Contacts | Program of Study | The History Major | Major Requirements for the Classes of 2023 and 2024 | Major Requirements for the Class of 2025 and Onward | Other Course Information | Honors | Double Major | Minor in History | Study Abroad | History Courses | Civilization Studies Courses
Department Website: https://history.uchicago.edu
Program of Study
For decades the University of Chicago has been a leader in the study of history. Through its pioneering civilization studies programs, its intensive research-based undergraduate curriculum, and its training of academic historians as both researchers and teachers, the University of Chicago has taught undergraduates skills and habits of mind that prepare students for a wide field of endeavors—from law, government, and public policy to the arts and business. Majoring in history not only enables you to become a consumer of academic knowledge, it also prepares you to become a producer of knowledge. Undergraduate history courses first train you to explore large-scale social, cultural, and political processes by teaching historical thinking and by defining concrete questions for research. In addition, you learn how to locate the primary and secondary sources necessary to develop answers to these questions. Finally, faculty assist you in transforming your research into historical arguments that shed light on the multiple ways our world, our very reality, has changed over time.
The History Major
Students interested in a history major should consult the Department of History’s Academic Advisor before the end of the second year; it is, however, possible to join the major as a third-year student. Students must declare their track by the end of sixth week of Winter Quarter of their third year. Students wishing to pursue the Thesis Track or Capstone Track must also submit a short description of their proposed thesis or capstone topic. Students who will be out of residence in Spring Quarter of the third year or Autumn or Winter Quarter of the fourth year should choose the Colloquium Track.
Students may choose from three tracks:
- Thesis Track—Students produce a piece of original historical scholarship of approximately 40 to 60 pages in length. The thesis is a three-quarter-long research project in which students develop a significant and original interpretation of a historical issue of their choosing. Theses are due the second Friday of Spring Quarter at 4 p.m. Only students in the Thesis Track are eligible for departmental honors.
- Capstone Track—Students produce a capstone project: a piece of original historical scholarship that can take many forms other than a thesis, such as a documentary, a podcast, an art installation, a historical novella, a video game, etc. The capstone process begins in the Winter Quarter of the third year, when students may apply to the Capstone Track by proposing a capstone topic. Capstone projects are due the second Friday of Spring Quarter at 4 p.m.
- Colloquium Track—Students are not required to produce a final thesis or project and instead take additional electives. Students complete 12 courses, including Historiography and the Research Colloquium.
New major requirements will begin with the Class of 2025. We list requirements separately for the Classes of 2023 and 2024 and future classes.
Major Requirements for the Classes of 2023 and 2024
Major Field
Courses 1–6
Regardless of track, each history major chooses a major field, which can be geographic or thematic. Students select their major field in consultation with the Department of History’s Academic Advisor. Students take six courses in the major field.
Geographic Fields: Africa, Ancient Mediterranean, Atlantic and Caribbean, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, Russia, South Asia
Thematic Fields: Economic, Empire, Environment, Gender/Sexuality, Intellectual, Legal, Race, Religion, Science/Technology/Medicine, Urban
Historiography (HIST 29803)
Course 7
HIST 29803 Historiography, the historical methods seminar, is required of all history majors and is generally offered every quarter. Students must indicate their intention to enroll in Historiography to the Department of History’s Academic Advisor by the sixth week of the preceding quarter. For all students, but especially those who plan to pursue the Thesis Track or Capstone Track, we recommend taking Historiography in the third year.
Tracks
Courses 8–12
- Thesis Track students must take HIST 29801 BA Thesis Seminar II (Autumn), HIST 29802 BA Thesis Seminar II, and three HIST-numbered electives to complete the major. Students must receive a B+ grade in BA Thesis Seminar I (HIST 29801) to continue in the Thesis Track and enroll in BA Thesis Seminar II. Students must also have a B+ grade at the end of HIST 29800 BA Thesis Seminar I to continue in the Thesis Track and complete the thesis. Only students in the Thesis Track are eligible for departmental honors.
- Capstone Track students must take HIST 29804 Capstone Seminar (Autumn) and four HIST-numbered electives to complete the major. Class of 2024 Capstone Track students have the option of taking (indeed, are encouraged to take) BA Thesis Seminar I (HIST 29801), Capstone Seminar (HIST 29805), and three HIST-numbered electives to complete the major. Students must receive a B+ grade at the end of HIST 29804 Capstone Seminar (Autumn) to continue in the Capstone Track and complete the capstone project.
- Colloquium Track students must take five HIST-numbered electives to complete the major.
Finally, students in all tracks must take a Research Colloquium (HIST 296xx-numbered course), which is a research- and writing-intensive seminar. The Research Colloquium counts as one of the required 12 courses (1200 units) and can be taken in the major field or as an elective. These are offered every quarter on a variety of topics. For all students, but especially those who plan to pursue the Capstone Track or Thesis Track, it is recommended strongly that this course be taken in the third year.
Summary of Requirements for the Major: Classes of 2023 and 2024
Six HIST-numbered courses in the major field * | 600 | |
HIST 29803 | Historiography | 100 |
HIST 296xx Research Colloquium (as one of the six HIST-numbered courses in the major field or as an elective) | 000 | |
Total Units | 700 |
* | See above for distribution requirements. |
Additional Requirements: Thesis Track
HIST 29801 | BA Thesis Seminar II (Autumn) (Spring Quarter of third year) | 100 |
HIST 29800 | BA Thesis Seminar I (Autumn Quarter of fourth year) | 000 |
HIST 29802 | BA Thesis Seminar II (Winter Quarter of fourth year) | 100 |
Three HIST-numbered electives | 300 | |
Total Units | 500 |
Additional Requirements: Capstone Track
HIST 29801 | BA Thesis Seminar II (Autumn) (optional; Spring Quarter of third year) | 100 |
HIST 29804 | Capstone Seminar (Autumn) (Autumn Quarter of fourth year) | 000 |
HIST 29805 | Capstone Seminar (Winter Quarter of fourth year) | 100 |
Three HIST-numbered electives | 300 | |
Total Units | 500 |
Additional Requirements: Colloquium Track
Five HIST-numbered electives | 500 | |
Total Units | 500 |
Major Requirements for the Class of 2025 and Onward
Major Field
Courses 1–6
Regardless of track, each history major chooses a major field, which can be geographic or thematic. Approved major fields are listed below. However, students may propose another major field in consultation with the Department of History’s Academic Advisor. Students take six courses in the major field.
Geographic Fields: Africa, Ancient Mediterranean, Atlantic and Caribbean, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, Russia, South Asia
Thematic Fields: Economic, Empire, Environment, Gender/Sexuality, Intellectual, Legal, Race, Religion, Science/Technology/Medicine, Urban
Historiography (HIST 29803)
Course 7
Historiography, the historical methods seminar, is required of all history majors and is generally offered every quarter. Students must indicate their intention to enroll in Historiography to the Department of History’s Academic Advisor by the sixth week of the preceding quarter. For all students, but especially those who plan to pursue the Thesis Track or Capstone Track, we recommend taking Historiography in the third year.
Research Colloquium
Course 8
Students in all three tracks must take a Research Colloquium (HIST 296xx-numbered course), which is a research- and writing-intensive seminar. These are offered every quarter on a variety of topics. For all students, but especially those who plan to pursue the Capstone Track or Thesis Track, it is recommended strongly that this course be taken in the third year.
Tracks
Courses 9–12
- Thesis Track students must take BA Thesis Seminar I (HIST 29801), BA Thesis Seminar II (HIST 29802), and two HIST-numbered electives to complete the major. Students must receive a B+ grade in BA Seminar I (HIST 29801) to continue in the Thesis Track and enroll in BA Thesis Seminar II. Students must also have a B+ grade at the end of the Autumn Quarter of BA Thesis Seminar II (HIST 29800) to continue in the Thesis Track and complete the thesis. Only students in the Thesis Track are eligible for departmental honors.
- Capstone Track students must take BA Thesis Seminar I (HIST 29801), Capstone Seminar (HIST 29804 and HIST 29805), and two HIST-numbered electives to complete the major. Students must receive a B+ grade in BA Thesis Seminar I (HIST 29801) to continue in the Capstone Track and enroll in the Capstone Seminar. Students must also receive a B+ grade at the end of the Autumn Quarter of the Capstone Seminar (HIST 29804) to continue in the Capstone Track and complete the capstone project.
- Colloquium Track students must take four HIST-numbered electives to complete the major.
Summary of Requirements for the Major: Class of 2025 and Onward
Six HIST-numbered electives distributed by field * | 600 | |
HIST 29803 | Historiography | 100 |
HIST 296xx Research Colloquium | 100 | |
Total Units | 800 |
* | See below for distribution requirements |
Additional Requirements: Thesis Track
HIST 29801 | BA Thesis Seminar II (Autumn) | 100 |
HIST 29800 | BA Thesis Seminar I | 000 |
HIST 29802 | BA Thesis Seminar II | 100 |
Two HIST-numbered electives | 200 | |
Total Units | 400 |
Additional Requirements: Capstone Track
HIST 29801 | BA Thesis Seminar II (Autumn) | 100 |
HIST 29804 | Capstone Seminar (Autumn) | 000 |
HIST 29805 | Capstone Seminar | 100 |
Two HIST-numbered electives | 200 | |
Total Units | 400 |
Additional Requirements: Colloquium Track
Four HIST-numbered electives | 400 | |
Total Units | 400 |
Distribution Requirements
Beginning with the Class of 2025, students must meet two distribution requirements:
- At least one course that treats history before 1800 and at least one course that treats history after 1800.
- Courses must cover at least two different geographic areas.
Note: A single course cannot satisfy both distribution requirements, and a research colloquium cannot satisfy this requirement.
Other Course Information
Course Numbering
History courses numbered 10000 to 29999 are intended for College students; 10000-level courses are introductory. Some 20000-level courses have 30000-level equivalents when they are open to graduate students. To register for 20000/30000 cross-listed courses, undergraduates must use the undergraduate number (20000). History courses numbered 40000 to 49999 are intended primarily for graduate students, but are open to advanced College students with the consent of the instructor. Undergraduates registered for 40000-level courses are held to the graduate-level requirements. Courses numbered 50000 or above are open only to graduate students.
Reading and Research Courses
Students interested in pursuing a program of study that cannot be met by means of regular courses have the option of devising a HIST 29700 Readings in History course that is taken individually and supervised by a member of the Department of History faculty. Such a course requires the approval of the Department of History’s Academic Advisor and the prior consent of the instructor with whom the student would like to study. Note: Enrollment in HIST 29700 is open only to students who are doing independent study that is not related to the research or writing of the BA thesis. As a general rule, only one reading and research course can be counted toward the history major.
Grading
The Research Colloquium (HIST 296xx-numbered courses), BA Seminar I–II, and the Capstone Seminar must be taken for quality grades. In exceptional circumstances, students who are majoring in history may petition to allow a course taken for a pass/fail grade to count toward the requirements of the major. Students wishing to do so should consult with the Department of History’s Academic Advisor. A pass grade is to be given only for work of C– quality or higher. Students should also consult with their College adviser about the appropriateness of pass/fail grading options in their larger program of study.
Petitioning for Outside Credit
The Department of History offers a wide variety of courses each quarter, and majors are strongly encouraged to take history courses to fulfill the requirements of the major. In some instances, courses that originate outside the department can be used to fulfill the course requirements of the major. To receive history credit for non-departmental courses, you must petition the Undergraduate Studies Committee for approval. A few things to keep in mind:
- Petitions must include a course description, a syllabus, and a statement of purpose that addresses the value of the course for the student's proposed course of study.
- Students should submit a petition before the end of Winter Quarter of the fourth year.
- Courses taken abroad may also be used toward the major, pending approval of the petition; however, more than half of the requirements for the major must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.
- Petitions for courses abroad must include course syllabi, descriptions, and course work.
- Generally, no more than two petitions per student will be approved.
- Documentation of approved petitions must be provided to the College adviser in a timely fashion for processing.
Honors
Only students pursuing the Thesis Track are eligible for departmental honors. The distinction of honors requires a minimum 3.7 GPA in the major and a final A grade on the thesis, given by the faculty advisor.
Double Major
Students planning to double major in history and another discipline are encouraged to do so, with the following stipulations:
- Double-counting: Double majors may double-count courses that are cross-listed between their two major departments toward their history major. History does not limit the number of double-counted courses, though other majors may.
- Double majors pursuing the BA Thesis Track are welcome to use one thesis to fulfill two majors provided the other major also approves; they must fulfill the requirements pertaining to the history BA thesis, including taking BA Thesis Seminar I and BA Thesis Seminar II.
- The Department of History supports students choosing to pursue joint BA/MA degrees. However, students will not be allowed to use one thesis for both the BA and MA degrees. In most cases, students pursuing a joint BA/MA program should choose the Colloquium Track.
Minor in History
The history minor requires six total courses: Historiography (HIST 29803) and five HIST-numbered electives. Some students may choose to specialize in a particular geographic or thematic area, while others may choose to take courses in a wide range of fields and geographies. Minor courses may not be double-counted with other majors or minors.
Summary of Requirements for the Minor
HIST 29803 | Historiography | 100 |
Five HIST-numbered electives | 500 | |
Total Units | 600 |
Study Abroad
The Department of History strongly supports study abroad. Students are allowed to apply up to six history courses taken abroad at peer institutions toward the history major, including a maximum of two tutorial-style courses (for students studying at Oxford or Cambridge). Because both BA Thesis Seminar I and II are required for the Thesis Track and Capstone Track, a student who will be out of residence in the Spring Quarter of the third year or Autumn or Winter Quarter of the fourth year should choose the Colloquium Track.
History Courses
HIST 10501. Rebels, Pirates, and Runaways: Tales of Resistance in the Atlantic World. 100 Units.
Throughout the early modern period (c.1500-1800), crisscrossing patterns of trade and migration connected the people of the Atlantic World. These networks were built on systems of colonialism, slavery, and genocide. This is a class about those who fought back. It will follow the words and actions of people who seized whatever weapons and means were available to them to resist exploitation and assert their freedom. Whenever possible we will read about these actions through the testimonies, letters, and declarations of those who carried them out. But we will also practice our ability to read documentary sources against the grain to recover the lives and stories of subaltern groups who did not leave written records. By the end of this course, students will develop an understanding of the structures that shaped the Atlantic World and the strategies through which countless people resisted it.
Instructor(s): N. O'Neill Terms Offered: Spring
HIST 11003. Change and Continuity in Colonial South Asia. 100 Units.
Change and Continuity in Colonial South Asia" investigates what it meant to reckon with change under the constraining circumstances of colonial rule, and introduces students to the key historiographical debates on the experience and history of colonialism in present-day Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. To do so, it offers a selection of readings - primary and secondary - exploring the broad contours of South Asia's 19th century history and attendant transformations occurring in politics, gender, economy, caste and religion - across society and culture at large. On the first day of the week, the course examines writing by contemporary observers diagnosing or discussing transformation. On the second day the course examines the rich historiography on colonial India that puts these transformations into perspective. The aim of the course is to provide students with an introduction to the history of colonial South Asia.
Instructor(s): T. Newbold Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 25329
HIST 11004. Gender and Sexuality in World Civilizations III: South Asia. 100 Units.
This course will explore major themes in the history of women, gender, and sexuality in modern South Asia. We will address reform, legislation, nationalism, and rights discourses across periods of colonialism and independence in the nineteenth and twentieth century. This includes examining how colonial reforms and criminal codes impacted women with respect to education, marriage, abortion, infanticide, and prostitution, as well as how laws targeted gender expression and criminalized forms of queerness. In independent South Asia, we will consider the development of gender and queer rights discourses and how these have been shaped by the politics of patriarchy, religion, caste, and class. We will also examine instances of gendered and sexual violence during moments of rupture such as the Partition of India and the Bangladesh Liberation War. Students in this course will draw on a range of primary and secondary texts across written and visual mediums to critically think about the place of women and gender/sexual minorities and their expressions of resilience and defiance in modern South Asia.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 15005, SALC 15005
HIST 11301. Global British Empire to 1784: War, Commerce, and Revolution. 100 Units.
This course traces the origins, development, and revolutionary transformation of the British Empire. Students will explore the English Civil War, King Philip's War, Bacon's Rebellion, the development of slavery, the Revolution of 1688, the making of British India, the rise of Irish discontent, the Scottish Jacobite Rebellions, the causes of the American Revolution, and the transformation of the British Empire into an authoritarian state. Students will read selections from Locke, Defoe, Swift, Franklin, Burke, and many others.
Instructor(s): S. Pincus Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Assignments: one short paper, a classroom presentation, and one longer research-based paper.
Equivalent Course(s): DEMS 11301
HIST 11703. Jewish Spaces and Places, Imagined and Real. 100 Units.
What makes a ghetto, a ghetto? What defines a Jewish neighborhood? What determined the architectural form of synagogues? Taught in Special Collections in Regenstein Library and making extensive use of the textual and visual sources there, this course will analyze how Jews (in all their diversity) and non-Jews defined Jewish spaces and places. Sources will include: Jewish law and customary practice, cookbooks, etiquette guides, prints, films, novels, maps, memoirs, architectural drawings and photographs, and tourist guides. We may also take a field trip to the Oak Woods Cemetery. The focus will be on Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, but we will also venture back into the early modern period and across the Mediterranean to Palestine/Israel and North Africa and the Atlantic to the Caribbean and the Americas. We will study both actually existing structures and texts and visual culture in which Jewish places and spaces are imagined or vilified. Parallel to our work with primary sources we will read in the recent, very rich, scholarly literature on this topic. This is not a survey course; we will undertake a series of intensive case-studies through which we will address the larger issues. Assignments include: presentations (individual or collaborative), short papers, Canvas postings, and there will also be the option of making a digital map or an on-line exhibition. This is a limited-enrollment, discussion-based course. No previous knowledge of Jewish history is expected.
Instructor(s): Leora Auslander Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): In order for a Spring course to qualify as a civilization course for the general education requirement, the student must also take Jewish Civilization I and II. A Spring course, however, may also be taken as an independent elective.
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 12006, NEHC 12006, RLST 22015
HIST 12000. Money in Medieval Europe. 100 Units.
This course will investigate the history of minting and money in Europe from Late Antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages (ca. 1500). Topics will include the sourcing of silver and gold for coinage, the different monetary regimes in the different kingdoms of Europe, and the development of European banking systems from the thirteenth century onward. This course is open to all College students, and no prior knowledge of medieval European history is required. Grades will be calculated on the basis of class participation, two short papers and a final exam.
Instructor(s): J. Lyon Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 22002, HIST 32000
HIST 12002. Feuds, Vengeance, and War: Violence in Medieval Europe, 500-1550. 100 Units.
Violence and conflict are dominant themes of medieval and early modern European history. This course will introduce students to the wide variety of perspectives with which one can approach violence in its western European context from 500 to 1550. Students will not only analyze and evaluate the historiographic and methodological contributions made by the existing scholarship on violence, but also have the opportunity to explore and evaluate various sources for the study of violence. The course itself will be organized around chronological, thematic, and regional lines of investigation ranging from Merovingian France to Early Modern Scotland. Guiding this class will be a broader methodological discussion on the relative merits and demerits of different approaches to studying violence's role in pre-modern societies and politics and how they continue to influence contemporary perceptions of violence, past and present.
Instructor(s): T. Sharp Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): This course is reading/discussion intensive
HIST 12203. Italian Renaissance: Petrarch, Machiavelli, and the Wars of Popes and Kings. 100 Units.
Florence, Rome, and the Italian city-states in the age of plagues and cathedrals, Petrarch and Machiavelli, Medici and Borgia (1250-1600), with a focus on literature, philosophy, primary sources, the revival of antiquity, and the papacy's entanglement with pan-European politics. We will examine humanism, patronage, politics, corruption, assassination, feuds, art, music, magic, censorship, education, science, heresy, and the roots of the Reformation. Writing assignments focus on higher level writing skills, with a creative writing component linked to our in-class role-played reenactment of a Renaissance papal election (LARP). First-year students and non-History majors welcome.
Instructor(s): A. Palmer Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Graduate students by consent only; register for the course as HIST 90000 Reading and Research: History.
Note(s): Assignments: short papers, alternative projects.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 22204, RENS 12203, KNOW 12203, MDVL 12203, CLCV 22216, RLST 22203, ITAL 16000, SIGN 26034
HIST 12402. Revolution! Europe and Its Empire, 1789-1917. 100 Units.
In the long nineteenth century, Europe and its global empire were rocked by a series of revolutions. Anti-colonial independence movements; liberal uprisings; feminist mobilizations; and socialist, anarchist, and communist rebellions around the globe refashioned the world order, often through cataclysmic violence. This course will trace the history of nineteenth-century Europe and its empire through the revolutions that shaped it, beginning in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789 and culminating in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Along the way, we will explore the ideas that motivated these movements as well as personal experiences of them through manifestos, memoirs, letters, visual images, material artifacts, and other primary sources. Over the course of the term, students will have an opportunity to develop a written account of one of these revolutionary moments through the eyes of a fictional character.
