SURVEY
HIST 102 - Modern European History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
This introductory course surveys the histories of the peoples of Europe from the Old Regime to the present. Students are introduced to the methods of studying history as well as the subject matter proper. Particular topics include: the decline of the society of orders, the French Revolution and its aftershocks through the 19th century, liberalism, socialism, imperialism, fascism and the rise and fall of the Cold War.
Enrollment Limit: 30 per section
Instructor: A. Sammartino
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
TR 09:30 – 10:50 am
TR 11:00 – 12:20 pm
HIST 104 - American History, 1877 to the Present
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, WR, CD
This course covers major themes in American social, political, and foreign policy history from 1877 to the present. A particular focus are conflicting interpretations of the idea and exercise of power and freedom in American history.
Enrollment Limit: 60
Instructor: C. Koppes, S. Lee, P. Mitchell
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
MWF 11:00 – 11:50 am
HIST 106 - Modern China
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
This history of China from the founding of the Manchu Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty in 1644 takes a China-centered perspective. Along with political and institutional developments, long-term changes in the society and economy of China are stressed and the indigenous bases for those changes are explored so that China’s 20th century revolutionary upheaval will be seen to be more than a ‘response to the Western impact’ or an ‘emergence into modernity.’
Enrollment Limit: 50
Instructor: D. Kelley
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with East 122
MWF 11:00 – 11:50 am
HIST 108 - Russian History II
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
REES
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, WR, CD
Beginning with the reform era in mid-19th century, this course examines the processes that led to the revolutions of 1917 and the consolidation of Soviet power; the formation and nature of the Stalinist system; the Soviet experience of World War II and the origins of the Cold War; post-Stalin efforts at reform and factors which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; the course ends with a brief consideration of the Yeltsin and Putin regimes.
Enrollment Limit: 40
Instructor: H. Hogan
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
MWF 10:00 – 10:50 am
HIST 110 - Latin American History: State and Nation Since Independence
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
LATS, HISP
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
This course provides an introductory survey of Latin American history from the wars of independence in the early 19th century to the independent nations’ struggle to cope with the monumental issues of political legitimacy, economic growth, and social order throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding the material, political, class, racial, cultural, and gender struggles which have shaped Latin America’s independent states.
Enrollment Limit: 50
Instructor: S. Volk
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
MWF 09:00 – 09:50 am
HIST 122 – Modern History of the Middle East and North Africa, 1800 to Present
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS CD
This introductory course follows the intellectual, political, economic and social transformations in the region from 1800 to the present. It examines themes including the relation between the British and French colonizers and their colonized societies, the formation of modern ‘nation-states,’ national identities and wars of liberation, Arab nationalism and socialism, ethnic and sectarian conflicts, the Arab Israeli conflict; Gulf politics and economy, feminist thought and activism, and the emergence of political Islam.
Enrollment Limit : 35
Instructor: Z. Abul-Magd
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
MWF 11:00 –11:50 am
HIST 160 - Modern Japan
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
This course surveys Japan’s modern transformation from the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to the present. It examines how political, social, and economic modernization were simultaneous projects while considering their impact on the lives of citizens at home and imperial subjects abroad. We focus on how economic volatility, popular struggles for representative democracy, war, and colonization represent aspects of Japan’s twentieth century experience as well as widely shared dilemmas of modernity.
Enrollment Limit: 30 per section
Instructor: E. O’Dwyer
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with EAST 132
MWF 9:00 – 9:50 am
MWF 10:00 – 10:50 am
HIST 163 - Modern South Asia: From British Imperialism to the Present
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3-4 hours
Attribute: 3-4SS, CD
Introduction to South Asian civilization from the European conquest through the colonial period to post-colonial nationhood. Discusses developments within Indian and British-Indian society concerning religion, gender, ‘caste,’ and class. Using largely indigenous (primary) sources, we explore issues of British imperialism, nationalism, and anti-colonial political mobilization. We conclude with an assessment of the current conditions in South Asia.
