Attention: This schedule is subject to change. Before registering for classes, check the on-line schedule of classes to confirm course numbers, times, and availability. Prerequisite requirements are strictly enforced. Please take note that many upper-level history courses have prerequisites. If you have not met the prerequisite, you may be dropped from the course.
History Department Course List Main Page
HIST110: The Ancient World
MW 11-11:50 Eckstein
CORE Humanities (HO) Course
HIST112: The Rise of the West
MW 11-12:15 Sutherland
The principal themes of the course are starvation, poverty and death; the transition from a religion of gestures to one of conscience and its relation to the Reformation; the European contact with indigenous peoples, trade, and subjugation; warfare and its relation to structures of states; Enlightenment, the scientific revolution and the stirrings of liberty.
CORE Humanities (HO) Course.
HIST113: Modern Europe
MW 10-10:50 Herf
Evolution of modern nation states. Industrial-economic structure and demography. Emergence of modern secular society.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST120: Islamic Civilization
MW 9-9:50 Borrut
This course offers a survey of Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE until the rise of Mongol successor polities in the 15th century. The course is structured to cover political and cultural developments and their relationship with broader changes in society during the formative centuries of Islamic civilization.
Specific topics include: the career of the Prophet Muhammad and the origins of the earliest Muslim polity; the creation and break-up of the Islamic unitary state (the Caliphate); the impact of Turkic migrations on the Middle East; social practices surrounding the transmission of learning in the Middle Ages; the diversity of approaches to Muslim piety and their social and political expression; non-Muslims in Islamic society. Among the more important themes will be long-term cultural and social continuities with the Islamic and ancient Near East, and concepts of religious and political authority.
Course Objectives: Students will obtain a broad knowledge of the course of Middle Eastern history prior to 1500. Students will also gain a general appreciation of the diversity of social practices that fall under the term “Islamic civilization”. Finally, students will learn at least two fundamental skills of historical inquiry: the analysis of primary sources (in translation), and the evaluation and critique of secondary scholarship.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE diversity (D)
HIST122: African Civilization
MW 11-11:50 Jones
History of Africa from earliest times to 1800. Topics of study include origins of African societies, Nile Valley civilization, medieval African states and societies, Islam, oral traditions, African slavery and the slave trade, and early African-European interactions. Also offered as AASP298A.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST156: History of the United States to 1865
MW 1-1:50 Bell
Who made America? This course examines how three peoples -Europeans, Indians and Africans - encountered each other in North America and, though conflict and cooperation, created what became the United States. We'll interrogate some of the major problems in American history - prayer vs. profit, slavery vs. liberty, community vs. privacy - by scrutinizing some of the many primary documents that early Americans left behind. This course will devote special attention to the Revolutionary War and the complex inheritance itleft for Lincoln and those of the Civil War generation.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
TuTh 11-11:50 Bradbury
The United States from colonial times to the end of the Civil War. Establishment and development of American institutions.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
TuTh 3-4:15 (Freshmen Connection) Staff
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST157: History of the United States Since 1865
MW 10-10:50 Ross
The United States from the end of the Civil War to the present. Economic, social, intellectual, and political developments. Rise of industry and emergence of the United States as a world power.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
MW 12-12:50 Smead
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
TuTh 6-7:15 (Freshmen Connection) Staff
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
MW 7:30-8:45 (Freshmen Connection) Staff
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST205: Environmental History
MW 1-1:50 Zeller
Environmental history extends the concerns of history to include the natural environment and human interactions with it over time. In this course students will gain a historical perspective on questions of land use, pollution, conservation, and the ideology of nature, especially, but not exclusively, in Europe and North America.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST208I: Public Policy and Popular Politics in the 20th Century U.S.
0101: W 10-12 Henderson
0102: F 12-2
Do popular political movements, like the recent Tea Party Movement, really influence policymakers? To what extent do such movements arise in response to public policies? This seminar will explore such questions concerning the relationships between public policy and popular politics in the 20th century U.S. Students will learn the methods and skills required for historical scholarship as they develop a research project on a public policy topic of their choice and investigate how those policies have shaped and been shaped by popular politics. Possible topics include: federal policy over a defined period concerning health care/health insurance, energy, taxation, housing, education, or highways; an institution such as the EPA, FDA, or FAA; or a particular piece of legislation. The project will culminate in a 10-15 page paper based on primary sources.
Permission of Department Required; For HIST majors only.
HIST208R: Imperialism, Empire, and Expansion in United States History.
0101: TU 11:30-1:30 Reichelderfer
Permission of Department Required; For HIST majors only.
HIST208W: Science, Technology, Environment, and Medicine in Twentieth Century Europe
0101: M 12-2:00 Kravetz
0102: F 12-2:00
This course will introduce students to some of the major historiographical issues around science, technology, environment and medicine in twentieth century European history. Special attention will be placed on Western Europe—namely Britain, Italy, Germany, and France—and Russia. Topics of discussion during the first few weeks of the course will include: science under totalitarianism; nationalism and science; cultural views of scientific issues; ethical issues in science, technology, environment, and medicine; science, technology, and genocide; and the role of gender, race, and class in science, technology, environment, and medicine. By exploring these historiographical issues, students will then be able to situate their own chosen research topic within the historical literature. The remainder of the course will be focused on teaching students to write an original historical research paper with the use of primary sources.
Permission of Department Required; For HIST majors only.
HIST208X: Founding Fathers and Mothers: America in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848
0101: T 12:30-2:30 Heerman
0102: T 9:30-11:30
This course is designed to teach history majors research and writing skills required of a professional historian. The course will require students to execute a research project and teach you to: a) craft a research question b) analyze primary and secondary sources c) form a scholarly argument d) organize and write a thesis-driven research paper supported by your research. Students will develop research projects and hone their skills on topics that explore American history in the Age of Revolutions (1776-1848). Students will explore the fundamental transformations that shaped the birth and maturation of the American republic from American Independence, to the rise of political parties, from the creation of an American Empire in the West, to liberal reform programs that activist women and men began. More than simply studying the Presidents and Congressmen, students will explore how Americans shaped, and were shaped by, the Age of Revolutions.
Permission of Department Required; For HIST majors only.
HIST208Y: Migration and the Making of U.S. Society
0101: W 11-1:00 Wieters
0102: Th 11-1:00
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the skills and methods needed to conduct historical research. During the semester, students will learn how to use primary and secondary sources to develop their own arguments about the past. Emphasis will be placed on analyzing primary sources, engaging secondary sources, and developing an original argument that contributes to the existing literature. Over the course of the semester, students will develop historical research skills while working on individual topics related to the theme of migration in U.S. society. The topic is broadly defined to include both immigration to the United States and internal movements of the U.S. population. Throughout the semester, students will help each other think about how migration has shaped U.S. politics, culture, and society, and their final papers will make a contribution to understanding the significance of these processes.
Permission of Department Required; For HIST majors only.
HIST208Z: TBD
0101: M 10-12:00
0102: Th 1-3:00
Permission of Department Required; For HIST majors only.