Instructor(s): N. O'Neill Terms Offered: Autumn
HIST 12603. Modern German History, 1740-Present. 100 Units.
This course introduces students to topics in German history from the nineteenth century to the present. Beginning with the fade of the Holy Roman Empire and ending with the Federal Republic in contemporary Europe, we will follow the transformation of the German lands from a loose federation of small and provincial states into a unified nation and a global power. Wednesday lectures will engage visual, material, and audio sources to explore events and themes including nation-building, the colonial empire, the World Wars, National Socialism, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and re-unification. Friday discussions will center on close readings of primary source texts and films that document the ruptures and discontinuities that define German history in the modern period: the successes and failures of revolution; the construction and destruction of walls; the formation of mass politics; the trauma of genocide; the construction of plural German identities in and beyond the German nation state. We will approach these subjects from a variety of registers of experience, keeping open two fundamental questions: What is German? What is history? A Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) section will be available pending interest. Assignments: short creative writing assignments throughout the quarter and a final exam.
Instructor(s): A. Goff Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): No background in German or European history is required.
Note(s): History Gateways are introductory courses meant to appeal to 1st- through 3rd-yr students who may not have done previous course work on the topic of the course; topics cover the globe and span the ages.
Equivalent Course(s): GRMN 12603
HIST 12706. Diaspora(s) 100 Units.
This class will orient students to the practices, frameworks, and geographies of diasporic communities from the early modern period to the present. The term's initial origins in Jewish experiences of forced dispersal and migration underscores how its meaning is shaped by histories of collective displacement and loss, as well as invention and heritage. The discourse of diaspora remains foundational for several interdisciplinary fields, including Black studies, Asian American studies, Indigenous studies, Latinx studies, and more. Within these intellectual orientations, diasporic identities are notably expansive and unfixed. As observed by the late cultural theorist Stuart Hall, "diaspora identities are those which are constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference," bridging old and new traditions of worldmaking, resistance, and solidarities within and across distinct diasporic sensibilities." Students in this class will work with scholarly, literary, sonic, and visual materials demonstrating how use of diaspora alternately mobilizes and roots people, in ways that claim pasts and futures at once.
Instructor(s): Adam Green Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 22700, RDIN 12200, CRES 12700
HIST 13800. Alaska: Russian America and U.S. State. 100 Units.
This course introduces the history of the development of Alaska, the work of the Russian-American Company, the fate of the local population, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the accession and introduction of a new territory into the common cultural space of the Russian Empire. It explores the Klondike Gold Rush and the history of Alaska as a U.S. state.
Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 33800
HIST 14206. Nature," Its Meanings and Representations in East Asian History. 100 Units.
The Chinese, Japanese, and Korean civilizations are often said to have a special relationship with "nature" or "the natural world," often phrased as an East Asian "harmony with nature" ideal. This course will examine this assumption critically by examining primary sources from Korea, China, and Japan from c. the 5th century BCE to the Second World War, with an emphasis from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. We will be engaging with two types of sources, writings from East Asian intellectual traditions such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Korean Musok, and Japanese Kokugaku, and concrete examples of how (or if) these ideas were made manifest within physical landscapes such as waterways, forests, agricultural land, gardens, and public parks. Our goal will be twofold, first to uncover tensions between thought and realization, "harmony" and environmental degradation, and secondly to provide an answer to the question "what was 'nature'?" in different historical settings. Assignments: short papers and an additional project.
Instructor(s): T. Gimbel Terms Offered: Spring
HIST 14503. Modern Korean History. 100 Units.
Korea has a rich and dynamic history in terms of historical coherence and distinctiveness but is often restricted to just a one-note idea, such as North Korea's nuclear threats or BTS. This course explores modern Korean history from Japanese colonial rule to the contemporary era, covering major historical events such as Korean War, the Kwangju democratization movement, and two Korea's reunification efforts, as well as contemporary sociocultural dimensions such as the industrialization of plastic surgery, drinking culture, classified expansion of Korean popular culture as written and called with Capital K (K-pop, K-film, K-drama, etc.), and mukbang (food casting). Weekly topics address major socioeconomic, political, and cultural issues such as postcolonialism, capitalism, developmentalism, neoliberalism, governmentality, gender, sexuality, and family. Students will gain a fuller understanding of Korea's place in the world through engaging with Korean cultural heritage and historical transformations. They will also learn how to critique contemporary media representations of Korea and enable critical reading of texts and films to build their own perspectives.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 14503
HIST 15005. Engineered Environments in East Asia. 100 Units.
Environments in East Asia have drastically changed in the twentieth century. Seawalls and cities rose in coastal areas that were previously untouched along Japan's coast; cement-dams replaced dirt dikes that divided the Han river in the Korean Peninsula; and railroads expanded into far-off regions in China, redefining both cities and hinterlands. These are three archetypal examples of technically complex projects that this course will explore. These industrial and technological projects of a national, regional, or global scale connect past to present and pose questions to our future about climate change, public health crises, and energy anxieties. This class asks what engineered environments are and how they shape our everyday life. We will visit three types of archetypal megaprojects-the railway system, the transformation of ocean space, and the building of dams--in China, Japan, and Korea that have shaped and continue to shape the environments of East Asia, an economically vibrant, politically challenging, and ecologically diverse region, with a deep history and vibrant technological innovations even today. We will discuss the politics and science behind the building of each megaproject, the interconnected history among them, and more importantly, how each project generated its environment, shaped the relationship between human societies and nature, and influences our current understanding of the region.
Instructor(s): Y. Dong Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): All the course materials are in English. In this course, we will engage with primary documents that are translated into English and other scholarship on specific sites, including newspaper reports, journal articles, and documentaries. Primary sources include literature, memoirs, and visual images. For students who do not have background knowledge on the political and social history of East Asia, this course also assigns readings from historical textbooks to help students place megaprojects in each’s historical context. There are no prerequisites for this course. There will be a component of short lectures in some meetings.
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 15005
HIST 16404. Criminal, Police, and Citizen in Latin America. 100 Units.
Crime and policing are intensely debated today around the world, but perhaps nowhere are these debates felt more sharply than in Latin America, the site of both high rates of crime and violence and widespread distrust of the police and criminal justice institutions. This course delves into the history of these issues in the region. In the process, it sheds light on broader themes of Latin American history from the late colonial period to the present day. As the course shows through topics ranging from crimes against honor, to the policing of street vending, to the drug war, crime and policing in Latin America have been crucial spaces for the construction and contestation of social and legal hierarchies, the voicing of political protest and social critique, and the making and unmaking of citizenship. Through the use of diverse readings, including primary sources such as court records, satirical poems, and blockbuster films, students will trace how ideas of crime, and of the role of the state in attempting to define it and respond to it, changed over time with broader social, economic, and political developments. In doing so, they will examine how crime and policing have intersected with class, race, and gender, and how debates over crime and the practices of policing have shaped the boundaries of citizenship.
Instructor(s): K. Boyar Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 16404, RDIN 16404, LACS 16404
HIST 17206. The United States in the 21st Century. 100 Units.
This discussion-based common-year seminar is open to first- and second-year students interested in the discipline of history. The ambition of the course is to offer a "history of the present" of the United States. When does history give way to the present? When does the present become the proper subject of history? Asking these questions, the course underscores the ability of the historical method to find interconnections among subjects, whether it is culture, economy, climate, society, or politics, often kept separate by other disciplines. Topics covered will include: the US-led globalization of the turn of the second millennium and its fate; 9/11 and the War on Iraq; the rise of genomic science; transformations of identity, including gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity; the economic origins and aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession; the elections of Obama and Trump; the birth of social media; the problem of climate change; the future of American democracy. Course materials will include political speeches, fiction and nonfiction books and essays, works of scholarship, film, music, and other media.
Instructor(s): J. Levy Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CCCT 17206
HIST 17706. How to Build a Memorial. 100 Units.
How can history be used to publicly address past, present, and future issues such as environmental racism, inequality, and climate change? In this course students explore how memorials can be vehicles for historians to actively respond to injustice and disaster by working together to build an on-campus memorial. The first weeks of class will be devoted to reading about the subject of the memorial as well as on memorialization in general. The remaining class time will be devoted to students doing the practical work of designing and creating a physical memorial to install on campus by finals. Students will be graded on participation, short reflection essays, in-class assignments, and their contribution to the final memorial project. Specifically, students will be guided in building a memorial to victims of the 1995 Chicago Heatwave. Over the course of five days in July 1995 a wet bulb heatwave that featured high temperatures and humidity in the Midwest led to 739 deaths in Chicago. The victims of this heatwave were mostly elderly, poor, and lived alone, with the most vulnerable areas hewing to Chicago's preexisting geography of poverty and inequality. Today as dangerous wet bulb temperatures and heatwaves are being exacerbated by climate change, memorializing this historic event offers the chance to not only recognize the loss of the past heatwave but grapple with the dangerous realities of heat in the present and future.
Instructor(s): A. Jania Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 17706
HIST 17800. Formations of Indigeneity. 100 Units.
Whose land are we on? What does it mean to be Indigenous, for generations past and in the twenty-first century? From debates over claims of Indigenous ancestry by political actors to the struggles of sacred lands protection against natural resource extraction, understanding the stakes of these concerns for Indigenous peoples and nations is more relevant than ever. This seminar-part of the sequence for majors in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity-introduces students to core texts and concepts in the field of Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS). Topics will include sovereignty and governance, settler colonialism, citizenship and nationhood, blood quantum and racialization, diasporas and urban indigeneity, and relationships to land and environment. Course activities may include engagement with Indigenous films, dialogues with visiting Indigenous scholars, and field trips to Chicago-area cultural institutions.
Instructor(s): Teresa Montoya and Matthew Kruer Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 12300, CHST 12300, CRES 12800, ANTH 12800
HIST 17805. America in the Twentieth Century. 100 Units.
This is a thematic lecture course on the past 115 years of US history. The main focus of the lectures will be politics, broadly defined. The readings consist of novels and nonfiction writing, with a scattering of primary sources. Assignments: Three 1,500-word papers.
Instructor(s): J. Dailey Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): History Gateways are introductory courses meant to appeal to 1st- through 3rd-yr students who may not have done previous course work on the topic of the course; topics cover the globe and span the ages.
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 17805, LLSO 25904
HIST 17909. King. 100 Units.
This course will explore the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, with a particular emphasis on his time in the city of Chicago. Readings in this course will engage his published work and public rhetoric, allowing students to locate the civil rights leader within the broader upheavals of mid-century America and the development of the black freedom struggle. Moving beyond mythology, this course will emphasize his connections to American liberalism, the labor movement, the black prophetic tradition and human rights. Finally, the course will focus on King's work in Chicago around issues such as urban inequality, housing and the particular dynamics of segregation in the North.
Instructor(s): A. Hickmont Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 17909
HIST 18502. Gender, Sexuality and Sport. 100 Units.
This course will examine how the categories of gender and sexuality have shaped the contemporary life of sport. We will begin by unpacking the complexity of gender and sex as concepts in the study of sport while also considering the origins of gender-based segregation in sport. Major topics in this course include: Title IX protections; intersectionality and race; sexuality, homophobia, and sport; hyperandrogenism; trans inclusion; and cultural nationalism and sport. This is an interdisciplinary course that will draw on methods in philosophy, history, bioethics, and the study of gender and sexuality. Our texts will comprise of readings as well as visual media across multiple regions, including India, South Africa, and the United States. Students will broadly learn to critically think about sport in relation to concepts of gender, sexual orientation, and race along with the ideals of law, social justice, and inclusivity.
Instructor(s): Zoya Sameen Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course counts as a Foundations course for GNSE majors
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 12120, SOCI 20581
HIST 18702. Race, Politics, and Sports in the United States. 100 Units.
This lecture-discussion course explores how racial identity has been experienced, represented, and contested throughout American history. We will examine the major historical transformations that have shaped the development and understanding of racial identity, by engaging historical, legal, literary, and filmic texts. A diverse set of primary sources will be read against historical works. Moving along both chronological and thematic axes, themes of ambiguous, hidden, and hybrid identity will be critical to investigate the problems of racial mixture, mixed-race identity, racial passing, and racial performance across historical periods. The interplay of the problems of class and gender in the construction of racial identity will also be explored.
Instructor(s): M. Briones Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): History in the World courses use history as a valuable tool to help students critically exam our society, culture, and politics. Preference given to 1st- and 2nd-yr students.
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 18702
HIST 18808. Asian American History through the Novel. 100 Units.
This course examines the interwoven histories of migration, language, and identity formation and re-formation in Asian American experience. How are migrant and diasporic identities represented in fictional (or quasi-fictional) terms? How have factors such as race, religion, class, gender, and sexuality shaped everyday Asian American life? Course readings consist primarily of novels, representing a variety of Asian ethnicities and experiences, by writers of Chinese, Filipina/o, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Vietnamese descent. These works are supplemented by selected historical documents and short lectures to shed additional light onto the sociohistorical contexts under study.
Instructor(s): C. Kubler
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 18808, CRES 18808
HIST 19902. Workers of the World: Global Labor History, 1600-present. 100 Units.
Workers of the world, unite!" But who are the workers of the world? Why would such a diverse group be considered as one? In this class, we look at the making of the modern world from below, through the perspectives, experiences, and movements of those who worked the plantations, mills, mines, and households where capitalism was forged. How did diverse experiences of free and unfree labor relate to each other? What have been the historical relationships between class, gender, race, and nationality? How have workers' movements related to the great ideological struggles between liberalism, socialism, fascism, and colonialism? We will both study the social history and political economy of work-who did what jobs where, when, under what circumstances?-and the efforts to make common political meaning out of those diverse experiences of work.
HIST 20007. Africa in the Middle East and the Middle East in Africa. 100 Units.
From Mansa Musa's Hajj in 1324 to the contemporary Afrobeats scene in Dubai, African and Middle Eastern societies share long histories of interconnection. This course examines these interconnections from the early modern to the contemporary era through a series of case studies ranging from traditions of exchange on the Swahili Coast, to the Ottoman Scramble for Africa, to the creation of a long-standing Lebanese diaspora in West Africa and a more recent Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel. Students will examine debates that animate this field of scholarship including conversations about race; histories of slavery and its legacies; conceptions of indigeneity, nativism, and settler colonialism; religious encounters; gender and society; shared and divergent experiences of European colonialism and struggles for independence; and transnational collective-building projects such as Pan-Africanism and Pan-Arabism. In addition to scholarship based on textual analysis, students will develop skills to investigate cultural sources such as music, photography, film, fashion, literature, and sports. No prior coursework in Middle Eastern or African studies is required. However, a background in African Civ, Islamic History and Society Civ, or Islamic Thought and Literature Civ is recommended.
Instructor(s): K. Hickerson Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Assignments: Short papers; long paper; in-class presentation
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 20007, GNSE 20007
HIST 20009. Nigeria. 100 Units.
Nigeria is Africa's largest country by population, its largest economy, and one of the most diverse nation-states in the contemporary world. It is also a place of considerable poverty, wealth disparity, and political discord. How did Nigeria become this country of superlatives, good and bad? This course examines Nigeria's history over the last two centuries through primary sources - a period encompassing the Atlantic trade in enslaved people, British colonial rule, the era of decolonization, and the recent histories of military rule and democracy. Along the way, we will consider Nigeria's place in the broader history of modern Africa; how is Nigeria's experience consistent with the wider region, and how is it exceptional? What is gained and lost by looking at African history through the lens of a single country? What is the relationship between Nigeria and its vast international diaspora?
Instructor(s): Daly Samuel Fury Childs Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 30009
HIST 20091. Field Archaeology. 100 Units.
This course entails four weeks of full-time, hands-on training in field archaeology in an excavation directed by a University of Chicago faculty member. At the Tell Keisan site in Israel, students will learn techniques of excavation and digital recording of the finds; attend evening lectures; and participate in weekend field trips. Academic requirements include the completion of assigned readings and a final written examination. For more information about this archaeological field opportunity in Summer 2020, see http://keisan.uchicago.edu. Students who are enrolled in this course will pay a Summer Session tuition fee in addition to the cost of participation in the dig. UChicago College students are eligible to apply for College Research Scholar grants to fund their participation.
Instructor(s): David Schloen
Equivalent Course(s): CLAS 30091, NEAA 20091, CLCV 20091, ANTH 26612
HIST 20111. History of Death. 100 Units.
From the treatment of mortal remains to the built environment of cemeteries, tombs, and memorials, the dead have always played a role in the lives of the living. This course examines how beliefs and practices surrounding death have been a source of meaning making for individuals, institutions, religious communities, and modern nations. It will ask students to consider how examining death makes it possible to better understand the values and concerns of societies across time and space. This course will consider case studies from Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, North America, Europe, and Asia, from the Middle Ages to the Vietnam War. It introduces students to the methods and debates that animate the historical study of death-coming from histories of the body, social history, and the study of slavery-and ends by asking the question: "Is it possible to have a global history of death?"
Instructor(s): K. Hickerson
Note(s): Assignments: short papers, in-class presentation, alternative projects.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 20111, GNSE 21111, RLST 20111, HLTH 20111
HIST 20509. Collecting the Ancient World: Museum Practice and Politics. 100 Units.
Where is this artifact from? Who does it belong to? How did it get here? Who's telling its story? Critical inquiry into the practice and politics of museums has reached a new zenith in contemporary discourse. From discussions of acquisition and repatriation to provenience (archaeological findspot) and provenance (an object's ownership history) and the ethics of curation and modes of display, museum and art professionals-and the general public alike-are deliberating on the concept of museums and the responsibilities of such institutions towards the collections in their care. This course will explore the early history of museums and collecting practices and their impact on the field today, with a focus on cultural heritage collections from West Asia and North Africa. We will first spend time on such topics as archaeological exploration of "the Orient," colonial collecting practices, and the antiquities trade, as well as the politics of representation and reception in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Next, we will look at critical issues presently facing museums, including ethical collection stewardship, provenance research, repatriation, community engagement, and public education. The course will be structured in a seminar format, with lectures devoted to the presentation of key themes by the instructor and critical discussion as a group. Meetings will include visits to the ISAC Museum at UChicago.
Instructor(s): K. Neumann Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 24815, NEHC 34815, HIST 30509, ARTH 34815, NEHC 24815
HIST 20901. Archaeology for Ancient Historians. 100 Units.
This course is intended to act not as an introduction to Classical archæology but as a methods course illuminating the potential contribution of material cultural evidence to ancient historians while at the same time alerting them to the possible misapplications. Theoretical reflections on the relationship between history and archaeology will be interspersed with specific case studies from the Græco-Roman world.
Instructor(s): J. Hall Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CLCV 21700, CLAS 31700, ANCM 31700, HIST 39800
HIST 21302. Radicals in Early Modern Britain. 100 Units.
Throughout the 1640s and 1650s it seemed to many in England that the world they had grown up in-a world characterized by patriarchy and hierarchy, by inequality and privilege, by an established church and a monarchical state-was being turned upside down. Against a backdrop of conflict between Parliament and Crown, a power vacuum had opened, and in this vacuum both organized radical groups and individual visionaries saw the opportunity to make a revolution. The goals of these radicals were diverse, and often in contradiction. Some wanted the creation of a strict republic, even a democracy; some sought the elimination of private property; others the abolition of marriage; still others the creation of a millenarian Fifth Monarchy led by King Jesus himself. What they shared was a common desire to remake England into a fundamentally different society, and a failure to achieve their goals. Or was it a failure? Today the voices of these radicals have disappeared from most histories of modern political thought. And yet this forgotten corpus of writing reveals a very different early modern world, with strains of communism, proto-feminism, and dissent that fed the imaginations of radicals for centuries, including many well beyond England. This seminar introduces students directly to the ideas of the seventeenth-century English radicals. They will engage with the history and historiography of the English Revolution, read a variety of primary sources, and complete a research paper.
Instructor(s): A. Johns Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 31302, CHSS 31302, HIPS 21302
HIST 21406. Britain 1760-1880: The Origins of Fossil Capitalism. 100 Units.
Britain rose to global dominance after 1760 by pioneering the first fossil-fuel economy. This course explores the profound impact of coal and steam on every aspect of British society, from politics and religion to industrial capitalism and the pursuit of empire. Such historical investigation also serves a second purpose by helping us see our own fossil-fuel economy with fresh eyes through direct comparison with Victorian energy use. How much does the modern world owe to the fossil capitalism of the Victorians? Assignments include short essays that introduces students to primary sources (texts, artifacts, and images) and a longer paper that examines in greater depth a specific aspect of the age of steam.
Instructor(s): F. Albritton Jonsson Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CEGU 21406, CHSS 31406, CEGU 31406, HIPS 21406, HIST 31406
HIST 21903. Medieval Christian Mythology. 100 Units.
