Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation from Dickinson, History majors will be able to:
- locate essential historical information and to assess and categorize various types of primary and secondary sources;
- formulate clear and plausible historical interpretations supported by evidence from multiple historical perspectives;
- place their research in the broader context of historical place and period;
- describe how their research contributes to broader scholarly conversations
Major
10 courses at Dickinson (which may include approved courses while abroad and from transfer students, but will never include course credits from AP history tests, even when College credit has been granted for such tests)
I. Three courses in the Methods Core
HIST 204
Any 300-level history course
HIST 404 - Note: 500/550 can be substituted if culminating in a substantial research paper
II. Four courses in the Concentration
The field of concentration usually covers a continental region, but students may also define their own thematic concentrations that carry across regions. More information about thematic concentrations is available on the page. Majors may count one course outside the department towards the history major concentration, providing that:
- The course clearly enriches their proposed geographic or thematic concentration
- The student offers a convincing written justification explaining how the course will enhance their understanding of their concentration
- The student receives approval, based on this justification, from their History Department advisor
III. Including Geographic Breadth:
Regardless of concentration, students must take courses in at least 4 different geographic regions, some or all of which may be part of the concentration. The regions taught in the department are Africa, Europe, East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, the United States, and Global/Comparative. Students who take a course outside these regions at another institution should discuss the course with their advisors and send a note to the chair.
IV. Including chronological breadth:
Within the ten required courses, at least one course must be pre-1800 in orientation and at least one course must be post-1800.
Minor
204 and at least five additional history courses.
Suggested curricular flow through the major
The History major is a particularly flexible major. Nearly all our courses are open to first year students. While many history majors do take the methods sequence in order (204, then at least one 300-level course, and then 404), it is not necessary to take 204 before taking a 300-level course. Many history majors do a study-abroad program either for one semester or two – something the department supports. Most study-abroad programs offer history courses making this easier.
The guidelines are written for the entering student who thinks they might major in history. Rather than specify the courses that a student “must” have in a given semester, the following are general guidelines regarding types of courses that we suggest taking each year, and represent just one possible pathway through the major.
First Year
One or two 100-level history courses or upper-level courses with good foundations from successful AP or IB coursework
Sophomore Year
204, and one or two additional history courses (which could include one or more 300-level classes)
Junior Year
At least one 300-level and two or three other history courses
Senior Year
404 and remaining upper level history courses
NOTE: Students should plan their major in consultation with their advisors.
Honors
Pursuing honors in the history major involves writing an honors thesis, an intensive and challenging process undertaken mainly during the senior year (although in some cases, planning work begins in the spring of the junior year). Doing honors in history offers students the chance to do original research, take a fresh look at important historical events, and delve deeply into a historical topic. Detailed guidelines are available on the honors page of the history department website.
Internships
While internships are not a requirement for the major, the history department strongly encourages all history majors to complete at least one internship while at Dickinson, either over the summer or during the academic year. Internships allow students to explore their own interests and to expand their skills outside the classroom while applying what they have learned in their Dickinson history classes in practical settings. More information is available on the internships page of the history department website.
Opportunities for off-campus study
The Department encourages participation in the many off-campus options, and many history majors choose to study abroad for a semester or year. Current and recently-graduated majors have studied abroad in such places as Brazil, England, France, Italy, and Japan, among others.
Co-curricular activities/programs
The History Department has an active Majors Committee that meets with the Department Chair on a regular basis and organizes events, lectures, social service activities and other programming activities of special interest to history majors.
Courses
101 Surveys in History
Introductory-level survey of selected areas and problems in history. Suitable for students of all levels.
