Catalog
History
Professor Melvin; Associate Professors Hall (chair) and Shaw; Visiting Associate Professor Bigelow; Assistant Professors Baker, Chaney, and Otim; Visiting Assistant Professor Essame; Lecturers Cwiek and Kazyulina
History has been defined as the collective memory of things said and done, arranged in a meaningful pattern. Such knowledge of the past supplies context, perspective, and clarity in a diverse and changing world. The members of the history department offer widely differing views of the history of a broad variety of peoples, yet they agree that the study of the past provides meaning in the present and informed choices for the future.
The study of history teaches an appreciation of both change and continuity, the critical examination of evidence, the construction of arguments, and the articulation of conclusions. In addition to teaching and to graduate studies in history and law, majors find careers in related fields such as work in museums and archives, public service, indeed any profession requiring skills of research, analysis, and expression.
Courses in the history department are designed to be taken in sequence: first, introductory survey courses (100-level), then more specialized intermediate courses (200- and 300-level), and ultimately advanced seminars (301). While nonmajors are welcome in any history course, all students are encouraged to begin their study of history with 100-level courses. More information on the history department is available on the website (www.bates.edu/history).
Major Requirements
1) Majors should develop a depth of knowledge within a particular field of history that can be defined in terms of geography or chronology. They choose a track from one of the following fields:
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America
United States
Premodern history (ca. pre-1500)
Early modern history (ca. 1500-1800)
Modern history (ca. 1800-present)
The track includes at least three courses that must be taken at Bates: 1) one 100-level survey; 2) two or more 200-level, 300-level, or Short Term courses.
2) Majors should develop a breadth of knowledge across time and space.
They must take at least one course from each of three chronological fields:
Premodern history (ca. pre-1500)
Early modern history (ca. 1500-1800)
Modern history (ca. 1800-present)
They must take at least one course in four of five geographical fields:
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America
United States
Majors may use the same course to count toward both a chronological and a geographical requirement. The same course may not be used to count toward multiple chronological or multiple geographic requirements.
3) Majors must take a 301 seminar during their sophomore or junior year and before studying abroad.
4) Majors must take HIST 399 in the semester prior to writing their thesis.
5) Majors must complete at least ten courses, including a senior thesis (HIST 457 or HIST 458).
Senior Thesis
Senior history majors write a thesis in the fall (HIST 457) or winter semester (HIST 458). Thesis writing develops the skills learned in previous courses and demonstrates the ability to work independently as a historian. To facilitate thesis planning and advising, all majors must complete a thesis proposal (information available on the department's website) before taking either HIST 457 or HIST 458. Ordinarily, students should be on campus the semester prior to writing the senior thesis.Pass/Fail Grading Option
Pass/fail grading may not be elected for courses applied toward the major.Departmental Honors
Each spring, the department invites outstanding junior majors to become candidates for graduation with departmental honors. There are three principal advantages to this program for the qualified student: first, the two-semester schedule, with two course credits, allows more time for the maturation of the project and grants twice the academic credit for the related research and writing; second, the mutual understanding of the honors candidate and the thesis advisor that the completed work is to be presented to other interested readers also contributes to an enhanced relationship and a shared commitment that it be brought to a satisfactory conclusion; third, the quality of this relationship and of the completed work can inform much more substantive letters of recommendation, based on the student's demonstrated competence, discipline, and independence, the personal characteristics most sought by professional schools and potential employers alike.Departmental invitees must discuss proposed topics with the preferred advisor before the beginning of the academic year. They must produce sufficient written work of sufficiently good quality by the end of the fall semester of the senior year to justify formal nomination by the history department to the college's honors committee. They must also present their work to a faculty panel, including an outside examiner, at the end of the winter semester in an oral defense.
External Credits
Majors must take a minimum of eight history courses from Bates faculty members. This means that students may use a maximum of two credits taken elsewhere (transfer or off-campus study courses) toward the major requirements, subject to department approval. Advanced Placement credits, awarded for a score of four or five on the relevant examination, may count toward overall college graduation requirements but do not count toward the history major or minor.Minor Requirements
The minor in history consists of at least six courses, five of which must be taken from Bates faculty members. The courses must include:
1) a 100-level course;
2) a 300-level course;
3) at least one course grounded in African, East Asian, or Latin American history.
Pass/Fail Grading Option
Courses applied toward a minor in history may not be taken pass/fail. CoursesINDC 100. African Perspectives on Justice, Human Rights, and Renewal.
This team-taught course introduces students to some of the experiences, cultural beliefs, values, and voices shaping contemporary Africa. Students focus on the impact of climatic, cultural, and geopolitical diversity; the politics of ethnicity, religion, age, race, and gender and their influence on daily life; and the forces behind contemporary policy and practice in Africa. The course forges students' critical capacity to resist simplistic popular understandings of what is taking place on the continent and works to refocus their attention on distinctively "African perspectives." Students design a research project to augment their knowledge about a specific issue within a particular region. The course is primarily for first- and second-year students with little critical knowledge of Africa and serves as the introduction to the General Education concentration Considering Africa (C022). Cross-listed in anthropology, French and Francophone studies, history, and politics. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Africa.) (Politics: Identities and Interests.) (Politics: Security, Conflict, and Cooperation.) Normally offered every year. A. Dauge-Roth, E. Eames, P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 101. Introduction to the Ancient World.
A study of the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, this course is the introduction to European history in the Department of History and is a fundamental course in the Program in Classical and Medieval Studies. It addresses themes and events extending from the eighth century B.C.E. until the second century C.E. Students consider the disciplines that comprise study of classical antiquity, engage with primary texts (literary, graphic, and epigraphical), and learn how ancient history has come to be written as it has been. Not open to students who have received credit for CM/HI 100. Enrollment limited to 45. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) [W2] [AC] [HS] D. O'Higgins.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 102. Medieval Worlds.