Heaven and hell, angels and demons, the Virgin Mary and the devil battling over the state of human souls, the world on the edge of apocalypse awaiting the coming of the Judge and the resurrection of the dead, the transubstantiation of bread and wine into body and blood, the great adventures of the saints. As Rudolf Bultmann put it in his summary of the "world picture" of the New Testament, "all of this is mythological talk," arguably unnecessary for Christian theology. And yet, without its mythology, much of Christianity becomes incomprehensible as a religious or symbolic system. This course is intended as an introduction to the stories that medieval Christians told about God, his Mother, the angels, and the saints, along with the place of the sacraments and miracles in the world picture of the medieval church. Sources will range from Hugh of St. Victor's summa on the sacraments to Hildegard of Bingen's visionary "Scivias," the Pseudo-Bonaventuran "Meditations on the Life of Christ," and Jacobus de Voragine's "Golden Legend," along with handbooks on summoning angels and cycles of mystery plays.
Instructor(s): R. Fulton Brown Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 21903, HIST 31903
HIST 22003. Perpetration of Mass Violence: Motivations and Dynamics of Participation in the Armenian Genoci. 100 Units.
The systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire was planned and executed by a cadre of individuals. Although in recent decades historians have explored the biographies of leading figures in the Committee of Union and Progress and explored their roles in the destruction of the Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, there is little systematic research on the motivations of and interactions among perpetrators. Furthermore, most active participants in the genocide on the local level are little known today. In this course, we will explore motivations of perpetrators and different forms of perpetration of violence during the Armenian genocide in a comparative perspective. We will investigate the lives and legacies of genocide perpetrators as well as their post-genocide careers who actively participated in the annihilation of Armenians and plunder of their wealth and cultural heritage. Our aim is to reconstruct the background, motivations, and actions of the perpetrators at the national, local and provincial levels, a largely understudied dimension of Armenian genocide history. Through social network analysis and micro-historical portraits, this course aims to shed light on the political and socio-economic factors that reinforced the foundations of a genocide in the making and demonstrate how the policies of Ottoman central authorities found fertile ground in provinces and districts across the empire.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20676, HIST 32003, NEHC 30676
HIST 22207. The Social History of Alcohol in Early Modern Europe. 100 Units.
This course will examine the multifaceted role that beer, wine, cider, and spirits played in European society and will challenge students to consider how a seemingly familiar commodity was a key component in shaping early modern social relations. It will focus on several major themes that have guided historical inquiry and show how hard drink intersects with and entangles these histories. Major themes will include alcohol and gender relations; state legality and taxation; moral policing; environmental projects and crises; labor and technology; and colonialism. Using both primary and secondary sources will push students to look below the surface to see how drink alternately challenged or reinforced social hierarchies, much as it continues to do in the present time.
Instructor(s): C. Rydell
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 22207, HLTH 22207
HIST 22212. Critical Theory: A Critical Introduction. 100 Units.
Drawing mainly on primary sources, we will trace the history and engage with the content of that diverse pool of thought generally known as "critical theory." This term encompasses all schools of thought that claim to concern themselves with and aspire to general "emancipation" rather than with problems of truth or knowledge per se. Such theories tend to direct themselves against not only capitalism but all forms of oppression or perceived "oppression," not infrequently repudiating basic norms of liberalism, rationality, and much of Western thought in the process. This course takes seriously the theoretical and social issues at play in critical theory but also subjects critical theories to critiques of various natures: liberal, skeptical, hermeneutical, pragmatic, ethical, and empirical.
Instructor(s): M. Williams Terms Offered: Spring
HIST 22508. Fascism. 100 Units.
Developments in recent years have clearly shown a resurgent interest in "fascism". While it designates a phenomenon which might concern everyone, it is also a term used more often in the manner of an insult than a precisely defined concept. One might even say it is what W.B. Gallie once called an essentially contested concept-not because many claim it for themselves today, but on the contrary, because virtually everyone denounces it in their own specific way. In this course, students will consider what "fascism" means by engaging with several influential explanations of it. We will read and discuss more contemporary philosophical views (Stanley, Eco), historical perspectives and documents (Paxton), but also classic perspectives from political theory (Arendt), philosophy (Burnham), and critical theory (Horkheimer, Adorno, Pollock), as well as political economy (Neumann, Sohn-Rethel, Gerschenkron, Fraenkel, Kalecki). With an eye to its historical and contemporary applications, our purpose throughout will be to reconstruct the arguments which we will consider in order to develop a rigorous concept of "fascism". This course will be offered in English. Its only prerequisite is a non-dogmatic approach to reading and discussion.
Instructor(s): Daniel Burnfin Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PHIL 35823, DEMS 25823, GRMN 25823, PHIL 25823, GRMN 35823, HIST 32508
HIST 22509. Religion and Politics in Modern European History, 1789-1965. 100 Units.
The general theme of the colloquium is the relationship between religion and civil society in Central Europe, the United Kingdom, and France between 1740 and the end of World War II. We will use this broad theme to explore a variety of important issues in modern European history, including the history of the relationship of the church and state; the contribution of religious consciousness and culture to the construction of class, gender, and national identities; and the role played by religious movements in the creation of a liberal, adversarial political system and the formation of a bourgeois public sphere. Special topics will include the role of religious disputes in the formation of administrative reform agendas in the Eighteenth Century, the shifting patterns of religious practice that developed in the Nineteenth Century; the role of religiously-based political movements in the crisis of the Liberal state in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries; the ambivalent relationship of the churches to National Socialism and the Vichy regime; the role of organized religion in the reconstruction and transformation of the European state system at the conclusion of World War II; and patterns of religious renewal in Europe in the 1960s.
Instructor(s): J. Boyer Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 32509
HIST 22611. Paris from Victor Hugo to the Liberation, c. 1830-1950. 100 Units.
Starting with the grim and dysfunctional city described in Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables," the course will examine the history of Paris over the period in which it became viewed as the city par excellence of urban modernity through to the testing times of Nazi occupation and then liberation (c. 1830-1950). As well as focussing on architecture and the built environment, we will examine the political, social, and especially cultural history of the city. A particular feature of the course will be representations of the city-literary (Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, Zola, etc.) and artistic (impressionism and postimpressionism, cubism, surrealism). We will also examine the city's own view of itself through the prism of successive world fairs (expositions universelles).
Instructor(s): C. Jones Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Students taking FREN 22620/32620 must read texts in French.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 22611, FREN 32620, ARCH 22611, HIST 32611, FREN 22620
HIST 23067. Multi-Ethnic Histories of Ukraine. 100 Units.
This course explores the history of Ukraine from the early modern period until today. We will learn something about the Ukrainian nation and state, but we will also explore Ukraine as an historic place of encounter where Yiddish, Polish, Ukrainian, German, and Russian culture (among others) met; where Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Jews lived side by side; and where competing ideas about what it means to be "eastern" or "western" have coexisted. Using a pedagogy of reconciliation, we will try to come to terms with a complex past that includes myriad episodes of meaningful exchange as well as destructive conflicts and horrific violence.
Instructor(s): F. Hillis Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 33067
HIST 23103. East Central Europe, 1880-Present. 100 Units.
The past 150 years have brought democratization, mass politics, two violent world wars, and no less than four different political regimes to the lands between Germany and the Soviet Union. The focus of this course will be on the forces that have shaped Eastern European politics and society since the 1880s. How and why was a multinational and multilingual empire transformed into self-declared nation states? How has mass migration reshaped East European societies? What were the causes and consequences of ethnic cleansing in East Central Europe? How did the experience of total war transform the states and societies? How did citizens respond to and participate in the construction of socialist societies after the Second World War? And finally, what changes and challenges has the transition from socialism to capitalism brought to the region since 1989? The course will focus on the Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states, particularly Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary, with occasional discussion of the former Yugoslavia and Romania. Assignments: Three short papers (5-6 pages).
Instructor(s): T. Zahra and J. Mead Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Assignments: three short papers (5–6 pages).
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 33103
HIST 23407. Comparative Kingship: Rulers in 12th-Century Europe. 100 Units.
The purpose of this course is to examine the different forms that kingship took in the Latin Christian kingdoms of Europe during the twelfth century. In the first half of the course, we will read and discuss a broad range of primary and secondary sources that will give us the opportunity to analyze critically kingship in England, France and Germany (the Holy Roman Empire). In the second half of the course, we will broaden our discussion to consider how other kingdoms in Europe-including Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Sicily, Aragon and Castile-do and do not conform to more general models of 12th-century European kingship.
Instructor(s): J. Lyon Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 23407, HIST 33407
HIST 23521. The Future of Israel. 100 Units.
This class considers key aspects of contemporary Israeli society, culture and politics, and examines their potential future trajectories. Within this framework, we will discuss the historical background of various developments in contemporary Israeli ideologies, experiences, fears and ambitions. In analyzing the evolution and impacts of the tensions that characterize Israeli society and culture today, we will examine various potential resolutions for these tensions. The sources we will discuss in class include official policy statements, speeches, and public opinion polls, alongside visual arts, films, science fiction literature and popular music. The diversity of sources reflects the diversity of voices-of beliefs, aspirations and self-perceptions-within the Israeli society. The acknowledgement of this diversity would not allow us to predict the future, but it would grant us with solid foundations for the understanding of the current challenges, of possible future trajectories, and their long-term implications.
Instructor(s): O. Ashkenazi Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 33521, JWSC 23521
HIST 23522. German-Jewish Visual Culture. 100 Units.
Ever since Jewish emancipation in the second half of the nineteenth century, German-Jewish culture evolved through the experience of intercultural encounters, acculturation, dissimilation, migration, and persecution. After 1933 this endeavor has been transplanted and fostered outside of Germany as well. The course focuses on the ways German-Jewish visual culture negotiated the varying experiences of Jews in Germany and in migration, contemplated Jews' agency in the face of uncertainty and crisis, and assigned meaning to views, beliefs and fears. In considering sources such as films, photographs, and comic books that were produced by Jews in Germany and German-Jews abroad, we will explore some often-overlooked yet fundamental aspects of German Jewish history and its perception by various contemporaries. Contrary to traditional scholarship on German-Jewish culture, this course will go beyond the paradigm of the nation-state to highlight the transnational encounters, interrelations and influences that shaped the German-Jewish experience and its negotiation in visual imagery.
Instructor(s): O. Ashkenazi Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): JWSC 23522, HIST 33522
HIST 23615. Post-Soviet Ukraine. 100 Units.
This course focuses on the cultural life of Ukraine after the Soviet collapse. In a guided process, students will co-facilitate this syllabus, deciding on topics and readings in (translated) Ukrainian literature and film as well as the history of Ukraine. Possible topics include: memory of Soviet wars, the capitalist transition, Chornobyl, artistic movements, subcultures, the Maidan Revolution, Russia's war, language politics, ethnicities, and gender relations. Reading options include Andryukhovich, Zabuzhko, Plokhy, Zhadan. No prior knowledge required.
Instructor(s): Ania Aizman Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): REES 26070, REES 36073, HIST 33615
HIST 24008. (Re)Branding the Balkan City: Comtemp. Belgrade/Sarajevo/Zagreb. 100 Units.
The freedom to make and remake our cities (and ourselves) is one of the most precious yet most neglected of the human rights," argues David Harvey. In this course, we use an urban studies lens to explore the complex history, social fabric, architecture, infrastructure, and cultural transformation of the former Yugoslav capitals. Since their inception, these cities have relied on multifaceted exchanges of peoples and political projects, forms of knowledge, financial and cultural capital, means of production, and innovative ideas. Among others, these exchanges produced two phenomena, Yugoslav architecture, embodying one of the great political experiments of the modern era, and the Non-Aligned Movement, as explored in recent documentary films (Turajlić 2023), museum exhibits (MoMA 2018, "Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia 1948-1980"), and monographs (Tito in Africa: Picturing Solidarity). Drawing on anthropological theory and ethnography of the city, we consider processes of urban destruction and renewal, practices of branding spaces and identities, metropolitan citizenship, arts and design, architectural histories and styles, and the broader politics of space. The course is complemented by cultural and historical media, guest speakers, and virtual tours. Classes are conducted in English.
Instructor(s): Nada Petkovic Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 31333, ARCH 21300, REES 21300, REES 31303, BCSN 21300, GLST 21301, BCSN 31303, ARTH 21333
HIST 24122. Buddhist Meditation: Tradition, Transformation, Modernization. 100 Units.
From the Satipaṭṭhāna sutta of the Pāli canon to the "mindfulness" boom of recent years, Buddhism and meditation often appear inseparable. The aim of this seminar is to historicize and critically question this seemingly natural intimacy, for while it certainly cannot be denied that the various Buddhist traditions have always had on offer a plethora of techniques for mental (and physical) cultivation, it is far from clear how or even if all these could be subsumed under the in its current usage relatively recent category of "meditation". Drawing on Buddhist meditation literature from various traditions, historical periods, and literary genre, in this seminar we will take up a twofold question: First, how has the encounter with Buddhist techniques of cultivation shaped the modern understanding of "meditation", and second, up to which extend, and at what cost, has this very modern understanding conversely conditioned us to see Buddhism as a "meditative religion" par excellence?
Instructor(s): Stephan Licha Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 24609, HREL 34600, RLST 24600, SALC 24600, SALC 34600, HIST 34122, EALC 34600
HIST 24207. Histories of Technology in China. 100 Units.
According to Bruno Latour, "technology is society made durable." In Francesca Bray's words, "technologies are specific to a society, embodiments of its visions of the world and of its struggles over social order. [T]he most important work that technologies do is to produce people: the makers are shaped by the making, and the users shaped by the using." This course looks at technologies in China since late imperial times and asks how technology both expressed and shaped visions of what Chinese society should be. We start with technologies of the body (how to sit on a kang, how to have healthy babies, how to become a deity, how to do a forensic investigation of a dead body), then move on to agricultural technologies and nutrition, to manufacturing (in sites ranging from the imperial palace to small paper workshops), and to communication technologies such as printing. Next, we look at Chinese worldviews and systems of classification and how they changed, partly due to growing exposure to views from Europe, Japan, and the Islamic world. In the last few weeks, we will look at the vernacular technologies of the Republican era, at Mao-era mass science and mass technology, and some of the contemporary uses of modern communication technology in China. All readings in English.
Instructor(s): J. Eyferth Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): MAAD 15150, EALC 20150
HIST 24306. New Histories of Chinese Labor. 100 Units.
Past scholarship has often reduced the history of Chinese labor to the history of the Chinese labor movement or the history of the Communist Party in its function as "the leading core" of the proletariat. The factory proletariat, of course, was never more than a small segment of the Chinese labor force - less than five percent under the Republic, less than ten in the People's Republic. Recent work has been more inclusive, looking at work outside the formal sector, in agriculture, handcrafts, and service industries; at the work of women in formal employment and at home; at sex work and emotional work; at unemployment and precarious work; at the work of internal migrants; at Chinese workers abroad; at coerced work in private industry (the 2007 "kiln slaves' incident"); and at carceral labor in Xinjiang and elsewhere. Most of the readings will deal with work in the Mao and post-Mao years, right up to the present. We will combine readings on Chinese labor history with more general texts on the relationship between productive and reproductive work, wage work and non-wage work, male and female work, autonomous and heteronomous work. The guiding question throughout the course is if a new Chinese labor movement is necessary, possible, or probable, and if it is not, under which conditions it might become so.
Instructor(s): J. Eyferth Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 34306, EALC 24455, EALC 34455
HIST 24405. Cultural History of Women, Family, and Economy in Modern Korea. 100 Units.
This course explores modern Korean history through the lens of gender as a critical analytical tool. In studying social, historical, and cultural changes shaping gender relations, we will extend our understanding of gender dynamics and its relationship to the family, the state, civil society, class, and the economy. By reading and discussing significant scholarly works, this course will help students understand Korean women's history in both local and global contexts. The course will be divided into two parts. The first section will address women's issues and identities, such as women as mothers, wives, and citizens in the framework of family and social institutions, by looking at postcolonialism, patriarchy, and nationalism. Next, the latter half will examine various aspects of women and the economy, including labor, consumption, market economy, governmentality, and class and status.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23170, EALC 24406
HIST 24511. Social and Economic Institutions of Chinese Socialism, 1949 to 1980. 100 Units.
The socialist period (for our purposes here, c. 1949-1990) fundamentally transformed the institutions of Chinese social and economic life. Marriage and family were redefined; rural communities were reorganized on a collective basis; private property in land and other means of production was abolished. Industrialization created a new urban working class, whose access to welfare, consumer goods, and political rights depended to a large extent on their membership in work units (danwei). Migration between city and countryside came to a halt, and rural and urban society developed in different directions. This course will focus on the concrete details of how this society functioned. How did state planning work? What was it like to work in a socialist factory? What role did money and consumption play in a planned economy? Our readings are in English, but speakers of Chinese are encouraged to use Chinese materials (first-hand sources, if they can be found) for their final papers.
Instructor(s): J. Eyferth Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 32451, HIST 34511, EALC 22451
HIST 24512. Everyday Maoism: Revolution, Daily Life, and Material Culture in Socialist China. 100 Units.
The history of Maoist China is usually told as a sequence of political campaigns, from land reform to the Cultural Revolution. Yet for the majority of the Chinese population, the promise of socialism was as much about material transformations as it was about political change: a socialist revolution would bring better living conditions, new work regimes and new consumption patterns. If we want to understand what socialism meant for different groups of people, we have to look at the "new objects" of socialist modernity, at changes in dress codes and apartment layouts, at electrification and city planning - or at the persistence of an older material life under a new socialist veneer. In this course, we will analyze workplaces in order to understand how socialism changed the way people worked, and look at rationing and consumption in the households to see how socialism affected them at home. We will look at how specific objects came to stand in for the Maoist revolution, for socialist modernity, or for feudal backwardness. The course has a strong comparative dimension: we will read some of the literature on socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, to see how Chinese socialism differed from its cousins. Another aim is methodological. How can we understand the lives of people who wrote little and were rarely written about? To which extent can we read people's life experiences out of the material record of their lives?
Instructor(s): J. Eyferth Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): MA students can take with instructor's permission.
Note(s): Not offered in 2023-24.
This course is almost identical to EALC 24255/34255, except that it is designed for undergradates only.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 24256
HIST 24518. Women and Work in Modern East Asia. 100 Units.
Worldwide, women do about 75 percent of the world's unpaid care and domestic work. They spend up to three hours more per day cooking and cleaning than men do, and anywhere from two to ten hours more per day looking after children and the elderly. Women's underpaid work at home and in industry subsidized the early stages of industrialization in nineteenth-century Britain, early twentieth-century Japan, and contemporary China, and women's unpaid contributions to their households enable employers worldwide to keep wages low. We know, at least in outline, how women came to carry double burdens in Europe and North America, but little research has been done so far about this process in East Asia. In this course, we will discuss when and how China, Japan, and Korea developed a division of labor in which most wage work was gendered male and reproductive work was marked female. Are current divisions of labor between men and women rooted in local cultures, or are they the result of industrial capitalist development? How do divisions of labor differ between the three East Asian countries, and how did developments in one East Asian country affect others?
Instructor(s): Jacob Eyferth Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Not offered in 2023-24.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 20121, HIST 34518, EALC 34501, EALC 24501, GNSE 30121
HIST 24519. Li Zhi and 16th Century China: The Self, Tradition, and Dissent in Comparative Context. 100 Units.
The 16th century Chinese iconoclast Li Zhi (Li Zhuowu) has been rightly celebrated as a pioneer of individualism, one of history's great voices of social protest, an original mind powerfully arguing for genuine self-expression, and more. He was a Confucian official and erudite in the classics, yet in his sixties he takes the Buddhist tonsure, and late in life befriends the Jesuit Matteo Ricci. He sought refuge in a quiet monastery devoting his life to scholarship, yet invited constant scandal. His A Book to Burn "sold like hotcakes," and attracted enough trouble that reportedly readers would surreptitiously hide their copies tucked up their sleeves, and was later banned by the state soon after his death. In this seminar, we will place Li both within the context of the history of "Confucian" thought, and within the literary, religious, and philosophical conversations of the late Ming. Using his writings as a productive case study, we will think about topics including "religion," tradition and innovation, "spontaneity" and "authenticity," and the relationship between "classics" and commentaries. Throughout, we will bring our discussions into comparative analysis, considering views of thinkers and traditions from other times and places. Chinese not required; for those interested, we will read select essays of Li's in Chinese and students may choose translation as a final project.
Instructor(s): Pauline Lee Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or CS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 23202, HIST 34519, EALC 23202, HREL 33202, EALC 33202, FNDL 23202, DVPR 33202
HIST 24613. God of Manga: Osamu Tezuka's "Phoenix," Buddhism, and Post-WWII Manga and Anime. 100 Units.
How can the Buddhist axiom "All Life is Sacred" describe a universe that contains the atrocities of WWII? Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and father of modern Japanese animation, wrestled with this problem over decades in his science fiction epic Phoenix (Hi no Tori), celebrated as the philosophical masterpiece of modern manga. Through a close reading of Phoenix and related texts, this course explores the challenges genocide and other atrocities pose to traditional forms of ethics, and how we understand the human species and our role in nature. The course will also examine the flowering of manga after WWII, how manga authors bypassed censorship to help people understand the war and its causes, and the role manga and anime have played in Japan's global contributions to politics, science, medicine, technology, techno-utopianism, environmentalism, ethics, theories of war and peace, global popular culture, and contemporary Buddhism. Readings will be mainly manga, and the final paper will have a creative option including the possibility of creating graphic work.
Instructor(s): A. Palmer Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 34613, KNOW 24613, FNDL 24613, RLST 28613, MAAD 14613
HIST 24706. Edo/Tokyo: Society and the City in Japan. 100 Units.
This course explores the history of one of the world's largest cities from its origins as the castle town of the Tokugawa shoguns in the early seventeenth century, to its transformation into a national capital and imperial center, and concludes in the postwar era as Tokyo emerged from the ashes of World War II to become a center of global capital and culture. Our focus will be on the complex and evolving interactions between the natural and built environments of the city and politics, culture, and social relations.
Instructor(s): S. Burns Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 34706, EALC 24706, ENST 24706, ARCH 24706, HIST 34706, EALC 34706, CRES 24706
HIST 25023. Tutorial: Evolution Beyond Darwin. 100 Units.
One of the most identifiable images associated with evolution is the visage of Charles Darwin. Historical narratives of evolution center on Darwin's work, and scientific publications today still note whether or not Darwin pre-empted their ideas. This course aims to build a narrative of evolution that brings the story up to today, asking why so many see Darwin as a shorthand for evolution and what consequences that might have for the development and communication of the science. In addition, it will interrogate other "iconic" images and narratives in evolution, like the tree of life. We will ask where our ideas about evolution have come from, how they are perpetuated, and what consequence that might have for the discipline of evolutionary biology. The course has three aims: 1) to provide a historical understanding of evolution after Darwin; 2) to reflect on how evolution is communicated between scientists and to the broader public, and to ask how "icons" or Darwin himself suggest implicit meanings counter to the work of the scientists; and 3) to more broadly examine what is a science-a process or a body of knowledge?
Instructor(s): E. Kitchen Terms Offered: Autumn. Offered in Autumn 2023
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 29637
HIST 25030. Pacific Worlds: Race, Gender, Health, and the Environment. 100 Units.
This discussion-based course will introduce students to both classical and recent scholarship in Pacific World historiography. By adopting micro-historical, comparative, and transnational methods, students will examine the formation of three overlapping "worlds": The Antipodes, Polynesia, and the northeastern Pacific. Analyzing the myriad intersections of race, gender, health, and the environment, we will explore a range of large-scale historical processes that shaped and reshaped the Pacific between the mid-eighteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. These processes include European exploration, settler colonialism, and indigenous sovereignty; sex, depopulation, and race science; labor, migration, and urbanization; industrialization and environmental exploitation; and imperial expansion and citizenship. The course is intended for students with an interest in the Pacific Islands, Australasia, and the North American West, as well as those interested in race, gender, health, or the environment within indigenous, immigrant, or settler colonial contexts. Required readings - which will consist of book chapters and academic articles - will be used to contextualize and critically analyze a variety of primary sources during each class session.
Instructor(s): Christopher Kindell Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): This course counts towards the ENST 4th year Capstone requirement. Restricted to 3rd and 4th year students.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 20151, HIPS 20151, ENST 20151, GNSE 22151, HLTH 20151, GLST 25151
HIST 25031. Climate Change, Environment, and Society. 100 Units.
How has natural and anthropogenic climate change shaped historical relationships between humans and their environments? Against the backdrop of planetary environmental emergencies of the early-21st century, this discussion-based course will consider various time scales of ecological, technological, social, and political transformation, including: the rise of agriculture, state formation, and civilizational collapse; the "Medieval Warm Period" and the "Little Ice Age"; the Industrial Revolution, imperialism, and the consolidation of a global fossil fuel regime; the "Great Acceleration" of the mid-20th century; the development of modern climate science; and the social, political, and technological responses to human-induced global warming. Within these time scales, we will explore past dynamics of climate change, the environment, and society through the historical study of land management, population displacement and migration, resource extraction, energy production and consumption, the global commons, as well as the role of national and international governance arrangements in mediating the unequal distribution of environmental risk across the world. Ethics, morality, equity, and justice, among other concepts, will be investigated as we analyze historical connections among socio-environmental transformations and class-based, racialized, and gendered forms of inequality.
Instructor(s): Christopher Kindell Terms Offered: Autumn
Winter
Note(s): Students who have taken ENST 21201: Human Impact on the Global Environment may not enroll in this course.
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 21001, ENST 20011, CEGU 20001
HIST 25032. The Politics of Environmental Knowledge. 100 Units.
How has "nature" been understood and investigated in the modern world? Building upon diverse approaches to environmental history and philosophy, the history of science, and cultural studies, this course surveys the major frameworks through which the environment has been understood, investigated, and transformed since the origins of global modernity. Such issues are explored with reference to the mobilization of science, technology, and politics in several major areas of socio- environmental transformation in the modern world. Case studies might explore, among other issues, empire, race, and public health; cities and infectious disease since the Black Death; the 'great enclosures' of land associated with settler colonialism; the 'Green Revolution' in industrial agriculture; strategies of resource stewardship, land conservation, terraforming, hydrological engineering and watershed protection; the politics of global warming; and current debates on urban sustainability, carbon capture and geo-engineering. The course also considers the rise and evolution of environmentalist movements and conservation strategies, and the contested visions of nature they have embraced. The course concludes by investigating the competing paradigms of knowledge, science, and environment that underpin divergent contemporary programs of environmental governance and visions of 'sustainability'.
Instructor(s): Jessica Landau Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 20012, GLST 21002, CEGU 20002
HIST 25033. Disease, Health, and the Environment in Global Context. 100 Units.
Recent concerns about monkeypox, COVID-19, Zika virus, and Ebola have attracted renewed attention to previous disease outbreaks that have significantly shaped human political, social, economic, and environmental history. Such diseases include: smallpox during the 16th-century Columbian exchange; syphilis during the 18th-century exploration and settlement of the Pacific; bubonic plague in the late-19th-century colonization and urbanization of South and East Asia; and yellow fever during America's 20th-century imperial projects across the Caribbean. Through readings, discussions, library visits, and written assignments that culminate in a final project, students in this course will explore how natural and human-induced environmental changes have altered our past experiences with disease and future prospects for health. First, we will examine how early writers understood the relationship between geography, environment, hereditary constitution, race, gender, and human health. We will then analyze the symbiotic relationship among pathogens, human hosts, and their environments. Finally, we will explore how social factors (e.g. migration, gendered divisions of labor, poverty, and segregation) and human interventions (e.g. epidemiology, medical technology, and sanitary engineering) have influenced the distribution of infectious diseases and environmental risks.
Equivalent Course(s): HLTH 22100, HIPS 22210, GLST 22101, CEGU 22100, RDIN 22100
HIST 25104. History and Philosophy of Biology. 100 Units.
This lecture-discussion course will consider the main figures in the history of biology, from the Hippocratics and Aristotle to Darwin and Mendel. The philosophic issues will be the kinds of explanations appropriate to biology versus the other physical sciences, the status of teleological considerations, and the moral consequences for human beings.
Instructor(s): R. Richards Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): For students taking PHIL 23405, the course is (B) (II).
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 37402, HIST 35104, PHIL 23405, HIPS 25104, PHIL 33405, KNOW 37402
HIST 25119. Science, Culture, and Society in Wittgenstein's Vienna, 1867-1934. 100 Units.
Fin de siècle Vienna is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Arnold Schoenberg, and Otto Wagner, among other pioneering modernist artists, but it was also home to several of the most important philosophers and scientists of the early twentieth century, including Ernst Mach, Ludwig Boltzmann, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Indeed, the city's artists drew considerable inspiration from its philosophers and scientists and vice versa. The purpose of this course is to examine these cultural entanglements in more detail, and to analyze why Vienna was integral to the development of so many of the aesthetic and intellectual trends that scholars now associate with "modernity."
Instructor(s): Zachary Barr Terms Offered: TBD. Not offered in 2023/2024 Academic Year.
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 25119, HIPS 25219
HIST 25205. The Scientific Image. 100 Units.
This course explores the broad field of scientific image-making, focusing in particular on problems of formalism, abstraction, and realism. What makes a "good" scientific image? What kind of work do scientific images do? What philosophical, ideological, and political constraints underwrite attempts to render the complexity of events and entities in the world in stylized visual vocabularies? And how might we approach the work of aesthetics and style in image-making? We will examine these questions through a survey of several contemporary scholarly frameworks used for thinking about problems of representation in scientific practice, and will attend to such image-making practices as graphing, diagramming, modeling, doodling, illustrating, sculpting, and photographing, among other methods.
Instructor(s): M. Rossi Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 35205, HIPS 25505, CHSS 35205
HIST 25206. Global Science. 100 Units.
Is all science global, and if so, how did it get that way? Are some sciences more global than others? What has been at stake historically in describing scientific activity as variously local, transnational, international, or global, and how have these constructions influenced the historiography of the field? In this seminar, we will explore different approaches to writing and examining scientific knowledge production as a global phenomenon, as well as considering different historiographic attempts at grappling with science's simultaneously local and global qualities, poly-vocal nature, and historical coproduction with global political and economic power.
Instructor(s): E. Kern Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 35301, HIST 35206, HIPS 25316
HIST 25213. Normal People. 100 Units.
Worrying about what's normal and what's not is an endemic feature of both our popular and scientific cultures. Is my intelligence above average? What about my height? Should I be feeling this way? Is there a pill for that? People seem to have always been concerned with fitting in, but the way of describing the general run of practices and conditions as "normal" is a rather recent phenomenon; testament to the vast influence of the modern human sciences on how we understand ourselves and others. This seminar will offer a broad historical overview of the ways that group behaviors and individual traits - bodily, moral, intellectual - were methodically described and measured in the past 200 years. We will become acquainted with the work of sociologists and anthropologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, polling experts and child development specialists, and ask about the kinds of people their efforts brought into being, from sexual perverts to the chronically depressed. The course will focus on the scientific theories and techniques used to distinguish the normal from the pathological, together with the new social institutions that translated this knowledge into forms of control. We will read Émile Durkheim on suicide rates and Cesare Lombroso on born criminals; learn about IQ tests and developmental milestones; and consider whether, with the advent of personalized medicine and self-data, we have indeed reached the "end of average."
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 36078, KNOW 36078, IRHU 20009, HIPS 26078, HLTH 26078, SOCI 40255, HIST 35213, CHSS 36078, IRHU 36078
HIST 25305. Magic, Miracles, and Medicine: Healthcare in the Bible and the Ancient World. 100 Units.
This course examines the complex issues surrounding the body, disability, and medical care in antiquity. It will be guided by a variety of questions, such as what was the root cause of bodily infirmity and disease in antiquity? How did cultural views of sex, gender, and race influence perceptions of the body and what it meant to be able bodied? Such questions are significant when considering what kind of access to healthcare marginalized groups had. In order to explore these questions, we will examine ancient Mediterranean views of medical care through material remains (e.g., magical amulets and healing shrines) and textual evidence (e.g., Galen and Hippocrates). After considering this wider cultural context, we will examine treatments in the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and early Christianity. We will also explore how Christian concepts of medical care evolved in light of accounts of Jesus as a divine healer. In addition to this ancient evidence, we will engage with modern disability studies and sociological analyses to better orient our readings. At the end of the course, students will be better acquainted with the complex relationship between religion and medicine and how that affects modern healthcare decisions.
Instructor(s): Richard Zaleski Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CCTS 21021, HLTH 20223, KNOW 20223, JWSC 20923, RLST 20223, HIPS 20223
HIST 25318. Wonder, Wonders, and Knowing. 100 Units.
In wonder is the beginning of philosophy," wrote Aristotle; Descartes also thought that those deficient in wonder were also deficient in knowledge. But the relationship between wonder and inquiry has always been an ambivalent one: too much wonder stupefies rather than stimulates investigation, according to Descartes; Aristotle explicitly excluded wonders as objects of inquiry from natural philosophy. Francis Bacon called wonders "broken knowledge." Since the sixteenth century, scientists and scholars have both cultivated and repudiated the passion of wonder; On the one hand, marvels (or even just anomalies) threaten to subvert the human and natural orders; on the other, the wonder they ignite inquiry into their causes. Wonder is also a passion tinged with the numinous, and miracles have long stood for the inexplicable in religious contexts. Above all, wonders demand attention and interpretation. This seminar will explore the long, vexed relationship between wonder, knowledge, and belief in the history of philosophy, science, and religion.
Instructor(s): Lorraine Daston Terms Offered: Spring. Spring 2024
Prerequisite(s): Consent is required for both grads and undergrads. This course will be taught in the first five weeks of the quarter. Reading knowledge of at least one language besides English would be helpful but not requried.
Note(s): The seminar will take place on Tuesdays & Thursdays, 09:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.*, during the first five weeks of the term (March 19 – April 18, 2024)
Equivalent Course(s): SCTH 30926, CHSS 30936, SCTH 20926, PHIL 20926, HIST 35318, KNOW 30926, PHIL 30926, HREL 30926, RLST 28926
HIST 25508. Tutorial: Mathematical Knowledge: Race, Politics and Materiality. 100 Units.
Mathematical knowledge is commonly treated as objective and neutral, even though it is produced through specific societal contexts and in turn impacts those same contexts. In this course we will take a thematic approach to studying how mathematical and quantitative knowledges are produced and used through political processes from which they cannot be separated. We will look at examples such as the connections between plantation slavery and the precise measurement of molasses barrels in the 18th century, the gendered nature of the prestigious Tripos exam in the 19th century, 20th century attempts to quantify and manage reproduction, and 21st century issues of algorithmic policing. We will consider multiple angles for approaching the study of mathematics by connecting mathematical knowledge to topics such as labor, racial sciences, pedagogy, material tools, masculinity, nation-building, and embodiment. This will allow us to move beyond simply considering representation (of women in STEM, for example) to think about how gender and race are part of the construction of mathematical knowledge. In particular, this course will encourage students to think creatively about other possibilities for how we could justly and effectively use mathematics in our lives. There are no mathematical pre-requisites; students with a variety of experiences with mathematics will be able to participate fully in this course.
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 29647, GNSE 29647
HIST 25511. A History of Cell and Molecular Biology. 100 Units.
This course will trace the parallel histories of cell and molecular biology, primarily in the 20th century, by exploring continuities and discontinuities between these fields and their precursors. Through discussion, attempts will be made to develop definitions of cell and molecular biology that are based upon their practices and explanatory strategies, and to determine to what extent these practices and strategies overlap. Finally, the relevance of these definitions to current developments in biology will be explored. The course is not designed to be comprehensive, but will provide an overall historical and conceptual framework.
Instructor(s): K. Matlin Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): This course does not meet the requirements for the Biological Sciences Major.
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 25902, HIST 35511, CHSS 34300
HIST 25602. Ancient Empires IV: the Achaemenid Empire. 100 Units.
This course introduces students to the Achaemenid Empire, also known as the First Persian Empire (ca. 550-330 BCE). We will be examining the political history and cultural accomplishments of the Achaemenids who, from their homeland in modern-day Iran, quickly rose to become one of the largest empires of the ancient world, ruling from North Africa to North India at their height. We will also be examining the history of Greek-Persian encounters and the image of the Achaemenids in Greek and Biblical literature. The students will visit the Oriental Institutes' archive and object collection to learn more about the University of Chicago's unique position in the exploration, excavation, and restoration of the Persian Empire's royal architecture and administrative system through the Persian Expedition carried out in the 1930s.
Instructor(s): Mehrnoush Soroush Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20014, CLCV 21722
HIST 25615. Islamic Thought and Literature II. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 950 to 1700, surveying works of literature, theology, philosophy, sufism, politics, history, etc., written in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, as well as the art, architecture and music of the Islamicate traditions. Through primary texts, secondary sources and lectures, we will trace the cultural, social, religious, political and institutional evolution through the period of the Fatimids, the Crusades, the Mongol invasions, and the "gunpowder empires" (Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals).
Instructor(s): Adam Flower - Firas Alkhateeb Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 22100, NEHC 20602, RLST 20402, MDVL 20602
HIST 25616. Islamic Thought and Literature III. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 1700 to the present. It explores Muslim intellectuals' engagement with tradition and modernity in the realms of religion, politics, literature, and law. We discuss debates concerning the role of religion in a modern society, perceptions of Europe and European influence, the challenges of maintain religious and cultural authenticity, and Muslim views of nation-states and nationalism in the Middle East. We also give consideration to the modern developments of transnational jihadism and the Arab Spring. This course sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Instructor(s): Holly Shissler - Tobias Scheunchen Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20603, RLST 20403, SOSC 22200
HIST 25705. Everyday Life in the Early Islamic Period. 100 Units.
How did people live in the early Islamic period? How did they work and study? What do we know about their relations with family members, loved ones, and neighbors? How did they relate to the administration and to people who ruled them? Did they get together to celebrate religious festivals? Did they have parties? What sources do we have to learn about their habits, routines, and feelings? What can we learn about every-day struggles, and how much do these differ from our own? This course aims to introduce undergraduate and early graduate students to the study of social history through a combination of literary and documentary sources from the early centuries of Islam. We will learn about both opportunities and limits of studying history from the "bottom-up."
Instructor(s): CECILIA PALOMBO Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 20324, NEHC 20024, HIST 35705, NEHC 30024, ISLM 30024
HIST 25710. Revolution and Piety in Islam. 100 Units.
This course examines religious responses to major political upheavals in Islamic history, from the Abbasid revolution to the age of European expansion. Topics include the Mongol destruction of the caliphate in 1258 and the opening and closing of confessional boundaries; the formation of regional Muslim empires in the 16th century; Ibn Arabi, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Khaldun; the development of alternative spiritualities, mysticism, and messianism in the fifteenth century; trans-confessionalism, antinomianism, and the articulation of sacral sovereignties in the sixteenth century; the pious responses to European colonialism . All work in English.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 35710, RLST 21113, NEHC 20113, ISLM 30113, NEHC 30113
HIST 25809. The Economy by Other Means": New Approaches to the Economy of the Late and Post-Ottoman Middle East. 100 Units.
Questions around political economy and capitalism are once again gaining prominence in Ottoman and Middle East studies. Whereas these questions have been fundamental to the traditional confines of economic history and political economy, this new engagement takes its cue from a different and diverse pool of fields. As one observer recently put it, an emerging body of literature engages with "the economy by other means." This course takes stock of these still-uncharted means by bringing together and examining a selection of recently published books treating economic themes in the late Ottoman Empire and in the post-Ottoman Middle East up to the midtwentieth century. How do these books challenge, build on, and/or conform to the contours of economic modes of analysis? What do they contribute to our understanding of capitalism in the Middle East? What are the new archives they create for the study of economic life? How do they destabilize the conceptual repertoire of political economy? More importantly, in what ways do they change our view of the late Ottoman and modern Middle East? This course will take us from malaria in Anatolia to "men of capital" in Mandate Palestine; from legal battles on family inheritance in Ottoman Syria to the "colonial economism" of the British occupation of Egypt; from the late Ottoman culture of productivity to the rise of the Arabic novel during nahda.
Instructor(s): Murat Bozluolcay Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 35803, NEHC 20866, KNOW 30866, KNOW 20866, NEHC 30866
HIST 26106. Tropical Commodities in Latin America. 100 Units.
This colloquium explores selected aspects of the social, economic, environmental, and cultural history of tropical export commodities from Latin America-- e.g., coffee, bananas, sugar, tobacco, henequen, rubber, vanilla, and cocaine. Topics include land, labor, capital, markets, transport, geopolitics, power, taste, and consumption.
Instructor(s): E. Kourí Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 36106, LACS 26106, CEGU 26106, HIST 36106
HIST 26302. A History of Youth in Latin America. 100 Units.
This course will examine the history of youth-as a social category, and as an experience-in Latin America. We will consider histories of childhood, student activism, and youth culture across the region to consider how young people experience everyday life, and how they effect change. Course materials will combine primary sources including film, music, and other visual and performance artworks with scholarship on childhood and youth.
Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 21816, CHDV 21816, LACS 21816
HIST 26305. Covid-19 and other epidemics in Latin American History. 100 Units.
This course is designed as an introduction to the history of epidemics and pandemics in Latin America from the XVI century to the present. Emphasis will be on using epidemics and pandemics as historical lenses to illuminate key dimensions of Latin America's society like discrimination, citizenship, authoritarianism, popular resilience and globalization. We will discuss the relationship between epidemics and pandemics and international commerce, analyze the role played by structural inequities and inadequate responses by governments in the intensification of disease outbreaks, and assess popular reactions to government's action and inaction. An organizing principle of several sessions will be "Necropolitics" (a concept originally coined by Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe) applied to social studies of health. These studies indicate that it is misleading to consider epidemics and pandemics as equal-opportunity threats since widespread disease outbreaks are usually more acute and tragic for vulnerable populations. A distinctive feature of necropolitics and Covid-19 was a misplaced hope for "herd immunity", embraced by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, namely the natural protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune through previous infection, with the assumption that a large number of people had to die.
