100 Level
110WW WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Crowston)
Please see course description for 111LEC.
111LEC WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (Crowston)
This survey of Western civilization from Ancient Greece through seventeenth-century Europe provides essential background for the university student in virtually any field of study. Lectures and readings cover subjects ranging from fine arts to philosophy to physics, and discuss Western attitudes and approaches toward them. Most importantly, the course should help the student understand the origins of the institutions and ideas that define him or her today in the modern West. We, like Rome, were not made in a day. To this extent, History 111 is an exploration of personal identity, a journey of self-discovery through time.
111LC2 WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM ANTIQUITY TO 1660 (Ramsbottom)
“Western Civilization” refers to the history of the peoples who inhabit Europe and the cultures they have created around the world. It has also come to mean a set of principles and customs that broadly characterize these cultures—the struggle over legal and political rights, the development of a scientific approach to nature, and the expectation that the government will encourage spiritual values. 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. As we trace the roots of these events, we will also discuss the societies of Asia, Africa, and the New World in their interaction with “the West.”
112LEC WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (Fritzsche)
The political and economic revolutions which changed fundamentally the Western world will be the focus of this course. How do historians account for the tremendous industrial power assembled in a few short decades by European societies, or the dramatic sequence of rebellion and revolution? We will explore the impact of the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution on ordinary workers, peasants, and also on the world at large. The course will examine the great burst of intellectual activity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and discuss nationalism, liberalism and socialism. The twentieth century, on the other hand, saw unprecedented destruction and horror. For this reason, we will look closely at the world wars, and at life and society in Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia. And Europe today? The postwar division of the continent, the "dirty wars" of decolonization, the rise of a consumer society, and the revolutions of 1968 and 1989 provide the course with its final themes. Throughout the course, we will look at the politics of war and revolution, and the accomplishments of philosophers and statesmen, but also pay attention to the lives and beliefs of ordinary people.
There will be one midterm and one final, as well as short papers assigned by section leaders.
112LC2 WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (Ramsbottom)
The history of modern Western civilization demonstrates the power of ideology both to unite and to divide, to liberate and to enslave. During the period from the scientific revolution of the 17th century to the Cold War of the 20th, ideas and systems first developed in Europe spread outward to affect the lives of individuals around the world. Colonialism and capitalism undermined native societies from the New World to Asia, and Western imperialism came to dominate much of the globe. Western nations themselves were unsettled by political rivalry and economic conflict, culminating in the most destructive warfare ever seen. Through a textbook, an autobiography, and two historically based novels, we will study the complex interaction of events and personalities in the past.
112DIS WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (Tousey)
This course examines the extraordinary political, economic, and social changes that occurred over the last 3 1/2 centuries, and their relationships to accompanying intellectual and cultural fermentation. The focus is on Europe and Western civilization but in recognition of increasing globalization we will occasionally stray from our home turf.
Historians seek to explain why events take place and their impact, as well as why changes in government and society arise. Students will have the opportunity in this course to examine evidence, think critically and draw conclusions in the manner of professional historians.
113WW WESTERN CIVILIZATION FROM 1660 TO THE PRESENT (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Fritzsche)
Please see course description for 112LEC.
120 A HISTORY OF JUDAISM (Porton)
Same As RELST 120
The course covers the development of Judaism from its biblical origins until the modern era. The course focuses on developments in Jewish thought and religion and the historical and social contexts within which these developments occurred. The course uses two books: Robert M. Seltzer, Jewish People, Jewish Thought and Judith Baskin, Jewish Women in Historical Perspective. This is also a course reader. The course requires three short papers, a book review, a student diary, and worksheets on each chapter in Seltzer. The course is taught in a lecture-discussion format.
150WW HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Burton, V)
Please see course description for 151LC2.
150WW2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Hoganson)
Please see course description for 151LEC.
151LEC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Hoganson)
This course serves as an introduction to U.S. history through Reconstruction, beginning long before there even was a United States, with the native peoples of North America. Some of the themes that this course will highlight are cross-cultural contact and conflict;ideologies of race, class and gender and the importance of these categories in shaping social experience and political order; and revolution, reform, and nation building. Lectures and readings will expose you to a variety of historical approaches, including environmental, social, cultural, intellectual, gender, economic, political, diplomatic, and ethno history. This means touching on topics ranging from disease and witchcraft to slavery and war, with some pirates and portraiture thrown in for good measure. In your sections and assignments, you will have an opportunity to discuss different historical interpretations and to work with primary sources, the raw materials historians use to forge their narratives of the past. This course should help you understand how we got to where we are today and, beyond that, the craft of history.
151LC2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Burton, V.)
History 151LC2 is an introductory survey of American History from the first European encounters through Reconstruction. By means of lectures, discussion meetings, and reading, students explore the full range of themes -- political, social, economic, cultural--that comprised the American experience. The instructor has selected readings and structured lectures around the idea of "community." On exams and in an essay students will explore what "community" meant for various groups of people in different regions and how "community" changed over time. Race Relations will be a major emphasis of the course. The course leads toward an understanding of the shape and meaning of the past along with a knowledge of its details. In addition to a textbook, the instructor assigns several paperbacks that vary in topic and approach. Students attend two lectures and one discussion section weekly, the latter conducted by graduate teaching assistants. In addition to traditional topics and practices, we also will use multimedia applications from the University of Illinois’ RiverWeb project while exploring the History of the American Bottom region of the Mississippi River.
151DIS HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES TO 1877 (Edelson)
History 151 introduces students to the history of the United States from colonization through Reconstruction. Over the course of the semester, we will examine the trends, events, personalities, and ideas that influenced historical experience from a variety of scholarly perspectives. The political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions of historical change in colonial British America and the early United States compose the course’s central focus. Topics include the settlement of colonies, African slavery, Anglo-Indian relations, the changing American family, work and economic life, and the political background to American independence and the U.S. Civil War. Students will gain familiarity with primary sources as well as secondary interpretations and will be encouraged to work on critical reading, writing, and speaking skills. This course is designed to provide a foundation from which students can undertake more advanced coursework in American history. This discovery section will involve interactive lectures, frequent class discussions, and small-group work focused on interpreting early American documents.
152LC1 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (Reagan)
This course surveys the history of the United States from the Civil War to the present. The course explores the transformations in the American economy, the political arena, and social life, and how Americans responded to those changes. In particular, we will pay close attention to the struggles of Americans along class, gender, and racial lines to re-make American citizenship and freedom. Lectures will focus more on social movements and daily life in America as well as the rise of the United States as a world power and less on presidential politics. In discussion sections, students will have the opportunity to assess various historical interpretations and to interpret primary sources themselves. Since the past shapes present-day debates, problems, and policies, the historical knowledge you gain in this course should help you to better understand the complexity of the society and times we live in. Grading will be based on exams, a paper, and classroom participation. Attendance at lectures is expected; participation in discussion required.
152LC2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (Barrett)
A survey of the United States since the late nineteenth century, this course 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 course is particularly concerned with how common Americans experienced these changes and, indeed, helped to create such change. The twice-weekly lectures provide interpretations of key problems and periods (as opposed to detailed narratives). These aim for a broad overview of political, cultural, and intellectual change, but the emphasis is on social and economic history. In practice, this means more attention to change and conflict along class, racial, gender, and ethnic lines and rather less to presidential administrations. Discussion sections meet weekly to examine the issues raised by the core textbook and several supplementary readings. Assessment will be on the basis of classroom work as assigned by section instructors, examinations, and a paper. Despite the early hour, attendance at lectures is assumed; attendance at discussion sections is required.
153WW HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Reagan)
Please see course description for 152LC1.
153WW2 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, 1877 TO THE PRESENT (ADVANCED COMPOSITION) (Barrett)
Please see course description for 152LC2.
170 EAST-ASIAN CIVILIZATIONS: CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA (Fu)
Same As EALC 170
This is a survey of the history of mainly Chinese and Japanese civilizations from 2000 B.C. to the present. In this survey we try to understand the life and values of two Asian countries and, by way of this, also of ourselves. We will look at how different cultural and political forces shaping Chinese civilization, which in turn, shaped many major civilizations in the region, including Japan and Korea. In modern times, with the decline of China as a dominant power in the face of imperialist, we will explore the commonality and differences between China and Japan, and to some extent Korea, in their struggle toward modernization. We will also look at the meaning of the concept “Asia” itself. Reading includes novels and memoirs.
176 MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA (Love)
This course deals with general issues in modern Latin American history, such as economic dependency and development, social conflict, political instability, and militarism. It is divided into three periods: independence and neo-colonialism, 1820s-1880s; export-oriented progress, 1880s-1920s; and contemporary crises of underdevelopment and mass politics, 1930s-present. Emphasis is given to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, and Mexico.
199&TH UNDERGRADUATE OPEN SEMINAR (Michalove)
For Honor Thesis Writers Only
200 Level
200 TOPICS IN FILM AND HISTORY (Jaher & Shafer)
Same As CINE 200
Topic: Hollywood’s Cinema of the Fantastic as Social Commentary From Nightmares to Utopias.
No necking in the balcony.
210 THE WESTERN CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL TRADITION: FROM THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO EXISTENTIALISM (Micale)
A survey of European thought and culture during the past two centuries. Topics include: the Anglo-French Enlightenment, Hegel and the German historicist tradition, political conservatism and liberalism, Romanticism in the cultural arts, Marx, Darwin, Freud, European feminist thought, Modernism in the arts, the intellectual impact of World War One, Weimar culture, Communism and the European intelligentsia, and Existentialist literature and philosophy. The course is designed for History Majors (past and present) as well as for students with a wide range of other backgrounds in both the humanities and the sciences.
212 THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL ASPECTS (Esbenshade)
Interpretation of the contemporary world covering the economics of global power, ideological and social forces, the individual and the modern mind, the collective society, the personality in history, and such related topics.
216 HISTORY OF EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA (Crummey)
East and southern Africa contains a diversity of peoples and cultures. It is an theater of rapid change and of world strategic importance. In the north it impinges on the Red Sea and Middle East. In the south it dominates major ocean routes. It contains rich mineral deposits. We will start with a brief look at the East African evidence bearing on human origins. Then we will consider the peoples and societies which marked the area in ancient times and their achievements in civilization and technology. An important theme will be the impact of European colonialism. A substantial proportion of the course will deal with the area over the last twenty years. It will examine the challenges of independence in eastern Africa; the Ethiopian revolution; and the achievement of black rule in South Africa. The course uses novels by African authors. It requires a term paper.
219 SURVEY OF RUSSIAN HISTORY FROM EARLY TIMES TO THE PRESENT (Randolph)
This course will examine the fundamental periods, questions, and debates in Russian history, 800-1999. In sketching this big picture, we will focus on the clash between the ideal and the real in the making of Russia, exploring both the imagined world (of rulers, subjects, outsiders) and the experienced one. Although this course is a survey, throughout the course we will pause to discuss major works of Russian art, fiction, or film in historical context. Assignments will include a textbook, specialist articles on the major debates of Russian history, and classic 'texts' of Russian culture including fiction (Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych and Gogol's The Inspector General), film (Eisenstein's Aleksandr Nevsky, the Civil War classic Chapaev, and the post-Soviet noir hit Brother), music (folk as well as classical) and art (icon-painting as well as the avant-garde).
232 THE HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN SINCE 1688 (Rabin)
This is a comprehensive survey of modern Britain from the Glorious Revolution to the Thatcher years. The emergence of liberal democracy, the role of the British empire at home and on the global stage, the impact of Ireland on domestic and foreign policy, the political and social consequences of industrial modernity, and the contribution of women and colonial peoples to concepts of citizenship are among the topics covered. Class meetings will combine lecture and discussion. The readings will focus on primary sources and allow students an opportunity to debate the key issues of modern British history.
245 TECHNOLOGY IN WESTERN SOCIETY (Hoddeson)
This course explores the rise of technology and its role as a transforming force in modern society. We will examine a selection of technologies -- including the stirrup, iron stove, telephone, computer, steam engine, automobile, airplane, telephone, radio, contraceptives, and atomic bomb -- that opened new realms of human possibility, while closing others. We will analyze how such innovations, as part of technological systems, affected society and culture, restructuring economic and political life and realigning values. The later part of the course will focus on America's transformation from wilderness to metropolis and take a critical look at the popular myth of "technological progress" in the age of nuclear power and electronic information.
Besides writing mid-term and final exams, students will produce a term paper on a particular technology of importance to them.
249 HISTORY OF WESTERN MEDICINE (Melhado)
Intellectual and social history of medicine in the West from antiquity to the present. Emphasis on theories of disease and therapy; on professionalization and institution building; and on relations of medicine with society and government. Two hour-exams, term paper, final exam.
251 MEXICAN AMERICANS: ETHNICITY, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY IN THE UNITED STATES (Burgos)
Same As LLS 251
This course will focus on the history of Mexican Americans (or Chicanas/os) and other Latina/o groups from Central and South America in the United States. We will examine a broad time period, starting in the mid-19th century through the contemporary moment. Through a variety of approaches that illuminate the process of building community and the struggle for social equality and procurement of full citizenship rights, Students will become familiar with issues that have affected Mexican American and other Latina/o communities in the United States. We will explore the particularities of building communities in the midst of shifting notions of race and nation and the ways that Mexican Americans and other Latinos were incorporated into the US body politic and economy historically.
