Course Offerings

 

100-Level Courses

100 Europe in the Middle Ages, c.300-500
A. Cooper

The Middle Ages represented a period of enormous transformation and creativity in Europe.  his course examines the ruins of the ancient world and the subsequent evolution of the civilization into modern Europe.  Covered themes include: the fall of Rome, the spread of Christianity and the conflicts within the medieval Church, the rise and fall of Byzantium, the challenge of Islam and the crusades, the Vikings, the development of the medieval economy, the Feudal Revolution, the twelfth-century Renaissance, the origins of law and government, the effects of Black Death, and the Italian Renaissance.  Limited to first-year students and sophomores.

101 The Growth of National States in Europe
Staff

This course examines national states after 1450; conflict for domination in Europe and world-wide commercial and colonial ambitions; Renaissance culture, Protestant revolt, Spanish ascendancy; seventeenth-century French absolutism and constitutional government in England; Austria, the weakened Germanies, rise of Prussia and Russia; eighteenth-century liberalism; and the French Revolution, Napoleonic conquest, and European settlement of 1815.

102 Europe in Crisis since 1815
Staff

This course studies European civilization in the nineteenth century; Metternich and conservative reaction; the revolutions of 1848; Louis Napoleon, the unification of Italy and Germany in mid-century; the Industrial Revolution, the growth of socialism and liberal reform; the new imperialism and the alliance system after 1870; the background of World War I; the Russian Revolution of 1917; Versailles and the failure of the League of Nations; and depression, fascism, and the origins of the Second World War to 1939.

103 American History to 1877
Staff

This course is a broad survey of key patterns, events, and the history of peoples in America from ca. 1500 to 1877. It covers the breadth of Native American life and the effects of European settlement; the colonial and constitutional periods through the age of reform; the crisis of union; the Civil War and Reconstruction. Using lectures, discussions, slides, movies, and student research, the course prepares students for upper-level courses in early American history.

104 The United States since 1877
Staff

A survey of United States history from the era of Reconstruction to the present. Topics include the rise of industrialism and the response to it by farmers and workers; Populism and Progressivism; women’s suffrage and the modern women’s movement; the World Wars, the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam; the New Deal and public policy; the cultural convulsions of the 1920s and 1960s; the victories and frustrations of the Civil Rights movement; and the post-Cold War period.

105 East Asia to 1600
D. Robinson

This course explores the history of East Asia as a region from prehistoric times to the beginning of the seventeenth century. The course focuses on the dynamic interplay among China, Korea, and Japan in the realms of politics, culture, technology, religion, economics, and war. The argument is made that an understanding of the region of East Asia is necessary to appreciate the histories of each of the individual countries.

106 East Asia since 1600
D. Robinson

This course continues the major themes of HIST 105, examining the interplay among China, Korea, and Japan and comparing their responses to Western powers. While to some observers (such as Hegel and Marx) Chosen Korea, Tokugawa Japan, and Qing China might have appeared closed and stagnant, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked a time of important changes — changes that often became apparent only in the face of the tremendous challenges of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course concludes by looking at East Asia as a region in the post-cold war era and considering the region’s future.

107 Colonial Latin America
C. Townsend

This course covers the formative stages of Latin American history from the pre-Colombian era through the wars of independence in the early nineteenth century. The course opens with a study of Native American cultures, then considers the kinds of fusion and conflict that occurred in the wake of the arrival of Europeans and Africans. It ends with the challenges to and collapse of the colonial system.

108 Modern Latin America
C. Townsend

This course familiarizes students with the national period of Latin American history from the wars of independence to the present. The class covers the colonial legacy, the struggles to create nation-states, the region’s relations with the outside world (most notably the United States), the problems of democracy and development and the revolutionary option.

