110. Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation Europe. (4). (SS).
The first half of the European history survey course covers
a sweeping period of over a millennium. The course is designed
to expose students to general outlines and chronology of European
history and to encourage critical, skeptical analytical thinking.
To anchor our flying coverage of this long and varied time, we
will focus on developments in culture (art, architecture, literature), social organization (family, community, gender relations), and in political organization and theory. Readings will include a
textbook, primary sources, challenging interpretive essays. Lecture
time will be punctuated by small-group discussions and active
participation is strongly encouraged. Slides will frequently accompany
lectures. Cost:3
WL:1 (Rabin)
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Times, Location, and Availability
121/Asian Studies 121. Great Traditions of East Asia. (4). (HU).
This is an introduction to the civilizations of China, Japan, Korea, and Inner Asia. It aims to provide an overview of changing
traditions from ancient to early modern times (ca. 1660 AD) by
outlining broad trends which not only transformed each society, economy, and culture but also led to the development of this region
into distinctly different modern nations. The development of state
Confucianism, the spread of Buddhism, the functions of the scholar
and the warrior, the impact of the military empires of Inner Asia, and the superiority of pre-modern Asian science and technology
are some of the topics we will cover. In addition to the required
textbooks, we will read contemporary accounts and view slides
and films to acquire intimate appreciation of these cultures.
Course requirements include successful completion of: quizzes
given in sections; four major tests given in class; one report/project
(5 pp. plus bibliography and notes). Cost:2
WL:3 (Murphy)
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132/APTIS 100/ACABS 100/HJCS 100. Peoples of the Middle East. (4). (HU).
See Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Islamic Studies 100. (Babayan)
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151/Asian Studies 111. South Asian Civilization. (4). (HU).
This course is an introduction to the civilization of India, that is, the region of South Asia consisting of the modern countries
of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. We will
begin with the first Indian civilization, that of the Indus Valley, and go on to the Vedic age, the formation of empires and the classical
civilization of India, its social organization, arts, and sciences.
We will then examine the encounter of India with Islamic and European
civilization, and the formation of the independent nation-states
of today. Course requirements include short papers, midterm, and final exam. (Trautmann)
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160. United States to 1865. (4). (SS).
This lecture/discussion course will examine central issues
and events in the history of the territories that became the United
States, and the peoples who lived there, from the late 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries. Among the topics that will be
considered are the territorial expansions of Europeans into the
Americas; the creation of Anglo-American colonies; the social, political, and cultural orders of British North America; the creation
of an independent American republic in the Revolution; and the
destruction of that first republic in the War Between the States.
The required readings will include both primary and secondary
sources, and will be examined in weekly discussion sections. There
will be both a midterm and a final examination, and active class
participation will be expected in the sections. (Vinovskis)
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161. United States, 1865 to the Present. (4). (SS).
This course is an undergraduate survey of U.S. history from
1865 to the present. We will examine major social, cultural, political, and economic events that shaped the United States after the Civil
War. We will focus particularly on: Reconstruction, Westward Movement, Industrialization, Progressivism, World War I, Depression, the
New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Sixties, and Reagan Republicanism. This survey introduces the students to urban, labor, ethnic, and women's history of the
time period through extensive use of primary sources. The students
will be examined in weekly discussion sections over their readings
of both primary and secondary sources. There will be a midterm
and a final. Active class participation will be expected in the
sections. Cost:3
WL:1 (Montoya)
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195. The Writing of History. (4). (Introductory Composition). This course may not be included in a history concentration.
"The Writing of History" courses offer students the opportunity to learn writing through the study of historical texts, debates, and events. Each "Writing of History" section will study a different era, region, and topic in the past, for the common purpose of learning how history is written and how to write about it. Students will read the work of modern historians as well as documents and other source materials from the past, such as historical novels, letters, diaries, or memoirs. In each case the goal will be to learn how to construct effective arguments, and how to write college-level analytic papers. History 195 satisfies the first-year writing requirements. Each section will enroll a maximum of twenty students.
Section 001 – Women Travelers in the Balkans, 18th Century to the Present. In this course, students will read and discuss travel narratives of Southeastern Europe from the eighteenth century to the present. These works, mostly by British and American women, include memoirs, letters, photographic essays, newspaper correspondence, drawings, film, and fiction. Through a series of short interpretive papers with revisions, students will be introduced to the techniques of historical analysis and the process of writing. A longer paper will permit students to investigate further some of the larger questions of politics, gender, and ethnicity raised in the course. We will explore how foreign travelers have presented the political, social, and international events in the Balkans to Western audiences for the past two hundred years, and how these travelers' observations have influenced Western European and American perceptions of the region. We will conclude the course by examining the ways contemporary travelers and correspondents have shaped Western interpretations of the recent war in Bosnia. (Hays)
Section 002 – America's Cold War at Home and Abroad, 1945 to the Present. The significance of America's Cold War with the Soviet Union extends far beyond international affairs. In addition to providing an organizing principle for U.S. foreign policy, it influenced domestic politics, popular culture, and even family relations. In this course, we will explore the fifty-year relationship between U.S. Cold War foreign policy and American national life. Students will examine memoirs, documents, fiction, works of history, and popular media (e.g., films, television) in order to consider the history of America's Cold War and how cultural representations and historical interpretations of the Cold War have changed over time. Assignments: Students will write three short papers evaluating in-class readings. The final assignment, a somewhat longer paper, will ask students to discuss a historical question of their choosing. Texts will include: Whitfield, Culture of the Cold War; May, Homeward Bound; Cohen, America in the Age of Soviet Power. (Gonzalez)
Section 003 – Freemasonry: Enlightenment Secret Societies and Conspiratorial Politics. From the capital cities of Europe to the smallest Midwestern American towns, and in places as far apart as Mexico and China, freemasonry aimed to "build" a better society, taking its inspiration from masonry, the craft of bricklaying. Freemasons have been charged with conspiring to undermine religion and plot revolution. They have also been credited with helping to spread the progressive ideals of the Enlightenment. They formed private clubs, met in lodges, used arcane symbols, and conducted secret rituals behind closed doors. Yet their members made an enormous impact outside, in public life: Wolfgang Mozart, George Washington, Ben Franklin, Isaac Newton, and the inventor of the guillotine were all freemasons. This course will use freemasonry as a vehicle to study several large themes in European and American history, ca. 1700-1820, including: the connections between Enlightenment thought and political life, the importance of voluntary association and "civil society," the conflicts between science and religion, issues of gender and masculinity, and the European impact on the rest of the world. Students will learn how to read and analyze primary sources and historians' own writings. Workshops will prepare them for college-level writing and critique. As a final project, students will research a primary document on freemasonry (whether an actual text, a visual image such as a sundial, an interview with a living Freemason, or a Web site on freemasonry) and prepare a 12-15 page research paper. (McNeely)
Section 005 – Women, War, and Revolution in Modern Europe. This course explores the relationship between women, war, and revolution in Europe between 1789 and 1945. During these periods of immense social upheaval, gender roles were dramatically reinterpreted and redefined as women actively participated on the revolutionary, home, or war fronts. Students will look at the ways that war and revolution were experienced differently by men and women, as well as by national culture, class, race, or other identities, through assigned readings. This class will also examine differing representations of women during periods of war and revolution in novels, poems, artwork, posters, and films. The class begins with the French Revolution and continues through the revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and the two World Wars. Women in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany will also be considered. This course is designed as a writing course and a series of writing assignments, including an historical research paper, will be required. (Comisky)
Section 006 – Defining Society: Heresy, Deviance, and Difference in the Middle Ages. How do some people get labeled
"losers" by the societies they live in? This course
will explore the heresies of the Middle Ages to understand how
societies can form perceptions of "otherness" and come
to define deviant behavior within their ranks. From the earliest
controversies within Christianity concerning issues of bravery, honesty and martyrdom, to some of the most famous later-medieval
movements of violence against heretics, Jews, "witches,"
homosexuals and lepers, we will trace how tradition, economics, theology, and politics combine in complex processes to define
certain groups as unacceptable, undesirable, or dangerous to the
normal "order" of society. (Brophy)
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196. First-Year Seminar.
(3). (SS).
Section 001 – U.S. Foreign Policy and International Politics
Since World War II. In this seminar students will explore
contemporary international history by reading the works of some
leading scholars and discussing why they differ. Classes will
focus on the conflict and cooperation of the U.S. with other states
in the Cold War, decolonization, and regional crises. But the
seminar will also analyze how non-state actors, cross-border migration, new means of communication, and global markets are transforming the international system as a whole. The readings will reflect the contested nature and continuing relevance of these issues
by including differing accounts and original documents from America
and abroad. Students will be expected to participate actively
in discussions and present oral and written arguments for their
own interpretations. (Connelly)
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197. First-Year Seminar. (3). (HU).
Section 002 – European Intellectual History, from the French Revolution to the First World War. This course will consider major ideas and intellectual movements, principally in Western Europe, from the French Revolution to the outbreak of the First World War. The topics will include: Nationalism; Liberalism; Romanticism; Darwinism; the Rise of Industrialization and Technology; Militarism; Utopian Socialism; Marxism; and Democratic Political Movements. There will also be a consideration of the rise of modern psychological and sociological thought. The method to be employed will include both lecture and class discussion. The student will be required to do a series of written reports on the various topics to be covered in this class. Readings will include both original texts and documents, as well as a general narrative history textbook treating leading historical events. WL:3 (Becker)
Section 003 – Gender, Race, and Class, in American History. In this seminar students will be introduced to the techniques of historical analysis as we try to unravel how gender, race, and class have functioned in American history. We will also explore how historians have identified, analyzed, and written about these subjects and how those approaches have changed over time. Students will be introduced to the concept of cultural construction – the idea that categories of race, gender and even class status are not fixed, universal, biological entities, but are shaped and determined by cultural values, time, and place. Students will also be urged to think about how these categories intersect, for example, the ways in which race structures class or class influences concepts of masculinity and femininity. Throughout the term students will be required to maintain a journal and record questions, thoughts, and comments about their reading. Two thought papers will also be assigned, intended to stimulate students to grapple with the issues discussed in class. Cost:2 WL:4 (Morantz-Sanchez)
Section 004 – Consuming the World and the World of Consumption. This course will examine consumerism in the U.S. and Europe in the 20th century. It shall cover a range of issues from the commercial dynamics of popular culture (flappers to "mall rats") to global warming. Topics under scrutiny will include fashion and the body as commodity, pop and ethnic music as modes of protest against and integration with "high" culture, the automobile as liberator and oppressor, censorship and prohibition as means of advertisement, and the rise of throwaway culture. We shall use approaches that embrace cultural studies, economic analysis, ecological sensitivity, and the politics of difference. The key question shall be how consumerism arose historically as the defining essence of "Americanism" (even in Europe!) and whether it has rendered authenticity impossible or allowed new, more genuine voices to be heard. Exercise will include activities such as decoding mail-order catalogs and analyzing Cosmopolitan and Details. (Frost)
Section 006 – The History and Legacy of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. This multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural seminar will be open to incoming first-year students only. During the first third of the course, we will consider various historical analyses of the events at and around Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, during which "witchcraft" accusations were lodged against hundreds of people, many of whom were put on trial for "witchcraft" and over twenty of whom were eventually executed for the crime of being a "witch." The middle third of the course will explore the history of European "witchcraft" accusations and trials between the 15th and 18th centuries, focusing on the relationships between that history and the events in the New England colonies. During the final third of the course, we will examine modern American popular culture representations of "witches" and related images of powerful and/or dangerous women, focusing on the multiple uses of these images from the late 19th century to current times. This exploration will consider sources as varied as advertising, film, fiction, cartoons, music, political campaigns, and feminist neo-pagan (Wicca) materials. Issues of gender, sexuality, race, class, and age will guide our inquiries throughout the term. This will be a reading-intensive class. Students will be expected to write three 3-5 page analyses of the class materials and a 5-8 page end-of-term research paper. While there may be quizzes, there will be no final exam. (DuPuis)
Section 007 – Law, Insanity, and the Criminal Self in Early Modern England. When is someone
responsible for a crime? Should the offender's age make a difference
in the assessment of guilt? What if he or she was drunk when the
offense was committed? This course will examine the English legal
system and the definitions of legal responsibility that evolved
in English courtrooms during the early modern period (1500- 1800).
In addition to a study of criminal legal process, the course will
focus on the insanity defense as well as various other informal
excuses used by defendants to explain their crimes. In turn we
will discuss the ways in which the legal system responded to these
informal and unofficial pleas. The final portion of the class
will examine criminals and represnetations of the self in early
modern England. For this course we will read both primary and secondary sources including legal documents (about 100 pages a
week). Students will be required to write three papers, compile
a portfolio, and lead discussions. (Rabin)
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200-Level Courses are for Sophomores and Upper Class Students
200. Greece to 201 B.C. (4). (HU).
This course presents a survey of history from human beginnings through Alexander the Great. Primary emphasis is on the development
of civilization in its Near Eastern and Greek phases. Students
need no special background except an ability to think in broad
terms and concepts. In view of the extent of historical time covered
in the course, a general textbook is used to provide factual material.
There are two hour examinations plus a final examination. Discussion
sections are integrated with lectures and reading. Cost:2
WL:1 (Humphreys)
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210/MARC 210. Early Middle Ages, 300-1100. (4). (SS).
An introduction to the transformation of the Roman Empire into
Byzantine, Islamic, and west European successor states between
A.D. 300 and 1000. The course focuses on the social, cultural, and economic developments in the barbarian kingdoms of Europe.
Lectures are integrated with weekly discussion of early medieval
texts; two short papers and two tests are the basis of evaluation
of performance. WL:3
(Squatriti)
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218. The Vietnam War, 1945-1975. (4). (SS).
The course examines the history of Vietnam and the several
wars fought there after 1945, with emphasis on the period of American
involvement after 1950. It looks at the origins, strategy, and results of American intervention and of Vietnamese resistance.
Thus it analyzes both the longest and most controversial foreign
war in American history and also the climax of a modern Asian
revolution. Cost:3
WL:1 (Thornton)
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220. Survey of British History to 1688. (4). (SS).
This course introduces students to the sweep of English history
from Roman times until the Glorious Revolution. The first half
of it is devoted to the Middle Ages and focuses on the formation
of the English monarchy, the role of the church in politics and culture, and basic social and economic structures. The second
half treats the early modern period (c. 1450-1700) and concentrates
on the growth of the state, the Protestant Reformation, the English
Revolution, and the social and economic changes that followed the Black Death and played themselves out during the reigns of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs. No prior knowledge of English history
is assumed in this class, and it is intended to serve as the basis
for more advanced work in British history and to provide background
and comparisons for courses in English literature and European
and American history. (MacDonald)
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225. Europe and the New World. (4). (Excl).
The first European observers of America saw a world populated
alternatively by savages or by angels, they saw peoples apparently
without laws, religion, rulers, or indeed clothes. Yet much of
what they saw was conditioned by what they expected to see. This
course will set out to explore the social and intellectual world(s)
of those who first came to the Americas. It will follow these
explorers, conquerors and chroniclers on their journeys from the
Old World to the New, and will analyze not simply their impact
on the New World – e.g., "the narrative of the
conquest" – but how the experience of this New World interacted
with and fundamentally changed the way these "Europeans" thought about themselves. (Wintroub)
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250. China from the Oracle Bones to the Opium War. (3). (HU).
This course consists of a survey of early Chinese history, with special emphasis on the origins and development of the political, social, and economic institutions and their intellectual foundations.
Special features include class participation in performing a series
of short dramas recreating critical issues and moments in Chinese
history, slides especially prepared for the lectures, new views
on race and gender in the making of China, intellectual and scientific
revolutions in the seventeenth century, and literature and society
in premodern China. WL:1
(Chang)
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266(366). Twentieth-Century American Wars as Social and Personal Experience. (4). (HU).
This course (formerly 366) will examine the American experience
of war in this century. Lectures, readings, films, and discussions
will focus not only on the military experience itself, but on
how America's wars – real and imagined – have shaped the country's
economy, politics, and culture. The course will also examine the
processes of transmission and memory: how Americans who did not
fight learned about those who did, and what all Americans have
remembered or have been taught to remember about the wars of this
century. Finally, we will consider how the nation's wartime conduct, at home and on the battlefield, has fit into long-standing social
patterns and behavior such as our alleged propensity for violence.
In brief, we will be looking at the American experience of war
as inclusively as a term will allow. (Marwil)
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274/CAAS 230. Survey of Afro-American History I. (3). (SS).
See Afroamerican and African
Studies 230. (J. Scott)
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285. Science, Technology, and Society: 1940 to the Present. (4). (HU).
Section 001 – Science, Technology, and Society, 1940 to the Present.
Science and technology affect the lives of every individual, and the decision we make about their use have and will continue to
affect the course of history. This course will explore the growth
and implications of scientific and technological development from the beginning of WW II to the present, covering the periods of
post-war optimism, the energy and environment crises of the 1960s/70s, and late 20th century compromises, ending with a brief look at
prospects for the 21st century. Two lectures and one discussion
section per week. Midterm, final, and short papers. One or two
assigned books and an electronic (free Internet) course pack.
(Steneck)
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286/Rel. 286. A History of Eastern Christianity from the 4th to the 18th Century. (3). (HU).
