Catalog of Courses for History
Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of African History.
Studies the history of African civilizations from the iron age through the era of the slave trade, ca. 1800. Emphasizes the search for the themes of social, political, economic, and intellectual history which present African civilizations on their own terms.
Studies the history of Africa and its interaction with the western world from the mid-19th century to the present. Emphasizes continuities in African civilization from imperialism to independence that transcend the colonial interlude of the 20th century.
Studies the history of Africa generally south of the Zambezi River. Emphasizes African institutions, creation of ethnic and racial identities, industrialization, and rural poverty, from the early formation of historical communities to recent times.
This course concerns the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with an emphasis on African history. Through interactive lectures, in-class discussions, written assignments and examinations of first-hand accounts by slaves and slavers, works of fiction and film, and analyses by historians, we will seek to understand one of the most tragic and horrifying phenomena in the history of the western world.
History of West Africans in the wider context of the global past, from West Africans' first attempts to make a living in ancient environments through the slave trades (domestic, trans-Saharan, and Atlantic), colonial overrule by outsiders, political independence, and ever-increasing globalization.
This course explores how Africans changed their interactions with the physical environments they inhabited and how the landscapes they helped create in turn shaped human history. Topics covered include the ancient agricultural revolution, health and disease in the era of slave trading, colonial-era mining and commodity farming, 20th-century wildlife conservation, and the emergent challenges of land ownership, disease, and climate change.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of African History.
This course explores the long history of human well-being in Africa: from the diets and mental health of earliest people; through challenges of diseases in eras of pre-modern globalization; to the formulation of ¿medical science¿ amid the Atlantic slave trade and then European overrule; to the aspirations of Africans after political independence to care for themselves amid the challenge of constrained national budgets for health care while facing emergent scourges.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. Seminar work results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of African History.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member, any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Open to majors or non-majors.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of African History.
This tutorial introduces the major themes, debates, and methods of studying pre-colonial African history. It is intended to prepare graduate students for preliminary examinations as well as to teach African history. Topics include the invention of Africa, non-archival methodologies, continuity and change in African religious and cultural history, the impact of European trade and culture on coastal societies, slavery in African society.
Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
An intro to the study of Chinese civilization. We shall begin with the earliest human remains found in China & conclude in the present. The goal of this coure is not merely to tell the story of Chinese history, rich and compelling though the story is. Rather, our aim will be to explore what makes Chinese civilization specifically Chinese, & how the set of values, practices, & institutions we associate with Chinese society came to exist.
Studies the transformation of Chinese politics, society, institutions, culture and foreign relations from the Opium War. through the post-Mao Reform Era. Emphasizes the fluid relationship between tradition and transformation and the ways in which this relationship continues to shape the lives of the Chinese people.
An introduction to the politics, culture, and ideologies of modern Japan from roughly 1800 to the present. We will pay special attention to the interplay between Japan's simultaneous participation in global modernity and its assertion of a unique culture as a way to explore the rise of the nation-state as a historically specific form.
This lecture class surveys the history of Japanese civilization from prehistory to the end of the nineteenth century. Through an assortment of historical, literary, religious and visual materials, it offers an introduction to the political, social, religious, intellectual, artistic, and cultural life of Japan in its various epochs.
This course covers the history of Korean civilization from its archeological and mythical origins to the late nineteenth century. Together students will examine sources on premodern Korean warfare, society, sex, politics, religion, and culture to understand how this seemingly distant past continues to shape Korea's present and future. We will also explore the influence of Korean civilization on regional and global histories beyond the peninsula.
This course traces Korea's history from its unified rule under the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) to Japanese colonization (1910-1945) and subsequent division into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Republic of Korea (South Korea). It examines how processes of reform, empire, civil war, revolution, and industrialization shaped both Koreas' development and how ordinary people experienced this tumultuous history.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of East Asian History.
Surveys the social, political and economic organization of traditional Chinese society, traditional Chinese foreign policy, and major literary, artistic, and intellectual movements.
Survey of the social, political, and cultural history of China from 10th to the early 20th centuries. Topics include the philosophic basis of state and society, the formation of social elites, the influence of nomadic peoples, and patterns of popular dissent and rebellion, among others
Studies political and social thought from the early 20th century to the present, as reflected in written sources (including fiction), art, and films.
The course traces China's external relations from antiquity to our own times, identifying conceptions, practices, and institutions that characterized the ancient inter-state relations of East Asia and examining the interactions between "Eastern" and "Western," and "revolutionary" and "conventional" modes of international behavior in modern times. The student's grade is based on participation, midterm test, final exam, and a short essay.
This course will examine the rise of the nation-state form in Japan as a new form of historical subjectivity. It will explore in depth the political, economic, social, and cultural changes in the wake of the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868 to the start of the Tasiho period in 1912.
This course is an exploration of Japan's imperial project from roughly 1890-1945. We will start by developing a critical theoretical vocabulary with which we will then focus on three recent and important books on Japanese imperialism in East Asia. At the end of the semester we will also look briefly at anti-imperial and decolonization movements as well as the status of the category of 'empire' for analyzing the postwar period.
This course explores societal debates about the problem of industrial pollution in China, Japan, and Korea from a historical perspective. Questions this course addresses include the costs and benefits of industrial development and growth, the relationship between environmental movements and civil society, the environmental costs of war, and the role of the non-human in historical narratives.
The class examines China's entanglement with the Cold War from 1945 to the early 1990s. The course raises China-centered questions because it is curious in retrospect that China, a quintessential Eastern state, became so deeply involved in the Cold War, a confrontation rooted in Western history. In exploring such questions, this course does not treat China as part of the Cold War but the Cold War as a period of Chinese history.
The course explores Chinese-American relations since the late 18th century. Starting as an encounter between a young trading state and an ageless empire on the two sides of the Pacific Ocean, the relationship has gone through stages characterized by the two countries' changing identities. The course understands the relationship broadly and seeks insights at various levels.
This course examines the history of territorial disputes in East Asia by examining the demarcation, mapping, & policing of borders from the 1600s - present. With case studies including Xinjiang, the Korean peninsula, & current territorial disputes in the South & East China Seas, we will interrogate the social, political, cultural, & environmental factors that defined boundaries in East Asia historically & contribute to ongoing border tensions.
An examination of the history of Japan from 1945 to the present, as it transforms from an empire to a modern industrial capital state. We will explore the key contradictions, debates, and fault lines that run through the period, many of which persist to today.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of East Asian History.
A small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
A small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students prepare about 25 pages of written work. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Open to majors or non-majors.
This seminar familiarizes graduate students with scholarships about relations among states, societies, and peoples of the Asia-Pacific region during the 20th century, and helps students refine their ongoing research projects or initiate new ones. In applying rigorously methods of historical research to their projects, students produce scholarly works or research proposals that can meet expectations in actual scholarly fields.
This course, an advanced reading seminar, provids an in-depth investigation of one of the most magnificent, yet destructive, revolutions in human history--the Chinese Communist revolution, as well as the person who led the revoilution--Mao Zedong.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of East Asian History.
North Korea's brutal resiliency on the international stage makes it increasingly important to understand its unique historical trajectory. Together we will discuss obstacles as well as opportunities related to finding primary sources on North Korean history while completing original research papers that help us better understand the inner workings and outward-facing aspirations of this authoritarian "democratic people's republic."
This tutorial explores three types of conflicts in China modern experiences: civil wars, international conflicts, and Cold War confrontations. Reading materials include major scholarships on these topics. The class meets biweekly, and the students are evaluated on the basis of participation, short book reviews, and a final paper.
This tutorial is about conceptual and political constructions of the "Chinese Nation" in the 20th century. Readings include relevant writings by important intellectual and political figures of 20th-century China and major scholarships on the subject from multiethnic perspectives. The class meets biweekly, and the students are evaluated on the basis of participation, short book reviews, and a final paper.
Introduction the history and historiography of modern Japanese Thought, Culture, and Politics. Topics include modernity, empire, the nation-state, war, fascism, and capitalist development.
This tutorial provides students an overview of representative scholarly works and major historiographical debates in the English language on the study of modern Korean history. Specific topics covered include Korea's colonization, decolonization, division, economic development, the birth of modern Korean nationalism, and the growth of Korea's overseas diaspora.
This tutorial provides students an overview of representative scholarly works and major historiographical debates in the English language on modern imperialism in East Asia and is primarily designed for PhD students preparing for their qualifying examinations.
This course introduces students to the major types/genres of materials for the study of Imperial Chinese history, including both official documents and unofficial/literary and artistic works. Its two primary goals are to (1) familiarize students with the large variety of available sources and (2) provide abundant hands-on opportunities for critical reading and textual analysis.
This course introduces graduate students to key English-language scholarship on the political, social, and cultural history of imperial China, focusing on the 8th to 13th centuries. Major topics include court politics, the formation of factionalism, the evolution of key institutions, literati cultural practices, and patterns of social networking, etc.
This course introduces students to the major types of source materials (official documents, treatises, biographies, anecdotal writing, ji accounts, letters, etc.) for the study of Song Dynasty history.
This course introduces students to the most influential English-language scholarship on imperial China, especially the Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279), and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, in the last century. In addition to familiarizing students with the historiography of this important period, it aims to explore the key issues and developments in political and intellectual life as well as the formation and evolution of social and cultural ideals and practices.
Intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
Intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
Surveys the fundamental institutions and ideas that have shaped the Western world. Topics include great religious and philosophical traditions, political ideas, literary forms, artistic achievements and institutional structures from the world of the ancient Hebrews to the eve of the modern world (ca. 3000 b.c. to 1600 a.d.).
Surveys the political and cultural history of the Western world in modern times. Emphasizes the distinctiveness of Western civilization, on the reasons for the rise of the West to global domination, and the relative decline of the West in recent times.
