Summary
Highlights
The instructor, João Ricardo, a history professor for 30 years, welcomes participants to the Saturday class. He highlights his experience in higher education and discusses the challenges and responsibilities of teaching history in basic versus higher education, emphasizing the formative role of teaching younger students.
João Ricardo explains that the prevailing historical narrative, particularly concerning divisions like ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary, is eurocentric. He notes that European civilization, constituted during the Middle Ages, consolidated in the Modern Age and projected itself globally, dominating until the end of World War II. He acknowledges critiques of this eurocentrism and promises to recommend authors who offer alternative perspectives.
The instructor reviews the traditional timeline for modern history (1453-1789) and contemporary history (1789-present). He explains that 1453 marks the fall of Constantinople and the end of the Hundred Years' War, while 1789 signifies the French Revolution. He introduces Eric Hobsbawm's subdivisions of contemporary history into 'Era of Revolutions,' 'Era of Capital,' 'Era of Empires,' and 'Age of Extremes,' suggesting alternative temporal frameworks for understanding these periods.
João Ricardo discusses telling modern and contemporary history from different perspectives, including the history of European civilization's expansion and crisis, and the history of capitalism. He introduces the World System theory by Fernand Braudel, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Giovanni Arrighi, which views capitalism as a superior stratum of a global system. He also presents critical authors like Edward Said and Jack Goody, who challenge eurocentric narratives, and André Gunder Frank, who argues capitalism originated in China much earlier than commonly believed.
The discussion shifts to the history of the modern state, beginning with Fernando Novais's 'ancient colonial system,' which characterizes the modern age by metropolitan exclusive control, monarchical centralism (absolutism), and compulsory labor (slavery). He explains that the modern state, as an entity with centralized, sovereign administration over a defined territory and population, evolved from absolutism to liberal and interventionist (welfare) states, and finally to the neoliberal state.
The instructor explores cultural perspectives, demonstrating how art history (Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Impressionism, avant-garde) reflects societal changes and power shifts, particularly the hegemony of French culture until World War II, followed by American dominance. He also emphasizes the significance of religion, specifically the Protestant Reformation and its impact on the modern world, linking Calvinism to the rise of capitalism through Max Weber's theories and the Treaty of Westphalia's establishment of state sovereignty.
João Ricardo concludes the class by reiterating the wealth of historical perspectives available. He then provides instructions for the course activity: creating a 'plan de aula' (lesson plan) on a chosen theme from modern or contemporary history, to be submitted via a Google Forms link. He advises participants to draft their plan separately before submitting it by the specified deadline.