History

Associate Professor Lestz, Chair; Professor Euraque, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of History Greenberg, Charles A. Dana Professor of History Hedrick∙∙, Charles H. Northam Professor of History Kassow∙∙, Borden W. Painter, Jr., ’58/H’95 Professor of European History Kete∙∙; William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in American Institutions and Values Masur^†, Hobart Professor of Classical Languages Reger; Associate Professors Antrim, Bayliss, Cocco, Elukin, Figueroa∙∙ and Gac^†; Assistant Professors Markle and Wickman; Visiting Associate Professor Patt; Visiting Lecturer Rodriguez

The history major—Historians examine the past to form a meaningful image of events previously hidden, partially understood, or deliberately misinterpreted. History is based on a foundation of documents, novels, maps, archival materials, memoirs, numbers, artifacts, and factual data combined with scholarly writings and analysis. It is a field of study that is part social science, part poetry, and always a humane quest for understanding. To know what is true about the past may be impossible, but the effort has its own rewards. The facility gained by students in interpreting the world historically can transform their consciousness and their lives. Propicit qui respicit: One who looks back looks forward.

Many approaches to history are introduced within the department’s program. Courses on the ancient world, the Middle Ages, contemporary Europe and America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean form the core of a curriculum designed to encourage a wide range of historical explorations. Social, cultural, intellectual, political, and trans-national histories carry students across various areas and time periods.

Majors master the skills of critical reading, analysis, interpretation, and writing and are introduced to mutually reinforcing approaches to the past. Graduates go on to successful careers in academia, law, business, government, social service, and many other fields since the tools and worldview transmitted through the study of history creates a springboard for endeavors in many realms that rely on the skills a historian learns.

Courses at the 100 and 200 level are the foundation for the advanced seminars and writing courses of the major. Each is a portal that introduces fundamental historical perspectives, chronological ordering schemes, and the secondary literature that defines the fields surveyed. There are also methodology courses at this level that introduce ways of studying history and methods of engagement with primary source materials.

One cardinal emphasis of the history major is original research based on primary source materials and the creation of essays or theses that represent a synthesis of evidence and relevant historiographical materials. The upper tier of our major—the 300-level seminars—consists of small seminars whose goal is to foster original projects based on the abundant primary sources in our College’s own collections and materials to be found in Hartford and regional archives or libraries. Primary materials are also available in abundance on the Web and when not available locally can be obtained readily through the Library’s Reference Department.

The culminating exercise of the major is a two-semester thesis that can be elected by any history major following a process of application described on the department’s Web page. Successful completion of a thesis is a prerequisite for honors in the major.

Majors are required to complete 12 approved history courses with grades of C- or better. Those who select the thesis option must complete 10 approved history courses and a 2-credit thesis with grades of C- or better. At least eight of these courses, including the senior thesis, HIST 299, and HIST 300, must be completed at Trinity or in academic programs taught or sponsored by Trinity faculty. In the interest of shaping a trajectory from lower-division to higher-division courses, students may apply a maximum of two courses at the 100 and 200 levels taken during their senior year toward the major. The award of departmental honors will be based on superior performance in history courses and in a senior thesis.

Distribution Courses (5 credits)

Students must complete five distribution courses at any level (100, 200, or 300) in order to acquire thematic, geographical, and chronological breadth in the discipline. Each requirement must be fulfilled with a distinct course:

One course in European history
One course in US history
One course covering a time period before 1700
Two courses in areas other than Europe and the U.S.

Common Courses (2 credits)

These courses constitute the common experience of all history majors. They develop methodological sophistication and research skills.

HIST 299: Historiography: This course introduces students to debate among historians and historical methods. It is expected that students will complete this course in the spring semester of their sophomore year.
HIST 300: History Workshop: This course guides students in writing a major research paper using primary sources. It is expected that students will complete this course by the end of their junior year. History Workshop fulfills the Writing Intensive Part II requirement.

300-level seminars (4 credits)

Students are required to take a minimum of four 300-level seminars. All 300-level courses approved for the major are designated seminars and consist of intensive reading, discussion, and writing, either in the scholarly literature or the primary sources of a certain field, or in some combination of both. All 300-level courses fulfill the Writing Part II requirement.

Elective (1 credit) or Thesis Option (2 credits)

Students may apply to pursue a two-semester two-credit thesis during their senior year. They must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and submit a proposal and bibliography following departmental guidelines in the spring of their junior year. Students not pursuing the thesis option must take one additional elective course at any level.

Study abroad—History majors are strongly encouraged to study abroad, during the academic year, summer, or both. Over 60 percent of Trinity College students take part in foreign study and the College sponsors its own global learning sites or summer institutes abroad in many parts of the world. The Office of International Programs and its staff offer detailed information about such programs. History faculty members participate in guiding students to appropriate programs and lead such study efforts, which bear history credit, in many parts of the world.

Undergraduates intending to pursue graduate work in history should develop a reading knowledge of two foreign languages.

Senior Thesis Application Procedure—Schedule for Spring Term of Junior Year

February 13, 2013—Submit thesis title and name of adviser;
March 1, 2013—Submit annotated bibliography to thesis adviser;
March 29, 2013—Submit bibliography of primary sources to thesis adviser;
April 3, 2013—Submit thesis proposal to History Office;
Mid-April—Departmental thesis committee issues decisions on thesis proposals.

The Thesis Application form is on the History Department home page.

Fall Term

102. Europe Since 1715— European history from 1715 to the present. (Enrollment limited)-Kete

[104. Europe in the 20th Century]— This course will examine the upheavals of Europe’s tumultuous 20th century. From the hopes of progress built on the advances of the 19th century came the destruction and despair of a century of revolution, war, genocide, oppression, and subsequent rebirth. This course will study the contours of Europe in 1914, the causes and consequences of the World War I, the weaknesses of liberal democracy in the interwar years, the allure of alternative political systems like Communism and Facism, the outbreak of World War II and the Holocaust, attempts to rebuild Europe after the war and the creation of the social welfare state in Western Europe since 1945, and the course of events in Communist Eastern Europe culminating in the collapse of the Soviet Union. (Enrollment limited)

[108. Race and Ethnicity in Latin American and Caribbean History]— This course will introduce students to the history of race and ethnic relations in Latin America and the Caribbean from the arrival of Columbus to the late 20th century. We will explore how the categories of race and ethnicity in Latin America and the Caribbean have undergone a very different evolution when compared to the U.S. Two distinguishing facts that make race and ethnic history in Latin America and the Caribbean different from the U.S.: the much larger “Indian” populations that the Spaniards confronted and, secondly, the larger number of peoples of African descent transferred as slaves to Latin America and the Caribbean. This course will examine this process in the context of colonization, post-Independence political systems, nation-state formation, and contemporary struggles over different identities. This course includes a community learning component.

[112. Europe in the Middle Ages]— This course will introduce students to the major themes of medieval history from the fall of the Carolingian Empire to the beginning of the Reformation with an emphasis on how a distinctively European society takes shape. We will study feudalism, the papacy, the Holy Roman Empire, the formation of medieval states and law, kingship, Crusades, plague, famine, elite and popular religious movements, and major political and national conflicts. The course will be taught largely from primary documents. (Enrollment limited)

[115. History of the Greek World: c. 1500-200 BCE]— This course covers the history of the Greek world—Greece, the Aegean islands, western Asia Minor, the Black Sea, and southern Italy and Sicily—in the period between the end of the Bronze Age and the arrival of the Romans (c. 1500-200 BCE). The emergence of the polis, the Greek city-state, as the predominant way to organize political, social, economic, religious, and cultural life, and the spread of these institutions, form the central foci of the course. There will be emphasis on the reading and interpretation of primary source material through lectures, discussions, and analytical writing. (Enrollment limited)

117. Tokyo Story: From Fishing Village to Cosmopolitan Metropolis— This course explores the historical development of Tokyo, from its obscure, medieval origins to its present status as one of the world’s most populous and cosmopolitan cities. In spite of being destroyed on average once every 30 years by fires, natural disasters, and war—or perhaps because of this—Tokyo has sprung eternal, constantly transforming itself within shifting political, economic, and cultural contexts. This course examines the constantly transforming urban landscape and its impact on the structure of the city and the lives of its inhabitants. Topics of particular interest include: the rise of capitalism and its impact on early-modern urbanization, the impact of Western-style modernization on the organization of urban life in the 19th and 20th centuries, labor migration and its impact on urban slums, the impact of the economic “high growth” years on Japanese urban lifestyles, and the rise of Tokyo as a symbol of post-modern urban culture. (Enrollment limited)-Bayliss

[118. Social and Political Movements in 20th Century America]— This course will examine how mass social and political movements—left, right and center—have shaped modern United States history. We will explore a range of key movements: Populism, Progressivism, First- and Second-Wave Feminism, Labor and the New Deal, Anticommunism, Civil Rights and Black Power, the Vietnam antiwar movement, Gay Rights, modern Conservatism, post-1960s Liberalism, Latino political activism, and the Obama election. We will try to answer broad but vital questions: why did these movements emerge? What sustained them, internally and externally? What strategies and tactics did they use to achieve their aims? How did they impact history? What rhetoric did they use to gain legitimacy? How did the movements balance top-down direction and grassroots organizing? What internal tensions did they carry? Were they successful? Why did they decline (if they did)? Amid the particular histories of American social and political movements, we will discover broader linkages and continuities that shed light on the relationship between popular struggle, policy shifts and modern U.S. history. (Enrollment limited)

201. The United States from the Colonial Period through the Civil War— This course introduces students to major developments in the political, economic, and social history of North America between 1492 and 1865. We will study encounters between Europeans and Native Americans, the founding of European colonies, the rise of the Atlantic slave trade, the Seven Years’ War, the American Revolution, the spread of plantation slavery, the War of 1812, Indian removal, westward expansion, the U.S.-Mexican War, and the Civil War. Students will be challenged to imagine American history within Atlantic and global contexts and to pay attention to North American borderlands. Perspectives to be considered include those of explorers, naturalists, sachems, warriors, captives, slave traders, overseers, field slaves, indentured servants, merchants, artisans, sailors, farmers, mothers, children, missionaries, midwives, manufacturers, laborers, and governing officials. (Enrollment limited)-Wickman

208. North American Environmental History— This course surveys the environmental history of North America and the Caribbean from 1491 to the present. Topics include indigenous practice, colonization, agricultural intensification, industrialization, urbanization, war, waste disposal, and climate change. Above all, the course will be concerned with the political conflicts and social inequities that arose as the continent and its surrounding waters underwent centuries of ecological change. The global environmental contexts and consequences of American political and economic activities also will be emphasized. (Enrollment limited)-Wickman

[209. African-American History]— The experiences of African-Americans from the 17th century to the present with particular emphasis on life in slavery and in the 20th-century urban North. (Enrollment limited)

212. The Crusades and Medieval Society— An introductory survey of the political, social, military and religious history of the Crusades. Using primary sources, the course will also examine how aspects of the Crusades reveal broader themes in medieval history, including: European identity, pilgrimage, religious violence, technological innovation, perceptions of non-Europeans, and the influence of the Crusades on early modern voyages of discovery. Lecture and discussion format. (Enrollment limited)-Elukin

216. World War II— This is a survey of the political, military, social, cultural and economic aspects of the Second World War. (Enrollment limited)-Kassow

218. United States Since 1945— This course examines America since World War II. We will explore both political events and cultural and social trends, including the Cold War, rock ’n’ roll, civil rights, feminism, Vietnam, consumerism and advertising, the New Right and the New Left, the counterculture, religious and ethnic revivals, poverty, and the “me” generation. (Enrollment limited)-Greenberg

[221. Science, Religion, and Nature in the Age of Galileo]— The astronomer Galileo Galilei’s trial before the Roman Inquisition nearly four centuries ago endures as a symbol of the clash between science and religion. Undoubtedly, the rise of early modern science in 17th-century Europe provoked its share of battles, but was this the whole story? This course will lead students to consider the origin and extent of the apparently irreconcilable differences between world views. How wide was the rift between science and religion, especially before the Enlightenment? Students will be encouraged to explore this complex relationship in historical context, by weighing the coexistence of scientific curiosity and intense faith, and also by considering the religious response to the expanding horizons of knowledge. The course will highlight investigations of the heavens and the earth, thus seeking instructive comparisons between disciplines such as astronomy, botany, and geology. A number of broad themes will be the focus. These include the understanding of God and nature, authority (classical and scriptural) versus observation, the wide range of knowledge-making practices, the place of magic, and finally the influence of power and patronage. The class seeks to present a rich and exciting picture, looking forward as well to the influence of rational thinking and scientific inquiry on the making of modernity. (Enrollment limited)

[222. Japan from the Dawn of Human History to the 17th Century]— This course provides a broad overview of the events and themes encountered in Japan’s early history, from the earliest archeological evidence of human habitation to the establishment of a stable political and social order under the Tokugawa bakufu (shogunate). The course will explore the role of diverse religious and cultural influences in shaping Japanese society and culture during the pre-modern era. Themes and topics of particular interest are the impact of Chinese civilization and the “indigenization” of imported traditions such as Buddhism and Confucianism, early political organization and the rise of the imperial clan, and civil war and the ascendance of the warrior class to political and cultural hegemony. (Enrollment limited)

[228. Islamic Civilization to 1517]— This course surveys the transformation of the Middle East into an Islamic civilization from the life of Muhammad in the early seventh century through the collapse of the Mamluk Empire in 1517. It focuses on social, cultural, and political history and addresses regional variations from Morocco to Iran. Topics include women, religious minorities, and slavery, as well as Islamic education, mysticism, and literature. (Enrollment limited)

[235. Colonialism in the Americas]— Columbus’s voyage began a new period in the history of colonialism. This course examines the complex world that the Spanish Conquest destroyed, and it explores the “New World” created in its aftermath. It opens with a journey into the worlds of the Aztecs, the Mayas, and Incas, but it also considers indigenous peoples less well known to contemporary students, especially the Tainos, the Lencas, and the Guarani. The plight of millions of enslaved West Africans in the Americas is also a central topic. Finally, Spanish colonialism here extends between 1492 and 1898 in the Caribbean, and up to the 1820s in the U.S.

238. Caribbean History— The location of the first encounter, conquest, and colonization of Native American peoples by Europeans, the Caribbean became a center of bitter rivalries between European imperial powers, and later in the 20th century a new, premiere location of the United States’ own imperial thrust. The Caribbean’s strategic location in relation to Atlantic Ocean trade routes and its tropical climate and fertile soils were key factors in shaping these imperial rivalries and the colonial and postcolonial societies that emerged in the region. The vast experience of African slavery, the later “indentured” migration of hundreds of thousands of Asians to some colonies, and the migration of similar numbers of Europeans (especially to the Hispanic Caribbean) have shaped deeply yet unevenly the nature of Caribbean societies since the 16th century, giving the Caribbean a complex multi-ethnic, yet also heavily “Western,” cultural landscape. This course will introduce students to these and other aspects of Caribbean history, from the pre-European era, through the epics of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) and the Cuban Revolution of 1959, to the present. (Enrollment limited)-Figueroa

[241. History of China, Shang to Ming]— A survey focused on the development of Chinese politics, culture, and society from 1600 B.C. to the conclusion of the Ming dynasty in 1644 A.D. This course will provide a historical introduction to the growth of a unified Chinese empire with its own homogeneous intellectual tradition and will explore the empire’s coexistence with an enormously varied cluster of regional cultures. (Enrollment limited)