Attributes: Social Sciences
105 Medieval Europe
This survey course will study the development of European civilization during the period ca.300 to 1300. It will consider the impact of such events as the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic invasions, the development of Christianity and the Church, the emergence of feudalism, the expansion of Islam and the Crusades, and the creation of romantic literature.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
106 Early Modern Europe to 1799
Society, culture, and politics from the Renaissance through the French Revolution.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
107 Revolutions Political, Artistic, Economic, Social, and Scientific: Europe in the Last 250 Years
Europe in the last few centuries has experienced developments that have transformed the entire globe, for better and worse. Political, technological, economic, and ideological innovations have led to imperialism, two world wars, and the Cold War that stretched far beyond Europe. European innovations like the Industrial Revolution created new work methods and goods that made lives easier while at the same time creating classes and class divides, booms and busts, cruel child labor, and of course the fossil fuel pollution that has led to climate change. New classes led to new political philosophies (e.g. liberalism, socialism, anarchism, fascism, feminism, etc.) that found resonance around the globe. Museums and concert halls around the world feature Picasso and Stravinsky, Van Gogh and Chopin, Banksy and Black Sabbath. Evolution, psychoanalysis, and quantum physics have spread far beyond the continent, but so too has 鈥渟cientific鈥� racism and eugenics and the modern genocides that they have catalyzed. This course will study European innovations that have had profound effects far beyond the continent鈥檚 borders.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, Social Sciences
117 American History 1607 to 1877
This course covers colonial, revolutionary, and national America through Reconstruction. Include attention to historical interpretation. Multiple sections offered.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
118 American History 1877 to Present
This course covers aspects of political evolution, foreign policy development, industrialization, urbanization, and the expanding roles of 20th century central government. Includes attention to historical interpretation. Multiple sections offered.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
120 History of East Asia from Ancient Times to the Present
This course explores the diverse and interrelated histories of the region currently composed of China, Korea, and Japan, over the past two thousand years. We begin by studying the technologies and systems of thought that came to be shared across East Asia, including written languages, philosophies of rule, and religions. Next, we examine periods of major upheaval and change, such as the rise of warrior governments, the Mongol conquests, and engagement with the West. The course concludes by tracing the rise and fall of the Japanese empire and the development of the modern nation states that we see today.This course is cross-listed as EASN 120.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, East Asian Social Sci Elective, INST Asia Course, Social Sciences
121 Middle East to 1750
The rise of Islam, the development of Islamic civilization in medieval times and its decline relative to Europe in the early modern era, 1500-1750.
This course is cross-listed as MEST 121.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, INST Middle East/N Africa Crse, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
122 Middle East since 1750
Bureaucratic-military reforms of the 19th century in Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, European imperialism, regional nationalisms, contemporary autocratic regimes, and the politicization of religion.
This course is cross-listed as MEST 122.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, INST Middle East/N Africa Crse, Social Sciences
130 Early Latin American History to 1800
Survey of pre-Colombian and colonial Latin American history. Students explore the major ancient civilizations of the Americas, the background and characteristics of European conquest and colonization, the formation of diverse colonial societies, and the breakdown of the colonial system that led to independence. The course includes both the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas from a comparative perspective.
This course is cross-listed as LALC 230.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, INST Latin America Course, Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, MEMS Elective, Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, SPAN/PORT Elective, SPAN/PORT Pre-Contemporary Crs, Social Sciences, Sustainability Connections
131 Modern Latin American History since 1800
Introduction to Latin American history since independence and the consolidation of national states to the recent past. Students explore social, economic, and political developments from a regional perspective as well as specific national examples.
This course is cross-listed as LALC 231.
Attributes: INST Latin America Course, Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Social Sciences
150 History of Science
A global survey introduction to the history of science, technology, and medicine from ancient times to the present. The course emphasizes how scientific knowledge is created and used in the context of cultural, economic, social, and environmental change. Follows a comparative cultural approach, showing how knowledge of nature has developed in diverse places, including many parts of the non-Western world such as China, India, Mesoamerica, and the Middle East. Surveys major changes in ideas, institutions, and social context from the emergence of Western science in early modern Europe to the present.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
151 History of Environment
Examines the interaction between humans and the natural environment in long-term global context. Explores the problem of sustainable human uses of world environments in various societies from prehistory to the present. Also serves as an introduction to the subfield of environmental history, which integrates evidence from various scientific disciplines with traditional documentary and oral sources. Topics include: environmental effects of human occupation, the origins of agriculture, colonial encounters, industrial revolution, water and politics, natural resources frontiers, and diverse perceptions of nature.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, ENST Env Stud Spec (ESSP), Food Studies Elective, INST Sustain & Global Environ, Social Sciences, Sustainability Investigations
170 African Civilizations to 1850
This course provides an overview to the political, social, and ecological history of Africa. We will examine the peopling of the continent, the origins of agriculture, the growth of towns and the development of metal technology. Written sources before the 1400s are almost nonexistent for most of Africa, and so we will use archaeological and linguistic sources. The geographic focus of the course will be the Middle Nile, Aksum in Ethiopia, the Sudanic states in West Africa, Kongo in Central Africa, the Swahili states of the East African coast, and Zimbabwe and KwaZulu in Southern Africa. We will also examine the Atlantic Slave Trade and the colonization of the Cape of Good Hope.
