Course directory

AHIS 12A00 - A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia

AHIS 12A00 · Fall semester 2026-2027

Language of tuition
English
Course type
Cours magistral
Number of hours
48
Credits
6

Information

Description

This course examines the birth of modernity in the 19th century. We survey the main landmarks of this transformation in Europe, from the republican revolutions starting in the late 18th century until the advent of mass politics in the early 20th century. We also cover economic and environmental change, the transformations of urban and rural societies, the emergence of new intellectual and cultural sensitivities, and the status of the individual within society. Throughout the 12 sessions, the course also questions Eurocentric accounts of the nineteenth century, bringing in the processes of modernisation in Asia and the interactions between particular countries and peoples in Asia and Europe, touching mostly on the cases of Britain, China, France, India, Japan and Vietnam.

Teaching format

Lecture & conférence

Assessment

Continuous assessment (conducted in conferences): 25% Midterm exam25%
Final exam50%

Workload

Lecture & conférence

Readings

Main readings 1

  1. Henrietta Harrison, “The Qianlong Emperor’s Letter to George III and the Early-Twentieth-Century Origins of Ideas about Traditional China’s Foreign Relations,” The American Historical Review (June 2017), 680-701.

Further readings 4

  1. Karl Polanyi, “Birth of the Liberal Creed,” in two chapters, 141-170 from The Great Transformation: The political and economic origins of our time. Farrar & Rinehart, 1944.

  2. Kenneth Pomeranz, excerpts from The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

    Borrow

  3. Robert Eskildsen, “Of Civilization and Savages: The Mimetic Imperialism of Japan’s 1874 Expedition to Taiwan,” American Historical Review Vol. 107 No. 2 (April 2002), 388-418.

  4. Rogaski, Ruth, “Medical Encounters and Divergences,” in Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

Teaching units

Unit no.Unit type Teaching unitsTeachers Number of hoursCredits
12724Cours magistral A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Pierre FULLER246
12725Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Jean D'ANDLAU240
12726Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Jean D'ANDLAU240
12727Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Léon BLANCHAERT240
12728Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Léon BLANCHAERT240
12790Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia François DREMEAUX240
14124Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Lukas TSIPTSIOS240
14741Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Lukas TSIPTSIOS240
18572Conférence A History of the European Nineteenth Century: The View from Asia Laurent GLATTLI240

Teachers

  • Pierre FULLER
  • Jean D'ANDLAU
  • Léon BLANCHAERT
  • François DREMEAUX
  • Lukas TSIPTSIOS
  • Laurent GLATTLI

In the curricula

Contacts and resources

Contact
BENOIT Aurélie