243. Modern Germany— This course will explore Germany’s rise from an assortment of states to a (re)united powerhouse at the heart of Europe. We will examine nationalism and the “failure” of 1848; Germany’s unification under Bismarck and Wilhelmine Germany; the bloody First World War and the resulting Weimar Republic; the rise of Hitler’s Nazi Party, the Second World War and the Holocaust; life in the two Germanys during the Cold War; and finally Germany’s reunification and new place on the European and world maps. The course will be formed around documents, historical studies, memoirs and films. (Enrollment limited)-Rodriguez

252. African History, Origins to 1850— This course is the first part of a two-part introductory survey of African history. We will explore the rich and varied civilizations and cultures in Africa, as well as how elements of these cultures have been carried throughout the world. Because “African” as a uniform term is a creation of a later time, this course seeks to distinguish between various populations and regions on this immense continent. Beginning with human origins on the continent, we will address the major social, economic, religious, and political movements in Africa through the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Topics will include the peopling of Africa; ancient societies and African empires; African technology such as tools, weapons, art, and music; African religions and the spread of Islam and Christianity; famous early Africans such as Mansa Musa, warrior queen Nzinga, and Shaka Zulu; trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean trading routes; and the development and impact of the Atlantic slave trade. (Enrollment limited)-Markle

283. African Diaspora in Latin American and the Caribbean— Of the approximately 12 million African slaves brought to the Americas, more than 11 million were taken to Brazil, the Caribbean and other parts of Latin America. This course examines the origins of the African slave trade and slavery; the evolution of racial ideologies; forms of resistance, including the successful Haitian Revolution (1791-1804); and the century-long struggle to end slavery (1783-1888). We will also study how African, Afro-Latin American, and Afro-Caribbean peoples forged distinctive but inter-related Diasporic cultures (in religion, music, art, literature) and political movements for racial justice. Almost every Latin American & Caribbean country will be examined, including Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Colombia, Argentina, and others. Throughout the course comparisons will be made with African-American history in the USA. (Enrollment limited)-Figueroa

299. Historiography— A study of the character and range of activities undertaken by historians. Students will critically evaluate the way in which historians treat evidence and draw conclusions. Topics considered will include an introduction of some of the subdisciplines within the field and an examination of a number of important exchanges on matters of substance and method currently under debate among historians. This course open to History majors only. (Enrollment limited)-Elukin

300-01. History Workshop— The Workshop seminar combines extensive readings on the topic of the seminar with a substantial research paper involving the use of primary source materials and original analysis. This course open to History majors only. (Enrollment limited)-Euraque

300-02. Miracles and the Miraculous— This seminar/workshop will study how miracles functioned as a crucial element of European religious culture in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. We will read theoretical works about miracles as well as accounts from chronicles, hagiography, and histories that report miraculous events. We will explore how Christians integrated the belief in the miraculous with a pragmatic, rational understanding of nature. Finally, we will trace changing attitudes to the miraculous during the secularization of modern European society. After extensive reading in these selected secondary and primary sources, students will craft their own research project. (Enrollment limited)-Elukin

304. Renaissance Italy— This course explores the origin, distinctiveness, and importance of the Italian Renaissance. It is also about culture, society, and identity in the many “Italies” that existed before the modern period. Art, humanism, and the link between cultural patronage and political power will be a focus, as will the lives of 15th- and 16th-century women and men. Early lectures will trace the evolution of the Italian city-states, outlining the social and political conditions that fostered the cultural flowering of the 1400s and 1500s. We will consider Florence in the quattrocento, and subsequently shift to Rome in the High Renaissance. Later topics will include the papacy’s return to the Eternal City, the art of Michelangelo and Raphael, and the ambitions of the warlike and mercurial Pope Julius II. Italy was a politically fragmented peninsula characterized by cultural, linguistic, and regional differences. For this reason, other topics will include: the fortunes of Venice, the courts of lesser city-states like Mantua and Ferrara, the life of Alessandra Strozzi, and the exploits of the “lover and fighter” Benvenuto Cellini. We will also look at representations of the Renaissance in film.

(Enrollment limited)-Cocco

[314. Dictatorship, Revolution, Reform and Military Coups in Central America]— Few regions in the world have suffered more human rights violations as a result of dictatorship, revolution, reformist movements, and military coups than Latin American and the Caribbean. These dramatic processes have been especially persistent in the countries of Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. American foreign policy has played a critical role in these countries as far back as the administration of Abraham Lincoln; an involvement that has only strengthened through the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, and most recently, Barak Obama. This course explores the historical nexus between dictatorships, revolution, reformism, military coups and US foreign policy in Central America between the 1890s and the early 21st century. (Enrollment limited)

[325. Italy and the Mediterranean]— This seminar examines the history of Italian coasts from the Middle Ages up to the period of nineteenth-century national unification. The focus in the first instance will be the history of port cities as wall as of the coastal stretches that lay between urban centers of power and commerce. As the chronology shifts toward later periods, the historical investigation of shores will also develop comparisons to coastal cultures elsewhere in the world. (Enrollment limited)

[332. African Nationalism and Decolonization]— This course examines both the theoretical and empirical aspects of anticolonial nationalist movements in Africa from the end of World War II to the dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa in the early 1990s. Topics such as nonviolent civil disobedience, armed guerilla struggle, nationalist thought, and postcolonial state formation will inform the ways in which we seek to understand the end of European colonial rule and its social, economic, cultural and political implications for Africa. A series of case studies will acquaint students to such themes as well as highlight the utility of an interdisciplinary approach for examining a broad array of historical developments. The second half of the course will focus on southern Africa, using the Aluka digital archive, “The Struggles for Freedom in South Africa Collection.” This course open to History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

344. America’s Most Wanted: True Crime and the American Imagination— Americans are fascinated by crime. We read detective fiction, watch police dramas, and hold murder mystery dinners. When the crimes are real, we debate guilt or innocence, punishment or rehabilitation, death penalty or life in prison at our dinner tables. Why this fascination, and what does it tell us about our culture and our concerns? In this course we examine several actual crimes and try to understand what made these crimes, and not others, so riveting. What drew us in? What kept us there? Along the way we will also discuss changing police and penal practices, how attitudes about race, class, religion, and gender play into public fixations on particular crimes, and how and why those attitudes shifted over time. (Enrollment limited)-Greenberg

[349. Writing the American Desert]— This course treats changes in attitudes toward the American deserts, particularly the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, and Mojave, through reading accounts of travels, fiction, and other primary source material, from about the period of the Long Expedition (which coined the expression “Great American Desert” as the descriptor for the Plains) to Edward Abbey and the environmental movement. Because the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts straddle the US-Mexico border, we will also make forays into the Mexican world, exploring ways in which the construction of a totally artificial border after the Mexican-American War and the Gadsden Purchase affected attitudes toward that desert world; this will also allow us to consider the views of Hispanic settlers who made this region their home long before the advent of Americans. Finally, we will also explore Native American attitudes toward landscapes that were their own homelands, seen through a very different prism than that of the European-American settlers coming from a humid east. (Enrollment limited)

[353. Print and Politics in the American Revolution]— Historians of the American Revolution have long argued whether the event had a conservative or radical impact on American politics and society. In this class, we will enter the scholarly debate by examining the experiences of different social groups, including merchants, women, slaves, farmers, and Native Americans. Our sources for the course will consist primarily of the seminal texts produced during the revolutionary era. These writings range from Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence to the sermons of the Black minister Lemuel Haynes and the letters exchanged between John and Abigail Adams. (Enrollment limited)

362. The Samurai Warrior in History, Myth, and Reality— The samurai were as important for Japan’s historical and cultural transformation as they are misunderstood. This course aims at separating the myth from the reality of the samurai, by examining the history of Japanese warriors and the culture they created, from their lowly origins in antiquity through their rise to hegemony during the 13th through 18th centuries, to their eventual disappearance as a distinct class in the 19th century. We will also examine the evolving image of the samurai warrior and his supposedly rigid moral code of conduct, as it appears in literature and film, from some of the earliest appearances of such images right up to today. Our purpose in examining these images of the samurai is not only to distinguish myth from reality, but also to explore the political purposes such images have been put to in legitimating samurai rule prior to the 20th century, and in informing Japanese views of themselves and non-Japanese views of Japan in the years since. (Enrollment limited)-Bayliss