This course is cross-listed as AFST 170.
Attributes: AFST - Africa Course, Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, Social Sciences, Sustainability Connections
171 African History since 1800
In this course we will study the political, social, economic and ecological forces that have shaped African societies since 1800. We will examine in depth the Asante kingdom in West Africa, the Kongo kingdom in Central Africa, and the Zulu kingdom in Southern Africa. European's colonization of Africa and Africans' responses will be a major focus of the course.
This course is cross-listed as AFST 171.
Attributes: AFST - Africa Course, Global Diversity, Social Sciences
204 Introduction to Historical Methodology
Local archives and libraries serve as laboratories for this project-oriented seminar that introduces beginning majors to the nature of history as a discipline, historical research techniques, varied forms of historical evidence and the ways in which historians interpret them, and the conventions of historical writing.
Prerequisite: one previous course in history.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective
205 Public History
Public history explores the ways history is put to work in the world. Public historians鈥搘ho work in a range of institutions鈥搒hare a commitment to making history relevant and useful in the public sphere beyond the walls of the traditional classroom. Sites of public history include educational spaces, archives, and, at times, contested places: battlefields, museums, documentaries, historical societies, national and state parks, local oral history projects, and sites of historic preservation. Public history is firmly rooted in the methods of the discipline of history, but with an added emphasis on the skills and perspectives useful in public history practice and on the ethics of listening to multiple publics. The term 鈥減ublic history鈥� emerged in the 1970s in the United States with an emphasis on ideals of social justice, political activism, and community engagement. In other parts of the world, public history is often known as 鈥淗eritage Studies鈥�. In this course, students will learn about the evolution of the field of public history, discuss best practices and practical challenges within the field, and will culminate the learning process through work on a public history project in conjunction with the Cumberland County Historical Society.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Social Sciences
206 American Environmental History
Examines the interaction between humans and the natural environment in the history of North America. Explores the problem of sustainable human uses of the North America environment form the pre-colonial period to the present. Also serves as an introduction to the subfield of environmental history, which integrates evidence from various scientific disciplines with traditional documentary and oral sources. Topics include: American Indian uses of the environment, colonial frontiers, agricultural change, industrialization, urbanization, westward expansion, the Progressive-Era conservation movement, changes in lifestyle and consumption including their increasingly global impact, shifts in environmental policy, and the rise of the post-World War II environmental movement.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, AMST Struct & Instit Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, ENST Society (ESSO), INST Sustain & Global Environ, Social Sciences
211 Topics in American History
Selected areas and problems in American history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
213 Topics in European History
Selected areas and problems in European history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
215 Topics in Comparative History
Selected areas and problems in comparative history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: Social Sciences
216 Topics in African History
Selected areas and problems in African history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
217 Topics in Asian History
Selected areas and problems in Asian history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
218 Topics in Latin American History
Selected areas and problems in Latin American history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
219 Topics in Middle Eastern History
Selected areas and problems in Middle Eastern history. Suitable for beginning history students, majors, and non-majors.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
222 Feudal Europe
A study of the emergence of feudalism and an evaluation of its role in the development of western Europe.
Offered every other year. This course is cross-listed as a MEMS 200 topics course.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
223 Renaissance Europe
A study of prevailing conditions (social, economic, political, and cultural) in western Europe with particular attention given to the achievements and failures of the Renaissance.
Offered every other year.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, Italian Studies History, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
231 Modern France
French society, culture, and politics from the French Revolution to the present. Themes include revolutionary tradition, the development of modern life in Paris, the French empire, and the impact of World War I and II.
Offered every other year.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
232 Modern Italy
A survey of social, cultural, and political developments from the beginnings of the Risorgimento in the 18th century to the post-war period, including the effects of the Napoleonic period, the unification of Italy, World War I, Fascism, World War II, and the Cold War.