This course examines the history of nationalism in modern Europe, from the 1700s to the present day. We will consider the emergence and consolidation of European nation-states in the eighteenth century; nationalist movements and the breakup of empires in the nineteenth; ethnic cleansing and nationalist violence in twentieth-century Europe; as well as the rise of the European Union and its challenges today.
Studies the political, military, and social history of Ancient Greece from the Homeric age to the death of Alexander the Great, emphasizing the development and interactions of Sparta and Athens.
Surveys the political, social, and institutional growth of the Roman Republic, focusing on its downfall and replacement by an imperial form of government, the subsequent history of that government, and the social and economic life during the Roman Empire, up to its own decline and fall.
Studies European economic history from the middle ages to the industrial revolution. Emphasizes the emergence of the market and the rise of capitalism in Great Britain.
Studies ways of life and thought in the formation of Western Europe from the 4th century a.d. to the 15th. Includes a survey of the development of society and culture in town and countryside, the growth of economic, political, and religious institutions, and the impact of Muslim and Byzantine civilizations.
European history since the French Revolution, with an emphasis on social, cultural, and political change in global perspective.
This course surveys the pre-modern Jewish historical experience from antiquity through the sixteenth century.
Survey of Jewish history from the seventeenth century to the present, primarily in Europe, but with further treatment of Jewish life in the U.S. and Israel. Major topics include Jewish historical consciousness; patterns of emancipation; religious adjustment; the role of women; anti-Semitism; Zionism; the American Jewish experience; the Holocaust; the establishment of Israel; and Jewish life in Europe after the Holocaust.
Surveys political, social, and cultural history as Britain developed from a European backwater into a global power. Focuses on four major transformations: the Reformation and changing religious life under the Tudor monarchs; new political ideas during the Civil Wars of the 1640s and revolution in the 1680s; the unification of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and the beginnings of a global empire in North America and South Asia.
This course surveys the history of modern Britain from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the resurgent nationalisms of the present. Themes include the state-building, overseas expansion, and widening inequality of the Georgian years; the industrialization, urbanization, and increasingly assertive imperialism of the Victorian era; and the problems of war, decolonization, and decline in the twentieth century.
Introduction to French social, political, and cultural history from 1789 to 1871. Examines political struggles from the French Revolution to the Paris Commune, and considers how industrialization, urbanization, mass culture and imperial expansion reshaped relationships between men and women, rich and poor, city and country, artists and audiences, and metropole and colony. Traces changing ideas of nation, citizenship, and democracy.
Introduction to major developments in French society, culture, and politics since 1871: struggles to establish a secular Republic; nationalism and imperialism; antisemitism and Islamophobia; changes in women's roles and gender ideals; the traumas of world war and fascism; postwar consumer culture and economic modernization; European integration, Cold War, and decolonization; post-colonial immigration and multiculturalism.
Explores the collapse of the Russian Empire and the rise of the Communist state. Emphasizes the social revolution, Stalinism and subsequent 'de-Stalinization,' national minorities, and the collapse of the Soviet regime.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of European History.
Surveys the intellectual, religious, and social history of Europe c.1500-1800 through the lens of changing beliefs about the supernatural. Selected topics include the rise and decline of witch-hunting, changing understandings of the universe, the impact of religious reform on traditional belief, and the "disenchantment" of European society as beliefs in the supernatural declined in the 18th century.
Explores the history and legacies of European overseas empire from the eighteenth century to the present. Themes include strategies of conquest and rule, political economies of empire, race and gender in colonial societies, "civilizing missions" and imperial cultures, violence and decolonization, postcolonial migration and memories of empire.
This course will examine LGBTQ persons, issues, and events in Europe, focusing mostly on 1850 to now. We will cover the history of anti-sodomy laws; the evolution of cultural and scientific understandings of sex, sexuality, and gender, including ideas of trans-ness; and the history of LGBTQ activism. We will focus in particular on Germany and the UK, but other countries will enter our examination as well.
Surveys the history of ancient warfare from the Homeric era until the fall of Rome.
Surveys the history and culture of the last century of the Roman Republic (133-30 b.c.), emphasizing the political and social reasons for the destruction of the Republican form of government and its replacement by a monarchy.
Study of the interrationships between law, politics and society in ancient Greece (chiefly Athenian) culture, the Hellenistic kingdoms and Rome (from the XII Tables to the Justinianic Code). Focuses particularly on the development of the idea of law; on the construction of law's authority and legitimacy; on the use of law as one method of social control; and on the development, at Rome, of juristic independence and legal codification. Prerequisite: HIEU 2031 or HIEU 2041, or permission of the instructor.
Discusses intellectual and cultural history, political and social theories, and religious movements from the 11th to the 16th centuries.
An introduction to the social and intellectual history from the tenth century to the sixteenth.
Explores the Byzantine, Muslim, and European worlds in the 8th and 9th centuries. Compares political, institutional, and social history, and the Catholic, Orthodox, and Islamic faiths.
Surveys the history of Britain from the establishment of Roman rule to the Norman Conquest of 1066. Particular focus falls upon the social, political and cultural history of early England and its neighbors in Wales and Scotland, the Scandinavian impact of the 8th through 11th centuries, and Britain's links with the wider late antique and early medieval worlds.
This course will focus primarily on the 'second' empire in Asia and Africa, although the first empire in the Americas will be our first topic. Topics covered include the slave plantations in the West Indies, the American Revolution, the rise of the British East India Company and its control of India, and the Scramble for Africa. Special emphasis will be placed on the environmental history of our points of debarkation.
Detailed study of the development of Christianity in the Middle Ages and of how it reflected upon itself in terms of theology, piety, and politics. Cross-listed as RELC 3181.
Surveys the growth and diffusion of educational, literary, and artistic innovations in Europe between 1300 and 1600.
Surveys the development of religious reform movements in continental Europe from c. 1450 to c. 1650 and their impact on politics, social life, science, and conceptions of the self.
Studies the history of England (and its foreign relations) from 1603 to 1714, with commentary on some major themes of early Hanoverian England to the end of Sir Robert Walpole's ministry. Includes newer interpretations on Stuart monarchy, the background and consequences of the Civil War, restoration ideology and politics in relation to the Cromwellian Interregnum, the Revolution of 1688, social and local history, and the creation of the first British Empire.
Surveys social, economic, and demographic structure and change in pre-industrial Europe, focusing on social unrest and rebellions.
This course examines the range of human experience in Europe during the Second World War. Why did Nazi Germany invade and attempt to colonize large parts of Europe? What were the methods of Nazi rule? How did European peoples respond to the Nazi project, whether through forms of resistance or collaboration? Who were the principal victims of the war--and why is this question so difficult to address even today?
Studies the history of modern science in its formative period against the backdrop of classical Greek science and in the context of evolving scientific institutions and changing views of religion, politics, magic, alchemy, and ancient authorities.
This class studies key aspects of German history, including the origins of Nazi ideology, colonialism, war and genocide; the Cold War and its legacies; European Integration and it's challenges; the resurgence of far-right and new-fascist politics and movements, as well as Germany's ongoing efforts to come to terms with the Holocaust.
This course provides a wide-ranging exploration of the culture and history of German Jewry from 1750 to 1939. It focuses on the Jewish response to modernity in Central Europe and the lasting transformations in Jewish life in Europe and later North America. Readings of such figures as: Moses Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine, Rahel Varnhagen, Franz Kafka, Gershom Scholem, Martin Buber, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxembourg, Walter Benjamin, and Sigmund Freud.
Detailed survey of the historical origins, political structures, cultural dynamics, and every-day practices of the Nazi Third Reich. Cross-listed in the German department, and taught in English.
Surveys Continent's troubled history from the Victorian Age to the welfare state. Addresses features of modernization and industrialization, nationalism and imperialism, causes and consequences of both world wars, Communist and Fascist challenges, Weimar and Nazi Germany, the Great Depression and crisis of capitalism, the Holocaust and decline of old Europe, and Social Democratic transformation.
This course is a comprehensive examination of the culture and history of East European Jewry from 1750 to 1935. Course cross-listed with YITR 3452.
Explores the friend/foe nexus in Germany history, literature and culture, with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.
The development of legal institutions, legal ideas, and legal principles from the medieval period to the 18th century. Emphasizes the impact of transformations in politics, society, and thought on the major categories of English law: property, torts and contracts, corporations, family law, constitutional and administrative law, and crime.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
Explores the relationship between facts and fiction in the representation of the past. Course materials range from archival sources and scholarly articles to novels, films, paintings, sculptures, poems and other creative articulations of the historical imagination. The role of the new media and media analysis in the representation of history will also be examined. Topics vary annually.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of European History.
This course examines the presentation of the Holocaust on film from the immediate postwar period to present. It does so alongside the actual history of the Holocaust. Course involves viewing multiple films inside and outside of class. Course assignments include multiple writings and analyses on various topics of filmmaking and the Holocaust.
Studies the changes resulting from the wake of reforms following the Crimean War. Explores the social and political effects of efforts to modernize and industrialize Russia, which led to the growth of political and revolutionary opposition and the overthrow of the monarchy.
Studies the background of Westernization, rise of intelligentsia, development of radical and conservative trends, and the impact of intellectual ferment on Russian culture and politics to 1917.
This course will examine the roots, causes, and aftermath of communism's collapse in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. We will consider economic stagnation and abortive attempts at reform; political crises and the rise of dissident movements; cultural exchange and the influence of mass media; and the role of social and nationalist activism.
This course aims to clarify basic facts and explore competing explanations for the origins and unfolding of the Holocaust (the encounter between the Third Reich and Europe's Jews between 1933 and 1945) that resulted in the deaths of almost six million Jews.
