Courses 100-149
100 Historical Interpretation
An examination of the modes of interpretation that have been applied to historical events. Emphasizes contemporary methods and the circumstances conditioning their development.
– for History majors and minors
101 Historical Writing
Researching and writing history papers. Required of all majors in last quarter sophomore year or first quarter junior year.
– for History majors and minors
102 Historical Perspectives
Editorial Board work for the department’s journal, Historical Perspectives.
– permission of instructor required
– two units
103 History of the Jesuits, 1491-Present
An interdisciplinary examination of the evolution of the Society of Jesus from its founding at the close of the Middle Ages to the present. An exploration of how the order has been, and continues to be, constantly shaped and molded by external secular and ecclesiastical influences.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Religious Studies third course requirement
– may count for European or United States requirement for History majors
104 African Americans and Africa
Historical examination of the roots of African American culture and politics: the impact of the Atlantic slave trade and the continuity of African culture in the western hemisphere.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
105 Modern World History
Examines the significant events, relationships and ideas that have shaped the development of a transformed international system during the past 300 years. We will focus on a few themes, rather than attempt a chronological survey of different regions or cultures. Major themes include the scientific and industrial revolutions; new technologies; nationalism and imperialism; effects of new technologies; anti-colonialism and neo-imperialism; the new world (dis)order.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
107 Ancient Egypt
An historical survey of the social, political, religious and cultural achievements of Ancient Egypt, emphasizing especially the period of Egypt’s unification through Egypt’s conquest by Alexander the Great.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
108 Ancient Greece
A survey of Hellenic history from the Bronze Age to Alexander the Great. Emphasis on the rise and fall of the polis as an independent social, cultural, and political community.
– also listed as CLAS 108
109 Hellenistic Age
The Hellenistic world and Alexander the Great's successors. Rome from its origins to its conquest of the Mediterranean and Gaul. The collapse of the Roman Republic; establishment of the Principate
– also listed as CLAS 109
110 Roman Republic
A political, military, social and cultural review of the rise and "fall" of the most successful state the West has ever known.
– also listed as CLAS 110
111 Roman Empire
A political, social, and cultural survey of the Roman Empire beginning with Augustus and tracing changes in Rome from the development of the Roman Empire as a world state to the development of Christianity as a world religion.
– also listed as CLAS 111
112 Byzantine Empire
An examination of the later Roman (Byzantine) Empire (A.D. 313-1453) and its important role in preserving and transmitting the Greco-Roman tradition and acting as the conduit for cultural, religious, and economic exchange between the East and the West.
113 Family in Antiquity
A survey of family social, economic, political, and religious roles in various ancient Greek states and in Republican and Imperial Rome.
– also listed as CLAS 187
– also listed as ENGL 186C
114 Imperialism and Religion: Roman Britain [Religion in Roman Britain]
A study of Roman Britain in order to illustrate how imperialistic powers manipulate the religions of the peoples who come under their sway both to foster pacification in newly won territories and to redirect the political loyalties of new subjects. The course compares and contrasts the religious traditions of the Romans and the Celts and notes how religious practice evolved in Britain under Roman influence.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Religious Studies third course requirement
– also listed as CLAS 114
117 Church and State in the Middle Ages: 1000-1450
The struggles, between state and church that formed modern Western political institutions. The rise of royal and papal theocracy, the emergence of the idea of limited government, the foundation of representative institutions and modern legal institutions, the origins of the modern state.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Religious Studies third course requirement
118 Renaissance and Reformation: Europe, 1350-1560
The transformation of Europe from a medieval to a modern society. The Italian and Northern Renaissance, the formation of the early modern state, dynastic struggles and overseas expansion, the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic response. Cultural, artistic, and intellectual developments.
