History, a discipline that belongs to both the humanities and the social sciences, is the study of change over time. By exploring the complexities of peoples and societies in the past, the present becomes more comprehensible. As a core discipline of the liberal arts, history encourages students to think critically, to argue logically and to examine the values of their society and those of other societies. By developing research, analytical, writing, oral communication and problem solving skills, the undergraduate major in History is valuable preparation for a broad range of occupations, for graduate and professional schools and for the responsibilities of informed citizenship. Recent history majors have pursued careers in education, law, government service, journalism, public history, social agencies, business and finance. The History department brings historians and history makers to campus, encourages off-campus study and travel, shows films and documentaries, sponsors field trips to historical sites and assists students in finding history-related internships. The History department offers introductory and advanced work in the following geographic fields: Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Students wishing to count courses taken off-campus toward a major or minor in history should note that approval is not automatic and that they must obtain prior approval from their academic advisors and the department chair.

Course Catalog

Requirements for a major

History

Requirements for a minor

History

Courses in History

Historical Encounters

An introduction to historical analysis and argumentation. While individual sections will focus on different topics and time periods, in all sections students will investigate a range of sources, methods and historical approaches to the past. Hist 100 may be repeated for credit with different topics.

Advanced Placement in History

Advanced placement credit for entering first-year students. A. United States History; B. European History; C. World History.

Off-Campus Extended Studies Course

May or Winter Term off-campus study project on a historical theme.

ES On-Campus Course

Extended Studies History course.

First-Year Seminar

The first-year seminars focus on different historical topics, but all introduce students to the interdisciplinary nature of historical inquiry and include emphasis on discussion, writing and reading a variety of primary sources. Recent seminar topics include: Americans and War, Myth, Memory and History, Declarations of Independence, Rise and Fall of the Nuclear Family and (De)Constructing Race in the U.S. HIST 197 is open only to first-year students.

Topics (formerly HIST 290)

A study of a special topic with an emphasis on discussion and participation. Descriptions of HIST 200 courses offered in a given semester are available on the History department Website or in the History department office prior to registration for that semester. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

From Colony to Nation: The Legacy of Colonialism in Latin America, 1700-c.1930

By surveying the late colonial period to the early twentieth-century, this class focuses on the troubled transition from colony to nation in Latin America. As students will learn, the transition from European colonialism to modern republics did not translate to the emergence of democratic societies that advanced the rights of all citizens. Indeed, slavery and patriarchal and racial hierarchies--holdovers from Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule--endured and remained deeply entrenched. Additionally, Latin America's colonial legacy complicated its transition to stable, unified nations, practicing liberal, democratic values. Ending with the neocolonial age of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, students will see how exploitive and unequal colonial relationships between Europe, the US, and Latin America were reestablished and ensconced. Throughout, this class emphasizes the experiences and agency of marginalized groups--women, native peoples, Afro-Latin Americans, and the poor--tracking changes and continuities in their realities during a time of upheaval and great change. By taking this class, students will see the impacts of Western colonialism and how it endured, leaving indelible marks on Latin America's present.

History of Mexico

A social history of Mexico from pre-Hispanic times to the present. Emphasizing processes of resistance, rebellion and accommodation, this course examines the social and cultural dynamics of the major Mesoamerican societies (Aztecs and Maya), the colonial period and the process of nation formation. Attention will be given to gender and ethnic issues.

Latin American Environmental History

The diversity of people, geography and ecology in Latin America combine to make it one of the most diverse environments on the planet. Complementing this diversity is a rich history of human interactions with the environment. Knowing this history informs us about indigenous economic and cultural practices that offer alternative ways of thinking about how people relate to their environment. The history of conquest and colonization illustrate the dramatic, if not catastrophic, impact of European environmental practices, which helps us to further understand how modernity attempted to control nature, as well as the consequences of this effort. Learning the history also shows the troubled relationship between capitalism and the planet's resources, and how the troubles were important in shaping Latin America's social, political, economic and cultural landscapes. The history is important for our thinking about the contemporary and future challenges we face, especially in the areas of climate change, resource extraction, food sovereignty, disease and energy.

