Module Identifier | IPM4430 | ||
Module Title | CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM | ||
Academic Year | 2001/2002 | ||
Co-ordinator | Dr Stephen Hobden | ||
Semester | Semester 1 | ||
Course delivery | Seminar | 1 x two hour seminar per week over one semester | |
Assessment | Essay | 1 x 2,000 words | 25% |
Essay | 1 x 6,000 words | 75% |
The first section examines the foundations on which the expansion of European society (normally described as the Rise of the West) were built. In the 1300s & 1400s Europe was a peripheral area compared to the civilisations of China and the Middle East. However by the 1600s Europe became the most dynamic region in the world. This first section explains competing interpretations for this `take off' and discusses how a particular model of international society, based on the European system became globalised. The second section examines three particular sites of global encounter, where the expanding European civilisation confronted non-Western civilisations. The third section discusses three contemporary examples of resistance to Western hegemony. The concluding section looks at broader issues of the theorising of culture and identity in international relations.