Offered every other year.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Italian Studies History, Social Sciences
234 Fascism, Socialism, and Daily Life: Europe, 1914-45
Europeans between the two world wars experienced dramatic changes. The economy collapsed, exciting and controversial art movements emerged, developments in psychology and physics changed the way we understood humans and the physical world, and of course extreme forms of politics arose across the continent, particularly fascist and communist countries building on the politics of division, hatred, and violence. This highly dynamic period often gets ignored because it is overshadowed by the two world wars that preceded and followed it. Part of this course will be to examine how the ripples from one war led to developments that anticipated the second. Moreover, we will examine how some of the democratic societies allowed themselves to slip into authoritarian dictatorships.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, Social Sciences
247 Early American History
An examination of North American history from the earliest contacts between European and American peoples to the eve of the American Revolution. Particular attention is devoted to the interplay of Indian, French, Spanish, and English cultures, to the rise of the British to a position of dominance by 1763, and to the internal social and political development of the Anglo-American colonies.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
248 The American Revolution
This course will focus on the period between 1763 and the first decade of the 1800s in North America, a time of tumultuous upheaval, intellectual ferment, and sporadic but intense violence which culminated in the creation of the United States. It will cover topics such as the expulsion of the French from North America, the rise of the a bourgeois public sphere, colonial contestation over sovereignty with Great Britain, the role of the military and violence in the new nation, republicanism, and the immediate ramifications of independence on a wide variety of groups within North America, such as women, American Indians, and free and slave African Americans.
Attributes: Social Sciences, US Diversity
253 Autocracy, Uprisings, and Daily Life in Medieval Ukraine, Russia, and its Empire
This course will survey the first 1000 years of the eastern Slav lands that are now Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus and the expanding empire of the former into Central Asia and the Caucasus. Students will gain a better understanding of the region鈥檚 political, economic, social, and cultural development and how it can inform our understanding of Russia today. We will examine the early formation of multi-ethnic clans into a large multinational empire while highlighting state formation, the role of women, church power, the arts, and nationality conflict. The course concludes with the impending collapse of the Russian empire under Tsar Nicholas II.
This course is cross-listed as RUSS 253.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST Russia/USSR/Post-Soviet, MEMS Elective, Social Sciences
254 Revolution, War, and Daily Life in Modern Russia
This course explores Russia's attempts to forge modernity since the late 19th century. Students will explore the rise of socialism and communism, centralization of nearly all aspects of life (arts, politics, economics, and even sexual relations), and opposition to the terror regime's attempts to remake life and the post-Soviet state's attempts to overcome Russia's past.
This course is cross-listed as RUSS 254.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST Russia/USSR/Post-Soviet, Social Sciences
257 European Intellectual History
Main currents of Western thought from the 17th century to the present with emphasis upon the interaction of ideas and social development.
Offered every other year.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, Social Sciences
259 Islam
An introduction to Islamic beliefs and practices in their classical forms: rituals, law, mysticism, and other topics. The course will consider aspects of Islamic cultures and societies in medieval and modern times.
This course is cross-listed as MEST 259 and RELG 259.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, Humanities, INST Middle East/N Africa Crse, Religion - Western Traditions, Social Sciences
260 World on the Move: Migrations since 1850
This course examines migrations since the middle of the nineteenth century by comparing different historical moments, societies, and experiences. The basic questions it seeks to address are: Why have people moved in different historical moments and across different spaces? How have they been received by other societies? What regimes of state control have emerged over time and why? Why have some migrants been welcomed as new citizens while others have been rejected, considered as a menace to receiving societies鈥� values and culture? How have migrants navigated the tension created by their projects and those of societies of origin and destination? How have migrants accommodated to or challenged the reality of migration, transnational living, and changing migration regimes? The course will include a wide variety of migrant experiences, such as labor migrations, migrations in imperial and post-colonial spaces, family migration, and displaced peoples and refugees.