Close Encounters with Empires: The Beginnings of Latin America

Empires, both indigenous and European, played key roles in shaping the early history of Latin America, a period defined by powerful and innovative native empires, European conquest and expansion, the formation of racial and patriarchal hierarchies, the slave trade, massive historical change, and surprising cultural continuities. From the Aztecs and the Incas to the Spanish and the Portuguese, early empires--as we will learn--made lasting marks on the societies, cultures, and peoples of this important region. These empires, however, would not have made such enduring impacts without the people that constituted them, those who by force, coercion, or voluntary action both constructed and became entangled in empire's web. Thus, this class pays close attention to the everyday people who experienced close encounters with colonial, imperial, and expansionary states during this early period, namely native peoples, the poor, Afro-Latin Americans, mixed-race individuals known as castas, and women. By focusing on marginalized groups' experiences under various empires and their essential roles in negotiating, resisting, constructing, and transforming their respective societies, this class demonstrates the profound ways people "from below" shaped the course of history and, by extension, our present reality.

Power to the People: The Struggle for Democracy and Rights in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Latin America

This class surveys the ongoing struggle for rights, equality, and democracy by everyday people--women, native people, Afro-Latin Americans, the poor, and the queer community--in twentieth and twenty-first century Latin America. Characterized by the rise of unions, working class involvement in politics, attempts at land reforms, and the advancement of women's suffrage, the first half of the twentieth-century saw an expansion in people's rights and political participation, thereby making Latin American nations more democratic and inclusive than ever before. However, as students will learn, the struggle for equal rights and stable democracies for all citizens did not proceed in a linear, unobstructed fashion in the region. Rather, progress was fitful at best and, at worst, often times took significant steps back. Threats, both domestic and international, posed significant challenges to the democratization of Latin America; US and CIA interventions during the Cold War, for example, led to dictators across the region who impoverished their own countries; terrorized their populations; ended democratic rule; and limited the rights of women, the queer community, and people of color. Thus, this class challenges the "myth of progress," highlighting that democracy, civil rights, and greater equality are not guarantees in our modern world. That being said, this course demonstrates that everyday people persistently negotiated and pushed back against structures of oppression, leading to indigenous rebellions, social revolutions, and feminist and gay liberation movements. Indeed, Latin Americans "from below" shaped and continue to shape Latin America. The class will end by considering the current state of democracy and women's, queer, and indigenous rights, as well as other major issues facing the regions' nations in the twenty-first century.

France from Charlemagne to Napoleon

The history of France from the Merovingians of Gaul to the Napoleonic era with an emphasis on intellectual, cultural and social movements of this early period. Major topics: Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire; the Hundred Years' War; rise of absolutism; the Wars of Religion; the Fronde; the Age of Louis XIV; the Enlightenment; the French Revolution.

The Crusades

This course will examine the 10th- to 14th-century movement of Western European Christians to the lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Why did they go? What were the expected outcomes of this movement? Was it successful, and how should success be determined? How did the crusades change both European and Middle Eastern culture? These questions and more will be the focus of this course.

The Vikings

This course will examine Scandinavian and early medieval European society before, during, and after the Viking raids of the eighth through eleventh centuries in order to assess the impact of those raids on the development of European civilization. We will work to come to an understanding of this period through the close analysis of a variety of sources, including law codes, epic poems, artwork, and archaeological excavations.

European Women's History

An examination of the cultural and intellectual roles of women in Early Modern Western Europe. In addition to surveying the women's traditional place in European society, this course also considers the work of exceptional women who argued against that role. Topics include the debate on the nature of women, women in power, witchcraft, women and science, women in revolutions and the education of women.

People and Politics in Modern Europe (formerly HIST 112)

This course represents an investigation of Modern European history roughly from the French Revolution to the present (c. 1789-1990s). The course will examine Revolutions, nation building, political changes, social structures, and ideas and consider how average men and women in Europe and beyond transformed and experienced the world in which they lived.

19th and 20th Century Britain

This course surveys Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, a period that both affirmed and questioned the "greatness" of Great Britain in political, economic and social terms. Central course themes include the transformation of Britain's economic standing, from the "workshop of the world" to perceptions of "declinism". The contrasting political fortunes of the Conservative, Liberal and Labour parties are highlighted; from "Tory paternalism" to Thatcherite Revolution, from socialist trade unionism to "Blairism". Class, immigration and Anglo-Irish affairs are explored as well as the effects of war and peace, depression and prosperity upon British society. The course also includes a consideration of the growth of the British Empire and its comparatively rapid dissolution in the post-war era.

