|
91670 |
HIST
/ LAIS 110 COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA SINCE CONQUEST |
Miles
Rodriguez |
M . W
. . |
11:50
am -1:10 pm |
OLIN
202 |
HIST/DIFF |
(LAIS core course. )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. Class
size: 22
|
91666 |
HIST 122 Twentieth Century Britain |
Richard Aldous |
. T . Th . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
RKC 101 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies This introductory course
offers a survey of Britain in the twentieth century. We start with the death of
Queen Victoria in 1901 and move chronologically through the century. Particular
emphasis is given to the multi-layered experience of three great conflicts -
the first and second world wars and the cold war. Our examination of this
dramatic period in British history will include reading seminal texts by
writers such as George Orwell, Winston Churchill, Vera Brittain,
Graham Greene, Isaiah Berlin, Philip Larkin. Class
size: 22
|
91667 |
HIST 127 Intro Modern Japanese History |
Robert Culp |
M . W . . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
OLIN 204 |
HIST/DIFF |
Cross-listed: Asian
Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Global & Int’l Studies Japan in the mid-19th
century was beleaguered by British and American imperialism and rocked by domestic
turmoil. How, then, did it become an emerging world power by the early 20th
century? Why did Japan’s transformations during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries lead to the total war of the 1930s and 1940s? And why did
the horrible destruction experienced after World War II ultimately result in
rapid economic growth and renewed global importance for Japan after the 1950s?
These questions provide the framework for our study of modern Japanese history.
Throughout the course we will focus special attention on Japan’s distinctive
urban culture, the changing role of women in Japanese society, the re-invention
of Japan’s imperial institution, the domestic and international effects of
Japanese imperialism, and the question of the United States’ role in Japan’s
post-war reconstruction. Readings of drama, fiction, satire, and memoir will
contribute to our exploration of these and other topics. No prior study of
Japan is necessary; first-year students are welcome. Class size: 22
|
91992 |
HIST 143 EUROPEAN DIPLOMATIC HISTORY 1648 - 1914 |
Sean McMeekin |
. T . Th . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
RKC 102 |
HIST |
A survey of the major developments in European diplomatic
history between the Treaty of Westphalia and the outbreak of World War I. Key themes of discussion will include the
changing nature of diplomacy and international order; the rise of the nation
state and standing armies; war finance and the bond market; the French
Revolutionary upheaval, the Industrial Revolution, and ideological responses to
them (eg, liberalism, nationalism/irredentism, conservatism, socialism, and
anarchism). The course concludes with an
examination of the high era of imperialism and the origins of the First World
War.
Class size: 22
|
91668 |
HIST 184 Inventing Modernity: Peasant Commune, Renaissance and
Reformation in the German and Italian Worlds, 1291-1806 |
Gregory Moynahan |
. T . Th . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
OLIN 203 |
HIST |
Cross-listed:
German Studies, Italian Studies, Science, Technology & Society 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.
Class size: 22
|
91669 |
HIST 190 The Cold War: Enemy/Globalism |
Gennady Shkliarevsky / Mark Lytle |
M . W . . |
3:10 pm -4:30 pm |
RKC 103 |
HIST/DIFF |
Cross-listed:
Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights, Russian & Eurasian Studies,
Science, Technology & Society Like two scorpions, the Soviet Union and the United States warily
circled each other in a deadly dance that lasted over half a century. In a nuclear age, any misstep threatened to be
fatal not only to the antagonists but possibly also to the entire human
community. What caused this hostile
confrontation to emerge from the World War II alliance? How did Soviet-American
rivalry affect the international community?
And why after more than fifty years did the dance end in peace rather
than war? Traditionally historians have approached those questions from a
national point of view. Their answers
had political as well as academic implications.
To blame the Soviet Union was to condemn Communism; to charge the United
States was to find capitalism as the root cause of international tensions. In this course we try to reconsider the Cold
War by simultaneously weighing both the American and Soviet perspective on
events as they unfolded. We will look at
Stalinism, McCarthyism, the nuclear arms race, the space race, the extension of
the Cold War into the third world, the rise of American hegemony, Vietnam and
Afghanistan, Star Wars, and the effort to reach strategic arms limitation
agreements. Finally, we will challenge
the claims of American conservative ideologues that the Reagan arms buildup
"won the cold war." Students
will examine key documents of the Cold War era and prepare several papers on
world areas or events that they chose to explore. Class size: 45
|
91411 |
HIST 2110 Early Middle Ages |
Alice Stroup |
. T . Th . |
10:10 am- 11:30 am |
OLIN 308 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Classical Studies, Medieval Studies The European "middle ages" -originally so called as a term of
derision—are more complex and heterogeneous than is commonly thought. This
course surveys seven centuries, from the Germanic invasions and dissolution of
the Roman Empire to the Viking invasions and dissolution of the Carolingian
Empire. Topics include early Christianity, "barbarians," Byzantine
Empire, Islam, monasticism, the myth and reality of Charlemagne. Readings
include documents, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, Einhard's
Life of Charlemagne, and selections from Ammianus Marcellinus's The Later Roman Empire and Gregory of Tours's History of the Franks. Open to first year students. Class size: 18
|
91677 |
HIST 2127 THE GENEALOGY OF Modern RevolutionS IN THE Middle East |
Omar Cheta |
M . W . . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
OLIN 309 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Global & Int’l Studies, Human Rights,
Middle East Studies The revolutions (some
would say “uprisings”) that are unfolding in several Arab countries since
December 2010 have taken the world by surprise. Until then, commentators in the
West and the Middle East alike have described the political culture of the Arab
world as “apathetic” and “prone to authoritarianism.” In this class, we will
explore the long history of modern revolutions (& uprisings) in the Middle
East. The class will focus on several themes such as the diverse histories of
revolutions, their inherent contradictions and often irreconcilable demands as
well as the intellectual aspects of these popular political actions. In
exploring these themes, we will discuss examples of non-violent revolutions,
militant revolts, labor strikes and coups d’etat.
Through studying these examples we will consider the structural limitations of
these movements. We will also seek to understand how the memory of these
moments of intense change informed the recent (ongoing?) revolutionary moment. Class
size: 18
|
91783 |
HIST 2139 Atlantic North America: 1492-1765 |
Christian Crouch |
M . W . . |
11:50 am -1:10 pm |
RKC 102 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: American
Studies, French Studies, LAIS Taking as its starting point
the "Columbian Exchange" and oceanic revolution of 1492, this course
opens up the early modern history of North America. We will trace contact
between Indians, Africans, and Europeans from initial encounter through the
complex enmeshed global Atlantic of the eighteenth century. What motivated
migrations across the Atlantic in both directions? How did imperial aspirations
shape the nature of encounters (both voluntary and forced) in North America?
What is at stake in how we construct particular visions of colonial American
history - who is included, who is excluded, and how
our narrative changes over time? Intellectual, social, and cultural trends in
various colonies will be analyzed throughout the semester, as well as
considering North America as a whole. Class size: 22
|
91671 |
HIST
/ LAIS 221 BRAZILIAN AND MEXICAN HISTORIES &
CULTURES |
Miles
Rodriguez |
.
T . Th . |
11:50
am -1:10 pm |
OLIN
204 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Anthropology;
Global & Int’l Studies; LAIS
This is an interdisciplinary course on the histories and cultures of the
two largest countries in Latin America, Brazil and Mexico. It studies culture,
broadly defined, with readings drawn from some of the major anthropological and
historical writings on these two countries from the early twentieth century to
the present. Each period of twentieth-century Brazil and Mexico will be
studied. As the class examines the scholarship of anthropologists and
historians, it problematizes the ethnography and textual production of scholars
with distinct relationships to the cultures in question as well as from different
gendered and ethnic backgrounds. Topics for study and discussion include: the
indigenous community, cultural results of slavery and ethnic mixture, the
family and the nation, violence and death, religious ritual and the sacred, and
music and dance, such as in the case of Afro-Brazilian Candomblé
and Samba. Class size: 22
|
91675 |
HIST 2237 Radio Africa: Broadcasting History |
Drew Thompson |
M . W . . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
OLIN 203 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Africana
Studies; Experimental Humanities; Global & Int’l Studies; Human Rights,
Anthropology, Science, Technology & Societyv
The radio is a type of technological innovation that was party to Africa’s
colonization and decolonization. While colonial authorities used the radio to
broadcast news reports and to internally transmit governing strategies, local
African communities sometimes appropriated the radio for both political and
entertainment purposes. This course uses the technological history of the radio
in Africa to explore histories of political activism, leisure, cultural
production and entertainment across Sub-Saharan Africa from colonial to present
times. From a topical perspective, the course will cover the development of
radio stations and distribution markets, the politics of programming and
censorship, international development agencies’ push for community radio, and
radio dramas. Using theoretical texts on sound, affect and oral tradition,
students will identify different cultures of listening with the aim of
unpacking what it means to use words and music in order to “broadcast” history.
As a final project and in conjunction with the Human Rights Program’s Radio
Initiative, students will design a podcast on a topic of historical relevance
to the course. Class size: 22
|
91993 |
HIST 224 RUSSIA, TURKEY AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR |
Sean McMeekin |
. T . Th . |
3:10 pm -4:30 pm |
HEG 308 |
HIST |
This
course will tell the story of Tsarist Russia’s collapse during and after the
First World War, culminating in a violent Revolution and Civil War. In parallel, we will examine the collapse of
the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War I.
We will progress chronologically from the turn of the twentieth century
up to 1923, by which time the Bolsheviks had secured supremacy in most of the
regions of the former Tsarist Empire, and Turkey had regrouped under Mustafa
Kemal to win its war of independence. We
will focus on five major periods in depth:
political upheaval in the late Tsarist and Ottoman regimes (1903-1909),
the Italian and Balkan wars (1911-1913), the Great War from 1914-1918, the
Russian revolutionary upheaval of 1917-1918 and finally the Russian Civil War,
which largely coincided (and intersected with) Turkey’s own war of
independence. We will conclude with a
look at the “settlement of 1922-23,” when most diplomatic questions opened up
by the collapse of the Romanov and Ottoman empires had been settled by force of
arms. Motivated first-year students are encouraged to enroll in this course. Class size: 22
|
91784 |
HIST 2255 Law in the Middle East from ottoman edicts to contemporary
human rights |
Omar Cheta |
M . W . . |
10:10 am- 11:30 am |
OLIN 309 |
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: 18
|
91785 |
HIST 2306 Gender AND Sexuality IN Modern China |
Robert Culp |
. T . Th . |
10:10 am- 11:30 am |
OLIN 202 |
HIST/DIFF |
Cross
list: Anthropology, Asian Studies, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Global &
Int’l Studies, Human Rights, Science, Technology & Society This course explores the roles of gender and
sexuality in the construction of social and political power in China over the
last 500 years. Our point of departure will be traditional areas of focus for
scholars of gender and sexuality in China: footbinding,
the cloistering of women, and the masculinization of public space; the
transformations of Confucian age-sex hierarchies within the family; the women’s
rights movements of the early twentieth century; and the Chinese Communist
revolution’s ambivalent legacy for women in the People’s Republic of China. By
drawing on recent historical and anthropological literature, we will also
analyze gender’s functions in many other aspects of modern Chinese life. These
topics will include constructions of masculinity and male identity during
China’s late imperial period (1368-1911), the role of gender categories in
constructions of Han Chinese relations with both Inner Asian nomadic peoples
and Euro-American imperialists, the gendering of citizenship and comradeship in
twentieth century China, the impact of global capitalism on gender constructions
and sexual relations in contemporary China, and the relation of China’s women’s
movement to recent trends in Euro-American feminism and gender studies. This
course is open to all students. Class
size: 22
|
91786 |
HIST 2311 LONDON CALLING: BRITAIN IN THE 1980s |
Richard Aldous |
. T . Th . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
RKC 101 |
HIST |
Cross listed: Global & Int’l Studies; Asked what she had
changed in Britain in the 1980s, the prime minister Margaret Thatcher declared,
‘Everything!’ Our 200-level course examines a transformational period in
British politics, culture and society through seminal contemporary texts that
illustrate and exemplify a decade of upheaval. From the conservative revolution
and the inner-city riots to Princess Diana, “Chariots of Fire” and The Clash,
this is a time one historian calls “the revolutionary decade of the twentieth
century.” Class size: 22
|
91968 |
HIST 241 CZARIST RUSSIA |
Gennady Shkliarevsky |
. T . Th . |
3:10 pm -4:30 pm |
OLIN 205 |
HIST |
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. Class
size: 22
|
91787 |
HIST 2631 Capitalism and Slavery |
Christian Crouch |
M . W . . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
OLIN 201 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Africana Studies, American Studies, Human Rights (core course), LAIS
Scholars have argued that there is an intimate relationship between the
contemporary wealth of the developed world and the money generated through four
hundred years of chattel slavery in the Americas and the transatlantic slave
trade. Is there something essential that links capitalism, even liberal
democratic capitalism, to slavery? How have struggles against slavery and for
freedom and rights, dealt with this connection? This course will investigate
the development of this linkage, studying areas like the gender dynamics of
early modern Atlantic slavery, the correlation between coercive political and
economic authority, and the financial implications of abolition and
emancipation. We will focus on North
America and the Caribbean from the early 17th century articulation of slavery
through the staggered emancipations of the 19th century. The campaign against
the slave trade has been called the first international human rights movement –
today does human rights discourse simply provide a human face for globalized
capitalism, or offer an alternative vision to it? Questions of contemporary reparations, rising
colonialism and markets of the nineteenth century, and the 'duty' of the Americas
to Africa will also be considered.
Readings will include foundational texts on capitalism and a variety of
historical approaches to the problem of capitalism within slavery, from
economic, cultural, and intellectual perspectives. There are no prerequisites, although HIST
130, 2133, or 263 all serve as introductory backgrounds. Class size: 22
|
91788 |
HIST 2703 Public History in the U. S. |
Cynthia Koch |
. T . Th . |
1:30 pm -2:50 pm |
OLIN 309 |
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: 18
|
91781 |
HIST 280A American Environmental Hist I |
Mark Lytle |
. . W . F |
10:10 am- 11:30 am |
OLIN 204 |
HIST |
Cross-listed:
American Studies, Environmental & Urban Studies; Human Rights 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.
Class size: 22
|
91789 |
HIST 3139 The Power of Print |
Robert Culp |
. . . Th . |
1:00 pm -3:30 pm |
OLIN 307 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Asian
Studies; Experimental Humanities; Science, Technology & Society This seminar explores the development of
print media over the last half-millennium and their transformative impact on
society, culture, and politics. Through a mix of theoretical and historical
texts, we will consider how print media have fostered the development of new
political communities like the nation state, generated publics and
counter-publics, both created and undermined cultural
authority, enabled new dynamics of knowledge production, and facilitated
development of new modes of reading and interiority. Our inquiry will be global
in scope, encompassing not only the Gutenberg revolution in Europe but also the
diverse forms of print culture and print capitalism that developed
contemporaneously in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia. Analysis of
the recent rise of digital media will provide critical perspective for understanding
how the materiality of the printed text and its circulation through space has
affected its social, cultural, and political significance. Ten weeks of the
course will be dedicated to shared readings and discussion. The remainder of
the semester will focus on completion of individual research projects related
to the core themes of the course. History concentrators can use this course as
a major conference; upper-college students from all concentration areas are
welcome. Class size: 15
|
91676 |
HIST 3149 THE HISTORICAL Politics OF Africa's Civil Wars |
Drew Thompson |
. T . . . |
1:30 pm -3:50 pm |
HEG 201 |
HIST |
Cross-listed: Africana Studies, Global & Int’l Studies;
Human Rights, Political Studies There is ongoing unrest
across the African continent. Historians are perplexed because Africa’s
independence and decolonization were supposed to bring peace and prosperity,
and henceforth scholarship reflected this desire and promise. This seminar
challenges students to move beyond the rhetoric of political conflict in Africa
that extends from realities of failed states and underdevelopment and instead
understand these current struggles as crises of historiography. In short, what
does a contemporary history of Africa look like with the concept of civil war?
Course participants will seek to understand the ongoing conflict in Central
African Republic and South Sudan within a larger historical context of civil
war in post-independent Africa. Through shared readings and discussions,
students will use primary and secondary sources to consider possible causes for
civil unrest in Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone, the actors and
interests involved, proposed resolutions, and their
immediate and long-term effects. By tracing a historiography of civil war in
African historical and political discourse and by analyzing possible
methodological complications, students will grapple with how real world
experiences and acts of violence translate into historical narratives, the very
politics of historical revisionism. Students will be required to develop and
carry out an independent research project of their choosing.
Class size: 15
|
91790 |
HIST 3224 WRITING & THINKING ABOUT HISTORY: The Great War in World History |
Wendy Urban-Mead |
. . W . . |
6:00 pm – 8:20 pm |
RKC 200 |
HIST |
This
course is a graduate level survey of changes and trends in the research and
writing of history as practiced by professional historians. After brief
consideration of the origins of history as a formal academic discipline
(separate from literature) in the 19th Century, and of the
transition from political to social history in the mid-twentieth century, we
also consider the shift from social history to the multiplicity of approaches
that came out of the “theory explosion” between the 1960s and 1990s. This
course draws from the fields of modern European, African and World History. The
larger questions to keep in mind throughout the course are: What are the
interpretive strategies used and debated by historians? What type of evidence
does the author use? How does a historian work with both evidence and
interpretive frameworks to produce historical writing? To get at some of
these questions, the course draws largely (but not entirely) from historical
writing about the Great War from a variety of historiographical points of view.
Secondary School teaching of WWI tends to come from the diplomatic history
approach, and to emphasize the war on the western front. To enlarge this view,
we will read not only about the classic “causes of WWI” literature, but also
from gender, cultural, and post-colonial treatments of the war. Working with
this diversity of texts gives us opportunity explicitly to discuss how
different historiographical approaches change how we understand "what
happened." Class size: 5
|
91977 |
HIST 3228 BEFORE BARD: A PUBLIC HISTORY PRACTICUM |
Cynthia Koch |
M . . . . |
1:30 pm– 3:50 pm |
RKC 115 |
HIST |
In
this practicum, students will use selections from the Preservation Master Plan
for Bard College, the Bard College Archives, and independent research in
primary and secondary sources to add to the College’s student-developed online
exhibit, “Before Bard: A Sense of Place.”
Students will study and interpret the history and historic context of
Bard College, dating from prehistory and including early estates, local farms,
and the industrial development of the river; the Romantic and Picturesque
landscape and architectural movements; and culminating with St. Stephens
College and the early history of Bard College. Community-building tools of oral
history and local history will be woven by students from archival and secondary
research. This course will continue the
project of Spring 2014 Hist. 3227, "From the
Dinosaurs to the Beastie Boys: Public
History Practicum on Bard College," but assumes no previous knowledge. Class
size: 6