Far from being an "enormous hiccup" in human progress, the medieval centuries (circa 350–1350) marked the full emergence of Islamic, Byzantine, and West European civilizations. These powerful medieval cultures shape our present. The central theme of this introductory survey course is the genesis and development of a distinct Western European medieval civilization including its social, economic, political, and cultural aspects. Important topics include the devolution of the Roman Empire; the Christianization of the West; the origins of the Byzantine world; the rise of Islam; and the history of medieval women. Enrollment limited to 48. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) Normally offered every year. G. Bigelow.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
EU/HI 104. Europe, 1789 to the Present.
What is modern Europe? How did the history of this small region impinge on peoples around the globe? What was particularly modern about this period? This course explores themes and events in European history from the French Revolution to the present. During this period of cataclysmic economic change, the world, once viewed as static, seemed dynamic: cities grew exponentially, new nation-states emerged, traditional hierarchies faded, and new inequalities grew up in their stead. How did Europeans respond, and how did those responses help to shape the world? Students consider these questions using secondary literature and a variety of primary sources, including newspapers, political tracts, novels, and films. Not open to students who have received credit for HIST 104. Enrollment limited to 49. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) [AC] [HS] C. Shaw.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AF/HI 105. Africa: Special Topics in African History, 1500-1900.
For many observers, the history of Africa begins with European colonization. What about the period prior to colonization? This introductory survey of African history from 1500 to 1900 covers the social, political, cultural, and economic life of sub-Saharan peoples. Topics include African kingdoms, the transatlantic and the Indian ocean slave trades, the expansion of European power after the abolition of the slave trade, Islamic reforms, and the spread of Christianity. The course not only introduces students to a range of historical events in the continent but also highlights how some of these events shaped other parts of the world. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Africa.) P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 108. Roman Civilization: The Republic.
In this course students explore the civilization and history of ancient Rome from the foundation of the Republic around 510 B.C.E. until its collapse in civil war and its transformation into a monarchy under Julius Caesar and his nephew, Octavian. Each week the class convenes for lectures devoted to the political, social, and cultural history of the Republic. In addition, students meet once a week to discuss in detail primary sources for the period. Enrollment limited to 45. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) [AC] [HS] Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 109. Roman Civilization: The Empire.
In this course students examine the civilization and history of ancient Rome from the Principate, the monarchy established by Octavian in 27 B.C.E., until the end of Justinian's dynasty at the beginning of the seventh century of the Common Era. Each week the class convenes for lectures devoted to the political, social, and cultural history of the Empire. In addition, students meet once a week to discuss in detail primary sources for the period. Recommended background: CM/HI 108. Enrollment limited to 45. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) [AC] [HS] Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 112. Ancient Greek History.
This course examines Greece from the Bronze Age to Alexander. It focuses on the geographical breadth and temporal extent of "Ancient Greece," and how that considerable space and time were negotiated and understood by the Greeks themselves. In such a far-flung world, extending from Sicily to Ionia, from the Black Sea to North Africa, Greeks experienced "Hellenicity" through sea lanes and land routes, and by means of a network of religious festivals and athletic meets, coordinated among multiple civic calendars. Topics include political structures, philosophies, literature, and modes of warfare. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) D. O'Higgins.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 130. Food in Ancient Greece and Rome.
Participants in this course study the history of the food supply for agrarian and urban populations in ancient Greece and Rome; malnutrition, its probable impact on ancient economies, and its uneven impact on populations; famine; the symbolism of the heroic banquet—a division of the sacrificial animal among ranked members of society, and between men and gods; cuisine and delicacies of the rich; forbidden food; the respective roles of men and women in food production, and their unequal access to food supply; dietary transgression; and sacred food. Cross-listed in classical and medieval studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Not open to students who have received credit for CMS s28. Enrollment limited to 49. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) D. O'Higgins.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HIST 140. Origins of the New Nation, 1500–1820.
In the three centuries after Europeans' and Africans' first arrival among indigenous Americans, a variety of peoples from America, Africa, and Europe constructed new societies in North America. Some of these new societies became nation-states like the United States and Mexico. All of them were collective efforts to manage dynamics of confrontation and cooperation born from new identities. These identities were shaped by a number of factors, including empires and families, liberty and enslavement. By examining a variety of sources and historical scholarship, students learn how a host of peoples created a new world that has strong ties to our own. Enrollment limited to 49. (History: Early Modern.) (History: United States.) Normally offered every year. J. Hall.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AM/HI 141. Rise of the American Empire.
During the nineteenth century, the United States experienced one of the most dramatic political transformations in world history, rising from an imperiled post-revolutionary state to become a global empire. This course examines the diverse experiences of those who lived through this era of dizzying change and confronted the forces that shaped a restless nation: slavery, capitalism, patriarchy, expansionism, urbanization, industrialization, and total warfare. Whether fighting for recognition or resisting the encroaching state, they struggled over the very meaning of American nationhood. The outcome was ambiguous; its legacy is still being contested today. Not open to students who have received credit for AC/HI 141. Enrollment limited to 48. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) A. Baker.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 142. America in the Twentieth Century.
This course surveys the American experience in the twentieth century from a deliberately interpretive point of view, examining political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions of life in the United States. Special attention is directed to the impact of war, corporate globalism, and movements for change upon the development of an increasingly complex, variegated modern society confronting the paradox of simultaneous social segmentation—by race, class, gender, ethnicity—and cultural homogenization. Students consider the disjunction between Americans' democratic ideals and their administered reality and what can be done to heal the split. Enrollment limited to 49. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) Normally offered every year. Staff.AS/HI 171. China and Its Cultures.
An overview of Chinese civilization from the god-kings of the second millennium and the emergence of the Confucian familial state in the first millennium B.C.E., through the expansion of the hybrid Sino-foreign empires, to the revolutionary transformation of Chinese society by internal and external pressures in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) (History: Premodern.) Normally offered every year. W. Chaney.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HI/LS 181. Latin American History: From the Conquest to the Present.