This course is geared toward students developing a more historical perspective about the place of Latina/os in the United States. In this course we will explore the political and cultural relationships established between the U.S. and the Spanish-speaking Americas through a variety of analytical frameworks, including: race, nation, class, transnationalism, gender, and any intersections thereof. A variety of exercises in addition to lectures will be used to accomplish one of the major goals of this course, develop our ability to think and analyze in a historical manner. Graded assignments will consist of a 5-7 page critical essay, a mid-term and a final exam.
254 AFRO-AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1877 (Cha-Jua)
Same As AFRO 254
History 254 surveys the African American experience from 1877 to the present or from the Nadir into the post-civil rights era. This course examines the interaction between African American's community-building efforts and post-slavery systems of racial oppression. It provides a structural framework for understanding the dialectical relationship between changing U.S. capitalist political economies, an evolving federal government, the institutions and ideologies of racial oppression, and the self-emancipatory practices of African American people. It surveys transformations of African Americans from sharecropping and Jim Crow segregation in the South, through migration, urbanization, and proletarianization in the North and West, to contemporary deindustrialization. This course explores the processes by which African Americans created and maintained independent institutions and a distinct culture. History 254 chronicles several phases of the Black freedom movement, including the New Negro, civil rights, and Black power movements. History 254 explores unification and fragmentation among African American people. Consequently, much attention is given to Black workers and issues of class, Black women and questions of gender, and the problems of African American youth and generational conflict.
257 NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1850 (Hoxie)
An overview of the Native American experience in the United States from 1850 to the present. Using lectures, classroom discussions, visual presentations and group projects, the course will explore the major events that altered the environment American Indians inhabited following the establishment of the United States as a continental power. The course will also examine the ways in which native peoples experienced, adapted to, and survived the economic, political and social forces that were unleashed by the country’s evolution into a modern nation state. Readings will include primary documents, Native American commentaries, historical fiction and secondary works.
262U1 THE UNITED STATES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (Schneider)
For Unit One students, only.
Twentieth Century U.S. History will examine the past century chronologically and thematically. Themes that will guide lectures, discussions and student papers will focus on 1. The rise of the United States from a largely regional to a global power, 2. The continual internal diversity of the nation and 3. The struggle to reconcile a strong ethos of individualism with the perceived need to demonstrate collective strength and unity as a nation. Lectures and reading assignments focus on the relationship between people's daily lives and these larger themes.
The semester begins with a discussion of the debate between scholars and politicians about the role of history in the classroom. Twentieth Century U.S. History then proceeds chronologically from the Spanish-American War to the end of the Republican ascendancy under Newt Gingrich.
The class will incorporate both lecture and discussions in almost every session.
265 MODERN JEWISH HISTORY: FROM c. 1700 TO THE PRESENT (Sutcliffe)
Same As RELST 265
The history of the Jews in modern Europe embraces both some of the greatest achievements and the most calamitous failures of cross-cultural symbiosis. The history of the survival of Jewish culture in Europe, and its adaptation in changing circumstances, presents a fascinating study of the adaptability and resilience of a civilization. The vicissitudes of the Jews’ status and treatment in European societies reveals a unique insight into the responses of European states and peoples to the challenge of pluralism. This course will explore both the internal dimension of the European Jewish experience and the wider question of the role and significance of the Jews in European political and cultural history.
We will cover a period of three centuries, from the beginnings of the modern age in the eighteenth century up to the present. Topics will include the development of Jewish Hasidism, Orthodoxy and Reform; the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and Jewish emancipation; the rise of political antisemitism, Zionism, Jewish radicalism and mass emigration; Nazism and the Holocaust; and Jewish life in Europe since 1945.
273 WOMEN, MEN AND GENDER IN AMERICAN SOCIETY SINCE 1877 (Pleck)
Same As W S 273
The central premise of this course is that gender matters in history and that to understand women's history, one must appreciate the differences among women's historical experiences. The course will introduce students to the history of women's work, sexual definitions, and political lives in industrializing and modern America. Readings in primary sources and those written by women's historians will emphasize changes in women's life experiences in relation to larger historical changes in the U.S., such as economic change, race relations, and social movements. A major goal of the course is to show that women's history is a central part of American social history and a unique subject of historical investigation. Although the title of this course refers to women and men, most of the lecture and reading will concern the history of women.
282 WAR, MILITARY INSTITUTIONS, AND SOCIETY SINCE 1815 (Lynn)
History 282 picks up where history 281 left off, although 281 is not a prerequisite. History 282 discusses military technology, theory, organization, and practice in the industrial age. Topics to be covered include the following: 19th century weapons development, the influence of Clausewitz, the American Civil War, the creation of the general staff, the rise of Japan as a modern military power, the battleship era, World War I, the emergence of armor and air power, World War II, the impact of nuclear weapons, the Korean War, insurgency and counter-insurgency, the Vietnam conflict, the Arab-Israeli wars, and the oppressive threat of terrorism. Who can doubt that war shaped the twentieth century, and now a different form of organized violence hangs like a black cloud over today and tomorrow. Learn more about this inescapable, though regrettable, side of human experience. In addition to a midterm examination and a final, students will write a paper on a subject of their choosing.
286 MODERN JAPANESE HISTORY (Doak)
Same As EALC 286
This course surveys the history of Japan's development from an advanced agrarian society to a modern industrial state, an imperial power, and then to a democratic nation in the postwar period. Topics will focus on the transformation of the cultural, social and institutional traditions; Westernization and populist resistance; the Meiji Revolution and the creation of a new social order; industrialization, expansion and empire; nationalism, World War II and the American Occupation; postwar economic recovery; and cultural and national problems confronting Japan today. Throughout this course, we will be attentive not only to the sources of Japanese social and economic development, but to the reaction against Westernization and the nationalism and pan-Asianism it often spawned. No previous knowledge of Japanese history required.
292&C HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHODOLOGY: A PRO-SEMINAR FOR HONOR STUDENTS (Oberdeck)
This course is intended to prepare honors students to write both historiographical essays and research theses. There will be common readings and discussion on historiography and historical methods, along with introductions to the use of the library. Students will also have opportunities to discuss trends, methods, and resources in various fields with members of the history faculty who are able to schedule visits to class. Written assignments will include an historiographical essay and the preparation of a hypothetical prospectus for an honors thesis, both of which will be prepared in several stages with opportunities for instructor and peer review and revision.
296A GREEK-PERSIAN RELATIONS (Buckler)
From the middle of the fifth century BC until the Macedonian ascendancy in Greece in 338 the Greeks and Persians tried repeatedly to settle their many differences by a succession of peace treaties. These numerous pacts generally failed, but even in failure they testify to a number of historical curiosities: the genuine desire for peace, sometimes the abuse of that desire, and the demands of peace as reflected in changing circumstances. These treaties also tell much about the politics of the time and the societies that shaped events.
Course requirements include a research paper and a final exam. Readings include P. Harding, From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsus; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War; Xenophon A History of My Times.
296C WOMEN, MEN AND GENDER IN AFRICAN SOCIETY SINCE 1800 (Allman)
This course looks at the ways in which gender relations have been produced, reproduced, and transformed through the everyday actions and activities of African women and men. Our focus is both on agency and on structures of power, as we move from a consideration of gender relations after the 19th century jihad of Uthman dan Fodio to the problems of love and marriage in late twentieth Ghana. Among the topics we will explore are: "wicked women" and reconfigurations of gender; domesticity and the colonial encounter; mothering and fathering; colonialism, capitalism and domestic economies; nationalism and the women's question. We have no comprehensive text upon which to rely. Our sources reflect the diversity of the continent itself, as we explore, with a critical eye, the works of historians, political scientists, anthropologists, missionaries, colonialists and novelists, and as we listen to the voices of African women and men.
This is a participation-intensive seminar which meets twice a week. There are no lectures. Students do not simply consume historical knowledge, they are responsible for producing it, as well. Most sessions are devoted to critical discussion of a given theme based upon assigned readings. Several sessions and portions of others have been set aside for films and for addressing the specific problems raised by your papers.
298A ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES (Crummey)
Environmental issues are some of the most pressing of our times. How can we assure clean air? Clean water? How secure are our energy supplies? How many toxins are at work in our surroundings? With what effects? Are we making the best use of our land and our resources? What are the values with which we have used our surroundings in the past and how are those values expressed in the landscapes with which we are surrounded today? This undergraduate seminar will explore these issues, with special reference to their history--their origins and development through time--and to the places around us: in Champaign County; in Chicago; and in the Mid-West. To establish a general framework we will read and discuss J. R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun. An Environmental History of the Twentieth Century World (2000). We will also survey the availability of different kinds of primary sources. Most of the seminar will be spent on the development through successive drafts of student research papers based on original sources.
298D OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN EUROPE, 1350-1700 (Hitchins)
The focus will be on the place of the non-Muslim population of Southeastern Europe in an Islamic state following the conquest of the region by the Ottoman Turks. An examination of the institutions of the Ottoman state and of its policies toward its non-Muslim subjects, including toleration and Islamization, will provide the background for the study of non-Muslim societies: population trends, agriculture, industry and commerce, social structure in the countryside and cities, mentalities and sensibilities as revealed in religious practices, high culture, and the folk tradition, and cultural and intellectual contacts with Western Europe. An attempt will be made to answer fundamental questions about how ethnicity and indigenous cultures in Southeastern Europe were able to survive; what the nature and causes of underdevelopment in Southeastern Europe were; and whether Southeastern Europe belongs to Europe or to the periphery. Readings will include contemporary histories, memoirs, and travel accounts.
298G RACE, GENDER AND ETHNICITY IN COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA (Dominguez)
The multi-racial societies of contemporary Latin America have their origin in the three centuries of colonial Iberian domination, tempered by the survival of indigenous peoples and the formation of mixed social and cultural orders. Formally segregated, Indians and Spaniards, the latter served by African slaves, formed a dynamic mixing of cultures and bodies. However, this sort of "melting pot" perpetuated social and gender inequalities, and was organized around contested notions of racial domination. The complexities of ethnic self-identification and racial and gender ordering in colonial Latin America have been a topic long sparking important research among historians, anthropologists, and ethnohistorians. Its fascinating developments in the last two decades have changed our understanding of Latin American identities.
The underlying conceptual framework guiding this course focuses on the contradictory notions of race mixture ("mestizaje") and racial hierarchies, the two poles that have dominated Latin American racial orders since the 16th century. Thus, the seminar will necessarily have a comparative character, as these processes of identity development were not uniform or automatic. The main topics of the course are: Amerindian, Iberian, and African backgrounds; Conquest societies: new and old elites, gender, and alliances; the legal fiction of the Two Republics; Iberian immigration; American born Spaniards; the identity of the rural Indian communities; the mix-blood problem; African mixtures; cities and mining centers as "melting pots"; race and order in the Bourbon century.
The course two interrelated goals are: to guide students in the production of a serious research paper (20 to 25 pages) based on printed primary sources available in English, and to engage them with recent literature on colonial Latin American racial orders, ethnic identity formation, and the construction of gender roles. The reading requirements include five key books on ethnicity, race and gender in colonial Latin America, plus a Course Reader of selected book chapters and journal articles from the rich scholarly diversity of this topics in Latin American studies.
298H COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND (Pruett)
Colonial New Englanders were a strange breed. They demanded religious freedom for themselves, and emphatically denied it to everybody else. They considered themselves God's true saints, and yet saw nothing wrong with profiting from the slave trade. They established a comparatively democratic political system, and simultaneously claimed to despise democracy. Intellectually advanced and scientifically minded, they nonetheless executed people for witchcraft. Ethnically, they were the most "English" of the inhabitants of North America; and yet, in their aspirations and way of life, they were perhaps the least British of Britain's American subjects. They were, in short, a people that other members of the British Empire had a hard time understanding. Historians have had a hard time understanding them, too. But during the course of this semester, we will try to figure them out.
We will try to accomplish that goal through a common body of readings, class discussion, and individual research. Weekly reading assignments will deal with such topics as New England Puritanism and its evolution over time, the Salem witchcraft trials, family life in Colonial New England, and New England's role in the American Revolution. Students will be required to turn in a one- or two-page summary of each week's assigned readings. At the end of the semester, each student will also turn in a research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor.
298I MODERN AMERICAN MANHOOD: FROM 1920’S TO THE PRESENT (Miller, E.)
What does it mean to be a man? The answers to this question have varied throughout American history. At times men have based their gender identity on roles such as breadwinner, soldier, athlete, or father. These definitions of manhood are not fixed but are constantly being reshaped and renegotiated in response to historical forces. Moreover, masculinity takes many forms as race, class, and sexuality influence the experiences and expectations of men. This course explores the changing gender history of American men throughout the twentieth century. We will examine the ideals and experiences of masculinity in relation to the social, cultural, economic and political forces of modern America.
The course is designed to give students experience in analyzing historical interpretations and developing their own. In the weekly readings, students will examine both primary and secondary sources. As a class, we will discuss what these sources reveal about changing definitions of masculinity in modern America. Throughout the semester, students will not only examine and critique historians' use of primary sources, but will also learn to interpret and use historical documents on their own. Students will test their own ability to use both primary and secondary sources by writing a 15-20 page original research paper.
