Undergraduate Major in History

•  To declare a History major, students must have completed at least one university-level (i.e., UVa or transfer) history course with a grade of C or better. AP and IB courses do not satisfy this prerequisite.
•  Eleven history courses of 3 or 4 credits each, taken for a letter grade.
  • one in pre-1700 European history (HIEU).
  • one in post-1700 European history (HIEU).
  • one in U.S. history (HIUS).
  • two from one or more of the following fields: Africa (HIAF), East Asia (HIEA), Latin America (HILA), Middle East (HIME), South Asia (HISA).
  • one Major Seminar (HIXX 4501 or 4502) or Major Colloquium (HIXX 4511 or 4512)
    • A grade of “C” or better is required for the Major Seminar or Colloquium to count toward the major.
    • Major Seminars and Colloquia are offered in a wide range of topics. Students should select a Major Seminar or Colloquium whose topic is familiar to them based on their work in at least two previous History courses.   
  • five additional courses chosen from among the total offerings of the department.
• Of the eleven courses required for the major:
  • five -- including the Major Seminar or Colloquium -- should be numbered 3000 or above.
  • no more than six courses may be taken in any one field of history. (For purposes of this requirement, each History Department mnemonic – i.e., HIAF, HIEA, HIEU, HILA, HIME, HISA, HIST, and HIUS – represents a distinct field of history.)
• No more than two 1500-level history seminars may be counted toward the eleven courses required for the major.  HIST 4501/4502 or HIST 4511/4512 count as the Major Seminar or Major Colloquium.
• Courses with the General History (HIST) mnemonic count towards the major, HIST 4501/4502 and HIST 4511/4512 courses count as the Major Seminar or Major Colloquium.
• Advanced Placement (AP)/ International Baccalaureate (IB) courses:
  • Students with AP and IB courses cannot apply both toward the major. This is a clarification of the requirements for the History major.
  • One Advanced Placement (AP) History course with a score of 5 may be applied toward the major. The AP course does not fulfill departmental requirements in the fields of United States (HIUS) or European (HIEU) History. The AP course will transfer as HIST 2000T. This is a revision of the requirements for the History major. It is effective for all students whose AP credits transfer to the University after the Spring 2010 semester.\
  • International Baccalaureate (IB) courses with a grade of 6 count as one course toward the major; courses with a grade of 7 count as two courses toward the major. The IB course will transfer as HIST 2000T, with either three or six credits.
• Up to four approved transfer courses may be applied toward the major. Courses taken before matriculation transfer toward the major if they have been approved by the University and are on SIS with a History mnemonic (HIAF, HIEA, HIEU, HILA, HIME, HISA, HIST, HIUS).  Courses taken after matriculation require departmental approval.  Consult the Transfer Credit Approval Procedure link.
• Courses taken in other departments may not be counted toward the major unless cross-listed in the History Department (e.g., ECON 2061/HIUS 2061).  Nor can they  be counted toward the minor if they are intended to count for the major in the other cross-listed department, in this case Economics.
• Students must complete the eleven courses toward the History major with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0.

The study of economic life has long been at the core of the historical profession. Modern society’s greatest triumphs, along with its ongoing trials and tribulations, can be traced to the changing forms of socio-economic organization that humans have adopted and the ideas and discourses that motivated them. This pathway explores the processes, practices, institutions, and ideologies that have shaped human economic activity across space and time. It does not limit itself to the quantitative study of the past, but takes a more holistic approach to questions of production, exchange, and consumption over the course of human history. Courses in this pathway closely examine how human practices and institutions have shaped trajectories of economic growth, but also how they sowed the seed of inequality at both the local and global level. Together, we will develop a better understanding of the multiple histories of modern capitalism, but also a sharp sense of the other forms of socio-economic organization that societies engaged in and experimented with. Over the course of the pathway, students will build an analytical toolkit that will help students understand the deep inter-relationships between economy, society and government. They will be able to engage in archival research on questions of economic life across societies and time periods.

*Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list.

People shape their history as they engage with the natural world and the built environment.  This pathway investigates how they move through space, understand it, and attempt to influence it. It centers on environmental history, the history of landscape and material culture, and the politics of spatial control, among other perspectives. It harnesses approaches from the study of literature, geography, philosophy, and digital humanities to generate new historical knowledge. How do people interact with the spaces around them? How do they reach out to the wider world to shape it? How do their understandings of these spaces, in turn, shape them as individuals and as members of cultures and societies?

*Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list.

The Global and Transnational History pathway provides students an opportunity to examine the

global dimensions of historical problems, both through examining the origins of interconnections between geographic regions and tracing the emergence of international and transnational cultures and religions, social networks, economic patterns, and political movements and institutions across time and space. The methodological goal of this cluster is to train students to think critically about the global links between peoples and places across, above, and beyond states that have shaped the human past and defined our current moment.

*Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list.

The Law and Society pathway draws on UVA’s unusual strengths in legal history across many fields in the United States and around the globe, and from the ancient world to the modern. Students have the opportunity to explore law’s history in institutional settings—the work of legal professionals, courts, and legislative bodies, and at the national and international level—and to explore more informal modes of legal life. Among topics covered in this pathway are law and human rights, the law of the sea, and the origins of transregional legal regimes; law in relation to race and slavery, in the U.S. and beyond; criminal law in multiple countries; and legal history in and among empires.

*Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list.

The Race, Ethnicity and Empire Pathway encompasses the long temporal arc and shifting geographical scope of imperial formations, as well as the contingent constructions and reconstructions of racial and ethnic formations.  It further encompasses both the creative political, cultural, social, religious, and artistic worlds and subjectivities forged by imperial and/or racialized and gendered subjects; and the ongoing transformations in state formation (e.g. citizenship, law, carceral regimes) labor regimes, and social formations that have produced continually evolving forms of racial, ethnic, and gendered  hierarchies, exclusions, and subjugation.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list.

The War, Violence, & Society Pathway aims to strengthen students’ historical understanding of armed conflict and other forms of mass violence by contextualizing these in the polities, economies, societies, and cultures in which they took place. Courses in this pathway explore the experience of civil war, international war, and one-sided mass violence in order to better understand how these have shaped and, in turn, been shaped by political, social, economic, demographic, and cultural formations throughout history. These courses also examine the relationship between violence, on the one hand, and sovereignty, state formation, communal or national belonging, citizenship, race, gender, and sexuality, on the other. Faculty teaching in this pathway address all historical eras and regions of the world from antiquity to the present.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list.

Declared majors consult with their faculty advisers at least once per semester, usually a week or two before the registration period. Special problems or questions can be addressed at this or any other time. The advising system can be an extremely valuable aid to students as they negotiate their way through the department's program. Students circumvent it at their peril.

Declared majors will be assigned a temporary adviser if their regular advisor goes on leave. Students will be informed of the change at the beginning of the semester. Unless you are informed otherwise, you will automatically be reassigned to your regular adviser when he or she returns from leave.

The Undergraduate Record contains a list, with a brief description, of all departmental courses. This list is current to within about one year of the nominal date of the Record. Not all courses listed in the Record are taught in any given year; some are taught rarely.

View detailed descriptions of current courses, here.

The following types of courses are available to undergraduate students.

• 1500-LEVEL INTRODUCTORY SEMINARS are small classes for first- and second-year students. Enrollment is limited to 15 students per seminar. The purpose of these seminars is to introduce students to the study of history at the University level. Five to ten of these seminars, on a wide range of topics, are offered each term. These courses, which emphasize reading, writing, and discussion, automatically fulfill the College’s Second Writing Requirement. They meet once a week for 2.5 hours and are usually taught by regular department faculty.

• 2000-LEVEL SURVEY LECTURE COURSES are offered every semester in many areas of history.  These courses cover a long period of time over an extensive geographic area.  They are as intensive and demanding as 3000-level courses.  Overall enrollment in these courses ranges from 40 to 180 students. These courses often feature two 50-minute lectures and a small 50-minute discussion section (maximum of 20 students) per week. In some cases, however, these courses meet twice a week in a combined 75-minute lecture/discussion format. Survey courses are offered by regular faculty, and discussion sections -- when offered as part of such a course -- are typically led by advanced graduate students.

• 3000-LEVEL SPECIALIZED LECTURE COURSES are offered every semester in many areas of history. These are specialized courses that allow for deeper investigation of a topic or period than would be possible in a 2000-level survey. Overall enrollment in these courses ranges from 30 to 180 students. These courses often feature two 50-minute lectures and a small 50-minute discussion section (maximum of 20 students) per week. In some cases, however, these courses meet twice a week in a combined 75-minute lecture/discussion format. These courses are offered by regular faculty, and discussion sections -- when offered as part of such a course -- are led by advanced graduate students and/or faculty.

