Week 2 - Enlightenment, Revolution, and Modernity I
Welcome to your first seminar in MMW where we engage with content! I hope that you find this webpage resource to be helpful and a good way of having up-to-date information about our time together. If you think of ways that this site can be improved, or if there is information that you would like to see added, please let me know.
For this week, please focus on the core texts listed:
Review as well the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26 August 1789).
The other texts listed below these on the main course website will be an invaluable starting point for essays, should you choose to write on a topic related to this week's lectures. Don't panic if you find these readings difficult. They are all complex texts and require a lot of unpacking. Make sure you get through each of them and come ready to talk about things you didn't understand, things you didn't agree with, or anything on which you'd like to spend more time.
We'll talk about this in class, but you have an essay coming up, due on Wednesday of week 5. That gives you a month from start to finish. I strongly encourage you to get working on this as soon as possible and ASK QUESTIONS if you are unsure about anything you're asked. There are lots of resources out there to help you write history essays and I encourage you to look at them. You can read the (somewhat idiosyncratic) essay guide I provide or find other ones out there.
As always, please get in touch with me if you have any questions.
Music By Which To Read
In order to help everyone get into the mindset of each week's time period, I have put together playlists for each week. They are available through Spotify. I realise that this is a subscription service but you should be able to listen for free (with only the slight annoyance of ads). I will publish the lists as well, so you can seek them out in your player/format of choice.