100 Level
100 GLOBAL HISTORY (Stewart)
Same as Afro101.
This course will be mainly dedicated to in-coming freshman students. We will begin with trying to understand what makes up 'world history', then work out the difference between 'world' and 'global' history and what makes up the 'global' past. We will conclude with the issues that have made 'global' a controversial word. The first set of 'worlds' we will look at are those that date from the 7th century CE, but the main focus of this course will be from the time old worlds began to collide on a global scale, from the 17th century onwards. What are the common historical forces and processes that impacted the lives of native Americans and Chinese peasants in 1600? African farmers and European urban dwellers? How did these change during the next 400 years? What are the ways societies have organized themselves and interacted with each other since we entered a 'global world?' How and why have 'national' cultures been constructed? How have they tried to protect themselves and how have they been eroded? What special roles have trade, disease, ideology, agriculture and religion played in making our global community? Grading will be based on a mid-term and final, in-class quizzes and projects, two out-of-class essays and attendance at lectures and assigned events on campus.
101 HISTORY OF BLACK AMERICA, 1619-PRESENT (Cha-Jua)
History 101 surveys the African American experience from the west African background to contemporary times. The course examines the formation of slavery and subsequent systems of racial oppression. History 101 explores the processes by which diverse African ethnicities transformed themselves into one people, African Americans and created and maintained a distinct culture. The course explores the social forces that enhance or impede unity and fragmentation among African Americans. Much attention is given to black women and questions of gender; black workers and issues of class; and youth and generational conflict. Furthermore, this course explores the nationalist and radical wings of the Black Freedom Movement as well as the traditional liberal organizations.
110WW WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Symes)
Please see course description for 111LEC.
111LEC WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (Symes)
Spanning nearly three thousand years of human endeavor, this course surveys the major developments, crises, events, and movements that shaped societies from ancient Mesopotamia to early modern England. In essence, students will learn to analyze the key problems and processes that shaped the modern world, and to better understand its institutions, ideologies, and cultures. Lectures will be supplemented by in-depth consideration of primary source materials, texts and artifacts produced by and for the people of this fascinating epoch. Students will be required to read carefully, to engage in class exercises and discussions, and to write several short papers. There will be midterm and final examinations.
111DIS WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (Ramsbottom)
How different were the lives people lived in the past? "Western Civilization” refers to the history of European peoples and to related cultures around the world. It has also come to mean a set of principles and customs that broadly characterize these cultures: the struggle for legal and political rights, the development of scientific and rational inquiry, and the expectation that orthodoxy will accommodate the individual's conscience. This course takes us from the very beginnings of large-scale society, through the rise and fall of classical empires, to the emergence of a militant Christianity in medieval Europe and its interaction with other cultures. Readings include a textbook, primary sources, and a couple of paperbacks.
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 a midterm and final examinations as well as two paper.
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) (Espiritu)
Please see course description for 151LEC.
151LEC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Espiritu)
Topic: The American Nation: Democracy and Empire, Promise and Reality
In this era of "globalization," the internet, human rights, environmental awareness, and multiple sites of power, the question of America's place in the world has assumed contemporary significance. This course will provide a survey of developments in American history from the period of British colonization of North America to the end of Reconstruction in the 1870s. The course will attempt to show that the processes that have been of crucial importance to the building of the American nation-state have been intertwined with the processes of American expansion and the making of an American Empire. The development of capitalism, republican institutions, nationalism, and religion in America will be examined in light of war, negotiation, and the removal of indigenous peoples, the slave trade and enslavement of Africans, territorial expansion into the Mexican nation, and U. S. ambitions in the Pacific Islands and the Asian continent. Moreover, America also expanded through conflict and negotiation with Spanish, French, and Russian empires. There will be significant attention in the course to movements for reform and social change, which sought to expand the promises of American democracy, although at times ending up limiting that very democracy. These will include the campaigns to end slavery and establish black citizenship rights, the movement for women's rights, the attempts to preserve the rights of the "Native" and to limit immigration, and various protests against territorial expansion and war. Students will be asked to examine their textbook reading in light of primary and secondary source material, including autobiographical accounts, government documents, letters, art, and film. The course will attempt to show that American history, indeed any history, must be seen not only in terms of the larger political, economic, and intellectual developments but also in conjunction with the personal, the social, and the emotional aspects of everyday life.
151DS1 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.
152LEC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (Leff)
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. Through readings, media presentations, twice-weekly lectures, and discussion sections, the course places the standard chronicle of Presidential accomplishments, industrial progress, and expanding global linkages in a broader context of the competing visions and divisions that still shape the diversity of the American experience.
153WW HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Leff)
Please see course description for 152LEC.
160 COMPARATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY: PEOPLE, CROPS, AND CAPITAL (Crummey)
Same As ENVST 160
Satisifies the General Education requirement for Historical and Philosophical Perspectives and for Western Cultures “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 space. The course introduces students to basic thinking about the environment through reading and pondering on the writings of Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson. It further introduces 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 course purposefully links discussion of a familiar milieu-the Illinois prairie-to tropical and subtropical ecosystems in Africa and Mexico paying particular attention to grassland environments.
Two written assignments are required: (1) a diary of one week of environmental observation around campus; and (2) a web-based paper exploring the continuing relevance of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. There will be two hourlies and one final exam. The use of website and other on-line resources will give students the opportunity to learn new research skills.
168 INTRODUCTION TO THE CIVILIZATION OF INDIA (Chandra)
Same As ANTH 168
Topic: Modern South Asia, 1750-the present
Viewing modern South Asia through the political, economic and cultural transformations of the past two hundred and fifty years, this survey course will discuss the period of pre-colonial empires and kingdoms, through the years of British colonialism, to the post-colonial establishment of nation states. We will approach the history of this region as having regularly built upon and sustained particular relations of collaboration and contest with the epoch of pre-modern and modern empires. We will explore the emergence of those social groups and cultural ideas that supported these historic changes. Evaluating the history of rebellion, colonialism, reform, nationalism and postcoloniality, the course will constantly situate the history and politics of this area in the context of larger, world – historical changes such as empire and decolonisation, development, the rise of politicised identities of race and religion, globalisation and the ‘war on terror’. Finally, using a range of sources from films, novels and memoirs, we will explore the rising call among scholars of South Asia to reject the received history of this area and to construct an alternative narrative of this extremely complex history.
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 (Cunningham)
Same As ANTH 186, AS ST 186
This course explores the histories and development of lowland civilizations of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia in anthropological perspective. It considers the growth of political, commercial, social, and cultural institutions of the early Indianized and Sinicized states in the context of the Indian Ocean-China Sea trade, and the spread of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity in the region. It deals with the development of regional systems of monarchy and their local variations; with the rise and development of regional and national cultures in these states; and with the effects of Western imperialism and the rise of new nations. It concludes with discussion of some major problems facing the region today.
*This course fulfills the Non-Western cultures and Historical & Philosophical perspectives Gen Ed. requirements
175 LATIN AMERICA FROM CONQUEST TO INDEPENDENCE (Radding)
Welcome to Latin America! History 175 covers the principal themes of colonial history with perspectives on current issues in Spanish and Portuguese America. This course is a basic building block of the Latin American concentration in History and for the Latin American Studies major. The topical sequence of lectures and readings begins with an overview of pre-Conquest cultures and concludes with the wars for Independence in early nineteenth-century Spanish America, and the first empire in Brazil. Guiding themes for the course comprise (1) the relationships of interdependence that developed between the European imperial powers and their American colonies; (2) the societies and cultures that developed in the colonies; (3) the endurance of the native peoples of the Americas; and (4) the importance of African peoples for the history of Latin America. The class will meet in two lectures each week and in one-hour small discussion groups, in which you will review and clarify the course materials. Assigned readings, films, website research, and visits to the Krannert Art Museum and Rare Book Room of the Main Library will provide complementary sources of information. Student evaluations will include attendance and class participation, two in-class hourly exams, one essay, short writing assignments in the form of a reading journal, and the final exam.
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 start 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 examining 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.
198&H FRESHMAN SEMINAR (Burkhardt)
Topic: Historical Perspectives on Science, Technology, and Society
In this seminar we will examine selected episodes in the history of science and technology as a means of raising questions relating to the interrelations of science, technology, and society today. We will look at four main historical areas: the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, the Darwinian Revolution of the 19th century, science and the Second World War, and the modern relations of science and technology. Included among our specific topics will be the science and politics of the case of Galileo, the social background to Darwin's theory of natural selection, the importance of World War II for American science, and public views of the promises and perils of modern biotechnology.
Requirements: This is a course for Chancellor's Scholars (students in the Campus Honors Program). Others may enroll with the consent of the instructor and the Director of the Campus Honors Program.
199&TH UNDERGRADUATE OPEN SEMINAR (Michalove & Lynn)
For Honor Thesis Writers Only.
199U1 SPECIAL TOPICS IN AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES (Roediger)
Same as Afro 199
Topic: The Slave’s View of Slavery
The course’s goals include fostering the ability to think and write and reason historically. In particular it encourages students to think carefully about primary documents (sources from the period) and to consider what they tell us about slavery. Some reading of historians will also be undertaken and a basic mastery of facts bout slavery will be expected, but the emphasis will be on your ability to create, reason and communicate, orally and in writing. We will often work in small groups in other collaborative ways. In the seminar, good listening, building on (or challenging) other students’ remarks, recalling points from other readings, willingness to take intellectual changes and ability to specify just what particular evidence best makes your point will be prized. Intellectually we will be exploring the possibilities of doing what an older generation of scholars called history-from-the-bottom-up (and what more recently has been called “subaltern” histories). That is, we will attempt to learn the history of slavery “from the slave’s point of view,” while recognizing that the sources for doing so are often few and problematic.
200 Level
No information available
300 Level
302 EGYPT SINCE THE FIRST WORLD WAR (Cuno)
Same As AFRST 302
What images do you associate with the name “Egypt”? Maybe pyramids, mummies, sand, and camels? If so, consider yourself normal. And, consider this course an opportunity to discover and to understand the modern society in this ancient land. Egyptians have experienced a vast number of social, economic, political, cultural and ideological shifts during the past century. The political system has gone from colonial rule to constitutional monarchy, to a single party state under Nasser, and then back to a multi-party system in the past 25 years. There were parallel changes in the economic system, from a market economy to “Arab Socialism” and then Sadat’s “Open Door,” structural adjustment and privatization. Throughout this era Egyptians have debated what kind of society they wish to live in as well as what their identity as a nation is, and the options raised have run from religious reform and revivalism to secular Egyptian and pan-Arab nationalism. We will also approach social life through literature representing successive generations of writers.
303 WOMEN IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES (Hoffman)
Same as ANTH 303, RELST 303, W S 303
This course examines the gender ideologies and social realities affecting the lives of women in various Muslim countries. We will begin with the ideological foundations, paradigmatic female figures, and historical precedents of early Islam, as well as the status of women in Islamic law and the potential for reinterpretation of Islamic law. From there we move to ethnographic studies and first-person accounts of contemporary women in several countries, the processes of social change and emergence of feminist movements, the rise of political Islam, and the challenges posed to women’s human rights in the Muslim world.
314 EUROPEAN HISTORY FROM 1939 TO THE PRESENT (Matheson)
Special Topic: Contemporary France
For centuries, France has symbolized the height of European culture. Stereotypes about France and the French abound; it is the country of rude waiters, of beautiful women, of magnificent châteaux. France is renowned for its wine, cheese and haute couture, for its intellectuals and films, and for its crowning glory, Paris— the "City of Lights." With its revolutionary, intellectual and cultural traditions, France has long influenced and fascinated both America and the world. However, over the course of the twentieth century, French dominance waned. How do we explain the changing status of this once invincible nation? From World War II and the Vichy regime, through occupation, collaboration and resistance, from marxism and intellectual "mandarins" through the politically fragile Fourth Republic, from decolonization and Gaullism through student revolutions and sexual revolutions, and from the theoretical battles over feminism, structuralism and poststructuralism, to the geographic battles over immigration and race, from modernization and technological change to globalization, we will study the history of modern France with an aim towards understanding France’s shifting identity in the postwar world. Does France continue to influence the course of world events? If so, how? To what extent are the stereotypes that we hold about France and the French grounded in reality? What makes the French "French"? By examining the events, ideas, people and institutions that have shaped the French nation over the course of the last sixty years, we will formulate responses to these and other questions. The historical analysis of film, music and television as well text-based sources shall constitute an integral aspect of our work.
317 WOMEN, AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY (A. Burton)
Same as W S 317
Despite the fact that women's history has taken off as its own sub-discipline over the past quarter of a century, there are still some questions that go unanswered because women's voices and experiences have been excluded from traditional archives. This course aims to study autobiography as a particularly gendered genre, and as an historical source which can offer us glimpses of the past not available in traditional historical narratives. We will focus on four specific categories of historical significance -- the legacy of slavery in the United States, the Holocaust, the civil rights movements of the 1960s, and the apartheid in South Africa -- and read life-writing which has emerged from those moments as a way of understanding what kind of light attention to a single story can shed on those histories. We will also ask what counts as an autobiography by reading a family history, a novel and a collection of letters alongside more recognizable autobiographies -- each of which raises questions about the limits of one genre for recovering history, each of which requires that we expand our notion of what an archive is in the context of creating a truly expansive, democratic, and usable women's history. The course will be discussion-based, focusing heavily on the "autobiographical" texts under consideration. Students will be encouraged to cultivate critical writing, reading and speaking skills not just in the class discussions, but through a variety of written and/or creative assignments.
320 RUSSIA FROM EARLIEST TIMES TO PETER THE GREAT (Randolph)
This course will survey the basic periods, and fundamental debates, in Russian history, 800-1725. Topics to be covered include the political and cultural legacy of the Kievan state, the Rus principalities under Mongol domination, origins and expansion of the Muscovite state, Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles, social development and church schism in the 17th century, and finally the origins and execution of political and cultural reform under Peter the Great. Since much of the Russian history of this period is highly controversial, posing great challenges to historians both conceptually and in terms of sources, the stress in this course will be placed on how historians have tried to assemble and understand this past. Readings will include a textbook overview, specialist readings on the problems we examine in close detail, and primary sources ranging from chronicles and legal codes to birchbark letters, baroque poems, and writings by religious dissidents.
325 SOUTHERN AFRICA: RACE AND POWER (Allman)
This course provides an historical survey of southern Africa from the 17th century to the present, although primary emphasis is placed on the 19th and 20th centuries and the consolidation of white settler rule. The course highlights the social, cultural and economic dynamics of both African and settler societies as it explores the historical processes which culminated in the emergence of South Africa as a major industrial and military power after the Second World War. Our primary thematic focus will be on the ways in which race, gender and class have historically shaped the daily lives of people in southern Africa. This course devotes equal time to lecture and discussion. Course requirements include a leading discussion, a book review, a midterm, a short midterm paper, and a 15-page final bibliography essay.
327 RUSSIA FROM PETER THE GREAT TO THE REVOLUTION (Steinberg)
Russian politics, society, and culture from Peter the Great's "revolutionary" efforts to transform Russia into a modern society through the revolutionary events of 1917. Above all, the course focuses on history as it was lived, made, and experienced by contemporaries and on our own efforts to understand it. Themes include the exercise and justifications of power; the motivations and values of rebels and dissidents of all sorts; artistic expressions; the life and culture of ordinary Russians; and competing ideas about the state, the individual, community, nation, religion, and morality. Many of the readings were written by participants and witnesses.
329 SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE, 1700-1918 (Hitchins)
A study of two centuries that represent a decisive period of transition from Ottoman domination to the formation of independent states. The course is concerned with three fundamental questions. The first two are: how did change take place and why did it take place? The answers are to be sought in the evolution of Ottoman rule and of Ottoman institutions both north of the Danube (the Romanian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia) and to the south (the Croats, Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Albanians), the rise of native intellectual elites and their cultivation of national consciousness, the formation of middle classes and the emergence of national movements, the persistence of tradition represented by the peasant, the village, and agriculture, the role of literature as a mirror of society, and the diversity of ideologies of development and the relevance of Western Europe as a model for new nations. The third fundamental question is how Southeastern Europe is different from the rest of Europe and why? There will be extensive readings and a research paper.
333 ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS AND STUARTS, 1485-1660 (Hibbard)
Topic: ENGLAND IN THE AGE OF RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION (1485-1603).
