Courses 100-149
100 Historical Interpretation
An investigation of the diverse methods historians use to examine the past. Required of all majors as a prerequisite for HIST 197. For History majors or with permission of the instructor.
101 Historical Writing
Researching and writing history papers. Required of all majors as a prerequisite for HIST 197. For History majors only. Recommended to be taken in the sophomore or junior year.
102 Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide in the 20th Century
This course will explore the mass murder of populations defined by ethnicity, nationality, and race in the 20th century.
103 Encounter with the Other: the Jesuits in World History
Interdisciplinary course that examines the global evolution of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) from the order’s founding in the Age of Discovery to the present day. Themes include Ignatian spirituality, development of the order’s worldwide educational system, the Jesuit role in the encounter between European culture and the cultures of Asia and the Americas, and the new orientations of the order that emerged in Catholicism and the world at large in our own day.
104 World History Until 1492
An overview of the great civilizations of the world prior to the Columbian Exchange, focusing on the geographical, cultural, economic, and political features of the complex societies in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. Survey of the foundations of each region. Patterns of connection and interdependence in world history.
105 Modern World History
Examination of the significant events, relationships, and ideas that have shaped the development of a transformed international system during the past 300 years. Focus is on a few themes, rather than 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, anticolonialism and neo-imperialism, the new world disorder.
106 A World History of Foods, Drugs, and Medicines
An analysis of the human use of plants as sustenance, mood enhancers, and health agents with particular attention to the Neolithic invention of agriculture, its spread through monumental civilizations, and the capitalistic globalization of food cultures since 1500 caused by imperialism and industrialization (e.g., fast food and national cuisines). Specific theories to be examined include J. Diamond’s interpretation of agriculture as an element in the differential evolution of human societies, historians’ emphasis on the role sugar played in the development of African slavery, and contemporary concerns about the ecological and health shortcomings of agribusiness.
107 Spain and Morocco: Jews, Christians, and Muslims, 1300-1800
A study of how Spain and North Africa's histories were intertwined between the Muslim conquest (689-711) and the Christian monarchy's expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and of Muslims in 1609. This course examines the medieval cultural, social, and political co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, a phenomenon known as convivencia, and explores why it ended.
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 The Hellenistic Age
A cultural, social, and political review of Alexander the Great’s conquests and their Hellenistic ramifications through the reign of Egypt’s Cleopatra VII. 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 Connected Histories/Globalism
An exploration of the “archaeology” of globalization through an examination of the ways in which parts of the world have become connected over the past 700 years. It adopts a thematic approach to questions about when the process we call globalization began and how it has unfolded in different economic, social, cultural, and political spheres, and problematizes the concept of globalization and the idea that connectivity of the world today is a radical departure from earlier periods.
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.
114 Imperialism and Religion: Roman Britain
Focus on 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. Course compares and contrasts the religious traditions of the Romans and the Celts and notes how religious policy in Britain was not historically unique; cross-cultural comparisons will be made using more modern comparisons and contrasts. Also listed as CLAS 114.
115 Gender, Race, and Citizenship in the Modern World
This course charts the dynamics of contestation and reform that shaped the politics of gender and racial equality in the modern world through close examination of ideas of autonomy and citizenship from the 18th to the 20th century. The course focuses on specific reform movements and revolutionary moments in regard to women’s rights, slave emancipation, and colonialism in Europe, the United States, and the European colonial empires.
116 Sex and Gender in the Era of High Imperialism
An examination of the role of sexuality and gender in the global expansion of European hegemony in the 19th and 20th centuries. This course explores these themes through literature, historical scholarship and film.
117 State and Church 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.
118 Representation, Rights, and Democracy, 1050-1792
The development of modern democracy from its roots in the Middle Ages to its implementation during the American and French revolutions, with a major emphasis on the tension of political theory and practice in its formation. Topics include the evolution of representation and citizenship and the place of social, economic, racial, and gendered forces in the formation.
119 Sex, Family, and Crime in Mediterranean Europe, 1300-1800
This course explores the historical intersection of the law—particularly criminal law—with gender and family in medieval and early modern Mediterranean societies. The focus is on Spain, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire, but comparisons are made with Anglo-American legal traditions. It examines how family, sex, and gender were regulated and how the state’s authority was increased as it began to “police” behavior at a time when the theory of individual rights was developing. Topics include the history of marriage, the medieval Inquisition, the early modern “witch craze,” and the real—as opposed to the mythic—harem.
120 Churchill’s England
A study of modern English history through the extraordinary career of Winston Churchill. Britain’s imperial zenith, the English suffragettes, international rivalries and World War I, the Anglo-Irish conflict, British inter-war 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. Evaluation of traditional Medieval patterns of belief and worship, Tudor dynastic necessities and political ambitions and factions, the influence of continental theological reformation, and popular acceptance or rejection of religious innovations.
122 Pirates of the Mediterranean, Pirates of the Caribbean, 1300-1800
An examination of the history of piracy in the late Medieval Mediterranean and early modern Atlantic contexts. Original narratives, including eyewitness accounts, and recent scholarship are placed within a larger context of how societies in these regions have communicated and clashed with each other. Discussions focus on examining Mediterranean piracy in relation to Christian and Muslim interaction and delineating Atlantic piracy’s affiliation with the birth of global Western imperialism and the development of an early modern “alternative pirate society.”