298J STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE 15TH CENTURY: THE HOUSE OF NICCOLÒ (Michalove)
The purpose of History 298 is to transform history majors from consumers of history into producers of history by practicing the methods used by professional historians—reading, writing, discussion, debate, and the formal presentation of research— in order to create a historical product. However, the intent is far from a sterile exercise. The research, critical thinking, communication (written and spoken) and analytical skills honed in this course are useful for students, whether they continue on to graduate school, professional programs, or into the job market.
The fifteenth century, poised between the medieval and early modern eras, was one of remarkable change throughout Europe. Contact with other cultures, which had begun much earlier in the medieval period, accelerated. Trade, war, and religion all caused conflict within the European setting and between Europeans, Africans, and various peoples of the Ottoman Empire. This course will explore the opportunities and tensions, continuities and changes that are the hallmark of this turbulent century and how the events of the fifteenth century set the stage for the early modern world. The fall of Constantinople, the end of the Hundred Years' War, and the Italian Wars will highlight not only military conflict but political aims and religious issues. Increasing fluidity in class structure through the creation of a mercantile society and the depredations of plague will highlight social tensions. Racial issues, always present in the conflict between Muslims and Christians, become even more prominent as Europeans gain a foothold in Africa.
Through the eyes of Nicholas Fleury and his family, friends, and enemies, the rich cultures of the world come together in a way that makes the complicated history of a diverse geography more comprehensible. Nicholas is not a historical person, but most of the people he encounters are real, even if in many cases we know little about them. The course will range in area from the Burgundian and French courts to Africa, Italy, Cyprus, Scotland, Poland, and Russia. The geographical and thematic depth will allow students to range widely in terms of paper topics.
While most of the required readings for this course will be fiction, students will be expected to use the novels as a jumping-off point for exploring the primary and secondary sources that help illuminate the history of the fifteenth century.
298K THE EUROPEAN ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE JEWISH TRANSITION TO MODERNITY, C. 1650-C. 1850 (Sutcliffe)
This course will focus on the formation of identity and selfhood against a background of dramatic social and political change. Until the closing decades of the eighteenth century, the Jews of Europe were to varying degrees highly segregated from their non-Jewish neighbors, and their lives were generally subject to numerous economic and political constraints. The process of ‘Jewish Emancipation’ - the gradual removal of these constraints, particularly in the aftermath of the French Revolution - opened new opportunities for Jews, and profoundly changed the relationship of Jewish tradition and communal life to other aspects of their lives. Through the close examination of primary sources, we will attempt to chart the shifting contours what it meant and what it felt like to be Jewish over the course of this transformation. We will focus on personal sources such as diaries, memoirs and letters. In their research project students will use these sources to explore the inner life and sense of identity of an individual of their own choice whose experiences were in some way shaped by this process of change.
300 Level
306 THE AGE OF THE PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC REFORMATION, 1500 TO 1648 (Koslofsky)
Same As RELST 306
In many aspects of their lives, the women and men of Western Europe entered a bewildering new era in the years from 1500 to 1648. The measured development and evolution of the Middle Ages gave way to revolutions in art, religion, science, warfare, exploration and trade. Were these sudden and sweeping changes for better or for worse? The great humanist Erasmus wrote in 1517 (the birth-year of the Protestant Reformation) that "as if on a given signal, splendid talents are stirring." In 1536, the year of his death, this same Erasmus wrote: "This is the worst age of history."
In both cases, Erasmus was right. The age of the Reformation combined an electrifying sense of promise with immense human misery. It combined dreams of human freedom with brutal subjugation. This age of astonishing creativity (Michelangelo), penetrating wisdom (Luther) and fervent piety (Loyola), also saw so much waste and needless suffering: witch-burnings and religious war, forced conversions, famine and slavery.
In this course we will examine the many faces of the Reformation by reading and discussing firsthand accounts of this time of creativity and destruction, hope and fear. (With thanks to Jonathan Zophy.)
327 RUSSIA FROM PETER THE GREAT TO THE REVOLUTION (Randolph)
In the early 1720s, flush with a victory over Sweden that established Russia as a major power in Europe, the Senate in St. Petersburg insisted that the country's impressive ruler, Peter I, take on the titles "Great," "Father of the Fatherland," and "Emperor." What did Empire and Fatherland mean for Russia, its vast territories, and diverse peoples? This course explores the world of Imperial Russia, from Peter's time to the revolutions of 1917, and seeks to understand the fundamental transformations of society, politics, and culture that followed upon Russia's attempt to participate in, and surpass, contemporary European civilization. Readings will include specialist articles on select topics, major works of Russian fiction, music, art, and social criticism, and personal documents such as letters and diaries.
330 EASTERN EUROPE, 1919 TO THE PRESENT (Hitchins)
The region between Western Europe and the Soviet Union/Russia in the twentieth century was (and is) a world of contradictions. We see them in political experiments ranging from liberalism and peasantism to fascism and communism; in the creation of democratic institutions and the failure of democracy; in nationalism before, during, and after Communism; in cultural integration into urban Europe and the persistence of the folk spirit of the village; in strivings to industrialize and the persistence of agriculture; and in the advance of materialism and the deepening of traditional spirituality. Within this broad context we need to examine the nature of the post-World War II Communist regimes and decide how and to what extent Eastern Europe differed from the West and whether in the twentieth century the gap between them was closed. The countries to be studied are Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. There is much reading, and a research paper of 25 pages will be based on sources.
332 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND (Hibbard)
England was the first European country to be united in pretty much its modern outline; but despite this precocity, its relations with neighboring Wales, Scotland and Ireland were often troubled, and it was not able to dominate all these areas. Why this was the case is one of the questions we will consider in this course, which covers the social and cultural as well as the political history of England from the fifth through the fifteenth century. We will also look at England’s relations with the rest of Europe, and with the Mediterranean in the age of Crusades. Students will learn how historians use various sources to create a picture of English medieval life: art, architecture, literary and documentary evidence. In addition to the textbook, we will read and discuss some primary sources, including a medieval life of Alfred the Great, and several historians’ works on both the nobility and the common people. Student participation in class debate and discussion is welcomed, and indeed expected. Grading is based on participation, a comparative book review, a midterm exam and a final exam; all exams are primarily essay format.