This course explores the pursuit of justice after the Holocaust. We will study legal responses to the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews from 1945 to the 1960s through the lens of pivotal post-Holocaust trials, including the 1945-1946 Nuremberg Trial; the 1961 Eichmann Trial, and the 1963-1965 Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial. We will ask how the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust affects our understanding of the legal process.
Traces and analyzes the ethno-religious complexion of the vast region governed by Russia and the USSR from the 16th century to the present. Special attention is given to the experiences of minorities such as Jews, the various Turkic-Muslim peoples, Ukrainians, Poles, and peoples of Transcaucasia, as well as the relations of these groups with the Russian state and ethnic Russian population.
Spanish Culture & Civilization
Studies the evolution of private life from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. Focuses on family life, work experience, material conditions, women's roles, childhood, and youth.
Analyzes the evolution of great-power politics from the post-Napoleonic Congress of Vienna and the systems of Metternich and Bismarck to the great convulsions of the twentieth century and the Russo-American Cold War after World War II.
Introduces central themes, theorists, and texts in secular European thought since 1580. Surveys the 'age of reason,' the Enlightenment, romanticism, historicism, positivism, existentialism, and related matters. Works by a variety of thinkers are read, explicated, and discussed.
Studies selected themes in intellectual history since the mid-19th century, focusing on Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, and other thinkers, emphasizing the intellectual contexts out of which they came and to which they contributed.
Introduces the social theory of Karl Marx. What Marx said, why he said it, what he meant in saying it, and the significance thereof. Situates Marx's writing in the context of 19th-century intellectual history. Focuses on the coherence and validity of the theory and its subsequent history.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
A small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic. Frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students will prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See History DUS.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Open to majors or non-majors.
Examines the history of Greece in the late archaic age down to the end of the Persian wars. Prerequisite: HIEU 2031 or equivalent.
Examination of the political, diplomatic, and social history of Greece from the end of the Persian Wars in 479 b.c. to the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404/3 b.c. Investigates the origins, course, and importance of the latter war, the major watershed in classical Greek history. Prerequisite: HIEU 2031 or equivalent.
Advanced course in Greek history that examines in detail the social and economic history of Greece from the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 b.c. to the defeat of the Greek city-states at Chaeronea in 338. Prerequisite: HIEU 2041 or equivalent.
This seminar surveys recent historical writing on modern European imperialism and decolonization with an emphasis on the twentieth century. It covers case studies from different European empires (primarily British but also French, German, and Dutch), imperial formations (including settler colonialism and informal empire), and historiographical themes (including colonial violence, colonial knowledge, and humanitarianism).
Studies the founding and institutions of the Principate, the Dominate, and the decline of antiquity. Prerequisite: HIEU 2041 or equivalent.
Examines Roman transmarine expansion to determine how and why it happened, and what consequences it had, both in Rome and abroad. Prerequisite: HIEU 2041 or equivalent.
Course surveys tradition of 'philosophy of history' (ca. 1860--1960s) but focuses on the more recent genre of 'theory of history' (late 1960s/70s--present), which responds to recent historical genres and to new problems related to narrative, memory, trauma, counterfactuality, etc. Emphasis is on linking theory to specific historical and meta-historical instances (e.g., Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem, Friedlander's Nazi Germany and the Jews, 'trut
This new class, a discussion seminar, examines the great Roman crisis of the 3rd century and the Roman's response to it, as well as the nature of reestablished Roman rule through the fourth century AD. This is the great of the emperors Diocletian & Constantine, of Julian & Theodosius. Topics to be examined include governance, warfare, the late-antique economy, religious strife, the life of cities, similarities & differences between East & West.
A study of the major countries of Europe in the era 1914-1945, with special attention to international relations, and political, economic, and social developments. Most suitable for third- and fourth- year students with some background in European history and for graduate students.
Studies the structure, performance and policy in the British economy since 1850, focusing on the causes and consequences of Britain's relative economic decline. Cross listed as ECON 5352.
A seminar offering in-depth investigations of topics and research methodologies in modern European history and culture. Topics vary.
A discussion course on key topics in the transnational history of Modern Europe since 1890. A capstone for majors in the field, it is also open to others. Topics include old and new ways of doing history, Imperialism, World War I, postwar capitalism and its critics, Communism and Fascism, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, the Cold War, the path toward European Union, the Welfare State, German Reunification, and the end of the Cold War.
The first semester of a two-semester sequence of graduate colloquia introducing students to the major themes in European history and historiography in the period before the eighteenth century and structured around central themes in medieval history.
A survey of anthropological methods useful for the study of the past: simultaneously an economic introduction to the Great Books of anthropology, to a prominent aspect of contemporary classical scholarship, and to the opportunities and problems presented by using the methods of one field to illuminate another.
The aim of this course is to acquaint students with various facets of the study of Greek and Roman antiquity; to show students a range of approaches to ancient materials; and to introduce students of antiquity to each other and to the affiliated faculty in different departments (Classics, History, Art, Religious Studies).
Intensive reading and discussion of topics in European economic history.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of European History.
A seminar offering in-depth investigations of topics and research methodologies in modern European history and culture. Topics vary.
The tutorial explores recent scholarly monographs and articles on inter-cultural exchange in and around the Russian empire, and the various forms of population mobility that facilitated it: immigration, emigration, exile within borders, urbanization, imperial conquest, commerce, military service, displacement by war, pilgrimage.
In the last 25 years the philosophy and theory of history has been revitalized, with three vibrant international journals now publishing and thought-provoking books and articles appearing every year. This tutorial will quickly cover the classic literature and issues in the field and, more intensively, the recent literature. Emphasis will be on those segments of the literature most relevant to envisaged dissertation themes.
This tutorial focuses on European-sourced conceptions and theories, with an emphasis on modernity in the broades senses. Characteristically, students will negotiate with the instructor a set of themes and texts to consider, e.g., notions of knowledge, interpretation, labor, identity, civil society, revolution.. These should be related to the student's projected dissertation area.
This graduate-level tutorial introduces the major themes, debates, and methods of historical writing on the British Empire from around 1750. It is intended particularly, though not exclusively, as field preparation for the general examination. Topics include the uses of expert knowledge, the peculiarities of settler colonialism, the lure of liberalism as imperial ideology, and the role of violence.
This tutorial introduces the major themes, debates, and methods of historical writing on modern Britain. It is intended particularly, though not exclusively, as field preparation for the general examination. Topics include the domestic ramifications of war and empire, the expanding reach of the state and the market, the adaptability of tradition, the contradictions of liberalism, and the meanings of modernity.
This tutorial will cover the most tumultuous period in Roman Republican history, that which stretches from 133 BC to the establishment of Octavian (Augustus) as the first emperor in 27 BC.
Considers developments in the British Isles and its nascent empire in the 16th and 17th centuries. Focuses on historiography of the Reformation and persistent religious conflicts, the causes and nature of the Civil Wars, and the origins of empire.
Considers key ideas and practices in English law from the late medieval period. Attention given to institutions, their development, and their interaction. Legal change will be studied in its social, political, and economic contexts. Also explores transformations in English law as it moved across a burgeoning empire.
Considers major texts in legal and political thought of the 17th and 18th centuries. Focuses on canonical works by thinkers such as Hobbes, Harrington, Sidney, Locke, Smith, and Blackstone. Texts will be appoached from within their historical contexts.
Surveys the history and historiography of European Christianity c. 1450-1650.
Explores the history and historiography of Europe, c. 1450-1750. It provides a broad introduction to early modern society and culture, with particular emphasis on the transformations that reshaped Europe in this period, such as the emergence of the early modern state, the division of Christendom, and global exploration.
This course is intended to introduce graduate students to the study of Anglo-Saxon England from the fifth to the eleventh centuries, its historiography and the range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches applied to its analysis. The class is intended to be timely and comprehensive. Archaeology, material culture and the close analysis of key primary sources and attendant scholarship will all be addressed.
This tutorial explores the major historiographical literature of modern jewish history, with an emphasis on core themes of political, cultural, and religious patterns, issues of periodization, and the question of its relationship to other fields of modern history.
A graduate tutorial devoted to close analysis of key issues in European Economic History.
This graduate tutorial surveys the historiography of decolonization in the twentieth century with an emphasis on European empires. The course is especially designed for students preparing a field for comprehensive exams but is open to others.
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the study of the post classical Mediterranean from the fifth to the tenth centuries, its historiography and the range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches pursued in its analysis. The class is not intended to be exhaustive; it is meant to be timely and comprehensive, and to balance core classic studies with often very recent historical and archaeological scholarship.
This tutorial surveys the history and historiography of religious tolerance and intolerance in the later Middle Ages and the early modern world, with a focus on both classic works and recent interventions.
This course introduces students to the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe. We will consider topics like the rise of nationalism, the challenges of state-building, the spread of left- and right-wing ideologies, interactions with the "West," and the experience of war and revolution.
This tutorial serves as an introduction to the history and historiography of France and the French empire. Looking at the period since the French Revolution, readings explore themes including revolution, industrialization, urbanization, modernity and mass culture; gender and sexuality; race and religion; and regionalism, and imperial expansion.
An introduction to the history and historiography of the French colonial empire in the modern period. Looking at the period since the French Revolution, readings explore the ideologies, institutions, and practices of French imperialism, the processes of decolonization, and the postcolonial legacies of empire.
This graduate tutorial introduces students to the details and interpretations of antiquity's two greatest legal systems, although it will be specifically tailored to the needs and interests of the individual students. Readings will be drawn from both primary and secondary sources; students will be expected to master the information provided by the primary sources and write two analytical summaries of recent secondary works.