119 Sex, Family, and Crime in Mediterranean Europe, 1300-1800
An exploration of how law intersected with sex, gender, and family in continental Western societies from 1300 to 1800. We pay close attention to how the early modern state’s authority was buttressed by regulating or "policing" behavior and to the ways individuals and families negotiated their rights and identity through the courts. We will discuss the role of the Inquisition and the prosecution of witchcraft, as well as Foucault’s theory concerning the development of modern systems of punishment. The focus is on Spanish, French, and Italian cases, but comparative perspectives are sought in the study of Anglo American legal traditions.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
120 Churchill’s England
A study of modern English history through the extraordinary career of Winston Churchill. Britain’s imperial zenith, the English suffragettes, World War I, the Anglo-Irish conflict, English appeasement of Nazi Germany, World War II, the formation of the English welfare state.
121 Interpreting the English Reformation
A study of the religious changes in 16th century England from the accession of Henry VIII to the Gunpowder Plot. The course will evaluate traditional medieval patterns of belief and worship, Tudor dynastic necessities and political ambitions, the influence of continental theological reformation, and popular acceptance or rejection of religious innovations.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Religious Studies third course requirement
122 Pirates of the Mediterranean, Pirates of the Caribbean: Contact across Cultural Boundaries from 1300-1800
This course examines the history of piracy in the late medieval Mediterranean and early modern Atlantic contexts. We read original narratives, including eyewitness accounts and recent scholarship, and place them in the larger context of how cultures in these regions have communicated and clashed with each other. Our discussions will focus on examining Mediterranean piracy in relation to Christian and Muslim interaction and delineating Atlantic piracys affiliation with the birth of global Western imperialism and the development of the early modern state.
124 Diplomacy and War: Europe 1870-1939
Relations of major European Powers since 1870. Emphasis on economic, political, and social forces that influenced these relations.
125 Medieval European Women
An examination of the ways society's constructs of power and control affected medieval women's lives and the ways in which women affected society. Focus on marriage and the family, the Church, public power and authority, the economy, and sex and love.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
126 Conflicts in Medieval Christianity
An examination of the religious tensions and conflicts that helped form later medieval Christianity. Treats heresies, developing notions of orthodoxy and authority, the warrior Christianity of the Crusades, mendicancy and urban attitudes toward Christian perfection, the new monasticism, the development of a personal religion, lay tensions with the clergy, the inquisition, the climate of reformation.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Religious Studies third course requirement
127 The World of St. Francis
The seminar examines the religious, social, and economic background that produced Francis of Assisi, one of the most revolutionary figures of the later Middle Ages. It will focus on shifts in religious perception and new notions of religious perfection gaining popularity in Francis’ time, Francis’ personal motivations, and the struggle the medieval church experienced attempting to integrate Francis and his followers into its structure.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Religious Studies third course requirement
128 History of Early Christianity
Exploration of how and why the church evolved from a marginal Jewish apocalyptic sect in the tumultuous world of 1st-century Judaea to become the official religion of the previously pagan Roman Empire. Development of a greater appreciation for the rich tapestry of religious, social, and political events during the Roman Empire that contributed to the rise of Christianity.
- also listed as CLAS 119
129 Special Topics in Ancient and Medieval European History
Occasional lecture courses in selected topics in ancient and early modern Europe.
131 Ireland
Irish history since the Reformation. Emphasis on the formation of modern Irish nationalism, the revolutionary movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Northern Irish conflict.
132 Modern Eastern Europe
Survey of the countries and people of Eastern Europe in the 20th century. Topics include: ethnic and historic divisions in Eastern Europe; World War I and the collapse of multinational empires; social and national revolutions; dictatorships and the rise of the radical right; World War II and genocide; Sovietization of the region and Yugoslav revisionism; revolution, counter-revolution, and reform in post-Stalin era; the collapse of communism; the wars of Yugoslav succession; contemporary problems.
134 Reformers and Revolutionaries in Tsarist Russia
This course examines politics, society, and culture in the Russian Empire from the reign of Peter the Great to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty in 1917. Themes include state building and modernization; peasant rebellion and the institution of serfdom; the nobility and its discontents; imperial expansion and the multiethnic Empire; the Orthodox Church and popular religion; aristocratic revolt and the Russian revolutionary intelligentsia; Alexander II and the Great Reforms; the growth of radicalism; industrialization and social change; the Revolution of 1905; and the crisis of the Old Regime.
