Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Current Historical Topics

Current Historical Topics
3
12303
3
Second semester
OB
Main language of instruction: Catalan

Other languages of instruction: Spanish

Teaching staff


You can contact the course professors by email and agree on a date and time for an appointment:

    • Josep Serrano Daura, jserrano@uic.es

Introduction

This course develops a global vision of the most recent stage of world history. It provides an ability to link historical knowledge with the analysis of current events.

Pre-course requirements

There are no prerequisites.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are:

1. To know the recent history of the world today, its closest causes and connect it to the latest news.

2. To understand current events through the recent trajectory, in order to foresee their development and potential consequences.

3. To have the main interpretative keys to capture the global nature of today’s world, with its large political and economic regions, great social and cultural challenges, and sense the risks and potentialities of the destinies of humanity.

4. To critically approach the current reality, revealing the causes of the great challenges and to come up with possible alternatives and solutions to the great world problems.

Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme

  • CN02 - Students will be able to identify models and policies specific to different cultures and migratory groups, as well as their historical context.
  • CN03 - Students will be able to establish relationships between the concepts of heritage, territory and cultural identity.
  • CP05 - Students will be able to analyse socio-cultural, historical and artistic structures, from a respect for the fundamental rights of equality between men and women, using language that avoids androcentricity and stereotypes.
  • HB01 - Students will be able to reflect on issues of a cultural, social, scientific or ethical nature by interpreting relevant data.
  • HB04 - Students will be able to develop the capacity for analysis, synthesis and critical thinking.
  • HB05 - Students will be able to problem solve based on reasoned judgements.
  • HB07 - Students will be able to demonstrate a commitment to ethics, society, and protecting the environment when carrying out research projects and activities related to the field of study.
  • HB11 - Students will be able to critically analyse cultural and artistic representations, based on an understanding of their historical context, in order to develop an intercultural perspective and a deeper understanding of the contemporary world.
  • HB16 - Students will be able to interpret spaces, territories and landscapes that are either real or represented.
  • HB20 - Students will be able to use sources of information in an international context.

Learning outcomes of the subject

At the end of the course, the student should be able to:

  1. Absorb key concepts of the study of Current Contemporary History analysing it critically.
  2. Contextualise and place relevant cultural, social and political phenomena.
  3. Connect concepts in a transverse and multidisciplinary way.
  4. Apply and transfer theoretical and/or abstract concepts from each geographical area or conceptual framework studied.
  5. Read and analyse in depth texts and articles related to current political, social and cultural issues.
  6. Write narrative and descriptive texts.
  7. Systematise data and heterogeneous information.
  8. Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations in the Current World.
  9. Appropriately use the resources and methodologies that are used in the study of Current Contemporary History.
  10. Search, select and manage information autonomously to capture the historical contexts that are studied, as well as independently expand their own knowledge.

Syllabus

 

  1. Introduction
  2. Economic development and human welfare
  3. Demographic transition and social change
  4. Political debates around democracy
  5. Science, technology and society
  6. United States
  7. Europe
  8. War and Peace in the 20th century and the wars of 9/11
  9. Russia and the Soviet heritage
  10. Eastern Asia
  11. India and Pakistan
  12. Middle East and North Africa
  13. Sub-Saharan Africa

Teaching and learning activities

In person



Classes will include a theoretical and lecture part, which will be combined with the participation of students through the reading of chapters from the basic bibliography, through discussions and presentations.

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person



The teacher will present the topics by summarizing their main elements. And the students will work on them and present each one of them in class from a practical perspective, illustrating it with news from the Catalan press and from around the world.

Besides. conferences will be organized throughout the course, so that the students must attend them and make a synthesis.

Attendance and participation in classes is also essential for the evaluation of the subject. The final grade for the subject will be the average of six grades:

- Personal attendance at classes, 20%

- Participation in classes, 40%

- Conference activities, 40%



Bibliography and resources

The COMPULSORY bibliography is a single monographic work that we will use almost in its entirety, and that you can acquire in digital version, paper or from the library. This is the corresponding information:

- AVILÉS, Juan, PARDO, Rosa, SEPÚLVEDA, Isidro, Las claves del mundo actual. Una historia global desde 1989, Editorial Síntesis, Madrid 2014.


At the end of this monograph there is an EXTENDED bibliography corresponding to each of the chapters that we will work on. However, they can be consulted:

- AVILÉS, Juan, SEPÚLVEDA, Isidro, Historia del mundo actual: y la Caída del muro en la Gran Recesión, Editorial Síntesis, Madrid, 2010.

- WIESNER HANKS, Merry E., Breve historia del mundo, Ediciones Akal, Madrid, 2020.

Print version