HIST210: Women in America to 1880
MW: 11-11:50 Lyons
This course examines the history of American women from the era of European colonization to the eve of the modern era in 1880. It explores the experiences of Native American, colonial, African-American, immigrant, and frontier women. It examines women's social, political, economic, familial, sexual, and religious experiences, with particular attention to how time, place, race, class, and ethnicity influenced women's lives. This course also examines the social construction of gender to see how it has changed over the course of American history, and how women influenced these developments.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST212: Women in Western Europe: 1750-Present
TuTh: 11-11:50 Gullickson
Between 1750 and 2010 women’s rights, roles, responsibilities and opportunities changed dramatically. This course examines these changes for a wide variety of women: wealthy aristocratic, poor peasant, working-class and middle-class women; radicals and conservatives; victims, villains and heroines; women who became famous and women who struggled just to survive. Topics include, the women’s suffrage movement, women and war, women and the holocaust, women’s clothing, the birth control movement, marriage and motherhood, divorce, work, and so on. Readings include women’s autobiographies, plays, political articles, speeches, and men’s writings about women.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST219J: History of West Africa: Colonialism, Commerce and Culture
MW 2-3:15 Jones
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST219M: Special Topics in History: Asian American History
MW 9-9:50 Mar
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
Also offered as AAST 201
HIST219V: The Atlantic World in the Early Modern Period
TuTh 1-1:50 Caneque
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST219W: Special Topics in History: The Middle East and North Africa in the 20th Century
TuTh 9:30-10:20 Wien
The course offers an introduction to the social and political dynamics of change in the Middle East and North Africa in the 20th century. The main focus will be on the Arab lands. Next to political and socio-economic trends, we will look at the transformation of elite structures and of national and religious identities.
HIST224: Modern Military History: 1494-1815
MW 9-9:50 Sumida
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST233: Empire! The British Imperial Experience 1558-1997
MW 3:30-4:15 Staff
Britain's empire from the mid-sixteenth century to the late twentieth century, focusing on the encounter between Britain and indigenous peoples. Topics include the origins of British imperialism in Ireland and North America, the slave trade, the East India Company and India, women in Empire, transportation and the making of Australia, sex in empire, missionaries, racial theories and decolonization.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
Restricted to students in freshmen connection
Credit will be granted for only one of the following: HIST219P or HIST233. Formerly HIST219P.
HIST235: History of Britain 1461 to 1714
0101: TuTh 9:30-10:45 Baron
British history from the War of the Roses to the Hanoverian succession; Yorkist and Tudor society and politics; the Renaissance and Reformation in England, Henry VIII through Elizabeth I; 17th-century crises and revolutions; intellectual and cultural changes; the beginnings of empire; the achievement of political and intellectual order.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
0102 : TuTh 6:00-7:15 Staff
Restricted to students in Freshmen Connection
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST237: Russian Civilization
MW 1-1:50 David-Fox
An overview of Russian history stressing the main lines of development of the Russian state and the evolution of Russian culture to the present day.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST250: Latin American History I
MW 12-12:50 Sartorius
This course will cover Latin America from pre-Columbian Indian cultures to the beginnings of the wars for independence (ca. 1810), covering cultural, political, social, and economic developments.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST255: African American History, 1865-Present
TuTh 11-12:15 Moss
Lectures, readings, and class discussions engage the role of African Americans in the social, political, economic, cultural and artistic life of the US. Emphasis is placed on the enduring themes that have shaped the black experience in American society, and the impact of those themes on contemporary problems in race relations is examined.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST266: The United States in World Affairs
TuTh 12:30-1:45 Zhang
A study of the United States as an emerging world power and the American response to changing status in world affairs. Emphasis on the relationship between internal and external development of the nation.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST275: Law and Constitutionalism in American History
TuTh 7:30-8:45 pm Staff
Restricted to students in Freshmen Connection
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
A study of the United States as an emerging world power and the American response to changing status in world affairs. Emphasis on the relationship between internal and external development of the nation.
HIST282: History of the Jewish People I
TuTh 10-10:50 Lapin
This course examines the history of Jews and Judaism from the origins of the Israelite people in the late Bronze Age to the end of the Middle Ages. Along the way we will highlight the principal texts, cultural developments, and political transformations of the period. Among the major themes examined is the emergence and significance of diaspora in the making of Jewish History.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST284: East Asian Civilization I
TuTh 2-2:50 Lilley
History 284 surveys the political, economic, social, and cultural histories of China, Korea, and Japan and their interactions with one another. Some attention is given to the histories of Inner Asian peoples. The time frame for the course is ca. 3000 B.C.E. to 1650 C.E.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
CORE Diversity (D)
HIST289A: Violence, Catastrophe, and Civilian Conflict Worldwide in Historical Perspective
TuTh 12-12:50 Landau
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST289B: Carbon: Element at the Center of History
TuTh 12-12:50 Friedel
How has our society come to be so dependent on the classes of materials described as "carbon?" How has it come to recognize that dependence as not only a central element of modern geopolitics but also as leading to a host of environmental concerns, capped but not exhausted by the worldwide anxiety over global warming? This course uses historical approaches with an interdisciplinary character to examine these questions and provide students with the intellectual tools to pursue the answers, not only within the context of the course but also beyond in their other academic efforts and, hopefully, in their lives and careers.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST289C: Mirror of Democracy: The Golden Age of Athens
TuTh 12:30-1:20 Holum
Using written evidence and archaeology, this course will study the successes and failures of Athenian democracy in the "Golden Age," in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. We will study war, gender relations, art, comedy and tragedy, public education, imperialism, slavery, and religion. The idea is to study how well democracy worked for all the people of Athens, and to use the Athenian experience as a mirror to help us understanding democracy in our own communities.
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST289D: God Wills it! The Crusades in Medieval and Modern Perspectives
TuTh 12:00-12:50 Wasilewski
CORE Social or Political History (SH)
HIST299: Directed Research (1-3 credits)
HIST310: History of South Africa
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Landau
Not open to students who have completed HIST419E. Formerly HIST419E.
HIST324: Classical Greece
TuTh 2-3:15 Holum
This course treats the history and culture of the Greek city-states in the archaic and classical periods. Studied in depth are: the archaeology of the Greek Dark Age; the rise of the city-state, the Persian wars and conflict between Athens and Sparta; the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides; and Athenian thought and culture in the time of the Sophists and Socrates.
HIST329E: Special Topics: Black Women in United States History
Tu 3:30-6:00 Barkley Brown
This course examines the historical experiences of black women in the United States from slavery to the present. In the process students should gain a more complete understanding of African-American, United States, and women's history by reconsidering these from the vantage point of black women's experiences. While we ground our study in the political and economic circumstances of black women’s lives, we will also focus on both the cultural representations of African-American women and black women’s struggles to represent themselves on film, in art, and in literature. Comparing black women's own self-perceptions and behavior with the social norms and ideals about both African Americans and women, we will examine the racial/sexual politics of black women's lives. Throughout the course, we will be concerned with differences across class and region and with the various theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding African-American women's lives.
Also offered as AASP313 and WMST314.
HIST330: Europe in the Making: The Early Medieval West (A.D. 300-1000)
TuTh 2-3:15 Wasilewski
The Middle Ages began with the decline of the Roman Empire. During the subsequent centuries, European thinkers and rulers sought to restore, or to continue, the imperial tradition. But the concept and practice of empire both changed as time passed. In this course, we will explore the ways in which new challenges and new priorities shaped early medieval people’s attempts to recover Roman imperial glory, and consider the innovations they introduced as a result.
HIST332: Renaissance Europe
MW 12:30-1:45 Villani
Prerequisite: HIST111 or HIST112; or permission of instructor.
HIST352: America in the Colonial Era, 1600-1763
TuTh 12:30-1:45 Bradbury
The course focuses on the history of the British colonies in what became the United States of America from 1600-1760. Yet it does so in ways that place their development in a larger North American context, indeed in the context of the interactions of many nations and peoples within the Atlantic world.
Prerequisite: HIST156, HIST210, HIST213, or HIST254; or permission of instructor
HIST353: America in the Revolutionary Era: 1763-1815
MW 9:30-10:45 Ridgway
The background and course of the American revolution and early nationhood through the War of 1812. Emphasis on how the Revolution shaped American political and social development, the creation of a new government under the Constitution, and the challenges facing the new nation.
Prerequisite: HIST156, HIST210, HIST213, HIST254, or HIST275; or permission of instructor.
HIST357: Recent America: 1945- Present
MW 2-3:15 Smead
HIST376: History of Zionism and the State of Israel
MW 2-3:15 Staff
HIST386: Experiential Learning (3-6 credits) Staff
Prerequisite: permission of department. Junior standing.