109 The Atlantic World, 1400-1800
A. Barrera

This course examines the encounter between Europeans, Africans, and Indians during the first period of the Atlantic World, 1400s to 1800s. The course explores the formation and consolidation of the Atlantic World as a network of regions where a fundamental exchange of peoples, ideas, crops, technology, diseases, institutions, and cultural practices began to occur in the mid-fifteenth century. The course explores such themes and issues as European, African, and Amerindian empires and cultures, imperial expansion, colonization, navigation, technology, European-Indian-African relations, the transatlantic slave trade, the Atlantic economy, Euro-American colonial societies — in sum, the formation of American identities, practices, and struggles.

 

200-Level Courses

201 Craft of History, Europe - Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest
A. Cooper

In late afternoon, 14th October 1066, King Harold of England was struck in the eye by an arrow and ridden down by Norman knights; his retainers, schooled in the ideology of lordship by heroic poetry, stayed by his side and died with him. Most battles are less decisive than we used to imagine, but the slaughter that ended the Battle of Hastings led to profound transformations in English society and culture. Social structure, governance, religious thought and institutions, language and literature, economic life, and the landscape itself were transformed in the hundred years after 1066. To understand these changes properly, however, the historian must examine the situation before the Conquest, to see the changes already underway in late Anglo-Saxon England; and, moreover, the historian must look at movements across Europe, for this was the age of Feudal Revolution, Investiture Conflict, and Crusade. In this course, we will participate in the reassessment of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England by reading the work of current scholars and by looking at the chronicles, saints' lives, letters, poetry, and charters, as well as the art, buildings, and material remains of the period.

211 The Craft of History: The United States
This course is designed to teach students the elements of the historian’s craft, including the use of primary source materials, research techniques, historiography, and construction of written and oral arguments.

221 The Craft of History: Latin America
This course is designed to teach students the elements of the historian’s craft, including the use of primary source materials, research techniques, historiography, and construction of written and oral arguments.

231 The Craft of History: Africa
This course is designed to teach students the elements of the historian’s craft, including the use of primary source materials, research techniques, historiography, and construction of written and oral arguments.

241 The Craft of History: Asia
This course is designed to teach students the elements of the historian’s craft, including the use of primary source materials, research techniques, historiography, and construction of written and oral arguments.

251 The Craft of History: The Middle East
This course is designed to teach students the elements of the historian’s craft, including the use of primary source materials, research techniques, historiography, and construction of written and oral arguments.

261 The Craft of History: Comparative History
This course is designed to teach students the elements of the historian’s craft, including the use of primary source materials, research techniques, historiography, and construction of written and oral arguments.

 

300-Level Courses

301 Colonial and Revolutionary America to 1789
G. Hodges

Selected topic include the following: initial tri-racial confrontations; impact of French and Spanish colonization; establishment of English settlements; creation of Anglo-American political and social institutions; bonded labor and resistance; eighteenth-century society in conflict (family, church, community, race, and class); social, racial, and political origins of the American Revolution; and creation of revolutionary society.

303 The Nation on Trial, 1787–1861
G. Hodges

This course examines the development of republican institutions of government and political parties; retention of colonial society and customs; aspects of the social history of the American people (including slaves, immigrants, and women); and the political crises leading to the creation of the Republican Party, the secession of the South, and the Civil War. Open to first-year students with AP credit or with permission of instructor.

306 The Civil War Era
F. Dudden

This course examines the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction era to 1877. It treats the causes, course, and consequences of the war, considering political, military, and social issues. Prerequisite: HIST 103 or the equivalent.

308 America since World War I
W. Wall

This course studies the development of American society from the First World War to the 1970s, with analysis of economic, political, and social forces and the impact of two world wars and the Vietnam War. Open to first-year students with U.S. history AP credit.

310 American Indian History
W. Wall

Selected topics in American Indian history and the history of white–Indian relations from colonial to recent times, emphasizing the Northeast and the American West in contact and post-contact periods. The course focuses on Indian perspectives, government policies, white attitudes, and Native American resistance. Open to first-year students with advanced placement credit in U.S. history.

311 U.S. Women’s History to 1900
F. Dudden

Students become familiar with the chronological narrative and with important historiographical questions and interpretive debates in U.S. women’s history to 1900. The course deals with the emergence of the women’s rights movement and modern feminist thought and with the (often problematic) relationship of those movements to the lives and aspirations of ordinary American women.

