Course

HIST 101   The Making of Europe to 1815

Professor

Alice Stroup

CRN

97026

 

Schedule

Tu Th          9:00 - 10:20 am   OLIN 308

Distribution

History

The millennium opened a new era of European ascendancy. For three hundred years, Europe basked in warmer weather. Northern Europeans improved agriculture and lived longer, and a new middle class revived cities as centers of commerce and culture, on both sides of the Alps. Inventions like mechanical clocks, cannons, and mills inaugurated a first industrial revolution (complete with water- and air-pollution). Then came the apocalypse: a little ice age and the Black Death shaped the material conditions of life for the next five centuries. After fifty percent of Europeans died (1340-1350), famine and epidemic kept the population in check until the 1700s. Yet we associate these five hundred years with the invention of the printing press and the rise of literacy; with socio-intellectual ferments associated with Renaissance, Reformations and Counter-Reformations, Enlightenment, and Scientific Revolution; with socio-political revolutions that modernized the Netherlands, England, and France; and with the creation of a global empire. How can we explain the continued ascendancy of Europe in such hard times? To understand the paradoxical making of Europe, we will read primary sources and modern historical analyses.   

 

Course

HIST / CLAS 103   The Rise and Fall of Rome

Professor

Benjamin Stevens

CRN

97025

 

Schedule

Tu  Th   2:30 – 3:50 pm  OLIN 201

Distribution

History

Cross-listed: Classical Studies

A survey of ancient Rome, from its eighth-century BC “rise” out of prehistoric Italic precursors to its “fall” in the fifth century AD at the hands of barbarians, bureaucrats, and others. Our goals are: (1) to become familiar with the traditional narrative of Roman history including political and military events; (2) to consider social, cultural, and intellectual aspects of life in ancient Rome (e.g. gender and sexuality, food and drink, and literature); and thus (3) to explore what it means to “do Roman history” and “to do history” generally. We read a modern narrative of Roman history, several ancient narratives and monographs, and modern scholarly works. Participation in this class qualifies students for consideration for Professor Minsky’s Roma In Situ. (January and Spring 2008). 

 

Course

HIST 1270   Victorian Crime & Punishment

Professor

George Robb

CRN

97022

 

Schedule

Mon Wed   12 noon-1:20 pm OLIN 203

Distribution

History

Cross-listed: Victorian Studies

This class will provide a broad overview of the major developments in the criminal justice system during the 19th century. Our focus will be Britain and the United States. We will explore the rise of crime in industrial society and the various attempts to understand and control criminal activity, including the development of penitentiaries, police forces, criminology, and forensics. We will also consider the image of the criminal in popular culture by studying representations of crime as well as stories of famous criminals.

 

Course

HIST 130   Origins of American Citizen

Professor

Christian Crouch

CRN

97011

 

Schedule

Mon Wed   12 noon-1:20 pm OLIN 205

Distribution

History

Cross-listed:  American Studies; Human Rights;  SRE

The United States is often portrayed historically as emerging triumphantly in 1776 to offer inclusive citizenship and a transcendent, tolerant “American” identity to all its indigenous and immigrant residents.  Yet the reality of American history belies this myth. The nation’s history is transnational and yet we focus mostly on its Anglophone roots, ignoring that the “U.S.” was carved out of the contests of many empires and grew on internationally based forced labor regimes.  It is a story of individuals, alone and/or together, contesting, reacting towards, rejecting, influencing, and embracing the changing notions of what “the United States” and “America” were from the sixteenth century well into the nineteenth century. The course focuses on six moments that definitively challenged and shaped conceptions of “American identity”, “citizen”, and “the United States”: the early colonial period, the Constitutional Convention, Cherokee Removal, the era of the internal slave trade and the “Market Revolution”, the Mexican-American War, and Reconstruction. 

 

Course

HIST 138   The Mediterranean World

Professor

Tabetha Ewing

CRN

97014

 

Schedule

Tu Th          4:00 -5:20 pm      OLIN 101

Distribution

History

"The Mediterranean is not even a single sea, it is a complex of seas; and these seas are broken up by islands, interrupted by peninsulas, ringed by intricate coastlines. Its life is linked to the land, its poetry more than half-rural, its sailors may turn peasant with the seasons; it is the sea of vineyards and olive trees just as much as the sea of long-oared galleys and the roundships of merchants. . . ." This course is a historical journey to the Mediterranean world of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries using as our vehicle the great  scholarship of Fernand Braudel, quoted above. We will consider geography, demography, climate, and economies in the first part of the course; the formation of social structures in the second; and Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religion and culture in the final third. Any student seeking an introduction to this period or these places --Spain, Italy, Southern France, and North Africa-- are invited to explore this exquisite basin of physical and human diversity.

