CC120: First-Year Writing Seminar: Natural History?: Museums, Collecting and Display
HY200: Topics in History: Atlantic World Histories
HY200: Topics in History: The Sexual Revolution
HY226/PA230: 20th Century Japan
HY229: The American Revolution and the Constitution, 1763-1789
HY243/RM243: Slavery and Antislavery Movements to 1860
HY304: Advanced Topics in History: Activists Beyond Borders
History Courses By Block: Spring 2027
Block 5:
HY110/PA200: Encountering the Past: Hero/ine! Honor, Outlaws and Order in Chinese History & Culture
HY205: US History to 1860
HY221: Colonial Africa
HY244/RM244: Black People in the US Since the Civil War
HY262: The Modern Middle East: Freedoms and Authorities
HY410: Senior Capstone (taught at the Newberry Library in Chicago)
HY410: Senior Capstone (Local)
Block 6:
HY110: Encountering the Past: History of the Caribbean until 1804: Crossroads of Empires and Cultures
HY200/AH275/MS222: Topics in History: Playing Games: Encountering the Renaissance in New York Museums (taught in NYC)
HY212/EV273: American Environmental History
HY231: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1845-1877
HY233: Social Movement Organizing in the 20th Century USA
HY248/PA248: History of Korea
HY420: Senior Thesis
Block 7:
HY110: Encountering the Past: Pack is Here: A History of Roller Derby
HY200: Topics in History: Latin American Revolutions in a Global Age, 1780-1898
HY200: Topics in History: Mothers, Mistresses, and Moralists: Women’s Lives in Early Modern History
HY204: Dreamworlds and Nightmares in the Soviet Union
HY399: Studying History (Junior Seminar)
Block 8:
HY232: The Great Depression and the New Deal
HY251: Islamic Cities
HY200: Topics in History: Hollywood Rainbows: Queer Cinema in the United States
HY200/RM200: Topics in History: “I am the Greatest;” American Sport and Society
HY304: Advanced Topics in History: Health & Healing in Africa
HY304/PA350/AN308: Advanced Topics in History: China and Taiwan: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (off campus)
People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.
James Baldwin
History Courses
By Course Number
CC100
Critical Inquiry Seminar: Textiles, Artisans, and Merchants: Material Culture in Abbasid to Ottoman History
Instructor:
Jane Murphy
BLOCK 1
This course approaches textiles as texts and as points of entry into histories of artisans, patronage, trade and empire. Our historical case studies will focus on the production and trade of textiles in the Eastern Mediterranean under Islamic rule from the 8 -century Abbasids, whose wealth attracted artisans, merchants, and crafts folk from across Eurasia and Africa to their new capital city of Baghdad, to the early modern Ottoman Imperial court in Istanbul, and their equally expansive networks intercrossing South and Central Asia, Africa and Europe As part of our inquiry, we will partner with a local weaver to experience elements of the dyeing and weaving processes first-hand In this way we will engage the possibilities and challenges of material cultural as a significant element of historical research and knowledge production through study, practice, and reflection th
HP
CC100
Critical Inquiry Seminar: The Empires Strike Back: From Anti-Colonial Resistance to Star Wars
Instructor: Danielle Sanchez
BLOCK 1
This course focuses on the history of anti-colonial revolutions Students will watch Star Wars films, engage with anti-colonial theorists and intellectuals like Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, and Amilcar Cabral, and analyze the philosophies and politics of resistance movements in both the Star Wars Universe and conflicts like the antiapartheid struggle in South Africa, the Congo Crisis, the Algerian War, and the struggle for independence in Lusophone Africa. By engaging with a range of works by historians, film studies scholars, journalists, and political scientists, students will develop critical thinking and writing skills, understandings of epistemological and methodological cultures, and an appreciation for the practice of scholarly inquiry in a liberal arts environment.