British Empire

At its apogee, the British Empire incorporated nearly one-quarter of the world's landmass and population. This course examines the British imperial "world system" from the granting of the East India Company charter through imperial liquidation, with a particular emphasis on events during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The course's geographic range includes considerations of British imperialism in South Asia, Asia, the Pacific, Africa and the Americas. The class analyzes important historiographical debates, the differences between formal and informal imperialism, competing visions of Empire, indigenous responses, and the cultures of imperialism.

Germany from Unification to Unification, 1870-1989

Germany has played a central and disruptive role in the recent history of Europe. The domestic and foreign conflicts that have dominated the country's history with such far-reaching consequences will provide the focus of the course. The course covers the political, social and cultural developments that shaped the course of German history from the creation of a unified Germany in 1871 to the reunification of Germany in 1990. It examines the Imperial period, World War I, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi experience, the division of postwar Germany and its reunification in our own times.

The Holocaust

The Holocaust was one of the defining experiences of the 20th century and the memory of its horrors continues to haunt our imaginations. In this course we will examine the background, development, and the historical and moral impact of the Holocaust in Europe. We will use historical documents and historical scholarship, but also literature, autobiography, films, etc.

The Creation of East Asia: Transformations and Traditions

This is a survey of the history of East Asia, c. 1300 BCE to 900 CE, focusing on China with additional consideration of Japan and Inner Asia. The course starts with the beginning of the region's written past in the 2nd millennium BCE and concludes with a consideration of the emergence of a multipolar region after the collapse of the Tang empire in China in the 10th century. Some of the topics explored: the creation of a continental empire; the spread and indigenization of religious traditions; the world of aristocrats and the peasant society they ruled; the values of this aristocratic milieu, especially in so far as they have shaped many of the cultural touchstones of East Asia today.

The Emergence of East Asia: Scholars, Warriors, and Empires

This is a survey of the history of East Asia, c. 900 CE to 1800 CE, focusing on China and Japan, with some consideration of Korea and Vietnam. The course begins with the emergence in the 10th century of a multipolar region following the collapse of the Tang empire in China, and ends c. 1800 with the global repercussions of the industrial revolutions. The period is characterized by transformations in state and society broadly associated with Neo-Confucianism, commercialization, and steppe-based imperial formations. Topics explored in the course include: formation of elite status groups (scholar-officials, samurai), women & gender, empires, trade, environment.

East Asia in the Modern World

This is a survey of the history of East Asia, c. 1800 to the present. The course begins with the mature states and societies of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam at the end of the eighteenth century and finishes with a consideration of the post-Cold War era. We cover the dissolution of early modern states, encounters with global industrialization and imperialism, the rise of nation-states, social and cultural modernity, postwar/Cold War revolution and developmentalism, and late 20th century globalization. Some topics explored in the course: feminism, colonialism, imperialism, modernity, ideologies, war, cities.

Diversity, Society and Culture in African History

The study of Africa's pre-colonial past has produced a particularly wide variety of views and interpretations. Some writers have asserted, for example, that Africans possessed little political organization in the past, while others celebrate ancient African kingdoms. This course introduces students to the diverse histories of Africa, from the development of early African communities to the late 19th century. The course will offer a broad survey of the history of Africa, including its diverse cultures, belief systems, political complexities, statecraft, and the fluid nature of African societies. We will examine pre-colonial texts, ideas, cultures, institutions, geography, communities, arts, technologies, and commercial systems to explain the major dynamics of economic, social, and political change in Africa. The purpose of this course is to help students make their own judgments about competing claims and conflicting interpretations of the African past. We will acquaint ourselves with the various methodologies and sources that historians of pre-colonial Africa use in their craft, including archaeology, linguistics, oral traditions, historical anthropology, environmental history, and documentary evidence. As we will see, one of the most exciting aspects of African historical study is that it draws upon kinds of evidence which historians in other parts of the world rarely use, and so gives us an unusual perspective on the human past.

