Online exam

Well, we have to get along with our time. From now on, we’ll have online exams here as well. I’ll have to write a paper on a subject I can chose myself. Hence I will make 100% use of modern technology (in other means: if you have any interresting website or you know a great deal on something, always welcome to help me :)).

Either way I was thinking of writing a paper on the history of “anti-Americanism” in the world, or just answering question 2 on the US-foreign relations.

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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Departement Geschiedenis
“America, Asia and the World”

Visiting Professor Arthur Waldron
Lauder Professor of International Relations
University of Pennsylvania

Final Exercise

Introduction:

Normally my courses have at least two exercises, the first a mid term examination as difficult and annoying as I can make it, to find out what you know; the second a final exercise designed to discover what you have learned from the course and, most importantly, how creatively you can think about it.

Here in Leuven I have, sadly, been forced to drop the annoying mid term examination. So your grade will depend entirely on how you do on the final exercise. I am offering three options. Obviously you choose one only of these.

All exercises should be submitted to Chloe, the Administrator, in the History Department, not later than December 31. She will mail the exercises to me in the United States.

Option One: Non-research paper (12-15 pages typed, double spaced).

If you find some area of American, Belgian, or Asian history intriguing, you are encouraged to write a paper about it. This need not be a research paper, but it should be well informed. You will probably find a bit of extra reading essential. If you make an argument, be sure also to make a counter argument and explain why you finally arrive at your verdict. I encourage you to be straightforward and say what you think. I will not be pleased by “apple polishing” nor will I be offended by negative remarks about my views or even my country. All I ask for is logical argument, and evidence. If you choose this option, please email me your choice of topic,

Option Two: Comment on the Chinese short story, “Ancient Channels” (eight pages or so, typed, double spaced).

This story will be posted on the net by Monday or Tuesday December 6 or 7. I think you will find it interesting. An essay dealing with it should look at its literary qualities, but lay most of its emphasis on what if anything the story tells us about China’s history and society in recent times.

Option Three: Answer one of the following two essay questions (eight pages or so, typed, double spaced, open book—in other words, you may consult any sources or references you think fit).

Choose one (1) of the following two (2):

1. American foreign policy has changed a great deal since the days of Henry David Thoreau—or has it? Look at US foreign policy in the twentieth century, explaining which elements can be traced back to earlier times and which (if any) are new. Use specific examples.

2. Over the centuries China has shifted from engagement and trade with the outside world, and isolation. Thus in the 1920s and 1930s she was open, but from 1950 to about 1976, hermetically sealed. How do you account for this periodic shifts? Do you think that China will now stay open, or will she once again close. Look at cultural and political, as well as economic factors.