91654

LAIS / HIST 110 Colonial Latin America since Conquest

Miles Rodriguez

M . W . .

11:50 -1:10 pm

OLIN 202

HIST/DIFF

This is an introductory survey of the history of Colonial Latin America since Conquest. The course traces the complex processes of conquest, empire building, and the creation of many diverse, complex, and dynamic communities, societies, and cultures from the convergence of Native, European, African, and Asian peoples. The course considers peoples in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of North and South America in three centuries, from the late fifteenth to early nineteenth centuries, starting with the first native settlements and indigenous societies. These empires later transformed into places like California, Texas, and the US Southwest, and nations as diverse as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. Using sources like codices, native language writings, and other readings and writings of men and women in Colonial Latin America, the class will reflect on the peoples, places, events, as well as beliefs, cultures, and conflicts of a world different from our own. The course allows for a consideration of the historical legacies of the colonial period in contemporary Latin America. No previous study of Latin American history is required for this course. LAIS core course. Class size: 22

91662

HIST 112 Three Cities: A History of Lagos, Nairobi, and Johannesburg

Drew Thompson

. T . Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

ALBEE 106

HIST

Cross-listed: Africana Studies, Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & Int’l Studie;s Human Rights This introductory course in African history traces the development of Lagos, Nairobi, and Johannesburg, beginning before 1850, with people’s first encounters with the concept of the ‘city.’ We will continue into the contemporary period, exploring the impact of colonization, apartheid, as well as globalization in the post-independence era. Students will explore each city through the perspectives of the very people who participated in their construction. The class will not merely look at the infrastructure of these cities, but also incorporate music, films, and theatrical plays to consider their underworlds, from the slums to the shopping centers. Class size: 22

91655

HIST 120 War & Peace: A History of International Relations, 1878-2001

Mark Lytle / Richard Aldous

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLINLC 115

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; Victorian Studies This global course surveys international history in the modern era, beginning in 1878 with the Congress of Berlin and a war in Afghanistan and moving chronologically towards 9/11 and another war in Afghanistan. How then has the international system changed between these two Afghan wars? We will give particular attention to the three great conflicts of the twentieth century – World War I, World War II, and the Cold War – and the shifting balance of power in Europe and Asia. We will also explore the historiographic controversies that surround these events. Special prominence is given to the policies of the Great Powers, and the major ideological forces that defined them. In that way, our survey will help you achieve an understanding of the broad sweep of international history, and to be able to differentiate among the forces—including imperialism, fascism, communism, liberal capitalism, science, and globalism—that have disturbed the peace and shaped the modern world. Class size: 45

91656

HIST / JS 120 Jewishness Beyond Religion

Cecile Kuznitz

. T . Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

OLIN 101

HIST/DIFF

Cross-listed: Jewish Studies In the pre-modern world Jewish identity was centered on religion but expressed as well in how one made a living, what clothes one wore, and what language one spoke. In modern times Jewish culture became more voluntary and more fractured. While some focused on Judaism as (only) a religion, both the most radical and the most typical way in which Jewishness was redefined was in secular terms. In this course we will explore the intellectual, social, and political movements that led to new secular definitions of Jewish culture and identity, focusing on examples from Western and Eastern Europe and the United States. Topics will include the origins of Jewish secularization, haskalah (Jewish enlightenment) and Reform, acculturation and assimilation, modern Jewish political movements including Zionism, and Jews and the arts. In addition to secondary historical texts we will pay special attention to a wide variety of primary source documents. The class will also incorporate materials drawn from literature, film, and music. Class size: 18

91657

HIST 130 Origins of American Citizen

Christian Crouch

M . W . .

