HIST4600MM Topic Studies in Comparative History:
Slavery and Freedom in World History

Freedom and Slavery in World History

This course focuses on the history of ideas of ‘freedom’ and ‘slavery’ in a global context from antiquity to the present day. Moving broadly from antiquity to the present day, it looks at the emergence of the major intellectual traditions on the subject in Greece and Rome, ancient China, the Islamic and Middle Eastern world, medieval Europe, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. It culminates by focusing on the twentieth and twenty-first century, addressing the conflict between individualist and collectivist ideologies such as capitalism, fascism, and communism and thinking about human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The course will not only educate students in the history of freedom and slavery, but will help them understand important policy issues facing Hong Kong and China in the future.

Lecture 01: Introduction (Morton & McManus)
Reading: Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty [scan from Liberty: A Philosophical Reader]; Suzanne Miers, “Slavery: A Question of Definition”

Lecture 02: Confucius & Liberty in Traditional China (McManus)
Confucius on good government http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/confucius_govt.pdf
Dong Zhongshu on rulership http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm
Mencius on reproving the ruler http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/mencius_reproving_ruler.pdf
Slave deed from Tang China http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/slave_deed.pdf

Lecture 03: Ancient Greece (Morton)
Pericles, Funeral Oration at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pericles-funeralspeech.asp
Aristotle, Politics 1.2-7, 12-13.
Manumission Inscriptions of Female Slaves at Delphi: http://www.attalus.org/docs/other/inscr_24.html

Lecture 04: Roman Republic (McManus)
Livy, Bk 1.preface & 17, Bk 2 1-15
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/
Sources on Roman slavery https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/slavery-romrep1.asp 

Lecture 05: Roman Empire & Christianity (McManus)
Tacitus, Annals 1.1.15 http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/1A*.html
St Augustine, De civitate Dei, XIX, 1, 14-18 http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120119.htm

Lecture 06: Middle Ages (Morton)
Jean Froissart, Chronicle, 2.73-78 (pp. 662-668) [pdf]
J.H. Robinson (trans.), Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European history (Philadelphia, 1897), 3.5 (‘English Manorial Documents’) [pdf]
Medieval Sourcebook, documents on ‘The Slave Trade’ and ‘The Church and Slavery’ https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/sbook1u.asp

Lecture 07: Middle East & Islam  (Morton)
Sahih al-Bukhari 49 (on the manumission of slaves) https://sunnah.com/bukhari/49
Richard Hakluyt, ‘The Worthy Enterprise of John Fox, in Delivering 266 Christians out of the Hands of the Turks,’ in Daniel J. Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery, and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England (New York, 2001), 55-70 [pdf]

Lecture 08: Renaissance Republicanism, Imperialism & the Transatlantic Slave Trade (McManus)
Machiavelli, Discourses (extracts) 
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/machiavelli-disc2-2.asp https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/machiavelli-disc1-9.asp
John Bardot on Slavery http://www.vgskole.net/prosjekt/slavrute/1.htm
Equiano on the Middle Passage http://www.vgskole.net/prosjekt/slavrute/6.htm
Look at: https://www.slavevoyages.org/

Lecture 09: The Enlightenment, Liberalism & Abolitionism (McManus)
Mill, On Liberty (Chs 1-2) https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/mill/liberty.pdf
Douglass, What to A Slave is the Fourth of July? http://masshumanities.org/files/programs/douglass/speech_abridged_med.pdf

Lecture 10: Slavery’s Long Shadow (Morton)
Plessy v Ferguson (1896) [pdf]
Ney dos Santos Oliveira, ‘Favelas and Ghettos: Race and Class in Rio de Janeiro and New York City,’ Latin American Perspectives (1996) 23.4: 71-89 [pdf]
Mui-Tsai in Hong Kong: Report of the Committee Appointed by His Excellency the Governor Sir William Peel, K.C.M.G., K.B.E. [pdf]