Legacies of Empire and Decolonization of Africa

This course introduces students to the history of the African continent from the 1880s (the eve of colonial rule) to the late twentieth century. The central themes the course considers include European scramble for Africa and the African responses; Colonial rule, economic policies, and colonial health policies; the development of African nationalism; colonial legacies and the struggle to achieve justice, freedom, economic opportunities, and democracy; and the challenges of postcolonial Africa. The first section of the course focuses on the European conquest of Africa and the effects of colonial rule on African politics, economies, cultures, and communities. The second section looks at the rise of African nationalism and the methods liberation movements used to fight colonial rule. The third section examines the challenges of postcolonial Africa - economic, social, and political challenges. The course will provide students with a historical framework for analyzing and assessing the legacies of colonialism to help them critically think about the postcolonial challenges African countries face today.

Politics and Society in Africa

This course introduces students to the major African issues, debates, and historical patterns of social diversity, Africa's role in the globalizing world, and economic and political developments in Africa in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The course explores a sequence of significant themes in contemporary Africa, including terrorism; dictatorships, and contested elections in Africa; Africa's position in the global economy; women and the youth's political and economic participation; climate change; health care transformations; the state of the entertainment industry in Africa; social media and everyday life in Africa; Gender and Sexuality; the state of the media in Africa: and the efforts by different ethnic, religious, LGBTQIA+, political, and racial groups to achieve equality, recognition, and constitutional protections. We will examine African governments' and citizens' responses to global issues impacting local economies, governance, cultures, social movements, natural resources management, and civil and political rights. The course will provide students with a historical framework for analyzing and assessing Africa's civil society, cultures, development, economies, and politics to help them critically think about the news and other information they encounter in their everyday life about Africa and Africans.

The Formation and Evolution of Islamic Empires in the Middle East (formerly HIST 121)

The course examines the history of the establishment of the new religion of Islam (610 CE) and the subsequent formation of new Islamic world empires. The course places the rise of Islam within the context of late Antique Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian societies. It also examines how Islamic empires built upon the foundations of the earlier Graeco-Roman and Persian empires of the Mediterranean and Iran, and how they responded to the changing dynamics of the 7th through 11th centuries. The course pays close attention to the establishment and evolution of religious traditions, the emergence of new forms of Arabic (and Persian) literature, and the founding of new traditions of medicine and science. The course highlights the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nature of these empires, which were shaped significantly by the migrations of populations both within and from outside the boundaries of these empires.

From Empires to Nation-States: The Making of the Modern Middle East (formerly HIST 122)

By tracing the history of Middle Eastern societies from the 16th to the early 21st century, this course focuses on the transition from world empires centered in this region, to colonialism and then to modern, independent nation-states. This transition was neither smooth nor unique to this region, and so the course engages, in a comparative framework, with how these societies confronted and responded to industrialization, colonialism and nationalism. The course will examine closely the religious, socio-cultural and ideological dimensions of these large-scale transformations. The course will help students also recognize the underbelly of modernization and of US involvement in the region since the second half of the 20th century.

North American Colonies & Nations, 1491-1808

This course surveys key themes and events in North American history from the eve of the Columbian exchange to the early decades of the United States. We will interrogate major social, imperial, and constitutional developments, with a particular emphasis on the experiences and perspectives of Native Americans, of African Americans, and of women. We also trace the development of a string of Anglo-American colonies which, in the late eighteenth century coalesced to form an extensive, unstable independent republic. Conflict, contestation, and community-formation are at the core of our inquiry.

Nineteenth-Century United States

The United States between 1815 and 1900: development of a market economy and industrial society; political parties and presidential leadership; westward expansion; reform movements; slavery and emancipation; sectional crisis and Civil War; ethnic and class conflicts; and roles of women, African Americans and Native Americans.

Twentieth-Century United States

An overview of the history of the United States during the long 20th century, including domestic politics, foreign policy, and social power. Not only will we think about the big ideas, events, and themes in U.S. history, we will learn how to ask meaningful historical questions and develop the skills to answer them, especially primary-source analysis. Central questions we will ask are: What have Americans considered to be the role of the government? What have Americans considered to be the role of the United States in the world? How has the meaning and practice of democracy changed? How has power operated through categories of race, gender, and class? What stories about the nation's past and identity have Americans created to serve contemporary purposes?

African American History

A survey of the black experience in the United States focusing on ways African Americans reacted individually and collectively to their condition and how they have contributed to the development of the United States.

US Women's History: 1700-1900

The impact of settlement, colonization, revolution and independence, industrialization, urbanization, slavery, the Civil War, westward expansion, education and immigration on women. Readings will be drawn from journals, diary excerpts, short stories, novels and letters and from scholarly essays and monographs by historians and other social scientists. Class, race and ethnic differences will be examined throughout the semester.

Women in the United States, 1890-Present

This course is a chronological survey of U.S. women's history over the long 20th century, focusing on women in politics and women as citizens. We approach modern U.S. history using gender as a lens of analysis, keeping in mind that women have never been a monolithic or unified group. Accordingly, we pay attention to nuances along lines such as race, class, region, political ideology, religion, and sexuality. Topics include the long and diverse suffrage movement, electoral politics, and social movements. In addition to learning what happened in the past, we consider how historians have conceived of the field of women's history, paying attention to how scholars use sources, periodize the past, and theorize women's experiences. Students have the opportunity not only to study history but to do history through archival research and primary-source analysis.

History of the Black Atlantic

An exploration of the historical foundations and the development of Black life in Africa and its later diffusion in the Black Diaspora. Its purview will range from pre-colonial dynamics to the more contemporary manifestations of global Black history in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, Latin America and Melanesia. Topics include: African cultures before European contact, the slave trade and its impact on Africa and the Atlantic economy, the middle passage, internal migration in Africa and case studies of the creation of Diasporic communities and cultures.

Plague in the Islamic World

This course examines the history of the encounter with plague of people living in the Islamic world from 610 CE to 1600 CE. Using primary and secondary sources, we will study how these societies understood the plague (scientifically and theologically), what was the impact of plague on these societies (demographically, socially and economically), and how these societies responded to repeated bouts of plague (medically, religiously, socially, institutionally and politically), and any changes therein. The course will also engage with recent research in genomics to understand the evolution and transmission of the plague bacillus. In doing so, we will discuss how the new genomic science can help improve our understanding of the history of the plague pandemics, and how studying the history of past pandemics can help our understanding of modern pandemics.

History of Science I

This course surveys the history of the human endeavor to understand the natural world around them. It particularly problematizes the notion that the rise of modern science, as practiced in Western societies, was inevitable or pre-ordained. Instead, with the help of primary and secondary sources, the course examines the various trajectories of science from the Greek, to the Islamic to the Western medieval context.

History Today: Debates and Practices

An introduction to history as a discipline, including why historians interpret the past in different and often contested ways; problems of historical method, including use of evidence, objectivity, causation, periodization and categories of historical analysis (such as, nation-state, gender, race and class); and current approaches and methodologies in the history profession.

Topics

A study of a special topic at an advanced level. This and all 300-level courses are small discussion classes. Descriptions of HIST 300 courses offered in a given semester are available on the History department Website or in the History department office prior to registration for that semester. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

European Union

The seminar surveys European integration in its historic context and emphasizes the project for European unity since the Second World War. Topics for consideration include historic conceptualizations of East and West and the 'Idea of Europe', integration as a response to the World Wars experience and its evolution in a divided Cold War Europe. Theoretical assessments of integration and the comparative significance of both international and domestic factors are discussed as well as controversies over supra-nationalism, 'European identity' and the expansion of membership.

The Witchcraze in Early Modern Europe

Why did Europe suddenly erupt in a fury of witch trials in the sixteenth century? Why did these trials just as suddenly die out in the eighteenth? What was the role of religion in the pursuit of witches? Was misogyny at the heart of the witchcraze? These questions and more will be addressed in this course as we try to understand the nature of the European witchcraze. Through a close and careful analysis of primary documents, we will try to develop our own conclusions on this troubling episode of European history. Counts toward Womens Studies major.

The Age of Louis XIV

A study of life in France during the reign of the Sun King. A deeper understanding of 17th-century French life is attempted through a study of French history, politics, society, literature, philosophy and art.

The Enlightenment: Europe and the Other

This 18th-century European intellectual movement is approached through the works of the major thinkers of the period. Writers such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, and de Sade are examined.

Imperial Europe

This course will look at Western Europe at its height of power and influence and in the decades leading up to and including WWI (c.1870-1918). The class will approach Imperial Europe through a series of thematic clusters, such as empire, imperialism and militarism, nations and nationalism, gender and generation, culture, technology, politics and political organization, intellectual developments, mortality, sexuality, etc.

Europe of Dictators

An examination of the social, economic, political and ideological conditions and processes that led to the establishment of single-party dictatorships in Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union.

Paradise Revisited

The notion of the Pacific Islands as 'paradise' is a historic and pervasive fixture of stage, screen and tourist brochures. But when and how did the European construction of 'paradise' and the representations that followed from it come about? More importantly, how have indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands represented or "re-presented" Oceania in light of that legacy? HIST 344 analyzes depictions of the Pacific Islands including Aotearoa (New Zealand) from a historical perspective with a chronological emphasis on the late 18th century to the present. During the semester students will engage and evaluate historiographical and epistemological debates which have shaped the study of Oceania as well as primary and secondary sources drawn from history, literature, anthropology, art and film.

African Nationalism, 1890-1985

A survey of African resistance to European imperialism with emphasis on the national peculiarities of the European penetration, the experience of Settler and non-Settler Africa, the personnel and methodology of proto-nationalist and nationalist resistance, and the general outcome of these efforts.

African Slavery

A review of the processes of incorporation into slavery; slaves in production and exchange; the resistance history of slavery; the gender implications of the slave state; slaves and social mobility, interdependence and the manipulations of class; and the dynamics of manumission and abolition.

Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East

This course seeks to explore the evolution of gendered and sexual identities in the Middle East from the rise of Islam to the present. We shall explore ways in which people in the Middle East have shaped and redefined gender and sexual identities from the earliest days of Islam to the present. Although the primary focus of the course will be the Muslim populations in the Middle East, the course will also examine conceptions of gender and sexuality amongst non-Muslim populations in the Middle East, before and after the rise of Islam.

Partition and Memory

This course examines the history of partition, its representations, memories and legacy in Israel-Palestine and Pakistan-India in a broadly comparative manner. The course not only engages with the events leading up to partition, but how partition and partition memories and narratives continue to inform the construction of national identities, and how the conflicts within those narratives continue to fuel current clashes in these regions. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the course grapples with the differing memories of key events to flesh out their ethical and political implications. The course also engages with films on and about partition and memory. It assesses the limits and capabilities of this genre for refining cultural memories, coping with memories of violence, as well as challenging the status quo of collective memories and national histories.

Voices of a Revolutionary Age

This course investigates the American Revolution in the context of upheavals in the broader Atlantic World between 1763 and 1815. We organize our inquiry into the emergence of the United States around the themes of liberty, loyalty, and legacy. We investigate the choices and experiences of people of African, European, and North American descent, the high-born and the humble, during a tumultuous half-century. Peoples, nations, and empires contested and transformed the concept of liberty. In the process, men and women of this revolutionary age reimagined their loyalties with long lasting legacies for the borders, boundaries, and identities that have shaped the modern world.

Law, Constitution, & Society

Guns, abortion, sex, speech, race, school prayer. Americans often turn their public policy debates into constitutional ones--hoping that imperfect men dead for two centuries will be able to resolve questions that defy consensus today. Clashing in the present, people on all sides of issues implicitly make claims about history. This course takes an intensive look at the early history of the U.S. Constitution, clearing the historical air and muddying contemporary waters. We will attend to events leading up to the constitutional convention, the compromises made in Philadelphia, intense debates over ratification, the creation of the Bill of Rights, and the post-Civil War amendments that, in addressing the legacy of slavery, redirected the nation's constitutional trajectory. We will also consider select constitutional developments and controversies in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. No prerequisites.

Civil War and Reconstruction

From the 1850s to the 1870s, monumental struggles over slavery, race, political authority, economy, the Constitution, and the very dimensions of the United States roiled North America. A bloody sectional war and the emancipation of millions of African Americans catalyzed profound change. A highly contested process to restructure the nation on a continental scale ensued. To comprehend these revolutionary times, we weave together the stories of the freedom seekers and enslavers, soldiers and civilians, the battlefront and the home front. The inspiring potential and tragic limits of what Lincoln called a 'new birth of freedom' drive our inquiry.

United States in the Seventies (Was U.S. in the Sixties)

Far more than just an interstitial period between the liberal sixties and the conservative 1980s, the 1970s were important and transformative years for American politics and culture. The post-WWII affluent era had ended, but what would be next? This course explores historical scholarship on the turbulent and contradictory decade, which nurtured both expanded social movements demanding rights on the one hand and, on the other, a powerful conservative backlash to liberalism as well as identity politics. We look at a range of sources to focus especially on the cultural and political realms, focusing on cynicism in politics, race, class, and gender to assess what the seventies mean for American history.

Chicago and New York

An investigation of the life and times of two of America's greatest metropolises, from their founding until approximately 1980. The course emphasizes the following themes: popular culture, poverty, politics, race, ethnicity and social reform. Historical narratives, literature and social criticism will be used as a springboard for discussing the variety of ways in which ordinary people constructed lives on a human scale and sometimes thrived in fast-changing urban environments.

Race and Identity in the US

This course explores how ideas about race and ethnicity in the United States have changed over time and have been rooted in particular historical contexts, focusing on the relationship between racial and national identity. How have race and ethnicity shaped ideas of national belonging and citizenship rights? How have racial/ethnic appeals been used for political purposes? How have racial ideas been used to craft certain narratives of national history, and what counternarratives have challenged them? Focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries, we will interrogate racial ideologies that have created social hierarchies as well as strategies to resist marginalization.

U. S. Women's Social and Political Movements

The varieties of female activism in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the topics covered are benevolence, abolitionism, women's rights, the movement for reproductive freedom, the social settlement movement, temperance, suffragism and anti-suffragism, labor organizing, civil rights, women's liberation and radical feminism.

US/Latin American Relations

An examination of the political and economic contours of the relationship between the United States and Latin America. This course surveys the historical period from the late 1700s to the present. Special focus is on reading and using primary documents.

Latin American Revolutions

This discussion course examines the revolutionary movements which swept Latin America after World War Two. These include: Guatamal in 1940-1954, Bolivia 1952, Cuba 1959, Chile 1970, Nicaragua 1979 and Chiapas 1994. Our analysis will cover a range of social, political, economic, and cultural frameworks for understanding these revolutions, why they happened, did they succeed, or why they failed. Analysis will focus on theories of revolution, why they happen, what their process is, and the thorny issue of how to evaluate their success or failure. We will learn about peasant and urban working class movements, as well as issues of consciousness as it pertains to the formation of counter-hegemonic movements. Guerilla warfare, the 'foco' strategy, and organizing tactics will be examined. We will develop an understanding of the role of US foreign policy in each revolution. the course will have a gender component by exploring how the role of women changed over time in the revolutionary movements. We develop an understanding of how and why the pre-1994 Chiapas revolutions were 'modern' responses to social, political, economic and cultural problems and how the Zapatista rebellion can be understood as the first postmodern revolution. Students will learn about why the autonomous movement is a more powerful tool of revolution than the 'traditional' revolutionary movements of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The course will hae approximately 7 monographs. Reading will be at the pace of a book every two weeks (150 pages a week+/-). Students will write multiple thesis drive essays responding to the reading. There will also be a term paper.

Internship in Public History

Exploration of current practices in public history through readings and hands-on experiences at a historical museum, school or historical site. History 334 is recommended for HIST 399 but not a formal requirement.

Seminar

The practice of history as a discipline through research, interpretation and writing a major paper. Students are expected to take the seminar in their major area of concentration. Descriptions of seminar topics offered in a given semester will be made available prior to registration.

Reading Course

A study of either a geographical area (East Asia, Russia, France, etc.), a period (Europe since 1789, early America, etc.) or a movement, division of history or institution (socialism, military history, feudalism, etc.). Reading and/or research. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Senior Thesis

Intensive research on a topic approved by the instructor and resulting in a thesis prepared under the instructor's supervision. During the first semester, the student will undertake reading and research and may participate in either a section of HIST 490 or a seminar group limited to students enrolled in HIST 495; during the second semester the student will complete the thesis and defend it before a committee of history department faculty. Prerequisite: a major in history with a GPA in the major of at least 3.3 and permission of the department.

Senior Thesis

Intensive research on a topic approved by the instructor and resulting in a thesis prepared under the instructor's supervision. During the first semester, the student will undertake reading and research and may participate in either a section of HIST 490 or a seminar group limited to students enrolled in HIST 495; during the second semester the student will complete the thesis and defend it before a committee of history department faculty. Prerequisite: a major in history with a GPA in the major of at least 3.3 and permission of the department.