11:50 -1:10 pm

OLIN 204

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies; Africana Studies; Human Rights 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. Class size: 22

91658

HIST 139 City Cultures

Myra Armstead / Cecile Kuznitz

. T . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm

RKC 103

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies; Environmental & Urban Studies The built environment of cities is a powerful indicator of the social and cultural history of urban populations. In this course we will look comparatively at five cities in the U.S. and Western and Eastern Europe, considering a variety of physical structures and spaces from the industrial and postindustrial eras. We will examine features of the urban landscape including parks, tenements, cafes, freeways, and even sewers. We will read these sites for what they reveal about urban life across time, including such issues as technological innovation, new forms of leisure, changing relationships to the environment, the development of working class culture, and the imposition of political hegemony. Cities to be studied include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, and Vilna. Class size: 45

91643

HIST 142 Britain since 1707

Richard Aldous

. T . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm

RKC 101

HIST

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies This course examines the multi-layered history of Great Britain from its inception in 1707 to the modern day, asking how a small island off continental Europe spread its influence so successfully around the globe. Fully integrating the experience of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, we’ll survey the evolution of a nation and its people, reading seminal texts and asking to what extent Britain lived up to its aspiration to be ‘great and free, the … envy of them all.’ Class size: 22

91659

HIST 185 The Making of the Modern Middle East

Omar Cheta

M . W . .

10:10 - 11:30 am

ASP 302

HIST/DIFF

Cross-listed: Africana Studies, Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights; Middle Eastern Studies; Science This course is a general historical survey of the Middle East since the late 18th century. It covers the major transformations that the region witnessed, especially, the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, European imperialism, nationalism (including the Arab-Israeli conflict), political Islam and, most recently, the Arab Spring. The course emphasizes the interaction between society, culture and politics. Therefore, in addressing each of these broad themes, it pays particular attention to their social and cultural aspects such as, gender, labor, popular culture and forms of protest. The geographic focus of the course is largely the Eastern Mediterranean (including Egypt and Turkey), Iran and, to a lesser extent, the Gulf. While emphasizing the history of the modern Middle East, the course is meant to help students acquire critical tools necessary for the study of history more generally. For example, students will be required to examine primary texts and to reflect on the uses of history in contemporary contexts. Class size: 22

91660

HIST 192 The Age of Extremes: Topics in European History, 1789 - present

Gregory Moynahan

M . W . .

10:10 - 11:30 am

OLINLC 115

HIST

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies This course will present a thematic survey of European history in the modern period.  Each week we will illuminate pivotal transformations in the era using different methodologies and forms of history, ranging from demographic and gender history to diplomatic and military history.  The class will thus offer an in-depth presentation of key aspects of modernity and a survey of contemporary historiography. Issues discussed will include: the relation of the agricultural and industrial revolutions to long-term ecological and demographic change; the intensification of capitalism as the basis of social organization; the coextensive development of competing ideologies of conservatism, anarchism, socialism, communism and liberalism; the role of Europe in the global economic system, “scientific racism,” and neo-colonialism; the creation of new institutions of technological research, patent, and communication; the wars of the twentieth century, systematic genocide, and the development of a military-industrial technocracy; the transformation of the state system through the European Union; and the effect of mass media on definitions of the public sphere and political action.  A rudimentary grasp of modern European history is assumed, but supplemental reading will provide a broad narrative base for students with no background in the field. Class size: 22

91663

LAIS / HIST 210 Mexican & Mexican-American Histories & Cultures

Miles Rodriguez

. T . Th .

11:50 – 1:10 pm

RKC 115

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies There is no abstract or timeless Mexican culture. Nor does Mexican history happen independently of its changing cultural contexts. At the same time, through the changing contours of empires, nations, and migrations, Mexican history and culture has become global, for example, in the case of Mexican-Americans in the US. This introductory course explores the complex relationship between culture and history from the independence of Mexico from the Spanish Empire in the early nineteenth century to the contemporary Mexican nation-state. It also considers Mexican-American history and culture, as parts of northern Mexico transformed into California, Texas, and the US Southwest in the mid-nineteenth century, and through multi-generational cultural transmission and migration to the present. The course demonstrates that we cannot understand contemporary Mexico without understanding its past nor Mexicans and Mexican-Americans without understanding their historical and cultural convergences and uniqueness. No previous study of Mexican, Latin American, or Latino history is required for this course. LAIS core course. Class size: 22

91938

HIST 2255 Law in the Middle East: From Ottoman Edicts to Contemporary Human Rights

Omar Cheta

. T . Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

HEG 201

HIST

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights; Middle Eastern Studies This course explores major debates on the character of legal development in the Middle East from the early modern period to the present. The course examines how law was constituted and applied among both the Muslim & non-Muslim communities of the Ottoman Empire (16th-18th centuries). Furthermore, it considers how this particular early modern legacy shaped the policies of the Ottoman and post-Ottoman states toward legal reform in the modern period (19th-20th centuries). Finally, the course investigates the contemporary politics of law in the contemporary Middle East. Readings and class discussions will revolve around the intersection of law with various social spheres such as religious conversion, gender, slavery, economy and human rights. Class size: 22

91935

HIST 2307 The American Dream: The History of an Idea and an Experience

Myra Armstead

. T . Th .