Attributes: Global Diversity, INST World Economy & Developmt, Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, Social Sciences
272 The Atlantic Slave Trade and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1850
During several centuries of European colonization in the New World, a thriving slave trade forced the emigration of millions of Africans across the Atlantic-an immigration far larger than the simultaneous immigration of Europeans to the same regions. We will address not only the workings of the slave trade on both sides (and in the middle) of the Atlantic, but also the cultural communities of West and West-Central Africa and encounters and exchanges in the new slave societies of North and South America. Through examination of work processes, social orders, cultural strategies and influences, and ideas about race and geography, across time and in several regions, we will explore the crucial roles of Africans in the making of the Atlantic world.
This course is cross-listed as LALC 272. Offered every two years.
Attributes: AFST - Africa Course, AFST - Diaspora Course, AMST American History Elective, AMST Struct & Instit Elective, Global Diversity, Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Social Sciences
273 African Americans Since Slavery
Focuses on the history of Americans of African ancestry in the years following the American Civil War, which ended in 1865. The course examines several important transformations of African Americans as a people. In the first, we consider the transition from slavery to a nominal but highly circumscribed "freedom," which ended with the destruction of Reconstruction governments in the South. We consider the institution-building and community-building processes among African Americans, and the development of distinctive elite and folk cultures among various classes of black people. We examine the Great Migration north and west between 1900 and 1920, and the urbanization of what had been a predominately rural people. Fifth, we consider the differential impact of World War I, the Great Depression, and the New Deal and World War II on African Americans, and the creation of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's - 1980's.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: Social Sciences, US Diversity
274 The Rise and Fall of Apartheid
The peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa in the early 1990s was widely hailed as the "South African Miracle." This course asks why such a transition should be considered miraculous. In order to answer our question, we will begin with South African independence from Britain in 1910 and study the evolution of legalized segregation and the introduction in 1948 of apartheid. After reviewing opposition movements we will move to a discussion of the demise of apartheid and the negotiated political order that took its place. We will examine the machinery and the deliberations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and debate its accomplishments. The course ends with an examination of memory and history.
Attributes: Global Diversity, Social Sciences
275 The Rise of Modern China
The history of China from the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912 to the rise of China as a global economic and political power in the twenty-first century. Topics include issues of cultural change and continuity, the growth of modern business, women's rights, urban and rural social crises, the rise of modern nationalism, Communist revolution, the political role of Mao Zedong, post-Mao economic reform and social transformation, human rights, and prospects for Chinese democracy.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: Global Diversity, Social Sciences
277 European Empires
This course will investigate the building, celebration and dissolution of the European empires moving from the 15th century into the 20th century. Definitions of imperialism as it developed over time will be discussed. The readings look at the effects of empire in Europe as well as some of the effects in the colonies, including works by Christopher Columbus, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, and Chinua Achebe.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
278 European Women's History
This course will explore the lives of European women in the modern period (1789 to the post WWII period). It looks at both rural and urban women, issues of class, family and motherhood as well as demands for social and political rights for women. The readings include primary sources such as housekeeping guides, novels and war propaganda as well as secondary sources such as biographies and anthropological studies.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences, WGSS Hist/Theories/Represent, WGSS Intersect/Instit/Power
280 Medieval and Renaissance Women
Women have always constituted approximately half of the human population, and yet at virtually all times and places they have been subordinate to men; and until fairly recently their history has been ignored. Beginning with the Ancient World and continuing up to the sixteenth century, this course will investigate the status and ideas about women in various cultures. Relying on primary documents, we will consider the influences that affected the position of women, and when the sources permit, how women regard their situation.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: Social Sciences
282 Diplomatic History of the United States
Description and analysis of the nation's role in world affairs, from the earliest definitions of a national interest in the 18th century, through continental expansion, acquisition of empire, and world power, to the Cold War.
This course is cross-listed as INST 282.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, INST Diplomatic History Course, Social Sciences
283 Latin American-U.S. Relations
A study of political, economic, and cultural relations between Latin America and the United States from the early 19th century to the present. The evolution of inter-American relations is analyzed in light of the interplay of Latin American, U.S., and extra-hemispheric interests.