312 U.S. Women’s History, 1900 to the Present
F. Dudden

This course considers the triumph of the woman suffrage cause and the subsequent decay of the organized women’s rights movement and renewed traditionalism in gender roles. It traces the origins and achievements of the “Second Wave” of feminism that emerged after 1960, placing the debates and dilemmas of recent feminism in historical context.

314 American Cultural and Intellectual History 1600–1900
F. Dudden

Students are introduced to major ideas about God, humans, nature, and society from Puritans to pragmatists: the theology and social theory of the Puritans; political and social theory of the Revolution; the American Renaissance; post-Darwinian scientific and social thought; attitudes toward nature, wilderness, and the American Indian; racial theory; and the development of the natural and social sciences in America. Prerequisite: HIST 103 or permission of instructor.

315 United States Foreign Policy, 1776–1917
A. Rotter

This course studies the development of American foreign policy from the Declaration of Independence to the entry of the United States into World War I. The course examines the emergence of competing ideas about the place of the United States in the world in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Open to first-year students with permission of instructor.

316 United States Foreign Policy, 1917–Present
A. Rotter

American foreign policy from entry into the Great War to the present. Topics include the unquiet “normalcy” of the 1920s, origins of U.S. participation in the Second World War, the atomic bombs, the Cold War, the Korean and Vietnam wars, arms control, and the end of the cold war. Open to first-year students with permission of instructor.

317 The United States in Vietnam, 1945–1975
A. Rotter

The origins, progress, and consequences of the Vietnam War. The course opens with a chronological overview, then examines several key interpretations of the American intervention, explores special topics on the war (including the antiwar protests), and concludes with the legacy of the war. Not open to first-year students.

318 African American History: African Background to Emancipation
C. Banner-Haley

This is an introductory course in the history of African American people from 1619–1865. The emphasis is on three transitions: from Africa to the New World, the slavery experience, and from slavery to freedom. The ideology of racism, the formation of racial identity within the Diaspora, and the importance of African American culture is also studied. (When HIST 318ES is listed, the course will include an extended study option.)

319 African American History since 1865
C. Banner-Haley

The focus of this course is the history of the African American experience since Emancipation. The emphasis is on Reconstruction, the transition from rural America to the cities; the development of the black middle class; the struggle from segregation to civil rights; and the importance of African American culture to American culture.

320 New York City History
G. Hodges

This survey of key patterns of development of New York’s society, economy, and culture from colonial through recent history includes: contact and syncretistic cultures of Iroquois, Dutch, German, English, and Afro-Americans; impact of New York’s post-revolutionary growth; establishment of metropolitan culture and politics; social and political ramifications of New York’s transport and trade; rise of ethnic democracy in nineteenth and twentieth centuries; New York’s place in national perspective; perspectives for the future.

321 The Early American Worker
G. Hodges

This course covers the legal conditions of work in early America, including indentured servitude, wage labor, slavery, regulated trades, and craft work. It includes the transition in work from traditional methods and mercantilism into industrialism and capitalism and identifies patterns by the combined variables of class, race, and gender.

323 History of the Andes
C. Townsend

This course presents a long sweep of a culturally rich region’s history. It opens with the pre-historic, pre-Incaic civilizations, and then covers their conquest, first by the Incan Empire and then by the Spanish conquistadors. It treats the region’s struggles under colonialism, the varying reactions to independence and the modern world, the dynamic rivalry between the highlands and the coast, and the modern political and economic tensions endemic in the area.

324 History of Mexico
C. Townsend

This course examines the dramatic history of a developing nation. The course begins with the history of the Aztecs, then covers the arrival of Hernando Cortés and the process of the conquest. After the war of independence, the tensions of the nineteenth century led to the Mexican Revolution, creating a modern nation whose vision of itself is still unresolved. The course gives special attention to modern Mexico’s relationship with the United States.

