Title: World History Connected | Vol. 7 No. 3 | Gleb Tsipursky: Western Civilization from the Margins: Teaching a Western Civilization Course from a World History Perspective
Headings: Western Civilization from the Margins: Teaching a Western Civilization Course from a World History Perspective
Western Civilization from the Margins: Teaching a Western Civilization Course from a World History Perspective
Gleb Tsipursky
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Reading     and Writing Assignment
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Writing Assignment
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Content: According to     this perspective, "Western Civilization" finds its origins in the political     philosophy and culture of the Greeks, is absorbed and strengthened by the laws     of Rome, and passed on through the Christian Church in a time of darkness. This     leads to a period of rediscovery in the Renaissance, which combines with the     diversification of religious beliefs in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation,     and culminates in the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment. This narrative     is usually presented as inherently progressive, leading continually and inevitably     to a more civilized society, which formed the foundation for the current world. The structure of the course, employing political and intellectual history,     traditionally focuses on "Great Men" and "Great Ideas": in other words, on the outsize     historical personalities such as political leaders, religious reformers, and     intellectual innovators. In     recent decades, Western Civilization courses have been subject to intensifying     censure, in particular from the adherents of the world history approach. Some     critics have argued that such classes give students too exclusionary view of     western European history as central to the historical narrative and ignore the     history of other regions, even those that directly and extensively interacted     with western Europe. Those courses that do discuss peoples and regions outside     of western Europe generally do so from an exclusively western European     perspective, leaving the "outsiders" as faceless masses who either attacked or     were conquered by western Europeans. Others charge that Western Civilization courses     treat wealthy male elites drawn from mainstream western European religious     groups as Europe's sole historical actors, marginalizing the voices of even     those non-elites who have played a crucial role in Europe's history. Finally,     critics have lambasted the very term "Western Civilization" for constructing a     false dichotomy between the "West" and the "East."