This course is cross-listed as LALC 283.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, Social Sciences
284 Ecological History of Africa
This course provides an introduction to the ecological history of Africa. We will focus in some detail on demography, the domestication of crops and animals, climate, the spread of New World crops (maize, cassava, cocoa), and disease environments from the earliest times to the present. Central to our study will be the idea that Africa's landscapes are the product of human action. Therefore, we will examine case studies of how people have interacted with their environments. African ecology has long been affected indirectly by decisions made at a global scale. Thus we will explore Africa's engagement with imperialism and colonization and the global economy in the twentieth century. The course ends with an examination of contemporary tensions between conservation and economic development.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: AFST - Africa Course, ENST Env Stud Spec (ESSP), Global Diversity, INST Sustain & Global Environ, Social Sciences
286 New Nation
Reading and research in the political, economic, and social developments of the U.S. during the first generations of official nationhood, from the writing and ratification of the Constitution to the end of the Mexican War.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, AMST Struct & Instit Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
288 Civil War - Reconstruction
A study of the political, economic, social, and intellectual aspects of 19th century America from 1848 to 1877. Attention is given to the causes and course of the Civil War and evaluates the results of Reconstruction.
Attributes: AMST American History Elective, Appropriate for First-Year, Social Sciences
298 Latin American Migrations in the U.S.
This course examines the history of Latin American and Spanish-speaking Caribbean immigration to the United States from the late nineteenth century to the turn of the twenty-first century from a comparative perspective. The first half of the course will look at a variety of immigrant groups from Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Some groups will be discussed more in-depth and in comparative perspective as examples of distinctive historical trajectories and immigration experiences鈥攆rom labor migration, to exile, to internal migrants in neocolonial contexts. We will discuss such key topics as rural and urban experiences, the role of transnational networks, the making of the 鈥渋llegal鈥� or undocumented immigrant, economic and sociocultural adaptation, youth cultures, activism and resistance, different forms of diversity within immigrant groups, and the changing perceptions about and reception of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants and their descendants in the United States.
Cross-listed as LALC 298.
Attributes: Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Social Sciences, US Diversity
311 Studies in American History
Selected areas and problems in American history. Designed for majors and for non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
313 Studies in European History
Selected areas and problems in European history. Designed for majors and for non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
315 Studies in Comparative History
Selected trends and problems studied comparatively in various periods and geographical areas. Designed for majors and for non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
316 Studies in African History
Selected areas and problems in African history. Designed for majors and non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
317 Studies in Asian History
Selected areas and problems in Asian history. Designed for majors and non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
318 Studies in Latin American History
Selected areas and problems in Latin American history. Designed for majors and non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
319 Topics in Middle Eastern History
Selected areas and problems in Middle Eastern history. Designed for majors and non-majors who have taken courses in related fields.
Attributes: Social Sciences
333 The First World War
A study of the causes, progress, and consequences of the first global conflict of modern times. Particular attention is paid to the political and social impact of total warfare on the participating nations.
Offered every other year.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, INST European Course, Social Sciences
358 19th-20th Century European Diplomacy
European diplomatic history from the Congress of Vienna through World War II.
This course is cross-listed as INST 358. Offered occasionally.
Attributes: INST Diplomatic History Course, Social Sciences
370 Cold War in Africa 1945-1990
Even as the nuclear deterrent kept Europe and North America largely free of warfare after 1945, Cold War rivals fought proxy wars across Africa. This course examines the Cold War calculations of the superpowers and others in the region and assesses the overlapping objectives and interests of African nationalists, white settlers, and decolonizing empires. After an examination of Cold War history and an assessment of Africa鈥檚 historical development, we will focus on case studies: Guinea, The Congo, Angola, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The course ends with an analysis of U.S., Soviet, Cuban, and African interpretations of how the Cold War impacted Africa(ns).
Attributes: Global Diversity, Writing in the Discipline
371 The Arab-Israeli Conflict
A study of conflict through four phases: the early stages of the Zionist movement and its impact in Ottoman Palestine to 1917; Zionist immigration and settlement and Arab reaction during the Mandate period; the creation of Israel and its wars with the Arab states to 1973; and the rise of a Palestinian Arab nationalist movement and the challenges it poses to Arab states and Israel.
This course is cross-listed as MEST 231.
Attributes: INST Middle East/N Africa Crse, Social Sciences
374 African Women's History
This course examines the role of women in African societies since the nineteenth century. Lectures and readings will be arranged thematically. Themes include sexuality and reproduction, the household, women's economic activity, political power, religion, colonialism, and democracy. After a discussion of gender, we will analyze pre-colonial production and reproduction, family life and religion in the twentieth century, women's roles in nationalist politics, the politics of female genital mutilation, and the lives of two contemporary African women leaders. Readings, including historical studies and novels, songs, and art, will be drawn from across the cultures and languages of Africa.