325 Latin American Women: Historical Perspectives
C. Townsend

This course enriches the traditional analyses of Latin American history by emphasizing the roles of gender issues and women. It looks at indigenous cultures, the process of colonization, the independence wars, economic changes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century households, and modern social movements through the lens of gender. To provide some context, the course also compares the historiography of Latin American women’s history to that of U.S. women’s history.

328 History of the Caribbean, 1492-1992
N. Bolland, B. Moore

Also listed as ALST 301.  Please see detailed course description under “Africana and Latin American Studies” earlier in this chapter.

329 Revolutions in the Atlantic World
A. Barrera

The purpose of this course is to study, first, the main themes of the Enlightenment as they emerged in Europe and the New World during the eighteenth century; second, the formation through revolutionary means of new political communities in the Atlantic World and how they shaped each other; and, third, the interconnections between the revolutions of France, Haiti, New Granada, and the United States, examining the intellectual, philosophical, and social content of these revolutionary movements.

330 The Crusades
A. Cooper

In 1095, Pope Urban II inadvertently unleashed the First Crusade eastwards towards Jerusalem. Four years later after a series of bizarre and miraculous events which enabled the crusaders to survive the journey across Europe and Asia Minor, the crusading army sacked Jerusalem, killing everyone inside, Moslems, Jews and Christians alike. This act of savagery earned the crusade fame in Christian Europe and infamy in the Islamic World, prompting a crusading movement in the West and a military reaction in the East. The forces stirred up by these events also led western Europe towards the conquest of Spain, Eastern Europe, Greece, and eventually the Americas and beyond. In this course, we will study the causes, progress and results of the Crusades. We will see the transformation of four societies: western Christendom, Judaism, Byzantium, and Islam. Prerequisites: History 100 or instructor's permission.

331 Medieval Italy, c. 1000–1500
A. Cooper

The historical evolution of Italy during a period of tremendous social, economic, and political change. Themes examined include the development of the commercial economy, the contrasting fortunes of the various city states, the vicissitudes of the papacy, the effects of the Black Death, and the origins of the Renaissance.

332 Europe in the High and Late Middle Ages, c. 1000 – 1500
A. Cooper

The emergence of medieval European civilization out of the disorders of the tenth and eleventh centuries and the subsequent crisis of that civilization. Themes include the Feudal Revolution, the take-off of the European economy, the Investiture Conflict, the Crusades, the twelfth-century renaissance, the origins of law and government, the crisis of the fourteenth century, and the origins of the Italian Renaissance.

333 France: Old Regime and Revolution, 1715–1815
J. Harsin

A survey of the political and social history of France from the death of Louis XIV to the fall of Napoleon at Waterloo with particular emphasis on political absolutism and court society, the bourgeois revolution of 1789 and the Reign of Terror, and the rise of Napoleon and the French Empire.

334 France: 1815–Present
J. Harsin

A survey of the political and social history of France from the fall of Napoleon to the divided present with particular emphasis on violence and civil disorder, the peasantry, the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair, the experiences of World War I, and the Vichy era.

335 Spain and Portugal in the Age of Empires
A. Barrera

This course explores the history of Spain and Portugal from the late fifteenth century to the eighteenth century. It studies the political, military, economic, and cultural factors involved in the formation of their nation-states and empires as well as their competition with other European powers. It covers such topics as the integration of regions into central states, the role of the “other” in defining identities, religious reforms and practices, gender relations, the establishment of European communities in America, and the slave trade.

336 The History of Science from Antiquity to Newton
A. Barrera

This course provides a survey of Western thought about the natural world from the work of ancient philosophers to the work of Isaac Newton. Topics covered include the differences between science and natural philosophy; the role of Plato and Aristotle in the development of Western European natural philosophy; intersections between natural philosophy and technology in ancient Rome and medieval Europe; the growth of the university as a center of natural philosophical study; the role of Atlantic explorations in the development of science; the new cosmologies of the early modern period; and the growth of science, scientific culture, and experimental method.