Instructor(s): Marcos Cueto Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 36305, LACS 35132, LACS 25132
HIST 26306. Water in Latin America. 100 Units.
The course will explore how water shapes-and is shaped by-humans in Latin America. Drawing from case studies from the pre-Columbian era to the present, the course will consider struggles over aquatic resources, dam building, and hydraulic development, as well as the social life of water in the region. Some background in Latin American history or politics is helpful but not required.
Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 26381, CEGU 26381
HIST 26307. The Simultaneity of Time: Reading Jorge Luis Borges in the 21st Century. 100 Units.
The Simultaneity of Time: Reading Jorge Luis Borges in the 21st Century
Instructor(s): Mauricio Tenorio Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 29205
HIST 26318. Indigenous Politics in Latin America. 100 Units.
This course examines the history of Indigenous policies and politics in Latin America from the first encounters with European empires through the 21st Century. Course readings and discussions will consider several key historical moments across the region: European encounters/colonization; the rise of liberalism and capitalist expansion in the 19th century; 20th-century integration policies; and pan-Indigenous and transnational social movements in recent decades. Students will engage with primary and secondary texts that offer interpretations and perspectives both within and across imperial and national boundaries.
Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 36380, GLST 26380, RDIN 26380, RDIN 36380, HIPS 26380, LACS 26380, CRES 26380, ANTH 23077
HIST 26319. Art and the Archive in Greater Latin America. 100 Units.
How and why do artists engage records of the past in their work? What are the politics of both creating archives and culling from them to visually render or represent the past? Focusing on artists, art-making, and archives in Greater Latin America (including the United States), this course will consider the process of collecting and creating in artistic production from the perspectives of both theory and practice. Students in the course will work directly with archival materials in Chicago and collaborate on contemporary artistic projects that consider issues of relevance to people and places of the Western Hemisphere.
Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 26384, ARTH 26384, LACS 26384, CHST 26384, ARTV 20017
HIST 26409. Revolution, Dictatorship, & Violence in Modern Latin America. 100 Units.
This course will examine the role played by Marxist revolutions, revolutionary movements, and the right-wing dictatorships that have opposed them in shaping Latin American societies and political cultures since the end of World War II. Themes examined will include the relationship among Marxism, revolution, and nation building; the importance of charismatic leaders and icons; the popular authenticity and social content of Latin American revolutions; the role of foreign influences and interventions; the links between revolution and dictatorship; and the lasting legacies of political violence and military rule. Countries examined will include Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mexico. Assignments: Weekly reading, a midterm exam or paper, a final paper, participation in discussion, and weekly responses or quizzes.
Instructor(s): B. Fischer Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Some background in Latin American studies or Cold War history useful.
Equivalent Course(s): DEMS 26409, HIST 36409, LACS 26409, LACS 36409, ENST 26409, HMRT 26409
HIST 26509. Law and Citizenship in Latin America. 100 Units.
This course will examine law and citizenship in Latin America from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. We will explore the development of Latin American legal systems in both theory and practice, examine the ways in which the operation of these systems has shaped the nature of citizenship in the region, discuss the relationship between legal and other inequalities, and analyze some of the ways in which legal documents and practices have been studied by scholars in order to gain insight into questions of culture, nationalism, family, violence, gender, and race.
Instructor(s): B. Fischer Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): background in Latin American Studies, Latin American History, and/or legal history useful
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 36509, LACS 36509, LLSO 26509, HIST 36509, LACS 26509
HIST 26606. Postcolonial and Decolonial History and Theory. 100 Units.
This course introduces students to some key texts in post and decolonial theory. Our goals in this class are three-fold. First, to familiarize students with foundational thinkers who have inspired both decolonial and postcolonial work. We draw attention to the different ways in which their ideas have been deployed in subsequent post and decolonial scholarship. Second, we ask questions oriented towards comparison of postcolonial and decolonial approaches: What, if any, are the points of overlap between decolonial and postcolonial thought? How do both bodies of work critique and contest the legacies of empire? Third, we investigate the present and possible futures of decolonial and postcolonial thought.
Instructor(s): Rochona Majumdar & Lisa Wedeen Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Enrollment limit: 15
Equivalent Course(s): CDIN 20704, PLSC 20704, CCCT 20704, SALC 20704
HIST 26703. Modernity and Islam in South Asia: Piety, Poetry and Politics. 100 Units.
What did the experience of modernity and colonialism look like for Islamic South Asia? How did South Asian Muslims, especially in North India, respond to the many challenges and opportunities modernity brought in its wake? This course explores how custodians of Islamic religious and poetic traditions responded to colonial modernity. We also introduce some key ideas of postcolonial studies, and apply as well as think critically about them in the light of the Indo-Islamic case-study. We begin the course by exploring the possible meanings of modernity and colonialism, before diving deeper into Indo-Islamic modernity using two broad and highly intertwined themes: religion, encompassing subthemes of science, rationality, and progress, and literature, especially poetry and the fate of the Persian and Urdu ghazal tradition, occasionally making comparisons with other pre-colonial genres in other Indian languages. We will look at the creation of new genres and new kinds of poetry in Persian and Urdu that emerge both to answer the call of modernity and sometimes to reject and attack it.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 25327
HIST 27006. Not Just the Facts: Telling About the American South. 100 Units.
The great jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once observed: "The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts live." This course concerns itself with the various ways people have striven to understand the American South, past and present. We will read fiction, autobiography, and history (including meditations on how to write history). Main themes of the course include the difference between historical scholarship and writing history in fictional form; the role of the author in each and consideration of the interstitial space of autobiography; the question of authorial authenticity; and the tension between contemporary demands for truthfulness and the rejection of "truth."
Instructor(s): J. Dailey Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Open to upper-level undergraduates; graduate students by consent of instructor.
Note(s): Assignments: three short papers.
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 27006, HIST 37006, AMER 37006, AMER 27006, LLSO 25411
HIST 27209. Martin and Malcolm: Life and Belief. 100 Units.
This course examines the religious, social, cultural, political, and personal factors that went into the making of the two most prominent public leaders and public intellectuals emerging from the African American community in the 1950s and 1960s: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. We will review their autobiographies, the domestic trends within the USA, and the larger international forces operating during their times. Their life stories provide the contexts for the sharp differences and surprising commonalities in their political thought and religious beliefs. At the end of their lives, were they still radical contrasts, sharing the same views, or had their beliefs shifted - did Malcolm become Martin and Martin become Malcolm?
Instructor(s): Dwight Hopkins Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 24601, FNDL 24601, RLST 24601, RDIN 24601
HIST 27210. American Wars and the 20th Century World (1900-1990) 100 Units.
This course explores the history of American military power from the Spanish-American War to the end of the 1980s, focusing on the social, cultural, racial, and human rights aspects of the U.S. military and soldiering in the 20th century. This course will only lightly discuss military strategy and tactic, and instead focus on the broader array of issues which stem from American wars. The course will cover topics such as American military occupations, the desegregation of the Armed Forces, military justice and war crimes, and the rise (and fall) of human rights in American imaginations of war. We will be concerned with questions such as the relationship of the military to state-building in the U.S. and abroad, war as a state-making and race-making mechanism, and the importance of human rights and justice within imaginations of American military power. This course seeks to understand how war and peace shaped the history of the United States in the twentieth century, and the role of grassroots actors in defining the nature of war.
Instructor(s): Syrus Jin, Pozen Center for Human Rights Graduate Lecturer Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 23516, GLST 23516
HIST 27304. Narratives of American Religious History. 100 Units.
How do we tell the story of religion in America? Is it a story of Protestant dominance? Of religious diversity? Of transnational connections? Of secularization? This course examines how historians have grappled with such questions. We will read the work of scholars who have offered narratives explaining American religious history, including figures like Sydney Ahlstrom, Albert Raboteau, Mark Noll, Ann Braude, Catherine Albanese, and Thomas Tweed. This course will introduce students to key historiographical questions in the study of American religion, as well as to classic texts which have shaped the field's development.
Instructor(s): William Schultz and Curtis Evans Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course meets the HS or SCSR Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 22315, KNOW 41315, RLST 21315, HCHR 41315, RDIN 41315, HIST 47304, AMER 41315, RAME 41315, RDIN 21315, AMER 21315
HIST 27312. Researching Chicago's Historic Parks and Neighborhoods. 100 Units.
Often considered a "City of Neighborhoods," Chicago has a fascinating network of community areas that were shaped by historical events and developments. Many of the city's neighborhoods include parks that have their own significant architectural, landscape and social histories. The class will introduce students to some of Chicago's most interesting historic neighborhoods and parks; expose them to key regional digital and on-site archives; and instruct them in appropriate methodologies for conducting deep research on sites and landscapes, with a special focus on Chicago's historic park system. Students will utilize an array of resources including Sanborn maps, US Census records, historic plans, photographs, and archival newspapers to provide in-depth studies of unpreserved sites. The course will also expose students to historic preservation policies, methodologies, and guidelines to provide practical strategies for preserving lesser-known places and sites. As a Chicago Studies class, its pedagogy will also include excursions into the city, engagement with local guest speakers, and research in relevant Chicago-area archives/special collections.
Instructor(s): Julia Bachrach Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This special class is offered in conjunction with the University’s ongoing commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture. Olmsted and his sons, the Olmsted Brothers, had a substantial influence on the city’s South Side, including the University’s campus and the development of small parks that provided services to dense immigrant neighborhoods in the early 20th century. The class will include field trips during some Friday class sessions.
Equivalent Course(s): CHST 20336, ARCH 10336, CEGU 20336, ENST 20336, ARTH 20336
HIST 27313. Planning for Land and Life in the Calumet. 100 Units.
The collaborative plan to create a Calumet National Heritage Area that touches aspects of environmental conservation, economic development, cultural heritage, recreation, arts, and education will ground this course's exploration of landscape history and landscape planning in the Calumet region. Students will investigate this planning process and its relationship to other local and regional plans. A strong focus of the course is on the opportunities and challenges this complex and richly textured industrial region faces in its transition to a more sustainable future.
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 26366, CEGU 26366, CHST 26366, ENST 26366
HIST 27314. Objects, Place and Power. 100 Units.
Objects are not only formed and interpreted through ideas of place and power, but also shape place and identity. This course looks at how material culture has, in part, formed understandings of the Calumet. Through methods drawn from art history and museum studies, we will look closely at objects, collections, and institutions in the region to analyze the power and politics of representation in placemaking.
Equivalent Course(s): CEGU 26367, PBPL 26367, ARTH 26367, CHST 26367, ENST 26367
HIST 27315. Environmental Transitions and Unnatural Histories. 100 Units.
The course considers changes wrought in the natural landscape of the greater Calumet region beginning with indigenous Potawatomi and their forced removal. Students will examine how the Calumet's natural environment became collateral damage of the industrial capitalism that transformed the region into an economic powerhouse and explore efforts to rehabilitate the Calumet's rich biodiversity, identifying the challenges and achievements of this most recent environmental transition.
Equivalent Course(s): CEGU 26368, ANTH 26368, CHST 26368, PBPL 26368, ENST 26368
HIST 27408. Transatlantic Crossings: Everyday Race and Racism in the 20th Century. 100 Units.
In this course we will explore the "work" race does on both sides of the Atlantic, focusing mainly on the period from the turn of the 20th century to the present. Topics covered will include: national variations in how "race" and racial identity have been defined and invoked, including policies on the naming, gathering and use of racial statistics; the fundamental rupture in ideas about race and transatlantic relations during and following the Great War and its impact on popular culture during the interwar period; the transatlantic resurgence and challenges to "scientific racism," focusing especially on how it was manifested in the politics and practices of biological reproduction and adoption; the social reproduction of racial ideas and identities manifested in children's books, toys, films, and sports; and how sports and the media shape and are shaped by racial ideologies. We will explore these topics as relatively autonomous developments within the nation-states composing the Atlantic world, while noting the transatlantic transfers, connections, and influences that both strengthened and challenged them. Our readings and discussions will focus heavily on the U.S. and France, but where pertinent comparative references will be made to Great Britain, Germany, and Brazil.
Instructor(s): Leora Auslander Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 31100, RDIN 21100, HIST 37408
HIST 27409. Blackness and the Problem of the Archive. 100 Units.
This course will explore the question what "what is an archive?" from the perspective of Black theorists, historians, artists and historical actors. We will come to understand how the "archival turn," or the scholarly reimagining of the essential nature of the archive presents a range of problems for researching black life. As theorists redefined the archive from a physical repository of textual materials collected by the state to a quasi-metaphorical, hegemonic site of violence and illegibility, traditional forms of historical inquiry and narration came under intense scrutiny. These critiques generated a number of questions which we will ponder together. Can the everyday realities of black subjects-be they enslaved, working-class, female or queer-be recovered through archival texts? How is agency expressed (or not expressed) in the archive? And why? Can archives exist as anything other than repositories for the reproduction of elite consciousness? Or as sites of distortion and dehumanization? With these discussions as our backdrop we will additionally explore imagination and possibility in the archives, asking what Black people's archival practices tell us about human expression and memory. Alongside conceptual texts we will also engage in archival practice as a group. The course will culminate in each student producing a research project which critically engages with a local Black archive in Chicago, or a digital repository of their choosing.
Instructor(s): M. Hicks Terms Offered: Spring
HIST 27415. Creating a Different Image: Black Women's Filmmaking of the 1970s-90s. 100 Units.
This course will explore the rich intersections between African American women's filmmaking, literary production, and feminist thought from the 1970s to the early 1990s, with an emphasis on the formation of a Black women's film culture beginning in the 1970s. We will examine the range of Black feminisms presented through film and the ways that these films have challenged, countered, and reimagined dominant narratives about race, class, gender, and sexuality in America. We will explore the power and limitations of filmmaking as a mode of Black feminist activism; the range of Black feminisms presented through film; and the specific filmic engagements of well-known Black feminist critics such as bell hooks, Toni Cade Bambara, and Michele Wallace. As many Black feminist writers were engaged with filmmaking and film culture, we will look at these films alongside Black women's creative and critical writing from the period. Approaching filmmaking in the context of Black feminist thought will allow us to examine the possibilities of interdisciplinary approaches to film studies broadly, as well as to think specifically about the research methods and theories that are demanded by Black women's filmmaking in particular.
Instructor(s): Allyson Field Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): This course is open to graduate and undergraduate students from across the disciplines; our conversations and presentations of the films will both depend on and be energized by different disciplinary perspectives.
Note(s): Not offered in 2023-24.
Please email Professor Field at anfield@uchicago.edu before enrolling.
Course Description Continued:
We will discuss the form, aesthetics, and politics of individual films and we will examine larger efforts by artists and activists to build a Black women’s film culture, asking such questions as: What does a film history of Black feminism look like, and what scholarly and creative methods does such a history demand?
To begin to answer these questions, we will revisit the 1976 Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts—believed to be the first ever Black women’s film festival—organized by Michele Wallace, Faith Ringgold, Patricia Jones, Margo Jefferson, and Monica Freeman. The class will collectively participate in a homage series inspired by the 1976 festival, featuring work by filmmakers from the original festival such as Monica Freeman, Madeline Anderson, Michelle Parkerson, Ayoka Chenzira, Carol Munday Lawrence, Edie Lynch, and Camille Billops; as well as others including Julie Dash, Zeinabu irene Davis, Maya Angelou, and Yvonne Welbon. The weekly course screenings will be open to the public and students will gain experience in the public presentation of films by actively engaging in public-facing aspects of film exhibition (writing program notes, delivering introductions, participating in discussions, etc.). The class will culminate with a two-day symposium that will bring together around 35 Black feminist filmmakers and artists, including a number from the 1976 festival, to revisit the threads and legacies of the original event and discuss the present and future of Black women’s film practices.
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 31025, CRES 21025, HMRT 21025, CMST 21025, GNSE 30128, HIST 37415, KNOW 31025, GNSE 20128, HMRT 31025
HIST 27416. Black Religious Protest in the U.S. 100 Units.
This course examines African American religious protest against the American nation for its actual history and its ideals in view of black oppression. The course begins with David Walker's Appeal (1829) and ends with debates around Jeremiah Wright's "God damn America" sermon. The course situates black religious protest amidst discussions of the American Jeremiad, a particular critique of the nation in relation to the divine, American exceptionalism, and racial injustice. We attempt to trace continuity and discontinuity, hope versus pessimism, and visions of a more perfect union in these public critiques of the nation.
Instructor(s): Curtis Evans Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22202, HCHR 42202, AMER 22202, RAME 42202, RDIN 23202, HIST 47416, AMER 42202
HIST 27417. The Global Color Line and the New International Order. 100 Units.
In 1900, W. E. B. Du Bois prophesied that the "problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," concomitantly laying the foundation of a new language of solidarity by enlisting, not only the "millions of black men in Africa [and] America" but also "the brown and yellow myriads" in Asia, as victims of White oppression. The color line, seen as a collaborative imperial instrument to keep European states atop a global hierarchy, thus represented both problem and solution for Du Bois. This course explores the provocative thesis of color line by examining two sites where its structural logic was most evident: the continent of Africa and the emerging international law, in the early 20th century. The first part of the course focuses on Africa as a crucible for various White imperialists and a diverse group of settlers belonging to "darker races"-drawn to the continent by its riches. We will explore the multiple forms of solidarity forged among people of color, while acknowledging how real-world animosities attenuated this aspiration. The second half examines the burgeoning int'l order by pivoting on the evolution of int'l law reliant on an "exclusion-inclusion model" that perpetuated the color line, along with a concomitant process of global solidarity that culminated in the Bandung Conference. Students will utilize archival and primary sources, complemented by cutting-edge contemporary scholarship.
Instructor(s): Taimur Reza Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 25328, SALC 35328, RDIN 30600, CHDV 20600, RDIN 20600
HIST 27510. Religion in the Enlightenment: England and America. 100 Units.
Study in the historiographies of the Enlightenment in England and in America, with special attention to the "trans-Atlantic" communication of ideas regarding the nature of the person, religion, and the role of the political order.
Instructor(s): Richard Rosengarten Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS or LMCS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): HCHR 42200, AMER 22110, HIST 47510, RLST 22110, AMER 42100, RAME 42100, RLVC 42100
HIST 27718. Beyond the Culture Wars: Social Movements and the Politics of Education in the U.S. 100 Units.
Passionate conflicts over school curriculum and educational policy are a recurring phenomenon in the history of US schooling. Why are schools such frequent sites of struggle and what is at stake in these conflicts? In this discussion-based seminar, we will consider schools as battlegrounds in the US "culture wars": contests over competing visions of national identity, morality, social order, the fundamental purposes of public education, and the role of the state vis-à-vis the family. Drawing on case studies from history, anthropology, sociology and critical race and gender studies, we will examine both past and contemporary debates over school curriculum and school policy. Topics may include clashes over: the teaching of evolution, sex and sexuality education, busing/desegregation, prayer in schools, multiculturalism, the content of the literary canon, the teaching of reading, mathematics and history, and the closure of underperforming urban schools. Our inquiry will examine how social and political movements have used schools to advance or resist particular agendas and social projects.
Instructor(s): Lisa Rosen Terms Offered: Spring 2022-23
Equivalent Course(s): CHDV 33011, SOCI 30588, EDSO 23011, SOCI 20588, EDSO 33011, HIST 37718, CHDV 23011, PBPL 23011
HIST 27719. The Christian Right. 100 Units.
From the Gilded Age to the age of Donald Trump, conservatives Christians have played a major role in shaping American politics and culture. This course will use primary and secondary sources to explore the development of the Christian Right in the United States. We will answer essential questions about the movement: Who joins it? Who leads it? And who funds it? We will examine how conservative Christians approach not only "moral" issues like abortion but also issues like economic regulation and foreign policy. Finally, we will seek to answer the question: What is the future of the Christian Right in an increasingly diverse America?
Instructor(s): William Schultz Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course meets the HS Committee distribution requirement for Divinity students.
Equivalent Course(s): AMER 22667, RLST 22667, HCHR 35700, HIST 37719, RAME 35700, AMER 35700
HIST 27720. Disability in American History. 100 Units.
This course explores disability as a crucial aspect of power and identity in modern American history. Over the course of that history, legal, medical, economic, environmental, and cultural structures have been elaborated which render some people's bodies and minds as disabled. Furthermore, debilitating and maiming forces have produced impairment in the bodies and minds of groups and individuals in unequal ways. In this course we consider some of these disabling structures and debilitating forces. Through applying a disability lens, we will explore the complex relationships between disability and race, gender, class, and sexuality in United States politics and life. Alongside our inquiry into structural, systemic, and attitudinal forms of ableism in historical context, we will learn how disabled people and their allies have challenged powerful forces throughout U.S history. Such challenges have included demands for rights and recognition to mutual aid to rejections of ableism's hierarchies and exclusions through building kin, forming communities, tinkering, and claiming identities. Students engage disability's rich history through primary sources, scholarly texts, films, images, and other cultural products.