Time and room to be arranged.
HIST395: Honors Colloquieum I Staff
Prerequisite: permission of department. For HIST majors only.
Time and room to be arranged.
HIST398: Honors Colloquiem II Staff
Prerequisite: permission of department. For HIST majors only.
Time and room to be arranged.
HIST404: Modern Biology
TuTh 12:30-1:45 Milam
HIST406: History of Technology
MW 11-12:15 Friedel
This course covers the changing character of technology in modern history, beginning with the Middle Ages. Concentrates on the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath, the nature of technological knowledge and the sources of technological change.
Not open to students who have completed HIST407 prior to Fall Semester, 1989.
HIST408A: Senior Seminar: Early Modern Europe
W 3-5:00 Villani
CORE capstone course
Permission of department required.
HIST408B: Senior Seminar: Asia Pacific War & Occupation of Japan
Tu 10-12:00 Mayo
CORE capstone course
In addition to quizzes and reports, the major requirement is a research essay (25-30 pages) based on substantial use of primary materials. Prior to selection of research topics, students will examine the outbreak of total war between China and Japan, 1937-45; World War II in East Asia and the Pacific, 1941-45; Japan’s total defeat in 1945 followed by the American/Allied Occupation of Japan and Japan’s return to sovereignty by 1952. There will be a special emphasis on gender, class, and race in examining battlefield and homefront experiences. Students must be willing to use one or more of the following archival sources in conducting research: microform and special collections of the University of Maryland Libraries, including the Gordon W. Prange Collection and the Japan America Student Conference papers; records pertaining to wartime and Occupied Japan at National Archives II (College Park); or newspaper and magazines, Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.) There are additional archival resources in the Washington metropolitan area, such as the Center of Military History and the Navy Historical Center (Navy Yard).
Permission of department required.
HIST408F: Senior Seminar: 20th Century African American History
Th 1-3:00 Moss
History 408F is an upper level seminar in which students, guided and assisted by the instructor, do original research on a topic of choice dealing with any aspect of 20th century African American cultural, economic, social, political, or religious history. Throughout the semester each student, using primary sources, will work on an individual research project and serve as a peer reviewer of the research projects of other class members. The end product for each student is a completed research paper based on primary sources. Hist408F is a research seminar.
CORE capstone course
Permission of department required.
HIST408M: Senior Seminar: The Scope and Variety of United States Diplomatic History
Tu 4-6:00 Zhang
CORE capstone course
Permission of department required.
HIST408V: Senior Seminar: Immigration and Ethnicity in the United States
W 2-4:00 Mar
CORE capstone course
Permission of department required.
HIST408W: The Rise and Fall of the Old South
W 1-3:00 Rowland
The destruction of slavery in the United States was part of a century-long Age of Emancipation that saw the end of chattel bondage throughout the Americas. Nowhere did the slaveholders welcome the end of slavery. Only in the United States, however, did they display the ideological commitment and self-confidence or command the political strength and material wherewithal to fight to the death in its defense. This seminar examines the rise, maturation, and ultimate destruction of the social and political order of the Old South. We will consider the constituent elements of Southern society slaves, slaveholders, yeoman farmers, white nonslaveholders, free people of African descent and ask questions about sources of cohesion and conflict. We will also examine the position of the Old South within the nation, the development of regional self-consciousness, and the fateful decision to stake everything on a bloody bid for independence. Finally, we will examine the dissolution of the Old South under the pressure of war, a war that exposed to full view both fissures and solidarities that had previously lain beneath the surface.
As a capstone readings seminar, the course has two principal goals. The first is consolidation of skills that history majors have been developing in their other history courses, especially HIST 208 and upper-level courses. These include active reading; identifying the thesis of a book or article; evaluating analytical frameworks and arguments; framing historical questions; discerning the relationships among questions, sources, and arguments; and writing clearly, persuasively, and in accordance with the conventions of the historical profession. Second, the course aims to create a high-level seminar experience in which participants build up a common body of knowledge and conceptual perspectives and collectively develop their critical and interpretive skills.
