HISTORY COURSES FOR FALL 2010

(Subject to Change)

CAS HI 101. The Dawn of Europe: Antiquity to the Renaissance. Covers the origins and rise of Europe, with emphasis on Greek and Roman antiquity, medieval institutions, the Renaissance city-state, religious reform. Typical readings may include Thucydides' Peloponnesian War, The Bible, Machiavelli's The Prince, Luther's Christian Liberty. Clifford Backman. MWF 11-12. Area: European (premodern).

     Students in HI 101 must also enroll in a discussion section:

CAS HI 150. History Writing and Research Seminar. These seminars bring students out of the classroom and into the archive and library. Students will hone their detective skills by learning how historians investigate the past through primary sources, including diaries, novels, government documents, and scientific treatises. Freshmen only, carries Writing Program credit (CAS WR 150). Cathal Nolan. TR 12:30-2. Area: none.

CAS HI 151. The Emerging United States to 1865. Colonial society and the roots of the American Revolution; federalism, nationalism, Jeffersonian democracy; Jackson and democratic capitalism; expansion and imperialism; slavery and civil war. Jon Roberts. MWF 11-12. Area: American.

     Students in HI 151 must also enroll in a discussion section:

CAS HI 175. World History I: Origins of Humanity to c. 1500. Interrelationships among major world civilizations of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe to 1500. Eugenio Menegon. TR 2-3:30. Area: World/Regional (premodern).

     Students in HI 175 must also enroll in a discussion section:

CAS HI 203. History of Medieval Europe. Traces the evolution of medieval civilization from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries. Emphasis is placed on three main themes: the political and social development of western Europe, the evolution of Latin Christianity, and the role of popular culture. Jon Westling. MWF 10-11. Area: European (premodern).

CAS HI 210. The Age of Discoveries. European discovery, colonization, and exploitation of the non-European world from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth: Material, political, and religious factors, Columbus and his legacy, the importance of European events to overseas developments, the rise of the Protestant maritime powers. Thomas Glick. MWF 2-3. Area: European (premodern).

CAS HI 248 HP. Catastrophe and Cultural Memory. Examines the ways in which catastrophes--both natural and social--enter into cultural memory. Goal is to understand how events that seem to defy comprehension are represented in works of at and given a place in the memory of a culture. James Schmidt. TR 9:30-11. Area: American or European.

CAS HI 277. Modern Armenian History and Literature. Introduction to modern Armenian history and literature from the nineteenth-century "cultural renaissance" to the upheavals of the twentieth century--genocide, independence, and Sovietization--and the literatures of Soviet Armenia and the diaspora. Simon Payaslian. MWF 11-12. Area: World/Regional.

CAS HI 291. Reconstructing the African Past. Discusses the uses of archaeological evidence and oral tradition, as well as primary and secondary documentation, in the study of precolonial African history: early states and empires, kinship, cosmology and social order, slavery and the slave trade, origins of racial conflict in southern Africa. John Thornton. TR 11-12:30. Area: World/Regional (premodern).

Note: This course is restricted to history concentrators. Students may enroll in sections by contacting the department office.

CAS HI 200. The Historian's Craft. Required introductory course for concentrators, normally taken in their sophomore year. Intended to develop critical reading and analytical skills in history. Works examined will be drawn from different fields and periods. Weekly written exercises, oral reports, and class discussions.

     Section A1: David Mayers. M 3-6.
     Section B1: Allison Blakely. T 12:30-3:30.
     Section C1: Clifford Backman. W 3-6.

CAS HI 304. Honor-Shame: Middle Ages, Modern World. Considers the dynamics of "honor-shame" cultures generally, then examines their role in the European Middle Ages and the contemporary world. Attempts to understand how other cultures can emphasize significantly different values and social interactions from Western ones. Richard Landes. TR 11-12:30. Area: European.

CAS HI 306. Magic, Science, and Religion from Plato to Voltaire. Boundaries and relationships between magic, science, and religion from late antiquity through the European Enlightenment. Topics include transformation of pagan traditions, distinctions between learned and popular traditions, and changing assumptions about God and Nature. Christopher Lehrich. TR 2-3:30. Area: European (premodern).

CAS HI 307. History of War. Survey of warfare from early modern times. Topics include siege warfare and the rise of mass infantry armies, war at sea, battle histories that illustrate the transition to gunpowder technology and the revolution in military affairs. and the advent of total war. Cathal Nolan. TR 9:30-11. Area: American or European.

CAS HI 312. Christendom Divided: Reformation and Religious Conflict in Early Modern Europe. Religious change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the origins and causes of the Protestant Reformation; the Catholic Reformation; the resulting civil wars in the Germanies, France, and the Netherlands; pertinent aspects of Tudor and Stuart England. Barbara Diefendorf. MWF 11-12. Area: European (premodern).

CAS HI 314. The European Enlightenment. A survey of the intellectual and social transformation of Europe from the 1680s to the French Revolution. Readings draw on both eighteenth-century sources (including Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, Lessing, Smith, and Hume) and recent work by historians. James Schmidt. TR 12:30-2. Area: European.

CAS HI 321. The Making of Modern Britain. Political, social, and intellectual developments; emphasis on evolution of cabinet government and the party system; the industrial revolution and social problems; political reform and the emergence of democracy. Arianne Chernock. MWF 10-11. Area: European.

CAS HI 347. Issues in Modern Russian and Soviet History, 1861-1956. Modern Russia in the imperial and Soviet eras--from the Great Reforms of Alexander II through the end of Stalin's reign. Examines Russia's political, socio-economic, and cultural transformation from the traditional society into the first Communist state. Anna Geifman. TR 11-12:30. Area: European.

CAS HI 349. History of International Relations, 1900-1945. The causes and consequences of the First World War; the search for postwar reconstruction and stability during the twenties; economic collapse, revolutionary nationalism, and fascism during the 1930s; the Second World War and the advent of the bipolar world. William Keylor. TR 2-3:30. Area: American or European.

     Students in HI 349 must also enroll in a discussion section:

CAS HI 354. Religious Thought in America. This course surveys many of the strategies that American religious thinkers have adopted for interpreting the cosmos, the social order, and human experience and examines the interaction of those strategies with broader currents of American culture. Jon Roberts. MWF 2-3. Area: American.

CAS HI 356. The American Revolution, 1750-1800. The political, economic, and ideological causes of the American War for Independence; the construction of a new political system amid the passions of a revolutionary upheaval; and the gradual emergence of a new economic and cultural order in the United States. Brendan McConville. MWF 11-12. Area: American.

CAS HI 361. The Civil War Era. Examines the Civil War experience in a broad social and cultural context, looking at Northern and Southern society in antebellum, war-time, and post-war years. Emphasizes issues of slavery, race, and emancipation, as well as political crises of the era. Nina Silber. MWF 10-11. Area: American.

CAS HI 364. 20th-Century United States, 1945-1968. Origins and development of Cold War; McCarthyism, Eisenhower era; civil rights; Great Society; Vietnam; New Left and Counter-culture; feminism; rise of conservatism, religion, culture, and politics. Bruce Schulman. MWF 2-3. Area: American.

     Students in HI 364 must also enroll in a discussion section:

CAS HI 366. History of American Foreign Relations Since 1898. Analysis of the history of American foreign policy from the perspective of the changing world and regional international systems; emphasis on the effect of these systems and the impact of America on the creation and operation of international systems. David Mayers. MWF 1-2. Area: American.

     Students in HI 366 must also enroll in a discussion section:

CAS HI 371. African American History. The history of African-Americans from African origins to present time; consideration of slavery, reconstruction, and ethnic relations from the colonial era to our own time. Linda Heywood. MWF 11-12. Area: American.

CAS HI 373. American Thought and Culture, 1776 to 1900. Major thinkers and movements in intellectual and cultural history from the Revolution to 1900. Topics include Revolutionary republicanism, evangelical theology and democratic theory, Transcendentalism and Romantic culture, antislavery and nationality, Victorian realism, liberal Protestantism and Darwinism, and evolutionary social science. Charles Capper. TR 9:30-11. Area: American.

CAS HI 377. Economic History of the United States. Analysis of American economic development; role of factory and frontier; changes in economic structure and institutions; parts played by government and business enterprise in development. Influence of economic conditions and occupation groupings on political alignments and on public policy. Louis Ferleger. MWF 10-11. Area: American.

CAS HI 379. Modern American Cultural History. Examines Americans' beliefs and the cultural forms used to convey their experiences since the late nineteenth century. Includes challenges to the Victorian order, growth of commercial entertainments, new rules and reactions to modern life, and changing understandings of the self. Brooke Blower. MWF 1-2. Area: American.

CAS HI 389. Introduction to Early Chinese History. The development of Chinese civilization through the traditional, medieval, and early modern periods; emphasis on intellectual history and political, social, and economic institutions. Eugenio Menegon. TR 9:30-11. Area: World/Regional (premodern).

CAS HI 391. Introduction to Modern Japanese History. Developments from late Tokugawa Japan and the Meiji Restoration (1868) to the present. Focus is on Japan's economic, political, and social adjustment to modern times, the evolution of twentieth-century Japanese imperialism, and Japan's growth after World War II. Suzanne O'Brien. MWF 1-2. Area: World/Regional.

CAS HI 392. Introduction to the Middle East. General introduction to the history, culture, and current development in the Middle East. Objective is to introduce students to a specific geographical and historical experience as well as to acquaint them with some of the literature in the field. Betty Anderson. TR 11-12:30. Area: World/Regional (premodern).

Note: Colloquia, which have a restricted enrollment, are ordinarily open only to history majors and minors. Students desiring to be admitted to these courses must first contact the instructor for permission to enroll and then get in touch with the department office for registration. Graduate students may take 500-level courses for credit.

CAS HI 413. Gender in Medieval Christian Mysticism [in approval process]. Study of the Christian mystical traditions of medieval Europe, both orthodox and heretical, with particular emphasis on the role of gender and authority in mystical writing, practicing, and teaching. Deeana Klepper. M 3-6. Area: European.

CAS HI 415. Topics in the Renaissance. Instructor to be announced. M 12-3. Area: European.

CAS HI 435. Histories of Human Rights. Traces Westerners' development of a humanitarian sensibility in the eighteenth century and considers how this sensibility was deployed in struggles over the rights of various groups during the modern period. Anglo-American contributions will be emphasized. Arianne Chernock. M 12-3. Area: European.

CAS HI 436. The Great War and the Fragile Peace. Exploration of the military, political, social, economic, and cultural consequences of the First World War and the peace conference of 1919. Focuses on technological innovations, the expanded role of the state, and the long-range impact of the Versailles settlement. William Keylor. W 1-4. Area: American or European.

CAS HI 448. Science and Modern Culture: Darwin, Freud, and Einstein. Development of scientific theories of Darwin, Freud, and Einstein; impact of those ideas in different national cultures and their influence on literature, art, religion, and politics of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Thomas Glick. R 3:30-6:30. Area: European.

CAS HI 453. Three Revolutions. Examines the rise of a distinctive Anglo-American political culture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Focus on the effects of the English civil wars, the Glorious Revolution, and the American Revolution on political thought, institutions, and behavior in America and Britain. Brendan McConville. M 12-3. Area: American or European.

CAS HI 472. Wars of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Examines the origins, conduct, and consequences of major conflicts of the past century, beginning with the Boer War and ending with the US conflict in Iraq. Andrew Bacevich. TR 12:30-2. Area: American.

CAS HI 475. American Consumer History. The history of consumerism in modern America. Topics include origins and critiques of the culture of consumption; the development of national markets; advertising and commercial amusements; and the relationship of consumer society to religion, gender, ethnicity, and class. Louis Ferleger. W 3-6. Area: American.

CAS HI 485. Selected Problems in the Modern Middle East. Major events in recent history of the Middle East: emergence of nationalism and intellectual awakening of the Ottoman Empire; impact of western economic penetration; effect of partition; seeds of conflict and Egyptian transformation under Nasser. Betty Anderson. T 3:30-6:30. Area: World/Regional.

CAS HI 503. Psychohistory. Addresses the "Whys?" of history and focuses on the application of Freudian analysis and other psychological models to interpret past individual and group behavior. Emphasizes two key subfields: psychobiography and group psychohistory. Anna Geifman. TR 2-3:30. Area: European.

CAS HI 552. Topics in Jewish History. Examines various aspects of Jewish culture, politics, and society. Topics vary from year to year and may include Jews in Poland and Jews on the Left. Simon Rabinovitch. M 12-3. Area: European.

CAS HI 566. Ideas and American Foreign Policy. Examines the intellectual foundations of U.S. foreign policy from the founding of the republic to the present. Andrew Bacevich. TR 9:30-11. Area: American.

CAS HI 570. American Social Thought. Brooke Blower. M 9-12. Area: American.

CAS HI 580. The History of Racial Thought. Study of racial thinking and feeling in Europe and the United States since the fifteenth century. Racial thinking in the context of Western encounters with non-European people and Jews; its relation to social, economic, cultural, and political trends. Ronald Richardson. M 2-5. Area: World/Regional.

CAS HI 584. Comparative Slavery. The institution of slavery in history with a special focus on slavery and the slave trade in Africa and the Americas in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Attention to cultural and political issues as well as economic and social aspects of slavery. John Thornton. T 3-6. Area: American or World/Regional (premodern).

CAS HI 587. U.S.-Mexican Borders. This course examines the geographic border, as well as political and cultural boundaries inside Mexico and the U.S., from 1848 to the present. Topics include the Chicano movement, maquiladora assembly plants, the Zapatista rebellion, youth gangs, free trade, and music and art. Jeffrey Rubin. W 2-5. Area: American or World/Regional.

CAS HI 588. Women, Power, and Culture in Africa. Understanding the role of women in African history. Topics include the Atlantic slave trade, power, religion, the economy, resistance movements, health, the state, and kinship. Emphasis on the period before independence. Linda Heywood. W 3-6. Area: World/Regional (premodern).

CAS HI 589. Nature's Past: Histories of Environment and Society. Historians' approaches to environmental history, including human elements of technology, demography, local knowledge, political ecology, social organization. Geographical foci include North America, Atlantic World, Asia, and Africa. James McCann. W 3-6. Area: World/Regional.

CAS HI 594. The Armenian Genocide. Examines the emergence of the Armenian Question in the Ottoman Empire as a national and international issue. Analysis of Armenian-Turkish relations after the Young Turk revolution in 1908. Focuses on the processes of the genocide, survivor memory, and international responses. Simon Payaslian. M 2-5. Area: World/Regional.

GRS HI 700. European Historiography. Examines changes in European historical thought and practice from the early nineteenth century to the present. Barbara Diefendorf. M 3-6.

GRS HI 749. United States History, 1850-1900. Nina Silber. M 12-3.

GRS HI 751. Recent American History. Bruce Schulman. M 6-9.

GRS HI 763. American Intellectual History. Charles Capper. T 2-5.

GRS HI 770. African Historiography. Examines historical writing on the African continent through key trends in the study of themes and regional historiographies. Also highlights recent important works in the field. Diana Wylie. R 3:30-6:30.

Note: Students in 800-level courses attend lectures with undergraduates but are required to do substantially more advanced work (including, for example, additional reading, graduate-student section meetings, or research papers).

GRS HI 812. Christendom Divided: Reformation and Religious Conflict in Early Modern Europe. Religious change in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; the origins and causes of the Protestant Reformation; the Catholic Reformation; the resulting civil wars in the Germanies, France, and the Netherlands; pertinent aspects of Tudor and Stuart England. Barbara Diefendorf. MWF 11-12.

GRS HI 821. The Making of Modern Britain. Political, social, and intellectual developments; emphasis on evolution of cabinet government and the party system; the industrial revolution and social problems; political reform and the emergence of democracy. Arianne Chernock. MWF 10-11.

GRS HI 827. Early Medieval Spain. History of Spain from the fifth through thirteenth centuries: late Roman Spain, Visigoths, Islamic conquest, society and culture of Islamic Spain, rise of Christian kingdoms; conquest and settlement of Andalusia, social relations and cultural exchange among Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Thomas Glick. MWF 2-3.

GRS HI 847. Issues in Modern Russian and Soviet History, 1861-1956. Modern Russia in the imperial and Soviet eras--from the Great Reforms of Alexander II through the end of Stalin's reign. Examines Russia's political, socio-economic, and cultural transformation from the traditional society into the first Communist state. Anna Geifman. TR 11-12:30.

GRS HI 854. Religious Thought in America. This course surveys many of the strategies that American religious thinkers have adopted for interpreting the cosmos, the social order, and human experience and examines the interaction of those strategies with broader currents of American culture. Jon Roberts. MWF 2-3.

GRS HI 871. African American History. The history of African-Americans from African origins to present time; consideration of slavery, reconstruction, and ethnic relations from the colonial era to our own time. Linda Heywood. MWF 11-12.

GRS HI 873. Intellectual History of the United States, 1776 to 1900. Major thinkers and movements in intellectual and cultural history from the Revolution to 1900. Topics include Revolutionary republicanism, evangelical theology and democratic theory, Transcendentalism and Romantic culture, antislavery and nationality, Victorian realism, liberal Protestantism and Darwinism, and evolutionary social science. Charles Capper. TR 9:30-11.