Offered every two years.
Attributes: Global Diversity, Social Sciences
375 Europe's Dictators
Contrary to the hope of contemporaries, World War I was not "the war to end all wars." Instead, at its end Europe emerged into a world of unprecedented turmoil and confusion, a time that was nonetheless permeated with hope, idealism, and possibility. This course explores European politics, society, gender, and culture between 1918 and 1945, focusing on the extreme developments in Germany, Russia, Spain, and Italy during this time. We will examine the emergence, development, form, and consequences of the rule of Hitler, Stalin, Franco and Mussolini and explore the relationship of these dictators to the states that sustained them.
Offered occasionally.
Attributes: Italian Studies History, Social Sciences
376 The Holocaust
The course explores the causes of the Shoah/Holocaust, including anti-Semitism, the eugenics movement, the growth of the modern state, and the effects of war. Themes will also explore perpetrator motivation, gendered responses, bystanders and rescuers, and the place of the Holocaust among other genocides. Students will approach the Holocaust through its historiography, which will equip them to interpret facts and understand how and why scholars have shifted interpretations over time.
This course is cross-listed as JDST 316. Offered occasionally.
Attributes: Social Sciences
377 Consumerism, Nationalism and Gender
This reading seminar examines the development of consumerism and nationalism in Europe and America beginning in the late 18th century and continuing on into the post-WWII era - from American Revolutionary boycotts to French fast food establishments. We will look for overlaps or polarities between the movements and the way gender interacted with both of them. Students may be surprised at the gendered aspects of both movements. We will consider, for example, the historical development of the image of women loving to shop, and we will study propaganda from the two world wars with men in uniform and women on the "home front." Our readings will include both promoters and critics of each movement.
Offered every two or three years.
Attributes: Social Sciences, WGSS Hist/Theories/Represent, WGSS Intersect/Instit/Power
378 Society and the Sexes
This is a reading seminar that investigates three separate but interrelated threads - the history of sexuality, the history of the body and the construction of gender - in both pre-industrial and modern Europe. The course explores how definitions of male/female and feminine/masculine have changed over time and how they shaped the life experiences of men and women. Readings will include medical opinions, legal texts, diaries, novels, and political debates.
Offered every two or three years.
Attributes: Social Sciences, WGSS Intersect/Instit/Power, WGSS Sexual & Gendered Plural
384 Immigration, Race and the Nation in Latin America
Characterized by a racially and ethnically diverse population, race has been contested terrain in the countries of Latin America. After independence, some countries embraced the mixed heritage of their societies as a distinctive feature of their national identities while others tried to change it by implementing active policies of immigration as well as policies of marginalization and erasure of Indigenous and Black populations. By looking at different national cases in comparison, this course explores how notions of race, ethnicity, and nationhood have varied in Latin America over time. It discusses such topics the legacies of slavery, racial democracy, Indigenous policies, nationalism, and nativism. It incorporates the experiences of European and Asian immigrants in the region and the impact immigration had on Indigenous and Afro Latin American populations. Class materials will give special attention to the different ways in which scholars have approached these topics over time.
Cross-listed as LALC 384.
Attributes: Global Diversity, LALC Research Methods Course, Lat Am, Latinx, Carib St Elect, Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Social Sciences, Writing in the Discipline
389 Native Peoples of Eastern North America
A survey of major development among Native Americans east of the Mississippi River from approximately A.D. 1500 to the present, using the interdisciplinary methodologies of ethnohistory. Topics to be addressed include 16th and 17th century demographic, economic, and social consequences of contact with European peoples, 18th century strategies of resistance and accommodation, 19th century government removal and cultural assimilation policies, and 20th century cultural and political developments among the regions surviving Indian communities.
Attributes: AMST Struct & Instit Elective, ARCH Area B Elective, Social Sciences
404 Senior Research Seminar
An examination of the historiography of a major topic, culminating in a substantial research paper based in significant part on the interpretation of primary sources.
Prerequisite: 204 and 304 (or its equivalent), or permission of instructor.
Attributes: Social Sciences