Fall 2024

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.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire

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.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Instructor: Amir Syed

This course concerns the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with an emphasis on African history. Through interactive lectures, in-class discussions, written assignments and examinations of first-hand accounts by slaves and slavers, works of fiction and film, and analyses by historians, we will seek to understand one of the most tragic and horrifying phenomena in the history of the western world.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History

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.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History

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.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History

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.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History

Introductory Seminar in East Asian History

Instructor: Robert Stolz

This course will examine the rise of the nation-state form in Japan as a new form of historical subjectivity. It will explore in depth the political, economic, social, and cultural changes in the wake of the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868 to the start of the Tasiho period in 1912.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; War, Violence and Society

Instructor: Xiaoyuan Liu

The class examines China's entanglement with the Cold War from 1945 to the early 1990s. The course raises China-centered questions because it is curious in retrospect that China, a quintessential Eastern state, became so deeply involved in the Cold War, a confrontation rooted in Western history. In exploring such questions, this course does not treat China as part of the Cold War but the Cold War as a period of Chinese history.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Instructor:  Joseph Seeley

This course examines the history of territorial disputes in East Asia by examining the demarcation, mapping, & policing of borders from the 1600s - present. With case studies including Xinjiang, the Korean peninsula, & current territorial disputes in the South & East China Seas, we will interrogate the social, political, cultural, & environmental factors that defined boundaries in East Asia historically & contribute to ongoing border tensions.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Introductory Workshop

Instructor: Robert Stolz

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.

Concentrations: War, Violence and Society

Seminar in East Asian 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 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.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Instructor: Cong Zhang

This course introduces students to the major types of source materials (official documents, treatises, biographies, anecdotal writing, ji accounts, letters, etc.) for the study of Song Dynasty history.

Instructor: Jon Lendon

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: Global and Transnational History; War, Violence and Society

Instructor: Paul Kershaw

Studies ways of life and thought in the formation of Western Europe from the 4th century a.d. to the 15th. Includes a survey of the development of society and culture in town and countryside, the growth of economic, political, and religious institutions, and the impact of Muslim and Byzantine civilizations.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Instructor: Erin Lambert

European history, from the Reformation to Napoleon, in global perspective.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History

New Course in European History

Instructor: Melissa Vise

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

Concentration: Global and Transnational History

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.

Concentrations: War, Violence and Society

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.

Concentrations: War, Violence and Society

Instructor: Manuela Achilles

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

Concentrations: War, Violence and Society; Transnatonal and Global History

Instructor: Paul Halliday

The development of legal institutions, legal ideas, and legal principles from the medieval period to the 18th century. Emphasizes the impact of transformations in politics, society, and thought on the major categories of English law: property, torts and contracts, corporations, family law, constitutional and administrative law, and crime.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Colloquium in Pre-1700 European History

Instructor: Elizabeth Meyer

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. Some restrictions and prerequisites apply to enrollment. See a history advisor or the director of undergraduate studies.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Instructor: Elizabeth Meyer

Examines Roman transmarine expansion to determine how and why it happened, and what consequences it had, both in Rome and abroad. Prerequisite: HIEU 2041 or equivalent.

Instructor: Jon Lendon

A survey of anthropological methods useful for the study of the past: simultaneously an economic introduction to the Great Books of anthropology, to a prominent aspect of contemporary classical scholarship, and to the opportunities and problems presented by using the methods of one field to illuminate another.

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: Paul Halliday

Considers key ideas and practices in English law from the late medieval period. Attention given to institutions, their development, and their interaction. Legal change will be studied in its social, political, and economic contexts. Also explores transformations in English law as it moved across a burgeoning empire.

Instructor: Erin Lambert

This course introduces students to the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe. We will consider topics like the rise of nationalism, the challenges of state-building, the spread of left- and right-wing ideologies, interactions with the "West," and the experience of war and revolution.

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.

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life; Global and Trnsnational History; Law and Society

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.

Concentrations: Law and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Instructor: Brian Owensby

The course explores the Great Encounter between Indigenous people, Europeans, and Africans in America from 1492. Topics include: crises of knowledge and ethics sparked by the radical novelty of the Encounter; Columbian Exchange and the remaking of nature; tensions of difference and identity; silver, slavery, and dispossession in making a global economy; discovery and cultural devastation in modern life. This is history with philosophical intent.

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life; Enviornment, Space and Society; Global and Transnational History

Instructor: Caroline Kahlenberg

What historical processes that have shaped the Middle East of today? This course focuses on the history of a region stretching from Morocco in the West and Afghanistan in the East over the period of roughly 1500 to the present. In doing so, we examine political, social, and cultural history through the lens of "media" in translation, such as manuscripts, memoirs, maps, travel narratives, novels, films, music, internet media, and more.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; Race, Ethnicity and Empire; War, Violence and Society

Markets and the Making of the Muslim World

Instructor: Fahad Bishara

This course is designed to introduce students to the economic history of the Islamic World over the duration of roughly 1300 years of history. We explore ideologies, institutions, and practices of commerce in Muslim society, paying close attention to the actors, artifacts, and encounters, that gave it shape over the course of a millennium, ending with the onset of Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Baris Unlu 

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 South Asian History

Instructor: Indrani Chatterjee

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

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life

Instructor: Emily Burrill

This course surveys the modern history of human rights, focusing on political, legal, and intellectual trends from the late 18th century to the present.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; War Violence and Society

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.

Concentrations: Globals and Transnational History; War, Violence and Society

Instructor: William Hitchcock

An exploration of the geopolitical and ideological conflict that dominated world affairs from 1945 to 1990. Assignments include the readings of historical work, as well as primary sources, some of which are recetly declassified material from the major states involved in the Cold War.

Concentrations: Enviornment, Space and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

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).

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Erin Lambert

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.

Concentrations: Environment, Space and Society; Global and Transnational History; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

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.

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; War, Violence and Society

Major Seminar

Instructor: Paul Kershaw

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.

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.

Major Seminar

Instructor: William Hitchcock

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: Kyrill Kunakhovich

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: Kyrill Kunakhovich

Analyzes problems in historical research.  Preparation and discussion of fourth-year honors theses.  Intended for Distinguished Majors who will have studied abroad in the fall of their fourth year. Prerequisite: Open only to students admitted to the Distinguished Majors Program.

Global History

Instructor: Fahad Bishara

Reading, discussion, and analysis of classic as well as contemporary works of scholarship on global history.

Instructor: Laurent Dubois

This transdisciplinary course explores the layered histories of the Caribbean region and the ways in which that history is remembered in literature and visual art, religious practices, music and performance, and through monuments and museums. As we collectively explore Caribbean history from a variety of forms and different angles, students will also develop a final project, which can take a variety of different forms.

Instructor: Christa Dierksheide and Randi Flaherty

This hands-on research seminar will explore the historical intersections of slavery, race, and law on UVA's North Grounds. Class readings, discussions, and field trips will investigate the history of this landscape within a broader historical context of enslavement in Virginia and at the University, land use in Virginia, and the Jim Crow South.

Instructor: Christopher Gratien and Claudrena Harold

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

Instructor: Student's Advisor

For master's essay and other research carried out prior to advancement to candidacy, taken under the supervision of the student's adviser.

Instructor: Student's Advisor

This course is a graduate-level adaptation of an undergraduate course in history. The graduate-level adaption requires additional research, readings, or other academic work established by the instructor beyond the undergraduate syllabus.

Instructor: Student's Advisor

This course is intended for PhD candidates to revise their master's essays for publication under the guidance of a member of the graduate faculty. It is typically taken in first semester of the second year of study.

Instructor: Student's Advisor

 For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of the dissertation director.

Instructor: Mark Thomas

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

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life

New Course in United States History

Instructor: S. Deborah Kang

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

Concentrations: Global and Transnational History; Law and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Instructor: Elizabeth Varon

Examines the period from roughly 1815 to 1861 focusing on the interaction between the developing sectional conflict and the evolving political system, with the view of explaining what caused the Civil War.

Concentrations: Enviornment, Space and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Instructor: Christopher Krentz

This new course will examine the history of deaf people in the United States over the last three centuries, with particular attention to the emergence and evolution of a community of Deaf people who share a distinct sign language and culture. We will read both primary texts from specific periods and secondary sources. We will also view a few historical films. Prerequisite: none (though a previous class in History or ASL is recommended)

Concentrations: Enviornment, Space and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Instructor: Jack Hamilton and Sarah Milov

Built around the history of mainstream and independent American film, this course explores how Americans have viewed and interpreted various historical moments and processes through the movies.

Concentrations: Capitalism and Econmic Life

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: Claudrena Harold

Surveys American labor in terms of the changing nature of work and its effect on working men, women, and children. Emphasizes social and cultural responses to such changes, as well as the organized labor movement.

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life, Law and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Emipre

Introductory History Workshop

Instructor: S. Deborah Kang

 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.

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life; Enviornment, Space and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

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

Studies the history of black Americans from the Civil War to the present.

Concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life; Enviornment, Space and Society; Law and Society; Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Seminar in United States History

Instructor: Elizabeth Varon

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.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire

Seminar in United States History

Instructor: Sarah Milov

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.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire; Enviornment, Space and Society; Law and Society

New Course in United States History

Instructor: Grace Hale

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

Concnetrations: Capitalism and Economic Life; Law and Society

Instructor: Justene Hill Edwards

This course will introduce graduate students to the differing interpretations, methodologies, and analyses of African-American History to 1877.

Instructor: Grace Hale

This readings course introduces graduate students to the theory, methods, and historiography of cultural history through a survey of key texts in twentieth century US history.

Concentrations: Race, Ethnicity and Empire