135 Women and Gender in Modern Europe
Exploration of the history of modern Europe through the lens of gender. It considers how changing ideas about gender and sexuality shaped gender roles, cultural practices, economic systems, and politics from the French Revolution to the end of the Cold War. Special attention will be paid to women's roles. Also considers the ways in which gender interacted with class, ethnicity, nationality, sexual identity, and race in the everyday lives of men and women.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
136 Gender/Race/Class in 20th Century Europe
This course examines the many ways that social anxieties about racial mixing, gendered boundaries, and class identity shaped developments in politics, the fine arts, and popular culture in Western Europe from 1900 to the present. Topics include the consolidation of bourgeois respectability in pre-war Europe and the challenge posed to it by feminism, Marxism, and artistic modernism; the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany; the Spanish Civil War; class conflict in the Great Depression; World War II and the holocaust, the battle for Algerian independence; the consumer society of the 1950's and 1960's; the student revolt of 1968; the rise of postmodernism; immigrants in Europe today; and the European Union.
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
137 The Soviet Experience
An examination of the Soviet experiment to build the first self-proclaimed socialist government in history. Emphasis on political and economic policies, cultural practices, everyday life, and the evolution of social identities and roles, taking into account gender, regional, and national differences.
138 Second World War
An intensive investigation of the international military conflict of 1939-1945. The course examines the causes of the war and the major campaigns in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. The domestic consequences of the war, and the impact of the conflict on subject population, soldiers, and ordinary civilians.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
139 Special Topics in Modern Europe
Occasional lecture courses in selected topics in modern Europe.
141 Independent Africa
African economic, social, and political problems after independence. Major ideologies and international conflict.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
142 Modern Middle East and North Africa
European imperialism and the development of Arab nationalism. Problems of economic development, political stability, and military conflict.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
143 Women in Political Revolutions
This course will focus on the various roles of women in conceiving, organizing and pursuing revolutionary processes. The course will be set in a comparative framework, and the revolutions will be selected from many distinctive cultural milieux. Most of them may be described as patriarchal, and we will be interested in evaluating the changing roles of women in relation to existing patterns of gender expectations. This course will be taught in a seminar format focusing on discussion.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
144 Women in African Societies
Comparative analysis of the legal position of women and their social, economic, and political roles in different African and cultural settings. – satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
– satisfies Core Curriculum Ethnic Studies/Women’s and Gender Studies requirement
146A Medieval and Early Modern Japan
From prehistoric times to the mid-19th century. Japan's adaptation of Chinese civilization; cultural and literary history; political effects of socioeconomic changes from the classical period through feudalism to interaction with the West; ideological developments and response to Western encroachment.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
146B Modern Japan
Major themes in Japanese modern history since 1868. Japan's 19th century "economic miracle"; problems faced by a rapidly modernizing agrarian economy; nationalism and imperialism and their effects on foreign policy; adaptation of Western ideals and institutions; social and political movements in the 20th century, especially the suffrage and labor movements; postwar reconstruction. May be taken without first taking 146A.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
147A Pre-Modern China
Chinese civilization from the earliest times to the Western intrusion. Dominant historical and cultural patterns; evolution of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; development of political institutions; analysis of preindustrial economic experience; state-society relations.
147B Modern China
Social, political, economic and cultural development from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. State formation from monarchy to socialism, cultural history from Confucianism to individualism, issues of poverty and population. Intellectual and cultural changes and the roles of the West. Indigenous forces shaping China's modern evolution. May be taken without first taking 147A.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
148 United States-Japan Relations
The two Pacific powers: their initial gunboat encounter in 1853; the rise of imperialism; rivalry for influence in East Asia. The Pacific War and its aftermath. Contemporary trade and security issues.
– satisfies Core Curriculum World Culture/Societies requirement
149 Special Topics in African History
Occasional lecture courses in special topics in African history.
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