338 Europe in the Age of the Renaissance and Reformation
Staff

A survey of early modern European history. Emphasis is on the structures and patterns of European life. Topics include the Mediterranean region, popular and intellectual cultures, patronage, the creation of the old regimes, printing, science, religious experience, European capitalism, and Europe’s discovery of the rest of the world.

339 Traditions of European Intellectual History
R. Nemes

This course takes as its subject the main ideas, key figures, philosophical debates, and major literary movements of Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It explores the tensions between tradition and progress, freedom and authority, reason and the unconscious, belief and skepticism, and revolution and non-violence. The course focuses on the relations of intellectual, cultural, and political experience, and the varied expression of these experiences in the disciplines of the natural and human sciences and the arts.

340 Twentieth-Century European Intellectual History
R. Douglas

At the beginning of the twentieth century, European men and women of ideas agreed that the continent was experiencing an unprecedented intellectual crisis, as the optimistic and positivist doctrines of Victorian liberalism began to crumble in the face of radical challenges from left and right alike. In this course, we examine the transformation in European world-views that has occurred during the past hundred years, focusing in particular on such themes as the growth of “cultural despair,” the intellectual impact of the Great War, the New Physics, Gramscian and Lukácsian neo-Marxism, second- and third-wave feminism, existentialism, faith after the Holocaust, the generation of 1968, and the ideas of the Frankfurt School.

341 Tudor and Stuart England
Staff

A survey of English history from the War of the Roses to the Revolution of 1688. Topics studied include the reigns of the Tudor kings and queens, the English Reformation, England’s emergence as a naval power, the change to the Stuart dynasty, the Civil War, and the restoration of the monarchy. The course focuses on the politics, personalities, institutions, and popular responses surrounding these events.

342 Great Britain in Modern Times
J. Berg, J. Harsin

This course studies the development of Great Britain from the Revolution of 1688 to 1945: political evolution, thought, and culture; industrial revolution and social change; and the problem of Ireland, foreign policy, and issues of the early twentieth century. Prerequisites: HIST 101 or 102, or permission of instructor.

343 The Formation of the Russian Empire
C. Stevens

A study of politics and society in the Russian lands from the fifteenth century to 1801 with emphasis on the period of the Romanov dynasty after 1613: the rise of the Muscovite state, its cultural diversity, and its preoccupation with trade, treason, and winning wars; the Petrine reforms and Russia’s emergence as a European power; the palace coups; and Catherine II and the Enlightenment. This course is also listed as RUSS 343.

344 Imperial Russia and the Soviet Revolution
C. Stevens

Russian history from the accession of Nicholas I until the rise of Stalin. Topics studied include: the autocracy of Nicholas I; the Great Reforms; the emergence of revolutionary movements; industrialization and a changing society; the Revolutions and the Bolshevik 1920s. This course is also listed as RUSS 344.

346 History of Modern Germany
R. Nemes

This course focuses on the political, social, and cultural history of Germany from the mid-nineteenth century. Topics include: national consolidation, imperialism, the emergence of political parties, the world wars, attempts at revolution, Weimar culture, National Socialism, the division of Germany, Americanization, détente, social and women’s movements, the “revolution” of 1989, reunification, and the problems of German identity.

347 European Social History in Modern Times
J. Harsin

This course surveys major issues in modern European social history. Emphasis is both on particular problems in social history and on the techniques used by the social historian. Topics include: the family and childhood; industrialization and the rise of the working classes; urbanization; crime, poverty, and welfare; demography, population, and sexual behavior.

348 History of Women in Europe in Modern Times
J. Harsin, C. Stevens

An examination of the experience of women in modern European history. Topics include: the significance of childbirth and family size in the lives of women; the role of women in the labor force; middle-class reform movements; and the development of twentieth-century feminist ideologies.

349 Twentieth-Century Britain
Staff

This course studies major political, social, and economic developments in England since 1900. The evolution of British institutions, Commonwealth relations, and foreign policy are considered.

