100 Level
110WW WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Myers)
Please see course description for 111LEC.
111 WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (Myers)
This course will explore the major themes and events contributing to the formation of Western civilization and culture from ancient Mesopotamia to the beginning of the European Age of Absolutism circa 1660. Particular themes of the course include the formation of ancient cultures especially Egypt, Greece (including an examination of Greek "democracy"), the Roman Republic and Empire, and the formation of the national monarchies of Europe (particularly England and France) during the Middle Ages. The course will also examine the development of the Christian Church and cultural values during the Middle Ages and the fragmentation of and challenge to medieval civilization initiated by the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation as well as the subsequent redefinition of authority during the "Age of Absolutism." In addition to the historical narrative provided by the textbook, students will also analyze primary and secondary sources that provide both interpretations of historical events and issues by contemporaries as well as insight into modern historical methodology.
112LEC WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (Micale)
This is a course on history of Western and Central Europe, including Britain, from the late seventeenth century to the present with special attention to developments in politics, thought, and culture. Topics include the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, conservatism, nationalism, British liberalism, Marxism and the socialist movement, the women's movement, cultural Modernism, the Russian Revolution, the two world wars, German and Italian fascism, the rise and fall of totalitarianism, and globalization.
There will be midterm and final examinations as well as one or two short essays.
112LC2 WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (Esbenshade)
The West presents itself as the source of all progress and culture, a model for the rest of the world to follow. At the same time, in the last century it has produced two world wars and the Holocaust, while its wealth coexists with the poverty and misery of the Third World. What is the nature of this Western civilization, and how has it become what it is? As the West came to dominate the globe, how did this experience of colonialism and imperialism fundamentally shape the West itself? How did ruling over and extracting resources from the colonies create new social and political arrangements at home? How much were nationalism and the ideal of 'European culture' (including science and rational thought) a reaction to the 'primitivism', 'barbarity', etc. identified abroad? How did the rise of excluded groups in the 19th century--workers, women, Jews, social movements--and the ambivalent relationship with Eastern Europe figure in? What was the effect of the colonial independence movements in the 20th century? We will end with the collapse of communism and the position of the New Europe in a globalized world: unified and progressive leader, 'fortress' against immigrants, or sidekick to a lone superpower? Using films as well as literature and primary sources, our world history approach will give Western Civ a new flavor. Students will emerge from the course with an understanding of key concepts of Western civilization--the Enlightenment, French and Industrial Revolutions, liberalism, nationalism, socialism, modernism--but also with a sense of the West as a global creation.
113WW WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Micale)
Please see course description for 112LEC.
150WW HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Walker)
Please see course description for 151LEC.
150LC2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Edelson)
Please see course description for 151LC2.
151LEC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Walker)
This course provides a survey of American History from the age of English Settlement and the TransAtlantic African Slave trade to the Civil War and Reconstruction. By means of lectures, discussion meeting, and assigned readings, students will explore the major political social, economic, and cultural forces that have shaped American life. Students will consider such topics and questions as: Why were witches hanged in Salem? Why an American historian would say that, this nation bought its freedom with the labor of slave? Was the American Revolution truly revolutionary? Why economic factors accounted for the institution of slavery. What political factors accounted for an expansion of democracy for whites? Also emphasis will be on the importance of women in antebellum social reform movements and the technological innovations that were important in advancing this nation from a preindustrial to an industrial society. The Mexican War and Chinese immigration will also be examined, while the issue of Native Americans being dispossessed of their land will be considered in the westward movement of the American frontier. In addition, students will consider whether or not the Civil War was an irreconcilable conflict and the extent to which Reconstruction was national in scope. The readings include a textbook, a documentary collection, an anthology of history articles and two monographs.
151LC2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Edelson)
Colonial foundations, movement for independence, and early years of the republic.
151DIS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Ratner)
This survey of American History to 1877 will focus on the search for answers to a number of key questions. Among those questions are: Why did Europeans settle in the Americas? Why did English settlements take the shape they did? How did changes in European life influence American life? Why and to what extent did Americans imagine themselves to be one community? What were the key features of that community? Why were Americans pre-occupied with the defense of that community? Why, in 1861, did the American community divide and how once restored had it changed?
Class format will be a mix of lecture and discussion. Reading will be from a text and a collection of primary source materials.
151DS1 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Pruett)
History 151DS1 is an introductory survey of American History from the first colonial settlements to the end of Reconstruction. By means of lectures, discussion meetings, and assigned readings, students explore the major political, social, economic, and religious forces which have shaped American life. Students consider such questions as: Why were witches hanged in Salem? Was the American Revolution truly revolutionary? Did popular democracy lead to better government? Was slavery really oppressive? Were southerners justified in seceding from the Union? The reading list includes a popular textbook, a documentary collection, and two paperback biographies of prominent Americans.
152LEC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (Jaher)
Explores the varied ways that Americans perceived and responded to the massive economic, political, and social changes confronting them in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The twice-weekly lectures thus try to place the standard chronicle of Presidential accomplishments, industrial progress, and expanding world influence in a broader context of the competing visions and divisions that still shape the American experience. Discussion sections also meet twice weekly to examine the issues raised by the core textbook and several supplementary readings.
152LC2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (Roediger)
How do people organize to make demands on American government? How do national and local political institutions respond to popular demands? What role does group identity play in helping people organize and in structuring governments' responses to popular demands? Does anything ever change? In History 152/Political Science 150, Professors David Roediger and Louis DeSipio tap historical and political science scholarship to examine how peoples lives and their collective activities shape political and social outcomes. The history component looks at the United States past from after the Civil War through the present. In it, the ways in which ordinary people lived their daily lives--how they worked, formed families, loved, worshiped, had fun, faced discrimination, migrated, and learned--receive emphasis. Towering leaders, profound demands for change, and hotly contested elections are seen as growing out of these everyday experiences. The political science section assess how the American political system is designed, how its institutions operate, and how the views of individuals in U.S. society shape political outcomes. The evaluation in the History component of the course is based on two 5- to 7-page papers, an in class essay, participation in sections and two brief objective tests.
153WW HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Jaher)
Please see course description for 152LEC.
160 COMPARATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY: PEOPLE, CROPS, AND CAPITAL (Crummey)
Same as ENVST 160
"People, Crops, and Capital" explores major themes in environmental history with a special emphasis on agriculture and the different impacts it has had on the landscape throughout time and place. The course will feature guest speakers, but narrative and thematic continuity will be provided by Professor Crummey with the assistance of Professor Radding.
History 160 is designed to introduce students to the issues involved in the global history of human land use and to the background of contemporary environmental problems. For this reason the instructors have purposefully linked discussion of a familiar milieu - the Illinois prairies - to the environmental concerns of grasslands and subtropical rainforests in Africa and Latin America. Instructional format is varied, combining lecture and discussion with audiovisual and electronic aids, as well as a field trip to observe environmental problems in East-Central Illinois. The following written assignments will be required: (1) a diary of one week of environmental observation around campus; (2) a diary of the field trip; a formal paper, 10 pages in length. The exams will also be written. The use of web-site and other on-line resources will give students the opportunity to learn new research skills.
170 EAST-ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA (Chow)
Same as EALC 170
This course introduces the distinct as well as shared ideas and institutions of the major civilizations in East Asia: China and Japan. We will focus on two historical processes: the making of a cultural system of East Asia when Japan was under the influence of Chinese culture. We will discuss how, before the nineteenth century, despite certain shared cultural elements, indigenous cultures and unique historical developments of these countries had resulted in contrasting societies. The second process witnessed the decline of China in the nineteenth century as a dominant political and cultural power in East Asia. Attention will be given to the different paths each of these countries had taken in its attempt to build a modern state. Readings include several very interesting literary works and an autobiography.
172 SOUTHEAST ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS (Lehman)
Same as ANTH 186 & AS ST 186
This is essentially an institutional history of the lowland civilizations of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, with a strong anthropological orientation as its analytical/explanatory basis. It deals chiefly with the histories of the Indianized and Sinicized States in the context of the Indian Ocean-China Sea trade, the institutional history of Buddhism and Hinduism in the region, and the development of regional systems of monarchy and their local variations. It deals at length with the rise and development of regional and national cultures in these states, and the effects of Western colonialism and the rise of new nations.
TEXT: The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, Vol. I.
There are mid-term and final examinations, and 2 short essay assignments. Meets general education requirement in Non-Western Cultures.
175 LATIN AMERICA FROM CONQUEST TO INDEPENDENCE (Jacobsen)
This course treats the Spanish and Portuguese conquest and settlement of the Americas from 1492 to 1825. It begins with an assessment of pre-Conquest American civilizations, Iberian background to expansion and the conquests of the Aztecs and Incas. In the main part of the course we will focus on several key issues for Latin America's fascinating and conflictive colonial world: indigenous resistance and adaptation to European domination; the role of race and ethnicity in the construction of colonial power; women in a multiethnic patriarchal colonial society; colonial land and labor systems, including the hacienda, plantation and slavery; colonial government; the role of religion and the Church: colonial economies and their relation to the Spanish and Portuguese states; international rivalry, buccaneering, warfare and contraband. The course concludes with the Eighteenth-Century reform efforts, anti-colonial rebellions and the revolutions for independence from 1810 to 1825.
177 HISTORY OF AFRICA (Allman)
This course provides a general, introductory survey of African history from earliest times to the present. It assumes no prior knowledge of the subject, just some interest and a bit of enthusiasm. The course begins with a critical examination of how we view Africa and its past and the ways in which scholars -- African, European and American -- have contested the very meaning of "Africa." Through lectures, discussions, films and a varied list of readings, we begin with an exploration of Africa's rich precolonial past, paying particular attention to material and social change and the ways in which both rulers and ruled, farmers and traders, women and men made their worlds. After examination of the impact of the slave trade on Africa's historical development, we turn to the commercial and religious revolutions of the 19th century and the struggles over land and labor in east and southern Africa. We then explore the reasons for European expansion into Africa, the means by which the various colonial powers sought to control the continent and the resistance which they met. How ordinary women and men confronted the social, cultural and economic violence of colonial rule is explored through primary documents, fiction and secondary historical accounts. In the last two sections of the course we examine the struggles for liberation after the Second World War and the problems of independent Africa at the close of the century. This is primarily a lecture course, although discussion is encouraged and portions of several lectures are set aside for discussion of specific topics.
181 THE ANCIENT WORLD (Buckler)
This course traces the rise of Western Civilization, beginning with the early cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The entry of the Hittites, an Indo-European people, into the much older and more sophisticated Eastern cultures is examined. The Bronze Age and the origins of the Greek Civilization, along with the development of Greek political and social institutions, are also treated. The course ends with the Greek victory over the Persian menace, the clash between Athens and Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, and the destruction of the classical scheme of things. Textbook: J. P. McKay, A History of Western Society, vol. A.; A. R. Burn, The Penguin History of Greece (Penguin Books), plus other individual assignments. One mid-term, and one final exam. There are also various quizzes and a paper in the discussion sections.
199&THUNDERGRADUATE OPEN SEMINAR (Michalove)
For Honor Thesis Writers Only.