Enrollment Limit: 45
Instructor: M. Fisher
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
TR 09:00 – 10:50 am
INTRODUCTORY FOCUSED COURSES
HIST 209 - The City in Europe, 1100-1789
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
The medieval city–birthplace of political freedom or site of repression? Cultural haven or den of iniquity? This course explores the role of cities in the creation of Europe from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution; it draws on both sociological theories of urbanization and historical accounts of lived experience. We examine medieval origins, commercial capitalism and craft production, Renaissance urbanism and space, the civilizing process, political reform, and the nature of popular protest.
Enrollment Limit: 30
Instructor: E. Wurtzel
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
TR 09:30 – 10:50 am
HIST 217 - Women and Gender in Islamic Law and Arab Legal Codes
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
GSFS,L&S
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
This course studies how classical Islamic law and modern Arab legal codes deal with issues of women and gender. It looks at women and family in the Qur’an and Hadith. It then moves to the development of Islamic law and its rules on the subject. Finally, it follows the impact of the formation of modern codes in the Middle East with the rise of nation-states on women’s rights and position in contemporary Arab societies.
Enrollment Limit: 25
Instructor: Z. Abul-Magd
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
TR 03:00 – 04:15 pm
HIST 226 - World War II and the Making of the 20th Century
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
A comparative overview of how World War II transformed nations, groups, and individuals. This course pays equal attention to the two regional wars in Asia and in Europe that joined to become ‘World War II’ only in 1941. Particular topics include: conventional military, political, and diplomatic history; the ‘totalization’ of war as it became global; gender and the cultural history of military experience.
Enrollment Limit: 40
Instructor: L. Smith
Consent of the Instructor Required? No.
TR 01:30 – 02:50 pm
HIST 233 – Jewish Memoirs and Memory: Writing the Self in Jewish Society
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3-4 hours
Attribute: 3-4SS, WP, CD
Explores the focus on group memory in traditional Jewish culture and the emergence of writing about the self and individual Jewish experience in modernity. Selected memoirs from Europe and the US from early modernity to the present. Studies motivation for writing, intended and actual audience, gender and class in memory and writing, the relationship between personal and group experience, and memoirs as sources of history. No prior background required.
Enrollment Limit: 25
Instructor: S. Magnus
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with JWST 233.
TR 01:30 – 02:45 pm
HIST 239 - Animals in Human History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
This course looks at the role of animals in human society from prehistory to the present, including both environmental and cultural issues. We cover topics such as how animals were domesticated, the ecological impact of keeping large animals, animal breeding, and vegetarianism.
Enrollment Limit: 40
Instructor: S. White
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
TR 11:00 – 12:15 pm
HIST 243 – Race, Gender, and American Social Movements
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
We consider theories of social movements and take a comparative approach to the study of the black freedom struggle, the Asian American movement, and Latina/o movement, among others. We also discuss struggles that cross (and complicate) ethnic and racial identity such as feminism, gay rights and third world liberation.
Enrollment Limit: 40
Instructor: S. Lee
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with CAST 243
MW 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 244 - The United States in the Second World War
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
World War II is perhaps the most important event in twentieth-century American history. The war had a profound effect on American society, the economy, and Americas global status. This course examines the ways in which WWII influenced and transformed the United States through a study of military, social, cultural, and political history. Topics include the combat experience; politics and technological developments; of the wars impact on gender, race, and sexual relations; propaganda and censorship; and popular culture.
Enrollment Limit: 35
Instructor: R. Romano
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
TR 09:30 – 10:50 am
HIST 252 - American Environmental History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
The environmental history of the United States from European contact to the present. We will explore topics ranging from Native American ecologies to dams to urban pollution and inequality.
Enrollment Limit: 40
Instructor: S. White
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
MWF 10:00 – 10:50 am
HIST 257 - Westward Bound: The West in American History
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
LATS, HISP
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
This course surveys major events in Western history, from the journey of Cabeza de Vaca and the Pueblo revolt, to the Gold Rush and the Mexican American War, to World War II, the rise of the urban West, and 1960’s political mobilization from Tierra Amarilla to Orange County to the Castro. We explore the West variously as a geographic region, a place of cultural mixing, and the object of desire and fantasy.