Was the English Reformation born of the lust of Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn? Why did the populace rebel against the government during the 16th century? How did Elizabeth I succeed as a ruler in that traditional "men's club," the English royal court? Who were the Puritans, and how did their religious ideas have political repercussions? What was the nature of England's connections with other parts of the British Isles, and with Europe? These and other questions are explored through lectures, discussion, readings (primary sources, text, biography), slide presentations and debates. Course requirements consist of an hour exam, the final exam, a book review and participation in a debate. There is ample opportunity for student discussion.
338 HISTORY OF BIOLOGY (Burkhardt)
Same as BIOL 338 and IB 394
A selective survey of the development of biology from antiquity to the Human Genome Project, stressing not only conceptual developments but also how the concepts and practices of biology have related to particular social and institutional contexts. Topics include: biology and the mechanical philosophy of the 17th century, Darwin and Darwinism, genetics and eugenics, the science and politics of animal behavior studies, women in biology and biologists’ assessments of “woman’s place in nature,” and the politics of modern biotechnology.
341 MODERN BRITAIN, THE VICTORIAN ERA, 1815-1900 (Burton, A.)
This course combines a discussion of the social and political developments of the Victorian era with an examination of Britain’s role as a global imperial power over the course of the long nineteenth century. The constitutional reforms of 1832, 1867 and 1884 are just a few among the high political events shaped by officials who had one eye on metropolitan concerns and the other on colonial economic interests. More specifically, we will be tracking the ways in which imperial expansion, Irish nationalism and the rhetoric of the civilizing mission all helped to shape the terms of parliamentary debate, as well as to re-confirm the white male character of democracy in Britain. English women’s attempts to participate in political reform, to vote and to run as members of parliament and to participate in Britain’s imperial reform projects will be dealt with throughout, as will the presence of colonial people in the metropole itself in this period. Special attention will also be paid to the impact of empire on the daily life, cultural attitudes and consumption practices of Britons in this, Britain’s so-called “imperial” century.
344 THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (Todorova)
This course introduces the history of one of the great imperial formations of the early modern and modern period, which had long-standing repercussions on the development of Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. It covers the whole span of Ottoman history, and will pay special attention to some of the following problems: the political rise of the Ottoman state since the thirteenth century and how it became an empire, its social and administrative structure, the classical Ottoman economic system, Ottoman impact on the societies, politics, economies and cultures of Byzantium and the medieval Balkan states, the spread of Islam in Europe, the transformations of the Ottoman polity and society and aspects of what has been conventionally named as Ottoman decline, the Eastern question in international relations, the modernizing reforms of the nineteenth century, and the spread of nationalism as a prelude to the final demise of the supranational empire in the twentieth century.
346 THOUGHT AND SOCIETY IN MODERN EUROPE: 1789-PRESENT (Liebersohn)
Same as SOC 304
The revolutionary principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity have set the course for modern politics, but have proved difficult to reconcile in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This course will examine their fate by looking at social thought since the late eighteenth century, with a special emphasis on discussions of liberty.
350 CRISES OF POLITICAL TOLERANCE (Leff)
This discussion class investigates the character of American political tolerance and freedom in times of crisis, through a series of case studies: images of the American “enemy”; the Red Scare after World War I; the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II; McCarthyism (the anchor for the course); and the resentments generated by protest movements in the late 1960s. The post-9/11 “war on terrorism” brings into urgent focus issues of citizenship, subversion, civil liberties, and the imperatives of imposed political orthodoxy and unity raised by these case studies. Analyses of contemporary events will therefore be used to help frame historians’ opposing interpretations and a range of primary sources: propaganda posters, several feature films of the times, and a photocopies documents collection of public opinion polls, internal government memoranda, Congressional hearings and speeches, and magazine articles. In addition to exploring these sources, students will complete an in-class exam, two 7-10 page analytic essays, and additional assignments staking out their positions on major issues of the course.
352 COLONIAL BEGINNINGS OF AMERICAN LIFE AND INSTITUTIONS (Edelson)
As men and women in colonial British America witnessed violent encounters between cultures, participated in rapidly changing societies, and struggled to make sense of life and death in a “New World,” they recorded their experiences in writing. This course explores the history of early America (ca. 1607-1776) exclusively through extended primary readings, documents written by those who lived in Britain’s North American colonies. Our texts include examples of non-fiction genres such as the “criminal conversion” confession of Patience Boston, a Native American servant executed for murder in 1738, the “sea deliverance” narrative of a seventeenth-century English slave trader enslaved himself in Africa, and a colonial promotional pamphlet designed to lure settlers to South Carolina in 1712. Other topics include Caribbean slavery, the life of Pocahontas, transatlantic migration, the exploration of the natural world, the rise of evangelical Christianity, the military defense of the empire, and Ben Franklin’s explanation of American anger over the Stamp Act to a skeptical British Parliament in 1766. Class meetings feature small group work and student presentations and stress discussion over lecture. Writing assignments emphasize document analysis and interpretation.
363 SOCIAL HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA TO 1918 (Jaher)
Topics emphasized: business, family, labor and class structure. Popular culture and social values as reflective of the social system.
372 AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY SINCE 1859 (Edwards, B.)
Same As RELST 382
Meets with Afro 298, Section BE
Topic: Histories of Race Theories(19th-20th centuries)
This course examines the development of race in theories of science and the role of science in theories of race, focusing particularly on the histories of biology, anthropology and American sociopolitics. Arranged around specific themes (i.e., craniology, ethnology, eugenics, mind sciences and genetics) and discussing many racial groups, our main goal in this class is to trace the historical development of the race concept since the eighteenth century.
381 ANCIENT GREEK STATES (Buckler)
This course begins with an examination of the Greek polis and the life that it nourished. Included is a glance at Greek agriculture and the course of the agricultural year. The flowering of Greek civilization is examined by looking at the individualism of the Lyric poets and the scientific and philosophical thought of the pre-Socratics. The evolution of Sparta as a major and unique Greek state is traced and contrasted with the rise of Athens and the development of democratic government. The course then focuses on the Greek response to the menace of Persia. Athens on the attack--the creation of the Delian League and how Athens reduced the League to an empire are treated in relation to the alienation of Sparta. The course ends with the great clash between Athens and Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. Textbook: A.P. Burn, The Penguin History of Greece, and C.W. Formara, Archaic Time to the End of the Peloponnesian War; final examination.
393 SOCIAL-ECONOMIC HISTORY OF MODERN CHINA (Fu)
Same as EALC 393
Although the title is social-economic history of modern China, this course is on the interplay between politics and culture in shaping the development of China from 1800 to 1980. During this tumultuous period, one revolution followed another, and the socio-cultural life was torn by constant conflicts between old and new. In this course, we will explore both the different modes of historical narrative of modern China and the different ways Chinese people responded to and grappled with their history. The course will be divided into two parts: lectures and class presentations. In lectures, we will focus on such themes as imperialism and semi-colonialism, modernization and nationalism, culture and control, the conflict between democratic participation and political centralization in the Nationalists’ and Communists' nation-building projects. And for class discussion, all students are required to read novels, memoirs, and movies.
397 HISTORY OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL (Jacobsen)
Iberian history from pre-Roman times to the present; emphasis is on the modern period, especially 16th, 17th, and 20th centuries. Themes: Geography and national character; ancient and medieval Hispania; multiculturalism and exclusion; nationhood and world powers; Bourbon and Pombaline reformism; French Revolution and loss of empires; liberalism and a century of constitutional monarchies; Spanish Republic and civil war; Franco's dictatorship; contemporary "European" Spain; Republic, Estado Novo and Restored Republic in Portugal. The course will stress economic, social, and political structures, cycles, and events. For the sixteenth and 20th centuries, there will be several class meetings dedicated to religious and cultural issues.
399 ADVANCED STUDIES IN HISTORY OF WAR, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE (Lynn)
History 399 this fall semester will be a lecture course on the history of Terrorism and strategies of terror. It will explore this kind of violence, new to the American consciousness but, in fact, as old as history. The examination will begin with attempts to terrorize civilian populations in the ancient world and work up to terrorism today. Students will be expected to be active participants in this learning experience, producing class projects and presentations on various terrorist groups and actions.
400 Level
No information available.