Instructor(s): Madeline Williams Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HLTH 27720
HIST 27806. Histories of Women in Science. 100 Units.
In the mid-1980s, only two female students drew women when asked what a scientist looked like and none of the male students in the study did. Only 8% of STEM workers in 1970 were women; in 2019 that number was still only 27%. This would seem to suggest that the history of women in science is a recent one. Yet historians of science have foregrounded women's involvement in fields ranging from early modern medicine to twentieth century astrophysics. This class introduces students to these histories, investigates how and why science came to be a gendered as male, and asks to what extent gendered values continue to inform modern conceptions scientific achievement or value. In so doing, this course also introduces students to feminist science studies and challenges students to reflect upon their own (gendered) experiences of science. Students are strongly encouraged to develop final research projects that draw upon their own interests, scientific expertise, and linguistic competencies. No prior experience with history is required for this course, although an enthusiasm for history is advised.
Instructor(s): Kristine Palmieri Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PHSC 27010, CHSS 37011, HIPS 27011, GNSE 23162, KNOW 37011, GNSE 37011, ASTR 23700
HIST 27807. Sexuality in U.S. History to 1900. 100 Units.
In this course we will study the history of changing sexual practices, relations, politics, cultures, and social systems in the region of North America now comprising the United States and 574 sovereign tribal nations. We begin in the pre-colonial period and end in the late twentieth century, focusing on how gendered, racial, economic, religious, medical, and commercial discourses shaped and were shaped by sexual ones. Moving through various contexts, such as occupied indigenous territories, the secret parties of enslaved people, scientific societies, urban drag balls, medical schools, liberatory movements, and popular culture, we will use primary and secondary sources to develop a research-based understanding of how sexual discourses are produced, revised, and remixed among and across generations.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23165
HIST 27907. Violence: Vigilantism, Community Defense, and Armed Resistance. 100 Units.
This course explores extralegal violence primarily in the US, from decolonial struggles to white mobs to self and community defense by marginalized peoples. How do we understand different forms of violence, defense, and resistance in relation to the violence of the state? What role does violence play in struggles for justice and freedom? This seminar surveys a range of social science approaches to these questions. In addition to reading the work of anthropologists, historians, and philosophers, we will also take up these themes as they appear in popular media and current events.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 22900, RDIN 30900, ANTH 22547, ANTH 32547, RDIN 20900
HIST 28302. The American Founding, 1763-1789. 100 Units.
This course examines the founding of the United States from the global crisis of the British Empire following the Seven Years' War to the launching of the new national government in 1789. The architects of the American republic believed they were laying the foundations not only of a new political regime but also of a new world. As Thomas Paine's revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense asserted in 1776, American independence would "begin the world over again." The lectures consider the revolutionary origins of the United States in the long-term context of three centuries of world history commencing with Columbus' arrival in the Americas in 1492. Course readings consist of primary sources ranging from major works of Enlightenment social and historical theory to political pamphlets, newspaper opinion pieces, and parliamentary debates. This is a lecture course; the assignments consist of two take-home essay exams and a paper.
Instructor(s): J. Vaughn Terms Offered: Spring
HIST 28307. Populism in the United States: Past and Present. 100 Units.
This course will explore the long history of populism in the United States, a history that raises fundamental questions about the nature of US politics, law, and society. These include ongoing disputes over the ownership and control of wealth; the rights and duties of individuals to each other as well as to the commonweal; the relationship of citizens to their nation; reigning definitions of justice and the good life; and the currency of racism, jingoism, paranoia, antisemitism, and demagoguery in US democratic politics. Such large subjects will be engaged through an historical investigation, beginning with the War of Independence. The course will finish by examining the putative re-emergence of "populism" in recent years, particularly since the financial crisis of 2008, to include global comparisons.
Instructor(s): J. Levy and M. Zakim Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CCCT 28307, LLSO 28307, HIST 38307
HIST 28308. Science, Governance, and the Crisis of Liberalism. 100 Units.
In the era of "post-truth" it has become common to link a crisis of scientific authority with a crisis of liberalism. Democracies around the world are under threat, this reasoning goes, in part because of an attack on scientific truth. But what does liberalism - as political culture and as a form of governance - need (or want) from science? Depending where you look, the answer might appear to be facts, truth, a model 'public sphere,' an ethic of objectivity, tactics for managing risk and uncertainty, or technologies of population management (to name a few). In addition to exploring the complex historical relationship between science and liberalism in the modern era, this course will critically assess how the history of science and the history of political thought have theorized truth and governance. We will examine what models of "coproduction" and "social construction" - nearly ubiquitous in the historiography of modern science - fail to capture about the histories of science and state power. We will also think about how political and intellectual historians' theories of truth and mendacity in politics might be enriched by more attention to scientific knowledge in both its technical and epistemological forms. This course focuses on 19th- and 20th-century Europe and the United States in global perspective, and readings will draw from political theory, history, economic thought, the natural and human sciences, and critical theory.
Instructor(s): Isabel Gabel Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CHSS 32504, HIPS 22204, KNOW 32204, HIST 38308
HIST 28309. States of Exception in American History. 100 Units.
Although the United States is officially a constitutional democracy, it has repeatedly involved emergency powers to suspend the constitution and abridge constitutional rights. We explore the history of these 'states of exception' in American history, from the founding era to the present. Eligible for LLSO Junior Colloquium.
Instructor(s): Joel Isaac Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SCTH 20684, LLSO 29073
HIST 28710. Law and Religion in the Modern United States. 100 Units.
This course explores the persistent tension between law and religious faith in the United States. It will proceed loosely chronologically, beginning with the Supreme Court's first rulings on religious liberty following the Civil War and continuing into the twenty-first century. The course will also introduce students to a range of thematic issues, such as the use of state power by religious actors to regulate behavior, the place of believers (and nonbelievers) within a liberal democracy, the religious rights of corporations, and the emergence of forms of legal pluralism as religious law and civil law increasingly intersect. Readings will include case law, legal and political theorists, as well as religious voices. Students will complete a significant literature review on a topic of their choosing. This course counts as an LLSO junior colloquium.
Equivalent Course(s): LLSO 29711, RLST 28711
HIST 28815. American Spectacle. 100 Units.
Spectacles have shocked, awed, delighted, and horrified Americans for centuries-seemingly all at once. This class reexamines American history through the lens of spectacle in its many guises: the scientific, violent, technological, and political. We explore how these various iterations have not only coexisted over time but also intersected, reinforced, and-at times-complicated each other. We will ask how these overlapping spectacles shaped and continue to shape the United States by underwriting and innovating race, class, gender, and statecraft. Is spectacle foundational to the United States? How does it bridge individual lived experience and sociopolitical and economic abstractions? Running from the early modern Atlantic World to the present, we conclude by asking whether the digital age has made spectacle ubiquitous, and at what cost.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 38815, MAPS 21450, MAPS 31450
HIST 29006. Slavery and Emancipation: Caribbean Perspectives. 100 Units.
This graduate-level reading colloquium explores the interpretive problems and perspectives critical to understanding the historical dynamics of slavery and emancipation in the Caribbean. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, over five million African men, women, and children were trafficked to the Caribbean as enslaved captives. During this period, Africans and their descendants, as well as the tens of thousands of slaveholders, indentured laborers, Indigenous peoples, and free people in the region, forged the political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics that arguably made the Caribbean the birthplace of the modern world. Through course readings in foundational and emerging scholarship, we will examine how slavery and emancipation underlined crucial historical transformations and problems in the Caribbean, with attention to their global repercussions. Students will also have the opportunity to draw comparisons with other regions in the Atlantic World. Upper-level undergraduates may enroll with instructor consent.
Instructor(s): Lyons, Deirdre Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 30598, HIST 39006, MAPS 33505, SOCI 20598, ANTH 46452, ANTH 26452
HIST 29105. Gendering Slavery. 100 Units.
This reading seminar will introduce students to the key questions, methods, and theories of the burgeoning field of gendered histories of slavery. Global in scope, but with a focus on the early modern Atlantic world, we will explore a range of primary and secondary texts from various slave societies. Assigned monographs will cover a multitude of topics including women and law, sexualities, kinship, and reproduction, and the intersection of race, labor, and market economies. In addition to examining historical narratives, students will discuss the ethical and methodological implications of reading and writing histories of violence, erasure, and domination. Learning to work within and against the limits imposed by hegemonic forms of representation, the fragmentary nature of the archive, and the afterlives of slavery, this course will examine how masculinity and femininity remade and were remade by bondage.
Instructor(s): M. Hicks Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 39105, GNSE 20131, LACS 29106, CRES 29105, LACS 39106
HIST 29107. Empires and Colonies of the Atlantic World. 100 Units.
This graduate-level reading colloquium explores classic and emerging scholarship that examines the rise and consolidation of European overseas empires and colonies in the early modern Atlantic world (c.1400-1850). While we will analyze transatlantic European imperial structures, the course will pay particular attention to the perspectives of the colonized peoples (such as enslaved and freed people of African descent, creole populations, and Indigenous peoples) and places (such as the Caribbean, West Africa, Latin America, and North America) in the Atlantic World. Among the thematic topics we will discuss include: colonization; the rise of slavery and the slave trade; cross-cultural and political connections; the consolidation of race; gender, sexuality, and the family; the environment; the plantation complex; work and economy; social life; anti-colonial and anti-slavery struggles, revolution; abolition; and the reconstitution of colonial and imperial structures after slave emancipation. Upper-level undergraduates may enroll with instructor consent.
Instructor(s): Lyons, Deirdre Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 26455, HIST 39107, ANTH 46455, MAPS 33555
HIST 29406. Dance as History. 100 Units.
This course explores the relationship between dance and history. Rather than investigating the history of dance, we will focus on how incorporating dance can alter the practice of historical research and representation (including public history), and on how history has informed classical and contemporary concert dance since the late 19th century. Through our weekly studio practice we also hope to develop new ways of representing and embodying history through dance. The course will examine the traditional, historical language of storytelling in certain disciplines of dance, and will seek to create a refreshed, relevant language of gesture and intention in the studio that might effectively convey narrative. Our focus will be European and American classical, modern, and contemporary concert dance since the 19th century, but students are welcome to explore other genres, cultural contexts, and moments in their research and in discussion. Assignments will include readings as well as viewing existing choreographic works on video; discussion of these texts and videos; engaging in conversation with contemporary choreographers, writing analyses of dances informed by the readings; attending relevant performances in Chicago, and participating each week in a studio-based class session in which we explore, through movement, the themes under consideration that week. You do not need to have any dance experience to take this course, but you must be willing to move.
Instructor(s): T. Zarah and M. Dincolo Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 39406, TAPS 36275, TAPS 26275
HIST 29610. Colloquium: History and Fiction. 100 Units.
We will explore the relations among historical analysis, historical narrative, and fiction, with an emphasis on the Americas.
Instructor(s): M. Tenorio
HIST 29619. Imperialism and Colonialism in East Asia. 100 Units.
Japan's imperial expansion in East Asia in the late nineteenth and twentieth century have drafted influenced social, political, technological, and environmental relations between different areas in this region. In recent years, we have seen a growing number of scholarship that discusses the influences and process of Japan's imperial expansion in Asia. Besides focusing on the political and social influence of Japan's imperial domination, these scholarships also show new ways to research empire and imperialism through the lens of technology, material culture, immigration, and transnational history. With a focus on recent scholarship on Japanese imperialism and Japan's empire-building, this course will familiarize students with the current debates and discussions on this topic and facilitate students to generate their own research topic. In this course, alongside analyzing and dissecting the current scholarship and their analyses and perspectives on Japan's empire, students will have the chance to build up skills to write a research paper from analyzing primary documents to drafting annotated bibliographies, outlines, proposals, and the final paper.
Instructor(s): Y. Dong Terms Offered: Autumn
HIST 29629. Making the Monsoon: The Ancient Indian Ocean. 100 Units.
The course will explore the human adaptation to a climatic phenomenon and its transformative impacts on the littoral societies of the Indian Ocean, circa 1000 BCE-1000 CE. Monsoon means season, a time and space in which favorable winds made possible the efficient, rapid crossing of thousands of miles of ocean. Its discovery-at different times in different places-resulted in communication and commerce across vast distances at speeds more commonly associated with the industrial than the preindustrial era, as merchants, sailors, religious specialists, and scholars made monsoon crossings. The course will consider the participation of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and East African actors in the making of monsoon worlds and their relations to the Indian Ocean societies they encountered; the course is based on literary and archaeological sources, with attention to recent comparative historiography on oceanic, climatic, and global histories.
Instructor(s): R. Payne Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): History majors receive priority for this course
HIST 29683. History Colloquium: Race, Slavery, and Nation. 100 Units.
With its focus on research methods, this seminar supports the production of an original, primary-source-based research paper related to the course's broad themes of race, slavery, and nation. We will dedicate time to historiographical debates, conceptual frameworks, a group visit to special collections, and peer review. Specifically, students will formulate a viable research question, develop a research agenda that uses the appropriate qualitative or quantitative methods, conduct independent research, and draft and revise a final paper. While some background historical knowledge in the student's proposed area of interest is recommended, it is not required.
Instructor(s): R. Johnson Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Priority registration is given to History majors. If possible, students should have taken HIST 17908, African American History to 1865 prior to registering for this course.
HIST 29685. History Colloquium: Asian/Pacific Islander American History, 1850-2021. 100 Units.
Looking through a broad interdisciplinary lens, this course will examine the trajectory of Asians and Pacific Islanders in America. How did nineteenth- and early twentieth-century "sojourners" become "citizens"? What constituted the public's shift in perception of Asians from unassimilable alien to ostensible "model minority"? We will interrogate not only what it means to have been and to be an Asian in America but also what role APIAs have played in striving for a multiracial democracy. The history of anti-Asian violence will be traced from the mid-nineteenth century to the most recent hate crimes in the age of COVID. Conscious of the tendency to homogenize all Asians in the historical imagination, the course will be explicitly comparative, incorporating the diverse and disparate experiences of East, Southeast, and South Asians, as well as Pacific Islanders in America over time. We will, also, at times, investigate the histories of other ethnic/racial groups and compare their experiences to the Asian American experience.
Instructor(s): M. Briones Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Priority registration is given to History majors.
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 27685
HIST 29700. Readings in History. 100 Units.
Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and the History undergraduate advisor.
Terms Offered: Autumn
Spring
Summer
Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and the associate director of History's Undergraduate Studies Committee.
HIST 29800. BA Thesis Seminar I. 100 Units.
BA Thesis Seminar I provides a systematic introduction to historical methodology and approaches (e.g., political, intellectual, social, cultural, economic, gender, environmental history), as well as research techniques. It culminates in students' submission of a robust BA thesis proposal that will be critiqued in class. Guidance will also be provided for applications for research funding.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): HIST 29801; Students writing BA theses register for both autumn (HIST 29800) and winter (HIST 29802) quarters. You must receive a B grade in HIST 29800 to continue in the BA Thesis Track and enroll in HIST 29802.
Note(s): The seminar meets every other wk (wks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) in Aut and Win for 10-wks total.
HIST 29801. BA Thesis Seminar II (Autumn) 000 Units.
BA Seminar II is a forum to successfully complete the BA thesis, the topic of which was developed in BA Seminar I, in a structured forum that allows for ongoing discussion and peer review. Autumn Quarter is devoted to completing the research and beginning the writing of the thesis. By the end of the quarter students will have drafted 10-15 pages. Over the course of the Winter Quarter students will complete a draft of the thesis, which will be workshopped in the biweekly sessions. The final deadline for submission of the thesis is the second week of the Spring Quarter.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): All 3rd-yr history students writing BA theses take HIST 29801 in Spr Qtr. You must receive a B grade in BA Seminar I to continue in the BA Thesis Track and enroll in BA Seminar II.
Note(s): Students who will be out of residence in the spring term of the third year should choose the Colloquium or Capstone Track.
HIST 29802. BA Thesis Seminar II. 100 Units.
BA Seminar II is a forum to successfully complete the BA thesis, the topic of which was developed in BA Seminar I, in a structured forum that allows for ongoing discussion and peer review. Autumn Quarter is devoted to completing the research and beginning the writing of the thesis. By the end of the quarter students will have drafted 10-15 pages. Over the course of the Winter Quarter students will complete a draft of the thesis, which will be workshopped in the biweekly sessions. The final deadline for submission of the thesis is the second week of the Spring Quarter.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): HIST 29801 (BA Seminar I) and HIST 29800 (BA Seminar II-Autumn)
Note(s): The seminar meets every other wk (wks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) in Aut and Win for 10-wks total.
HIST 29803. Historiography. 100 Units.
The course provides a systematic introduction to historical methodology and approaches (e.g., political, intellectual, social, cultural, economic, gender, environmental history), as well as research techniques. Students will gain analytical, research, and writing tools that will assist them in their capstone projects, research colloquia, or BA theses.
Instructor(s): P. O'Donnell and M. Kruer Terms Offered: Autumn
Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Historiography is required for all majors, but open to all students.
Note(s): We recommend that Capstone and BA Thesis students take Historiography in the 3rd year. Assignments: short papers, in-class presentation, long paper.
HIST 29804. Capstone Seminar (Autumn) 000 Units.
Capstone Seminar is a forum to create, discuss, and critique History capstone projects. Early weeks of the seminar will be devoted to exploring various forms historical work can take, from museum installations to podcasts and documentaries. In-process work will be shared and critiqued in workshops. The final deadline for submission of the Capstone Project is the second week of spring quarter.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Capstone students register for both autumn (HIST 29804) and winter (HIST 29805) quarters; the seminar meets every other week (weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) for 10-weeks total.
HIST 29805. Capstone Seminar. 100 Units.
Capstone Seminar is a forum to create, discuss, and develop History capstone projects. Early weeks of the seminar will be devoted to exploring various forms historical work can take, from museum installations to podcasts and documentaries. In-process work will beshared and critiqued in workshops. The course meets every other week in autumn and winter, allowing students ample time to develop their projects on their own. The final deadline for submission of the Capstone Project is the second week of Spring Quarter.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Capstone students register for both autumn (HIST 29804) and winter (HIST 29805) quarters; the seminar meets every other week (weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) for a total of 10 weeks.
HIST 29806. Archival Methods and Historical Thinking. 100 Units.
In this course, students will be introduced to archival research methods and to the ways in which historians work with and interpret the sources they use in constructing historical narratives and arguments. We will visit Special Collections, explore digital archives, and consider the range of possible sources and archives, from texts held in national government archives to material objects, maps, audio or video recordings, and everything in between. We will also engage with the work of historians as they seek to make sense of the material they find in archives, considering questions of interpretation, narrative, and holes--that is, what is missing from archives. Students will gain an understanding of the mechanics of archival work and an appreciation for the complexity of historical thinking.
Instructor(s): A. Hofmann Terms Offered: Summer. Offered Summer 2023
HIST 29908. The Bible Throughout History: From the Dead Sea Scrolls to King James. 100 Units.
While the collection of ancient texts found in modern Bibles appears fixed and is read by many people as a source of edification or theological insight, it has not always been this way. Though absent from most Bibles, there is an entire body of literature commonly known as "rewritten bible": early translations, retellings, or entirely new stories with familiar names and faces that update, retcon, or subvert their "biblical" sources. How might we understand these ancient forms of fan fiction? The class will introduce this corpus (including some of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and its sources, production, and historical contexts. We will confront significant problems in understanding religious texts: how is it that some texts become authoritative while other very similar texts do not? Who gets to retell foundational religious narratives, and within what social or political constraints? What does it mean to relate to sacred texts as artistic prompts or imperfect points of departure? Can a biblical text be rewritten for an entirely different religious tradition? We will consider similar questions for contemporary religious practice, asking: how did rewriting the Bible get started, and has it stopped?
Instructor(s): Doren Snoek Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 20124, JWSC 20924, MDVL 20124, CMLT 20124, FNDL 20124
Civilization Studies Courses
HIST 10101-10102-10103. Introduction to African Civilization I-II-III.
African Civilization introduces students to African history in a three-quarter sequence. Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required; this sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
HIST 10101. Introduction to African Civilization I. 100 Units.
Part one considers literary, oral, linguistic, and material sources to investigate African societies and states from the early Iron Age through the emergence of the Atlantic World. Case studies include: the empires of Ghana and Mali, the Swahili Coast, Great Zimbabwe, Nok of Nigeria, and medieval Ethiopia. We also consider religious and spiritual transformation, including Islam in Africa, as well as the origins and effects of European contact, and the emergence of the transatlantic trade in enslaved human beings. Students examine these times and places through primary sources (such as cultural artifacts, visual representations, myths, and memoirs) which illuminate African perspectives on these different places and times. Assignments: oral presentations, document analyses, essays, and team projects.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 20701, MDVL 10101, SOSC 20101, ANTH 20701
HIST 10102. Introduction to African Civilization II. 100 Units.
This course examines the transformations of African societies in the long nineteenth century. At the beginning of the era, European economic and political presence was mainly coastal, but by the end, nearly the entire continent was colonized. This course examines how and why this process occurred, highlighting the struggles of African societies to manage internal reforms and external political, military, and economic pressures. Students examine these processes through various primary sources (such as visual and material sources, cultural artifacts, and personal accounts) that highlight African perspectives on these processes.