Enrollment Limit: 50
Instructor: P. Mitchell
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
TR 09:30 – 10:50 am
HIST 279 - African Ethnicities
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 Hours
Attribute: 3 SS, CD
This class disputes the claim that Africans have immutable “tribal” identities, exploring instead not only the fluidity of African identities but also the ways in which these identities both shape and are shaped by global forces during Imperialism, Trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonial and post independence periods. The class concludes by exploring shifting identities of African immigrants in the Americas during the 20th century.
Enrollment Limit: 25
Instructor: B. Yates
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
Cross List Information This course is cross-listed with AAST 279
MWF 10:00 – 10:50 am
HIST 296 - Early Modern Russia
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
REES
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
European travelers routinely described Muscovy as “barbarous” and “tyrannical” with its people living in ”slavish passivity and terror”. So too, Imperial Russia was seen as “backward,” “despotic,” and “expansionist.” These negative images remain strong in historical memory, but how accurate are they? This course seeks to present a more nuanced picture of early modern Russia by looking at the way state and society actually ‘worked’ on the ground. We begin with the consolidation of the Muscovite state under Ivan III (the Great) (1462-1505), examine the bizarre life and times of Ivan IV (the Terrible), the traumatic Time of Troubles, a complex set of cultural changes over the course of the 17th c., and conclude with the emergence of a powerful empire under Peter I and Catherine II in the 18th c. Topics include the nature of autocratic rule and the development of its theocentric ideology; expansion into the steppe and across Siberia; serfdom; gender and female rule; aristocratic culture and the life of the provincial nobility.
Enrollment Limit: 25
Instructor: H. Hogan
Consent of the Instructor Required? No
MWF 01:30 – 02:20 pm
SEMINARS & COLLOQUIA
HIST 301 - The Politics of Gender in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD, WR
This seminar examines European women’s history in the late medieval and early modern periods. By situating their lives within evolving social, economic, political and religious structures, we consider how women have acted individually and collectively, as agents of change and defenders of tradition, and how changing notions of gender have shaped communities, individuals and institutions. Topics include mysticism and sainthood, family and marriage, household production, witchcraft and scientific enquiry.
Enrollment Limit: 12
Instructor: E. Wurtzel
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
W 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 314 - Existentialism
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
This course explores the history of European existentialism. We shall examine the major themes of existentialism (authenticity vs. inauthenticity, meaninglessness, absurdity, freedom and anguish, etc.) through reading philosophers such as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and de Beauvoir. We will be looking both at the development of existentialism as a philosophical tradition and at the ways that existentialist philosophers anticipate, inspire and respond to political events.
Enrollment Limit: 12
Instructor: A. Sammartino
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
T 07:00 – 09:00 pm
HIST 327 - Borderlands
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
GSFS, HISP, LATS
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3 SS, WR, CD
The American Southwest, roughly the United States-Mexico border area from Texas to California, is a political, economic, and cultural crossroads. We will investigate interactions between Native Americans and Spanish colonists beginning in the 16th century, emerging United States economic and political control during the 19th century, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, land dispossession, the Mexican Revolution, immigration, civil rights, and 20th century demography. We also discuss borderlands as a literary and symbolic concept.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: P. Mitchell
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
T 01:00 – 02:50 pm
HIST 331 - Race and Sexuality in United States History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 4 hours
Attribute: 4SS
In 1933, James Weldon Johnson argued that the ‘sex problem’ was deeply rooted in the ‘heart of the race problem.’ This upper-level seminar explores the many different ways in which race and sexuality have interacted with each other throughout American history. Topics include how racism is expressed and maintained through sexual discourses and practices, the relationship between sexuality and race in the construction of identity, and the historical and contemporary legacies of sexual racism.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: R. Romano
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
M 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 333 - The Cold War
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS
Why the Cold War came about and what it means are the subjects of this colloquium. Emphasizing clashing historiographical interpretations, the course focuses on the period from the end of World War II to 1960. In addition to traditional great power policy issues, the course addresses ambiguities of the cultural Cold War and the paradoxes of race (domestically and internationally) and the Cold War.
Enrollment Limit: 12
Instructor: C. Koppes
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
MW 01:30 – 02:20 pm
HIST 337-01/ 337-02 American Democracy
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 4 hours
Attribute: 4SS, WR
An examination of classic texts in the American democratic tradition with reference to the historical context in which they originated. This experimental dicussion-based course will be taught in parallel with courses using the same syllabus at Al-Quds University and Tel Aviv University. In addition to class sessions, students will collaorate electronically, and, it is hoped, face-to-face, with their peers at those institutions to produce a series of papers on key issues in the history of American democracy.
Enrollment Limit: 12 per section
Instructor: G. Kornblith, C. Lasser
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
Prerequisites & Notes
Primarily for History majors, juniors and well-qualified sophomores
MW 09:00 – 10:50 am
MW 09:00 - 10:50 am
HIST 341 - Defining Jewishness: Boundary Drawing in Jewish History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, WR, CD
Explores ways that boundary lines constructing Jewishness were drawn from late antiquity to modernity and shifting definitions of Jewishness in different times and places. Examines group and individual cases and the interaction between self-identification and boundary drawing by others about Jews. Cases include: early Jesus-followers; crytpo-and normative Jews under and after Inquisition persecution in medieval and early modern Europe; assimilating modern Jews; secular, ethnic, and nationalist Jewishness; converts, conversion, and Jews off the usual Jewish map in Africa, South America, Asia.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: S. Magnus
Consent of the Instructor Required? yes
Prerequisites & Notes
Students who have taken FYSP 167, ‘Who was a Jew: Boundaries of Identity,’ may not enroll in this course.
Cross List Information: This course is cross-listed with JWST 341
M 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 359 - On the Road in Mughal India
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, WR, CD
What was life actually like for Asian and European travelers in Mughal (16th-19th century) India? Original travel narratives by Indians, other Asians, and Europeans described the everyday experience of travel from the perspective of the particular author, her/his natal culture, and the travel narrative genre. In addition to readings about the theory and praxis of travel writing, each student undertakes a substantial research project on a select traveler and her/his narrative.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: M. Fisher
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
W 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 360 - History of Vietnam
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
East Asian Studies
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3-4SS, WR, CD
Vietnam from the beginnings to the present. A topical approach will be taken through a variety A colloquium emphasizing reading and discussion. The course will examine the history of of readings structured chronologically. Topics will cover pre-colonial history and society, colonialism and nationalism, and Vietnam’s struggle for national independence and security, in both national and international contexts.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: D. Kelley
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
M 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 382 - Climate Change and Disaster in History
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
ENVS
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 4 hours
Attribute: 4SS
Using both scientific and historical evidence, this seminar examines case studies of climate-related disasters around the world from ancient and modern times. We will look at why some societies collapsed in the face of natural climate changes and how others persevered, and consider whether historical examples hold any relevance as we confront global warming today.
Enrollment Limit: 12
Instructor: S. White
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
W 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 384 - Globalization and its Discontents in MENA History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3 hours
Attribute: 3SS, CD
This course explores different eras of “globalization” that the MENA region has experienced in its modern history. In addition, it explores different modes of subaltern and elite resistance against these "globalizations." The goal of the course is to answer the following questions: Why the MENA region is an “underdeveloped” economy today? Is this due to spme "cultural exceptionalism” of this region? Or the region's economic and social trajectories have been part of greater global transformations?
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: Z. Abul-Magd
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
W 02:30 – 04:20 pm
HIST 385 - Science and Technology in Global History
Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 4 hours
Attribute: 4 SS
Exploring case studies from ancient to modern times, we investigate the role of science and technology in global history. We consider how globalizing practices like trade, migration, capitalism and imperialism shape science and technology, and are shaped by them. We discuss the relationship between science and technology, the scientific and industrial revolutions, science and technology transfer or diffusion, and the broader social, cultural and ecological history of science and technology.
Enrollment Limit: 15
Instructor: P. Soppelsa
Consent of the Instructor Required? Yes
MW 02:30 – 04:20 pm