123 History of Plagues, Epidemics, and Infections
An exploration of scientific, social, cultural, political, and ethical contexts in the history of infectious diseases and epidemics. Particular attention is given to how the social framing of epidemiological thought has shaped responses by societies, how public health is an intrinsically political matter, and how we can envision the place played by social justice perspectives in fashioning global public health.
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 History of the Senses
An exploration of the natural and social history of sensory perception in the modern Western world. Special attention is devoted to critically investigating the ways societies have organized the meanings and abilities of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
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.
127 The World of St. Francis
An examination of the religious, social, and economic background that produced Francis of Assisi, one of the most revolutionary figures of the late 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.
130 France and the World: Human Rights in Theory and Practice
An exploration of the invention of the concept of universal human rights in the Enlightenment and French Revolution and its contested application in France and the French Empire from 1789 to the present. Topics include controversies over the rights of women, Jews, non-white colonial subjects, immigrant families, and Muslim citizens.
133 History of Sexuality
Study of the history of sexuality in modern Europe. Examination of topics such as the politics of prostitution, abortion, and pornography; changing sexual norms and practices; the invention of homosexuality and heterosexuality; the social construction of sexual identities; professional and state involvement in the supervision and regulation of sexualities; intersections of sexuality with gender, ethnicity and race, nationality, class, and religion; connections between sexuality and imperialism, nationalism, economics, politics, and culture; sexual communities and movements.
134 Reformers and Revolutionaries in Tsarist Russia
Examination of 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
An exploration of the history of modern Europe through the lens of gender. Focus on 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. Also considers the ways in which gender interacted with class, ethnicity, nationality, sexual identity, and race in the everyday lives of men and women.
136 Gender/Race/Class in 20th Century Europe
An exploration of the ways that social anxieties and ideas about gender, race, nationality, class, and sexuality shaped political, economic, social, and cultural developments in Europe from 1900 to the present. Topics include: challenges to bourgeois society in pre-war Europe; World War I; gender and sexual “disorder” in the 1920s; fascism and sexuality; WWII and the Holocaust; cultural constructions of the Cold War; the intersections of class, gender, and consumption; the politics of decolonization; the 1968 revolutions in Western Europe and Eastern Europe; the women’s movements in the 1970s; masculine identity in a post-industrial world; the gendering of Communism; “new Europeans,” European unity, and nationalism in post-colonial, post-Communist Europe.
137 The Soviet Experiment
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. Examination of 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 the lives of subject populations, soldiers, and ordinary civilians.
139 Special Topics in European History
Courses offered occasionally on subjects outside the standard curriculum in modern Europe.
141 Independent Africa
African economic, social, and political problems after independence. Major ideologies and international conflict.
142 Modern Middle East and North Africa
An examination of the political, economic, and religious forces that helped to shape the contemporary nation-state system of western Asia and northern Africa. Analysis of the consequences of European expansion and colonialism, Zionism, Arab nationalism, and pan-Arabism and the development of political Islam in both regional and global affairs.
143 Seminar: Women in Political Revolutions
Comparative, global history seminar that focuses on the political, economic, social, and military leadership of women in several types of revolutionary movements, both violent and nonviolent. Examples are taken from many cultures around the world from the 19th to the 21st centuries.
144 Islam in Africa
Examination of the history and contemporary role of Islam in Africa. The principal topics are the development of Islamic ideas and institutions, the impact of Islam on African cultures, the role of Islam in contemporary political and economic development, and the interaction between African and non-African organizations and governments.
145 Islam in the Modern World
Comparative study of contemporary Islam. The study of origins and basic doctrines of Islam and its development in the modern world. Main focus will be on Islam’s interaction with different cultures, emphasizing political implications of the rise of revivalism.
146A Medieval and Early Modern Japan
From the early medieval period through the middle of the 19th century, Japan developed as a blend of indigenous cultures, religions, and institutions and continental (Chinese and Korean) civilization and later European and American ideologies and imperialism. This course examines culture, ideas, religions, society/economy, and global interactions.
146B Modern Japan in the World
An examination of Japanese history in its global context since 1600, with emphases on its 19th century “economic miracle;” problems faced by a rapidly modernizing and globalizing society; questions of national security and imperialism; reconstructing gender, personhood, and rights of Japanese men and women at several key moments in “modern” society; social and political movements such as suffrage and labor; war and reconstruction; and diaspora, both of people and ideas.
147A Premodern China in the World to AD 1600
Chinese civilization from the earliest times to the early modern global encounter with the West. Includes: Shang oracle bones, Emperor Qin Shi Huang and his terracotta army, the origins of the Great Wall and the Silk Road, Genghis Khan and the Mongol conquest, Tang empresses, Marco Polo, Zheng He and his expedition to Africa, the glories of the Ming dynasty, and Jesuit missionaries. The evolution of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; development of political institutions; analysis of the pre-industrial economic experience; and state-society relations.
147B Modern China
Social, political, economic, and cultural development from the 17th to the 20th 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.
149 Special Topics in African History
Courses offered occasionally on subjects outside the standard curriculum in African history.
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