Modernity and Global Perspectives

Steven Pinker: Enlightenment Now

• Argues significant progress across various aspects of human life
• Demonstrates a dramatic reduction in poverty
• Shows an increase in global wealth and industrial globalization

Naomi Klein: This Changes Everything

• Critiques global economic systems prioritizing fossil fuels over climate change
• Highlights the Marshall Plan for Earth, advocating for global mobilization to address climate change
• Emphasizes the urgency for action

Yukichi Fukuzawa: An Outline of a Theory of Civilization

• Defines civilization as relative, with Western countries as the model for civilization
• Categorizes societies into civilized, semi-civilized, and primitive categories based on their level of Westernization
• Advocates for adopting Western ideals and spirit to achieve modernization
• Prioritizes reforming minds before laws

Cemil Aydin: A Global Anti-Western Moment

• Explains how Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War inspired Muslim intellectuals to pursue dominance over the west
• Highlights the Ottoman government's caution regarding pan-Islamic movements due to concerns about European power
• Describes transnational networks connecting intellectuals across Asia and the Middle East
• Outlines how students from various Asian countries studied in Japan, promoting pan-Asianism

Mark Storey: The First World War: A Concise Global History

• Challenges Eurocentric perspectives on the First World War
• Notes dependence on colonial manpower by Allied armies
• Documents ecological disasters and suppression of rebellions in German East Africa and the Herero genocide in German South West Africa
• Discusses the impact of the war on colonial subjects

Ezra Manela: The Wilsonian Moment and the Rise of Anticolonial Nationalism

• Discusses how Woodrow Wilson's rhetoric of self-determination influenced Egyptian Nationalist movement (1918-1920)
• Highlights Wilson's failure to uphold promises to oppressed groups, fueling discontentment through the Egyptian Wafd movement
• Analyzes the 1919 revolution in Egypt due to British arrests of nationalist leaders
• Underscores Wilson's actions sparking anti-colonial movements, despite his supposed idealism

Du Bois: The Crisis

• Advocates for African unity and self-determination
• Criticizes colonial exploitation, emphasizing the need for self-governance
• Highlights the importance of African claiming their political future
• Contributes to early pan-Africanist thought and foundation for African independence movements
• Connects the struggles of colonized people in Egypt and India

Marquis Shigenobu Okuma: Illusions of the White Race

• Challenges racial biases, arguing for equality of all races and that race is environmentally determined
• Criticizes extraterritoriality that exempts white foreigners from the laws of their host countries
• Argues that Japan's rise demonstrates a non-white nation's potential
• Advocates for universal equality and justice in opposition to racial hierarchy

Anbara Salam Khalidi: Memoirs of an Early Arab Feminist

• Explains Arab hopes for independence after WWI but faced imperialism from French and British mandates
• Describes involvement in women's societies in Beirut and Damascus
• Highlights changing attitudes toward veiling in Europe following WWI
• Focuses on efforts to promote local products and national identity to counter Western influence

John Stott: Behind the Urals

• Documents the harsh conditions and grueling pace of work in Magnitogorsk (1932)
• Highlights inadequate safety measures in the Soviet steel mills
• Describes how production targets demanded hazardous work conditions
• Examines how political purges undermined industrial progress within the Soviet Union
• Illustrates the human cost of rapid industrialization in the USSR

Tara Zahara: Against the World

• Provides a case study of deglobalization and anti-globalism in interwar Austria
• Describes the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the subsequent social and political movements in Austria
• Demonstrates Austria's reliance on international trade and its desire for autarky
• Highlights the impact of WW1 on Austria, including the Allied naval blockade and widespread hunger
• Explains how the Treaty of St. Germain restricted Austria's territory and population
• Shows efforts, including settlement movements, to counteract the negative effects of global economics
• Explains how anti-globalism isn't just nationalism, but rather a rejection of global interconnectedness

Daniel Hedinger: The Imperial Nexus: WW2

• Re-examines the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) as an interconnected imperial nexus
• Highlights how imperial projects and shared ideological principles connected these nations
• Emphasizes how Japan's invasion of Manchuria and Italy's conquest of Ethiopia contributed to the start of WW2, driven by fear of expansion

Mao Zedong: An Outline on the Second Imperialist War

• Divides WWII into stages, emphasizing the Axis powers' aggression (1931-1939) followed by Allied involvement
• Criticizes Britain, France, and the US for prioritizing material gain over ideals of democracy.

Explore the contrasting views on progress, civilization, and climate change presented by Steven Pinker, Naomi Klein, Yukichi Fukuzawa, and Cemil Aydin. This quiz delves into the impact of Western ideals, economic critiques, and global shifts in perspective. Test your understanding of these modern theorists and their influential works.