familiarize you with the tools and techniques that historians use to study the past.  You will learn about the process of modern historical inquiry and gain a better understanding of the diverse resources that historians use to conduct research.  The course will be structured topically.  The first four units will focus on research methodology and examine how and why historians conduct research on the past.  Later units will examine how different historical resources can be used for historical research.  By the end of the course, you will understand how to conduct research on past events and be familiar with the variety of physical and electronic resources available for historical research.

This course will introduce you to the history of Europe from the medieval period to the Age of Revolutions in the eighteenth century.  You will learn about the major political, economic, and social changes that took place in Europe during this 800-year period.  The course will be structured chronologically.  Each unit will include representative primary-source documents that illustrate important overarching political, economic, and social themes, such as the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, European expansion overseas, and the French Revolution.  By the end of the course, you will understand how Europe had transformed from a fragmented and volatile network of medieval polities into a series of independent nation-states by 1800.