This course traces Eastern Christianity from the 4th through the 18th century. A broad survey course aimed at undergraduates
of all concentrations, there are no prerequisites; the course
focuses on both Church history and theology. It begins with Constantine's
conversion and traces the growth of the Church, the rise of monasticism, the creation of the creed (the Councils of Nicea and Chalcedon), and the secession of the Eastern churches (Coptic and Syriac), the role of religious pictures and the iconoclast dispute and relations with the West (Rome) which were frequently strained
before the official break in the 11th century. We cover the conversion
of the Slavs and the eventual formation of independent Slavic
national churches. We treat the fall of the Byzantine and Medieval
Slavic states to the Turks and the position of the Orthodox under the Turks. Attention is also given to the Russian Church from the 9th century to the Old Believer schism and Church reforms
of Peter the Great. Readings are varied. There is no textbook.
A relevant paper of the student's choice, an hour exam, and a
final are required. (J. Fine)
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300-Level Courses and Above are for Juniors and Seniors
308/Religion 308. The Christian Tradition in the West from New Testament to Early Reformation. (3). (Excl).
See Religion 308. (Tentler)
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318. Europe in the Era of Total War, 1870-1945. (4). (SS).
In 1945 Europe lay in ruins. Entire cities had been leveled
by the destructive powers of modern warfare, and the cultural, political, and social norms of the pre-war world had been shattered.
What made such violence possible, and how did ordinary men and women experience it? History 318 will explore the ideological, political, economic, social, and cultural forces that both caused
and were destroyed by the savagery of the early 20th century.
We will not only study the origins and consequences of World Wars
I and II, but also the ways in which everyday life was transformed
during this turbulent era. We will look at Europe from the inside
(by studying relations of class, gender, and nationality), and from the outside (by tracing the ideology and practice of imperialism).
Grading will be based on several in-class quizzes, active participation
in a discussion section, and three take-home essay assignments.
(Porter)
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321. Postwar Britain. Hist. 221 is recommended. (3). (Excl).
This course will examine Britain from the Great Depression, through World War II, the Cold War, the social and political challenges
of the 1960s, the Conservative resurgence of the late 1970s, the
Falklands war, and the fall of Margaret Thatcher. Special attention
will be paid to the experience of war by civilian populations; the development of a "welfare state" and subsequent
challenges thereto; Britain's decline as a world power; protest
movements; the nuclear disarmament and peace movements from the
late 50s/early 60s through the 80s; the influence of American
culture on Britain; decolonization and the participation of Asians
and Africans in British culture and politics; Welsh and Scottish
nationalism; the Northern Ireland question; and on-going political
and cultural debates about class, education, the media, sexuality
and gender roles, and Britain as a multi-cultural society. Cost:2 WL:4 (Israel)
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332/REES 395/Pol. Sci. 395/Slavic 395/Soc. 392. Survey of Russia: The Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Successor States. (4). (SS). Laboratory fee ($10) required.
See Russian and East European
Studies 395. (Rosenberg)
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362/WS 362. Women, Men and Nations: How Is Nationalism Gendered? (3). (Excl).
This course explores the gendering of modern political identity
in the complex interrelationship between "nation" and "citizenship" in Europe and North America. Nationality
provides the generic language of political identity formation
in the public and everyday conditions of life in the 20th century.
We are "national" when we vote, watch the 6 o'clock
news, follow the national sport, observe repeated iconographies
of landscape and history in TV commercials, absorb the visual
archive of the movies, and perform our knowledge of the nation
daily in our politics. This entails not just a political space
of national belonging, but also the harnessing of desire and the
linking of intimacy to political life. The complicated ways by
which national cultures makes itself local, and vice versa, is
a crucial part of this process. The gendered dimensions of these
questions are especially important, particularly in the social
histories of race and representations of the nation in popular
culture, in patriotic solidariaties, etc. Various readings
and visual materials (including a film series) will be used. (Eley)
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370/WS 370. Women in American History to 1870. (3). (Excl).
This course is an introduction to the history of American women
– as a group, as individuals, and as members of different classes, and racial, regional, and ethnic communities. Using work, politics, and sexuality as organizing concepts, it focuses particularly
on the significance of gender in determining women's experiences
from the early seventeenth century to 1870. Special attention
is paid to initial and continuing encounters of Native Americans, Euro-Americans, and African-Americans; to evolving constructions
of "womanhood" and their significance for different
groups of women; to the meaning of religious movements, wars, economic transformations, and demographic shifts for women's individual
and collective efforts to determine the course of their own histories.
(DuPuis)
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378/Amer. Cult. 314. History of Asian Americans in the U.S. (4). (Excl).
See American Culture 314.
(Nomura)
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Times, Location, and Availability
391. Topics in European
History. (3). (Excl). May be elected for credit twice.
Section 001 – The Origins of Nazism: Culture and Politics in
Germany, 1918-1945. This course explores the origins and outcomes of the Nazi seizure of power in Germany. Because no single
factor can explain why Germans consented to Nazi rule or why so
few resisted Nazi persecution and genocide, we will take a multilayered
approach to this question, examining the relationships among and between political, cultural, social, and economic change. First
exploring the vibrant culture and fractured politics of the Weimar
Republic in which the Nazis rose to power, we will then analyze the ideologies and practices of the Nazi "racial state"
and the forces that drove it into war and genocide. Students will
also examine the blurry lines between consent and dissent, complicity
and resistance in the everyday lives of both perpetrators and victims of the regime. Team-taught by two professors from History
and German, course materials will include not only historical
texts, but also film, art, literature, and personal memoirs from the Weimar and Nazi periods. No prerequisites are required. Format:
two lectures, one discussion per week. Requirements: midterm, final, paper. Cost:2
WL:1 (Canning, Spector)
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394. Reading Course. Open only to history concentrators by written permission of instructor. Only 12 credits of History 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, and 399 may be counted toward a concentration plan in history. (1-4). (Excl). (INDEPENDENT). May be repeated for credit only with permission of the Associate Chairman.
Individual reading program under the direction of a staff member.
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396. History Colloquium.