337 AMERICAN WORKING CLASS HISTORY, 1780 TO THE PRESENT (Roediger)
Same As L I R 337
The "new labor history" is now roughly twice as old as most university students. This course, taught in a discussion and lecture format, draws from the new labor history's emphasis on ordinary workers, their skills, their everyday clashes with managers, their unions and their communities. It further asks whether a newer labor history--one which takes fully seriously the multiple identities of workers--is now necessary and is beginning to be written. Topics emphasized therefore include the centrality of slavery to U.S. working class history, the history of women's unpaid work in households and the continuous impact of global flows of commodities, capital and immigrants on the history of labor. Seven books are assigned and evaluation is based largely on a series of short papers and on class participation.
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. Today's "war against 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 photocopied 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)
When American colonists declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, they posited the “pursuit of happiness” as a fundamental right their new nation was dedicated to preserve. How did early Americans pursue visions of “happiness” during the colonial period? What kinds of communities did settlers build as they sought to acquire wealth, achieve social standing, and secure opportunities for their children in the colonies? To what degree did pursuing happiness in European terms depend on limiting the opportunities of Africans and Native Americans? This course seeks to answer these questions by examining the settlement and development of American colonies from a transatlantic perspective. It explores the social, cultural, economic, and political history of British America from 1607 to 1776 in terms of the links between Old and New Worlds. Our discussions will focus on interpreting historical documents to describe how colonial founders, settlers, and “others” encountered and interacted with one another to build distinctive regional societies. Topics include the creation of English societies in the Caribbean, Lower South, Chesapeake, Middle Colonies, and New England, the slave trade and plantation slavery, Anglo-Indian warfare, commerce and consumption, the changing dynamics of family life and religious belief, and the political crisis leading up to the American War of Independence.
354 THE ERA OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1763 TO 1789 (Pruett)
History 354 explores the causes, progress, and aftermath of the American Revolution. Students examine such questions as: Why did Britain claim the right to tax the American colonies? Was colonial resistance justifiable? Why did Congress wait fifteen months after the outbreak of war before declaring independence? Was the Constitution a conservative reaction against revolutionary radicalism? Was there in fact an American Revolution at all?
The reading list consists of five paperbacks, some of which contain articles by historians who violently disagree on the causes of the Revolution, and on the Revolution's impact on American life. The lecturer, an unrepentant Tory, has received favorable ratings from his students, many of whom have been converted into loyal British subjects. A year of college history is recommended, but not absolutely required, as preparation for the course.
355 FEDERALISTS, JEFFERSONIANS, AND THE ERA OF GOOD FEELINGS (Ratner)
"This course focuses on the search for answers to some of the important questions about the history of the American republic from its founding through its early developmental period. Among the questions posed are how, having rejected the authority of government, could governmental authority be re-asserted after the Revolution? Could people accept a nationalist concept of America when for so long they defined themselves by their locality? Why did the American republic become a democracy and how did democracy change the republic? Could republican principles survive in a market-driven society? How did Americans live with the paradox of believing their society was the best ever devised and, at the same time, worried that it would destroy itself?
In our search for answers to these and other questions we will examine among other things: the conflict over whether to ratify the Constitution; the development of American politics; the role of war in shaping an American identity; the American pre-occupation with the moral right and wrong of their new society; and the relationship between religion and politics in a society founded on the principle of separation of church and state."
361 IMMIGRANT AMERICA (Burgos)
In this course we will examine issues pertaining to how ideas of race and place have affected the incorporation of different immigrant groups into American society. In particular, we will examine how lines of identity—be they racial, cultural, ethnic, or national—are drawn, negotiated, and crossed by various groups since the nineteenth century. Given the ways that the nation has been “imagined,” the existence of these lines has meant that at particular times various individuals and/or groups have been included and excluded from what it meant to be an American. The course’s readings illuminate the manner that the process of imagining the nation involved both individual agency as well as institutional and state forces. Indeed, despite claims to the contrary, the way we envision America as a society has constantly changed since the founding of the nation. Thus, who is viewed as an American, white, black, illegal or legal aliens have also changed with the times. A primary goal of this course is to illuminate some of the reasons that tensions developed regarding who is (or is eligible to be) an “American.” In addition to the assigned readings, we will also view a number of films to look at how race, nationality, and ethnicity are represented, and in so doing, perhaps learning that we all are historians that create and recreate images of America through a variety of everyday forms. Students will have the opportunity to grapple with these issues through a variety of written assignments, which include 2-page response papers, a critical film review, a critical book review essay, and a final exam.
364 SOCIAL HISTORY OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA SINCE WORLD WAR I (Jaher)
All you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about class, money, sex, work and death in 20th Century America.
372 AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY SINCE 1859 (Oberdeck)
Same As RELST 382
This lecture/discussion course surveys the development of modern American culture since the mid-nineteenth century. It focuses on the construction of a national culture out of class, ethnic, gender and regional diversity; the impact of Darwinian ideas on Protestant religious traditions; the texture of popular and mass culture; the influence of social and political reform movements of the early twentieth century; the meaning of "modernism" and "postmodernism" the rise of the cultural "expert" and the search for cultural community between the wars; the impact of the Civil Rights Movement, the New Left, feminism, and communitarianism after WWII. Course materials include primary written documents from American intellectual and cultural life as well as videos from American film and TV history and images from the popular and fine arts. There will be two papers, one in-class midterm and an in-class final exam. Class attendance is required and class participation in lectures and discussions encouraged.
379 SLAVERY AND RACE RELATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA (Love)
Same As AFRO 379
This course begins with problems of defining race and racism, and treats Indian-white, as well as black-white, relations. The bulk of the material, however, is on black slavery and post-abolition race relations in an area of the world where race mixture is extensive. Topics include the trans-Atlantic slave trade; non-slavery forms of labor exploitation; the Haitian Revolution; the apogee and demise of slavery in Brazil; race relations in contemporary Cuba; and the value of the comparative study of slavery and race relations. The relationship between race and class in Latin America will also be considered.
382 ALEXANDER AND HIS SUCCESSORS (Buckler)
This course examines the age of Alexander the Great. It starts with the world that shaped Alexander, and it follows him across the map of the Near East to India. Both Alexander the man and Alexander the myth are treated. The course also deals with the world that Alexander created. Topics covered include the spread of Hellenism, the meeting of the East and the West, the way in which philosophy and political theory coped with new and very different circumstances, and with new trends in literature.
Course requirements include one paper (approximately 10 pages) and a final exam. Readings include L.A. Tritle, ed., The Greek World in the Fourth Century; A.B. Bosworth, Conquest and Empire; and P. Harding, From the End of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsus.
387 HISTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA (Jacobsen)
The course introduces major themes of Central American history since the Spanish conquest: The splendor and complexity of the pre-hispanic civilizations (Mayas and others), the colonial regime, ethnic diversity, the independence movement, fragmentation in the nineteenth century, export economies and imperialism, 1880-1932, social movements and populism, revolution and intervention in the twentieth century. We will end with a discussion of Peace-Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu and the troubling controversy surrounding her most well-known book. By discussing these issues, perhaps we can come closer to understanding the riddle of Central America: Why is it that this region -- more than any other in Latin America -- has been so divided? Why has foreign domination been so overwhelming here? Where is "the power in the isthmus"?
