HIEU Courses

For the most updated list of courses offered and more information including course times, locations, and enrollments, please see SIS or Lou's List. Faculty information can be viewed in the Faculty Directory.

HIEU 1502: Immigration, Race, and Islam in Paris

Sessions

In Paris, 2015 began and ended with major terrorist attacks by men claiming to act in the name of Islam. The attacks shocked the world and ratcheted up political tensions over questions about immigration, race, and Islam in France. In this course, we will work to understand the causes and meanings of these events in the history of Paris itself. What role has immigration played in the growth of Paris as a global metropolis? How have immigrants and their descendants experienced and contributed to life in one of the world’s most diverse cities? How have Parisians of all backgrounds responded to newcomers of different races and religions, in an officially secular and color-blind country? In exploring these questions, we will also develop critical skills that will help prepare you for academic success at UVA, as well as for civic, professional, and intellectual life after college, whether you major in History or not: historical and contextual thinking, critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, analytical writing and communication, and research and information literacy. We will delve into a broad range of materials, such as memoirs, newspapers, magazines, novels, films, and scholarly works by historians. Course requirements include ongoing class discussion (25%), short papers (40%), presentations (10%), and an 8-10-page independent research paper (25%). All readings and discussions will be in English. Possible readings include: the memoir of Algerian-French feminist and anti-racist activist, Fadela Amara, Breaking the Silence: French Women’s Voices from the Ghetto; Didier Daeninckx, Murder in Memoriam, a mystery novel about the Algerian War and the Holocaust in France; Jennifer Boittin, Colonial Metropolis: The Urban Grounds of Anti-Imperialism and Feminism in Interwar Paris, a history of colonial immigrant activists in the 1920s and 1930s; Janet MacGaffey and Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga, Congo-Paris: Transnational Traders on the Margins of the Law, an ethnography of Congolese immigrant merchants in 1980s Paris; as well as the films Princess Tam-Tam (1935); Hate (1995).

HIEU 2041: Roman Republic and Empire

Meyer

HIEU 2041 "Roman Republic and Empire" A survey of the political, social, and institutional growth of the Roman Republic, with close attention given to its downfall and replacement by an imperial form of government; and the subsequent history of that imperial form of government, and of social and economic life in the Roman Empire, up to its own decline and fall. Readings of ca. 120 pages per week; midterm, final, and one seven-page paper. Readings will be drawn from the following: Sinnegan and Boak, A History of Rome (text) Livy, The Early History of Rome Plutarch, Makers of Rome Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars Tacitus, Annals of Imperial Rome Apuleius, The Golden Ass R. MacMullen, Roman Social Relations and a course packet

HIEU 2072: Modern Europe and the World

Sessions

This course offers an introduction to European history since the French Revolution, with an emphasis on the ways that social, cultural, and political change in Europe has been shaped by contact with the wider world. Our goal is to develop a framework for understanding the major developments that transformed a society of peasants, artisans, nobles, kings, and multinational empires into one of industrial economies, liberal democracies, and nation-states. Along the way, we’ll consider how ideas about state power and citizenship, social and class relations, religious and cultural life, ethnic and gender identities, and what “Europe” itself is have changed. Topics for discussion include the political and social legacies of the French Revolution, industrialization, European imperial expansion, the rise of mass culture, the two world wars and the Holocaust, European unification, decolonization, the Cold War, and contemporary crises of liberal democracy. We will have two weekly lectures and a weekly discussion section led by a graduate teaching assistant that will allow you to deepen your understanding of the course material. Readings, discussions, and assignments are designed to help you develop the skills to identify and analyze historical problems, to evaluate evidence and construct historical arguments, and to move beyond simply repeating answers into a larger conversation about our world and our own place within it. Assignments will include regular participation and in-class activities in section, two short essays, and a midterm and a final exam. In addition to a textbook (Edward Berensen, Europe in the Modern World), we will read a range of primary documents that illuminate key developments in European history, including the following novels, memoirs, and history books: Voltaire, Candide; Rafe Blaufarb & Liz Clarke, Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle Against the Transatlantic Slave Trade (A Graphic History); Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South; Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four; Heda Margolius Kovaly, Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968; and Ian Buruma, Murder in Amsterdam: Liberal Europe, Islam, and the Limits of Tolerance. We’ll also watch some films: Grand Illusion (1937); Dr. No (1962); The Battle of Algiers (1966); and The Spanish Apartment (2002).