History concentrators are required to elect Hist.
396 or 397. Only 12 credits of History 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, and 399 may be counted toward a concentration plan in history.
(3). (SS). May be elected for a total of 12 credits.
Section 001 – United States Social and Cultural Thought since
1945. After 1945 Americans confronted a new world. The military
spread across the globe and most men were subject to the draft.
Women were supposed to become wives and mothers but they also
went to work in increasing numbers. College education became a
normal expectation. Many asked why such a wealthy, powerful nation
was still disgraced by crime, poverty, and racial inequality.
Others feared the increased powers that government leaders had
acquired. In this course, we will look at movies, books, art, and music from 1945 to 1975 to examine cultural and intellectual
responses to these changes. Key topics will include debates on the nature of work and education; America's relationship to the
rest of the world; new ideas about art that led to the counterculture; the growing importance of African-Americans in both popular and elite culture; the feminine mystique; youth culture and attitudes
about sexuality; the Vietnam War; the rebirth of conservatism.
Cost:3 WL:2
(Cándida Smith)
Section 002 – History of American Sexualities. Attitudes toward sexuality have permeated all aspects of American culture in profound ways. Slavery and racism, gender relations, family life, constructions of childhood and youth, metaphors of power in both the public and private realm, concepts of order and disorder, health and disease, politics, the nature of good and evil – every aspect of American history can be accessed and understood better if read through the lens of the history of sexuality. This course will study sexual meanings, sexual behavior, systems of sexual regulation, and sexual politics throughout American history. By means of readings and discussion we will probe how and why dominant meanings of sexuality have changed over the last 400 years and attempt to better understand present dilemmas. (Morantz-Sanchez)
Section 003 – Constructing the Political: Representations of Power and the Idea of Virtue in Western Political Thought. This course is intended to provide students with the opportunity to reflect upon some of the issues surrounding cultural diversity and the status of the "western tradition." The course centers on certain key themes – visions of human nature, the good life, the practical and ethical dimensions of political organization. Members of the seminar will thus engage critically with the arguments of Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, and St. Augustine (among others) in order to see how it is that notions about male and female, slave and free, higher and lower (class/status) have underwritten constructions of both social and political order. Ultimately, our goal is to confront such arguments directly, in order to see how the very different understandings of the past – about the relationship between religion and the state, ethics and politics, or the occult and the rational – have informed the conceptions of justice, political efficacy, and political power to which the western tradition is heir. (Downs)
Section 004 – Jewish Responses to Antisemitism. The theme for this colloquium is how Jews in Europe and the United States responded to social and political antisemitism in the period between mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Students will be introduced to a broad spectrum of individual and collective responses, including radical assimilation, "passing," self-hatred, conversion, emigration, anti-defamation activities, cultural nationalism, political nationalism, and revolutionary socialism. The course will consider the relationship between Jews' understandings of antisemitism and their responses and between these responses and the larger political and social contexts in which they took place. Prerequisite: a survey course in modern Europe or modern Jewish history. Cost:3 WL:3 (Endelman)
Section 005 – Master-Narratives
of the Development of Religion in the Modern World. One of the main problems with studying religion in the modern world is the prevalence of the secularization thesis, which holds that the social relevance of religion declines as modernization advances.
The most recent example of this conception is the characterisation
of politically active religious movements all over the world as
instances of fundamentalism, i.e., as violent reactions
against the process of modernization. The course starts with an
overview of current theories of secularization, focusing upon their close links with a certain self-image of Western modernity.
Next, social-historical work on the recent development of Christianity
in Western countries is reviewed. In the second half of the course, theories about fundamentalism are contrasted with recent interpretations
of politically active Islamic and Hindu movements as instances
of religious nationalism – modernizing movements themselves.
Finally, the question is raised with such an interpretation is
helpful for understanding modern Christianity too. (van Rooden)
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Times, Location, and Availability
397. History Colloquium.
History concentrators are required to elect Hist.
396 or 397. Only 12 credits of History 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, and 399 may be counted toward a concentration plan in history.
(3). (HU). May be elected for a total of 12 credits.
Section 001 – Technology and Society in Comparative Perspective.
Examines the history of European and American technology from the agricultural to the information revolution. Technological
systems and artifacts will be examined in their social, economic, cultural, and gender contexts through use of a largely social
constructionist framework. Topics will range from the factories
to domestic environments, from production to consumption, and from design shops to engineering schools. Particular attention
will be paid to the simultaneous invention of artifacts, users, and contexts, and to the ways that technological artifacts become
material means for reinventing or reinforcing social relations.
The course will also examine military technology and technology
transfer. (Frost)
Section 002 – Victorian Society and Culture. This
course is a seminar intended to allow students to explore the
cultural and social history of Victorian Britain (1836-1901).
The course will use historical scholarship, life-stories, visual
images, and literary works – novels, short poems, plays, and non-fiction prose – to examine changes and continuities in real
and imagined lives and to look at the intersections and mutual
effects of material conditions and cultural discourses. Special
attention will be paid to the ways in which "Victorians"
are divided and differentiated, especially by class, but also
by "race," religion, ethnicity and region, generation, and politics; we will explore the ways in which working-class
people (including servants) and colonial subjects are represented
in literary writings as well as the ways in which they represent themselves, and the ways in which the diversity of social identities
are addressed or ignored in Victorian politics. Among topics to
be explored are: demands for political participation and campaigns
to reform the legal and economic relations; the expansion and institutions of education; writers and artists; the ideology of
domesticity and family life, including the organization of houses
and daily life and labor; medical and scientific ideas, especially
after Darwin; discourses of sex and sexuality; cities; working-class
communities and political activities, imperialism; and changes
and conflict within and amongst ideas of masculinity and femininity.
The focus of the class will be on close reading and discussion
of diverse kinds of writing, and a central goal will be to expand students' repertoire of ways of reading and their abilities to
identify tensions, questions, and contradictions, as well as arguments, themes, and resolutions, within both Victorian and contemporary
writings. This class is therefore especially suitable for students
interested in interdisciplinary scholarship, as well as students
whose primary interest is in history. (Israel)
Section 003 – Sin, Repentance, and Reconciliation in the
Western Religious Tradition. A survey of the definition of
sin and the requirements for forgiveness (in theory and practice
– from the 4th to the 16th century, with additional readings
in the modern period [perhaps in contemporary fiction] in the
last two or three weeks.) Examples of major figures and sources
from which the final readings will be selected are: Augustine, the Roman Penitential, Abelard, Peter Lombard, the Fourth Lateran
Council, Thomas Aquinas, the Ars moriendi, The Brethren of the
Common Life, The Imitation of Christ, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Ignatius Loyola, the Council of Trent, and Montaigne. Cost:2
WL:2 (Tentler)
Section 004 – Film, Fiction, and Roman History. Augustus was the first Roman emperor; his successors were known as the Julio-Claudian emperors. These emperors publicized images of themselves in their own writings and monuments at Rome; the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius described them in their annals and biographies, and modern authors have imagined their reigns in novels, such as Augustus by John Williams, and films, such as the television mini-series I, Claudius. This course will use ancient modern accounts as well as modern films to investigate both the beginnings of the Roman empire and its representations in our time. All classes will be discussions of books and videos; requirements include participation in all discussions and a series of papers, all of them fiction. No prerequisites, everyone welcome. Cost:2, maybe 1 WL:1 (Van Dam)
Section 005 – Body and Culture in Japan and China. This course will compare and contrast Chinese and Japanese cultures from the perspective of the body. Focusing on the pre-modern period (pre-1700), we will examine actual social practices, such as adultery, ritual disembowelment, foot-binding, sex, menstruation, childbirth, and prostitution, that reflected and gave meanings to the construction of the body or bodies, in each country at different historical phases. We will consider the larger contexts within which the body was situated by familiarizing ourselves with translations of original Chinese and Japanese sources in addition to deciphering visual images and reading recent scholarship. Prerequisites: none but background in Chinese or Japanese history is helpful. Requirements: three 5-page papers and class discussion. Cost:2 WL:2 (Tonomura)
Section 006 – Second World War In Southeast Asia, 1941-1945. We will read classical and less classical studies, high- and lower-culture novels, memoirs, and trial transcripts; we will see and discuss movies. We will try to understand how war and violence ended the bewildering culture we call modern colonialism. Hopefully, we will learn something about nationalism and, more broadly, a sense of freedom as it emerged from the war. There will be a midterm examination; at the end of the course, each student will be required to present a research paper of about 15 pages on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. (Mrazek)
Section 007 – Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe. Attitudes
toward witchcraft are extremely revealing as a way to understand early modern society, community structure, gender relations, intellectual
and religious attitudes, and legal culture. The phenomenon of
witchcraft has produced an enormous array of modern reactions, ranging from historical and anthropological analyses, to satanic
and feminist revivals of witchcraft practice, to popular, senationalized
novels and movies. This course is designed to expose students
to the wide variety of mystical, political, literary, cinematic, historical and anthropological approaches taken toward the subject
of witchcraft. Students will read and interpret trial records, diaries, sermons, and modern popular and scholarly works. Geographically, material ranges from England to Russia. Course designed as a junior/
senior seminar for history majors. Requirements: participation
in weekly discussion sections, oral presentations, two short papers, and a longer research paper, which will be reviewed in draft form.
(Kivelson)
Section 008 – Autobiographies and Biographies as Sources
in Jewish History. The aim of this course is to discover
early modern Jewish history through the autobiographies and biographies
of significant individuals. Students will read memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies with the aim of exploring how these very personal
sources reveal the workings of larger communities and societies.
Particular attention will be paid to whether patterns of continuity
and/or change emerge. Some readings may include works by or about
Joseph Karo, Uriel Acosta, Gluckel of Hameln, Solomon Maimon and the Baal Shem Tov, among others. There will be up to four papers
of varying lengths. (Rosman)
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Times, Location, and Availability
399. Honors Colloquium, Senior. Honors student, Hist. 398, and senior standing. Only 12 credits of History 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, and 399 may be counted toward a concentration plan in history. (1-6). (Excl). May be elected for a total of 6 credits.
This course is a workshop for thesis writers. It concentrates
on practical and theoretical problems of research and writing
with special reference to methodological questions. (Scobey)
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Times, Location, and Availability
399. Honors Colloquium, Senior. Honors student, Hist. 398, and senior standing. Only 12 credits of History 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, and 399 may be counted toward a concentration plan in history. (1-6). (Excl). May be elected for a total of 6 credits.
This course is a workshop for thesis writers. It concentrates
on practical and theoretical problems of research and writing
with special reference to methodological questions. (Scobey)
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Times, Location, and Availability
400. Problems in Greek History
I. (3). (Excl).
Section 001 – Democracy and Empire in Classical Athens.
During the fifth century B.C. Athens had both an open participatory
democracy and an exploitative empire over much of the Greek world.
This course will investigate the social and political tensions
between democracy and empire, as well as the role of slavery, relationships between men and women, and the representations of
Athenian society in literature, art, and monuments such as the
Parthenon. Readings will include ancient histories (Herodotus, Thucydides), biographies (Plutarch), tragedy (Sophocles), and comedy (Aristophanes), and some modern scholarship. All classes
will be discussions of books and other sources; requirements include
participation in all discussions and a series of papers, some
of them fiction. No prerequisites, everyone welcome. Cost:2
, maybe 1 WL:1
(Van Dam)
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Times, Location, and Availability
430(530). History of the Balkans from the Sixth Century to 1878. (3). (Excl).
