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Historians seek to understand what humanity is by investigating what humanity has done.
The Department of History conceives the human community:
The History Department offers a disciplinary major and minor. All history majors select an area of concentration by their junior year (see below). The area of concentration may be geographic (African and Middle Eastern, North American, Latin American, Asian, and European [including Russian]): thematic (for example: industrialism, gender, revolutions); or chronological (medieval, early modern, modern). To count toward the major or minor, all courses must be passed with a grade of C- or better.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR (B.A.)
disciplinary, 10 courses
At least two 100-level introductory courses (EUST 102 and ASN 101) may substitute for one or more introductory history courses); four 200-level or higher history courses in one area of concentration (geographic, thematic, or chronological); four additional history courses, only one of which may be at the 100 level. Of the 10 courses in the major, at least three courses must cover different geographical areas. At least two of the 10 courses for the major must be at the 300 level or above. At least one of the 300 level or higher courses must be a research seminar, history independent study, or history honors project.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
disciplinary, 5 courses
At least one 100-level introductory course (EUST 102 and ASN 101 may substitute for one or more introductory history courses); at least one 300- or 400-level history course; three additional history courses, not more than one of which may be at the 100 level. At least two of the courses must be in two different geographic areas.
COURSE CONCENTRATIONS
Introductory Courses
HIST 101 Foundations of European Society
ASN 101 Foundations of Asian Civilizations
HIST 102 Making of the Modern World
HIST 103 Early Modern Europe
HIST 105 Introduction to the American Experience
HIST 151 Food Systems in History
HIST 190 History in East Asia
HIST 212 Historical Research Methods
African and Middle Eastern History
BIDS 235 Third World Experience
HIST 283 South Africa in Transition
HIST 284 Africa: From Colonialism to Neocolonialism
HIST 285 The Middle East: Roots of Conflict
HIST 364 The African Predicament
HIST 380 History of North Africa
HIST 461 Seminar: War and Peace in the Middle East
HIST 465 Seminar: Revolution in the 3rd World
HIST 472 Seminar: Africa through the Novel
Asian History
HIST 190 History in East Asia
HIST 202 Japan Since 1868
HIST 292 Japan Before 1868
HIST 298 Exploring Modern China
HIST 320 History and Memory in the Asia-Pacific War
HIST 394 Russia and Central Asia
HIST 396 History and the Fate of Socialism: Russia and China
HIST 492 Seminar: Chinese History
HIST 493 Seminar: Japanese History
European History
HIST 201 Tudor-Stuart Britain
HIST 237 Europe Since the War
HIST 238 The World Wars in Global Perspective
HIST 250 Medieval Popular Culture
HIST 253 Renaissance and Reformation
HIST 256 Technology and Society in Europe
HIST 260 Modernity in 19th Century Russia
HIST 261 20th Century Russia
HIST 263 The Russian Land from 1000-2000
HIST 264 Modern European City
HIST 272 Nazi Germany
HIST 276 The Age of Dictators
HIST 286 Plants and Empire
HIST 301 The Enlightenment
HIST 313 Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution
HIST 318 Seminar: Making of the Individualist Self
HIST 319 Seminar: Puritanism: 1560-2000
HIST 321 The Evolution of Human Emotion
HIST 325 Seminar: Medicine and Public Health in Modern Europe
HIST 371 Life-Cycles in History
HIST 394 Russia and Central Asia
HIST 395 Asia & European Expansion
HIST 396 History and the Fate of Socialism: Russia and China
HIST 473 Britain in the Age of Industry and Empire
HIST 476 Seminar: Western Civilization & Its Discontents
U.S. History
HIST 208 Women in American History
HIST 214 Labor in America
HIST 215 American Urban History
HIST 227 African American History I: The Early Era
HIST 228 African American History II: The Modern Era
HIST 240 Immigration and Ethnicity in America
HIST 246 American Environmental History
HIST 300 American Colonial History
HIST 304 The Early American Republic: 1789 1840
HIST 306 Civil War and Reconstruction: 1840 1877
HIST 307 The American Revolution
HIST 310 Rise of Industrial America
HIST 311 20th Century America: 1917 1941
HIST 312 The U.S. Since 1939
HIST 314 Aquarian Age: The 1960s
HIST 317 Women’s Rights Movements in the U.S.