[363. Living on the Margins of Modern Japan]— This course explores the histories and identities of groups that, for a variety of reasons, have not been considered part of “mainstream” Japanese society. Among these are ethnic minorities, such as the Ainu, Okinawans, and resident Koreans, and social minorities, such as the descendants of former outcastes groups who are referred to collectively as the Burakumin. In addition to these groups, we will also explore the nature of groups viewed as outside of the mainstream by dint of the lifestyle they lead or the circumstances that have been forced upon them, such as the yakuza (gangsters), ultra-rightwing activists, residents of slums, and others. Through such an exploration, we will come to challenge the perception, all-too-common both inside and outside of Japan, that Japanese society is homogeneous. We will also look into how this illusion of homogeneity has been constructed, and what the consequences are for those who find themselves marginalized in the process. (Enrollment limited)

[366. History of the Book]— This course is designed to give students an extensive introduction to issues in the history of the book, including: the origins of writing, the transition from roll to codex, medieval literacy and book technology, the impact of printing, the nature of reading in early modern Europe, and the future of the book in the digital age. (Enrollment limited)

380. Brazil: From Colony to Emerging Power— This course introduces students to the history of the largest Latin American country. The timeline covers the pre-European indigenous era, the Portuguese Colonial period (1500s-1822), the post-independence era (1822-1889), and contemporary history until the present. Topics include the conquest of indigenous cultures and environmental degradation; African slavery and Afro-Brazilian culture; gender, sexuality and race in Brazlilian music, dance, soccer and religion; urbanism and urban life; Brazilian cinema; the politics of democracy, citizenship, and military power; and the transformation of Brazil in recent decades into an emerging economic power. (Enrollment limited)-Figueroa

393. The Past as Protest and Prophecy in Postwar Japanese Cinema— Through a variety of readings and film viewings, this course explores how Japanese directors from 1945 to the present have used the past as a setting in which to voice political and social commentary about contemporary Japan. We will explore films of a variety of genres – including war films, samurai dramas, science fiction films, documentaries, avant-garde films, and anime – created over the last 65 years by directors such as Fukasaku Kinji, Ichikawa Kon, Imamura Shohei, Kurosawa Akira, Mizoguchi Kenji, Oshima Nagisa, Suzuki Seijun, Tsuburaya Eiji, and others. The readings for the course will give students an appreciation of the historical settings that the films portray, the political and social contexts in which they were produced, and an understanding of each director’s political, social, and cinematic vision. These readings will allow us to discuss selected scenes of films viewed in our class meetings in a way that will highlight how postwar discourses of pacifism, internationalism, nationalism, and anti-colonialism are reflected in these cinematic works. (Enrollment limited)-Bayliss

395. History of the Alps— In the 1990s the European Union recognized the Alpine region as a distinct regional unit. This course is a history of that storied region extending from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic by way of Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Balkans. Topics include the ?discovery’ of the Alps by European elites in the Age of Enlightenment; the Alps as archive of geological time and center of romantic science; the invention and commercialization of alpine sports; the appeal of the Alps as a place of retreat and healing and their politicization by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in the 1920s and 1930s respectively. We end with a consideration of the future of the region in the face of global warming and the promises of trans-nationalism. (Enrollment limited)-Kete

399. Independent Study— Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairman are required for enrollment. (1-2 course credits) -Staff

[401. Europe in the Age of the French Revolution]— Our subject is the French Revolution and its expansion into continental Europe and the Caribbean. We will also look at its influence on Britain. Students may choose French, British, Italian, German, Austrian, Spanish, Russian, or Caribbean topics. This course is open to junior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

[451-31. The Holocaust]— This seminar will study major topics in the history of the Holocaust and focus on perpetrators, bystanders and victims. Special attention will be given to historiographical controversies. This course open to senior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

[451-40. Vietnam War]— The Vietnam War was one of the most polarizing and consequential ordeals in American history. It intensely divided and irrevocably changed the country. This seminar will examine the history of the Vietnam War from many sides and look at major historiographical issues in the study of the topic. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, we will explore how different people experienced the war, as well as bigger questions about its origins, evolution and legacies. We will also examine the larger forces that played out through the Vietnam War: the Cold War, global decolonization, the civil rights movement, the New Left, the collapse of liberalism, U.S. foreign policy, and much more. This course open to senior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

466. Teaching Assistantship— Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairman are required for enrollment. (0.5-1 course credit) -Staff

498. Senior Thesis/Research Seminar— A two-semester senior thesis including the required research seminar in the fall term. Permission of the instructor is required for Part I. (2 course credits) -Staff

Graduate Courses

940. Independent Study— Independent studies on selected topics are available by arrangement with the instructor and written approval of the graduate adviser, and department chair. Contact the Office of Graduate Studies for the special approval form. -Staff

953. Research Project— The graduate director, the supervisor of the project, and the department chair must approve special research project topics. Conference hours are available by appointment. Contact the Office of Graduate Studies for the special approval form. One course credit. -Staff

954. Thesis Part I— Thesis Part I is an investigation and report on an original research topic. Conference hours are available by appointment. Registration for the thesis will not be considered final without the thesis approval form and the signatures of the thesis adviser, graduate adviser, and department chair. Please refer to the Graduate Studies Catalog for thesis requirements. Contact the Office of Graduate Studies for the special approval form and the thesis writer’s packet. Two course credits. (The two course credits are considered pending in Part I of the thesis; they will be awarded with the completion of Part II.) (2 course credits) -Staff

955. Thesis Part II— Continuation of History 954. Two course credits. (2 course credits) -Staff

956. Thesis— (2 course credits) -Staff

Courses Originating in Other Departments

[American Studies 260. Exploring Asian American Experiences]— View course description in department listing on p. 239.

[American Studies 423. The History of American Sports]— View course description in department listing on p. 243.

[American Studies 823. The History of American Sports]— View course description in department listing on p. 245.

[International Studies 101. Introduction to the Latin American and Caribbean World]— View course description in department listing on p. 568.

[International Studies 238. Contemporary Africa: Resource Wars and Human Rights]— View course description in department listing on p. 570. Prerequisite: at least one college-level course that addresses the history of Africa before or during the colonial era, including HIST 252, 253, 331, 377, 391, 401

International Studies 258. The Islamic City: Places, Pasts and Problems— View course description in department listing on p. 571. -Antrim

International Studies 314. Black Internationalism— View course description in department listing on p. 572. Prerequisite: C- or better in International Studies 112, International Studies 101, History 253 or History 238 -Markle

Italian Studies 236. Modern Italy— View course description in department listing on p. 647. -Alcorn

[Women, Gender, and Sexuality 212. History of Sexuality]— View course description in department listing on p. 836.

Women, Gender, and Sexuality 215. Drink and Disorder in America— View course description in department listing on p. 836. -Hedrick

Women, Gender, and Sexuality 301. Western Feminist Thought— View course description in department listing on p. 836. Prerequisite: C- or better in one other course in Women Gender and Sexuality. -Hedrick

Spring Term

[102. Europe Since 1715]— European history from 1715 to the present. (Enrollment limited)

[103. Latin America & Caribbean through Film]— This course introduces students to the history and current cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean through film and film movements. It covers their history from 1492 to the present. Themes include: conquest and colonization of Native peoples; African slavery in Brazil and the Caribbean; the interplay of gender, race, class, and sexuality, from the politics of love and solidarity to the politics of subordination and oppression; the contrast between rural and urban society, with an emphasis on urban-centered films; the cultural creativity of the region’s artists in music, film, visual arts, literature and architecture; the role of religion in daily life and politics; and the confrontations of oligarchies and military regimes with movements for reform, democracy and revolution. (Enrollment limited)

[113. The Middle Ages: Formation of Europe]— This course will survey the formation of Europe from the fall of the Carolingians to the discovery of the New World. We will study the rise of lordship, the struggle between the papacy and secular rulers, the Crusades, the formation of royal law and government, heresy, printing, and the origins of the Renaissance and Reformation in late medieval culture. The course will be taught largely from primary sources. (Enrollment limited)

[113. Europe 1300-1750: Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment]— Topics in the history of Western Europe in the late Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment. (Enrollment limited)

115. History of the Greek World: c. 1500-200 BCE— This course covers the history of the Greek world—Greece, the Aegean islands, western Asia Minor, the Black Sea, and southern Italy and Sicily—in the period between the end of the Bronze Age and the arrival of the Romans (c. 1500-200 BCE). The emergence of the polis, the Greek city-state, as the predominant way to organize political, social, economic, religious, and cultural life, and the spread of these institutions, form the central foci of the course. There will be emphasis on the reading and interpretation of primary source material through lectures, discussions, and analytical writing.-Staff

[116. The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic]— By about 300 BCE the Roman state had in place its republican institutions, and began the expansionist process by which the Romans came to control the Mediterranean basin. Four hundred years later, the Roman empire extended from Britain to Egypt, but the state running that empire had undergone fundamental social, political, and cultural changes. This course traces the processes that created the empire and transformed the Roman world, with special emphasis on the interplay of political and social phenomena. We will look closely at primary sources on which our knowledge of these changes is based. (Enrollment limited)

[117. Tokyo Story: From Fishing Village to Cosmopolitan Metropolis]— This course explores the historical development of Tokyo, from its obscure, medieval origins to its present status as one of the world’s most populous and cosmopolitan cities. In spite of being destroyed on average once every 30 years by fires, natural disasters, and war—or perhaps because of this—Tokyo has sprung eternal, constantly transforming itself within shifting political, economic, and cultural contexts. This course examines the constantly transforming urban landscape and its impact on the structure of the city and the lives of its inhabitants. Topics of particular interest include: the rise of capitalism and its impact on early-modern urbanization, the impact of Western-style modernization on the organization of urban life in the 19th and 20th centuries, labor migration and its impact on urban slums, the impact of the economic “high growth” years on Japanese urban lifestyles, and the rise of Tokyo as a symbol of post-modern urban culture. (Enrollment limited)

[202. The United States from Reconstruction to the Present]— A continuation of History 201, examining the transformation of the divided and agrarian society of the 19th century into a highly organized, urban-industrial world power. (Enrollment limited)

[205. The Road to the First World War: Europe, 1870-1918]— This course will be an examination of the cultural, social, political and diplomatic upheavals leading to Europe’s self-destruction in the First World War. We will also look at the war itself, how it pulled the entire world into the European conflict, and the war’s legacy. Topics will include the new nationalism and imperialism; mass politics, socialism and anarchism; cities and modern aesthetics; the practice of “total war”; and the Russian Revolution. Readings will include literature of the era as well as historical studies. (Enrollment limited)

[206. Greek Democracy]— Greece, and especially classical Athens, is regarded as the “birthplace of democracy.” But democracy had a long and complicated life both outside Athens and the classical period. In this course we explore that history. We focus on the theory and actual practice of democracy in the archaic and classical periods, with special consideration of Athens. We consider the spread of democracy in the Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE) as the standard form of government for Greek poleis (city-states) and the ways democracy adjusted subsequently to the rule of Rome. Our focus throughout will be on accessing the democratic experience of the Greeks through the close reading and analysis of contemporary documents and literary texts. (Enrollment limited)

213. Modern Jewish History— This course will examine major trends in Jewish history since 1789. There will be particular emphasis on Jewish society in Eastern Europe and the breakdown of orthodox hegemony. Topics will include the Haskala, the Bund, the development of Zionism, the interwar period in Eastern Europe, the Holocaust, and the State of Israel. The approach will be primarily that of intellectual history with emphasis on the secular aspect of Jewish history. (Enrollment limited)-Patt

221. Science, Religion, and Nature in the Age of Galileo— The astronomer Galileo Galilei’s trial before the Roman Inquisition nearly four centuries ago endures as a symbol of the clash between science and religion. Undoubtedly, the rise of early modern science in 17th-century Europe provoked its share of battles, but was this the whole story? This course will lead students to consider the origin and extent of the apparently irreconcilable differences between world views. How wide was the rift between science and religion, especially before the Enlightenment? Students will be encouraged to explore this complex relationship in historical context, by weighing the coexistence of scientific curiosity and intense faith, and also by considering the religious response to the expanding horizons of knowledge. The course will highlight investigations of the heavens and the earth, thus seeking instructive comparisons between disciplines such as astronomy, botany, and geology. A number of broad themes will be the focus. These include the understanding of God and nature, authority (classical and scriptural) versus observation, the wide range of knowledge-making practices, the place of magic, and finally the influence of power and patronage. The class seeks to present a rich and exciting picture, looking forward as well to the influence of rational thinking and scientific inquiry on the making of modernity. (Enrollment limited)-Cocco

222. Japan from the Dawn of Human History to the 17th Century— This course provides a broad overview of the events and themes encountered in Japan’s early history, from the earliest archeological evidence of human habitation to the establishment of a stable political and social order under the Tokugawa bakufu (shogunate). The course will explore the role of diverse religious and cultural influences in shaping Japanese society and culture during the pre-modern era. Themes and topics of particular interest are the impact of Chinese civilization and the “indigenization” of imported traditions such as Buddhism and Confucianism, early political organization and the rise of the imperial clan, and civil war and the ascendance of the warrior class to political and cultural hegemony. (Enrollment limited)-Bayliss

[223. Japan into the Modern World, 1840-1945]— Counts as one of the survey courses for the two-semester history sequence for the Asian Studies major. This course examines the social, economic, and cultural transformations that occurred in Japan from its initial encounter with Western modernity through its rise to military superpower status in the first half of the 20th century. Students will gain a greater understanding of the problems that have shaped Japan, by exploring the challenges, conflicts, triumphs, and tragedies of modernization, industrialization, and nation-building as the Japanese experienced them in the 19th and 20th centuries. The course concludes with a detailed exploration of the road to the Pacific War and the social, political, and cultural effects of mobilization for total war followed by total defeat. (Enrollment limited)

[226. The Rise of Modern Russia]— This course will examine the history of Russia from 1825 until the present. It will include the dilemmas of modernization and social stability in Tsarist Russia, the challenges of Empire and multinational populations, the impact of the intelligentsia and the causes of the revolutions of 1905 and 1917. We will then consider topics in the rise and fall of the USSR: Lenin, Stalin, World War II, the problems of de-Stalinization and the reasons that attempts to reform the Soviet system failed. The course will also make extensive use of literary materials. (Enrollment limited)

229. Middle East Since 1517— This course surveys Middle Eastern history from the foundations of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires through the 20th century. Major topics include modernity, imperialism, nationalism, and the role of Islam. Textbook readings are supplemented with primary sources and biographical sketches to situate the complexities of gender and culture in the context of political and economic change. (Enrollment limited)-Antrim

[232. Liberty, Labor, and Land in the Early American Republic]— In the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War, citizens of the United States experienced a series of rapid and at times bewildering changes. This course will explore how the American people made sense of the transformations—-including democratization, slavery and sectionalism, religion and reform, westward expansion, Indian removal, and the rise of the market—that shaped the young nation. Our investigation will center on how Americans redefined and refashioned their understanding of liberty, labor, and land to meet the challenges and opportunities that arose in these critical decades. (Enrollment limited)

[236. Modern Latin America]— This course will examine the history of Latin America after Spanish rule, from 1821 to the present, focusing on the development of social inequality, civil conflict, and revolution. Cultural and political developments in countries like Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela will be discussed, and the U.S. role in the region, especially toward Central America, will also be considered. Finally, we will examine the historical construction of hierarchies based on race, gender, and economic position, and how those hierarchies have influenced the nature of social and political strife. (Enrollment limited)