Reading assignments average 200-250 pages per week, and students are expected to come to class not only having completed the readings but also prepared to discuss them thoughtfully. Writing assignments include 2-3 pages each week, a midterm paper of 5-6 pages, and a final paper of 6-8 pages.
CORE capstone course
Permission of department required.
HIST408Z: Inventing the New World
Th 4-6:00 Caneque
In this course, we explore how sixteenth-century Europeans tried to make sense of the ‘discovery’ of America. While China, Africa, and India had been slowly incorporated into the European imagination, America constituted a ‘New World’ which had to be incorporated into the Europeans’ cosmographical, geographical, historical, and anthropological understanding. We will analyze the rhetorical and iconographic
strategies utilized by explorers, missionaries, and men of letters in their attempts at bringing this new world into European consciousness. We will consider, as well, how this process contributed to the formation of a Eurocentric view of the world and the role played by these texts in the history of colonialism, paying particular attention to the ways in which native peoples and their societies were represented and their lands appropriated. This course is a research seminar. The main requirement of this course will be the writing of a substantial paper based on primary sources.
CORE capstone course
Permission of department required.
HIST419J: Special Topics in History: Strategic Military Theory: Clausewitz
MW 11-12:15 Sumida
HIST419P: Special Topics in History: Origins of Ethnic Cleansing in Russia/USSR
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Dolbilov
HIST419R: Special Topics in History: Medieval Jewish History
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Cooperman
Also offered as JWST429M.
HIST419T: Special Topics in History: Medieval Readings in Hebrew: Biblical Exegesis
TuTh 2-3:15 Cooperman
Prerequisite: HEBR313 or permission of department
HIST429A: Special Topics in History: Society and Culture in Victorian Britain
MW 1-2:15 Taddeo
This course examines particular aspects of the social and cultural life of Great Britain, primarily from 1830 to 1900. We will pay particular attention to the various meanings of Victorianism and the bourgeois myths of progress, morality, reform, and imperial conquest. We will focus on the "Two Nations" residing within Britain and how government and moral reformers addressed conditions of social inequality. We will also address Victorian notions of class, race, gender, and sexuality and how they were shaped by and influenced the politics and culture of everyday life. The format is both chronological and topical. Readings will be a combination of primary and secondary sources.
HIST429B: Special Topics in History: Cultural History of the Chinese Revolutions
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Gao
HIST429K: Special Topics in History: Colonization and Decolonization in North Africa
Th 1-3:00 Wien
This seminar examines North African experiences with French colonialism. We will inquire into the shared historical heritage and the specific socio-political structures of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia at the moment of colonization, the impact of colonial rule
through diverse forms of interaction between the French authorities and local societies, and the trajectories of these interactions that led to the struggle for independence and gave it a particular shape in individual countries.
HIST429R: Special Topics in History: History of Science and Gender
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Milam
HIST436: French Revolution and Napoleon
MW 9:30-10:45 Sutherland
The causes and course of the French Revolution with emphasis on the struggle among elites, popular intervention, the spread of counterrevolution, the Terror as repression and popular government, the near collapse of the Republic, and the establishment and defeat of dictatorship.
HIST443: Modern Balkan History
TuTh 11-12:15 Lampe
Prerequisite: HIST113 or HIST240; or permission of instructor.
HIST454: Constitutional History of the United States: From Colonial Origins to 1860
MW 2-3:15 Ross
HIST457: History of American Culture and Ideas
MW 12:30-1:45 Giovacchini
A continuation of HIST456, from the Civil War to the present.
Prerequisite: HIST157, HIST211, HIST213, HIST222, HIST255, HIST265, or HIST275; or permission of instructor.
HIST463: History of the Old South
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Berlin
The golden age of the Chesapeake, the institution of slavery, the frontier South, the antebellum plantation society, the development of regional identity and the experiment in independence.
HIST467: Women and Reform Movements in the Twentieth Century U.S.
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Muncy
Recommended: HIST211; or HIST157; or HIST255. Formerly: HIST419W and HIST429E. US women have been involved in reform movements throughout the twentieth century. This course will focus especially on women in various movements for social justice and will ask questions about how women’s participation in such movements has been shaped by gender, race, and class positions. In each of three periods, we will study women’s participation in the labor movement, movements for racial justice, and social welfare reform. To the extent that movements for the advancement of women have existed independent of these three areas, we will examine those as well. The three periods of special focus are the Progressive Era (1890-1925); the New Deal Era (1933-45); and the Postwar Era (1945-1975).
HIST473: History of the Caribbean
MW 2-3:15 Sartorius
The Caribbean region has played a significant role in world history that belies its small size and population. From the development of colonialism and mercantile capitalism to the trans-Atlantic slave trade to emancipatory and revolutionary social movements, the history of the Caribbean sheds light on phenomena of global significance that are still in view today. This course will introduce you to that history through sustained attention to two simultaneous and related long-term developments: the maintenance of European and North American imperial enterprises and the elaboration of racial ideologies around the diversity that has characterized the island populations. Through this prism, we will be able to explore such issues as colonialism, piracy, export agriculture, slavery and emancipation, national independence movements, and tourism. The course has three sections: the early history of the Caribbean, leading up to the Haitian Revolution; nineteenth-century developments, including slave emancipation and early nationalist and independence movements; and the twentieth century, which pays particular attention to how Caribbean peoples have acted on their understandings of those two prior periods.
CORE Diversity Course (D)
HIST475: History of Mexico and Central America II
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Vaughan
The course examines the Mexican Revolution of 1910, the first social revolution of the twentieth century. Although promising advanced reforms to workers and peasants, it was ultimately a bourgeois revolution intent upon popular containment. The contentiousness of workers and peasants and controlling intent of the state constitute a fascinating theater of war and possibility in every sense: the flourishing of a transnational, modernist vanguard in the arts, the introduction of “action” education to integrate the poor into the nation and provide them with tools for material improvement; the rise of a powerful mass aesthetic in music, film, and dance; the incidence of endemic violence in state formation and institutionalization, and the consolidation of an impressive social welfare state under an authoritarian political party (PRI). We will also look at the disintegration after 1968 of the authoritarian welfare state under pressure from democratizing forces within Mexico and transnational economic/financial interests. Lastly we will take up the problems of neoliberal democracy in a globalized economy: the exodus of Mexican workers to the United States and the growth of the drug trade. The class involves a take home midterm and final and weekly blackboard participation in preparation for classroom discussion.
Prerequisite: HIST251, LASC234, or LASC235; or permission of instructor
CORE Diversity Course (D)
HIST480: History of Traditional China
TuTh 12:30-1:45 Gao
HIST482: History of Japan to 1800
TuTh 2-3:15 Mayo
This focus of this course is early modern Japan. It begins with civil warfare in the 16th century; the first appearance of European merchants and missionaries in Japan; and the process of pacification and reunification. The prime focus will be on the largely peaceful 250 years of early modern Japan or the period of the Tokugawa shoguns, 1603-1868. It will examine a broad range of themes: political and social systems and ideology, foreign relations, taming of the warrior class, commercialization of agriculture and rise of the merchant class, achievements in technology, intellectual and religious currents, education and literary, material culture and family life, urban popular culture and classical arts. The course will end with internal crises, expanding external contacts, and systemic challenges to the existing social and political system, 1850s-1860s. Sources will range from lectures, readings, and documents to feature and documentary films and visual images.
HIST491: History of the Ottoman Empire
TuTh 9:30-10:45 Zilfi
CORE Diversity Course (D)
HIST492: Women and Society in the Middle East
Tu 2-4:00 Zilfi
Recommended: prior coursework in Middle East studies or gender studies. Also offered as WMST456. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: HIST492 or WMST456.
HIST 499: Independent Study (1-3 credits)
Time and date TBD
Permission of Department Required