Independent study for graduate students, designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings in European History.
Intended for first- or second-year students, this course introduces the study of history. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major history.
Introduces major developments and issues in the study of Latin American history from Native American societies on the eve of the Spanish Conquest to the wars of national independence in the early 19th century.
Introduces the history of Latin America from national independence in the early 19th century to the present.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of Latin American History.
Covers issues of human rights violations, defense, reparations, and prevention, from independence movements through the Cold War, neoliberalism, extractivism, racism, and transnational migration, trade and crime.
Studies the history of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador from 19th century fragmentation, oligarchic, foreign, and military rule, to the emergence of popular nationalisms.
Explores Brazilian history from Independence to the present day. Through an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, the course examines the legacy of slavery, the importance of popular culture, and debates over national identity in the making of a distinctively ambiguous Brazilian 'modernity,' broadly understood.
Introduces the forces shaping the emerging nations of Latin America since independence, emphasizing the dynamic reproduction of hierarchies that correspond to the patrimonial, aristocratic, and populist legitimization of social, cultural, and political relations in city life.
The course explores the Great Encounter between Indigenous people, Europeans, and Africans in America from 1492. Topics include: crises of knowledge and ethics sparked by the radical novelty of the Encounter; Columbian Exchange and the remaking of nature; tensions of difference and identity; silver, slavery, and dispossession in making a global economy; discovery and cultural devastation in modern life. This is history with philosophical intent.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of Latin American History.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. Seminar work results primarily in the preparation of substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Open to majors or non-majors.
A readings course open to graduate students with a reading knowledge of Spanish.
This seminar/tutorial will be an introduction to recent historical literature on the United States and Latin America. The course will consider historical works on the role of the United States in a variety of countries and examine key moments of US imperial expansion and empire building throughout the hemisphere during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This class reviews major trends in the scholarship on modern Latin American history. Students will present assigned books to the class throughout the semester and write a final twenty-page historiographical essay on a topic of their choosing.
Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
Explores the history of the Middle East and North Africa from late antiquity to the rise to superpower status of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Topics include the formation of Islam and the first Arab-Islamic conquests; the fragmentation of the empire of the caliphate; the historical development of Islamic social, legal, and political institutions; science and philosophy; and the impact of invaders (Turks, Crusaders, and Mongols).
What historical processes that have shaped the Middle East of today? This course focuses on the history of a region stretching from Morocco in the West and Afghanistan in the East over the period of roughly 1500 to the present. In doing so, we examine political, social, and cultural history through the lens of "media" in translation, such as manuscripts, memoirs, maps, travel narratives, novels, films, music, internet media, and more.
This course is designed to introduce students to the economic history of the Islamic World over the duration of roughly 1300 years of history. We explore ideologies, institutions, and practices of commerce in Muslim society, paying close attention to the actors, artifacts, and encounters, that gave it shape over the course of a millennium, ending with the onset of Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.
This course surveys the history of modern Palestine/Israel. Using sources including scholarly texts, memoirs, newspapers, songs, short stories, posters, we study the history of this region from the mid-1800s to the present. Historical themes include colonialism in the region; the relationship between religion, nationalism, and ethnicity; rising violence and war; the relationship between memory and history; and the ongoing importance of history amidst the current crisis.
This course explores the dramatic Arab-Israeli war of 1948 in Palestine from the UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947 to the cease-fire agreements in early 1949. It covers the political, military progression of the war, within international and decolonization contexts, while paying special attention to the two major outcomes of the war and how they came about: Jewish independence and Palestinian dispossession.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of Middle Eastern History.
Studies Christianity in the Middle East in the centuries after the rise of Islam.
A survey of the history of the Ottoman Empire from its obscure origins around 1300 to 1700, this course explores the political, military, social, and cultural history of this massive, multi-confessional, multi-ethnic, inter-continental empire which, at its height, encompassed Central and Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Rather than a traditional "area studies" approach to Middle Eastern history, we will explore the region's history from its maritime frontiers: the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. We explore how nobles, merchants, slaves, sailors, and statesmen all forged the contours of a shared world, linking the economic and political histories of Arabia, Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of Middle Eastern History.
This interdisciplinary course uses cinema as a vehicle to introduce students without a knowledge of Arabic to the perspectives of Arab peoples on their own history. Includes popular movies on the rise of Islam, Crusades, World War I, colonialism, modern city life, women's liberation,war, terrorism. Students read relevant history and learn critical theory on collective memory, propaganda, modernity, revolution, and gender.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pages in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topics of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Open to majors or non-majors.
World War I set the stage for many conflicts in the 20th-century Middle East. This course examines the last attempt to build a pluralistic, constitutional realm under the Ottoman empire; how that world crumbled in the Balkan wars and Great War; the Young Turks' relations with Germany; Lawrence of Arabia and the Arab Revolt; the Armenian genocide; women and peasants' suffering; the Balfour Declaration and start of the Palestine conflict.
This course explores the practice of slavery in its various forms in the Middle East and North Africa from pre-Islamic times through the abolition of the slave trade in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. Topics include: sources of slaves and the slave trade; manumission; the social and legal position of slaves in Islamic societies; the slave-soldier phenomenon; captivity and ransom; gender and race; and the movement towards abolition. Prerequisite: Graduate students and advanced undergraduates with previous study of the Middle East.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of Middle Eastern History.
This tutorial explores the remaking of politics, economy, and ecology in the Middle East from the late 19th century onward. While international relations and corporations play a role in the scholarship of the 20th century Middle East, we seek to understand local dimensions of oil and capital as well, focusing less on the geopolitical context and more on the socioeconomic impacts of changing economic and energy regimes.
This tutorial surveys the historiography of the medieval Middle East and North Africa (broadly construed), from pre-Islamic Arabia through the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate, which reunified the eastern half of the Mediterranean for the first time in a millennium. Readings introduce the major dynasties between Iberia and Central Asia, from the Umayyads to the Ottomans, and the seminal texts that have shaped the field.
This tutorial explores diverse themes in the social and cultural environmental history of the Ottoman Empire, placing special emphasis on the transformation of Ottoman society from the 18th century onward.
The course comprises readings from the economic, social, and legal history of the Middle East from the early medieval period onward.
The status of minorities and intercommunal relations in the Middle East have long concerned scholars of the region. This tutorial explores the historiography of "minority" communities in the Middle East and their relationships with one another. In addition to examining how communal statuses and strategies of governance have changed over time, we will consider the plurality of experiences in the region and develop a comparative perspective.
This tutorial surveys the history and historiography of the Ottoman Empire from its obscure origins through the 18th century. Initial readings introduce major historiographical debates and political, military, and institutional history of the Empire, before moving into the historiography of the 16-18th centuries and current trends in multiple sub-fields. Specific works read and discussed will be shaped in part by interests of students enrolled.
This tutorial surveys the legal history of piracy from antiquity to the present, with a particular focus on the early modern Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean worlds. Readings consisting of scholarly monographs and primary source texts introduce key concepts and major debates in the field and as well as insight into differing legal responses to piracy in specific periods and imperial spaces.
The goal of this tutorial is to provide a broad overview of recent scholarship of modern Middle Eastern history in order to prepare students to conduct research in the field. We will focus mainly on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and we will discuss both historiographical and methodological questions.
Students taking this course will explore areas and issues of special interest that are not otherwise covered in the graduate curriculum. This course is offered at the discretion of the supervising professor.
Introduction to the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussion, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
Studies the major elements of South Asian civilization, from the Stone Age to 1200, including the Indus Valley, Vedic literatures, Buddhism, Jainism, Epic traditions, the caste system, Mauryan and Guptan Empires, and devotional Hinduism.
Studies the social, political, economic and cultural history of South Asia from 1200 to 1800, from the Turkic invasions through the major Islamic dynasties, especially the Mughal Empire, to the establishment of English hegemony in the maritime provinces.
Surveys 200 years of Indian history from the mid-18th century to the present, focusing on the imperial/colonial encounter with the British Raj before Independence, and the social and political permutations of freedom in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka since.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.
Studies the society and politics in the Mughal Empire, the Empire's decline and the rise of successor states, the English as a regional power and their expansion, and social, economic and political change under British paramountcy, including the 1857 Revolt.
Surveys 100 years of Indian history, defining the qualities of the world's first major anti-colonial movement of nationalism and the changes and cultural continuities of India's democratic policy in the decades since 1947.
India's Partition and its far-reaching consequences may be productively studied from several different perspectives. This course juxtaposes select novels, films, contemporary writings, and some secondary sources to reflect on a few of the big questions thrown up by this event. These include the place of minorities in the subcontinent and the changing nature of center-state relations in the subcontinent after 1947.
Surveys the evolving definitions and roles of women in the major social and cultural traditions of South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pages in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Enrollment is open to majors or non-majors.
Analyzes historical sources and historians of political systems in Muslim India until the rise of British power.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of South Asian history.
Research and writing utilizing gazetteers, settlement reports, censuses, and other sources.
This tutorial is designed to help graduate students take qualifying exams on the field of twentieth-century South Asian history. Some themes we study include changes in the domains of religion and law in late colonial India, on the events and consequences of the partition of India, and on the possibilities of a comparative history of post-colonial South Asia.
In this course we will read and discuss a wide range of texts about South Asia¿s rich and contentious past. Major topics include change and continuity under colonial rule; law and colonialism; debates over nationalism and the Partition of the subcontinent; and developments in post-colonial South Asia.
This tutorial comprises a list of guided readings for graduate students of the History department who are working in histories of convict labor and their uses in domestic and global contexts. It works at the intersections of gender, legal and imperial labor histories.
Special Topics in History.