• MAJOR (4501/4502) SEMINARS AND MAJOR (4511/4512) COLLOQUIA Every history major must take either a Major Seminar or a Major Colloquium. Over a dozen of these courses are offered each semester on a wide range of specialized topics. Students should have completed at least two History courses that are related in a fairly direct way to the topic of their Major Seminar or Colloquium. For this reason, majors typically take the Major Seminar or Colloquium in the third or fourth year. Enrollment in each of these courses is limited to 12 students, and is by instructor permission. (Non-majors may enroll if space is available and with instructor permission.) These courses meet once a week for 2.5 hours and are taught by regular faculty or by advanced graduate students who are completing dissertations in the subject area of the course. These courses automatically fulfill the College’s Second Writing Requirement.

• REGISTRATION FOR MAJOR SEMINARS AND COLLOQUIA

  Admission to Major Seminars (4501/4502) and Colloquia (4511/4512) is by instructor permission. Registration will take place through the electronic online permission list.  In the available comment box, indicate the courses that have prepared you for the seminar and your interest in the topic.  State if you are in the History Distinguished Majors Program (DMP) or are a fourth-year History major in the Masters of Teaching (MAT) program in order to obtain the necessary priority enrollment.  Each semester prior to the registration period students are sent an email with instructions, including the deadline for adding your name to the permission list.  History students are given enrollment priority. 

   

What is the difference between a Major (4501/4502) Seminar and a Major (4511/4512) Colloquium? Major Seminars are typically offered in areas of history that feature an abundance of English-language primary sources. The goal of the Major Seminar is for each student to produce a ca. 25-page research paper based on primary sources. Major Colloquia, by contrast, tend to be offered in areas of history in which there are few English-language primary sources available. As in a Major Seminar, students in a Major Colloquium are expected to produce ca. 25 pages of written work, although this written work is usually divided among several assignments of roughly equal length. Another difference between Major Seminars and Major Colloquia is that students in the latter often rely more on secondary sources (i.e., scholarly interpretations of the past) rather than on primary sources (e.g., diaries, memoirs, diplomatic papers) in their written work.

There is no foreign language requirement for any of the Major Seminars or Major Colloquia. As in all undergraduate-level history courses, all readings are in English.

NOTE: Only courses numbered 4501, 4502, 4511, or 4512 meet the Major Seminar/Major Colloquium requirement of the history major.

• 4591 SEMINARS are small classes (maximum of 15 students) that focus on a particular area or topic of history. They are usually taught by regular faculty and emphasize reading, writing, and discussion. These courses meet once a week for 2.5 hours and are open to all undergraduates. They do NOT fulfill the Major Seminar or Major Colloquium requirement of the History major. Some, though not all, of these courses meet the College’s Second Writing Requirement.

• 5000-LEVEL SEMINARS are small classes (maximum of 15 students) that focus on a particular area or topic of history. They are usually taught by regular faculty and emphasize reading, writing, and discussion. These courses, which are intended for upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students, meet once a week for 2.5 hours. While lower-level undergraduates may enroll in a 5000-level seminar, they are strongly advised to consult with their faculty adviser and the course instructor before doing so. Some, though not all, of these courses meet the College’s Second Writing Requirement.

The Distinguished Majors Program (DMP) offers opportunities for methodological training, independent study, and directed research beyond those available in the regular undergraduate history curriculum. DMP students must fulfill all requirements of the History major. In addition, they take HIST 4890 (DMP Colloquium, 3 credits) during the fall semester of their third year and HIST 4990 or 4991 (DMP Seminar, 6 credits) during the fall and spring semesters of their fourth year.

In HIST 4890, DMP students receive an intensive introduction to historical methods and approaches. In HIST 4990 or 4991, DMP students research and write a ca. 80-page thesis. These special DMP courses -- HIST 4890 and HIST 4990/4991 -- count as three of the ten courses required for the major.

Students of demonstrated ability -- a GPA of at least 3.4 in all university, college, and department courses is required for an honors degree -- may apply to the Director of the DMP for admission. For further information, see Distinguished Majors Program

The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements.