This course explores diverse civilizations and societies of the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania and the Americas from 1500 to the present. The focus is on examining and analyzing the ways in which the world’s peoples and societies compare, connect and/or diverge. Themes such as imperialism, industrialization, and globalization are examined, as well as cross-cutting global phenomena and ideas, such as race and racial difference, nationalism, and feminism.