Beginning with the first encounters between Europeans and Americans and ending with the challenges of globalization in the twenty-first century, this course offers a chronological and topical overview of 500 years of Latin American history. It examines individual lives within the frameworks of sweeping political, social, and cultural transformations. Students use primary documents, images, analytical texts, and films to explore the major themes of the course, including the nature of conquest; the mixing of European, African, and American cultures; independence and nation building; and twentieth-century social revolutions and military dictatorships. Special attention is given to issues of race, gender, religion, and the role of the United States. Enrollment limited to 49. (History: Early Modern.) (History: Latin American.) (History: Modern.) Normally offered every year. K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
EU/HI 206. The Empire Strikes Back: The Ends of European Empires in the Twentieth Century.
In 1918, Woodrow Wilson famously outlined his Fourteen Points, emphasizing the right of subject peoples to self-determination. While Wilson's was hardly the first critique of empire, it provided a framework for increasingly organized anti-colonial movements. Just as European empires reached their zenith, older rationales for empire became harder to maintain. Yet the end(s) of European empires were long in the making. Many would argue that we have yet to live in a postcolonial world. This course explores the changing arguments over the future of European empires, the contests for power, and their effects on individuals' lives across the globe. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) C. Shaw.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 208. Introduction to Medieval Archaeology.
The Middle Ages were a time of major cultural changes that laid the groundwork for Northwest Europe's emergence as a global center of political and economic power in subsequent centuries. However, many aspects of life in the period from 1000 to 1500 C.E. were unrecorded in contemporary documents and art, and archaeology has become an important tool for recovering that information. This course introduces the interdisciplinary methods and the findings of archaeological studies of topics including medieval urban and rural lifeways, health, commerce, religion, social hierarchy, warfare, and the effects of global climate change. Cross-listed in anthropology, classical and medieval studies, environmental studies, and history. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Premodern.) [HS] [S] [SR] G. Bigelow.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 209. Vikings.
The Vikings were the most feared and perhaps misunderstood people of their day. Savage raiders branded as the Antichrist by their Christian victims, the Vikings were also the most successful traders and explorers of the early Middle Ages. The Viking Age lasted for three centuries (800–1100 C.E.), and the Vikings' world stretched from Russia to North America. Study of the myth and reality of Viking culture involves materials drawn from history, archaeology, mythology, and literature. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) [AC] [HS] G. Bigelow.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 210. Technology in U.S. History.
Surveys the development, distribution, and use of technology in the United States from colonial roadways to digital media, using primary and secondary source material. Subjects treated include gendered and racialized divisions of labor, theories of invention and innovation, and the ecological consequences of technological change. Cross-listed in American studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: United States.) R. Herzig.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 211. U.S. Environmental History.
This course explores the relationship between the North American environment and the development and expansion of the United States. Because Americans' efforts (both intentional and not) to define and shape the environment were rooted in their own struggles for power, environmental history offers an important perspective on the nation's social history. Specific topics include Europeans', Africans', and Indians' competing efforts to shape the colonial environment; the impact and changing understanding of disease; the relationship between industrial environments and political power; and the development of environmental movements. Cross-listed in American studies, environmental studies, and history. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) J. Hall.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
EU/HI 217. Fortress Europe: Race, Migration, and Difference in European History.
European society, long-defined by entrenched economic hierarchies, began to look different with the arrival of African American GIs during World War II. Global migration began shortly thereafter, so the story goes. Though claims about race as a recent novelty in Europe have been repeated often, they should strike us as odd. Imperialism brought Europeans into contact with “others” for centuries. Didn’t these experiences “come home”? While concentrating on the twentieth century, this course examines race in Europe between the enlightenment and today’s “migrant crisis." Students explore the development, institutionalization, and impact of race in European thought, politics, and daily life. Not open to students who have received credit for HIST 217. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) C. Shaw.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 219. Environmental Archaeology.
Over the past two hundred years archaeologists, scientists, and humanists in many disciplines have worked together to understand the interactions of past human populations with the physical world, including plants, animals, landscapes, and climates. This course outlines the methods and theories used by archaeologists, geologists, biologists, physicists, chemists, and historians in reconstructing past economies and ecologies in diverse areas of the globe. The course also discusses how archaeology contributes to our understanding of contemporary environmental issues such as rapid climate change, shrinking biodiversity, and sustainable use of resources. Cross-listed in anthropology, environmental studies, and history. Recommended background: ANTH 103. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Premodern.) Normally offered every year. [HS] [S] [SR] G. Bigelow.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 236. Race Matters: Tobacco in North America.
This course explores race and the history of tobacco in North America. With a primary focus on the intersection of tobacco capitalism and African American history, the course introduces students to the impact of tobacco on the formation of racial ideologies and lived experiences through a consideration of economic, cultural, political, and epidemiological history. Cross-listed in Africana, American studies, and history. Recommended background: at least one course in Africana, African American history, American studies, or gender and sexuality studies. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: United States.) M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HIST 241. The Age of the American Revolution, 1763–1789.
A study of the American Revolution from its origins as a protest movement to one seeking independence from Britain. Because the War for Independence transformed American society, the course examines differences among Americans over the meaning of the Revolution and over the nature of society in the new republic. The course considers the significance of the Revolution for Europeans and Latin Americans as well. Recommended background: HIST 140. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: United States.) J. Hall.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AM/HI 244. Native American History.
A survey of Native American peoples from European contact to the present, this course addresses questions of cultural interaction, power, and native peoples' continuing history of colonization. By looking at the ways various First Nations took advantage of and suffered from their new relations with newcomers, students learn that this history is more than one of conquest and disappearance. In addition, they learn that the basic categories of "Indian" and "white" are themselves inadequate for understanding native pasts and presents. Much of this learning depends on careful readings of native writers. Not open to students who have received credit for AC/HI 244. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) [AC] [HS] J. Hall.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 249. Colonial North America.