HIST 322 Slavery in Americas
HIST 336 History of American Thought to 1865
HIST 337 History of American Thought Since 1865
HIST 340 Seminar: Faulkner and History
HIST 352 Seminar: Wealth, Power & Prestige: The Upper Class in American History
HIST 397 Seminar: Environmental History
HIST 409 Seminar: Enterprise & Society: Business in American History
HIST 462 Seminar: Civil Rights
HIST 463 Seminar: Topics in American History
HIST 471 Seminar: Civil War in American Memory
Latin American History
HIST 205 Modern Mexican History
HIST 226 Colonial Latin America
HIST 231 Modern Latin America
LTAM 210 Perspectives on Latin America
ADVANCED COURSES
HIST 450 Independent Study
HIST 495 Honors
HIST 499 History internship
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
ASN 101 Foundations of Asian Civilizations Definitions about the boundaries of "Asia" abound, just as descriptions about what constitutes the "West" are many. In this course, we have selected three "Asian" cultures; Indian, Chinese, and Japanese. We will first address some of the fundamental concepts of these cultures and then trace how these important traditions interacted with the "West," especially in the 18th to the 20th centuries. We will see that the interactions between the Western powers and these "Asian" cultures were often turbulent and antagonistic. These interactions challenged the "Asian" countries to reassess their views of their places in the world and their fundamental social, philosophical, and religious ideals. (Yoshikawa and Cerulli, offered annually)
EUST 101 Foundations of European Society With the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe's cultural heritage faced unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The "Dark Ages" were a time of recovery and synthesis, with Germanic and Pagan customs mixing with Roman and Christian culture to form a unique blend of religion, family life, politics, and economy. Through literature, this course discusses the origins of the Western ascetic spirit and the beginning of romantic love and the cult of chivalry. Through visual sources, it explores the construction and defense of castles and manors and traces the embryonic development of agriculture and technology. (Flynn, offered alternate years)
102 The Making of the Modern World This course examines a global system linked by commodities, ideas, and microbes and sustained by relations of military and political power between the 15th and 18th centuries. The mining and plantation economies of the Americas and the development of direct trading relations between Europe and Asia are treated as interactive processes involving European explorers and merchants, the labor and crafts of African slaves, the fur trapping of Amerindian tribes, and the policy making of the Chinese Empire. Religious confrontation, the improvement of cartography, and nautical instruments are examined. (Linton and Yoshikawa, not currently offered)
103 Early Modern Europe This course explores a phase in Europe's history marked by religious conflict, intellectual crisis, social and cultural change, territorial expansion, economic and technological development, and political upheavals: the period from the mid-16th century to the fall of Napoleon. We will give special attention to the various forces and consequences of change and continuity; what makes this era "early modern"; what both seals it off in a state of otherness and recognizably ties it to the present; and what has led historians to conceptualize and characterize it as exceptionally revolutionary. (Kadane, Fall)
105 Introduction to the American Experience This course introduces students to American history in two ways. First, it surveys the development of America from initial European-Indian contact to the Civil War. With an emphasis on political and social history, we will explore critical events in American history such as the settlement of the British colonies in North America; the emergence of distinctive regional social and economic systems in the 17th and 18th centuries; the rise of slavery and the shaping of American perceptions of race; the American Revolution; the evolution of American political ideas and institutions during the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the advent of a national market economy; and the Civil War. Second, this course is an introduction to the discipline of history. It seeks to involve students in the practice of history by investigating how historians acquire, test, and revise their understandings of the American past. (Offered each semester)
151 Food Systems in History This course traces the historical emergence of the contemporary world food system. Students briefly examine the transition from hunter-gathering to Neolithic village agriculture, the differentiation between steppe agriculture and steppe nomadism in ancient Eurasia and the medieval agricultural systems of East Europe and Asia. In the second half, students examine the development of the present-day global food system since 1500. An important course goal is to understand the meaning of changes in the food systems for individual lives. (McNally, Offered alternate years)
190 History in East Asia This course is directed toward two goals: 1) to introduce the student to East Asian civilization, both centrally to the wellspring culture of China, and tangentially to a ripe derivative culture at the moment of deepest contact and influence – Japan in the T'ang period (Seventh to Tenth Centuries): and 2) to teach the different ways that history (as the past and as an academic discipline) functioned in traditional civilization. The student will not only become acquainted with the culture of China and Japan but also gain a better understanding of the discipline of history, of what it is and what it can be. For the Chinese, for example, history can be an organizing axis both for high-level intellectual activities and for the day-to-day conduct of ethics, politics, and society. (Yoshikawa, not currently offered)
201 Tudor-Stuart Britain This course examines the most turbulent period in the history of the British Isles (1485-1714) at the end of which a new nation – Great Britain – emerged as the world's first global superpower. Vivid primary sources and contentious historiography will take us through the Tudor reformations, the Stuart revolutions, the rise and rationalization of Protestantism, social polarization, and the economic and cultural shifts that set the stage for Britain's industrialization and empire. (Kadane, Offered annually)
202 Japan Since 1868 This course surveys the formation and development of Japanese state and society, from the proclamation of the Meiji state to the present. It deals with Japan's domestic continuities and changes in their regional and global context, and pays particular attention to its pre-1945 imperialism and colonialism in Asia. The course also examines Japan's postwar development and postcolonial relationship with its neighboring nations that were formerly under its imperialist aggression. (Yoshikawa, offered alternate years)
205 Modern Mexican History This course examines the construction of Mexican national culture through the formation of the modern Mexican state, from 1810 to the present. Mexico emerged as a nation-state as part of a larger, transnational process of democratic-nationalist revolutions, steeped in the languages and ideologies of nationalism, liberalism, and democracy. In applying these new models of society, however, elite state-builders continued to bar large sectors of the population from access to social citizenship based on ethnic, class, and gender exclusionary criteria. This contradiction has continued to haunt Mexico throughout history. This course is a historical examination of how social citizenship and "Mexicanness" have been understood and disputed across racial, class, gender, and regional lines, beginning with the nation's foundational contradiction. (Ristow, offered annually)
208 Women in American History This class surveys four centuries of American women's experiences, focusing on how women's status was determined, maintained, and contested. It examines themes of patriarchy, power, autonomy, dependence, and agency, and considers how issues of class, race, and sexuality have shaped women's interactions with each other and with men. It also explores the changing social rules that define gender roles, and investigates the way that women and men have dealt with those rules and expectations over time. (Free, Offered annually)
210 Perspectives on Latin America An interdisciplinary introduction to the region, also serving as the introductory course in Latin American studies. This course first examines structural characteristics of Latin America such as geography, the interaction of indigenous and European cultures, the economics of mining, and agricultural exports. Second, the course focuses on artistic, literary, economic, and political responses to these characteristics. (Ristow, offered annually)
215 American Urban History This course examines the urbanization of American society from the colonial period to the present, with emphasis on the development of the physical city. It explores the establishment and growth of colonial cities; the impact of technological innovations such as mass transit and the automobile on urban spatial form; the changing responses to urban problems such as water, fire, pollution, housing, crime and disorder; the advent of city planning; the relationship between ethnic and racial conflicts and urban form, especially suburbanization; and the rise of the contemporary decentralized city. (Hood, offered alternate years)
226 Colonial Latin America This course is a survey of the forces and events that shaped Spanish America, from pre-contact societies in the Americas and Europe, to the American independence movements of the nineteenth-century. Chronologically, this course will focus on five periods: pre-Columbian societies in the Americas and Europe; the violent conquest of the "New World" by Spanish conquistadores; the immediate aftermath of conquest and the consolidation of Spanish authority (c. 1530-1600); the establishment of stability and Spanish colonial rule (c. 1600-1800); and the fall of the Spanish Empire (c. 1730s-1810). The two key geographical areas of examination will be Central Mexico, and the Central Andes. Conceptually, this course will focus on the interrelated concepts of conquest and colonialism, paying close attention to the delicate balance of coercion and persuasion in the construction of the Spanish colonial regime. (Ristow, offered annually)
227 African American History I: The Early Era This course traces the history of Africans and their descendants in America from the 17th century through the Civil War. Topics include the slave trade from Africa to the English colonies in North America; establishment of the slave system and slave laws in the 17th century; the evolution of slavery and slave culture in the 18th century; transformations in African American life during the Revolutionary age; the experience of free blacks in the North and South; black society in the offered annually)
228 African American History II: The Modern Era This course examines the varied experiences of African Americans from Reconstruction to the present, focusing on class and gender differences within African American society as well as on the fight for social and political equality in America. Major topics include Reconstruction in the South; African American intellectuals; the Great Migration; the Civil Rights movement; black power; and contemporary problems. (Harris, offered annually)
231 Modern Latin America This course will trace out the historical construction of national and regional identities in Latin America through an examination of paradigms of modernity and marginality. It will focus on: the continuities and ruptures from Spanish colonialism to nation-state rule; the imposition of stability in Latin America, and the ideological foundations of the dominant, transnational paradigm of progress; identity politics and the rejection of European paradigms of progress; the coming and process of the global paradigm of Cold War, and its new models of anxiety, hope, and marginality in Latin America; the survival and even prosperity of Latin America's indigenous populations in the era of neoliberalism. In so doing, we will examine the possibilities for the most marginal of populations to represent themselves, and the limitations of such self-representation. (Ristow, offered annually)