Introduction to the study of history intended for first- and second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussion, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
This is a survey course in modern world history. It covers a period in which the main historical questions about what happened, and why, more and more involve global circumstances, global beliefs about those conditions, and global structures to solve problems. This course can therefore be an essential foundation for other courses dwelling on particular regions or nations.
This course surveys the modern history of human rights, focusing on political, legal, and intellectual trends from the late 18th century to the present.
Grounded in discussion and analysis of primary sources from twentieth-century genocides, key works of scholarship, and documentary films, this course endeavors to understand the complex but tragically recurring process whereby regimes from across the political spectrum implement policies of one-sided mass killing and transform ordinary people into genocidal killers.
This class studies fascism as an ideology, movement, and regime in a global framework. Thematic perspectives include: the origins and theories of fascism, key terms in the fascist lexicon, motives that brought people to fascism, fascism as an aesthetics and lived experience, and the role of women in fascism. We will also study the historical articulations of antifascism, i.e. groups and individuals who have fought against fascism over the years.
This course examines global ecological connections throughout time and offers a narrative of environmental history that is more inclusive of regions outside of Europe and North America such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It explores the relationship between humans and their environments over the course of history and places special emphasis on the past century of ecological change and what has recently been called the Anthropocene.
This course examines global ecological connections throughout time and offers a narrative of environmental history that is more inclusive of regions outside of Europe and North America such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It explores the relationship between humans and their environments over the course of history and places special emphasis on the past century of ecological change and what has recently been called the Anthropocene.
Climate change is widely regarded as the most important environmental question of the present. This course equips students to engage with the study of climate change from multiple perspectives. Part 1 surveys how understandings of the climate developed and transformed. Part 2 explores how historical climatology lends new insights to familiar historical questions. Part 3 explores the history of environment and climate as political issues.
This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the history of cartography that ranges across the globe from oldest surviving images of pre-history to GIS systems of the present day. It approaches map history from a number of disciplinary perspectives, including the history of science, the history of cartography, critical theory and literary studies, anthropology, historical geography, and spatial cognition and wayfinding.
"This course explores the workings of law and sovereignty in a changing world-historical landscape, mixing conceptual readings with concrete case studies across space and time. By exploring the discourses and practices of sovereignty-making across world history, we develop a more grounded approach to the issue and its contours in global politics today, from disputes over the high seas to discourses on ""failed states"" and interventions."
An exploration of the geopolitical and ideological conflict that dominated world affairs from 1945 to 1990. Assignments include the readings of historical work, as well as primary sources, some of which are recetly declassified material from the major states involved in the Cold War.
Democracy is in trouble today. Why? This course explores the growing threats to democracy in the United States and globally. Topics include: the impact of xenophobia, racism and radical nationalism on democracy; the rise of far-right media; the appeal of ethno-nationalism; the growth of White Power militias; legal barriers against voting, immigration and citizenship; as well as the impact of social media and cyber-based disinformation.
This course will use case studies to explore the history of intelligence, espionage, and covert operations from ancient times to the end of the Cold War. We will also explore the history of spy panics and the representation of espionage in fiction and film.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.
This class will explore the impact of war upon society during the twentieth century, including World Wars I and II; conflicts in Korea and Vietnam; wars of national liberation and decolonization; and small-scale 'counter-insurgency' conflicts. Topics covered include: popular mobilization for war;civil liberties in wartime; civilian casualties; the ethics of violence; genocide; technology; and cultural production in wartime societies.
Overview of the issues and challenges involved in historical interpretation at public history sites, primarily in the United States. Includes a review of general literature on public history, exploration of diverse sources frequently used, and analysis of some recent public history controversies.
History of genocide and other forms of one-sided, state-sponsored mass killing in the twentieth century. Case studies include the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the mass killings that have taken place under Communist regimes (e.g., Stalin's USSR, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia).
This course explores the history of museums as well as themes and challenges in a variety of forms of public history. It relies heavily on classroom discussion, field trips, archival research, and hands-on exhibit design. Students learn about the origins of the modern museum as well as the important areas of debate within the museum community on presenting various topics. As a capstone project, they design their own exhibit.
At the Great War's centennial, we take stock of how it shaped life in the 20th century for peoples around the globe. Movies, memoirs, government reports and other texts throw light on causes of the war, the human carnage of 1914-18, Woodrow Wilson's effort to end war forever with a League of Nations, the demise of liberalism and the rise of fascism and communism in postwar Europe, and the launch of anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa.
This course provides a survey of the greatest, most destructive war in human history. Perhaps 50 million people were killed in the Second World War, and the conflict reached every corner of the globe. Its political, social, and human consequences were vast and shape the world we live in today.
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.
This course offers a history of Americans' involvement in the Middle East and responses to them. Using new approaches to international history, we study 19th-century pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Wilsonian diplomacy, oil businesses, philanthropists, Zionists, spies in the Cold War, and finally the soldiers who fought the Iraq war. Students write a final paper based on research at the Library of Congress or National Archives.
This course reviews some common traps in historical reasoning and suggests ways of avoiding them.
Explores the history of soccer to understand how and why it has become the most popular sport on the planet. We focus on the culture, economics and politics of the sport. Examples are drawn from Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, and include a focus on women's soccer. Class materials include scholarly works, essays, fiction, and film; students work on digital projects related to upcoming international tournaments.
History-related internships to bridge academic and professional experiences. It combines an exploration of ¿self¿ in relationship to the complexities and structures of the professional organizations in which students work as interns with exploration of the professional applications of the knowledge and skills developed by History students. Students will develop mindsets and tools to conceptualize their interests and make valuable connections between their academics and potential career paths.
Comparative study of the historical development of selected advanced economies (e.g., the United States, England, Japan, continental Europe). The nations covered vary with instructor. Cross-listed with ECON 4400.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pages in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquial prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.
Topics courses are small, discussion-oriented classes available to any student with sufficient background and interest in a particular field of historical study. Offered irregularly, they are open to majors or non-majors on an equal basis.
Studies historical approaches, techniques, and methodologies introduced through written exercises and intensive class discussion. Normally taken during the third year. Prerequisite: Open only to students admitted to the Distinguished Majors Program.
Analyzes problems in historical research. Preparation and discussion of fourth-year honors theses. Normally taken during the fourth year. Intended for students who will be in residence during their entire fourth year. Prerequisite: Open only to students admitted to the Distinguished Majors Program.
Analyzes problems in historical research. Preparation and discussion of fourth-year honors theses. Intended for Distinguished Majors who will have studied abroad in the fall of their fourth year. Prerequisite: Open only to students admitted to the Distinguished Majors Program.
In exceptional circumstances and with the permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Enrollment is open to majors or non-majors.
This course will explore all aspects of conceptualizing, planning for, and creating a scholarly digital edition. It provides a basic introduction to the various types of digital editions, the practice of editing in the digital age, and a survey of the many digital tools available to serve project goals.
The seminar orients students to the professional world of statecraft by working through historical case studies. Breaking down critical episodes step by step, analyzing the perspectives, information, and choices of different participants, students gain more lifelike education and insight. Applying templates for policy design and assessment, they get more experience working on public problems and learning a lot of history along the way.
How is history conveyed and consumed outside of the academy? How is the past presented and explained to various audience--at museums and historic sites and through movies, documentary films, radio, social media, and journalism? From historic house museums to African American preservation sites, this course blends theory and practice by providing an informed and engaging overview of the many aspects of public history.
The course explores the intersections of the late cold war and its aftermath, human rights history and environmental history.
For the past forty years the role of Pius XII and the Vatican during World War II has been controversial. This seminar will look at that controversy and place it in the context of newly available archival material. The studnets will read severalbooks on both sides of the question and then present their own research papers, the topics of which will be chosen in consultation with the professor.
Historical study of 'slavery' from very early times through the nineteenth century, on a global scale (including ancient Mediterranean, Islamic world, Africa, Europe, and the Americas).
Examines European legal regimes as they moved around the globe and considers those regimes' interactions with one another and with non-European legal cultures from 1500 to the twentieth century. Themes include: empire formation and legal pluralism; conflicting ideas of property; interaction of settler and indigenous peoples; forced labor and migration; the law of nations; and piracy and the law of the sea.
This transdisciplinary course explores the layered histories of the Caribbean region and the ways in which that history is remembered in literature and visual art, religious practices, music and performance, and through monuments and museums. As we collectively explore Caribbean history from a variety of forms and different angles, students will also develop a final project, which can take a variety of different forms.
This seminar will focus on key aspects of the development of the international economy since the mid-nineteenth century. Emphasis will be on the process of change, the impact of policy, and the operation of international institutions. Special focus will be paid to the economics of the Great Depression, the impact of the First and Second World Wars, and the drivers of growth.
This workshop introduces advanced humanities students to map history research and geospatial visualization. It features work with maps in Special Collections as well as the production of digital scholarship using ArcGIS software. No experience is expected or required. This course counts as an elective for the DH Graduate Certificate program. Prerequisite: Graduate student or College 3rd or 4th year.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.
Readings and discussion of the history of genocide and other forms of one-sided, state-sponsored mass killing in the twentieth century.
This hands-on research seminar will explore the historical intersections of slavery, race, and law on UVA's North Grounds. Class readings, discussions, and field trips will investigate the history of this landscape within a broader historical context of enslavement in Virginia and at the University, land use in Virginia, and the Jim Crow South.
Examines the history of documentary photography, the work of some of the most significant documentary photographers of the past and the present, and the ethical and theoretical issues which surround documentary practice.
The course explores the intersections of the late cold war and its aftermath, human rights history and environmental history.
Introduces graduate students in all fields of history to their overlapping and complementing aspects in an Atlantic context from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries. It distinguishes a historical epistemology significantly distinct from, but also integral to, any of its component fields. Thus it supports regional graduate history fields and dissertation research. It also orients students toward development of qualifications to meet the "world history" component of many current teaching positions. Graduate students in other departments may find the colloquium a useful enhancement to their primary academic agendas, as well as for reflection on the relationships of thinking historically to their own academic disciplines. ABDs are welcome to participate in the colloquium as a dissertation-writing workshop.
This graduate seminar for PhD students explores the recent scholarship in international and transnational history of the twentieth century. It exposes students to work on imperialism, ideologies of global war and peacemaking, radical political ideologies of the right and the left, global economic upheaval, genocide, refugee and humanitarian movements, decolonization, modernization, the United Nations, and the post-Cold War world.
Extensive directed readings on selected topics, covering both substantive historical literature and relevant theoretical works. Students must write a minimum of two papers during the term.
Reading and discussion of new trends in the field of War and Society.
A survey of recent literature on the history of gender and sexuality from the late eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. The class is both comparative and transnational with readings drawn from literatures on the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.
Historical Research and Writing offers first-year doctoral students in History and those in the JD/MA program a workshop in which to discuss and develop an article-length work of original scholarship. Prerequisite: First-year history Ph.D. students or JD/MA students
This course offers graduate students an opportunity to research and write an article-length history research essay of publishable quality in any field. Research will be conducted with the guidance of the faculty dissertation adviser. A revised version of the essay can be submitted to fulfill the master's essay requirement for students in History. This course fulfills one of the two required research seminars for History graduate students. Prerequisite: Graduate students in History or permission of instructor
For master's research, taken before a thesis director has been selected.
For master's essay and other research carried out prior to advancement to candidacy, taken under the supervision of the student's adviser.
A workshop on teaching at the college level. Prerequisites: Third-year history Ph.D. candidates
This tutorial will examine certain key issues and debates in the History of the International Economy since 1850.
This graduate-level tutorial introduces the history of the human sciences in Western Europe and the United States since around 1800. Emphasizing anthropology, sociology, and the mind sciences (psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry), we consider the intellectual as well as the institutional dimensions of how disciplines emerged; how they created new forms of power; how they affected old forms of power; and how they changed everyday life.
Considers key ideas and practices in global legal history, ca. 1500-1900. Explores the interaction of European law with non-European cultures as empires expanded; the development of the law of the sea; and early ideas and practices in the law of nations.
Explores the incorporation of images and sounds into historical research, focusing on historiography and methods.
The course is a practicum that designed to introduce students to digital tools for historical visualization, with an emphasis on geospatial visualization. It will introduce students to a variety of software tools for data visualization including MapScholar, Carto DB, Story Map, and SHIVA as they build their own research-based projects. It will include events and consulting sessions hosted by SHANTI the Scholars' Lab.
This course is a global survey of maps and map making from pre-history to the present. It introduces students to the varied scholarly approaches to understanding the knowledge and practice behind representations of geographic space as well as the interpretation of maps, plans, and charts as objects of analysis. The content of this course can be tailored to times and places of particular interest to students.
Readings in modern international history: topics will include war, peace-making, diplomacy, the role of non-governmental organizations in world politics, refugees, human rights, decolonization, and transnational ideologies.
This tutorial will be a close reading of Capital vol. 1 with excerpts from Smith, Ricardo, and Malthus, as well as secondary sources on the texts. We will finish with historical & contemporary perspectives on Marx and Marxism. By the end students will be prepared to consider the quest of capitalist development outside the West, have a basis for continuing into cultural studies & post-colonial theory & the relationship between theory & history.
This course introduces students to the historiography on the Indian Ocean in broad terms, placing it within the context of discussions on world history. While the main goal is to develop a deeper knowledge of Indian Ocean history, the bulk of the course is devoted to thinking about how historians conceptualize connectivity across watery spaces and, more fundamentally, how they deal with issues of scale and time in writing trans-regional history.
This course examines seminal works in the study of nationalism, focusing on major questions in the field. Topics include the origins of nationalism; its relationship to empire and to violence; the techniques and technologies of nationalist mobilization; and nationalism's role in daily life. We will read both theoretical texts and historical case studies, with a special emphasis on modern Europe.
This graduate workshop focuses on the global and comparative history of labor during the emergence of capitalism. Students will read ten monographs and a number of debates and fora published in journals on the history of labor around the world from the development of the global capitalist world system to the present. At the end of the semester students will write a twenty-page historiographical essay on a topic of their choosing.
This tutorial will introduce students to the main uses of quantitative methods employed by historians, including sampling techniques; parametric and non-parametric methods; regression analysis; and logit, probit, and Tobit models. No prior knowledge of statistics is required.
This tutorial surveys the history and historiography of the Mediterranean Sea as a subject of scholarly inquiry from late antiquity to the late nineteenth century.
This course introduces students to the conversation surrounding "Global History." Global history has come to embrace broader questions of scale, connection, movement, and circulation in history. It is a methodological reflection -- a sensibility -- as much as it is a sub-field. We will think about the analytical and narrative choices we make as historians, but also about the ways we incorporate global history into course and curricular design.
This graduate tutorial examines the history of neoliberalism through recent US historiography and canonical texts by political and economic theorists.
This course helps students develop the tools of historical analysis & uses them to ask broader questions about the nature of research & writing in history. We explore how to reduce the scale of analysis; identifying protagonists & other actors; interpreting clues & historical action; mapping the possibilities & limits of the historical record; & crafting historical narratives that unfold along multiple scales, from the micro to the macro & back.
Students will explore approaches to "podcasting history" and learn the basic conceptual considerations of the medium. Work will include reading and presenting the work of conventional textual scholars as well as gaining familiarity with methods of recording and producing audio. Alongside the assigned materials, students will work towards a podcast draft aimed at a public audience based on themes in 19th and 20th century global history.
This course is a graduate readings tutorial on feminist theories of gender that inform our analysis of the past. We will draw from a variety of readings and theoretical engagements from different historical time periods and contexts. The main questions driving the course will be the following: what is feminist analysis, and how is this a useful tool for historical work and the ways in which we frame the past?
This tutorial explores approaches to the history of gender and sexuality across time and space. It emphasizes how the field has evolved and the major debates that enhance our understandings of power, difference, representation, and materiality. Students will read for gender and sexuality, understand the connection between gender history methodology and other methodologies of the field, and practice historical methods of source interpretation.
This tutorial aims to orient students to debates in the history of global capitalism. We will acquaint ourselves with the principal debates and trends in the field, and think through how to design classes under that broad heading.
This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of new work in legal history. Students are required to attend the legal history workshop and the legal history writing group and to write a number of short reaction papers in response to the work presented by legal historians over the course of the year. There is no final exam. Through the class, students will engage with a variety of legal history scholars.
This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of new work in legal history. Students are required to attend the legal history workshop and the legal history writing group and to write a number of short reaction papers in response to the work presented by legal historians over the course of the year. There is no final exam. Through the class, students will engage with a variety of legal history scholars.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.
This course is a graduate-level adaptation of an undergraduate course in history. The graduate-level adaption requires additional research, readings, or other academic work established by the instructor beyond the undergraduate syllabus.
Graduate study of the historiography of a particular topic or historical period, equivalent to a graduate-level colloquium course. Prerequisites: Approval of director of graduate studies or department chair.
In this course, students will prepare for the general examination under the guidance of a faculty examiner. During the course, the student will identify relevant readings; complete and review those readings; and explore the larger questions raised by those readings and their fields more generally.
This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of new work in legal history. Students are required to attend the legal history workshop and the legal history writing group and to write a number of short reaction papers in response to the work presented by legal historians over the course of the year. There is no final exam. Through the class, students will engage with a variety of legal history scholars.
This course is intended for PhD candidates to revise their master's essays for publication under the guidance of a member of the graduate faculty. It is typically taken in first semester of the second year of study.
Independent Study for graduate students, designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings in general history.
For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.
For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of the dissertation director.
Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
Studies the development of the colonies and their institutions, the Revolution, the formation and organization of the Republic, and the coming of the Civil War.
Studies the evolution of political, social, and cultural history of the United States from 1865 to the present.
This course examines the history of slavery and its legacies at UVA and in the region, recovering the experiences of enslaved individuals and their roles in building/maintaining the university, & contextualizing those experiences within U.S. history. It also puts that history into political context, tracing the rise of sectional tensions, secession, the advent of emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, desegregation, and civil rights change.
This course examines warfare and military developments in America from the colonial period to 1900. Major topics include debates over the role of the military in society; the motivations and experiences of soldiers; interaction between the military and civilian spheres; the development of a professional army and navy; and the social and cultural context, impact, and legacies of warfare.
This is a course on war and the American experience during the last century-plus. It is a sequel to HIUS 2051, which covers U.S. military history from 1600 to 1900. This part of the course includes the how and why of traditional military history but goes further, tackling issues in intelligence or technology or economics -- from the rise of intelligence agencies to the growth of a military-industrial complex.
This course will introduce students to the history of slavery in the United Sates.
Studies American economic history from its colonial origins to the present. Cross-listed as ECON 2060.
America today is a high-energy society. For over a century, the United States has also wielded vast economic, political, and military power. How do energy sources relate to social, corporate, or political power? This course examines that question across the history of the United States. It draws from political, business, technological, and environmental history to chart the growth, effects, and limits of power in its varied forms.
From Thomas Edison to Elon Musk, we've all heard stories of heroic inventors. In this course you'll explore a different history of technology: how it's shaped the ordinary lives of Americans, and how ordinary Americans shaped our common technologies. By viewing technology from the bottom-up, you'll learn how to question and challenge the powerful stories about technology that surround us today.