This course seeks to rectify the common misconception that American colonial history consists only of the thirteen British colonies of the Atlantic seaboard. Instead, students examine the colonial period from a continental perspective, examining a number of societies that Europeans, Americans, and Africans created in North America before 1800. Combining historical readings with primary sources such as documents, paintings, and architecture, students can appreciate the wide variety of American colonial experiences and some of the ways these societies were connected. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: United States.) J. Hall.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
EU/HI 255. Revolutionary Europe and Its Legacies, 1789-1989.
This course examines the European revolutions and their legacies—political, cultural, and ideological—over time. The French Revolution of 1789 brought unprecedented promises of political and social reform to Europe. Yet it also brought terror and authoritarian rule, a cycle that would seem to repeat itself, "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce," as Karl Marx said of the revolutions of 1848. In this course students consider these revolutions together with the Communist uprisings waged in Marx's name, and the "velvet" revolutions of 1989 that seem to have concluded this revolutionary cycle, at least for the moment. Not open to students who have received credit for HIST 254. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) C. Shaw.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 256. A Peculiar History? British Modernity, 1688 to the Present.
"American exceptionalism" is an imitation of the British original. Britain’s history from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to World War II has seemed to offer models for the development of an affluent, liberal, quintessentially modern polity. Yet ordinary Britons during this period seldom felt that they were living in a promised land. What is British modernity? This course explores the hallmarks of Britain's supposed exceptionalism, paying particular attention to the lives of ordinary subjects and how they thought about their relative freedoms and the need for further reform. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: European.) (History: Modern.) C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 257. African American Women's History and Social Transformation.
This course examines the political, social, and cultural traditions African American women have created from slavery to the current moment, notably the influence of African American women on the major social movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries including abolition, woman's suffrage, the club movement, women's liberation, the black arts movement, the civil rights movement, and Black Power. Through novels, plays, autobiography, music, and nonfiction produced by and about African American women, students explore a range of intellectual and cultural traditions. Cross-listed in Africana, gender and sexuality studies, history, and politics. Recommended background: one course in gender and sexuality studies and/or one course in Africana. Enrollment limited to 30. (Africana: Gender.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (Politics: Identities and Interests.) (Politics: Institutional Politics.) M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AS/HI 259. Caravans, Khans, and Commissars: A History of Central Eurasia.
From Silk Roads to Chinggis Khan, an understanding of our world—and an appreciation for the diversity of human experience—calls for examining Central Eurasia. This course covers millennia and journeys through steppe, desert, and mountain, from Mongolia to Hungary, to reveal the ways Central Eurasia and its peoples have shaped world history. Key topics include the emergence of pastoral economies, steppe-sown interactions, the exchange of both goods and ideas, and the rise of empire as well as Central Eurasia’s modern fate. Students consider these issues by examining scholarship and exciting primary sources, including epic poetry, art, and novels. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: East Asian.) (History: Premodern.) W. Chaney.HIST 264. A People's History of American Capitalism.
Capitalism has been a powerful engine of prosperity and disruption from the founding of the United States to the present day, but its advantages and disadvantages have not been shared equally by those whose fortunes it has indelibly shaped. Tracing more than two centuries of development and growth, this course emphasizes the social dimensions of economic transformation, centering race, gender, and ethnicity as categories integral to understanding capitalism as both a productive and destructive force in American history. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) Normally offered every year. A. Baker.INDC 266. Environmental History of China.
This course investigates the deep historical roots of China's contemporary environmental dilemmas. From the Three Gorges Dam to persistent smog, a full understanding of the environment in China must reckon with millennia-old relationships between human and natural systems. In this course students explore the advent of grain agriculture, religious understandings of nature, the impact of bureaucratic states, and the environmental dimensions of imperial expansion as well as the nature of kinship and demographic change. The course concludes by turning to the socialist "conquest" of nature in the 1950s and 1960s and China's post-1980s fate. Cross-listed in Asian studies, environmental studies, and history. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) (History: Premodern.) W. Chaney.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HI/LS 270. The Spanish Empire: From Madrid to Manila.
In less than a century, a divided set of kingdoms on Europe’s periphery transformed into a powerful global empire whose territories included parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This course considers the Spanish Empire and the diverse peoples who lived in it during the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. It takes up questions of imperial scale, including the movement of people and goods around the globe and the challenges of maintaining royal authority over distant lands. It also examines what it meant to live as subjects of the Spanish crown and how different groups—including "old Christian" Spaniards, Muslim and Jewish peoples who converted to Christianity, Africans, and indigenous peoples from Mexico, Peru, and the Philippines—interacted and made sense of their changing worlds. Not open to students who have received credit for BSAS 004. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: Latin American.) K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HI/LS 272. The Mexican Revolution.
The first major social revolution of the twentieth century, the Mexican Revoltution continues to shape Mexico well into the twenty-first century. This course begins with the conditions and events leading up to the overthrow of President Porfirio Díaz in 1910, continues through the course of a bloody civil war, debates over how to build a new society, the divisive institutionalization of a "revolutionary" one-party state, and concludes with ways that the revolution has been remembered. Students consider the perspectives and goals of different participants in these events, including peasants, urban poor, local leaders, intellectuals, artists, local leaders, and national politicans. Course materials include letters, government documents, novels, images, music, and film. New course beginning winter 2020. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: Latin American.) (History: Modern.) Normally offered every other year. K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AS/HI 274. China in Revolution.
Modern China's century of revolutions, from the disintegration of the traditional empire in the late nineteenth century, through the twentieth-century attempts at reconstruction, to the tenuous stability of the post-Maoist regime. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) Normally offered every year. [AC] [HS] W. Chaney.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AS/HI 275. China in the World.