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
CC100
Critical Inquiry Seminar: The Ruins of Modernity
Instructor: Jake Smith
BLOCK 1
Examines those social forces, both historical and contemporary, that have brought about racial and ethnic 'diversity' and 'difference' in the U.S. Attention to the histories and experiences of Native Peoples, African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans. Taking a comparative approach, it puts into focus the shared histories of racialization among these groups without losing sight of asymmetrical relations of power informing these histories. The course sheds light on the ways these groups position themselves and are positioned as racial subjects in distinct and historically specific ways but also in relational and mutually constitutive ways
This course will examine the ways in which a variety of landscapes around the world were shaped by global empires that arose in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries How has the geography of various continents been influenced by nationalist and imperialist projects? How does colonialism shape the way landscapes are depicted and talked about, and how do particular landscapes come to be considered as symbolic of specific cultural or national values? Our focus will include a variety of primary and secondary texts, including maps and visual texts, and discussions of the ways in which cultivation, use, and aesthetics of land are influenced by empire We will use this thematic focus as a lens for exploring writing about historical and cultural topics We’ll look at models of writing in public history, cultural history, and investigate writing as a process of thinking connected to discipline-based modes of inquiry. We’ll also spend time reflecting on our own writing processes and how to adapt what works for us as individuals to the requirements of specific genres and audiences.
From seventeenth-century curiosity cabinets to A Night at the Museum, artifacts and specimens have offered their collectors, curators, and viewers access to multiple ways of understanding the natural world. In this writing seminar, we’ll explore the history of natural history, collecting, and display in a range of times and places, past and present. We will also examine the history of how Indigenous ancestors and cultural belongings have been treated by collectors, curators, and the institutions they represent as well as how Native nations and scholars are advocating for both reckoning and return Using materials and approaches drawn from history, science and technology studies, and museum studies, we’ll grapple with key questions about American cultures of collecting: How have collections been deployed to produce knowledge by whom, for whom, about whom? Who are collections for? How do collections and exhibits make arguments? Together we’ll consider dinosaur bones, bird specimens, field books, habitat dioramas, and materials from local collections as we examine the ways exhibits tell stories and offer arguments and craft our own.
Space, Place, Environment
HP; EPUS; EPG
HY110/RM185
Encountering the Past: Introduction to the Study of Comparative Race and Ethnicity
Instructor: Jamal Ratchford
BLOCK 2
Examines those social forces, both historical and contemporary, that have brought about racial and ethnic 'diversity' and 'difference' in the US Attention to the histories and experiences of Native Peoples, African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans Taking a comparative approach, it puts into focus the shared histories of racialization among these groups without losing sight of asymmetrical relations of power informing these histories The course sheds light on the ways these groups position themselves and are positioned as racial subjects in distinct and historically specific ways but also in relational and mutually constitutive ways
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Space, Place, Environment
HY110
Encountering the Past: The French Revolution
Instructor: Tip Ragan
BLOCK 3
From aristocratic privilege under Louis XVI to egalitarian democracy under Robespierre, from the abolition of feudalism to the new establishment of complex and troubling modern political ideologies, the French Revolution had it all Whereas the early phase of the Revolution inspired liberals, the Terror provided an example of a radically egalitarian social order to socialists and communists And the authoritarian regime of Napoleon and the Restoration helped conservatives confront their fears of a revolutionary regime One revolution elicited all of these conflicting ideological perspectives! This course will explore the complexities of the French Revolution from a wide variety of angles. Was it a real turning point, or was it instead the culmination of centuries-old processes of political centralization? Did it enshrine the concept of “human rights” into the national consensus, or did it find ways to exclude people of color, women, and laboring peoples in new and sinister ways? What has been its legacy, for scholars, political leaders, and the broader public? Does the French Revolution continue to inspire the “change-makers” of today, and if so, how?
