Fall 2019 Courses
100 Level Courses
HI 103 Medieval Europe
Alexandra Thomas | 3 credits
The formation of Europe: from the breakdown of Roman political authority in the West in the 4th century to the rise of national states and their conflicts in the 14th.
Note(s): Fulfills the Social Sciences requirement.
HI 105 19th Century Europe: Ideology and Revolution
Angela Ellis | 3 credits
An intensive examination of the revolutions in economics, politics, and society in Europe from 1789 to 1914. Emphasis on the French and industrial revolutions; the rise in nationalism, liberalism, socialism, imperialism, and the women's movement; international rivalry and diplomacy culminating in World War I.
Note(s): Fulfills Social Sciences requirement.
HI 146 Middle East Survey
Murat C. Yildiz | 3 credits
This course is a survey of the history of the Middle East, from late antiquity to the early modern period. It combines a chronological and thematic examination of social, political, and legal institutions; scientific, philosophical, and scholarly ventures; the impact of invaders; conversion; and, religious, political, economic interactions. By examining cities, such as Aleppo, Baghdad, Cairo, Constantinople, Cordoba, Esfahan, and Shiraz, as well areas, such as the Mediterranean basin, bodies of water, such as the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, over the course of a thousand years, the course challenges the notion that there was one physical center to the Middle East. Through a close reading of historiographical debates and primary sources, students will examine the circulation of people, ideas, goods, and practices across space and time.
HI 151 001 Two World Wars, A Global Perspective of the Years 1900-1945
Matthew Hockenos | 3 credits
Examines the two world wars from a global perspective. Rather than study the two wars as merely a series of military battles in Europe and the Pacific, this course will give special attention to the global nature of the two wars: the clash between imperial powers over colonial possessions; the use of colonial subjects as soldiers; the collapse of great empires after the wars; the emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as world powers; the impact of war on Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East; the growth of colonial independence after the wars; and the origins of the global Cold War in the second half of the 20th century. This course gives equal weight to how the wars broke out, how they were waged, and how their outcomes fundamentally rearranged the world. Students will be introduced to the various lenses through which the war can be examines, including perspectives that emphasize, culture, the economy, the homefront, gender, and society.
HI 151 002 Modern British Empire
Peter Moloney | 3 credits
The story of Britain in the 20th century is an instructive story of rise and decline, showing that Great Powers, even those based upon what are thought to be the best possible political and moral principles, don't necessarily remain Great Powers forever.
In 1900, Britannia ruled the waves. The 40 million citizens of the British Isles were linked to a colonial empire of 400 million people over which the sun was said to never set. Britain was financialy pre-eminent in the world; the pound sterling was the currency against which all others were measured. Britons prided themselves on what they thought to be their cultural, racial, and religious superiority. All of these certainties would be eroded over the course of the 20th century as colonialism receded all over the globe. Rather than the pre-eminently successful colonialist they once had been, the British came to be seen as the perpetrators of an anachronistic and bloody imperial system in, among other places, India and Northern Ireland. The British social and political system was also beginning to show cracks. At the beginning of the 20th century, a revolt against the House of Lords was stirring. Women's sufferage and unionism threatened the social stability, and the war undermined the nation's demographic fabric. By the time the Depression of the 1920s and 1930s struck, the country was due for a complete economic overhaul, which culminated in a complete Welfare State. A nation riven by political and economic divisions was briefly united during World War II, but important differences in ideology persist to the present.
From Manor House to Monty Python, from Balfour to the Beatles, from Rule Britannia to Cool Britannia, this class will examine the changes in British culture over the course of the 20th century.
200 Level Courses
HI 210 The Four Kingdoms
Angela Ellis | 3 credits
What does it mean to be English, Scottish, Irish, or Welsh? This course explores the interactive histories of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and investigates each of the four kingdoms as categories of geopolitical meaning and imagined communities of individuals, seeking to understand the place that each played in the history of the geographic space we now call "the British Isles." In confronting the disparities between the myth, legend, and history in all of the four kingdoms, and the relationships forged between them, students in the course challenge the boundaries of historical inquiry marking "domestic" history as something apart from "imperial" history and seek ultimately to define what being "British" meanas to those living in each of the four kingdoms.
Note(s): Fulfills Social Sciences requirement.
HI 251C 001 The Renaissance
Alex Thomas | 3 credits
In 1348 perhaps a third to one-half of all Europeans died from a mysterious illness called the Black Death, which was only one of a numberoff calamities that disrupted normal life. In the wake of these disasters, people began to search for explanations for what had gone wrong – thinkers, artists, and a surprising number of common people asked questions sabout their own personal identities, about the obligations of a moral life, about the virtues of civic service, and about their personal relationship to God. This search for answers – the cultural movement that we now call the Renaissance – emphasized the responsibility of humans to improve their communities through social welfaare, to beautify their cities, and to devote themselves to the duties of citizenship. The Renaissance began among the independent city-states of Italy, where political structures encouragesd cultural experimentation, and spread to the rest of Europe. The course will concentrate on developments such as the political and family structures of city-states such as Florence and Venice, the culture of princely courts, the ambitions of the Roman popes, the social and intellectual basis for artistic creativity, the origins of modern political thought and the scientific method, and the constraints and opportunities available to women.
HI 251C 002 Oral History
Jordana Dym | 3 credits
This course provides students with the foundations to understand, design, execute and work with oral history interviews in research projects. The semester begins with conceptualization and conduct and concludes with analysis and dissemination. The course introduces the theory and history of the method through reading, listening and discussion, with emphasis on power dynamics and social justice. Production skills include project design, interviewing, audio recording, transcribing, indexing, and digital archiving. Students will also become familiar with aspect of oral history storytelling (analysis and dissemination of oral histories, including audio editing, online presentation, museum exhibits, podcasts, and other public oral history genres). In the first half of the semester, students will work on one pre-selected oral history project with a class community partner, which will become part of an online, curated collection. In the second half, students working alone or collaboratively will develop and execute an independent oral history project.