This course focuses on China’s connections to the world from ancient times to the present, emphasizing the formal and informal relationships that have linked the peoples of China to peoples and places beyond the Chinese frontiers. A varied array of primary sources reveals elements of foreign relations, transnational and international connections, and local experiences of global phenomena while addressing topics such as Sino-Japanese relations before and after Worl War II, imperialism’s role in shaping places like Hong Kong and Macao, Cold War politics in Africa, and Chinese diasporic communities across the Pacific Ocean. New course beginning winter 2020. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) One-time offering. B. Cwiek.HI/LS 279. The Age of Independence in Latin America.
Most areas of Latin America gained their independence from Spain or Portugal during the early nineteenth century, but were these political transformations accompanied by equally great social, economic, or cultural change? This course explores not just the struggles to overthrow colonial powers, but also what it meant to live in the decades surrounding these tumultuous events. The first Latin American novel, The Mangy Parrot, provides the basis for exploring topics that include education, family, and daily life. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: Latin American.) K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AF/HI 280. Health and Healing in Africa.
A perception that Africa is a "diseased continent" has long persisted in the West, but this image, born of colonialism, ignores how Africans have sought to create and maintain healthy communities over time. This course begins by exploring how Africans have diagnosed and treated ailments in the precolonial era. It then examines the impact of colonial conquest and policies on the spread of diseases, and the emergence of missionary and colonial medicines. The course concludes by examining how state building, international development, and transnational capitalism have shaped healing practices. Not open to students who have received credit for AA/HI 280. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (Africana: Diaspora.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Africa.) (History: Modern.) Normally offered every year. P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HI/LS 282. The City in Latin America.
Today the majority of people in Latin America live in cities, but this was not the case 500 years ago when the first Europeans arrived. Since then cities have become home to people of all races and social strata. This course examines the development of cities as meeting grounds among different groups of people, as centers of wealth and power, and as sites where much of Latin America's culture was formed. It concentrates on major cities in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil from precolonial civilizations through twentieth-century mass urbanization. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (History: Early Modern.) (History: Latin American.) (History: Modern.) K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 285. Welcome to Paradise: The United States and the Caribbean.
This course explores the relationship of codependency between the United States and the Caribbean by highlighting power dynamics within the region. It goes beyond the perception of the Caribbean as a space of leisure or disasters to show how the U.S. imperial stance has affected the experiences of Caribbean people and how Caribbean people have resisted U.S. hegemony. By examining a variety of sources and historical scholarship that offer a transnational reading of these historical processes, students analyze how the circulation of goods, images, people, and ideas profoundly influenced the political, material, and social cultures in both spaces. Special attention is given to issues of race, gender, ethnicity, tourism, and immigration. New course beginning Fall 2019. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) J. Essame.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HIST 287. History of East Africa.
Scholars have long subscribed to the myth that East Africa has "historically been detached from the world." However, the region's engagements with the rest of world date back almost a millennium. This course seeks to correct the common misconception and introduce students to the rich histories of this less-understood region of the world. Using a variety of primary and secondary source materials, the course begins with an examination of East Africa's roles in world history before European colonization. It then turns to case studies and examines the changes that came with colonization, the rise of nationalism and decolonization, and finally the post-independence challenges in the region. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (Africana: Diaspora.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Africa.) (History: Early Modern.) (History: Modern.) [AC] [HS] P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 294. The Revolutionary Black Atlantic, 1770–1840.
Between 1770 and 1837 Africans and African Americans reconfigured the economic and political relations of the Atlantic world. Drawing on long traditions of resistance to slavery as well as the power of their growing populations, Africans and African Americans turned revolts begun by and for white people into wars for black liberation. This course examines how the U.S. War of Independence, the Haitian Revolution, and wars for Latin American independence are integrally connected to African and African American history. Students consider the ways Africans and African Americans shaped this history and the extent to which they achieved the goals that inspired their actions. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (Africana: Diaspora.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Early Modern.) (History: United States.) J. Hall.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 295. Afro-diasporic Activism.
This course examines Afro-diasporic connections in the twentieth century. Beyond the artistic encounters that generated new visual or musical expressions that celebrated black pride, this course explores transnational black activism spanning across the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe from the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Power movement. By looking at the historical processes that made room for people of African descent from different backgrounds to unite against racial oppression and colonialism at specific points in time, this course analyzes diaspora as a political practice. Students consider black political thought and cultural production to investigate the making of global blackness. New course beginning winter 2020. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) Normally offered every year. J. Essame.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AM/HI 299. White Supremacy: An American History.
Shaped by early conflicts with native populations and the expansion of African slavery, ideologies of white supremacy have been powerful sociopolitical forces in the making of the United States. At the same time, the concept of "whiteness" has been unstable throughout the nation’s history. It has been challenged by immigration patterns and changing ideas about race, ethnicity, and citizenship. Covering more than three hundred years, this course examines the meaning of whiteness in America and considers the historical and ongoing struggles of those excluded from its privileges. Recommended background: AM/HI 141; HIST 140, 142. Not open to students who have received credit for AC/HI 299. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (Africana: Historical Perspective.) [AC] [HS] A. Baker.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 301. Seminars.
These seminars provide opportunities for concentrated work on a particular theme, national experience, or methodology.INDC 301A. Sex and the Modern City: European Cultures at the Fin-de-Siècle.
Economic and political change during the 1800s revolutionized the daily lives of Europeans more profoundly than any previous century. By the last third of the century, the modern city became the stage for exploring and enacting new roles, new gender identities in particular. This course examines the cultural reverberations of these cataclysmic changes by focusing on sex, gender, and new urban spaces the decades around the turn of the twentieth century. Students consider the writings of Zola and Freud, investigate middle-class flirtations with the occult, and read about sensational crimes like those of Jack the Ripper. Cross-listed in European studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) [W2] C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AS/HI 301B. From Tibet to Taiwan: Frontiers in Chinese History, 1700 to the Present.