350 Postwar Europe, 1945 to the Present
R. Douglas

This course studies Europe’s changing status in the global community since 1945 and the domestic effects of that change. Topics include the movement toward European union, the Cold War, decolonization, the rise and fall of Communism, and the emergence of multi-racial Europe. The course also explores critiques of material prosperity and consumer culture in the West and the tenacity of nationalism in an era characterized by supra-national ideologies. Prerequisite: HIST 102 or permission of instructor.

353 History of the Modern Balkans
R. Nemes

This course will examine key episodes in the history of the Balkans from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Emphasis will be placed on the interaction of different peoples, cultures, and political systems, and on the meaning of Balkan history for European history. Topics include the Enlightenment and later cultural developments, the reforms and revolutions of the nineteenth century, the wars of the twentieth century, the varieties of Balkan nationalism, social and economic developments, the nature of Stalinism, the Cold War and communism, the revolutions of 1989-91, and finally, the recent conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo.

357 The Muslim Middle East in Pre-Modern Times
N. Khan

This course studies the rise of Islam in its historical setting; growth and decay of Arab imperial greatness; and Persian, Turkish, Mongol, and Crusader invaders and successors to 1800. Prerequisite: first-year students need permission of instructor.

358 Conquest and Colony: Cultural Encounters in the New World
C. Townsend

This course explores contrasting patterns of colonization in the “New World,” as this hemisphere was once termed by Europeans. Traditionally, such comparative studies have focused on the cultural differences among the European colonizers, but this course focuses equally on the cultural differences among the indigenous peoples of the Americas. As the divergent groups confronted and dealt with each other in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, they established widely varying patterns of living that would impact the histories of their descendants for generations to come.

359 The Modern Middle East
N. Khan

A study of nineteenth-century empires and their decline. This course focuses on great powers, the Eastern Question and the impact of the West; origins and growth of national movements — Arab, Turkish, Persian, and Israeli; and the twentieth-century state. Prerequisites: HIST 102; first-year students need permission of instructor.

361 History of Ireland in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
R. Douglas

Few Western European countries have had as turbulent a recent history as Ireland, or one whose legacy remains as persistent. This course focuses on Ireland’s evolution from Britain’s oldest colony to a self-governing state, culminating in her current situation as a divided nation whose acute internal tensions sit uneasily within a broader framework of European unity. Although the independence struggle and Anglo-Irish relations in general feature prominently, the course goes beyond the “national question” to examine such issues as the growth of Irish culture, images of Irishness at home and abroad, developments in social and economic history, and the complex roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

362 Mughal and British India
J. Berg

This course explores the background of classical Indian culture; Muslim conquest; Mughal state and society; origins and expansion of British power; and the growth of Indian nationalism, communal politics, and independence.

365 Medieval and Early Modern Japan (600–1800)
D. Robinson

This course examines three very different kinds of Japanese culture and government during the medieval and early modern periods. Study begins with the transforming influences of continental civilization such as Buddhism, Chinese techniques of government, and state building. Students then look at the ways in which these influences were integrated into Japanese society and trace the emergence of the highly refined court culture during the Heian period. Next, students explore the erosion of the central government’s power and the rise of the first warrior government, the Kamakura bakufu, and the new ethos of the “Way of the Warrior.” Finally, the class examines the fate of the samurai in an age when the arts of peace and administration were more critical than skill with a sword.

366 Modern Japan
D. Robinson

This course explores the period from 1800 to the early 1990s, tracing the great changes that have transformed Japan from a relatively isolated and self-sufficient country to one that is self-consciously international and closely integrated into world economy. The course traces important developments in politics, economics, society, culture, and the military during the past two centuries.

367 Early Imperial China
D. Robinson

This course examines Chinese civilization from prehistoric times to the eve of the Mongol conquest of China. Overarching themes include the development of a central state, changes in the composition of national elites, China’s relations with the world, and notions of what it meant to be Chinese. Basic elements of Chinese civilization such as Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and popular beliefs are also introduced.