Instructor(s): Staff
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 20702, SOSC 20202, CRES 20802
HIST 10103. Introduction to African Civilization III. 100 Units.
African Civilization III examines Africa and the African diaspora in the modern era. Topics may include the end of colonialism and decolonization, the legacies of slavery and its racial logics, identity and cultural expression, theories of personhood, gender and sexuality, migration, governance, and language. Readings vary widely, including primary sources by African and diasporic authors, social theory, and works of art and literature - written, spoken, and performed.
Instructor(s): Daly Samuel Fury Childs Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required.
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 20703, CRES 20303, SOSC 20203
HIST 10800-10900. Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia I-II.
This sequence introduces core themes in the formation of culture and society in South Asia from the early modern period until the present. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. These courses must be taken in sequence.
HIST 10800. Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia I. 100 Units.
The first quarter focuses on Islam in South Asia, Hindu-Muslim interaction, Mughal political and literary traditions, and South Asia's early encounters with Europe.
Instructor(s): Muzaffar Alam Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 23000, ANTH 24101, MDVL 20100, SALC 20100, SALC 30100
HIST 10900. Introduction to the Civilizations of South Asia II. 100 Units.
The second quarter analyzes the colonial period (i.e., reform movements, the rise of nationalism, communalism, caste, and other identity movements) up to the independence and partition of India.
Instructor(s): Dipesh Chakrabarty Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): SALC 20100,ANTH 24101,HIST 10800,SASC 20000,SOSC 23000
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 24102, SOSC 23100, SALC 20200
HIST 11701. Jewish Civilization I: Ancient Beginnings to Medieval Period. 100 Units.
Jewish Civilization is a three-quarter sequence that explores the development of Jewish culture and tradition from its ancient beginnings through its rabbinic and medieval transformations to its modern manifestations. Through investigation of primary texts-biblical, Talmudic, philosophical, mystical, historical, documentary, and literary-students will acquire a broad overview of Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness while reflecting in greater depth on major themes, ideas, and events in Jewish history. The autumn course will deal with antiquity through the Middle Ages. Its readings will include material from the Bible and writings from the second temple, Hellenistic, rabbinic, and medieval periods. All sections of this course will share a common core of readings; individual instructors will supplement with other materials. It is recommended, though not required, that students take the three Jewish Civilization courses in sequence. Students who register for the Autumn Quarter course will automatically be pre-registered for the winter segment. In the Spring Quarter students have the option of taking a third unit of Jewish Civilization, a course whose topics will vary (JWSC 1200X).
Instructor(s): Larisa Reznik Terms Offered: Autumn
Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22010, NEHC 22010, JWSC 12000, MDVL 12000
HIST 11702. Jewish Civilization II: Early Modern Period to 21st Century. 100 Units.
Jewish Civilization is a three-quarter sequence that explores the development of Jewish culture and tradition from its ancient beginnings through its rabbinic and medieval transformations to its modern manifestations. Through investigation of primary texts-biblical, Talmudic, philosophical, mystical, historical, documentary, and literary-students will acquire a broad overview of Jews, Judaism, and Jewishness while reflecting in greater depth on major themes, ideas, and events in Jewish history. The Winter course will begin with the early modern period and continue to the present. It will include discussions of mysticism, the works of Spinoza and Mendelssohn, the nineteenth-century reform, the Holocaust and its reflection in writers such as Primo Levi and Paul Celan, and literary pieces from postwar American Jewish and Israeli authors. All sections of this course will share a common core of readings; individual instructors will supplement with other materials. It is recommended, though not required, that students take the three Jewish Civilization courses in sequence. Students who register for the Autumn Quarter course will automatically be pre-registered for the winter segment. In the Spring Quarter students have the option of taking a third unit of Jewish Civilization, a course whose topics will vary (JWSC 1200X).
Instructor(s): Kenneth Moss
Larisa Reznik Terms Offered: Spring
Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 22011, JWSC 12001, NEHC 22011
HIST 12700-12800. Music in Western Civilization I-II.
This two-quarter sequence explores musical works of broad cultural significance in Western civilization. We study pieces not only from the standpoint of musical style but also through the lenses of politics, intellectual history, economics, gender, cultural studies, and so on. Readings are taken both from our music textbook and from the writings of a number of figures such as St. Benedict of Nursia and Martin Luther. In addition to lectures, students discuss important issues in the readings and participate in music listening exercises in smaller sections.
HIST 12700. Music In Western Civilization I: To 1750. 100 Units.
This course, part of the Social Sciences Civ core, looks at musics in different moments of Euro-American history and the social contexts in which they originated, with some comparative views on other world traditions. It aims to give students a better understanding of the social contexts of European music over this period; aids for the basic sound structures of pieces from these different moments; and convincing writing in response to prompts based on source readings or music pieces. Our first quarter (MUS 12100 etc.) spans roughly the period between Charlemagne's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor (800 CE) and the dissolution of the Empire (1806) with the triumph of Napoleon across Western Europe.
Instructor(s): R. Kendrick Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Prior music course or ability to read music not required. Students must confirm enrollment by attending one of the first two sessions of class. This two-quarter sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies; it does not meet the general education requirement in the arts.
Please note that MUSI 12100-12200 will not be offered on campus in 2023-24. The sequence will be offered in Paris through Study Abroad in Autumn 2023. Information about the Paris offering is available here: https://study-abroad.uchicago.edu/paris-music-western-civilization. Students who have not taken MUSI 12100 should be aware that the course will not be offered on campus until Autumn 2024.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 12100, SOSC 21100
HIST 12800. Music In Western Civ II. 100 Units.
This course, part of the Social Sciences Civ core, looks at musics in different moments of Euro-American history and the social contexts in which they originated, with some comparative views on other world traditions. It aims to give students a better understanding of the social contexts of European music over this period; aids for the basic sound structures of pieces from these different moments; and convincing writing in response to prompts based on source readings or music pieces. Our second quarter (MUS 12200 etc.) runs from the beginning of European Romanticism around 1800 to the turn of the 21st century.
Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Prior music course or ability to read music not required. Students must confirm enrollment by attending one of the first two sessions of class. This two-quarter sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies; it does not meet the general education requirement in the arts.
Please note that MUSI 12100-12200 will not be offered on campus in 2023-24. The sequence will be offered in Paris through Study Abroad in Autumn 2023. Information about the Paris offering is available here: https://study-abroad.uchicago.edu/paris-music-western-civilization. Students who have not taken MUSI 12100 should be aware that the course will not be offered on campus until Autumn 2024.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 12200, SOSC 21200
HIST 13001-13002-13003. History of European Civilization I-II-III.
Has Europe ever been civilized? This sequence, which satisfies the general education requirement in civilization studies, invites students to discuss the simultaneously creative and destructive forces inherent in centuries of European history. While resisting shallow critiques and caricatures of Europe's role in the world, students examine in depth major themes in the history of European ideas about civilization, including the interplay of faith, reason, and secularism; the individual, family, and mass society; and monarchy, revolution, and democracy. Students not only grapple with big questions and transformative ideas but also consider unique perspectives and ordinary people by reading a variety of different kinds of historical evidence. The sequence provides students with foundational skills and knowledge for the University of Chicago general education core curriculum more broadly, which owes much of its intellectual project to European ideas of knowledge and education. In keeping with the traditions of the core curriculum, students contextualize and interrogate sources in small, rigorous, and textually immersive classes. Learn to think historically! There are three parts to this sequence. Parts I and II cover the period from approximately the fall of Rome to the present and should be taken in sequence in the Autumn-Winter or Winter-Spring Quarters. The optional Part III treats specialized topics in greater depth in the Spring Quarter.
HIST 13001. History of European Civilization I. 100 Units.
The first part of the sequence examines the period from approximately 500 to 1700 in European history. It challenges students to question two-dimensional, rigid narratives about the fall of Rome, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the early Enlightenment by reading historical sources with empathy and attention to their authors' own perspectives. For example, we explore the entanglement of the political, economic, and religious by reading a chronicle written by a monk; we examine gender relations and daily life by reading men's and women's personal letters; and we investigate the earliest contacts between Europeans and the peoples of the Americas by reading eyewitness accounts of their interactions. In the process of recovering the lived experiences of medieval and early modern Europeans, the course engages with the sophisticated societies and cultures of premodern Europe, which many subsequent generations post-1700 would come to label backwards and uncivilized.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Winter
Prerequisite(s): Students must take a minimum of two quarters of European Civilization to fulfill the general education requirement.
Note(s): The two-quarter sequence may also be supplemented by a third quarter, in which students will have the opportunity to explore in greater depth a particular topic in the history of European civilization.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28001
HIST 13002. History of European Civilization II. 100 Units.
The second part of the sequence examines the period from approximately 1700 to the present in European history. Major topics include the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, industrialization, the world wars, and the European Union. This course challenges students to do more than simply define conceptual terms like imperialism, nationalism, liberalism, capitalism, and communism. We situate these and other grand narratives in new ideas of progress, new technologies and forms of knowledge production, and the material transformations of everyday life. Changes in media (newspapers, radio, films, etc.) and the rise of mass production and consumption in these centuries were both the cause and effect of many of the events we will be discussing. Sources include nineteenth-century novels, eyewitness accounts to revolution and the Holocaust, and speeches and manifestos of the political and cultural avant-garde. Throughout the course, we will continuously examine the paradoxes that have shaped modern Europe: its resilience and fragility, its great experiments in liberty and tragic acts of violence.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Spring
Winter
Prerequisite(s): HIST 13001
Note(s): The two-quarter sequence may also be supplemented by a third quarter, in which students will have the opportunity to explore in greater depth a particular topic in the history of European civilization.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28002
HIST 13003. History of European Civilization III. 100 Units.
Students who plan to complete a three-quarter sequence register for HIST 13003 in Spring Quarter after completing HIST 13001-13002. In the third part of the History of European Civilization sequence, students will have the opportunity to explore in greater depth a particular aspect of European history. This course will provide an overview of early modern European colonialism, from the Spanish conquest of the New World to the Haitian Revolution. Using exclusively primary documents, we will examine debates in sixteenth century Spain over the treatment of indigenous populations, the mutual formation of property and dispossession in the British American colonies, the transatlantic slave trade and the expansion of plantation economies in the Caribbean, the development of ideas about race and culture in the eighteenth century, and resistance to colonialism at the end of the eighteenth century.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): For the 3-qtr sequence register for HIST 13003 after completing HIST 13001-13002. Only HIST 13001-13002 complete the 2-qtr sequence.
Note(s): Students may not combine HIST 13003 with one other quarter of European Civilization to fulfill the general education requirement. Spring 23 topic: TBD
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28003
HIST 13100-13200-13300. History of Western Civilization I-II-III.
Available as a three-quarter sequence (Autumn-Winter-Spring) or as a two-quarter sequence (Autumn-Winter or Winter-Spring). This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. The purpose of this sequence is threefold: (1) to introduce students to the principles of historical thought, (2) to acquaint them with some of the more important epochs in the development of Western civilization since the sixth century BC, and (3) to assist them in discovering connections between the various epochs. The purpose of the course is not to present a general survey of Western history. Instruction consists of intensive investigation of a selection of original documents bearing on a number of separate topics, usually two or three a quarter, occasionally supplemented by the work of a modern historian. The treatment of the selected topics varies from section to section. This sequence is currently offered twice a year. The amount of material covered is the same whether the student enrolls in the Autumn-Winter-Spring sequence or the Summer sequence.
HIST 13100. History of Western Civilization I. 100 Units.
This first course of the History of Western Civilization sequence focuses on the history of classical civilization, beginning with the world of Homer and ending with the world of St. Augustine. Key topics covered through discussions of texts include the development of the Greek Polis and the Peloponnesian War; the Roman Republic and Empire; and the development of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Instructor(s): K. Weintraub, Autumn; J. Boyer, Summer Terms Offered: Autumn
Summer
Prerequisite(s): These courses must be taken in sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28110
HIST 13200. History of Western Civilization II. 100 Units.
This second course of the History of Western Civilization sequence explores major themes in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. Key topics explored through discussions of texts include the development of monasticism; the structures of manorialism and feudalism; the consolidation of the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire; and the challenges to these structures seen in the ideas of the humanists and reformers.
Instructor(s): K. Weintraub, Winter, Summer Terms Offered: Summer
Winter
Prerequisite(s): These courses must be taken in sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28210
HIST 13300. History of Western Civilization III. 100 Units.
This third course of the History of Western Civilization undertakes a detailed study of the French Revolution and charts the rise of liberal, anti-liberal, and post-liberal states and societies in nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history. The sequence closes with an appraisal of the condition of European politics, culture, and society at the end of the twentieth century.
Instructor(s): K. Weintraub, Spring; D. Koehler, Summer Terms Offered: Spring
Summer
Prerequisite(s): These courses must be taken in sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28310
HIST 13500-13600-13700. America in World Civilization I-II-III.
The America in World Civilization sequence examines America as a contested idea and a contested place by reading and writing about a wide array of primary sources. In the process, students gain a new sense of historical awareness and of the making of America. The course is designed both for history majors and non-majors who want to deepen their understanding of the nation's history, encounter some enlightening and provocative voices from the past, and develop the analytical methods of historical thinking. Together, HIST 13600-13700 (II and III) meet the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses. Students who take HIST 13500 (I) must also take HIST 13600-13700 to meet the general education requirement via three civilization courses. HIST 13500–13600-13700 courses do not need to be taken in sequence.
HIST 13500. America In World Civilization I. 100 Units.
America in World Civilization I examines foundational texts and moments in American culture, society, and politics, from early European incursions into the New World through the early republic of the United States, roughly 1500-1800. We will examine encounters between Native Americans and representatives of imperial powers (Spain, France, and England) as well as the rise of African slavery in North America before 1700. We will consider the development of Anglo-American society and government in the eighteenth century, focusing especially on the causes and consequences of the American Revolution.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): HIST 13600-13700 (II and III) meet the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses. Students who take HIST 13500 (I) must also take HIST 13600-13700 to meet the general education requirement via three civilization courses.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28500
HIST 13600. America in World Civilization II. 100 Units.
The nineteenth-century quarter of America in World Civilization explores the confrontation of democracy with inequality. This course focuses on themes and problems that include empire and indigenous-US relations; slavery, antislavery, the Civil War, and emancipation; reform and revivalism; women's rights; and the development of industrial capitalism, consumer culture, and urbanism.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Summer
Winter
Prerequisite(s): HIST 13600-13700 (II and III) meet the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses. Students who take HIST 13500 (I) must also take HIST 13600-13700 to meet the general education requirement via three civilization courses.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28600
HIST 13700. America in World Civilization III. 100 Units.
The third quarter America in World Civilization focuses on multiple definitions of Americanism in a period characterized by empire, transnational formations, and America's role in the world. We explore the construction of social order in a multicultural society; culture in the shadow of war; the politics of race, ethnicity, and gender; the rise and fall of new social movements on the left and the right; the emergence of the carceral state and militarization of civil space; and the role of climate change and the apocalyptic in shaping imagined futures.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Spring
Summer
Prerequisite(s): HIST 13600-13700 (II and III) meet the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses. Students who take HIST 13500 (I) must also take HIST 13600-13700 to meet the general education requirement via three civilization courses.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 28700
HIST 13900-14000-14100. Introduction to Russian Civilization I-II-III.
This three-quarter sequence, which meets the general education requirement in civilization studies, provides an interdisciplinary introduction to Russian civilization.
HIST 13900. Introduction to Russian Civilization I. 100 Units.
The first quarter covers the ninth century to the 1870s; the second quarter continues on through the post-Soviet period. Working closely with a variety of primary sources-from oral legends to film and music, from political treatises to literary masterpieces-we will track the evolution of Russian civilization over the centuries and through radically different political regimes. Topics to be discussed include the influence of Byzantine, Mongol-Tataric, and Western culture in Russian civilization; forces of change and continuity in political, intellectual and cultural life; the relationship between center and periphery; systems of social and political legitimization; and symbols and practices of collective identity.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required.
Equivalent Course(s): REES 26011, SOSC 24000
HIST 14000. Introduction to Russian Civilization II. 100 Units.
The second quarter continues on through the post-Soviet period. Working closely with a variety of primary sources-from oral legends to film and music, from political treatises to literary masterpieces-we will track the evolution of Russian civilization over the centuries and through radically different political regimes. Topics to be discussed include the influence of Byzantine, Mongol-Tataric, and Western culture in Russian civilization; forces of change and continuity in political, intellectual and cultural life; the relationship between center and periphery; systems of social and political legitimization; and symbols and practices of collective identity.
Instructor(s): E. Gilburd & Staff Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required.
Equivalent Course(s): REES 26012, SOSC 24100
HIST 14100. Introduction to Russian Civilization III. 100 Units.
When taken following Introduction to Russian Civilization I and II, Introduction to Russian Civilization III meets the general education requirement in Humanities, Civilization Studies, and the Arts. The course is thematic and will vary from year to year. Spring 24 theme: This course tracks how the radical anti-government philosophy of anarchism influenced major cultural figures and texts as well as revolutionary movements in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and post-Soviet Russia. Against the authoritarianism associated with Russia, anarchism provided an enticing (or terrifying!) political alternative--particularly for writers, artists and revolutionaries. We read texts by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and others, look at major works of art influenced by anarchist ideas, and learn about grassroots movements in the Russian Revolutions, Civil War, Soviet cultural underground and, eventually, Perestroika. We follow waves of immigration the United States and Europe and observe how governments across the world shaped their policies on immigration and free speech in response to the menace of anarchists and other revolutionaries from Eastern Europe. Finally, we look at how contemporary art and social movements today explore radical politics. Assignment options will include creative projects and student-led research.
Instructor(s): E. Gilburd Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Students who wish to take this course for Civilization Studies Core credit must also take Russ Civ I and II.
Equivalent Course(s): REES 26015, SOSC 24200
HIST 14001. Russian Short Fiction: Experiments in Form. 100 Units.
Russian literature is known for the sweeping epics that Henry James once dubbed the "loose baggy monsters." However, in addition to the famed 'doorstop novels,' the Russian literary canon also has a long tradition of innovative short fiction-of short stories and novellas that experiment with forms of storytelling and narration. This course focuses on such works, as well as the narrative strategies and formal devices that allow these short stories and novellas to be both effective and economical. Throughout the quarter, we will read short fiction from a variety of Russian authors and examine the texts that establish the tradition of Russian short fiction as well as those that push its boundaries. This course will serve as a general survey of Russian Literature, as well as a focused introduction to a particular genre in that tradition. Although predominantly discussion-based, the class will also include short lectures by the instructor to introduce students to the broader historical contexts of the course texts, and to sample diverse theoretical approaches to those texts.
Equivalent Course(s): REES 25602
HIST 15411-15412-15413. East Asian Civilization I-II-III.
HIST 15411-15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via three civilization courses. HIST 15411-15412, HIST 15411-15413, or HIST 15412-15413 meet the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses.
HIST 15411. East Asian Civilization I, Ancient Period-1600. 100 Units.
This course examines the politics, society, and culture of East Asia from ancient times until c. 1600. Our focus will be on examining key historical moments and intellectual, social, and cultural trends with an emphasis on the region as a whole. Students will read and discuss culturally significant texts and be introduced to various approaches to analyzing them.
Instructor(s): K. Pomeranz Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): HIST 15411-15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via three civilization courses. HIST 15411-15412, HIST 15411-15413, or HIST 15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 15411, SOSC 25411
HIST 15412. East Asian Civilization II, 1600-1895. 100 Units.
The second quarter of the East Asian civilization sequence covering what are now China, Japan, and Korea from roughly 1600 to 1895. Major themes include demographic and economic change; the social and cultural effects of widespread but uneven commercialization; state formation, rebellion, and political change; migration, urbanization, and territorial expansion; changes in family and gender roles; changes in the "natural" environment, particularly as related to agricultural expansion; changes in religion, ideology, and relationships between "elite" and "popular" culture; and increasingly consequential encounters with Western Europeans, Russians, and Americans, especially in the nineteenth century. The course aims to treat East Asia as a single interacting region, rather than as three (or more) sharply separated proto-nations; however, it will also call attention to the enormous diversity both among and within China, Japan, and Korea, treating those differences as constantly evolving and as something to be explained rather than assumed.
Instructor(s): S. Burns & K. Pomeranz Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): HIST 15411-15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via three civilization courses. HIST 15411-15412, HIST 15411-15413, or HIST 15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 25412, EALC 15412
HIST 15413. East Asian Civilization III, 1895-Present. 100 Units.