237 Europe Since the War This course examines the remarkable revival and reconstruction of Europe in the post World War II era, exploring the division of Europe into two blocs, economic recovery, the formation of welfare states, decolonization, and supra national associations—the Common Market (EEC), NATO, and the Warsaw Pact. Special emphasis is placed on European relations with the U.S. and the former U.S.S.R. Students explore consequences of the end of the Cold War, including attempts to construct democracies and market economies in Eastern Europe, political turmoil, and the resurgence of nationalism in Western Europe. (Linton, offered alternate years)
238 The World Wars in Global Perspective The American century; the formation of Communist states; genocides, including the Armenian massacres and the destruction of European Jewry; the ongoing crisis in the Middle East; and the relative decline of Europe and decolonization were all closely linked to the two world wars. This course explores these two cataclysmic wars—their origins, conduct, and consequences. In addition to such traditional approaches as military, political, and diplomatic history, students use literary, artistic, and cinematic representations to view these wars through personal experiences. (Linton, Fall)
240 Immigration and Ethnicity in America What is an American? This course examines this question by analyzing the sources of mass immigration to the United States, the encounters among various immigrant groups and natives, and the changing conceptions of ethnicity. The course covers the period from the 1840s to the present. It starts with the Irish and Germans who emigrated in the early 19th century, then consider the Russian Jews, Italians, and others who began arriving in the 1890s, and then investigates the post-1965 emigration from Asia, the Americas, and India that is remaking the country today. Reference is also made to the internal migrations of African-Americans. (Hood, offered alternate years)
246 American Environmental History In this course, historical place in the natural landscape is described through the methods of "environmental history," embracing three concerns: ecological relationships between humans and nature, political and economic influences on the environment, and cultural conceptions of the natural world. Drawing on methods from the natural and social sciences, and the humanities, students will survey 500 years of American environmental history, from the ecological conflicts of Indians and settlers to recent debates over endangered species and hazardous wastes. Topics range from urban pollution and suburban sprawl to agricultural practices and wilderness protection. (Hood, offered alternate years)
250 Medieval Popular Culture What is the relationship between "high" and "low" culture? How do "oral" cultures think, and how have literacy and electronic media transformed human consciousness in more recent times? Close exploration of the material conditions of peasant life, of the psychological workings of folklore, magic, witchcraft, and play in culture help students come to terms with these issues. We assess the historical consequences of oppression within the political structure of the "three estates" and evaluate the efficacy of various techniques of popular resistance. In the end, we assess the value of play in sustaining social cohesion, emotional stability and personal freedom in our historical heritage. (Flynn, offered annually)
253 Renaissance and Reformation This course explores the major intellectual, artistic, political, and religious events making up the "Renaissance" and the "Reformation" – two of the most energetic and creative moments in western history. Students read the works of several principal architects of these movements, along with contemporary historians' attempts to explain the convergence of individual genius and collective cooperation that took place between 1300 and 1600. The period shattered medieval understanding of the nature of reality, the shape of the cosmos, and the relation between man and god. It was in this period that modern notions of individualism, freedom of conscience and national sovereignty began to shape the modern world. (Flynn, offered alternate years)
256 Technology and Society in Europe The coming of modern machinery has fundamentally altered the nature of work, and has thoroughly transformed communications, warfare, international relations, leisure time, and the arts. This course examines the impact of machinery on social relations and human relations to nature. It explores the promotion and institutionalization of technical innovation in the last two centuries in Europe. Finally, it views the conflicting intellectual and social responses to technological change, ranging from fantasies of technocratic utopias to machine smashing and dark visions of humanity displaced and dominated by mechanized systems. (Linton, Fall, offered alternate years)
260 Modernity in Russia This course attempts a balanced survey of the century leading to the Russian Revolution. Russia is both a participant in European civilization and one of the first countries to respond intentionally to the challenge of Western European modernity. In 19th century Russia, policy makers, social critics, and artists explored brilliantly many problems and dilemmas that still preoccupy thoughtful world citizens: the problem of economic development, the relation between individuals and groups, and the role of culture in human communities. (McNally, offered alternate years)
261 20th-Century Russia This course examines the 20th century history of Russia, the Soviet Union, and the Commonwealth of Independent States as developments profoundly shaped by Russia's Eurasian character. Problems of cultural diversity, of economic prosperity, and of political integration are seen as leading to the collapse of both the Tsarist Empire in 1917 and the Soviet Union in 1991. (McNally, offered alternate years)
264 Modern European City This course examines the emergence and development of new industrial cities, such as Manchester and Bochum, and the transformation of older administrative and cultural centers such as Paris and Vienna. The course emphasizes the ways in which contrasting visions of the city—source of crime and pathology or fount of economic dynamism and democratic sociability—were expressed and embodied in city planning, reform movements, and the arts. In exploring the modern city, students use perspectives derived from European and American social and political thought and employ literary, statistical, and visual source materials. (Linton, offered alternate years)