3:10 -4:30 pm

OLIN 204

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies “But there has been also the American dream, that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement."  These words from James Truslow Adams summarize the optimism and sense of exceptionalism that have defined much of American experience.  In this course, we will consider the various articulations of the Dream, the ideological and structural supports for the Dream, limits of the Dream, and how these have changed over time.   We will look briefly and comparatively at alternative dreams, e.g, the, the new “European Dream,” in an effort to assess implicit understandings of the Dream's uniqueness, and critiques of the Dream within a global context. Class size: 22

91672

HIST 2314 / AS 101 Colonial English America

Christian Crouch

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 203

HIST

Cross-listed: Africana Studies; American Studies; Human Rights The cries of "No Taxation without Representation!" and the celebration of the American Revolution make the transformation of English North American into "these United States of America" seem like a seamless process.  Reality contradicts this myth.  Colonial English America was uncertain from its inception and barely survived the first half of the seventeenth century.  By the mid-eighteenth century, most Americans celebrated being British and had little idea of a distinctive American identity.  This course traces the winding, contingent, and deeply fraught process of the English colonies in America.  It begins with English piracy in the Caribbean (the first attempts to claim an American empire) and concludes in the early years of the American Revolution, when the outcome of that rebellion was still unclear.  Special attention will be given to previously under explored historical actors such as Native peoples, enslaved Africans, women, and indentured servants, who profoundly shaped the nature of colonial English America. Class size: 22

91664

HIST 2391 Reason and Passions

Alice Stroup

. T . Th .

11:50 -1:10 pm

OLIN 205

HIST

Cross-listed: French Studies What is the good life? In hard times, is it better to serve or to flee society? What power does reason have over the passions? Descartes and Pascal, Molière and Racine, Fontenelle and Foigny debated these fundamental questions during seventeenth-century hard times. Optimists and pessimists alike developed their views in philosophical treatises, plays, fables, utopias, and other genres designed to reach a large Francophone audience. We will sample their writings, exploring the influences – ancient and modern, religious and libertine, scientific and political – on their thought. Class size: 22

91809

HIST 2401 Past, Present, and Future in Medieval England

Michael Staunton

. T . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 101

HIST

Cross-listed: Medieval Studies How did people in the middle ages think about their past, present and future? How did they explain the fortunes of individuals and the rise and fall of empires? How did they discuss authority and resistance, religious conflict, the natural and the supernatural world? This course looks at how a talented and original group of writers in England in the high middle ages tried to make sense of the remarkable times in which they lived. Combining history, prophesy, poetry and political commentary, their works address not only the dramatic events of the time – the murder of Thomas Becket, the rebellion of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the crusade of Richard the Lionheart – but a range of other topics, from the character of the Irish to the nature of werewolves. Students will gain both an insight into a formative period in English history and an appreciation how historical interpretation has changed over time. Class size: 22

91665

HIST 242 20th Century Russia: Communism-Nationalism

Gennady Shkliarevsky

. T . Th .

3:10 -4:30 pm

OLIN 205

HIST

Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights, Russian and Eurasian Studies There has hardly been a period in Russian history which would be more abundant in upheavals and paradoxes than the country's evolution in the 20th century. In its search for an elusive balance between modernity and tradition, Russian society has experienced many radical transformations that will be the subject of this introductory survey. In addition to the discussion and analysis of the main internal and external political developments in the region, the course will also include extensive examination of different aspects of the rapidly modernizing society, such as the Soviet command economy; the construction of national identity, ethnic relations and nationalism; family, gender relations, and sexuality; the arts, etc. Course materials will include scholarly texts, original documents, works of fiction and films. Class size: 22

91666

HIST 2481 Mao's China & Beyond

Robert Culp

. T . Th .

10:10 - 11:30 am

OLIN 204

HIST

Cross-list: Asian Studies, Global &Int’l Studies No individual shaped modern China, and arguably any one human society, more than Mao Zedong. This course uses Mao’s life and writings as a framework and material for exploring twentieth-century Chinese history. We will focus first on the course of China’s twentieth-century revolutions, and relate those movements to other social, cultural, and economic trends, including urbanization, industrialization, the urban-rural gap, consumerism, various intellectual and cultural movements, and the expansion of the mass media. For the Maoist period (1949-1978) we will address topics related to youth culture, socialist citizenship, and political violence, using sources like memoirs and party propaganda to explore the dynamics of Chinese state socialism and the Cultural Revolution decade (1966-1976). The final third of the course will focus on contemporary China in light of the history of the period of Reform and Opening (1978-present), since Mao’s death. Fiction, film, television, advertisements, and other mass media will help us understand how contemporary China has developed in reaction to the Maoism of the previous decades. No prior study of China is necessary; first year students are welcome. Class size: 22

91667

HIST 2702 Liberty, National Rights & Human Rights

Gregory Moynahan

M . W . .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 202

HIST

Cross-listed: Global &Int’l Studies; Human Rights (core course); Science, Technology &Society The history of 'human rights' can formally be said to have come into existence only with the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the successor conventions that ultimately formed the International Bill of Human Rights. Both the declaration and its later instantiations were created in reaction to the problems of genocide and mass population transfers (and consequent loss of citizenship) during the Second World War. This course will begin by examining the fatal gaps in the previous system of nationally instantiated “universal” rights as they were initially developed in Europe and selectively applied to or adopted by its colonies. Beginning with the pursuit of liberties in peasant communes and early modern law, we will examine the creation of national rights from the treaty of Westphalia through the British, American, and French revolutions, and the relation of these rights to colonial administration. The post-war institutions of human rights provided a new justification for a universal and 'open' standard of laws and fealty (often compared to imperial Rome) and ultimately provided new legitimation for the selective intervention of stronger powers in the affairs of weaker political or legal entities. By focusing on case studies, particularly those from the contrasting cases of the European Union and United States, the relation of human rights to hegemonic power will be examined in detail. The course will also examine the relation of politics to the infrastructures that made both widespread human rights infractions and their curtailment possible. The role of media (telegraph, radio, etc.), systems of organization (passports, criminal archives) and police (secret police, international monitors) will be considered as modern transnational phenomenon that are intimately connected with the development and fate of enforcing human rights norms. The final section of the course will look at the role of international NGO's in both monitoring human rights and criticizing the state of existing human rights law, particularly in their criticism of human rights as a product of a particular north Atlantic perspective and set of biases. Class size: 22

91669

HIST 2703 From the Holocaust Museum to the History Channel: Public History in the United States

Cynthia Koch

. T . Th .

1:30 -2:50 pm

OLIN 203

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies History is an academic subject, yet most people encounter it outside the academy. They watch TV documentaries and historical films, visit museums and historic sites, and travel to historic places. All of these are examples of public history. It is here that history has a definitive role in community and national discourse—sometimes involving pointed political debate. Why did the United States drop the atomic bomb? Why did so few stand against slavery? Is it possible to ever adequately represent the Holocaust? This introduction to the field of public history will look at the role that historians and other academics play in shaping the institutions and practice of public history and the relationship(s) among public history, American culture, and popular memory. It will also address the practical aspects of career opportunities and internships in this field such as curatorship, documentary film, archival work, historic preservation, and community building. This course is open to all interested students without any assumption of a background in history. Class size: 22

91668

HIST 279 The Other Europe

Gennady Shkliarevsky

M . W . .

3:10 -4:30 pm

OLINLC 208

HIST

Cross Listed: Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights; Russian and Eurasian Studies The course will cover the history of East Central Europe from 1945 to the present. After a brief summary of the history of the region before and during World War II, the course will concentrate on the region’s evolution since the war. In addition to surveying the period and examining the turning points in its evolution (for example, the Berlin uprising of 1953, the Hungarian revolution and reforms in Poland in 1956, the "Prague spring" of 1968, the Solidarity movement in Poland, and the revolutions at the end of the 1980s), we will explore a variety of specific topics, including political systems, economic organization, ethnic conflicts, and gender relations. Readings will include a textbook, specialized studies, original sources, and works of fiction. Class size: 20

91673

HIST 302 MC Environmental Diplomacy

Mark Lytle

. . . . F

10:10 - 12:30 pm

OLIN 301

HIST

Cross-listed: American Studies; Environmental & Urban Studies; Global & Int’l Studies Diplomatic historians have long looked at territorial disputes, imperial ambitions, and dynastic competition as causes for war. They have generally ignored the environment as a factor in international relations. Yet, future wars may well be fought over pollution, scarce resource destruction, and over-population. Consider Saddam Hussein pouring oil into the Persian Gulf and setting his wells afire, fallout from Chernobyl, the 2004 Tsunami, and the recent Gulf oil spill. These events impacted widespread populations and numerous nations. Yet, the international mechanisms available to respond to those events proved fragile and often disorganized. Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro, Kyoto, and Copenhagen are properly known for inaction in the face of climate change and other global environmental crises. This course invites students to look at peoples, events, or issues in which the environment has played a central role. It is not a course in a traditional sense. Junior (and advanced sophomore) History, EUS, GLOBAL & INT’L STUDIES, and Political Studies students will have an opportunity for research and writing that prepares them for their senior projects. Each student will write a 25-30 page research essay or documentary appropriate for publication. The readings are designed to help you discover research topics and to provide a broad context for your writing. Class size: 15

91674

HIST / AFR 310 Captivity and Law

Tabetha Ewing

. . . Th .

4:40 -7:00 pm

OLIN 101

HIST

Cross-listed: Africana Studies, Human Rights This course focuses on the confrontation of early-modern African and European political thought and practices of captivity, especially, abduction, wartime hostage-taking, slavery, and other forms of internment. Captivity in the early modern world engages questions of war and ransom as much as labor, religion, and race. It involves contracts, written or not, for renting, selling, buying, and freeing people. As such, captivity figures prominently in the so-called laws of war and peace. The language of the law, here, indicates varying degrees of legitimacy and becomes a touchstone for the changing morality of societies--with profound consequences for understandings of gender and power. Students will write an Africa-centered paper based on primary research. (Major Conference.) Class size: 15

91636

HIST 3103 Political Ritual in the Modern World

Robert Culp

M . . . .

1:00 -3:20 pm

ASP 302

HIST/DIFF

Cross-list: Anthropology; Asian Studies; Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights The Imperial Durbar, Bastille Day, the US presidential inaugural, Japan’s celebration of victory in the Russo-Japanese War, pageants reenacting the Bolshevik Revolution, and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. In all these forms and many others, political ritual has been central to nation-building, colonialism, and political movements over the last three centuries. This course uses a global, comparative perspective to analyze the modern history of political ritual. We will explore the emergence of new forms of political ritual with the rise of the nation-state in the nineteenth century and track global transformations in the performance of politics as colonialism spread the symbols and pageantry of the nation-state. Central topics will include state ritual and the performance of power, the relationship between ritual and citizenship in the modern nation-state, the ritualization of politics in social and political movements, and the power of mediated mass spectacle in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Seminar meetings will focus on discussion of secondary and primary materials that allow us to analyze the intersection of ritual and politics in a variety of contexts. These will range from early-modern Europe, pre-colonial Bali, and late-imperial China to revolutionary France, 19^th-century America, colonial India, post-colonial Africa, several fascist and socialist states, Europe in 1968, Asad’s Syria, and the contemporary global marketplace. In addition to common readings and seminar participation, students will write a final seminar paper exploring one aspect or instance of political ritual. Moderated history students can use this course for a major conference. Class size: 15

91676

HIST 3148 Reading the Postcolonial in African History

Drew Thompson

. . W . .

1:30 -3:50 pm

OLIN 302

HIST

Cross-listed: Africana Studies; Human Rights; Political Studies The ‘postcolonial’ is not only a marker of time. It is also a site of intellectual engagement over discourses related to colonialism, power structures, and social hierarchies. This is a course for students interested in postcolonial studies, theory, and the history of theory in Africa. Drawing upon scholars from the African continent as well as Subaltern Studies, students will cover topics such as historiography, the relationship of power to knowledge production, critiques of European colonialism and South African apartheid, and the crisis of the humanities and intellectual thought currently gripping Sub-Saharan African universities. Class size: 15