Politics, Law, Social Justice
HY110/PA200
Encountering
the
Past: Hero/ine! Honor, Outlaws and Order in Chinese History & Culture
Instructor: John Williams
BLOCK 5
From China's legends of Warring States assassins to the bloody epics of Johnny To, this course explores Chinese visions of the heroic -- and their social underpinnings -- from the fourth century BCE to the present. Questions this course considers are: Are heroes outsiders or insiders? How do visions of the heroic change from the 'premodern' to the 'modern' eras? How do the media of cultural transmission change over the same period? How does the emergence of the nation-state shape representations of the heroic?
Encountering
HY110
the Past: History of the Caribbean until 1804: Crossroads of Empires and Cultures
Instructor: Miguel Durango-Loaiza
BLOCK 6
This course explores the Caribbean as a space of early globalization, where empires and cultures intersected to create complex dynamics of power, resistance, and adaptation. We start by analyzing preColumbian Indigenous societies and then turn to early imperial and counter-imperial processes, including marronage, raiding, and seafaring The course ended with the Haitian Revolution, a moment when the region started a long and contested process of decolonization We also confront the violent creation of archival records in the region and how historical narratives silenced, distorted, or marginalized the roles of subaltern actors, including Indigenous peoples, enslaved people, and women
HY110
Encountering the Past: Pack is Here: A History of Roller Derby
Instructor: Danielle Sanchez
This course examines the historical development and transformations in the sport of roller derby over the past century. We will discuss the early days of roller derby in Chicago in the 1930s, analyze the ways skaters and spectators conceptualized race and gender representation in the sport in the mid-twentieth century, dive into the roller derby craze of the 1970s and 1980s, and explore the rebirth of roller derby in the 2000s In addition to reading about derby and watching historical and contemporary bouts, we will conduct oral history work by engaging with the founders and leaders of current borderless roller derby teams, including Black Diaspora Roller Derby, Jewish Roller Derby, and Fuego Latino
HY200
Topics in History: Colonial Latin America: Indigenous and Afro-diasporic Agencies
Instructor: Miguel Durango-Loaiza
This course will cover the period from pre-contact through the early eighteenth century, tracing the significant transformations the region experienced as Indigenous societies began to engage with Iberian and African cultures We will explore how European colonizers did not act on a blank slate but rather within societies with rich intellectual and cultural traditions in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and Brazil We will also challenge traditional depictions of conquest as a linear, inevitable process and examine how subaltern actors continued to shape the region's history
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HY200/RM200
Topics in History: The Rise of American Sport
Instructor: Jamal Ratchford
BLOCK 1 BLOCK 1
This course explores antecedents to what is imagined and consumed as modern sport We will engage diverse knowledge production systems from around the world to complicate interpretations of sport as a human endeavor We will study, discuss, present, and contextualize issues, personalities, events, social forces, and historical moments that have and continue to shape Americans athletes. In this course, chronology is circular rather than linear, as we will discuss issues from a wide range of periods. The primary focus of this course will be to examine the ways race, class, gender, politics, and history concentrically inform athletes across time and space. Although this class requires no formal prerequisite, it is recommended that students both can grasp and have a theoretical and historical understanding of United States and African American History.
This course focuses on migration, colonialism, and enslavement in the Atlantic world beginning in the 15th century. During the course of the block, we will discuss social and political transformations, exploitation of humans and the environment, and the production of knowledge and ideas about the past, present, and future We will also analyze historiographical debates and shifts in the field of Atlantic world studies
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HY200
Topics in History: The Sexual Revolution
Instructor: Tip Ragan
BLOCK 4 BLOCK 4
The Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s changed the United States. In this course, we will analyze the underlying and short-term causes of this revolution. But is “revolution” even an appropriate descriptor of the myriad contestations over sexual norms, roles, and behaviors, in this turbulent period? We will focus on a wide array of historical actors, including writers, students, and political and religious leaders. But we will also consider some of the ways that more recent scholars have evaluated it In the end, did the Sexual Revolution lead to greater freedom for everyone, or was it simply a new iteration in a deep history of social control, racial exclusion, and patriarchy?
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Sexuality, Body, Affect
Topics in History: Playing Games: Encountering the Renaissance in New York Museums
Instructors: Tip Ragan and Rebecca Tucker
BLOCK 6
What constituted “play” in early modern European culture? Using primary texts and images from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, we’ll ask: How did Renaissance painters and writers depict leisure, games, and fun in daily life? What were the moral, religious, and societal implications of those activities and those stories? What did visual representations of play and games mean for contemporaries in the Renaissance? And what do they mean for us today? The rich collections in New York museums offer a unique opportunity to engage directly with Renaissance visual culture (including paintings, sculpture, metalwork, prints, and tapestries) Within the museum space, we’ll interrogate how the Renaissance is presented to the public, and how elites in the United States framed the European Renaissance as a foundational chapter of an invented narrative of American nationhood Finally, we’ll engage with the American consumption and manipulation of that heritage in the 20th and 21st centuries – in museums as well as in films, television, Renaissance festivals, and video games The course draws on interdisciplinary perspectives from history, literature, art, and museum and cultural studies
Topics in History: Latin American Revolutions in a Global Age, 1780-1898
Instructor: Miguel Durango-Loaiza
BLOCK 7
This course will cover the period from pre-contact through the early eighteenth century, tracing the significant transformations the region experienced as Indigenous societies began to engage with Iberian and African cultures. We will explore how European colonizers did not act on a blank slate but rather within societies with rich intellectual and cultural traditions in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and Brazil We will also challenge traditional depictions of conquest as a linear, inevitable process and examine how subaltern actors continued to shape the region's history
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Ideas, Science, Medicine
HY200
Topics in History: Mothers, Mistresses, and Moralists: Women’s Lives in Early Modern History
Instructor: Jennifer Golightly
BLOCK 7
How did women live in early modern history? What kinds of occupations were available to women? How much and what sorts of education were women given? What did their daily lives look like? This class will explore the sometimes surprising diversity of experiences that women living between 1500 and 1800 had, with special focus on the ways that these experiences both conformed to and often subverted the expectations for women projected by their societies. We’ll examine these expectations, how they were articulated, women ’ s lives in a range of ages, races, and social ranks, and about how women ’ s lives were shaped by institutions like the state, law, marriage, home, and the family
Sexuality, Body, Affect
HY200
Topics in History: Hollywood Rainbows: Queer Cinema in the United States
Instructor: Tip Ragan
BLOCK 8
This course offers students the opportunity to reflect on representations of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities in the United States over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. How have queer identities been normalized, resisted, and transformed by producers, directors, actors, critics, and audiences? Has cinema been more of a leader or more of a follower when it comes to queer subjects? Conceptualized as a senior experience, the course may also enroll other students at earlier stages of their college careers Every day, we will watch a movie in the morning (9:00 am-noon) and then return to the classroom to discuss it in the afternoon (1:00-3:00 pm). All readings will be done during class time, and no papers or exams will be required.
OUTSIDE STANDARD MEETING TIMES
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Sexuality, Body, Affect
HY200/RM200
Topics in “I am the Greatest;” American Sport and Society
Instructor: Jamal Ratchford
BLOCK 8
This sequel course to the Rise of American Sport explores the consumption of sport in ways imagined as modern By extension, the preponderance of content engaged in this class examines sport in twentieth and twenty-first United States We will push on interpretations of sport as knowledge production tethered to understanding human beings as a species in ways including but not limited to integration as a misnomer, the Revolt of the Black Athlete, and violence as modes of thought with material consequences. We will study, discuss, present, and contextualize issues, personalities, events, social forces, and historical moments that have and continue to shape Americans athletes. In this course, chronology is circular rather than linear, as we will discuss issues from a wide range of periods. The primary focus of this course will be to examine the ways race, class, gender, politics, and history concentrically inform athletes across time and spaces Although this class requires no formal prerequisite, it is recommended that students either can grasp or have a theoretical and historical understanding of United States and African American History
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Sexuality, Body, Affect
HY202
Fascism and Its Afterlives in Europe
Instructor: Jake Smith
BLOCK 2
Emerging in the 1920s as radical, right-wing fringe group seeking to rejuvenate their respective nations, European fascist parties such as the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany would go on to become some of the most destructive forces of the Twentieth Century After first examining the rise to power of some of these groups and the subsequent brutality of their reign, the course delves into the manifold "afterlives" of fascism including the resurgence of neo-fascist political movements, the subcultural appropriation of fascist imagery, and the multifaceted attempts to memorialize and to “ come to terms with” the traumas of fascist rule Although the course examines multiple European fascist movements, the primary focus will be on Nazi Germany
AIM; HP; EPG Empire, Nation, War | Sexuality, Body, Affect
HY204
Dreamworlds and Nightmares in the Soviet Union
Instructor: Jake Smith
BLOCK 7
Born amidst the crucible of the First World War, the Soviet Union sought to realize a progressive, socialist vision, a utopia on earth in which all people would be equal, nature would be conquered, and society would be freed from the destructive dynamics of capitalism From the outset, however, the implementation of these utopian blueprints was coupled with astonishing acts of violence – the dreamworlds of socialism were constantly shadowed by their opposite Taking seriously both the utopian and the dystopian aspects of the soviet experiment, this course traces the violent emergence, the piecemeal realization, and the protracted decline of the Soviet Union. Relying heavily on literature, art, and film from the era, the course takes an explicitly cultural historical approach to soviet history.
Empire, Nation, War | Sexuality, Body, Affect
EPUS
HY205
US History to 1860
Instructor: Bryan Rommel-Ruiz
BLOCK 5
Broad approach to the history of American traditions and institutions from Anglo-American settlement to the outbreak of the Civil War, addressing Native American-Anglo American encounters; colonization and development of AngloAmerican culture and society; African Slave Trade and the Plantation Economy; American Revolution; Jeffersonian Ideology and Westward Expansion; Jacksonian Democracy and the Industrial Revolution; the Politics of Slavery and Secession
Politics, Law, Social Justice
HY206
US History since 1860
Instructor: Paul Adlerstein
BLOCK 3
Broad approach to the history of the United States since the Civil War, focusing on multiple meanings of American freedom and the rise of the modern United States as a global power, including attention to Emancipation and Reconstruction; Industrialization, Migration, and Immigration; Civil Rights Movements and Protest Politics; the Great Depression, New Deal and WWII; American Foreign Policy and the Cold War; the Great Society, Vietnam, and the Challenge to the New Deal Order.
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HP*; EPG*
HY207
African Empires & Empires in Africa
Instructor: Danielle Sanchez
BLOCK 2
This course is a survey of historical processes in African history, including the development of early agricultural societies, the Bantu migration, the rise and fall of major African empires and civilizations, key cultural transformations, and technological innovations that changed the world. We will examine political and economic relationships in the Atlantic world, Indian Ocean world, and the Mediterranean Sea, in addition to diplomacy and warfare in Africa and beyond, through the 18th century
Empire, Nation, War | Space, Place, Environment
Pending review at time of printing.
HY212/EV273
American Environmental History
Instructor: Amy Kohout
BLOCKS 3 & 6
A survey of American history from the perspective of the environment, beginning with the biological and cultural invasion of the New World in 1492 and ending with current environmental problems and their historical roots. Topics include Native American vs. Euro-American views of nature, the impact of changing economic systems on the environment, and the impact of the landscape on various American cultures
Ideas, Science, Medicine | Space, Place, Environment
HP; EPUS
HY217
American Frontiers
Instructor: Amy Kohout
BLOCK 1
The process of conquering the American continent from 1492 to the present An examination of the variety of forms that Euro-American conquest took (exploration, religion, economic development, settlement, and military encounter), the impact of conquest on native peoples, the social and economic development of the frontiers, and the lives that people led and lead in places considered frontiers
Empire, Nation, War | Space, Place, Environment
HY221
Colonial Africa
Instructor: Danielle Sanchez
BLOCK 5
This course is a survey of African history from approximately 1800 to 1960 We will explore and analyze the final decades of the Atlantic slave trade, the rise of European colonialism in Africa, anti-colonial resistance, nationalism, and decolonization
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HY223/PA217
China in the Age of Confucius
Instructor: John Williams
BLOCK 3
Examines the origins of Chinese civilization, from the divination rituals of the theocratic Bronze Age Shang Dynasty to the mighty Han. Considers the great religious and philosophical traditions of China's axial age: Confucianism, Daoism, and others vying for influence in China's bloody 'Warring States' period. Students will understand the political, economic, cultural and spiritual patterns that gave shape to classical Chinese civilization
Space, Place, Environment
HY226/PA230
20th Century Japan
Instructor: John Williams
BLOCK 4
This course will trace the social, political, and cultural developments in Japan from the first Parliamentary elections in 1890 to the current fiscal crisis in the 1990s Using a wide range of sources, students will explore major themes in Japan's empire, World War, economic miracle, and troubled role as Asian leader. Major themes will include cross-cultural contact, world systems, and women's history.
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HY229
The American Revolution and the Constitution, 1763-1789
Instructor: Bryan Rommel-Ruiz
BLOCK 4
The movement for independence and the corollary movement to restructure politics internally, from the end of the Seven Years’ War through the Revolution and Confederation to the adoption of the U. S. Constitution.
Politics, Law, Social Justice
HY231
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1845-1877
Instructor: Bryan Rommel-Ruiz
BLOCK 6
The causes, strategies, and impact of the Civil War on the United Sates. Slavery, sectional controversy, political crises; civilian and military life during the war; the successes and failures of Reconstruction; the problems of race.
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Space, Place, Environment
HP: EPUS
HY232
The Great Depression and the New Deal Instructor: Paul Adlerstein
BLOCK 8
Throughout the 1930s, the United States of America experienced the socioeconomic calamity of the Great Depression. This was a time of great upheaval and change, catalyzed around the diverse range of government programs pursued by the Roosevelt administration and collectively known as the New Deal. We still live with the policies and politics of this era. In this course, we explore this profoundly important moment from many perspectives - right-wing businessmen, Navajo/Diné communities, Detroit autoworkers, and many more using film strips, folk songs, scholarly works, and more
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HY233
Social Movement Organizing in the 20th Century USA
Instructor: Paul Adlerstein
BLOCK 6
How does social change happen? We see images of protests, think about elections, but most conversation ignores the laborious, exciting, infuriating, and inspiring work of organizing. In this course, we examine how social movements function, looking at examples from the twentieth century United States including the massive union organizing drives of the 1930s, the feminist movement of the 1970s, and more. We explore how tactics and strategies are formulated and implemented, how inequities of race, gender, and more shaping organizing, how social movement foes respond, and more through a mix of training manuals, diary entries, films, organizing theory, and more
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HP; SHB; EPUS
HY234
Contemporary U.S. History
Instructor: Paul Adlerstein
BLOCK 1
American foreign policy from the "Vietnam Syndrome" to the end of the Cold War to the invasion of Iraq; Americans and the Islamic world; transformations of the Republican and Democratic Parties and the Office of the President; negotiating race in the post-Civil Rights era; the "New World Order" and the new immigration; religion, families, and gender and their roles in partisan politics
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HP; EPG; EPUS
HY243/RM243
Slavery and Antislavery Movements to 1860
Instructor: Jamal Ratchford
BLOCK 4
African cultural backgrounds, African slavery in colonial British America and the U. S. to 1860; free Black people from 1790 to 1860 and antislavery movements.
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Space, Place, Environment
HP; EPUS
HY244/RM244
Black People in the US since the Civil War
Instructor: Jamal Ratchford
BLOCK 5
Since the Civil War. Black Reconstruction; Black urban settlement; literary and artistic movements in the 1920s; civil rights struggles; recent social and political expressions
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Space, Place, Environment
HY248/PA248
History of Korea
Instructor: John Williams
BLOCK 6
A thematic survey of Korean history from the earliest times to the present covering social, cultural and political developments from the Three Kingdoms period through the Silla unification, Koryo and Choson dynasties to the modern era. Special emphasis on the twentieth century.
Space, Place, Environment | Empire, Nation, War
CP; HP
HY251
Islamic Cities
Instructor: Jane Murphy
BLOCK 8
In examining the privileged role of cities and urban history within Islamicate history, we interrogate what it has meant to speak of an 'Islamic City' and how we can understand cities as spaces that both shape and reflect social relations. To deepen our engagement with sensory and lived experiences in urban spaces over time, this course features a practice of daily mapping and visual notetaking Students then investigate a historical or contemporary ‘Islamic City’ of their choosing
Analysis of the variety of lived experiences and questions of freedom and authority in everyday life in the Middle East. Attention to the impact of modernity on gender roles and social order in the Middle East.
Politics, Law, Social Justice | Empire, Nation, War
HP; EPG
HY271/AN208
Human Rights: Histories, Theories, and Debates
Instructor: Purvi Mehta
BLOCK 1
This course provides an overview of the history of human rights We examine different genealogies of human rights, chart the shifting meanings of “human” and “rights” over time, and explore debates in the application of rights Key topics include the philosophical foundations of rights; capitalism, imperialism, and rights; universalism vs. cultural relativism; and the complementary discourse of humanitarianism.
Politics, Law, Social Justice
HY295/PA200/RM200/AN208
Caste: Histories and Theories of Inherited Inequality, Exclusion, and Stigma
Instructor: Purvi Mehta
BLOCK 2
This course offers a study of the histories, theories, and practices associated with hierarchy and division based on caste We focus primarily on caste in modern India, from the colonial period to today, and explore debates in the understanding of caste and its impact on social, political, and economic relations. We then analyze the politics of comparison and translation in the application of “caste” to historical and social contexts outside of South Asia, such the United States. Throughout the course, our discussions highlight the struggles and achievements of anticaste activists and the movements against caste injustice.
HY304
Advanced Topics in History: Activists Beyond Borders
Instructor: Paul Adlerstein
BLOCK 4
For as long as social movements have existed, so too has international cooperation among them. In this course, we examine how different major social movements in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have found ways to work across borders towards their goals Among the questions this course explores include: (1) how have activists made connections across borders? (2) what kinds of tactics and strategies have been employed in cross-border campaigns? (3) how have different contexts in different nation-states affected such cooperation? (4) How have power differentials among activists affected their ability to work effectively?
HY304
Advanced Topics in History: Health and Healing in Africa
Instructor: Danielle Sanchez
BLOCK 8
The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak thrust West Africa and West Africans onto a global stage as people carefully followed the health crisis out of fear that it would spread far beyond Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone While Ebola certainly caught the attention of the world, questions surrounding disease, health, and healing have always been important parts of daily life throughout African history. This course explores public health and the history of medicine in Africa by tracing the different ways people understood both sickness and wellness and responded to a range of epidemics. We will examine issues like colonialism, environmental change, economic relationships, migration, and global politics and how these factors connect to historical and contemporary issues in public health Throughout the course of the semester, we will explore definitions and conceptualizations of health, illness, disability, mental health, doctors, healers, and medicine in the continent of Africa
HY304/PA350/AN380
Advanced Topics in History: China and Taiwan: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives
Instructors: John Williams and Aaron Su
BLOCK 8
How did the China-Taiwan relationship emerge and evolve to become a critical issue in East Asia today? And how have historical developments around this issue impacted everyday, social lives of ordinary people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait? This course combines historical and anthropological perspectives to explain the history of the China-Taiwan conflict from the 20th century until today. Through field visits to many areas in both China and Taiwan, we will examine numerous phenomena including Japanese colonialism, the Chinese Civil War, cross-strait nostalgia, diasporic identities, nativist and Indigenous movements, financial entanglements From case studies to ethnographic methods, students will learn a variety of different methodological approaches to studying state-society interactions
TAUGHT ABROAD: PART OF CC IN ASIA
(MUST TAKE BOTH BLOCKS OF CC IN ASIA) Empire, Nation, War |
Space, Place, Environment | Empire, Nation, War
HY315/FM205
Film and History
Instructor: Bryan Rommel-Ruiz
BLOCK 1
Examines the representation of history in film. It compares a series of films to major themes and issues in the historiographical literature and raises questions about the ways films should adhere to the academic standards of the historical discipline Students will read significant debates among cinematic and academic historians and explore the possibilities and limitations of cinematic presentations of history
Empire, Nation, War | Ideas, Science, Medicine
Pending review at time of printing.