242. History of China, Qing to Present— A survey of modern Chinese history in the period covering the last traditional dynastic state (1644-1911) and 20th-century China. Emphasis on the collapse of the Confucian state, China’s “Enlightenment,” and the Chinese Revolution. (Enrollment limited)-Lestz

[247. Latinos/Latinas in the United States]— Who are “Latinos/Latinas” and how have they come to constitute a central ethnic/racial category in the contemporary United States? This is the organizing question around which this course examines the experiences of major Latino/Latina groups—Chicanos/Mexicanos, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans—and new immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean. We study U.S. colonialism and imperialism in the Old Mexican North and the Caribbean; migration and immigration patterns and policies; racial, gender, and class distinctions; cultural and political expressions and conflicts; return migrations and transnationalism; and inter-ethnic relations and the construction of pan-Latino/Latina diasporic identities. (Enrollment limited)

[253. African History: 1850 to the Contemporary Era]— This course is the second part of a two-part introductory survey of African history. With a focus on “Black Africa” south of the Sahara, we will begin by exploring the impact of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade on Africa and move to the establishment of - and resistance to - European colonial rule. We will then look at the impact of the two World Wars on Africa as well as the rise in nationalism and movements for independence. In the postcolonial period, we will explore Cold War policies in Africa, and address issues including the end of aparthied South Africa, the politics of foreign aid and military interventions, global health and resource wars. (Enrollment limited)

256. Human Rights in Latin America & the Caribbean: A History— In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of people were “disappeared,” tortured and murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean, mostly by military regimes and by para-military death-squads. The period is often characterized as perhaps the lowest point in the modern abuse of “Human Rights” in the region. This course explores how these central notions, the human and rights, have evolved in theory and in practice in the history of the Americas. The course begins with the 16th-century debates among the Spaniards over the “humanity” of Indians and enslaved Africans; it then covers distinguishing elements of the human and rights within the legal structures of the nations created after independence from Spain in the 1820s and before the more contemporary conceptions of human rights in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the crimes against humanity during WWII. Finally, the modern conception and practice of human rights defense and legal monitoring are explored in case studies in the region from the late 1940s to the 1980s. (Enrollment limited)-Euraque

[269. The 1960s]— The 1960s were watershed years in modern American history. Major areas of U.S. life - politics, foreign policy, culture, race, gender, the economy - experienced monumental shifts that irrevocably altered the nation. This class examines the social, cultural and political history of “the sixties.” Major course themes include: the Cold War; the civil rights movement and Black Power; the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement; the rise of both the New Left and the New Right; the counterculture and cultural change. In addition, the course studies the emergence of second-wave feminism and anti-feminism; the shift from a liberal, Keynesian political-economic order to a conservative, neoliberal era; the international history of the sixties; and the ways that ideas of “the sixties” are used and remembered in contemporary U.S. society, culture and politics. (Enrollment limited)

[283. African Diaspora in Latin American and the Caribbean]— Of the approximately 12 million African slaves brought to the Americas, more than 11 million were taken to Brazil, the Caribbean and other parts of Latin America. This course examines the origins of the African slave trade and slavery; the evolution of racial ideologies; forms of resistance, including the successful Haitian Revolution (1791-1804); and the century-long struggle to end slavery (1783-1888). We will also study how African, Afro-Latin American, and Afro-Caribbean peoples forged distinctive but inter-related Diasporic cultures (in religion, music, art, literature) and political movements for racial justice. Almost every Latin American & Caribbean country will be examined, including Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Colombia, Argentina, and others. Throughout the course comparisons will be made with African-American history in the USA. (Enrollment limited)

300-02. History Workshop: Native America, East of the Mississippi, 1497-1839— In this workshop, students will conduct original research on the history of Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. Course readings will cover major historiographical themes, including first contacts, trade, disease, war, enslavement, gender, religion, frontier diplomacy, transatlantic politics, and migration. Students may elect to research other subjects as well, such as literacy, mapmaking, medicinal knowledge, relationships with wild and domesticated animals, agriculture, food preparation, clothing, marriage, education, sports, seasonality, migration, or travel. Fields trips to local sites and archives will facilitate research, as will tutorials on electronic resources. With permission, student research also may address later historical periods, especially if studying native history in Connecticut. (Enrollment limited)-Wickman

[301. History as Text, Text as History: America in the Long 19th Century]— This discussion course will examine topics in the intellectual and cultural history of the “long 19th century” (1789-1914) in the United States, with emphasis on relations among culture (ideas, values, myths), society, and political economy (structures of production and power). We will use works of literature, film, and propaganda as channels of inquiry into the historical record, and we will assess the evidentiary value and “representativeness” of the texts we analyze. All the works we examine will be ones that were designed to make history as well as to reflect on it. They will include titles by Franklin, Tocqueville, Martineau, Douglass, Pennington, Stowe, Bellamy, Riis, and Griffith. (Enrollment limited)

[304. Renaissance Italy]— This course explores the origin, distinctiveness, and importance of the Italian Renaissance. It is also about culture, society, and identity in the many “Italies” that existed before the modern period. Art, humanism, and the link between cultural patronage and political power will be a focus, as will the lives of 15th- and 16th-century women and men. Early lectures will trace the evolution of the Italian city-states, outlining the social and political conditions that fostered the cultural flowering of the 1400s and 1500s. We will consider Florence in the quattrocento, and subsequently shift to Rome in the High Renaissance. Later topics will include the papacy’s return to the Eternal City, the art of Michelangelo and Raphael, and the ambitions of the warlike and mercurial Pope Julius II. Italy was a politically fragmented peninsula characterized by cultural, linguistic, and regional differences. For this reason, other topics will include: the fortunes of Venice, the courts of lesser city-states like Mantua and Ferrara, the life of Alessandra Strozzi, and the exploits of the “lover and fighter” Benvenuto Cellini. We will also look at representations of the Renaissance in film.

(Enrollment limited)

[306. History of Anti-Semitism]— This seminar will study the history of anti-Semitism in European culture. We will consider the evolution from pre-modern religious anti-Judaism to modern racial anti-Semitism and how such animus can coexist with tolerant attitudes towards Jews and Judaism. The course readings will be largely primary sources supplemented by some articles and monographs. (Enrollment limited)

308. Rebuilding European Cities— In the summer of 1945, much of Europe was in ruins. Architecturally and culturally distinguished pre-war cities suffered massive destruction and in the next decades Europeans were obliged to rebuild their shattered urban centers. This course will focus on not only the physical reconstruction of European cities, but also how the process of city planning and a form of urban renewal propelled by the tragedies of the War mirrored the political, economic, social and cultural rebuilding of European lives. Themes discussed and explored include the influence of occupying powers—east and west of the “Iron Curtain”–on city life; the treatment of former Jewish spaces; memorials and remembrance; a second era of rebuilding in Eastern Europe after 1989; and how immigrants are changing European cities. (Enrollment limited)-Rodriguez

[313. The Struggle for Civil Rights in the United States]— African Americans and their white allies have long struggled to win equal rights and equal opportunities in America. We will examine the course of that struggle from the start of the 20th century to the present day, with a focus on the period 1930 to 1968. The course considers questions of urbanization, employment, racism, politics, violence, non-violence, Black Power, and class. (Enrollment limited)

[317. Yellow Jack and Black Vomit: Disease and the Making of Early America]— Scholars have recently focused their attention on the way that diseases—Yellow Fever, Smallpox, Measles, Malaria—shaped the social and political landscapes of early America and the Caribbean. In this course, we will take up this investigation by examining disease and its destructive impact on Africans, Europeans and Amerindians. Our study will therefore range from the virgin soil epidemics that decimated indigenous peoples to the smallpox outbreaks that affected the American Revolution. In addition to examining the medical discourse of causes, symptoms, and treatments, we will consider how disease influenced personal and familial interactions, race and class relations, community and public health, and national culture and literature. (Enrollment limited)

[318. Gender and Sexuality in Middle Eastern History]— This course takes constructions of femininity and masculinity and related representations of male and female sexuality in both the pre-modern and modern Middle East, with an emphasis on the Arab world, as its focus. Through theoretical readings and primary sources, both written and visual, we will explore the ways in which gender and sexuality have shaped political, economic, and cultural life in the Middle East. (Enrollment limited)

319. Mapping the Middle East— HIST319 fulfills requirements for majors in International Studies and History. This course approaches the history of the Middle East through maps. It will look at the many different ways maps have told the story of the territory we now call the Middle East and the many different points of view that have defined it as a geographical entity. Readings will analyze maps as social constructions and will place mapmaking and map-use in a historical context. We will relate maps to questions of empire, colonialism, war and peace, nationalism, and environmental change. Students will be required to undertake an original research paper. (Enrollment limited)-Antrim

325. Italy and the Mediterranean— This seminar examines the history of Italian coasts from the Middle Ages up to the period of nineteenth-century national unification. The focus in the first instance will be the history of port cities as wall as of the coastal stretches that lay between urban centers of power and commerce. As the chronology shifts toward later periods, the historical investigation of shores will also develop comparisons to coastal cultures elsewhere in the world. (Enrollment limited)-Cocco

326. Disaster Archipelago: Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and the Japanese— Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world. Throughout history, people have dealt with devastation from volcanic eruptions, frequent earthquakes, and killer tsunamis. This course explores the history of these catastrophes and their aftermaths from a variety of perspectives: economic, political, social, and cultural. How have the Japanese people coped with these disasters and attempted to prepare for them, in light of shifting political contexts and evolving knowledge of the geologic mechanisms involved? Students will explore and discuss a wide variety of primary and secondary sources on Japanese ways of appreciating and dealing with disasters past and present, including memoirs, novels, and films. The course will culminate with an in-depth examination of the march 2011 tsunami and its aftermath. (Enrollment limited)-Bayliss

[328. Transnational Urbanism: Life in Urban Spaces]— This course explores urban history and the history of urbanism by focusing on a selected group of cities in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. It traces the global routes that urbanism has taken since Paris was transformed in the 19th century into the ideal city of modernity. Topics examined include not only urban space, planning and architecture, but also politics and social movements, capitalism and mass consumption, as well as sports, literature and film. Throughout we will pay close attention to how each city’s national and international context produced particular urban forms and urban cultures that nonetheless shared certain global patterns. (Enrollment limited)

[329. The Holocaust]— This seminar will study major topics in the history of the Holocaust and focus on perpetrators, bystanders and victims. Special attention will be given to historiographical controversies. This course open to senior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

332. African Nationalism and Decolonization— This course examines both the theoretical and empirical aspects of anticolonial nationalist movements in Africa from the end of World War II to the dismantling of the apartheid regime in South Africa in the early 1990s. Topics such as nonviolent civil disobedience, armed guerilla struggle, nationalist thought, and postcolonial state formation will inform the ways in which we seek to understand the end of European colonial rule and its social, economic, cultural and political implications for Africa. A series of case studies will acquaint students to such themes as well as highlight the utility of an interdisciplinary approach for examining a broad array of historical developments. The second half of the course will focus on southern Africa, using the Aluka digital archive, “The Struggles for Freedom in South Africa Collection.” This course open to History majors only. (Enrollment limited)-Markle

[336. Modern Jewish History]— This course will examine major trends in Jewish history since 1789. There will be particular emphasis on Jewish society in Eastern Europe and the breakdown of orthodox hegemony. Topics will include the Haskala, the Bund, the development of Zionism, the interwar period in Eastern Europe, the Holocaust, and the State of Israel. The approach will be primarily that of intellectual history with emphasis on the secular aspect of Jewish history. (Enrollment limited)

[337. English Law and Government]— This semiar explores the origins of Anglo-American democracy and the rule of law. It will study the evolution of English law and government in the Middle Ages fron the Norman Conquest to the Glorious Revolution. It will examine the evolution of the common law, the origins of property, regulation of crime, the nature of English kingship, and the development of Parliament. The course will be taught from primary source materials, such as medieval court records, with supplementary readings from secondary scholarship. (Enrollment limited)

[354. The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877]— This course examines not only the military dimensions of the war years but also such topics as politics in the Union and the Confederacy, the presidential leadership of Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, women in the Union and Confederate war efforts, and the struggle over emancipation. The latter part of the course considers post-war political, social, and economic developments, including nearly four million African Americans’ transition from slavery to freedom, the conflict over how to reconstruct the former Confederate states, the establishment of bi-racial governments in those states, and the eventual overthrow of Reconstruction by conservative white “Redeemers.” Lectures and discussions. (Enrollment limited)

[362. The Samurai Warrior in History, Myth, and Reality]— The samurai were as important for Japan’s historical and cultural transformation as they are misunderstood. This course aims at separating the myth from the reality of the samurai, by examining the history of Japanese warriors and the culture they created, from their lowly origins in antiquity through their rise to hegemony during the 13th through 18th centuries, to their eventual disappearance as a distinct class in the 19th century. We will also examine the evolving image of the samurai warrior and his supposedly rigid moral code of conduct, as it appears in literature and film, from some of the earliest appearances of such images right up to today. Our purpose in examining these images of the samurai is not only to distinguish myth from reality, but also to explore the political purposes such images have been put to in legitimating samurai rule prior to the 20th century, and in informing Japanese views of themselves and non-Japanese views of Japan in the years since. (Enrollment limited)

[365. World War II]— This course will investigate political, social, and cultural aspects of World War II in Europe and the Soviet Union. Topics will include the breakdown of the Versailles system, the interrelationship of military and social change, genocide, resistance movements, and the impact of war on European culture. (Enrollment limited)

[374. Alexander the Great]— This course covers the life and times of Alexander the Great, a man who was able to subjugate most of the known world, but failed to erect a lasting political structure. When he died at the age of 33 years, he left a vast empire to be torn to pieces by his successors. However, his achievements were more than military, and his colonists built cities in places as far from Greece as modern Afghanistan, creating a new world in which Greek culture flourished. (Enrollment limited)

[375. Egypt from Alexander to Amr. The Nile and Desert Under the Greeks and Romans]— From the advent of Alexander the Great to the Muslim conquest in 640 CE by the then governor of Palestine, Egypt was under the rule of Greeks and Romans. Thanks to the dry climate, a bounty of texts have been preserved that permit a far more detailed look into life than can typically be achieved elsewhere in the Greco-Roman world. In this course, students will attain a firm background in the history of Egypt during these centuries; become familiar with the source material on which that history is based; and explore the evidence for daily life. Prerequisite: C- or better in History 115 or History 116, or permission of instructor (Enrollment limited)

390. Food and Power in the Americas, 1492-1900— This seminar examines the political and environmental history of food in the New World, from the Columbian Exchange to the Spanish-American War. Over four centuries, people in the Americas produced, distributed, and consumed food in new ways that benefited some and harmed others. By growing, storing, trading, cooking, eating, or presenting food in specialized ways, historical actors accrued and maintained religious, political, economic, and physical power. Yet people also feared certain foods as debilitating and worried that food shortages might result in impoverishment or enslavement. Among the foods to be featured will be maize, potatoes, cacao, maple sugar, cane sugar, wheat, rice, beef, venison, cod, and bison. Along the way, we will discuss indigenous rights, ecological imperialism, political economy, distribution systems, and climate change. (Enrollment limited)-Wickman

