Corcoran Department of
History

HIEU 2051

European Economic History

John James

This course examines European economic development from 1000 AD to World War II, focusing on the evolution of economic institutions from feudalism through the middle ages to the modern era and the early twentieth century.  The principal texts are François Crouzet, A History of the European Economy, 1000-2000, and Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms, supplemented by additional readings available on Collab.  No prerequisites either in history or economics are required.  Format will be lectures.  Course requirements-- midterm exam and a final exam.

HILA 4501 (2)

Seminar in Latin American History

"Christianity in Latin America--Evangelization to Pope Francis"

Brian P. Owensby

This seminar will begin with a 1511 sermon by Father Anton Montesinos against the injustice of Spanish treatment of the Indians and continue through the evangelization of the 16^th century, the emergence of Baroque Catholicism in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the struggles over religion in the 19^th century, the emergence of Liberation Theology and growth of protestant Christianity in the 20^th century, and the advent of a Latin American, Jesuit pope in the 21^st century.  Emphasis throughout will be on the role of religion in wider society seen through primary and secondary sources.  We will meet once weekly, reading common texts for the first eight weeks and spend the remainder of the semester writing papers.  Enrollment is limited to 15.

HIST 4501 (3)

Major Seminar

"The Age of Emancipation in the Atlantic World"

Mary Hicks

This seminar will introduce participants to the major methodological perspectives in the study of emancipation in the Atlantic world by examining the economic, political, ideological, social and cultural contexts which caused and were remade by emancipation. In addition, students are asked to consider emancipation as a global historical process unconstrained by the boundaries of the modern nation-state. Students will consider the reasons for and consequences of emancipation from a trans-national perspective. For instance, how did slave rebellions and eventual emancipation in French Saint-Domingue (later Haiti) reverberate in Colonial Virginia and Brazil? How did the Spanish colonial practice of slave manumission called coratacion influence British abolitionists as they decided to implement an apprenticeship system for former slaves in Jamaica that severely limited their autonomy? What role did coerced plantation labor in Cuba and West Africa play in the emerging international capitalist economy? How did “free states” such as Britain and the United States—still reliant on commodities produced from forced labor in other parts of the world—use the moral capital of the ideology of “free labor” to impose colonial power on those societies which still relied on slaves to comprise the bulk of its laboring population? By focusing on the ideological ambiguities and lived experiences of enslaved people, political actors, abolitionists, religious leaders, employers and many others, this seminar will question what constitutes equality? Citizenship? Or labor exploitation?  All in order to uncover how historical and geographical contexts informed the over one hundred year long process we call emancipation.

Students will be required to read approximately 200 pages of source material every week, in addition to several shorter in class readings. Participants will be asked to purchase 3 books. Writing assignments for the class include a rough and final draft of a 25 page research paper, as well as three shorter papers discussing primary source materials that students will gather themselves using guides provided by the class. 

HIUS 3150 / RELC 3150

Salem Witch Trials

Benjamin Ray

The course will explore the historical scholarship, literary fiction, and primary source materials relating to the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692. How and why did the accusations begin? How and why did they stop? Serious theories and wild speculations abound both in 1692 and now. Who were the female and male heroes, victims, and villains in this tragic episode? The most gripping personal stories are to be found in the court records and in the literary portrayals by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller. Explore the impact of this small-scale, 300 year-old event upon America’s cultural heritage -- how and why did "Salem witchcraft" become part of the American cultural imagination? The course will draw upon the following historical works: Entertaining Satan by John Demos, Salem Story by Bernard Rosenthal, In the Devil’s Snare by Mary Beth Norton, and Judge Sewall’s Apology by Richard Francis, in addition to selected journal articles, as well as Arthur Miller's classic play The Crucible. The class will include short presentations of reading materials and culminates in two short essays to be written on important figures and/or topics related to the witch trials, based entirely on the primary sources. The best of these essays will become part of UVA’s award winning site, "Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive"<salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html>  The class will make extensive use of the online Salem Archive which contains all the original court documents and contemporary accounts.