HY330/PS330
Colloquium
in History and Political
Science: Natural Resources and the State
Instructors: Jane Murphy & Sofia Fenner
BLOCK 3
A junior seminar organized around comparative analysis of a common theme or topic, employing both historical and political science approaches to analysis and research. This year ’ s course explores the history and politics of natural resources While states can derive many benefits from resource endowments, such resources have also served as flashpoints for contestation and resistance. Shared case studies will be drawn from Southwest Asia and North Africa, broadly defined, and student projects may address these issues in any part of the world, and any time period The colloquium is designed to expose students to practices of inquiry and writing in the disciplines of History and Political Science We welcome all students with an interest in the course theme and/or political scientific and historical disciplinary practices Prerequisite: HY/PS Major or consent of instructor.
Space, Place, Environment | Politics, Law, Social Justice
Instructors: Bryan Rommel-Ruiz & Dennis McEnnerney
BLOCK 3
This 300-level, co-taught course brings together historical and philosophical methodologies to explore a rotating theme, such as: “African History and Philosophy,” “History and Philosophy of Science,” or “The Philosophy of History” Although conceived as a cornerstone course for the History-Philosophy Major, all are welcome Students may take the course more than once, if taught on a different topic
With approval from the student’s advisors, it may be used to satisfy the 300-level History-Philosophy course requirements listed under “Thematic Coursework”
Politics, Law, Social Justice
Writing in the Discipline
HY399
Junior Seminar: Studying History Instructor:
Miguel Durango-Loaiza
BLOCK 2
This course will raise two questions central to the activity of all students of the past and all professional historians: how do we know about the past? How can we use that knowledge? In developing responses to these questions, the course ’ s readings and discussion will address the contemporary shape of the historical discipline as well as earlier models for historical study. Because “Studying History” is designed for history majors and minors although other students are welcome participants will be expected to use their prior experience in historical studies both to contribute to class discussion and to evolve their own points of view about history in general and individual research projects in particular.
Prerequisite: consent of instructor & Junior standing
HY399 Junior Seminar: Studying History
Instructor: Tip Ragan BLOCK 7
This course will raise two questions central to the activity of all students of the past and all professional historians: how do we know about the past? How can we use that knowledge? In developing responses to these questions, the course ’ s readings and discussion will address the contemporary shape of the historical discipline as well as earlier models for historical study Because “Studying History” is designed for history majors and minors although other students are welcome participants will be expected to use their prior experience in historical studies both to contribute to class discussion and to evolve their own points of view about history in general and individual research projects in particular
Prerequisite: consent of instructor & Junior standing
The goal of the Senior Seminar and Senior Thesis sequence is to support students to do the work that historians do: to research, draft, and revise (and revise) historical argument The courses taken together build to a final project that analyzes primary material and engages secondary scholarship to make an original contribution to a field of historical knowledge.
HY420 is to be taken in the block immediately following HY 410
Prerequisite: HY 399, or equivalent for Combined Majors, senior standing, and HY 410, consent of instructor