[393. The Past as Protest and Prophecy in Postwar Japanese Cinema]— Through a variety of readings and film viewings, this course explores how Japanese directors from 1945 to the present have used the past as a setting in which to voice political and social commentary about contemporary Japan. We will explore films of a variety of genres – including war films, samurai dramas, science fiction films, documentaries, avant-garde films, and anime – created over the last 65 years by directors such as Fukasaku Kinji, Ichikawa Kon, Imamura Shohei, Kurosawa Akira, Mizoguchi Kenji, Oshima Nagisa, Suzuki Seijun, Tsuburaya Eiji, and others. The readings for the course will give students an appreciation of the historical settings that the films portray, the political and social contexts in which they were produced, and an understanding of each director’s political, social, and cinematic vision. These readings will allow us to discuss selected scenes of films viewed in our class meetings in a way that will highlight how postwar discourses of pacifism, internationalism, nationalism, and anti-colonialism are reflected in these cinematic works. (Enrollment limited)

[395. History of the Alps]— In the 1990s the European Union recognized the Alpine region as a distinct regional unit. This course is a history of that storied region extending from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic by way of Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Balkans. Topics include the ?discovery’ of the Alps by European elites in the Age of Enlightenment; the Alps as archive of geological time and center of romantic science; the invention and commercialization of alpine sports; the appeal of the Alps as a place of retreat and healing and their politicization by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in the 1920s and 1930s respectively. We end with a consideration of the future of the region in the face of global warming and the promises of trans-nationalism. (Enrollment limited)

[397. Work and Motherhood in the United States 1920-Present]— The last 90 years witnessed tremendous changes in the organization of work and family life for American women. In 1920, less than 10% of mothers were employed in work other than caring for their own families. By the year 2000, almost 75% of mothers were earners. This change touched every major aspect of American society, altering education, family structure, business practices, and politics. This course considers the social, cultural, political, and economic changes that made possible this shift, as well as those changes that resulted from it. We will ask: What forces pushed or pulled mothers into the workforce? How has American society resisted or accommodated the rising numbers of mothers working outside the home? How have mothers’ experiences and the political reaction to them been shaped by class, race, and ethnicity? (Enrollment limited)

[402-48. Age of Uncertainties: Europe’s 17th Century]— For Europeans in the 1600s, the idea of living in a furiously upset world burned brightly, even tragically. Crisis expressed itself through conflict, expansion, and innovation, as well as through the impulse to formulate new certainties. This class explores a period in the history of Europe one historian calls “an age of disorder, of subversion, of overturning the social hierarchy and dreaming impossible dreams.” The topics examined will be culture, society, religion, politics, and the environment in seventeenth-century Europe. The seminar will specifically explore three sets of connections: between ideas and institutions, between different peoples and cultures, and between individuals and their evolving societies. Building from a core of primary and secondary sources read together, students will also develop independent investigations of the topic. (Enrollment limited)

[402-97. From Treaty Port to Megacity: The Modern Transformation of Shanghai]— In a few decades after its forcible opening as a treaty port in 1842, Shanghai emerged as one of Asia’s greatest ports. From a provincial town on the mud flats of the Huangpu River, it grew to an international city that played a defining in China’s role as a catalyst for cultural, social, and economic change. After 1937, war, civil war, and revolution put the brakes on Shanghai’s advance and the city temporarily slipped into the doldrums. However, after a period of eclipse, Shanghai emerged again in China’s reform era as one of the world’s leading centers of trade and a meeting place of civilizations. Using historical, literary, and documentary materials, this course will reflect on the evolution of Shanghai and the role it played as a catalyst for change in the transformation of southeastern China from the Opium War forward. This course is open to junior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

[451. Nationalizing America, 1932-1960]— This course examines the Depression and New Deal, World War II, and the Cold War. During this period, an activist welfare state/national security state and a national mass culture took form, shaped by responses to economic crisis and economic opportunity, the gathering power of popular-culture media and advertising, and wars hot and cold. Both political topics (e.g., New Deal labor or civil rights policies, McCarthyism) and social and cultural topics (e.g., the World War II home front, changing gender roles, suburbanization) will be investigated. Course materials include fiction, movies, and other documents from the period, as well as outstanding works of historical analysis and synthesis. This course open to senior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

[451-02. The Gilded Age: 1865-1900]— The transformation of the United States into an urban industrial nation, with special attention to the social and cultural effects of industrialization. The course will begin by examining Reconstruction, but will concentrate on the years after 1877. Extensive readings in original source materials, including several novels, as well as in analytic histories. (Enrollment limited)

[451-39. Mountains and Oceans in European History]— This senior seminar in History considers the role that mountains and oceans have played in establishing regional, national, and imperial identities in Europe from the eighteenth century to the present. The seminar begins by offering a set of exemplary texts to discuss in common. Based on student interest, readings will be drawn from works such Peter Sahlins’ Boundaries: The Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees, Alain Corbin’s The Lure of the Sea: The Discovery of the Seaside in the Western World, 1750-1840 , essays on the politicization of the Alps in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy and Isserman and Weaver’s A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes. Students will then prepare and present to the seminar the fruits of their ongoing and original research on topics in these areas. This course open to senior History majors only. (Enrollment limited)

[451-41. Class, Power and Inequality in the “American Century”]— The contemporary U.S. is divided by vast and deeply-entrenched class disparities. Yet, Americans have difficulties talking about class, power and inequality in non-superficial ways. This seminar addresses that problem. We will examine the social, cultural, and political history of the post-1930s United States through the lens of class. In doing so, we will pay close attention to other interrelated social categories - especially race and gender. We will focus on several themes, including what “class” actually means; the impact of class and inequality on U.S. society; the ways that markers such as race and gender influenced public policy decisions and embedded inequality into key spaces and institutions; cultural discourses of class, poverty and race, and the relation of these discourses to actual political and economic interests. Course is open to Senior History Majors only. (Enrollment limited)

499. Senior Thesis/Continuation— Submission of the special registration form, available in the Registrar’s Office, and the approval of the instructor and chairman are required for each semester of this year-long thesis. (2 course credits) -Staff

Graduate Courses

[828. The Gilded Age: 1865-1900]— The transformation of the United States into an urban industrial nation, with special attention to the social and cultural effects of industrialization. The course will begin by examining Reconstruction, but will concentrate on the years after 1877. Extensive readings in original source materials, including several novels, as well as in analytic histories.

[839. Nationalizing America, 1932-1960]— This course examines the Depression and New Deal, World War II, and the Cold War. During this period, an activist welfare state/national security state and a national mass culture took form, shaped by responses to economic crisis and economic opportunity, the gathering power of popular-culture media and advertising, and wars hot and cold. Both political topics (e.g., New Deal labor or civil rights policies, McCarthyism) and social and cultural topics (e.g., the World War II home front, changing gender roles, suburbanization) will be investigated. Course materials include fiction, movies, and other documents from the period, as well as outstanding works of historical analysis and synthesis. Graduate Students.

955. Thesis Part II— Continuation of History 954. Two course credits. (2 course credits) -Staff

Courses Originating in Other Departments

[American Studies 423. The History of American Sports]— View course description in department listing on p. 255.

American Studies 438. America Collects— View course description in department listing on p. 255. -Ring

[American Studies 823. The History of American Sports]— View course description in department listing on p. 256.

American Studies 838. America Collects— View course description in department listing on p. 257. -Ring

International Studies 101. Introduction to the Latin American and Caribbean World— View course description in department listing on p. 576. -Euraque

[International Studies 120. Introduction to South Asia]— View course description in department listing on p. 576.

International Studies 238. Contemporary Africa: Resource Wars and Human Rights— View course description in department listing on p. 577. Prerequisite: at least one college-level course that addresses the history of Africa before or during the colonial era, including HIST 252, 253, 331, 377, 391, 401 -Markle

[International Studies 306. Gender and Nationalism in the Middle East]— View course description in department listing on p. 579.

[International Studies 314. Black Internationalism]— View course description in department listing on p. 579. Prerequisite: C- or better in International Studies 112, International Studies 101, History 253 or History 238

[Philosophy 231. The Holocaust]— View course description in department listing on p. 712.

[Women, Gender, and Sexuality 215. Drink and Disorder in America]— View course description in department listing on p. 839.

[Women, Gender, and Sexuality 315. Women in America]— View course description in department listing on p. 839.

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