The course will consist of a combination of lectures and discussions.
388 INDIA FROM COLONY TO NATION (Ballantyne)
This course (which assumes no prior knowledge of Indian history) examines the transformation of life in South Asia from the middle of the eighteenth century through to the dawn of the twenty-first. Although a central theme will be political change (especially the British Raj, Indian nationalisms and post-colonial developments), this course will devote considerable effort to exploring key aspects of South Asia culture. We will read a range of short stores, novels and non-fiction writings in addition to watching films that address central issues such as gender and the family; religion and identity; sports and nation-building; inequality and violence; cinema and popular history.
392 TWENTIETH-CENTURY JAPAN: NEGOTIATING MODERNITY (Doak)
Same As EALC 392
Japan's history during the 20th century has been one of nearly unparalleled extremes even for an extremist century: regaining tariff control and a diplomatic alliance with England; militarist aggression and war; Hiroshima, Nagasaki and U.S. military occupation; and postwar economic recovery and global influence. Across this turbulent narrative, an underlying theme might be found in the attempt by this newly industrialized non-Western state to find its place in the modern world. Absorbing and interrogating the experience of modernity from Western Europe and the U.S., twentieth century Japanese were often cast in the role of pioneers for others, both among developing nations and in the developed world, concerning the fate of culture, tradition, and non-Western states in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.
This course will focus on the social, cultural and intellectual responses to modernity in twentieth century Japan. The responses of individual Japanese (and of the Japanese state) to these problems are significant since Japan, from its defeat of Russia in 1905 to its simultaneous war with its Asian neighbors and with "Anglo-American culture" from 1931-1945, seemed to offer an alternative response to the century that is often portrayed as "the American century". As this century draws to a close and the 21st century is increasingly heralded as "the Asian century," Japan's experience with the forces that shaped this period--social, cultural, intellectual, as well as political--can no longer be marginalized as the province of a few. Rather, with its particular relationship to America, Japan and its historical struggle with modernity during "the American century" is now an essential element in a full understanding of what it means to be modern. Emphasis in readings will be placed on the most recent scholarship on twentieth century Japan
400 Level
423A SEMINAR IN ENGLISH HISTORY TO 1688 (Hibbard)
Meets with History 479A: Problems Course; see description of that course. Students who wish to enroll for seminar credit should consult with the instructor in advance of the course; graduate-level background in early modern history is required. Reading and discussion, and preparation of a research paper.
453A SEMINAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1789 (Barrett)
Topic: Working Class History: Race, Class and Ethnicity in Twentieth-Century America
This will be a research seminar in American working-class history of the twentieth century with a special emphasis on race and ethnicity. I define working class history simply as the historical experiences -- at home, in the workplace, or in the community -- of wage earning people. In addition to more traditional labor history topics, it is possible to do political, immigration and ethnic, women's, family, urban, intellectual and cultural, and other types of historical research under this rubric. My own interests at the moment are in two broad areas -- the social and ideological bases of American labor radicalism in the twentieth century and ethnic and racial identity and relations among workers from diverse backgrounds. I am also interested in religious belief, the nature of emotional bonds, and generational conflict within immigrant wage earning families.
Like most research seminars, this one will assume some familiarity with the literature. There are several goals in the course: The first is to develop an impression of working class historiography up to this point. A second is to consider some new conceptual approaches to the field -- not in the abstract but as they might be implemented with new sources and research methods. The course also aims to introduce students to the research process itself -- choosing and refining a topic; developing analytical questions to frame your work; identifying and securing sources; writing and revising one's work; criticizing and helping others with theirs. We will be looking at a wide variety of sources and methods by visiting parts of the library and other research venues and by talking with colleagues who have particular research skills. The ultimate aim, of course, is to produce a substantial, original research paper that will be shared with others -- in the seminar itself, at a conference, and through publication.
In order to equip students with the information they need to do their research and writing, we will meet twice each week, once at the scheduled meeting time and once at a mutually convenient time in the evening, for the first several weeks of the term. From that point on, students will be working on their own, though I expect to meet with you individually to discuss your projects. The group will reassemble around the middle of the term to discuss research proposals and again toward the end to discuss first drafts. Although we have a wonderful research library and other resources on campus, it may be necessary to do some traveling and to use inter-library loan. We will discuss these and other scheduling problems early in the term, but students may want to think about them, as well as a possible topic, in advance.
Grades in the course are based not only on the final paper, but also on one's role in the collective work of the seminar -- discussions of the literature, sources, and methods and constructive criticism of one's own and other students' work. Shorter written assignments will include ideas for research topics, research proposals, bibliographies, and critiques of other students' papers. Please be prepared to work collectively by sharing ideas and sources and reading one another's work seriously. Final drafts of all papers will be due during the final exam period at the end of the semester.
I will be glad to discuss your research interests with you before the beginning of the spring semester.
461A SEMINAR IN LATIN-AMERICNA HISTORY (Jacobsen)
Topic:Bridging the Socio-Economic and the Cultural: Ecclectic (But Theoretically Informed) Approaches to Modern Latin American History
The course aims at having students research and write major papers about aspects of modern Latin American history. Along the way we will discuss some texts confronting and bridging currently contentious approaches from history and related disciplines. For example, we might discuss in which way a study about industrial productivity in 20th century Mexico could have something relevant to say to those studying that country's culture, and by the same token, what an economic historian might learn from a shrewd essay about the cultural production of the Mexican revolution. In other words, our discussions should aim at methodological and conceptual border crossings. This approach will also inform some exercises with a variety of sources. Students will be free to chose research topics relevant for their overall course of studies.
History students planning to take a minor field in Latin American History, as well as Latin Americanist students from other social science and humanities disciplines are welcome in this course, and their needs and issues will be addressed.
473A SEMINAR IN MILITARY HISTORY (Lynn)
This seminar will be built around the interests of the students who sign up for it. A full range of topics dealing with the history of war, military institutions, society, and culture will be accepted. The goal will be to use the seminar to develop student interests and to base the discussion of sources and methodologies around student research and writing. As in all research seminars, the goal will be to produce an original and substantial historical study. With proper arrangements, there is no limit as to the time period or geographical area that can be studied. This seminar will welcome students with varying perspectives.