272 Nazi Germany Nazi Germany and the Hitler Regime remain epitomes of political evil. This course explores the formation, ideology, and dynamic of the Third Reich, concentrating on politics, economics, social policy, and cultural policies of the regime. Students examine the combination of terror and everyday life, utopian promise, and the extermination of Jews and other minorities that lay at the heart of Hitler's regime. They also consider the ways in which the regime has been interpreted by historians and political scientists and the way the Nazi regime has been represented since its defeat in 1945. (Linton, offered alternate years)
276 The Age of Dictators European one-party dictatorships that used state organs to mobilize mass support and unleash unprecedented levels of coercion and terror directed at their own populations still haunt our memory and understanding of the 20th century. This course examines and compares the origins and dynamics of Stalin's Soviet Union, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, and their ways of securing popular support and eliminating opposition. The class critically explores theories and concepts used to classify and categorize these regimes: "totalitarianism," "fascism," "bonapartist dictatorships." (Linton, offered alternate years)
283 South Africa in Transition After a long period of colonialist domination, exploitation, racial humiliation, and destructive wars, southern Africa is emerging as a land of renewed hope for peace, stability and prosperity. This transition is explored in this course from the late 19th century to the rise of Nelson Mandela. By placing greater emphasis on South Africa, the course investigates such themes as the rise and demise of apartheid, wars of national liberation, economic development, demographic and environmental concerns, and democratization and the construction of pluralist societies. (Not currently offered)
284 Africa: From Colonialism to Neocolonialism Genocide in Rwanda, famine in Somalia, civil war in Liberia, executions in Nigeria, and more. What explains these images of a continent in change? Is there more to the African experience? These questions are examined in this survey of African history since World War II. Major topics of interest potentially include the contradictory effects of colonialism, cultural and intellectual origins of African nationalism, the limits and possibilities of political independence, the conflict between developmental needs and environmental concerns, the changing relations between state and society, and prospects for democratization. (Not currently offered)
285 The Middle East: Roots of Conflict The Middle East has been particularly prone to conflict and violence since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and the subsequent rise of national states. This course examines the historical, social, and ideological roots of conflict and the prospects for a durable peace and sustained development in the region. It does so by devoting special attention to the complex and changing relations among Arabs and between Arabs and Israelis, and by exploring the Egyptian and Iranian revolutions, Lebanese sectarianism, Kurdish quest for statehood, the politics of oil and water, secularism, and the challenges of religious fundamentalism. (Not currently offered)
286 Plants and Empire After the 15th century, European empires dramatically transformed the geographical distribution of plants with enormous social, economic, cultural and biological consequences. The plantation system was a new form of economic enterprise dedicated to the production of a single cash crop usually brought from elsewhere such as sugar, tobacco, or cotton grown for distant markets. European administrators and merchants developed international trade in stimulants such as coffee and tea, medicinal plants such as cinchona bark (quinine), dye plants such as indigo, narcotics such as opium, food crops such as wheat and garden plants such as tulips and tree peonies. Students trace the globalization of traffic in plants and its consequences from Columbus to contemporary debates over genetically modified crops and bioprospecting. (Linton)
292 Japan Before 1868 This course explores the Japanese past since the Paleolithic age to the late nineteenth century. It examines the lives of early settlers on the archipelago, the establishment of the Yamato court, and aristocratic and warrior rule, the sixteenth century 'unification of Japan,' and the pacification of the realm under the Tokugawa government. We will explore various aspects of Japanese state and society, such as politics, economy, ideology, as well as their interaction with the environment and cultures around them. (Yoshikawa, Offered alternate years)
298 Exploring Modern China This course explores "modern China" and what it means to study it as history. Topics under examination include the fate of the "Chinese" imperial system as foreign elements penetrated the Sino-centric world order and "Chinese" efforts to establish a viable "modern" nation state following the Qing demise. Throughout the semester, we will pay particular attention to the notions of "modern" and "Chinese," and whether these two terms are useful in understanding the historical experiences of the people of what we know as "China" today. (Yoshikawa, offered alternate years)
300 American Colonial History This course examines the transplantation of Europeans to the colonies, and the development of ideas and institutions in the New World. It takes a close look at local communities in the colonies, and the interplay of religion, politics, economics, and family life. It also deals with the factors that led to the Revolution. (Offered occasionally)
301 The Enlightenment Many people in the West no longer believe in the divine rights of monarchs or the literal meanings of ancient religious texts, but find meaning in civil society, material life, and science, and uphold the sanctity of human equality, which they experience through relatively unrestrained access to various news media, conversations held in accessible social spaces, and schooling premised on the belief that education and experience shape the human mind. How responsible is the 18th-century movement of rigorous criticism and cultural renewal known as "the Enlightenment"? Students examine its coherence as a movement, its major themes and proponents, its meaning for ordinary people, its varied interpretations, its spread throughout Europe and beyond, and the more sinister cultural institutions and projects that many Enlightenment figures were reluctant to interrogate. (Kadane, offered annually)