Lecture 11: Individualism vs. Collectivism in the 20th Century (McManus)
Lenin, Our Programme (1899) https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1899lenin-program.asp
Lenin, State and Revolution (1918) https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/lenin-staterev.asp
1936 Constitution of the USSR, Ch 1 http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/36cons01.html
Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, part 1 (extracts) TBC
Milton Friedmann, “The Relationship between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom” https://www.pauldeng.com/teaching/development/Friedman%20the%20relation%20between%20economic%20freedom%20and%20political%20freedom.pdf 

Lecture 12: Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking (Morton)
Global Slavery Index 2018 Executive Summary https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/findings/executive-summary/
Brian O’Keefe, ‘Bitter Sweets,’ Fortune (March 2016) https://fortune.com/longform/big-chocolate-child-labor/
Tobias Jones and Ayo Awokoya, ‘Are Your Tinned Tomatoes Picked by Slave Labour?’ The Guardian (June 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/20/tomatoes-italy-mafia-migrant-labour-modern-slavery

Lecture 13: Modern China & Hong Kong (Morton)
Yik Yi Cindy Chu, ‘Human Trafficking and Smuggling in China,’ Journal of Contemporary China 20 (2011): 39-52 [pdf]
Geping Qiu, Sheldon X. Zhang, and Weidi Liu, ‘Trafficking of Myanmar women for forced marriage in China,’ Crime, Law, and Social Change (2019): 1-18 [pdf]
A.C.W. Lee and K.T. So, ‘Child Slavery in Hong Kong: Case Report and Historical Review,’ Hong Kong Medical Journal 12.6 (2006): 463-466 https://www.hkmj.org/system/files/hkm0612p463.pdf

Tutorial 20%
Active and enthusiastic participation in the tutorial on the basis of the reading (7.5% per tutorial).

Response papers (6*1 – page response papers, 5% each) 30%
For 4 of the 13 weeks of readings, please produce a 1-page argument-driven mini essay (no more than 400 words), answering the question:
1. “What is the most important take-away from the reading, and why?” 
Send to relevant Professor by email before Friday 5pm after the related lecture. Veriguide Receipts must also be submitted but these can be sent at the end of the term. 

Attendance and participation in lecture 20%
Each student is required to attend the weekly lecture and the tutorials, as well as participate in class exercises, etc. (10%).  Students must also ask at least two questions over the course of the semester (you must announce your name before you ask the question) (10%) with half the grade given for asking the questions (5%), then the other half given for the quality/relevance of the questions (5%).  From time to time, we will also cold-call students on students.

Quiz 10%
A quiz in class (key terms)

Final Project 20%
1. Write an argument-focused essay on a topic of your choice related to the course (15%).  You may also choose a creative assessment, e.g. write their own law code, commentary on law, etc. (2500 words minimum, 3000 words maximum, plus references).

2. 1-page proposal by week 8 and compulsory visit to office hours (5%).

請注意大學有關學術著作誠信的政策和規則，及適用於犯規事例的紀律指引和程序。詳情可瀏覽網址：http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/。

學生遞交作業時，必須連同已簽署的聲明一併提交，表示他們知道有關政策、規則、指引及程序。

• 如屬小組習作，則所有組員均須簽署聲明；所有組員（不論有否簽署聲明及不論有否直接或間接撰寫有問題的內容）均須負上集體責任及受到懲處。
• 如作業以電腦製作、內容以文字為主，並經由大學「維誠」系統 (VeriGuide) 提交者，學生將作業的電子檔案上載到系統後，便會獲得收據，收據上已列明有關聲明。

未有夾附簽署妥當的聲明的作業，老師將不予批閱。

學生只須提交作業的最終版本。

學生將作業或作業的一部份用於超過一個用途（例如：同時符合兩科的要求）而沒有作出聲明會被視為未有聲明重覆使用作業。學生重覆使用其著作的措辭或某一、二句句子很常見，並可以接受，惟重覆使用全部內容則構成問題。在任何情況下，須先獲得相關老師同意方可提交作業。