478A PROBLEMS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY SINCE 1789 (Micale)
Topic: Varieties of Cultural History
An examination of the leading approaches to and genres of cultural history writing with special attention to the range of subjects and methods found in present-day scholarship. Examples include: the history of cultural politics; the history of mentalities; the history of the book and reading; the history of cultural institutions; the history of culture and class identity; psychocultural history; the history of the emotions; and cross-cultural history. Weekly readings will be drawn widely from British, French, German, Austrian, Italian, Russian, and North American history from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.
479A PROBLEMS IN ENGLISH HISTORY BEFORE 1688 (Hibbard)
Meets with History 423A
Topic: Court and Country in England 1485-1660
Survey of the literature and problems of Tudor-Stuart history; will provide a basis for students preparing a major or minor prelim field in British Isles to 1688, or a constructed field in Religion and Pre-Modern Society. The course will focus on issues of politics and religion, and their interaction in the lives of the monarch and the court, the aristocracy and local society. What did the Reformation mean in the British Isles? Was England becoming a “secularized” society by the end of the period? Was there a "revolution" in the middle of the 17th century? Critical reading and analytical writing are emphasized; several short papers and two 8-10 page essays.
481A PROBLEMS IN RUSSIAN HISTORY (Steinberg)
Topic: Politics, Society, and Culture in Modern Russia, 1801-1917
Major themes in the history and historiography of Russia from the early 19th century through the revolution of 1917. The course focuses on the exercise and justifications of authority, intellectual and cultural trends, and social life. Central to the course are questions of historical methodology and theory as well as of the interpretation of the Russian past. The emphasis is on examining new work in the field. Themes to be explored include the imperial autocracy, empire and nation, self and collectivity, political ideology, reform and revolution, rural society, industrialization and urban life, cultural innovation, popular cultures, religion, social conflict and cohesion, and family and gender.
483B PROBLEMS IN CHINESE HISTORY (Fu)
Same As EALC 483
This is an interdisciplinary course exploring the politics of cultural production, everyday culture and urban cultural formation, discourses surrounding modernity and nationalism, and the history of transnationality in twentieth-century China. Focusing on cinema and popular fiction, we discuss the modern Chinese (including Hong Kong) urban experiences in a cultural-historical framework as well as the interweaving of gender, representational politics, popular culture, semi-colonialism and postcolonialism in the making of modern Chinese history.
487A PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1815 (Leff)
Topic: War and Society
The current war on terrorism inescapably directs our attention to American collective memories of wartime home fronts and the scholarly interpretative debates that have complicated, challenged, but by no means displaced those memories. Wartime imperatives reopen essential assumptions that underlie American society, that define American conceptions of civic nationalism, and that give meaning to citizenship itself. What do Americans owe the state, their communities, their families, and the war dead? What standards of equity are required to exact payment of these debts?
This readings course employs a comparative framework (through domestic comparisons of U.S. 20th Century wars--the misleadingly labeled "total wars of WWI and WWII, the so-called "limited" involvements in Korea and Vietnam, and the post-Cold War campaigns against Iraq and Afghanistan, and through efforts to place U.S. wartime experiences in a transnational context of other belligerents) and a topical approach. We will interrogate the integrative and disintegrative effects of war on the construction of race, class, and gender; the relationship between anti-war movements, public opinion, and the suppression of civil liberties; the functions of propaganda, advertising, media, and film in shaping American war aims, political loyalties and self-fashioning; and the effects of economic mobilization on state-building and the relations among government, business, labor, universities, and the culture of consumption.
487B PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1815 (Roediger)
Topic: Slavery, Expansion and Race in Antebellum U.S.
This course, taught in a seminar format, centers on the reading and discussion of nine books and a few articles. The readings open onto broad questions regarding the ways in which ideas about race, and racist practices, developed out of the experience of settler colonialism as well as out of racial slavery. With some exceptions (mostly fiction by Herman Melville) the readings are historical, albeit interdisciplinary in their approaches. Students will report on one book not read by classmates and will lead discussion (with a partner) once during the semester. Short (2-3 pp.) writing assignments accompany those tasks. A longer (10-12 pp.) final paper puts Melville in dialogue with the historians.
489A PROBLEMS IN AFRICAN HISTORY (Allman)
Same As AFRST 489
Topic: The Social History of African Women
This course explores the social history of African women from 1850 to the present. It is concerned both with the historical forces which have shaped women’s everyday lives and the ways in which African women have been active agents in the making of their own histories. The course begins with a discussion of the kinds of sources available for reconstructing African women s history. We will explore the race and gender bias of many primary sources and the importance of life stories and personal narratives to the reconstruction of women s pasts. Among the themes we will address during the semester are: gender and slavery; women, capitalism and migrant labor; women and the colonial state; the missionary encounter; colonialism and domesticity; the sexual politics of colonialism; women in the city; women and the struggle for liberation; poverty and subordination in independent Africa; and the politics of emancipation.
This is a participation-intensive seminar which meets once per week. Seminar sessions are devoted to discussions of our readings and the broader issues, theoretical and comparative, raised by those sources.
492A PROBLEMS IN COMPARATIVE HISTORY (Hoddeson)
Topic: Oral History as a Research Tool
This graduate seminar explores the practical and intellectual issues of using interviews as a research tool in the writing of history. The advantages of offering "living sources" a voice in historical reconstructions include the opportunity to write histories that are more complete, colorful, and sensitive to personal factors than studies based on documents alone. Oral narrative can amplify historical accounts with personal connections, motivations, and other information. Morever the process of doing interviews often helps historians find references or documents not yet deposited in archives. For the historian a major disadvantage -- and a challenge -- of using interviews is dealing with the distortions of human memory.
Assigned readings and seminar discussions during the first half of the course will address issues of historiography, human and historical memory, and interviewing technique. Through analysis of historical works based on oral history we will study conceptual and practical consequences of offering living sources a voice in the interpretion of events. The second half of the seminar will be focused on student interviews and reports oriented toward writing seminar papers. Students will learn how to prepare for interviews, how to compose dynamic questions keyed to documents, and how to direct interviews so as to jolt memories and probe social masks. We will also discuss interpretation of interviews, equipment, interviewing etiquette, ethics, transcription, and the legalities of releasing interviews.
Students will be required to: (1) carry out reading assignments and participate in class; (2) prepare, conduct, transcribe, and secure release of at least one well-researched interview relating to a research topic of their choice; (3) critique interviews conducted by other members of the seminar; (4) report in class on their oral history project; and (5) write a seminar paper incorporating material from their interview. Students can select their project from any area of history in which interviews are of use.
496A HISTORY OF HISTORIOGRAPHY (Koslofsky)
Topic: Historiographies
An introduction to trends and themes in historical writing for graduate students. The course is based on case studies in specific fields such as the French Revolution and the European Witch Craze. We will emphasize social theory as it shapes historical writing.