304 The Early National Republic: 1789-1840 This class examines the remarkable first six decades of American life after the creation of the Constitution. To explore this critical period, we will focus on how the idea of democracy was developed, expanded, maintained, and contested. To trace the evolution of American democracy, we will examine the creation of political parties, the development of social reform movements, the rise of religious revivalism, the development of capitalism, and the treatment of women, immigrants, African-Americans, and Native Americans. Through this examination we will consider how an American political culture developed that defined some people as legitimate democratic participants and others as political and social "outsiders." (Free, Offered alternate years)
306 The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1840-1877 This course examines America's pivotal middle period, a period of rising sectional tensions, bloody civil war, and protracted debate about the promise and limits of equality in the United States. Paying close attention to the nation's political structures, economic systems, and social hierarchies, as well as to the lived experience of Americans in the period, our goals will be to understand how and why the Civil War began, what changes it wrought, whether or not its fundamental conflicts were solved by Reconstruction, and finally, why it continues to have such a profound impact on America's vision of itself even today. (Free, offered alternate years)
307 The American Revolution This course explores the origins and major events of the American Revolution, from the French and Indian War through the ratification of the Constitution. Special attention is given to the development of Revolutionary ideology, the social and economic changes of the Revolutionary period, the role women and African Americans played in the struggle, and competing interpretations of the Revolution by scholars. (Offered occasionally)
310 The Rise of Industrial America The main theme of this course is the multiple meanings for diverse Americans of the triumph of an urban/industrial society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The nature of industrial leadership, immigration and urbanization, and analyses of major political and social reform movements are among the topics to be covered. (Hood, offered alternate years)
311 20th-Century America: 1917-1941 This course is a continuation of HIST 310. World War I and its aftermath, economic and social changes in the 1920s, interaction between politics and urbanization, the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the New Deal are among the topics to be covered. (Hood, offered alternate years)
312 The United States Since 1939 This course surveys American history from the start of World War II to the presidency of Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), covering foreign and domestic affairs. Subjects include origins of the Cold War, diplomacy in the nuclear age, McCarthyism, the Korean War, the affluent society, the civil rights and black power movements, the Vietnam War and its consequences, youth culture in the 1960s, the women's movement, the Watergate crisis, and the dilemmas of the postwar American economy. Special attention is paid to the state of politics and the problems of studying recent historical events. (Singal, offered annually)
313 Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution This course first examines the life and work of Charles Darwin focusing on the genesis of his theory of evolution and then explores the ramifications of the Darwinian revolution both for the natural and human sciences and for broader religious, cultural, and political life. The course investigates what the Darwinian revolution tells about scientific revolutions and about the use and abuse of science in the modern world. The emphasis will be on Darwinian revolution in Europe, but attention will be paid to Darwin's fate in the Americas and Asia. (Linton, offered alternate years)
314 Aquarian Age: The 1960s The era known as the "sixties" was a time of relentless change in which all facets of American life seemed to undergo a vast transformation. This course examines the sources and nature of that change, paying particular attention to the realms of culture, personal identity, and politics. Students study the earlier part of the 20th century to locate the forces that gave rise to the Aquarian impulses of the 1960s and the reaction that developed against them, and decide whether or not the legacy left behind by the 1960s should be considered beneficial. (Singal, offered alternate years)
317 Women's Rights Movements in the U.S. This course examines the creation and development of women's rights movements in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries – two centuries that witnessed the explosion of movements for women's emancipation. Students explore the social, legal, political and economic conditions of women at different historical moments along with the efforts of women (and men) to change those conditions. Women often differed about what the most important issues facing their sex were. Consequently, this course examines not only the issues that have united women, but also the issues that have divided them. (Free, offered alternate years)
318 Making of the Individualist Self Self-consciousness may be one of the few human attributes that has existed outside of history and regardless of culture. But the self itself, the subject and object of self-consciousness, has been understood with enormous variation through time and across the globe. This seminar explores a very influential conception of selfhood: the "individualist self," the self driven by belief in its coherence and its own goals, set in contrast to other selves and other structures, and indebted for its origins to the major shifts that took place in western Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Attention is given to the Protestant Reformation, encounters with new and ancient worlds, and the spread of experimental science, representative government, and capitalism. Students also examine historical sources most intimately connected with this phenomenon: the written forms—diaries, autobiographies, and other self-examination exercises—through which people documented their existence and came to constitute and reflect a new mode of self-understanding and engagement with the world. (Kadane, offered every three years)