This course will introduce students to the history of the US-Mexico borderlands. Adopting a transnational approach, it will explore the relationships between the peoples, empires, and nations spanning the US-Mexico border. Starting with the various historiographical approaches to the study of borders and frontiers, then with the recent history US-Mexico border, and the persistence of transnational communities along the border from the nineteenth century to the present.
This course will trace the origins of today's immigration policy debates by providing students with a comprehensive overview of American immigration law and policy from the eighteenth century to the present. The course will also explore how state and federal policies impacted a wide array of immigrants, including the Irish, Chinese, and Mexican arrivals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
This course tells the story of British America from an Atlantic perspective. The thirteen colonies that formed the United States were once part of a larger empire that spanned eastern North America and the Caribbean. From 1500 to 1800, cross-cultural encounters among Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans created a dynamic new world. Key topics trade, religion, agriculture, slavery, warfare, and the origins of the American Revolution.
Studies the growth of ideas and institutions that led to American independence, the creation of a union, and a distinct culture.
This course uses Thomas Jefferson as a lens to explore the post revolutionary era in the United States (ca. 1776-1830), with a focus on race and slavery, trans-nationalism, imperialism, and legal/constitutional developments.
Examines the period from roughly 1815 to 1861 focusing on the interaction between the developing sectional conflict and the evolving political system, with the view of explaining what caused the Civil War.
Examines the course of the Civil War and Reconstruction in detail and attempts to assess their impact on 19th century American society, both in the North and in the South.
This new course will examine the history of deaf people in the United States over the last three centuries, with particular attention to the emergence and evolution of a community of Deaf people who share a distinct sign language and culture. We will read both primary texts from specific periods and secondary sources. We will also view a few historical films. Prerequisite: none (though a previous class in History or ASL is recommended)
This course will examine the years after the Civil War, from 1865 to 1900, a period in which Americans witnessed unprecedented economic expansion that profoundly altered political and social arrangements. It explores how the nation "recovered" from the Civil War, how it reconstructed itself, and continued to define the notion of who was an American and who was not. In short, it examines how the nation transitioned from one divided to the threshold of world domination in the age of imperialism.
History is the study of change over time. This course will examine the ways popular culture -movies, television, and fiction writing- depicting the American South have changed over time. Because this course will emphasize images the course is called "Viewing the South." Each week the class will screen assigned films, read works of short fiction and of cultural history, and write short essays. There will be a essay-type final exam.
The seminar will examine the historical scholarship, literary fiction, and primary source materials relating to the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692 and enable students to work with all the original sources. Prerequisites: Restricted to Religious Studies, American Studies, English, SWAG, and History Majors.
The development of modern America is explored by considering the growing interdependence between its politics, economy, culture, and social structure in the first half of the 20th century.
Built around the history of mainstream and independent American film, this course explores how Americans have viewed and interpreted various historical moments and processes through the movies.
This class will explore the history of the United States from 1980 to the present through the lens of the information revolution that occurred during this period. We will examine the origins of the technological changes like the mainframe computer, merged media, the emergence of the internet, and the impact that they had on the economy, politics and social interaction.
Surveys post World War II U.S. politics uncovering the links between long range social and economic phenomenon (suburbanization, decline of agricultural employment, the rise and fall of the labor movement, black urbanization and proletarianization, economic society and insecurity within the middle class, the changing structure of multinational business) and the more obvious political movements, election results, and state policies of the last half century.
This course will cover the history of American involvement in Vietnam from 1945 through 1975. It will offer a detailed study of U.S. political, economic, cultural, and military policy through a wide range of scholarship on the U.S. engagement with Vietnam, focusing on the war's impact in Southeast Asia and in the United States.
This course will examine landmark films on the Vietnam War from the 1960s through the present. Lectures and discussion focusing on between 8 and 10 films, which students will watch as part of class, will explore the history and themes depicted in these films, highlighting directorial viewpoints, the contexts in which the films were produced and received, their historical accuracy, and their impact on the legacy of the war in American culture.
This course examines the 350-year history of the Jewish people in colonial North American and the United States. It surveys the social, religious, cultural, and political life of Jews and the comparative dimension with other minority groups and Jewish communities across the world.
This course introduces the issues and debates that have shaped public history as a scholarly discipline, but the focus of the course will be on the contemporary practice of public history. Students will all be awarded internships at local or regional historic sites, archives, museums, and databases for the duration of the semester. Readings and field trips will provide a foundation for students' hands-on engagement with public history.
A history of the American South from the arrival of the first English settlers through the end of Reconstruction in 1877. Cross-listed with AAS 3231.
Studies the history of the South from 1900 to the present focusing on class structure, race relations, cultural traditions, and the question of southern identity.
The course examines the relationships of environment and culture and of native and settler peoples in transforming North America west of the Mississippi River, 1750 to present. We will explore the expansion of the United States; its environmental consequences; and the emergence of a mythic culture casting violence as heroic.
Course examines the history of slaves and slavery in 18th and 19th century America as revealed by the testimony of slaves themselves. We will study the important roles slavery and changing notions of race have played in U.S. history, the enduring legacy of African culture , the dynamic agency of African Americans in the face of racism and violence, and how they developed their own notions of work, family, culture, community, and power.
A survey that studies the development of Virginia institutions from colonial times to the Gilded Age, emphasizing the decades before and immediately following the Civil War.
History is the study of continuity and changes over time. This course will examine social, political, and economic continuities and changes in Virginia from 1900 to 2018.
Studies the history of the development of American science from the colonial period to the present, emphasizing the process of the professionalization of American science and on the relationships between the emergent scientific community and such concerns as higher education and the government.
Surveys the rise of the modern corporate form of American business and an analysis of the underlying factors which shaped that development.
Studies American foreign relations from colonial times to 1914.
Studies American foreign relations from 1914 to the present.
Surveys American labor in terms of the changing nature of work and its effect on working men, women, and children. Emphasizes social and cultural responses to such changes, as well as the organized labor movement.
This survey traces the history of African American popular music from the late 1950s to the current era. It examines the major sonic innovations in the genres of soul, funk, and hip-hop over the course of the semester, students will examine how musical expression has provided black women and men with an outlet for individual expression, community building, sexual pleasure, political organizing, economic uplift, and interracial interaction
Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.
This lecture provides both a chronological and thematic approach to the history of 1970s America. Class will focus on significant shifts in American politics, culture, and society. The course will encourage us to think more deeply about the fate of liberalism in post-1960s America, the rise of ethnic identity and its impact on the rights revolution, gender and the politics of sexuality, religion and the rise of the South, Nixon and Watergate.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
Studies the evolution of women's roles in American society with particular attention to the experiences of women of different races, classes, and ethnic groups.
The history of local government and local politics in shaping American life. Course examines issues, themes, and problems of local democracy in historical and contemporary contexts. Class meetings combine lectures and discussions. Course includes local civic engagement component.
From the post-Ice Age migrations to the Americas to current developments in tribal sovereignty, this survey course will include such topics as mutually beneficial trade and diplomatic relations between Natives and newcomers; the politics of empire; U.S. expansion; treaties and land dispossession; ecological, demographic, and social change; pan-Indian movements; and legal and political activism.
Studies the history of black Americans from the introduction of slavery in America to the end of the Civil War.
Studies the history of black Americans from the Civil War to the present.
This course examines the history and contemporary experiences of African Americans at the University of Virginia from the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the present era.
This course examines the history and legacy of the African American struggle for civil rights in twentieth century America. It provides students with a broad overview of the civil rights movement -- the key issues, significant people and organizations, and pivotal events -- as well as a deeper understanding of its scope, influence, legacy, and lessons for today
Studies the major developments in American law, politics, and society from the colonial settlements to the Civil War. Focuses on legal change, constitutional law, legislation, and the common law from 1776 to 1860.
Studies the major developments in American law, politics, and society from the era of Reconstruction to the recent past. Focuses on legal change as well as constitutional law, legislation, and the common law.
A survey of American legal thought from Holmes to Posner. Emphasizes theories of property, contract, tort, corporations and administrative law in Legal Realism, Legal Process Jurisprudence, Law and Economics, and Critical Legal Studies.
This course examines the history of housing and real estate and explores its role in shaping the meaning and lived experience of race in modern America. We will learn how and why real estate ownership, investment, and development came to play a critical role in the formation and endurance of racial segregation, modern capitalism, and the built environment.
This course takes advantage of the nationally known academic experts, journalists, and policy-makers who come through UVa's Miller Center of Public Affairs each week. Based on the work of these visiting scholars, students will consider the historical background of some of our most pressing policy and public affairs issues. Assignments will include extensive weekly readings, a few short op-eds, and a lengthy original research essay.
This course uses the writings of participants to examine major themes relating to the American Civil War. Assigned texts will illuminate, among other topics: (1) Why the war came; (2) How it evolved from a struggle for Union to one for Union and emancipation; (3) How the conflict affected civilians on both sides; (4) Why soldiers fought; and (5) How men and women on each side remembered the war and how those memories influence current perceptions.
The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
Topics courses are small, discussion-oriented classes available to any student with sufficient background and interest in a particular field of historical study. Offered irregularly, they are open to majors or non-majors on an equal basis.
In exceptional circumstances and with permission of a faculty member any student may undertake a rigorous program of independent study designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings. Independent Study projects may not be used to replace regularly scheduled classes. Enrollment is open to majors or non-majors. Note: These courses are open only to Human Biology majors.
This course will introduce graduate students to the differing interpretations, methodologies, and analyses of African-American History to 1877.
This discussion-based colloquium, open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, examines economic life in colonial and Revolutionary America. Our readings--on topics that include market agriculture, transatlantic commerce, and the slave trade--will features works of history that describe economic behaviors and, at the same time, interpret production, trade, and consumption in cultural terms.