HI 257P American Indian History
Eric Morser | 4 credits
An exploration of North American Indian history from the precolonial era through the present. Students focus on a number of key themes including the rich complexities of indigenous cultures, contact and conflict among different Indian peoples, the impact of European colonization on Native societies, and the critical role that Indians played in the creation and transformation of the United States.
Note(s): Fulfills Social Sciences requirement. Fulfills Cultural Diversity.
HI 275 Introduction to the History Major
Jennifer Delton | 1 credit
An introduction to the aims of the history major.
Note(s): A prerequisite for the Colloquium. Required for all majors and interdepartmental majors, to be taken in the sophomore or junior years. Open to non-majors with permission of instructor.
HI298 Clash within Islam
Nimrod Hurvitz | 1 credit
Muslim fundamentalists, who constitute approximately one-half to two-thirds of the population in most Muslim majority states, lead powerful political movements, head influential civil-society organizations, an articulate widely accepted attitudes towards culture and faith. Together they constitute a major force that is shaping Muslim societies and beliefs. Yet, concurrently, they are split. over a wide variety of cardinal issues, such as attitude towards the West, adoption of Western political values and practices such as democracy, consumption of Western cultural products such as movies and music, political violence, and women's presence and status in society.
This course introduces the main fundamentalist movements, examines them closely and brings to light their divergences, controversies, competition over public support and in some instances, violent confrontations. It offers a map of the leading movements, discusses the main issues of contention among the fundamentalists, and makes sense of the world they live in and how they try to shape it.
300 level courses
HI 322R American Radicalism
Eric Morser | 4 credits
An exploration of how radicals have shaped the course of American history from the colonial period through the modern era. Students read and discuss scholarly works, craft a project proposal, conduct research, and write an original essay that contributes new insights to the field of History. Students focus on American cultural radicals, from groundbreaking Transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau to the free love advocate Victoria Woodhull to the jazz trailblazer Thenonious Monk.
HI 344P China's Last Empire: The Glorious Quig (1644-1911)
Jenny Day | 4 credits
The Quig Empire from 1644-1911. A multiethnic empire created by the Manchu confederation from the northeastern borderlands, the Quig expanded into central Asia, Mogolia, Tibet, and projected a powerful influence in Korea and Southeast Asia. Students will focus on the political, social, cultural, and intellectual aspects of the dynasty and examine the Sino-Western and Sino-Japanese encounters of the 19th and early 20th century, as well as how imperialism and secular crisis led to its decline and demise.
Note(s): Fulfills Social Sciences and Non-Western Culture requirements.
HI 346 Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Middle East
Murat C. Yildiz | 3 credits
An exploration of the complex historical narratives of women, gender, and sexuality in the broader Middle East in different periods, with a focus on the 19th century to the present. Students will examine the ways in which social, political, and economic transformations shaped the discourses on gender and sexuality and the lived experiences of people across the region. Students will explore a diverse array of topics, such as gender and sexuality in law, marriage and family, gender and sexuality in literature, the Harem, slavery, illicit sex, the rise of women's movements, colonial feminism, the binarization of gender and sexuality, transsexualty, and queer space.
Note(s): Fulfills Social Sciences and Non-Western Culture requirements.
HI 351C 001 Muslim Christian Relations
Alexandra Thomas | 3 credits
This course will explore the relationships of Muslims and Christians during crucial moments of sustained contact ranging from the time of the Crusades to the 17th century. We will analyze the realities and falsehoods surrouding the ongoing coexistence and conflicts between Christians and Muslims, at the points in history when the two groups first started to know something of each other. In Europe during these centuries, coherent states began to form, the art and practice of international diplomacy was solidified in an ever-expanding world, and relationships of all kinds between Christians and Muslims became more commonplace. What is the history behind the very concept of West and East, or one side versus another in the dangerous "clash of civilizations" thesis? Are such notions only modern inventions? This course will explore themes of empire, intermarriage, religious conversion, slavery, commercial and military rivalries, alliances and welare, and the influence of art, in addition to mutual perceptions of "the other" from both sides of the Mediterranean Sea.
HI 351C 002 Tudor-Stuart Britain
Angela Ellis | 3 credits
This course wil examine from many angles the history of England (and that of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, when possible) from the accession of Henry VII in 1485 thought the political settlement following the Glorious Revolution in 1688. We will focus on a number of key themes, including the social and economic effects of rapid population growth, the conversion of the realm from Catholicism to Protestantism, the development of constitutional monarchy, and the emergence of the kingdom as an important political and economic power. You've probably come for the Tudors (and that's OK), but you'll be glad you stayed the the Stuarts.
HI 351D Dominatrix: Influential Women
Michael Arnush | 4 credits
Cleopatra is by far the most renowned female political figure from ancient Greece and Rome, but she was not alone in having influence on men who operated in the sphere of rough-and-tumble politics. Students in this research seminar will explore women who operated in front of or behind the scenes but still managed to help shape policy. From Aspasia, the courtesan of Pericles of Athens; to Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great; to Cleopatra herself, Queen of Egypt and lover of both Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony; and to the many Roman wives and empresses, the world of state management in antiquity felt the hand of women. These talented and savvy women leveraged their positions of unoffical authority with their fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands who dominated their world and executed policies. For their final research projects, students will select one of these powerful figures and explore the extent of their influence on the men in positions of authority.