This course investigates the twists and turns that attended the transition from imperial regime to modern nation in China. Perhaps two of the main legacies of China's last empire, the Qing (1644-1912), have been the territorial boundaries claimed by the People’s Republic and the tensions that have continued to erupt throughout the borderlands: Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Taiwan. This course deepens our understanding of modern China by considering why these frontiers are part of the contemporary nation-state and why their inclusion continues to be so contentious. Borderlands bring this transition into focus most clearly. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Early Modern.) (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) [W2] W. Chaney.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 301D. US Immigration in the 20th Century: A Gender Perspective.
Both women and men have fled their countries to escape political, ethnic, or religious persecution, wars, dire economic conditions, or the consequences of natural disasters. Historical processes such as the global Cold War have resulted in various population movements. How did gender expectations, relations, and rights impact migrants? This seminar examines the role of gender in the migration experience and migration settlement practices. By looking at case studies, it explores how migrants have negotiated gendered and racialized structures in the U.S. Students read a range of texts highlighting several aspects of the migrant experience such as shifting gender roles. New course beginning winter 2020. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) [W2] Normally offered every year. J. Essame.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AF/HI 301E. African Slavery in the Americas.
Of the millions of immigrants who arrived in North and South America during the colonial period, the majority came not from Europe but from Africa. They came not for freedom but as human property, facing a lifetime of bondage for themselves and their offspring. Far from being the "peculiar institution" that whites in the U.S. South called it, slavery existed throughout the Americas before its abolition in the nineteenth century. By reading contemporary scholarship and examining such primary sources as music, letters, autobiographies, and material artifacts, students gain a sense of the ways Africans and African Americans survived and influenced an institution that sought to deny their humanity. Not open to students who have received credit for AA/HI 301E. Enrollment limited to 15. (Africana: Diaspora.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Early Modern.) (History: United States.) [W2] J. Hall.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 301F. African Nationalism and Decolonization.
After European powers partitioned Africa among themselves between 1884 and 1890, Africans became colonial subjects in their own lands, but they also began to practice many forms of resistance. By the late 1940s, these African colonies were becoming ungovernable. In 1957, Ghana became the first of many African countries to gain independence. This course draws on films, secondary readings, and primary source materials to examine the rise of African nationalism and the protracted processes of decolonization in the twentieth century. In particular, it focuses on the roles and experiences of women, union leaders, students, and artists in Africa's decolonization. Enrollment limited to 15. (Africana: Diaspora.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Africa.) (History: Modern.) [W2] P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC 301G. Black Resistance from the Civil War to Civil Rights.
From antebellum slavery through twentieth-century struggles for civil rights, black Americans have resisted political violence, economic marginalization, and second-class citizenship using strategies ranging from respectability to radicalism. Engaging with both historical and modern scholarship, literary sources, and other primary documents, this course explores the diverse tactics and ideologies of these resistance movements. By considering the complexities and contradictions of black resistance in American history and conducting source-based research, students develop a deep understanding of the black freedom struggle and reflect on the ways that these legacies continue to shape present-day struggles for racial justice. Cross-listed in Africana, American studies, and history. Enrollment limited to 15. (Africana: Historical Perspective.) [W2] Normally offered every year. [AC] [HS] A. Baker.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HI/LS 301H. The Mexican Revolution.
Although best known for the military phase that featured such colorful figures as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican Revolution encompassed a range of ideologies, state-building projects, and social movements. This course examines how scholars have explained the revolution and how its legacies have figured in the creation of modern Mexico. Students develop their own interpretations by analyzing books, articles, novels, and films; considering theories of revolution; and evaluating primary sources. Topics covered include the roles of popular classes and women, the creation of a postrevolutionary government, and the influence of the United States. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Latin American.) (History: Modern.) [W2] K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
CM/HI 301J. Law and Society in Ancient Rome.
This research seminar introduces students to the range of academic skills necessary to conduct research and write scholarly papers on topics in ancient Roman law. In addition to considering the actual substance and procedures of Roman law, students explore different methodologies that consider Roman law and the relationship of Roman law to the historical and social contexts in which Roman law evolved. Prerequisite(s): CM/HI 100, 102, 108, or 109. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: European.) (History: Premodern.) [W2] M. Imber.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
EU/HI 301L. Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
This course charts the origins and rise of National Socialism in Germany and the crimes that were committed in its name. A considerable portion of this course focuses on the Holocaust and the systematic murder of Jews, Roma, Sinti, homosexuals, Communists, and the handicapped. Students trace the escalation toward the "Final Solution" and the importance of World War II in the implementation of the Holocaust. Using a variety of sources, students learn about everyday life within the Third Reich and in occupied Europe. Among the topics considered are the motivations of German and non-German perpetrators, bystanders, and collaborators. New course beginning winter 2020. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) [W2] One-time offering. R. Kazyulina.ES/HI 301M. Maine: Environment and History.
This course introduces students to Maine history from its beginnings to the twentieth century, emphasizing the state's most pervasive theme, the environment. From aboriginal people to European colonists, different people have relied on the state's natural resources. Indeed, the environment shaped Maine's most prevalent industries. By the twentieth century, Maine emerged as a popular vacation destination, causing many to reflect on conservation efforts. This seminar explores the significance of locality in understanding the interaction between the environment and different people through time. Students develop a deeper sense of place in our community. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Early Modern.) (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) [W2] J. Hall.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AS/HI 301N. Mummies, Marauders, and Modernizers: Silk Road Cultural Contacts in the Heart of Central Eurasia.
The Silk Roads crisscrossing the heart of Central Eurasia have been and continue to be significant conduits enabling contact among radically different people, goods, ideas, and practices. This course probes the most critical moments of intercultural contact in this region from ancient times to the present, and the scholarly debates they have inspired. From disagreements over the identities of mummified corpses in Western China, the impact of European explorers collecting cultural artifacts, and the role of Islam among the Mongols to Marxist-inspired campaigns to liberate women, the course considers how this region both reflects and shapes world historical patterns. New course beginning winter 2020. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Early Modern.) (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) (History: Premodern.) [W2] One-time offering. B. Cwiek.HIST 301P. South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid.