The course is run as a workshop, a space for students to learn oral history methodologies in a hands-on manner. In partnership with local/regional organizations, students will learn to conduct interviews and related research, which may include completing historical surveys, doing genealogical work, & completing archival or database research. Students will learn new skills while helping expand historical archives and knowledge of regional history.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
A survey of law in American history in the twentieth century. Some topics to be covered include jurisprudence and legal education from Legal Realism through "aw and"; regimes of mass media law; the emergence of administrative law; and several chapters on constitutional jurisprudence from 1930 to 2000, including foreign relations, equal protection, free speech, and due process.
This course will explore the Supreme Court's flirtation with constitutional protection for poor people during the 1960s and 1970s. We will place the Court's efforts in the context of the civil rights movement and ongoing concerns about race. Finally, we will discuss the demise of such protections, the reasons for it, and the recent developments in constitutional interest in poverty, income inequality, and their relationship to racial inequality.
This class explores the legal world of the late eighteenth century, from the period just before the Revolution to the ratification of the Constitution. Among other topics, the class covers debates over the economic and political conditions that shaped the constitutional moment, and the implications of those debates for constitutional interpretation.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
This course is designed to help students craft an undergraduate course on the first half of the US Survey. Through both reading and discussion, we will focus on the big questions of the period and consider the various ways in which one might convey a narrative(s). Attention will be given to pedagogy and content, with emphasis on best practices in the classroom. Students will design their own course with a syllabus, assignments, and lectures.
This course examines Spanish, French, Dutch, and British encounters with the native peoples of North America during the initial centuries of colonization: 1492-1800. It combines the "Atlantic" approach to early America with a "Continental" approach that accords dynamism and agency to native peoples in their interplay with colonizers.
This colloquium offers an introduction to themes, regions, and debates in the history of colonial and Revolutionary America. It will focus on colonization, development, and cultural encounter in early North America, West Indies, and the Atlantic World in the early modern period, ca. 1600-1800, from a variety of historical approaches.
Reading and discussion in national political history from 1789 to 1815.
A survey of selected topics in American legal history from Reconstruction through the 1920s. Among the topics covered are civil rights in the Reconstruction era, law and the opening of the transcontinental west, foreign relations law, immigration law and policy, tort law, the treatment of crimes, legal education, and the internal work, due process cases, race relations cases, and free speech cases of the Supreme Court.
We'll explore the intellectual and cultural production of the civil rights/Black power era and its enabling and uneasy relationship with other social movements, incl. feminism and gay liberation, disability rights, the anti-apartheid movement, and demands for economic justice/redress/reparations. A guiding premise in the course will be tensions within the movement giving rise to subsequent Black thought and activism.
This course will examine the constitutional history of the United States from 1845 to 1877, paying attention to how the U.S. Constitution shaped the Civil War, and also to how the war left its mark on the Constitution.
Students in this course will write a 40 page paper based on original research in legal history. During class sessions, students will be introduced to the basics of the discipline of legal history and learn how to incorporate these ideas into their own original projects. Additionally, students will meet individually with the instructor to discuss the progress of their research over the course of the semester.
Studies the distinctive characteristics of American modernity as they emerged in the period from the end of reconstruction to the 1930s. Concentrates on the interplay between large national changes and local life as America became a world power. Investigates the reciprocal relations between society and politics, social organization and science and technology, large-scale bureaucratic organizations and the changing class structure, culture, and ideology.
An intensive reading course emphasizing historiographic approaches to synthesizing post-war America.
A colloquium on selected themes in 20th century southern history.
Readings drawn from the leading works in this field that span history, political science, and sociology. Students will also attend colloquia where works in progress will be presented by leading scholars.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
This colloquium will survey foundational and cutting-edge scholarship on the social construction of femininity and masculinity in U.S. history, from the colonial era to 1900. We will explore how gender conventions take shape, and how they are perpetuated and contested. Our readings reconsider key events in women's and gender history such as the Salem witch trials and Seneca Falls convention.
The history and historiography of American constitutional development from the revolution to 1896.
The history and historiography of American constitutional development in the context of social, political, and cultural change in the twentieth century.
Intensive study along topical and chronological lines of the ways in which fundamental legal forms (federalism or property or contract) have shaped (and been shaped by) American politics and society from the eighteenth century to the recent past.
Studies in the history of American criminal justice
Reading and discussion of primary and secondary sources.
This readings course introduces graduate students to the theory, methods, and historiography of cultural history through a survey of key texts in twentieth century US history.
Graduate readings course on the history of housing, real estate, and racial inequality in the 20th and 21st century US.
This course offers MA/JD and PhD students an opportunity to research and write an article-length research essay of publishable quality on a topic in the history of modern America, ca. 1877-present. Research will be conducted with the guidance of the dissertation adviser. A revised version of the essay can be submitted to fulfill the master's essay requirement of students in U.S. History. Prerequisite: PhD students History or permission of instructor
This course will explore the development of the American administrative state from the nineteenth century through the present. This course will engage political and theoretical debates over the bureaucratic state's role, and its implications for democracy and inequality. Readings will include work by historians, social scientists, and legal academics.
This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.
Directed research in selected areas of American legal history.
This seminar will examine the literature on the history of slavery and emancipation in the United States and the Atlantic World.
As 1941 ended, the US had just entered World War II as a belligerent; as 1991 ended, the USSR dissolved itself. In the intervening half-century, the US played a crucial role in defeating totalitarian dictatorships in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USSR. This seminar examines the role of US constitutional law and international law in the victories of World War II and the Cold War.
Seminar rethinks United States history (18th century-present) by moving beyond the geographical boundaries of the nation. Thematic readings focus on way in which transnational and comparative scholarship is reshaping American historiography. Our goal is to better understand how assumptions and certainties of 'America' have been called into question by transnational history. Course is intended to help prepare students for general exams.
Introduction to the history and historiography of capitalism in the United States. Readings span 18th century to the present with attention to the development of markets, labor, business, consumption and welfare.The course gives special attention to how historians have framed the central debates in American economic life. This course is designed to prepare graduate students for examination in the field of Capitalism in the United States.
The course examines the historiography of colonial British America and the Atlantic world from the late sixteenth century through the late eighteenth century. It surveys scholarship on the imperial and Atlantic contexts of early modern colonization and focuses on the regional histories of settlement and development in North America and the Caribbean with a special focus on Native Americans and African Slavery.
This course will survey the history and historiography of American politics and political economy from 1945 to the present. Readings and meetings will address major themes in American political history, including: liberalism and conservatism, education, housing, suburbanization and the urban crisis, racial inequality, and the culture wars.
Course readings include a selection of field-defining works of African American history, from Reconstruction to the modern U.S. civil rights movement. Themes to be discussed include African American leadership, African American political behavior, analyses of the political economy of race, literary and cultural production, Black nationalism, mass social movements, the criminal justice system, and African American gender politics.
This course acquaints students with foundational texts relating to 19th-Century U.S. history. The primary goal is to provide a sound understanding of books, essays, and other documents that often are mentioned but too seldom read carefully. The readings will convey crucial insights into political, social, cultural, military, diplomatic, and economic history .
Reading Democracy in America in depth, which US historians will want to do. European history graduate students will also want to explore either Tocqueville's Recollections of the 1848 revolution or The Ancien Regime and the Revolution.
This course examines the ways in which the U.S. legal system and American religion have shaped and challenged African Americans' conceptions of freedom and justice in the United States from the post-emancipation period to the present.
This graduate tutorial introduces students to some of the major interventions and debates in the field of U.S. Labor history over the past 30 years. How the U.S. working-class has been divided along ethnic, racial, gender and regional lines will be a major focus of our readings and discussions.
This tutorial looks at the way in which a diverse, locally-based society integrated a host of communities and groups into the nation, and the way the nation engaged with the world in the twentieth century. It pays special attention to the racial and ethnic groups that were incorporated into the United States, America's relations with the world, and the media that transcended many of these boundaries (and the instances in which it failed.)
The United States changed drastically from local forms of life to national institutions while keeping modern mass society democratic. Our topics are the rise of corporate America, the regulatory state, the reorganization of knowledge, and the first military-industrial complex. We will study also the urban and industrial landscape; the encounters of region, class, ethnicity, race, and gender; and the leisure patterns of a consumer culture.
This tutorial is designed to achieve two somewhat contradictory objectives: 1) ground the interests of those taking it in the broader literature relevant to their scholarly interests in the period covered (Reconstruction through the 1990s), and 2) ensure that they acquire a knowledge of twentieth-century U.S. History sufficient to teach undergraduate courses in this field at the college level.
A graduate tutorial devoted to close analysis of key issues in American Economic History from 1750 to 1940.
This graduate tutorial will introduce graduate students to the history and historiography of capitalism and slavery in the United States. Each student will complete a 20-25 page historiographical essay on a topic relevant to their potential dissertation topic.
This course will survey scholarship in US urban history. It is intended for graduate students who intend to specialize in this sub-field and/or conduct research that engages themes in urban history and historiography, broadly conceived.
A course devoted to the era of the American Civil War with emphasis on the period 1861-1865. The lecture portion of the course will address such questions as why the war came, why the United States won, and how the war affected various elements of American society. The seminar portion of the tutorial will examine 15 books. Each student will write a 25-page historiographical essay on a topic to be determined in consultation with the instructor.
Independent study for graduate students, designed to explore a subject not currently being taught or to expand upon regular offerings in United States History.
Discussion and criticism of selected works of and on the period. Taught by different members of the medieval faculty.
Discussion and criticism of selected works of and on the period. Taught by different members of the medieval faculty.
For advanced students dealing with methods of research in the field.
For advanced students dealing with methods of research in the field.