368 Late Imperial China
D. Robinson

Examines key questions in Chinese history from the fall of the Song dynasty in the mid-thirteenth century to the height of the Qing dynasty in the mid-eighteenth century. Central concerns of the course include the impact of foreign conquest on China, China’s evolving relations with neighboring countries in East Asia, socioeconomic change, economic development, and cultural innovations.

369 Modern China (1750–present)
D. Robinson

This course has a dual focus: China’s internal development during this period and its complex interaction with the newly dominant powers of the West and Japan. The course begins with the prosperous “high Qing,” and then turns to the tumultuous Taiping rebellion of the mid-nineteenth century and the political, military, and social changes it engendered. Then the Chinese efforts to meet the challenges of the new world order first through a Confucian revival and later through embracing Western technology and ideas are examined. The class traces the development of the Chinese Communist party and the KMT, warlordism, China’s involvement in World War II, and the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The course concludes with a look at the effects of the economic and political reforms of the past two decades. (Formerly HIST 368)

371 European Diplomacy since 1870
N. Khan, R. Douglas, R. Nemes

A critical analysis of diplomatic crises and the foreign policies of the major European states with particular emphasis on the origins of World War I. Special attention is given to the Bismarckian system and its collapse; the Versailles settlement; the “old” vs. the “new” diplomacy; and the role of the individual in policy formation. Prerequisite: first-year students need permission of instructor.

372 Europe of the Dictators, 1914–1945
N. Khan, R. Douglas, R. Nemes

This course examines the cataclysm of World War I and its psychological and material effects, the problems and hopes of the 1920s, the fascist offensive of the 1930s, the approach of war, and World War II.

381 Pre-Colonial Africa
J. Berg

This course surveys African history to 1880: its peoples and their environments; early Islamic North Africa; Bantu expansion; early states of the northern savannas; the kingdom of Ethiopia; the impact of medieval Islam; Europe’s discovery of Africa and the slave trade; and later European missionary and commercial enterprise.

382 Modern Africa
J. Berg

This study of Africa from 1880 to the present includes the following topics: European settlement in South Africa and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe; background to the scramble for the rest of Africa; partition by the European powers; British, French, Portuguese, and Belgian colonial regimes; nationalist resistance movements; “patrimonial” post-independence regimes and growing resistance to them in the 1990s.

 

400-Level Courses

448 Women in European History
Staff

This seminar focuses on the history of European women. The country and time period on which it concentrates varies with the instructor. All instructors cover some common themes: women and families, women as represented in high and popular culture, women and education, women and work, women in law and politics, and so forth.

450 Seminar in East Asian History
D. Robinson

Selected problems in East Asian history from early modern times to the present. Typical offerings include social history of late Imperial China, chaos and order in early modern Japan, and moments in East Asian history.

460 Seminar on the Expansion of Europe in Africa and the East
J. Berg

This course examines some of the processes by which European colonial, economic, and cultural energies overflowed into the non-Western world in modern times. The response of non-Western societies to European penetration receives equal attention. Each seminar is devoted to the comparative study of a specific issue or problem. Prerequisites: HIST 101, 102, and permission of instructor; acquaintance with some aspect of Asian or African history is desirable.

471 Seminar on Problems in American Colonial History
G. Hodges

This discussion of major problems in interpreting the origins and development of colonial society emphasizes multi-dimensional, regional, and racial perceptions of colonial life. Attention is also given to development of colonial American historiography and to special problems in American Revolutionary history. Prerequisite: HIST 301 or permission of instructor.

475 Seminar in African American History
C. Banner-Haley

Selected problems in African American history, including the Civil Rights Movement and African American intellectual history in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

476 Seminar on Problems in the Nineteenth-Century United States
F. Dudden

This course is an in-depth study of selected topics in nineteenth-century United States history.

478 Seminar on Problems in the Twentieth-Century United States
A. Rotter, W. Wall

Selected topics in political, social, and cultural history, explored through a combination of assigned readings and research in primary sources. Examples include the Great Depression and World War II era, the culture of the Cold War, the United States during the 1960s, and the formation of American identities — religious, ethnic, and racial, as well as national.