A general survey of the Balkans (including Medieval Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and the relations of these
states with Byzantium and Hungary) from the arrival of the Slavs
in the 6th and 7th century through the Turkish period to the 19th
century independence struggle and state creation of the Serbs
and Greeks. The reading list consists of monographs, articles, and a few translated sources. The reading list can be altered
(with permission of the instructor) and to accommodate special
interests. There will be an hour exam, a paper (topic to be chosen
by student with permission of the instructor) of about 15 pages, and a final exam. Students who prefer to write a major paper (ca.
25 pages) can skip the hour exam. (J. Fine)
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Times, Location, and Availability
433. Imperial Russia. (4). (SS).
A history of Imperial Russia from Peter the Great to World
War I, with emphasis on the problems of modernization, political
institutions, economic development, and the revolutionary movement.
Lectures, supplemented by discussion section. (Rosenberg)
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Times, Location, and Availability
435. History of the Jews in Eastern Europe. (3). (Excl).
This course surveys the history of the Jewish communities of
Eastern Europe from their origins in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries to their destruction during World War II. These communities
were the largest and most culturally dynamic in the Jewish diaspora
from the seventeenth century until World War I and the emphasis
will be placed on developments during these centuries. (Rosman)
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Times, Location, and Availability
439. Eastern Europe Since 1900. (3). (Excl).
During this century Eastern Europe has been at the center of
two World Wars and at least three major revolutions. The people
of this region experienced the birth of independent national states
after World War I and the hope-filled overthrow of communism in
1989, but in between they suffered through decades of oppression
by regimes of both the right and the left, and witnessed the monumental
nightmare of the Holocaust. Through the use of film, literature, and music (alongside more traditional history texts), History
439 will explore life in 20th century Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, highlighting such themes as the crushing poverty
of peasant life, the horror of World War II, the authoritarianism
of 1968 and 1980. This is a lecture course, but class discussion
will be encouraged and expected. Grading will be based on several
in-class quizzes and three take-home essay assignments. Cost:2
WL:1 (Porter)
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Times, Location, and Availability
442/APTIS 461. The First Millennium of the Islamic Near East. Junior standing. (3). (Excl).
See Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Islamic Studies 461. (Bonner/Lindner)
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Times, Location, and Availability
446/CAAS 446. Africa to 1850. (3). (SS).
The course is an introduction to the peoples and cultures of
sub-Saharan Africa. It begins with a survey of the origins of
man and early African civilizations and concludes with the trans-Atlantic
slave trade.
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Times, Location, and Availability
451. Japan Since 1800. (3). (Excl).
In this course we will explore the history of Japan from the
dissolution of a semi-feudal system in the 18th and early 19th
centuries to Japan's rise as a world economic power in the latter
half of the 20th century. We will address both the major historical themes during these two centuries of radical transformation and the issues at stake in historical interpretation. The course covers:
(1) the decline of official power during the Tokugawa era and the rise of a new plebeian public sphere; (2) Japan's coerced
entry into the world market; (3) the consolidation of a modern
nation-state, industrialization, and the beginnings of Japanese
imperialism in Asia; (4) the rise of social protest and mass culture;
(5) political reaction and militarism; (6) defeat in the Pacific
War and the U.S. Occupation; (7) postwar recovery and the contested
emergence of a conservative hegemony; (8) myths and realities
of Japan's new affluent "information society." Class
sessions will combine lecture, discussion and audio-visual. Assignments:
brief critical summaries of readings, discussion panels, in-class
midterm, final paper. Cost:3
WL:1 (Pincus)
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Times, Location, and Availability
456. Mughal India. (3).
(Excl).
Section 001 – Islamic Rule in India, 1525-1856. Struggle
for Mughal supremacy in India, Akbar's creation of an imperial
system, the nobility, agricultural economy and international trade, religious experimentation, court culture, peasant revolt, and the new political systems of the eighteenth century. (Cole)
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Times, Location, and Availability
460. American Colonial History to 1776. History 160, or a similar survey course in early American history, is strongly recommended thought not required. (3). (SS).
"Colonial America" focuses on the people of the time, often encountered speaking in their own voices, and on their broad
cultural characteristics and problems as settlers first encountered the New World and its inhabitants and matured into colonial societies.
Through weekly discussion of primary documents and historical
studies, we will explore some of the key themes of early American
history from the vantage point of the historical actors themselves: the clash between Puritanism and capitalism; the confrontation
between Native American and European cultures; the emergence of
a native gentry in the colonial South; and the enslavement of
Africans and their transportation to the New World. History 160, or a similar survey course in early American history, is strongly
recommended thought not required. Students will be expected to
read closely each week (average 150 pages/week), take a midterm
exam, and write several short essays and a long research paper.
Cost:2 WL:1
(Juster)
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Times, Location, and Availability
466. The United States, 1901-1933. (4). (SS).
The course is concerned with the progressive era, the era of
World War I, the 1920's, and the Great Depression. The emphasis
is on political history and foreign relations, but considerable
attention is given to social, cultural, and economic factors and to the position of minority groups and women in American society.
There is no textbook for the course, but several paperbacks are
assigned. Course requirements include a midterm, a final examination, and a paper. History 466 is a lecture course. Please note that
discussion sections have been added. Undergraduates electing this
course must register for section 001 and one discussion section.
Cost:3 WL:1-3
(S. Fine)
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Times, Location, and Availability
476/Anthro. 416. Latin America: The Colonial Period. (4). (SS).
This course will examine the colonial period in Latin American history from the initial Spanish and Portuguese contact and conquest to the nineteenth-century wars of independence. It will focus on the process of interaction between Indians and Europeans, tracing the evolution of a range of colonial societies in the New World. Thus we will examine the indigenous background to conquest as well as the nature of the settler community. We will also look at the shifting uses of land and labor, and at the importance of class, race, gender, and ethnicity. The method of instruction is lecture and discussion. Each student will write a short critical review and a final paper of approximately 10 to 12 pages. There will be a midterm and a final. Readings may include works by Inga Clendinnen, Nancy Farris, Karen Spalding and Charles Gibson, as well as primary materials from Aztec and Spanish sources. (Monteiro)
Section 004 – Language Across the Curriculum Section.