Between 1948 and 1994, the National Party enforced apartheid, a system of racial segregation in South Africa. How did nonwhites respond to the apartheid state? Using a variety of primary and secondary source materials, this seminar begins with an examination of major historical events to highlight the laws and social structures put in place prior to 1948. It then turns attention to the apartheid era and examines the lived experiences of the nonwhites under, and their struggle against, the apartheid state. The course pays close attention to the experiences of women, union leaders, students, and artists. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Africa.) (History: Modern.) [W2] P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 301X. "Self-Evident Truths": A History of Human Rights and Humanitarianism.
In today's world, activists and newscasters assume that we will care about the fate of peoples remote from ourselves. This was not always the case. Only in the eighteenth century did basic rights begin to seem "self-evident" and universal. Even then, the implementation of those rights was far from straightforward given the limits of an imperfect world. This course studies these developments, drawing on case studies from European and European imperial histories from the late eighteenth century to the present. Students examine how rights have been defined and how those definitions have changed over time. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) [W2] C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 301Y. The Spanish Inquisition.
Were witches and heretics really tortured in the Spanish Inquisition's infamous jails? This course examines both the institution of the Spanish Inquisition and the lives of those who came before it. The sins that concerned the Inquisition depended on the time and place, and the crimes prosecuted in sixteenth-century Spain or eighteenth-century New Spain reveal a great deal about early modern (ca. 1500–1800) culture and society. Students read and analyze original Inquisition cases from Spain and New Spain as well as consider the ways historians have used cases to investigate topics such as sexuality and marriage, witchcraft, and the persecution of Jews and Muslims. Cross-listed in history, Latin American studies, and religious studies. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Early Modern.) (History: European.) (History: Latin American.) [W2] K. Melvin.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC 301Z. Race and U.S. Women's Movements.
This course focuses on how racial formations develop in women's movements and how gender ideologies take shape through racialization. Some of the movements examined include the woman's suffrage movement, the anti-lynching movement, the civil rights movement, moral reform movements, the welfare rights movement, the women's liberation movement, and the peace movement. Students analyze how the intertwined categories of race and gender shape various women's responses to debates about issues including citizenship, U.S. foreign policy, reproductive rights, and immigration. Students consider current theoretical and methodological debates and examine the topic through the perspectives of women in various ethnic and racial groups. Cross-listed in gender and sexuality studies, history, and politics. Enrollment limited to 15. (Africana: Gender.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) (Politics: Identities and Interests.) [W2] M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HI/RE 320. Religion and Government in the Middle East: Colonialism to the Arab Spring.
This seminar examines the place of religion in Middle Eastern politics between the rise of European colonialism and the start of the Arab Spring. Religion in the early modern Middle East encompasses not only the communal values of the region's local Muslims, Christians, and Jews, but also the complex relationship between religious ethics and notions of government. Students read a range of texts highlighting the history of governments throughout the Middle East, from Algeria and Egypt to Iraq and Iran, focusing on ways religious ethics and identities intersect with political theory between the nineteenth and the twenty-first centuries. Prerequisite(s): one course on European colonialism, nationalism, Islam, or Middle Eastern history. Enrollment limited to 15. (History: Modern.) A. Akhtar.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HIST 360. Independent Study.
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Normally offered every semester. Staff.HIST 365. Special Topics.
A course or seminar offered from time to time and reserved for a special topic selected by the department. Staff.HIST 399. Historical Methods.
This seminar refines students' proficiency as historians and prepares them to write their senior thesis. The course is designed around two interrelated goals. First, students analyze how different approaches to history and sources matter to understandings of the past. Second, students design and test their own arguments, drawing upon critical readings of primary sources and close engagement with historiography. The course culminates in the completion of individual thesis proposals. Prerequisite(s): one HIST 301 seminar. Normally offered every semester. [AC] [HS] Staff.HIST 457. Senior Thesis.
The research and writing of an extended essay in history, following the established practices of the discipline, under the guidance of a departmental supervisor. Students register for HIST 457 in the fall semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both HIST 457 and 458. Prerequisite(s): HIST 399. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.HIST 458. Senior Thesis.
The research and writing of an extended essay in history, following the established practices of the discipline, under the guidance of a departmental supervisor. Students register for HIST 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both HIST 457, 458. Prerequisite(s): HIST 399. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.INDC s10. Sexuality in the Stacks: How Archives Shape Political Memory.
In this introduction to queer archives and sexual histories, students encounter how the institutions in which we house political memory shape our conception of the actors, stakes, and even the outcomes of political struggles. Throughout the course, students read contemporary research that creatively grapples with questions of power, silence, and political possibility in and through the archive. The course also emphasizes practical challenges of working in the archival research on marginalized sexualities, and will feature hands-on research in digital archives and a speaker series by scholars, archivists, and other researchers to share how their understanding of sex and sexuality are created and contested by the limits and possibilties of archives.New course beginning short term 2020. Enrollment limited to 30. (Politics: Identities and Interests.) (Politics: Philosophical, Literary, and Legal Studies.) One-time offering. E. Gambino.Interdisciplinary Programs
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AF/HI s13. Black Montreal.
Few people know of Marie-Joseph Angelique, the Portuguese-born black woman who was convicted of setting Montreal on fire in 1734, or of Mr. Edward Packwood who created The Free Lance, the first black Canadian newspaper. In fact, Afro-descendants have been either miscounted or merely excluded from official Canadian records. This course traces the presence of Afro-descended people in the Great White North by walking in the footsteps of Afro-descended trappers, settlers, slaves, engagés, refugees, artisans, cultivators, railroad workers, transient workers (such as porters or entertainers), and domestic workers who marked Canadian history. It examines the forces that shaped their experience of invisibility and paved the way for black internationalism. It also interrogates the tensions within the diaspora concept as it is confronted with erasure (diaspora is also constitutive of diasporic identity and community). Students explore these issues by examining a range of sources such as novels, oral histories, newspapers, and film. This course includes a short ethnographic and cultural expedition to Montreal. New course beginning short term 2020. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20. One-time offering. J. Essame.AS/HI s15. Sport, Gender, and the Body in Modern China.
From kungfu to the Olympics, Jet Li to Yao Ming, sport is a central part of lived experience in China. There is more here than simply box scores and baskets: through sport, we see how China's twentieth-century revolutions radically transformed gender relations, conceptions of the body, and what it means to be modern. This course looks at sport and the rise of nationalism, the gendered dimensions of revolution, reform-era commercialization, and the persistence of racialized stereotypes. Students grapple with these issues by examining a range of sources such as novels, posters, kungfu film, and actual sporting events. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. (History: East Asian.) (History: Modern.) W. Chaney.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
HI/SO s16. Crime and Deviance in the American Civil War.
This course examines deviant behavior through a historical lens, focusing on the American Civil War (1861-1865), and primarily drawing on movies, texts, discussion, and visits to local landmarks and museums. Students discuss what types of deviance and crime occurred in during wartime and use a sociological lens to analyze why the behaviors occurred and what consequences they had. They apply current thinking in criminology and sociology to understanding crime and deviance in the 1860s. The course is an exploration of how wartime shapes our attitudes, behaviors, and life chances. Enrollment limited to 15. (Community-Engaged Learning.) (History: Modern.) (History: United States.) M. Rocque.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC s18. Wilde Times: Scandal, Celebrity, and the Law.
Oscar Wilde, an icon today, was popular in his own time as well. His relationship with Alfred Douglas was an open secret despite the fact that homosexuality was at the time a criminal offense. Indeed, Wilde’s sexuality was tolerated until he sued Douglas' irascible father for libel. This course begins with the 1895 trials, seeking to understand cultures of sexuality in a period notorious for sexual repression, and contextualizing issues they raise of scandal and the law, celebrity, gender, and sexuality. Designed to encourage independent research, the course guides students through the research process, drawing to the fore histories often hidden from view. Cross-listed in European studies, gender and sexuality studies, and history. Not open to students who have received credit for INDS 107. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. (History: European.) (History: Modern.) C. Shaw.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HIST s21. Crime and Punishment in Africa.
The last three decades have seen an increasing use of indigenous justice systems to address major crimes in Africa, including genocide. These indigenous African approaches, however, have been criticized in the West. Many observers argue that these approaches do not punish offenders, nor do they deter others from committing similar crimes. This course introduces students to ideas of indigenous justice, taking a historical perspective. It begins by exploring the concepts of crimes and punishment prior to colonization. It then examines the introduction of the Western justice system under imperialism. The course concludes by examining the African oppositions to International Criminal Court. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. (Africana: Diaspora.) (Africana: Historical Perspective.) (History: Africa.) (History: Early Modern.) (History: Modern.) P. Otim.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
INDC s24. Shetland Islands: Archaeology, History and Environment.
In this course students participate in the excavation of a late medieval/early modern farmstead at Brow, Shetland (Scotland). Early settlement in Shetland was on the margin of successful medieval colonization of the North Atlantic. The Brow site is a revealing "laboratory" in which to explore the interaction of climate change and human settlement in a fragile coastal zone. A series of field trips in mainland Scotland place the Brow excavation in the wider context of settlement, environment, archaeology, and the history of Scotland and the North Atlantic. Cross-listed in classical and medieval studies, environmental studies, and history. Recommended background: courses in medieval history or archaeology. Enrollment limited to 10. Instructor permission is required. (History: Premodern.) G. Bigelow.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC s26. Vikings of the North Atlantic: Explorations and Adaptations.
Vikings are often associated with raiding early medieval Europe. They were also the first Europeans to sail into the North Atlantic in large numbers. In Scotland they met and mixed with Celtic peoples, but they populated uninhabited landscapes in Iceland and Greenland. Around 1000 C.E. their wave of migration washed up on the shores of North America where they interacted with Native Americans before abandoning the colonization attempt. This course traces this epic movement of peoples, its likely causes, and lasting impacts. The island settlements may be seen as cultural experiments leading to adaptation and resilience, and sometimes extinction. Cross-listed in anthropology, classical and medieval studies, and history. Not open to students who have received credit for INDS s21. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. G. Bigelow.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
INDC s27. Feminisms of the 1970s and 1980s.
This course explores the rise of multiple feminist theories and forms of activism during the 1970s and 1980s. Students critically examine the genealogy of the conceptualization of "second-wave feminism," and explore the role of gay, Chicano, and black liberation, civil rights, and labor struggles on the development of feminist thinking and action. The course pays particular attention to how feminists of this period addressed questions of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, Central America, and South Africa; the nuclear arms race; and U.S. domestic race relations. Students read from primary source material and study the literature produced by Marxist feminisms, black feminisms, lesbian feminisms, liberal feminisms, and radical feminisms. Cross-listed in gender and sexuality studies, history, and politics. Recommended background: GSS 100. Not open to students who have received credit for PT/WS s27. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. (Politics: Identities and Interests.) M. Plastas.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
HI/LS s29. Montezuma's Mexico: Aztecs and their World.
The Aztec state encompassed millions of people, featured a capital whose size and towering pyramids left the first Spanish visitors in awe, and developed a culture that continues to influence contemporary Mexico, from food and dress to festivals like the Day of the Dead. Yet Aztecs are more commonly remembered for their cannibalism than their complex civilization. This course examines the Aztec world: what it was like to live under Aztec rule, how society was organized, what people believed about how the cosmos worked, and why Aztecs practiced ritual human sacrifice. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (History: Latin American.) (History: Premodern.) K. Melvin.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations