Fall 2023

Instructor: James La Fleur

Studies the history of African civilizations from the iron age through the era of the slave trade, ca. 1800. Emphasizes the search for the themes of social, political, economic, and intellectual history which present African civilizations on their own terms.

Instructor: John Mason

Studies the history of Africa generally south of the Zambezi River. Emphasizes African institutions, creation of ethnic and racial identities, industrialization, and rural poverty, from the early formation of historical communities to recent times.

Instructor: James La Fleur

This course explores how Africans changed their interactions with the physical environments they inhabited and how the landscapes they helped create in turn shaped human history. Topics covered include the ancient agricultural revolution, health and disease in the era of slave trading, colonial-era mining and commodity farming, 20th-century wildlife conservation, and the emergent challenges of land ownership, disease, and climate change.

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: James La Fleur

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

New Course in African History

Instructor: Amir Syed

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of African History.

Introductory Seminar in East Asian History

Instructor: Cong Zhang

Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.

Introductory Seminar in East Asian History

Instructor: Robert Stolz

Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.

Instructor: Cong Zhang

An intro to the study of Chinese civilization. We shall begin with the earliest human remains found in China & conclude in the present. The goal of this coure is not merely to tell the story of Chinese history, rich and compelling though the story is. Rather, our aim will be to explore what makes Chinese civilization specifically Chinese, & how the set of values, practices, & institutions we associate with Chinese society came to exist.

Instructor:  Robert Stolz

An introduction to the politics, culture, and ideologies of modern Japan from roughly 1800 to the present. We will pay special attention to the interplay between Japan's simultaneous participation in global modernity and its assertion of a unique culture as a way to explore the rise of the nation-state as a historically specific form.

Instructor: Joseph Seeley

This course covers the history of Korean civilization from its archeological and mythical origins to the late nineteenth century. Together students will examine sources on premodern Korean warfare, society, sex, politics, religion, and culture to understand how this seemingly distant past continues to shape Korea's present and future. We will also explore the influence of Korean civilization on regional and global histories beyond the peninsula.

Instructor: Xiaoyuan Liu

The course explores Chinese-American relations since the late 18th century. Starting as an encounter between a young trading state and an ageless empire on the two sides of the Pacific Ocean, the relationship has gone through stages characterized by the two countries' changing identities. The course understands the relationship broadly and seeks insights at various levels.

Seminar in East Asian History

Instructor: Joseph Seeley

A small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Colloquium in East Asia History

Instructor:  Xiaoyuan Liu

A small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students prepare about 25 pages of written work. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Instructor: Xiaoyuan Liu

This tutorial explores three types of conflicts in China modern experiences: civil wars, international conflicts, and Cold War confrontations. Reading materials include major scholarships on these topics. The class meets biweekly, and the students are evaluated on the basis of participation, short book reviews, and a final paper.

Instructor: Xiaoyuan Liu

This tutorial is about conceptual and political constructions of the "Chinese Nation" in the 20th century. Readings include relevant writings by important intellectual and political figures of 20th-century China and major scholarships on the subject from multiethnic perspectives. The class meets biweekly, and the students are evaluated on the basis of participation, short book reviews, and a final paper.

Instructor: Robert Stolz

Introduction the history and historiography of modern Japanese Thought, Culture, and Politics. Topics include modernity, empire, the nation-state, war, fascism, and capitalist development.

Instructor: Cong Zhang

This course introduces students to the major types/genres of materials for the study of Imperial Chinese history, including both official documents and unofficial/literary and artistic works. Its two primary goals are to (1) familiarize students with the large variety of available sources and (2) provide abundant hands-on opportunities for critical reading and textual analysis.

Introductory Seminar in Post-1700 European History

Instructor: Allan Megill

Intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history. This class offers an introduction to the study of history that diverges greatly from the view of historical study that many students receive in high school. The class is also concerned with perceptions of history more generally, in popular culture, in people's memories, and in propaganda. We read three exemplary (and relatively short) history books (by Natalie Davis, Christopher Browning, and Erik Midelfort). In addition, I assign for reading a selection of articles and excerpts from books by prominent theorists who discuss both historical method and the nature of history generally. Authors represented include R. G. Collingwood, Arthur Danto, Louis Mink, Thomas Kuhn, Hayden White, Frank Ankersmit, and Berber Bevernage. Most of these authors are not household names, but especially since 1970 or so, the collective impact of their work has transformed the way we theorists of history think about academic history, about memory, and about the visually often quite impressive "mediated" forms of history that have become increasingly visible in the last 10 or 15 years.

Instructor: Kyrill Kunakhovich

This course examines the history of nationalism in modern Europe, from the 1700s to the present day. We will consider the emergence and consolidation of European nation-states in the eighteenth century; nationalist movements and the breakup of empires in the nineteenth; ethnic cleansing and nationalist violence in twentieth-century Europe; as well as the rise of the European Union and its challenges today.

Instructor: Elizabeth Meyer

Studies the political, military, and social history of Ancient Greece from the Homeric age to the death of Alexander the Great, emphasizing the development and interactions of Sparta and Athens. Concentrations/Pathways: War, Violence, and Society

Instructor: Caroline Kahlenberg

Survey of Jewish history from the seventeenth century to the present, primarily in Europe, but with further treatment of Jewish life in the U.S. and Israel. Major topics include Jewish historical consciousness; patterns of emancipation; religious adjustment; the role of women; anti-Semitism; Zionism; the American Jewish experience; the Holocaust; the establishment of Israel; and Jewish life in Europe after the Holocaust.

Instructor: Elizabeth Meyer

Surveys the history and culture of the last century of the Roman Republic (133-30 b.c.), emphasizing the political and social reasons for the destruction of the Republican form of government and its replacement by a monarchy.

Instructor: Erik Linstrum

This course will focus primarily on the 'second' empire in Asia and Africa, although the first empire in the Americas will be our first topic. Topics covered include the slave plantations in the West Indies, the American Revolution, the rise of the British East India Company and its control of India, and the Scramble for Africa. Special emphasis will be placed on the environmental history of our points of debarkation.

Instructor: Manuela Achilles

Detailed survey of the historical origins, political structures, cultural dynamics, and every-day practices of the Nazi Third Reich. Cross-listed in the German department, and taught in English.

Instructor: Manuela Achilles

Explores the friend/foe nexus in Germany history, literature and culture, with an emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Kyrill Kunakhovich

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Jennifer Sessions

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

Instructor: Allan Megill

Introduces the social theory of Karl Marx. What Marx said, why he said it, what he meant in saying it, and the significance thereof. Situates Marx's writing in the context of 19th-century intellectual history. Focuses on the coherence and validity of the theory and its subsequent history.

Seminar in Post-1700 European History

Instructor: Kyrill Kunakhovich

The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

New Course in European History

Instructor: Erik Linstrum

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of European History.

Instructor: Elizabeth Meyer

This tutorial will cover the most tumultuous period in Roman Republican history, that which stretches from 133 BC to the establishment of Octavian (Augustus) as the first emperor in 27 BC.

Instructor: Jennifer Sessions

This tutorial serves as an introduction to the history and historiography of France and the French empire. Looking at the period since the French Revolution, readings explore themes including revolution, industrialization, urbanization, modernity and mass culture; gender and sexuality; race and religion; and regionalism, and imperial expansion.

Instructor: Jennifer Sessions

An introduction to the history and historiography of the French colonial empire in the modern period. Looking at the period since the French Revolution, readings explore the ideologies, institutions, and practices of French imperialism, the processes of decolonization, and the postcolonial legacies of empire.

Instructor: Thomas Klubock

Introduces major developments and issues in the study of Latin American history from Native American societies on the eve of the Spanish Conquest to the wars of national independence in the early 19th century.

Instructor: Lean Sweeney 

Studies the history of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador from 19th century fragmentation, oligarchic, foreign, and military rule, to the emergence of popular nationalisms.

Instructor: Thomas Klubock

This class reviews major trends in the scholarship on modern Latin American history. Students will present assigned books to the class throughout the semester and write a final twenty-page historiographical essay on a topic of their choosing.

Introductory Seminar in Middle East History

Instructor: Baris Unlu

Introduces the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussing, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.

Instructor: Caroline Kahlenberg

"This course surveys the history of modern Palestine/Israel. Part I focuses on the Ottoman Empire, early Zionist settlement, British rule, and the Holocaust. Part II focuses on the 1948 War, known as the Israeli ""War of Independence"" and the Palestinian ""Nakba"" (Catastrophe). Part III addresses the Palestinian refugee crisis, ongoing wars between Israel and Arab states, Israeli and Palestinian societies today, and Israeli-Arab peace initiatives."

Introductory Seminar in Middle East History

Instructor: Caroline Kahlenberg

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

Introductory Seminar in South Asia

Instructor: Neeti Nair

Introduction to the study of history intended for first- or second-year students. Seminars involve reading, discussion, and writing about different historical topics and periods, and emphasize the enhancement of critical and communication skills. Several seminars are offered each term. Not more than two Introductory Seminars may be counted toward the major in history.

Instructor: Neeti Nair

Surveys 200 years of Indian history from the mid-18th century to the present, focusing on the imperial/colonial encounter with the British Raj before Independence, and the social and political permutations of freedom in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka since.

Instructor: Christopher Gratien

Climate change is widely regarded as the most important environmental question of the present. This course equips students to engage with the study of climate change from multiple perspectives. Part 1 surveys how understandings of the climate developed and transformed. Part 2 explores how historical climatology lends new insights to familiar historical questions. Part 3 explores the history of environment and climate as political issues.

Instructor: S. Edelson

This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the history of cartography that ranges across the globe from oldest surviving images of pre-history to GIS systems of the present day. It approaches map history from a number of disciplinary perspectives, including the history of science, the history of cartography, critical theory and literary studies, anthropology, historical geography, and spatial cognition and wayfinding.

Instructor: Jeffrey Rossman

History of genocide and other forms of one-sided, state-sponsored mass killing in the twentieth century. Case studies include the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the mass killings that have taken place under Communist regimes (e.g., Stalin's USSR, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia).

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Amir Syed

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Laurent Dubois

Required for history majors, to be completed before enrollment in the Major Seminar. Introduces a variety of approaches to the study of history, methods for finding and analyzing primary and secondary sources, and the construction of historical arguments. Workshops are offered on a variety of topics each term.

Instructor: Mark Thomas

Comparative study of the historical development of selected advanced economies (e.g., the United States, England, Japan, continental Europe). The nations covered vary with instructor. Cross-listed with ECON 4400.

Major Seminar

Instructor: Jeffrey Rossman

The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pages in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Instructor: Joshua White

Studies historical approaches, techniques, and methodologies introduced through written exercises and intensive class discussion. Normally taken during the third year. Prerequisite: Open only to students admitted to the Distinguished Majors Program.

Instructor: Joshua White

Analyzes problems in historical research. Preparation and discussion of fourth-year honors theses. Normally taken during the fourth year. Intended for students who will be in residence during their entire fourth year.  Prerequisite: Open only to students admitted to the Distinguished Majors Program.

Historical Geospatial Visualization

Instructor: S. Edelson

This workshop introduces advanced humanities students to map history research and geospatial visualization. It features work with maps in Special Collections as well as the production of digital scholarship using ArcGIS software. No experience is expected or required. This course counts as an elective for the DH Graduate Certificate program. Prerequisite: Graduate student or College 3rd or 4th year.

Instructor: Emily Burrill, Jennifer Sessions

This course is designed to introduce students to a wide range of historical approaches.

New Course in History

Instructor: Penny Von Eschen

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of general history.

Instructor: Fahad Bishara

This course introduces students to the historiography on the Indian Ocean in broad terms, placing it within the context of discussions on world history. While the main goal is to develop a deeper knowledge of Indian Ocean history, the bulk of the course is devoted to thinking about how historians conceptualize connectivity across watery spaces and, more fundamentally, how they deal with issues of scale and time in writing trans-regional history.

Instructor: Christopher Gratien

Students will explore approaches to "podcasting history" and learn the basic conceptual considerations of the medium. Work will include reading and presenting the work of conventional textual scholars as well as gaining familiarity with methods of recording and producing audio. Alongside the assigned materials, students will work towards a podcast draft aimed at a public audience based on themes in 19th and 20th century global history.

Instructor: Mark Thomas

Studies American economic history from its colonial origins to the present. Cross-listed as ECON 2060.

Instructor: Claudrena Harold

This survey traces the history of African American popular music from the late 1950s to the current era. It examines the major sonic innovations in the genres of soul, funk, and hip-hop over the course of the semester, students will examine how musical expression has provided black women and men with an outlet for individual expression, community building, sexual pleasure, political organizing, economic uplift, and interracial interaction.

Instructor: Corinne Field

Studies the evolution of women's roles in American society with particular attention to the experiences of women of different races, classes, and ethnic groups.

Instructor: Kevin Gaines

This course examines the history and legacy of the African American struggle for civil rights in twentieth century America. It provides students with a broad overview of the civil rights movement -- the key issues, significant people and organizations, and pivotal events -- as well as a deeper understanding of its scope, influence, legacy, and lessons for today.

Instructor: Andrew Kahrl

This course examines the history of housing and real estate and explores its role in shaping the meaning and lived experience of race in modern America. We will learn how and why real estate ownership, investment, and development came to play a critical role in the formation and endurance of racial segregation, modern capitalism, and the built environment.

Seminar in United States History

Instructor: S. Deborah Kang

The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Seminar in United States History

Instructor: Erica Sterling

The major seminar is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the seminar. The work of the seminar results primarily in the preparation of a substantial (ca. 25 pp. in standard format) research paper. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Colloquium in United States History

Instructor: Caroline Janney

The major colloquium is a small class (not more than 15 students) intended primarily but not exclusively for history majors who have completed two or more courses relevant to the topic of the colloquium. Colloquia are most frequently offered in areas of history where access to source materials or linguistic demands make seminars especially difficult. Students in colloquia prepare about 25 pages of written work distributed among various assignments. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Instructor: Grace Hale

The course is run as a workshop, a space for students to learn oral history methodologies in a hands-on manner. In partnership with local/regional organizations, students will learn to conduct interviews and related research, which may include completing historical surveys, doing genealogical work, & completing archival or database research. Students will learn new skills while helping expand historical archives and knowledge of regional history.

New Course in United States History

Instructor: Andrew Kahrl

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject area of United States history.

Instructor: George White

A survey of law in American history in the twentieth century. Some topics to be covered include jurisprudence and legal education from Legal Realism through "aw and"; regimes of mass media law; the emergence of administrative law; and several chapters on constitutional jurisprudence from 1930 to 2000, including foreign relations, equal protection, free speech, and due process.

Instructor: Caroline Janney

Reading and discussion of primary and secondary sources.

Instructor: Joy Milligan

This course will explore the development of the American administrative state from the nineteenth century through the present. This course will engage political and theoretical debates over the bureaucratic state's role, and its implications for democracy and inequality. Readings will include work by historians, social scientists, and legal academics.