Students who enroll in this section should also enroll in University
Course 490.001, a one-credit course which will count towards a
certificate in advanced second-language competence. Students will
complete extra reading and writing assignments in Spanish and discussion will be conducted in both Spanish and English. Please
note meeting time for this section is longer. This is for undergraduates.
Students should have 4th-term Spanish competency.
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Times, Location, and Availability
478. Topics in Latin American
History. (3). (Excl).
Section 001 – Slavery and Abolition in Brazil: Current Themes
in Comparative Perspective. Abolished a little over a century
ago, slavery has left deep marks on contemporary Brazilian society
and culture. Along with the issues of race, miscegenation and national character, the burden of a slave past has remained a
central theme for successive generations of historians and social thinkers. This course will examine recent trends and tendencies
in the historical and anthropological literature dealing with
slavery and abolition in Brazil. Covering a wide range of questions
over a broad time span, the seminar brings into focus the difficult
task of projecting slaves as significant historical agents. This
involves a critical re-evaluation of concepts such as resistance, accommodation, acculturation, and autonomy, among others. Selected
readings on runaway slave communities, slave provision grounds, local exchange networks, family and kinship structures, Afro-Brazilian
religion and culture, and the slaves role in the destruction of
slavery provide a rich base for discussion. (Machado)
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Times, Location, and Availability
491/Econ. 491. The History of the American Economy. Econ. 101 or 102. (3). (Excl).
See Economics 491. (Levenstein)
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Times, Location, and Availability
A course number in the 500s does not indicate a more difficult or advanced course than one in the 400s.
551. Social and Intellectual History of Modern China. (3). (Excl).
In this course, we shall seek the origins and lineaments of the Chinese revolution in a variety of social and intellectual
movements. In exploring this cataclysmic event, so powerfully
rooted in modern Chinese history, we shall search widely in the
preceding century and more for antecedents and predisposing social
change. We shall examine the testimony of conservative as well
as revolutionary, of Confucianist as well as Marxist. Among the
topics will be: secret societies and religious cults, trends in
Confucian thought and the role of popular culture, nationalism
and women's liberation, cultural iconoclasm and neotraditionalism, Marxism and the Chinese peasant, Maoism and its debunking. Previous
familiarity with the broad outline of events will be useful but
is not required. Readings will be drawn from analytical literature
and translated documents. Participants will be asked to write
two short papers and take a final exam. Cost:3
WL:4 (Young)
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Times, Location, and Availability
569/LHC 412 (Business Administration). American Business History. Junior, senior, or graduate standing. (3). (Excl).
A study of the origins, development, and growth of business.
The course traces the beginnings of business enterprise in Europe
and describes business activities during the American colonial, revolutionary, and pre-Civil War periods. It then discusses economic
aspects of the Civil War, post-Civil War industrial growth, business
consolidation and the anti-trust movement, economic aspects of
World War I, business conditions during the 1920s, effects of the 1929 depression and the New Deal upon business, economic aspects
of World War II, and a multitude of recent business developments
and trends. Cost:1
WL:3 (Lewis)
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Times, Location, and Availability
582. History of Criminal Law in England and America. (3). (Excl).
This course briefly traces the history of the criminal justice
in England and provides a comprehensive account of that history
in America. It deals with political and social theories regarding the institutions and ideas of the criminal law and with the relationship
between society and legal norms. Among the subjects included in the scheme of the course are: the history of the criminal trial
jury, its relationship to other institutions of the criminal law
and its role with respect to the interaction of social attitudes
and the formal processes of the criminal law; the use of the criminal
law for counteracting disintegration of basic social institutions;
political trials; theories of punishment; the development in the
United States of constitutionally protected rights of defendants
in criminal cases. This course is intended for students interested
in Anglo-American history, for those interested in government
and law, for those interested in the history of the relationship
between social institutions and theories of criminal sanctions, and for those interested in the origins and development of the
central ideas and institutions of American constitutional and legal history. Course requirements: twelve-pg., take-home, midterm
essay based in part on documents, and a final examination. (Green)
Check
Times, Location, and Availability
589. Comparative History
of Women in the United States and Europe: 1750-1950. Hist.
371 or 372. (3). (Excl).
Section 001 – Gender and Social Transformations in Europe and the Americas. The course explores how gender distinctions
and relations both shaped and were shaped by significant socio-economic, cultural, and political changes. The course focuses on the intersections
of late eighteenth century through the late twentieth century.
It considers the social and political revolutions of the late
eighteenth century in France, Haiti, and the U.S., nineteenth
century political upheavals and nationalist movements, and 20th
century Latin American revolutionary movements. We will investigate the role of gender in the development of industrial capitalism
in European and American societies, and current "post-Fordist"
economic transformations in Europe and the Americas. Graduate
students and upper-division undergraduates by permission of the
instructor. Cost:2
WL:3 (Caulfield, S. Rose)
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Times, Location, and Availability
591. Topics in European
History. Juniors, seniors, and graduate students.
(3). (Excl). May be elected for credit twice.
Section 002 – The State and the Problem of Religious Diversity
in England, the Netherlands, and America, 1620-1900. The
origins of modern conceptions of toleration and individual rights
have often been sought in the mercantile and Calvinist commonwealths
bordering the Atlantic. Yet such a linear interpretation overlooks
decisive shifts in the relation between religion and political
power. A comparative study of the relation between state power
and religious minorities in the Netherlands, England, and America
from 1620 until 1900 makes clear that religious difference did
not have the same meaning over time. In the early modern period, religious diversity could be incorporated within a social hierarchy.
The emergence of the modern nation state in the course of the
eighteenth century led to new, individualistic conceptions of
religion, which were linked with ideals of moral citizenship.
In the course of the 19th century, the emergence of modern mass-politics
could lead to a new role of religion as the basis for collective
action and party formation. (Spaans, van Rooden)
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Times, Location, and Availability
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