HIEU 2102: Modern Jewish History

Loeffler

Jewish civilization is one of the oldest and most influential components of world religion and history. Yet the Jewish people never possessed a large empire and always constituted a tiny minority in numerical terms, even in ancient times. In the modern period, Jews experienced an equally dramatic fate, including two pivotal events at the epicenter of the twentieth century: the unprecedented catastrophe of the Holocaust and the improbable rise of the State of Israel. All along, Jews have repeatedly surfaced at key junctures in the political, intellectual, and cultural moments that define our world. In this course, we will seek explanations for this unique history through surveying the basic narrative of Jewish history from the sixteenth century to the present. We will focus on the political, social, religious, and cultural transformations of Jewish life and identity around the world. Major topics to be discussed include political emancipation and the Hebrew Enlightenment, Zionism and modern Jewish politics, antisemitism and the Holocaust, the divergent paths of American and European Jewries, and post-World War II relations between global Jewry and the State of Israel. We will also examine how Jewish history relates to modern European, American, and Middle Eastern history. This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism or Jewish history. We will read and critically analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources, including religious, political, and legal writings, artistic images and musical recordings, and scholarly studies. Our goal is to introduce you not only to the study of Jewish history, but also the related academic fields of Jewish Studies, European history, and world history. Equally importantly, we aim to provide you with a concrete sense of the methods and questions that professional historians use to engage the past.

HIEU 2112: Britain since 1688: From the Glorious Revolution to Brexit

Linstrum

In the American imagination, Britain is often seen as a land of tradition and insularity — an assumption buttressed by pop-culture images of country houses, bowler hats, royal weddings, and afternoon tea. This course stresses a different perspective: that British history over the past three centuries is the story of a preeminently modern and global society. We consider the state-building, overseas expansion, and conspicuous inequality of the Georgian years; the industrialization, urbanization, and increasingly assertive imperialism of the Victorian era; and the ruptures of war and decolonization in the twentieth century. Central themes include the evolving meaning of British identity, the complexities of the class system, the ambiguities of liberalism, and the domestic impact of war and empire. We consider the lives of ordinary servants, soldiers, and workers alongside iconic figures like Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, and Winston Churchill. We also draw on a wide range of primary sources, from diaries, paintings, and films to classic texts by Edmund Burke, Mary Wollstonecraft, and George Orwell.

HIEU 2152: History of the Russian Empire 1700-1917

Hoffman

This course surveys Russia from the reign of Peter the Great (1689-1725) to the fall of the tsarist regime and the establishment of Bolshevik power in 1917. During this period, the Romanov dynasty sought to elevate Russia into the ranks of the European powers by undertaking a series of economic, social, and cultural transformations. At the same time, however, it clung to the traditional and unique features of Russian rule, particularly the tsar’s autocratic authority. We will trace this interplay between change and tradition by exploring the major events of the tsarist era, focusing especially on its last 60 years, when these tensions threatened to (and eventually did) unravel the regime. We will also pay special attention to civil society and culture, as well as the governance of the diverse national and ethnic groups with the empire.

HIEU 2559: Popular Culture and Society in Europe, 1848-1918

Hoffman

Between the Revolutions of 1848 and the First World War, Europe saw a dramatic increase in literacy and print culture, widely available consumer goods, and faster communication and transportation than ever before. At the same time, the rapid pace of change bred new social and political challenges and stirred deep anxieties. How did Europeans react to this deterioration of traditional ways of life? More importantly, how did they come to terms with the new popular or “mass” cultures of politics, media, consumerism, and war? This course will analyze the ways European life changed for the masses by looking at the popular press, advertising, entertainment, scandals, shopping, propaganda, pseudoscience, city life, and much more. In the process, it will explore the new ways that people began to think about their neighbors, their governments, their world, and themselves.

HIEU 2721: Supernatural Europe

Lambert

Today, witchcraft and vampires are the stuff of hit movies and bestselling novels. Five centuries ago, however, few Europeans questioned that magic was real. This course reconstructs that enchanted world. Throughout the semester, we will explore the reasons why early modern Europeans believed in the forces of witches, demons, comets, and more, and what caused these beliefs to change and ultimately recede over time. For example, how did beliefs about demonic activity frame the interpretation of natural disasters? What do rituals surrounding birth and death reveal about the daily lives of ordinary people? And why did Europeans begin to hunt witches in this period, and why did they stop? As we pursue these questions, we will also gain a broader understanding of European society, culture, religion, and science between 1500 and 1800. In order to understand the reasons behind the witch-hunt, for example, we will examine their judicial systems and their views on women. At the same time, this course introduces students to the skills through which historians analyze sources and draw conclusions about the past. In assignments and class discussions based on primary sources, such as first-hand accounts of possession and the records generated by witchcraft trials, we will learn how to practice those skills ourselves.

HIEU 3002: Queer European History

Butcher

This course will examine LGBTQ persons, issues, and events in Europe, focusing mostly on 1850 to the present. Topics to be covered will include the history of anti-sodomy and marriage laws; the evolution of cultural and scientific understandings of sex, sexuality, and gender, including ideas of trans-ness; and the history of LGBTQ activism, both legal and cultural, going up to the present day. We will be focusing in particular on Germany and the UK, but other countries will enter our examination as well. This is an upper-division course, but there are no prerequisites. Previous experience with historical methods and theory, or with queer/LGBT studies or theory, will be helpful—but such experience is neither required nor expected by the instructor. For WGS majors and minors, this course will satisfy the “Global Perspectives” requirement.

HIEU 3141: Anglo-Saxon England

Kershaw

This course traces the social, political and cultural history of early England and its Celtic neighbors across seven hundred years, from the departure of the Roman legions in the late fourth century through to England’s two conquests in the eleventh century, firstly by Knutr (Canute) of Denmark in 1016, and – more famously – that by the Norman Duke William ‘the Bastard’ in 1066. The time between these two dates was one of rich cultural and political development, and the emergence, in the form of Old English, of one of Europe’s most extensive post-Roman vernacular literatures.

Subjects addressed by this class include: the gradual emergence of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the post-Roman ‘Dark Ages’ of AD 400-600; the rise of several dominant kingdoms in the course of the seventh and eighth centuries, notably Mercia and Wessex; Anglo-Saxon beliefs; the historical writings of Bede; the reign of Alfred ‘the Great’; the gradual emergence of a unified English state over the course of the later ninth and tenth centuries and its eventual conquest; varieties of Anglo-Saxon culture; manuscript production; social organization; law and dispute settlement; issues of trade and England’s contacts with the wider world. Work load: two essays, a mid-term and final.

HIEU 4501: Warfare and Society in the Early Medieval Mediterranean, 600-1000

Kershaw

This class explores the nature of warfare, its place in, and effects upon, the societies of the post-Roman Mediterranean from c. CE 600 to 1000. These centuries witnessed the terminal phase of the great struggle of Antiquity between Rome and Persia, the emergence of Islam and its profound reshaping of the post-classical world, as well as the formation of numerous ‘barbarian’ successor kingdoms in the west. Ultimately, students will write a substantial research paper: the final goal of all 4500-level history seminars. Working closely with me (and on occasion in dialogue with their class-mates) each student will prepare a 25-30 page research paper (approximately 7,500 – 8,000 words) using primary sources in translation and secondary studies, on a subject of their own selection. Wherever possible, the use of non-Anglophone sources and scholarship is highly encouraged. Digital projects – rather than traditional written work – of comparable substance can also be pursued in this class, should students demonstrate the necessary skills and training.

 

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