319 Puritanism: 1560-2000 Puritanism has been blamed, or credited, for having led white settlers to New England while driving those who stayed behind to behead their king and reform their government; it arguably gave us the capitalist spirit, experimental science, the novel, the individual, not to mention radical politics (in the 17th century), American conservatism (more recently), prohibition, feminism, and breakfast cereal. This senior seminar takes a long view of British and, to a lesser extent, American history in the early modern period in order to get a better sense of what "Puritanism" means, who the Puritans were, what they believed, where they came from, and what they caused. (Kadane, offered every other semester)
320 History and Memory in the Asia-Pacific War This course attempts to survey the multiple memories and histories of the Asia-Pacific Wars among the people of East Asia and the United States. We will examine changes and continuities in these views in the framework of regional politics and economy since 1945, focusing on such controversial issues as the Nanjing massacre, "comfort women," Pearl Harbor, war and racism, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Smithsonian Enola Gay exhibit, and history textbooks. In the broadest context, the course explores the history of imperialism and colonialism in Asia-Pacific since the late nineteenth century and the importance of "history" and "memory" in understanding its consequences. (Yoshikawa, offered alternate years)
321 The Evolution of Human Emotion This course explores how we have become the emotional creatures that we are. It traces the evolutionary and cultural turns that have formed us into sensitive beings with unprecedented capacities to laugh and smile, to shed tears of both sorrow and joy, to fall in love, to sense betrayal, and to experience mourning. Our wide and expressive range of feelings is examined through the lens of anthropology, history, child psychology, genetics and neurobiology. Through a sustained engagement of historical events with reflective literature and analytical reporting, we learn how deeply our sentimental lives have depended on long-term temporal interactions with our environment. Students take on the momentous project of employing their special power of conscious awareness, itself a product of sentient evolution, to read and articulate the subtleties of individual feelings. (Flynn, offered alternate years)
325 Medicine and Public Health in Modern Europe This course examines the "medicalization" of Europe—the conquest of infectious disease and consequently increasing life spans, the triumph of the medical profession legitimated by scientific credentials, the development and growth of medical institutions including the clinic, hospital, and research institute, and the transformation of health care into a central public policy issue. It explores the impact of medicalization on European culture and mentality by examining literary and artistic representations of disease and medicine. (Linton, offered alternate years)
336 History of American Thought to 1865 This course traces the development of major ideas in a broad array of fields, including politics, religion, psychology, and history, through the Civil War era. While it focuses chiefly on formal thought, it also pays attention to trends in popular culture and to the social context. It relies heavily on primary source readings, a number of which are literary in character. Some questions examined involve the relationship between intellectual and social change, the distinctiveness of American thought, and the role of an intellectual elite in a democratic society. (Singal)
337 History of American Thought Since 1865 This course covers the history of American thought and culture from the late Victorian period to the present, examining forces that led Americans to rebel against the Victorian world view and which were responsible for the rise of Modernism. Social and political thought are emphasized, but the rise of the social sciences, new philosophical movements, theology and aesthetics, American identity, the emergence of the university as a major cultural institution, and the role of the intellectual in modern America are also discussed. There is no prerequisite, but HIST 336 is recommended. (Singal)
340 Seminar: Faulkner and History This seminar style course examines the relationship between William Faulkner's literary works and his consciousness of his region's past. It includes intensive reading of four or five of his major novels to determine the ways in which Southern history shaped Faulkner's thought, paying special attention to the technique and structure of his art as a prime source of evidence. Particular attention is paid to such topics as the heroic myth of the Southern aristocracy; his treatment of race; his attitudes toward nature and the wilderness; and his depiction of Southern women. (Singal)
352 Seminar: Wealth, Power & Prestige The Upper Class in American History Exercising power that is entirely disproportionate to their small numbers, elites have shaped American society by making political and economic decisions and by influencing cultural values. This seminar explores the history, social composition, and power of elites in American history by asking questions such as: What groups should be considered elites? Who belongs to elites, who doesn't, and why? How have the makeup and authority of elites changed in U.S. history? How do elites use power and understand themselves and their roles? How do elites seek to legitimate themselves in a society that prizes democracy and that, since the mid-20th century, has increasingly valued egalitarianism? What is the importance of elites for social inequality, economic growth, and race, ethnicity, and gender? How are changing understandings of rank, class, wealth, and equality reflected in the cultural realm, especially in the "self-help" literature? How is opposition to elites expressed politically and culturally? (Hood, offered alternate years)