 

Course

HIST 161   History of Economics  & Technology

Professor

Gregory Moynahan

CRN

97372

 

Schedule

Tu Th          10:30 - 11:50 am  RKC 102

Distribution

History

Cross-Listed: Global & Int’l Studies; Science, Technology & Society (core course)

Related interest:  Human Rights

This course will survey the history and historiography of technology in the late modern period.  The course will begin by studying how a separate domain of technology first came to be defined, in theory and practice, during the eighteenth century within such diverse activities as agriculture, time measurement, transport, architecture, and warfare.  We will then address how institutional forces such as law, academia, business and government came to define and influence technological change and scientific research during the industrial revolution.  Throughout the course, we will avoid casting the history of technology solely as a history of 'things' and instead focus on technology as a process embedded within research agendas, institutions, social expectations, economics, and specific use -- and thus as part of a broader 'socio-technical system.'  Case studies ranging from the bicycle and nuclear missile targeting to public health statistics and the birth control pill will allow us to develop 'internal' accounts of the development of technology and science in conjunction with 'external' accounts of the historical context of technologies.  The course will conclude with an assessment of recent approaches to the history of technology, such as the influence of systems theory or actor-network theory.  Authors read will include Hacking, Heidegger, Hughes, Landes, Latour, Lenoir, Luhmann, Mokyr, Spengler, and Wise. If course space is limited, preference will be given to History and History of Science concentrators. 

 

Course

HIST 168   Czarist Russia

Professor

Gennady Shkliarevsky

CRN

97024

 

Schedule

Mon Wed  1:30 -2:50 pm        OLIN 204

Distribution

History

Cross-listed:  Russian and Eurasian Studies

A semester-long survey will explore Russian history from Peter the Great to the 1917 revolution in a broad context of modernization and its impact on the country.  Among the topics of special interest are:  reforms of Peter the Great and their effects; the growth of Russian absolutism; the position of peasants and workers; the rift between the monarchy and educated society; the Russian revolutionary movement and Russian Marxism; the overthrow of the Russian autocracy.  The readings will include contemporary studies on Russian history and works by nineteenth-century Russian writers. 

 

Course

HIST 2104  The Way We Work

Professor

Myra Armstead

CRN

97880

 

Schedule

Tu   2:30 – 4:50 pm  OLIN 107

Distribution

History

Cross-listed:  American Studies

This is a labor history course covering the colonial era through the present period of U.S. history.  But unlike a traditional labor history course, it does not center mainly on charting the struggle between workers and employers for reduced hours, better working conditions, enhanced benefits, and the fundamental right to organize. Nor does it mainly focus on the emergence of worker cultures in their varying forms.  Rather, while these matters will be covered, the chief concern of the course will be to construct a narrative of the experience of work and how that has changed over time within the American context.  Thus for each of the time periods surveyed—preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial--it will ask what, in fact, have Americans understood work to mean, and how that meaning in turn influenced the experience of work itself.  More specific questions for the three major time periods to be surveyed include an interrogation of work and the relationship between it and leisure, between individual gain and community good, between survival and comfort, between private goals and public/national imperatives, between male and female roles, between “minorities” and mainstream populations, and between income and personal satisfaction. Finally, a global dimension in the experience of work will shape our discussions as we consider settlers, slaves, and Native Americans as laborers in the preindustrial period; immigrant workers in the industrial period; and corporate cultures of foreign companies operating on U.S. soil in the postindustrial period.

 

Course

HIST 2124   Wars of Mass Deception: Vietnam and Iraq

Professor

Mark Lytle

CRN

97017

 

Schedule

Tu Th          2:30 -3:50 pm      OLIN 204

Distribution

History

Cross-listed:  GISP;  Human Rights, STS

Since World War II, the United States has fought two controversial and widely unpopular wars--Vietnam and the 2003 War in Iraq.  Both wars began with presidential deception--Gulf of Tonkin and WMDs--to justify a crusade against a global enemy--Communism and terrorism.  In both, US forces became bogged down in battles against an elusive enemy and inflicted serious casualties on the civilians whose hearts and minds would ultimately determine the outcome. My Lai and Abu Graib brought into doubt the legitimacy of each war.  And in both,  domestic public opinion split between the desire to "protect our boys (and women)" and a sense that the war was both ill advised and unwinnable. One question we must consider, "Did the experience in Vietnam offer lessons that should have kept the United States out of Iraq or at least suggested a better way to achieve American objectives?" 