479 Seminar on Problems in the History of U.S. Foreign Policy
A. Rotter

Selected topics, explored through a combination of assigned readings and research in primary sources. Past seminars have included U.S.-East Asia relations in this century and the origins of the Cold War. Prerequisite: HIST 316 or permission of instructor.

480 Seminar on Problems in Latin American History
C. Townsend

A study of aspects of Latin American history in comparative context. Topics may include patterns of labor coercion and the transition to freedom, the legacies of earlier eras in the modern world, or gender issues in historical perspective. Students read a series of prize-winning works and then embark on their own research based on primary materials.

481 Seminar on European Diplomatic History
N. Khan

This course studies the foreign policies of the major European powers, 1870–1945 in detail. Each seminar focuses upon a narrower period (the 1890s, the 1930s, etc.) through the use of primary source material. Prerequisite: HIST 315 or 371, or permission of instructor.

482 Seminar on Problems in British History since 1800
Staff

This course offers an historical exploration of nineteenth and twentieth century Britain. Topics include people, ideas, and institutions at home and overseas since 1800; the radicals and political economists from Bentham to Keynes; the impact of the Industrial Revolution; successive eras of reform; Ireland and Catholic protest to nationalist rebellion; British socialism and the emergence of the Labour Party and the Welfare State; Empire and Commonwealth; nationalism in Canada, Australia, and South Africa; aspects of British social and cultural history. Prerequisite: HIST 342 or permission of instructor.

483 Seminar on French History, 1700–Present
J. Harsin

This course studies selected problems in French history from the end of the reign of Louis XIV to the present. Each seminar focuses on a particular topic (the Old Regime and Revolution, the revolutionary tradition in the nineteenth century, the inter-war years, and World War II, for example). Prerequisites: HIST 333 or 334, or permission of instructor.

484 Seminar on Twentieth-Century European Cultural and Intellectual History
R. Douglas

Selected problems in twentieth-century European cultural and intellectual history. The course addresses such themes as critiques of mass culture, the “new aesthetics,” the ideological crises of the modern age, feminist and poststructuralist challenges, and the role of European intellectuals in an era of radical skepticism. Prerequisites: HIST 102 and permission of instructor.

485 Seminar on Early Modern Europe
Staff

This course examines a constellation of topics and problems drawn from early modern European history. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of primary sources, the application of interdisciplinary approaches, and the critical evaluation of relevant historical studies. Topics for consideration include: magic, knowledge, and power; the family, sexuality, and marriage; the arts and sciences in European society; gender, politics, and personality; science, religion, and authority; early modern mentalities; recovering the past, the age of discovery, and the idea of progress.

486 Seminar on Problems in Medieval History
Staff

Selected topics in the history of the European Middle Ages. Readings in great historiographical debates as well as intensive study of primary sources. Possible topics include the culture of Late Antiquity, monasticism, fear and hatred in the Middle Ages, the crusades, popular religiosity, economic development and transformation, intellectual trends, and the origins of law and government. Prerequisite: HIST 330 or 332, or permission of instructor.

487 Seminar on the History of Russia
C. Stevens

Selected topics in Russian history up to the death of Stalin. The course includes directed reading and research from translated primary sources. Past and proposed topics include: the Russian Revolution, Stalinism, Russian social history, national minorities in the Russian Empire, and Russian popular culture. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

489 Seminar on Problems in Military History
Staff

This course focuses on the role of organized violence in history in the context of military-civil relations and change in military technology and methodology. The period covered is ancient to modern (1945), mainly European and non-Western. Each seminar concentrates on a particular era. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

490 Honors Seminar in History
Staff

An honors seminar for candidates for honors and high honors in history. Students enroll in this seminar to complete or extend a paper already begun in another history course. Enrollment is limited to seniors. Prerequisite: permission of department chair.

291, 391, 491 Independent Studies in History
Staff

These courses offer upperclass and graduate students the opportunity to pursue individual study under the guidance of a member of the staff. Prerequisite: permission of the staff member and department chair.

 

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