364 The African Predicament The seminar examines the nature and scope of the contemporary African predicament. Few observers would contest that the African continent is faced with a serious and multifaceted crisis that adversely affects the lives of ordinary people; but there is no agreement on the fundamental causes—nor on the possible solutions. Whereas some locate the roots in the colonial systems and other exogenous factors, others blame the postcolonial governments. This class assesses both perspectives in light of the historical evidence. (Not currently offered)
371 Life Cycles in History Historical transformations in child- birthing techniques, child- rearing patterns, and puberty rituals are juxtaposed with emerging notions of "childhood" and "adulthood" in order to elucidate cultural perceptions of the aging process. Marriage patterns and wedding rituals reveal ways in which sexuality and biological reproduction have been structured and controlled in various historical contexts. Multicultural approaches to dying investigate both the philosophy of death and social practices in the care (and neglect) of the dying. Our study of life's final phases will take us into local nursing homes and hospices where the dying have been relegated, for better or worse, in modern times. (Flynn, Fall, offered alternate years)
394 Russia and Central Asia This course traces the converging stories of two culturally distinct culture areas: Russia and Central Asia. Students start with geography, trace the rise of Orthodox and Moslem states and then examine their interactions through the Mongol Conquests, the expansion of the Russian/Soviet Empires and the implications for Russia and Central Asia of the Soviet collapse. (McNally, offered alternate years)
396 History and the Fate of Socialism: Russia and China This course studies Marxian Socialism as a product of history, as a lens through which to view past, present and future history and as a shaper of history. After introduction to the fundamentals (only) of Marx's thought, students examine how those ideas played out during the great 20th century revolutions in Russia and China. Finally, students spend a few weeks thinking about uses of socialism today in a possibly Post-Marxian world. (McNally, offered alternate years)
409 Seminar: Enterprise & Society: Business in American History This course analyzes the changing place that business has had in American life and Americans' imaginations. It is not a conventional business history class – we will not be exploring the institutional or macroeconomic history of business. Instead, our goal will be to come to grips with Americans' understandings of and responses to profit-making enterprises. Accordingly, we will ask how, and why, entrepreneurialism has become a primary source of American identity; what the sources of support for and opposition to business have been over time; how, and why, conceptions of individual success have changed; and how Americans have reacted to different sectors of the economy, different kinds of businesses, and different types of capitalism. We'll pay particularly close attention to the meanings that have been attached to Wall Street, the modern corporation, and advertising. Most of our materials will consist of historical monographs but we will also use novels and films. Prerequisites: HIST 105 or permission of the instructor for Seniors and Juniors; Permission of the instructor for First-Years and Sophomores. (Hood, offered alternate years)
461 Seminar: War and Peace in the Middle East Many wars, small and big, have been fought in the Middle East since World War II. This seminar examines some of the major wars, paying attention to their causes and consequences both on the region and worldwide. (Not currently offered)
463 Topics in American History (Offered occasionally)
471 Seminar: Bugles, Belles, and Bloated Bodies: Civil War in American Memory Since the end of the Civil War Americans have sought to better understand the brutal struggle that divided families, neighbors and regions. Through the veterans' parades and public statues of the late 1800s, the films and novels of the early 1900s, the intensely impassioned debates about the Confederate battle flag of the 1990s, and the battle reenactments today, Americans have "remembered" the Civil War in varied ways, thereby assigning meanings to the conflict. This class explores these diverse meanings, interrogates why this particular moment in American history continues to fascinate and enrage Americans, and examines the complicated relationship between American history, memory, and culture. (Free, Offered alternate years)
473 Britain in the Age of Industry and Empire The British revolutions at the end of the seventeenth century led directly to the ascendancy of Parliament, the creation of a modern financial system, and a measure of religious toleration, at least in England. In the longer term, the two centuries after 1688 saw industrialization irrevocably transform the physical, social and cultural landscape of the British Isles; political unions transform the Isles into Great Britain and then the United Kingdom; and the expansion of the empire transform the metropole and much of the rest of the world. The purpose of this course is to understand how these momentous changes happened, where their reach could be felt, what they meant to contemporaries, and what they ushered in and left behind. (Kadane)
476 Seminar: Western Civilization and Its Discontents Eight of the Western world's most searing critiques of the "civilizing process" form the basis of discussions concerning the disturbances and the promises of modern existence. (Flynn, Spring, offered alternate years)
492 Seminar: Chinese History Intended for advanced students of Chinese history and society; the contents of this course change with the interests of the students and the instructor. Prerequisite: Previous course in Asian Studies or History, or permission of the instructor. (Yoshikawa, not currently offered)
493 Seminar: Japanese History Intended for advanced students of Japanese history and society, the contents of this course change with the interests of the students and the instructor Prerequisite: Previous course in Asian Studies or History, or permission of the instructor. (Yoshikawa, offered alternate years)
