Ecological zones as distinct as the Great Plains, Southwestern deserts, and the Pacific coast all fall into the region known today as the US West. We might ask, how could it be that such divergent places would come to be conceived as a unified region? How, too, has the “West” come to hold such a critical place in the imagining of the United States' past and present? We might start to answer those questions by acknowledging that naming the region as the “West” has been only the most recent effort to understand these lands. Diverse populations, empires, and nations have at various moments thought of those same places as their “South”, their “North”, or their “East.” Whatever they called it, all of them thought of it as theirs. We will think through these shifting claims by considering diverse perspectives including Native Americans, Europeans, Latina/os, Asians, and Euro Americans as they appeared from 1200 CE to the present. Through that expansive span of time, we will learn, these plains, deserts, and mountains witnessed remarkable cross-cultural exchanges, celebrations, and great sorrows.

Course Requirements:

Attendance, participation, exams, and a short paper

Intended Audience:

This class is geared toward undergraduate students who are interested in US history, race and ethnic studies, migration, social justice, and the nation's changing demographics

Class Format:

Lecture and Discussion. This is an in-person only class. Lectures/Discussion will not be recorded or offered as hybrid.