 

Course

HIST 2125   Cultural Capital, Paris 1715-1873

Professor

Tabetha Ewing

CRN

97015

 

Schedule

Tu Th          6:00 -7:20 pm      OLIN 204

Distribution

History

The city tells its stories through neighborhood and parish, gates and walls, vineyards and graveyards, cafes and restaurants, and street life:  markets, fairs, open-air theater, and scaffolds. Its stories have been told masterfully. We will read Diderot's enigmatic Rameau's Nephew, Mercier's descriptive Tableaux, on Benjamin's haunting arcades, on Haussmanization, and Zola's Belly of Paris; and view maps, engravings, and Marville's early photographs. The course opens with the gay Regency when great fortunes were made and lost and all Parisians were caught up in the excitement of rue Quincampoix's paper money experiment. It ends with the Paris Commune, its state-sponsored violence and political possibilities. Throughout, we study urban structures, from language to architecture, as they contributed to the changing social imaginaries of space.

 

Course

HIST / SOC 214   American Immigration

Professor

Joel Perlmann

CRN

97020

 

Schedule

Tu Th          4:00 -5:20 pm      OLIN 203

Distribution

Social Science /Rethinking Difference

Cross-listed:  American Studies, Human Rights, Social Policy, SRE

This course examines American immigration past and present.   It will offer a brief history of American immigration generally, and a detailed focus on two periods: the last great immigration before our own times (1890-1920), and the immigration of today.    Throughout, we will ask how the present American experience is similar to, and how it differs from, the earlier American experience as "a country of immigrants."     Major themes include: who came and why; the immigrants’ economic impact on American society (including the economic impact on the native-born poor); how the children of the immigrants have fared; whiteness, multiculturalism and assimilation; and finally immigration policy and politics.   Readings will be mostly from social science and history but will also include memoirs, fiction, and policy debates. Students interested in this course should email Professor Perlmann prior to registration with a brief description of their background in American history. 

 

Course

HIST 2341   Inventing Modernity: Peasant Commune, Renaissance and Reformation in
the German and Italian Worlds, 1291-1806

Professor

Gregory Moynahan

CRN

97373

 

Schedule

Mon Wed   1:30 -2:50 pm      OLIN 205

Distribution

History

Cross-listed: German Studies, Italian Studies, STS
 Using as its starting point Jacob Burckhardt's classic account The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, this course will examine the role of the drastic upheavals of the early modern period in defining the origins of such modern institutions as capitalism, political individuality, religious freedom, democracy, and the modern military. The geographic focus will be the towns, cities, and peasant communes of the Italian and German speaking regions of Europe, particularly the Italian peninsula, Holy Roman Empire, and Switzerland.  Two apparently opposed developments will be at the center of our approach: first, the role of the autonomous peasant commune, particularly in Switzerland, as a model and spur for political forms such as democracy and anarchism; second, the development of modern capitalism and technology as they came to impinge on the traditional feudal and communal orders. The course will also address the historiography and politics -surrounding the "invention" of the Renaissance in the late nineteenth century, looking particularly at Burckhardt's relation with Ranke, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche.

 

Course

HIST 245   History of East Central Europe since WWII

Professor

Gennady Shkliarevsky

CRN

97023

 

Schedule

Tu Th          4:00 -5:20 pm      OLIN 205

Distribution

History

Cross-listed:  Russian & Eurasian Studies; GISP; Human Rights

East Central Europe is in many respects one of the most intriguing parts of the world.  Culturally and geographically positioned between the West and Russia, this ethnically diverse region has experienced in the course of the twentieth century a very dramatic and paradoxical evolution.  After a brief summary of the history of the region prior and during WWII, we will concentrate on its history since the war and particularly on those events and developments which reflects its paradoxical evolution.  Using a comparative approach, we will examine a variety of specific topics including political systems, economic organization, ethnic conflicts, and gender relations.  The course will use original sources, films, works of fiction, as well as scholarly studies.  No Prerequisites. 

 

Course

HIST 2505  Insurgency and Counterinsurgency

Professor

James Spies

CRN

97516

 

Schedule

Wed  7:00 – 9:20 pm   OLIN 205

Distribution

History

The course will work to develop a theoretical, strategic, and operational understanding of insurgencies.  Students will begin by exploring revolutionary theory; determining why states collapse into revolution.   Comparing the exhaustion strategies that typify successful insurgencies and counterinsurgencies against annihilation strategies that typify most of Clausewitz and U.S. warfighting doctrine, students learn how and why these strategies can be advantageous and why U.S. forces have been slow to grapple with these dilemmas.  Using the guidance of historical guerrilla leaders, students will then investigate examples of insurgent systems in order to understand how these strategies and operational designs translate into tactical-and often idiosyncratic-methods.  Finally, they will explore a systemic model of insurgencies that aids analyses of insurgencies.  A review of historical, current, and imminent doctrine will follow, encouraging comparison, contrast, and analysis between models that will highlight strengths and weaknesses and emphasize synchronization with Stability, Security, Transition and Reconstruction in modern warfare.  Texts will include historical works, as well as classic insurgency tracts from China and Vietnam and official American, British and French counterinsurgency manuals, along with current studies of Islamic insurgent tactics and strategies.

 

Course

HIST 280A   American Environmental History I

Professor

Mark Lytle

CRN

97016

 

Schedule

Wed Fr       10:30 - 11:50 am  OLIN 201

Distribution

History

Cross-listed: American Studies, Environmental Studies;  Human Rights; Social Policy
Since the Old World first encountered the New, a struggle has taken place over what this new world might become.  For some, it meant moral and spiritual rejuvenation.  For most, it meant an opportunity to tap a natural warehouse of resources that could be turned into wealth.  At no time have those two visions been compatible, despite the efforts of politicians, artists, and scientists to reconcile them.  This course is about that
struggle.  It looks specifically at the United States from the colonial era until the early Twentieth Century--a period in which one of the world’s most abundant wildernesses was largely transformed into an urbanized, industrial landscape.  We will study the costs and consequences of that transformation while listening to the voices of those who proposed alternative visions.

 

Course

HIST 3121   The Case for Liberties

Professor

Alice Stroup

CRN

97027

 

Schedule

Mon            1:30 -3:50 pm      OLIN 308

Distribution

History

Related interest: French Studies; Human Rights

What is tyranny?  When is rebellion justified?  What defines a nation?  Given human nature, what is the ideal government?  Is there a human right to free trade?  Is commerce compatible with art and philosophy?  Such questions prompted Netherlanders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to carve a Dutch Republic out of the Spanish Empire, and to create a "Golden Age" of capitalism, science, and art.  We will supplement monographs on Dutch history with paintings, scientific treatises, and the literature of rebellion and republicanism (including Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise). 

 

Course

HIST 3123   The Law & Theory of War: From Agincourt to the Global War on Terror

Professor

Peter Maguire

CRN

97018

 

Schedule

Th               9:30 - 11:50 am   OLIN 307

Distribution

History

Cross-list:  Human Rights; STS

This course will examine the laws and customs of war from the Treaty of Westphalia to the Global War on Terror.  After considering both the customary and codified sources of law (the Chivalric Code, the Lieber Code, Hague Conventions, and Nuremberg Principles), students will examine a variety of examples of political justice: the Santee Sioux, Henry Wirz, Jacob Smith, Llandovery Castle, Leipzig,  Malmedy, Yamashita, Nuremberg, Calley, Padilla, and Guantanomo Bay.  Students  will be responsible for oral presentations and a variety of writing assignments.

 

Course

HIST 3491   History  of Sexuality

Professor

George Robb

CRN

97021

 

Schedule

Mon            1:30 -3:50 pm      OLIN 307

Distribution

History

Cross-listed:  Gender and Sexuality Studies; STS

The purpose of this course is to develop a critical understanding of how definitions of human sexuality have developed in particular social and national contexts, how social concerns about sexuality have been played out in personal and political realms, and how a wide range of sexual identities have been constructed in different historical contexts. We will explore various issues in the history of sexuality covering a broad range of theoretical and thematic questions. We will focus primarily on western Europe and North America during the 19th and 20th centuries, but will be sensitive to issues of race and colonialism

 

Course

HIST 3531   Oral History Seminar

Professor

Peter Maguire

CRN

97402

 

Schedule

Tu               1:30 -3:50 pm      OLIN 304

Distribution

History

This seminar will focus on practical, technical, and legal aspects of conducting interviews.  Each student will be responsible for conducting a two-part oral history interview.  After their project designs have been approved, students will conduct their initial interviews.  After the class has critiqued their interviews, students will conduct follow up sessions.  Students will be responsible for conducting a two-part interview, transcribing the results, and leading the discussion/critique of another interview.  The course seeks to convey very practical knowledge about how to win trust and conduct interviews in a variety of circumstancesStudents considering or already involved in research projects requiring review and approval by the college's IRB (Institutional Review Board) would especially benefit from this course.

 

Course

HIST 371   The Civil Rights Movement

Professor

Myra Armstead

CRN

97010

 

Schedule

Mon            9:30 - 11:50 am    OLIN 204

Distribution

History / Rethinking Difference

Cross-listed:  American Studies; Human Rights; Social Policy; SRE

The Civil Rights Movement of and/or for African Americans is generally contextualized within the postwar 1950s and the liberal ferment of the   early 1960s.  This course stretches this temporal trajectory by reaching back to the Reconstruction era and forward to the transformation of the movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  The Civil Rights Movement will first be viewed conventionally as a human rights struggle by black Americans for social inclusion on the political/legal front.   But it will also be treated as a push for social inclusion on two additional fronts—economic and cultural.  The movement will thus be assessed for its ability or inability to balance all three concerns.  As such, the movement provides an index of the historical systemic flexibility and structural rigidity of access to the American bonanza.