The third quarter of the East Asian civilization sequence covers the emerging nation-states of China, Korea, and Japan in the context of Western and Japanese imperialism and the rise of an interconnected global economy. Our themes include industrialization and urbanization, state strengthening and nation-building, the rise of social movements and mass politics, the impact of Japanese colonialism on the homeland and the colonies, East Asia in the context of US-Soviet rivalry, and the return of the region to the center of the global economy in the postwar years. Similar to the first and second quarters, we will look at East Asia as an integrated region, connected by trade and cultural exchange even when divided into opposing blocs during the Cold War. As much as possible, we will look beyond nation-states and their policies at underlying trends shared by the three East Asian nations, such as demographic change, changes in gender roles, and the rise of consumer culture.
Instructor(s): S. Burns & J. Eyferth Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): HIST 15411-15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via three civilization courses. HIST 15411-15412, HIST 15411-15413, or HIST 15412-15413 meets the general education requirement in civilization studies via two civilization courses.
Equivalent Course(s): EALC 15413, SOSC 25413
HIST 15602-15603-15604. Ancient Empires I-II-III.
This sequence introduces three great empires of the ancient world. Each course in the sequence focuses on one empire, with attention to the similarities and differences among the empires being considered. By exploring the rich legacy of documents and monuments that these empires produced, students are introduced to ways of understanding imperialism and its cultural and societal effects—both on the imperial elites and on those they conquered. Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
HIST 15602. Ancient Empires I: The Hittite Empire. 100 Units.
This course introduces students to the Hittite Empire of ancient Anatolia. In existence from roughly 1750-1200 BCE, and spanning across modern Turkey and beyond, the Hittite Empire is one of the oldest and largest empires of the ancient world. We will be examining their history and their political and cultural accomplishments through analysis of their written records - composed in Hittite, the world's first recorded Indo-European language - and their archaeological remains. In the process, we will also be examining the concept of "empire" itself: What is an empire, and how do anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians study this unique kind of political formation?
Instructor(s): James Osborne Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 20011, CLCV 25700, NEHC 20011
HIST 15603. Ancient Empires II: The Ottoman Empire. 100 Units.
The Ottomans ruled in Anatolia, the Middle East, South East Europe and North Africa for over six hundred years. The objective of this course is to understand the society and culture of this bygone Empire whose legacy continues, in one way or another, in some twenty-five contemporary successor states from the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula. The course is designed as an introduction to the Ottoman World with a focus on the cultural history of the Ottoman society. It explores identities and mentalities, customs and rituals, status of minorities, mystical orders and religious establishments, literacy and the use of the public sphere.
Instructor(s): Hakan Karateke Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): CLCV 25800, MDVL 20012, SOSC 20012, NEHC 20012
HIST 15604. Ancient Empires III :The Egyptian Empire of the New Kingdom. 100 Units.
For most of the duration of the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BC), the ancient Egyptians were able to establish a vast empire and becoming one of the key powers within the Near East. This course will investigate in detail the development of Egyptian foreign policies and military expansion which affected parts of the Near East and Nubia. We will examine and discuss topics such as ideology, imperial identity, political struggle and motivation for conquest and control of wider regions surrounding the Egyptian state as well as the relationship with other powers and their perspective on Egyptian rulers as for example described in the Amarna letters.
Instructor(s): Brian Muhs Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 20013, CLCV 25900, NEHC 20013
HIST 15611-15612-15613. Islamicate Civilization I-II-III.
This sequence surveys the intellectual, cultural, religious, and political development of the Islamic world (Middle East and North Africa), from its origins in pre-Islamic Arabia to the late 20th century. The sequence is required for MA students in CMES and counts toward completion of the NELC major and minor. It is recommended that the course be taken in sequence.
HIST 15611. Islamicate Civilization I: 600-950. 100 Units.
This course is an introduction to the history and the study of early Islamicate societies, from the rise of Islam in late antiquity to the early Abbasid period (ca. 600-950 CE), considering various religious and social groups. We will look at the same historical arc from multiple perspectives: political events, such as the Muslim conquests and the rise of ruling dynasties, but also other factors that impacted people's lives in the early centuries of Islamic rule-the environment they inhabited and transformed, documents they created, social institutions, and economic activities. What broad developments characterized the early Islamic period? Who brought those changes about? And how are they studied today?
Instructor(s): CECILIA PALOMBO Terms Offered: Autumn. This course will not be offered for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Note(s): The Islamicate Civilization sequence does not fulfill the General Ed requirements
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 20201, HIST 35621, MDVL 20201, NEHC 30201, NEHC 20201, ISLM 30201
HIST 15612. Islamicate Civilization II: 950-1750. 100 Units.
This course, a continuation of Islamicate Civilization I, surveys intellectual, cultural, religious and political developments in the Islamic world from Andalusia to the South Asian sub-continent during the periods from ca. 950 to 1750. We trace the arrival and incorporation of the Steppe Peoples (Turks and Mongols) into the central Islamic lands; the splintering of the Abbasid Caliphate and the impact on political theory; the flowering of literature of Arabic, Turkic and Persian expression; the evolution of religious and legal scholarship and devotional life; transformations in the intellectual and philosophical traditions; the emergence of Shi`i states (Buyids and Fatimids); the Crusades and Mongol conquests; the Mamluks and Timurids, and the "gunpowder empires" of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Moghuls; the dynamics of gender and class relations; etc. This class partially fulfills the requirement for MA students in CMES, as well as for NELC majors and PhD students.
Instructor(s): Mustafa Kaya Terms Offered: Winter. This course will not be offered for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Islamicate Civilization I (NEHC 20201) or Islamic Thought & Literature-1 (NEHC 20601), or the equivalent
Note(s): The Islamicate Civilization sequence does not fulfill the General Ed requirements
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30202, NEHC 30202, MDVL 20202, NEHC 20202, HIST 35622, RLST 20202
HIST 15613. Islamicate Civilization III: 1750-Present. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 1750 to the present, focusing on Western military, economic, and ideological encroachment; the impact of such ideas as nationalism and liberalism; efforts at reform in the Islamic states; the emergence of the "modern" Middle East after World War I; the struggle for liberation from Western colonial and imperial control; the Middle Eastern states in the cold war era; and local and regional conflicts.
Instructor(s): Carl Shook Terms Offered: Spring. This course will not be offered for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Islamicate Civilization II (NEHC 20202) or Islamic Thought & Literature-2 (NEHC 20602), or the equivalent
Note(s): The Islamicate Civilization sequence does not fulfill the General Ed requirements
Equivalent Course(s): ISLM 30203, NEHC 30203, RLST 20203, HIST 35623, NEHC 20203
HIST 16101-16102-16103. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I-II-III.
Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This sequence is offered every year. This course introduces the history and cultures of Latin America (e.g., Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands).
HIST 16101. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I. 100 Units.
Autumn Quarter examines the origins of civilizations in Latin America with a focus on the political, social, and cultural features of the major pre-Columbian civilizations of the Maya, Inca, and Aztec. The quarter concludes with an analysis of the Spanish and Portuguese conquest, and the construction of colonial societies in Latin America. The courses in this sequence may be taken in any order.
Instructor(s): Emilio Kourí Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 36101, ANTH 23101, LACS 34600, LACS 16100, SOSC 26100, CRES 16101, RDIN 16100
HIST 16102. Introduction to Latin American Civilization II. 100 Units.
Winter Quarter addresses the evolution of colonial societies, the wars of independence, and the emergence of Latin American nation-states in the changing international context of the nineteenth century.
Instructor(s): Mauricio Tenorio Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 26200, PPHA 39770, HIST 36102, LACS 34700, CRES 16102, LACS 16200, RDIN 16200, ANTH 23102
HIST 16103. Introduction to Latin American Civilization III. 100 Units.
Spring Quarter focuses on the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the challenges of economic, political, and social development in the region.
Instructor(s): Brodwyn Fischer Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 34800, LACS 16300, ANTH 23103, PPHA 39780, CRES 16103, SOSC 26300, HIST 36103
HIST 16700-16800-16900. Ancient Mediterranean World I-II-III.
Available as a three-quarter sequence (Autumn-Winter-Spring) or as a two-quarter sequence (Autumn-Winter or Winter-Spring). This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. It surveys the social, economic, and political history of Greece to the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), the Roman Republic (509 to 27 BC), and late antiquity (27 BC to the fifth century AD).
HIST 16700. Ancient Mediterranean World I: Greece. 100 Units.
This course surveys the social, economic, and political history of Greece from prehistory to the Hellenistic period. The main topics considered include the development of the institutions of the Greek city-state, the Persian Wars and the rivalry of Athens and Sparta, the social and economic consequences of the Peloponnesian War, and the eclipse and defeat of the city-states by the Macedonians.
Instructor(s): J. Hall Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): CLCV 20700, SOSC 27710
HIST 16800. Ancient Mediterranean World II: Rome. 100 Units.
Part II surveys the social, economic, and political history of Rome, from its prehistoric beginnings in the twelfth century BCE to the end of the Severan dynasty in 235 CE. Throughout, the focus will be upon the dynamism and adaptability of Roman society, as it moved from a monarchy to a republic to an empire. The course will also cover the questions of social organization (free and unfree people, foreigners), gender relations, religion, and specific forms of the way of life of the Romans. It will be based both on lectures and on discussions of textual or archaeological documents in smaller discussion groups.
Instructor(s): C. Ando Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 16800, CLCV 20800
HIST 16900. Ancient Mediterranean World III: Late Antiquity. 100 Units.
Part III examines late antiquity, a period of paradox. The later Roman emperors established the most intensive, pervasive state structures of the ancient Mediterranean, yet yielded their northern and western territories to Goths, Huns, Vandals, and, ultimately, their Middle Eastern core to the Arab Muslims. Imperial Christianity united the populations of the Roman Mediterranean in the service of one God, but simultaneously divided them into competing sectarian factions. A novel culture of Christian asceticism coexisted with the consolidation of an aristocratic ruling class notable for its insatiable appetite for gold. The course will address these apparent contradictions while charting the profound transformations of the cultures, societies, economies, and political orders of the Mediterranean from the conversion of Constantine to the rise of Islam.
Instructor(s): R. Payne Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): MDVL 16900, SOSC 27910, CLCV 20900
HIST 17311. Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civilization I: Ancient Science and Medicine. 100 Units.
This undergraduate course represents the first quarter of the Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civilization general education sequence. Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required. This quarter will focus on science and medicine in societies across the ancient world. Students will gain an introduction to methods of healing and knowing practiced in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America before 1500. Students will also acquire an understanding of the many questions that historical research raises for our own understanding of contemporary medicine and science, and some of the methods that historians use to bring the past to light. Topics include ancient surgery and pharmacology; the manifold meanings of "disease;" the function and recognition of "the body," of "mind," and of perception; how to acquire "good" and "true" knowledge; continuity and discontinuity of beliefs and practices over time and place; and exchange of ideas and materials across cultures, among other subjects.
Instructor(s): Michael Rossi Terms Offered: Autumn. Offered in Autumn 2023
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 18301
HIST 17411. Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civilization II: History of Medicine 1500 to 1900. 100 Units.
This course examines the theory and practice of medicine between 1500 and 1900. Topics include traditional early modern medicine; novel understandings of anatomy, physiology, and disease from the Renaissance on; and new forms of medical practice, training, and knowledge-making that developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Instructor(s): M. Rossi Terms Offered: Winter. Course is offered in Winter 2024.
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 18401
HIST 17515. Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civilization III: Histories of the Bomb. 100 Units.
In the long history of the planet, the years since 1945 have a remarkable and unique geological signature: one left by the creation and testing of atomic weapons, medicine, and energy. This class explores the intellectual, social, economic, and political histories of nuclear research, including topics such as transnational scientific migrations; the Manhattan Project; weapons testing and development; the rise of "Big Science"; postcolonial histories of nuclear development; domestic and international anti-nuclear activism; and ecological and environmental impacts of fallout, waste, and nuclear accidents. Drawing on both primary and secondary sources, we will consider how the story we tell about the history of the nuclear age and the rise of science came to be, and how that story has transformed at different points in the twentieth century.
Instructor(s): E. Kern Terms Offered: Spring. Offered in Spring 2024
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 18505
HIST 17521-17522. Energy in World Civilizations.
This two-quarter course sequence explores the historical roots of climate change and other global environmental problems by focusing on the social use of energy over time. Part I covers energy systems across the world from prehistory to the end of the nineteenth century. Part II investigates global energy systems from the early twentieth century to the present. The courses should be taken in chronological sequence. Taken together, they fulfill the general education requirement in civilization studies.
HIST 17521. Energy in World Civilizations I. 100 Units.
This two-quarter course explores the historical roots of climate change and other global environmental problems with a special attention to how energy use shapes human societies over time. Part I covers energy systems across the world from prehistory to the end of the nineteenth century.
Instructor(s): F. Albritton Jonsson Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Parts I and II should be taken in sequence. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): CEGU 27521, SOSC 27521, HIPS 17521, ENST 27521
HIST 17522. Energy in World Civilizations II. 100 Units.
This two-quarter course explores the historical roots of climate change and other global environmental problems with a special attention to how energy use shapes human societies over time. Part II covers energy systems across the world from the early twentieth century to the present, examining themes such as the uneven globalization of energy-intensive lifestyles, the changing geopolitics of energy, and possible futures beyond fossil-fuel dependence.
Instructor(s): J. Mead Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Parts I and II should be taken in sequence. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Equivalent Course(s): ENST 27522, CEGU 27522, SOSC 27522, HIPS 17522
HIST 18301-18302-18303. Colonizations I-II-III.
This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This three-quarter sequence approaches the concept of civilization from an emphasis on cross-cultural/societal connection and exchange. We explore the dynamics of conquest, slavery, colonialism, and their reciprocal relationships with concepts such as resistance, freedom, and independence, with an eye toward understanding their interlocking role in the making of the modern world.
HIST 18301. Colonizations I: Colonialism, Enslavement and Resistance in the Atlantic World. 100 Units.
This quarter examines the making of the Atlantic world in the aftermath of European colonial expansion. Focusing on the Caribbean, North and South America, and western Africa, we cover the dynamics of invasion, representation of otherness, enslavement, colonial economies and societies, as well as resistance and revolution.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Spring
Winter
Note(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This course is offered every year. These courses can be taken in any sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 24001, SOSC 24001, ANTH 24001, RDIN 24001
HIST 18302. Colonizations II: Imperial Expansion, Anti-Imperialism, and Nation in Asia. 100 Units.
This quarter covers the histories of modern European and Japanese colonialism in South and East Asia and the Pacific. Themes examined include the logics and dynamics of imperial expansion and rule; Orientalist discourses; uprisings and anti-imperial movements; the rise of nationalisms; and paths to decolonization in the region.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Spring
Winter
Note(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. These courses can be taken in any sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 24002, RDIN 24002, ANTH 24002, SALC 24002, SOSC 24002
HIST 18303. Colonizations III: Decolonization, Revolution, Freedom. 100 Units.
The third quarter considers the processes and consequences of decolonization both in newly independent nations and former colonial powers. Through an engagement with postcolonial studies, we explore the problematics of freedom and sovereignty; anti-colonial movements, thinking and struggles; nation-making and nationalism; and the enduring legacies of colonialism.
Instructor(s): Staff Terms Offered: Autumn
Spring
Winter
Note(s): This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. These courses can be taken in any sequence.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 20702, RDIN 24003, CRES 24003, ANTH 24003, SOSC 24003
HIST 20405. Ancient Empires VI: The Assyrian Empire. 100 Units.
This course will examine the concept and definition of empire and the practices of imperial control through a case study of Mesopotamia's best-known empire, the Neo-Assyrian (first half of the 1st millennium BCE). At its peak, the Assyrians ruled a vast area covering most of modern Iraq and Syria, plus parts of Iran, Turkey and the Levant, with aspirations to control Egypt. The gradual expansion of this empire from late 2nd millennium BCE beginnings and its extremely rapid collapse in ca. 612 BCE provide an excellent example of the tensions within trajectories of empire. The course themes include warfare and political strategies, identity and ethnicity, imperial bureaucracy, and the practical and ideological purposes of infrastructure building. Evidence examined will include texts (in translation) and the archaeological record at various scales, from settlements through artworks. We will also examine paradoxes, such as the contrast between textual claims of hegemony and limited archaeological evidence for this, and the power of visual propaganda versus its select audience.
Instructor(s): Augusta McMahon Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20016
HIST 20406. Ancient Empires VII: Sumerians and Akkadians. 100 Units.
The course introduces students to the first 'empires' in the ancient Middle East. We will study the earliest attempts under both Sumerian and Akkadian leadership at unifying the old Sumerian city states in what is today southern Iraq in the mid-third millennium BCE. Our focus will then be on the two successful empires that arose from these attempts, namely the one founded by Sargon of Akkade in ca. 2300 BCE and the one ruled by the Third Dynasty of Ur from 2092-2003 BCE. While exploring a rich variety of sources, both textual and from archaeological contexts, we will pay particular attention to understanding expansionist efforts, strategies of empire building, the establishment of a centralized state bureaucracy, ideologies of kingship, ethnicity and identity, as well as rebellions against the new political system and theories about why these early empires began to crumble after only a few generations. Since these new forms of dominion were tested and developed for the first time in this formative period and kings of these dynasties acquired a special status in Mesopotamian cultural memory, this course provides a solid base for understanding the later development of ancient Middle Eastern history but can also be studied for the sake of understanding early empire formation.
Instructor(s): Jana Matuszak Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20017
HIST 25610. Islamic Thought and Literature I. 100 Units.
This sequence explores the thought and literature of the Islamic world from the coming of Islam in the seventh century C.E. through the development and spread of its civilization in the medieval period and into the modern world. Including historical framework to establish chronology and geography, the course focuses on key aspects of Islamic intellectual history: scripture, law, theology, philosophy, literature, mysticism, political thought, historical writing, and archaeology. In addition to lectures and secondary background readings, students read and discuss samples of key primary texts, with a view to exploring Islamic civilization in the direct voices of the people who participated in creating it. All readings are in English translation. No prior background in the subject is required. This course sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Instructor(s): Flowers, Adam Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 22000, NEHC 20601, MDVL 20601, RLST 20401
HIST 25611. Iranian Political Culture. 100 Units.
The first of a two-part seminar examining the emergence and evolution of the Iranian Empire in late antiquity, the most enduring territorially extensive political system in ancient Near Eastern history. Its name, Ērānšahr, signaled the centrality of Zoroastrianism to its conception and organization. The seminar will therefore focus on the role of the religion, as a complex of ideas and institutions, in the shaping of Iran's society, culture, political economy, and imperial infrastructure. In so doing, students will gain familiarity with the range of available literary, documentary, and archæological sources.
Instructor(s): Richard Payne Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 30721, NEHC 20721, HIST 35611
HIST 25616. Islamic Thought and Literature III. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 1700 to the present. It explores Muslim intellectuals' engagement with tradition and modernity in the realms of religion, politics, literature, and law. We discuss debates concerning the role of religion in a modern society, perceptions of Europe and European influence, the challenges of maintain religious and cultural authenticity, and Muslim views of nation-states and nationalism in the Middle East. We also give consideration to the modern developments of transnational jihadism and the Arab Spring. This course sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies.
Instructor(s): Holly Shissler - Tobias Scheunchen Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): NEHC 20603, RLST 20403, SOSC 22200
HIST 25704-25804-25904. Islamic History and Society I-II-III.
This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This sequence surveys the main trends in the political history of the Islamic world, with some attention to economic, social, and intellectual history. Taking these courses in sequence is recommended but not required.
HIST 25704. Islamic History and Society I: The Rise of Islam and the Caliphate. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 600 to 1100, including the rise and spread of Islam, the Islamic empire under the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, and the emergence of regional Islamic states from Afghanistan and eastern Iran to North Africa and Spain.
Instructor(s): Ahmed El Shamsy Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): CMES 30501, SOSC 20501, NEHC 30501, RLST 20501, ISLM 30500, HIST 35704, MDVL 20501, NEHC 20501
HIST 25804. Islamic History and Society II: The Middle Period. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 1100 to 1750, including the arrival of the Steppe Peoples (Turks and Mongols), the Mongol successor states, and the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria. We also study the foundation of the great Islamic regional empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Moghuls.
Instructor(s): J. Woods Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Not open to first-year students
Equivalent Course(s): CMES 30502, MDVL 20502, HIST 35804, NEHC 30502, NEHC 20502, ISLM 30600, SOSC 20502
HIST 25904. Islamic History and Society III:The Modern Middle East. 100 Units.
This course covers the period from ca. 1750 to the present, focusing on Western military, economic, and ideological encroachment; the impact of such ideas as nationalism and liberalism; efforts at reform in the Islamic states; the emergence of the "modern" Middle East after World War I; the struggle for liberation from Western colonial and imperial control; the Middle Eastern states in the cold war era; and local and regional conflicts.
Instructor(s): Holly Shissler Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Not open to first-year students
Note(s): This course does not apply to the medieval studies major or minor.
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 20503, HIST 35904, NEHC 20503, NEHC 30503
Contacts
Undergraduate Primary Contact
Chair, Undergraduate Studies Committee
Michael Rossi
773.702.5622
Email
Administrative Contact
Academic Advisor
Peggy O'Donnell
SS 225
773.702.2178
Email