History

Introduces various aspects of Chinese culture (e.g., values, customs, manners, and festivals) and discusses everyday life in contemporary Chinese society.

Credits: 3

An intensive focus on the intersection between cinema and history. Students examine the debates around cinema’s status as historical document, surveying different approaches to the relationship between cinematic formal traditions and social history. The course emphasizes the analysis of primary sources, such as reviews, posters, magazine and newspaper articles, personal correspondence, trade publications, and blogs.

Credits: 4

PREREQ: CIN1500 And CIN1510

Historical trauma has characterized the 20th century. Traumatic events return in unexpected forms, haunting communities and shaping both collective memory and mourning practices. Taking a comparative approach across national cinemas, this course analyzes the historical context, style, and narratives of films that circle around the question of trauma. The course covers German, Israeli, Chilean, Japanese, Russian, and American cinemas.

Credits: 4

The ancient world to the beginning of the modern world at 1500 AD: an amalgamation of Celtic, Jewish, Greek, Roman, and German historical traditions.

Credits: 4

A study of texts and events that have shaped Western society and culture since 1500.

Credits: 4

Combines a history of the discovery and excavation of famous archaeological sites worldwide with an introduction to archaeological methodology. Students explore the role that material culture plays in understanding social, political, and economic systems and examine the role of archaeologist as interpreter of the past.

Credits: 3

Spotlights moments when history became the focus of wider social debate, including the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a trial involving Holocaust denier David Irving and an academic historian, and the debates that took place between historians concerning the invasion of Iraq. This course illustrates that, by reflecting on fundamental questions about history—how evidence is used, who has agency in history, how people make moral judgments—citizens are better equipped to confront contemporary political and social issues.

Credits: 4

Examines the history of the United States from European colonization and initial contact with Native Americans through the Civil War. Subjects include the diversity of settlement experiences; European-Native American relations; the development of slavery; the causes and consequences of the American Revolution; social, political, and cultural changes in the 18th and 19th centuries; the sectional crisis; and the significance of the Civil War.

Credits: 3

Examines the history of the United States from Reconstruction through the end of the 20th century. Subjects include changes in race and gender relations; industrialization, urbanization, and suburbanization; the emergence of new social and political movements; the impact of war on American institutions; and America’s rise to world power.

Credits: 3

Offers an expansive view of North America’s early history through exploration of the peoples, places and ideas of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and various Caribbean nations. Special emphasis is placed on social history – the lived lives, built environments, cultural collisions, and examples of coexistence among people in an especially-robust phase of human encounter.

Credits: 4

An introductory survey of the history of Latin America from colonial times to the present. Topics include geography, indigenous peoples, colonization and nation formation, society, politics, economy and culture of contemporary Latin America, and its place in today’s world.

Credits: 4

Before the Industrial Revolution, the European Middle Ages enjoyed explosions in urban development, industry, intellectual life, science and technology, and travel. This period witnessed a spike in material consumption that included the things people ingested and their physical environments as well as education and literacy. We will explore these developments and their impact on early modern and modern European society.

Credits: 4

Through lectures, discussion, and the viewing of films, this course compares popular depictions of the Middle Ages with the historical record and modern historiography of the Middle Ages and considers the relationship between fiction and history. Topics include: knighthood, peasants, royalty, religion, warfare and violence and preconceptions about the medieval world that have been inherited from popular culture.

Credits: 4

Topics in history to be determined each semester.

Credits: 3

Explores major social, cultural, economic, and political developments in Latin America from the period following the Wars of Independence to the present. The historical roots of such problems as racism, persistent poverty, and political repression are examined, focusing on “subaltern” groups (e.g., peasants, workers, women, and people of color).

Credits: 4

An exploration of the relationship between Judaism and other religions and cultures in the ancient Mediterranean world. Students will study the historical development of and religious innovation within Judaism in the context of intercultural and interreligious contact in the Greco-Roman period

Credits: 4

Explores the ancient civilizations of the Middle East, including those of Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. Students examine cultural, social, and political movements using texts as well as archaeology as sources.

Credits: 4

Examines how early Jewish interactions with various cultures affected the development of Judaism. Interactions with Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, Christian, and Muslim cultures are explored. Topics include conflicts with external powers, exile, and diaspora.

Credits: 4

An exploration of the many religious cults that populated the ancient world from Greece to Egypt to the near East. Students will study the history and development of counter-cultural movements like the Greek cults of Asclepios and Isis, the Jewish sect of Essenes, the messianic Jesus movement, and Roman Mithraism. Students will also examine the distinction between a “religion” and a “cult”.

Credits: 4

Students will learn about the place and development of music in Jewish culture and liturgy from ancient times to the modern, with a particular focus on Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and New York. The course will discuss Ashkenazi and Sephardic compositions, male and female composers, important genres and styles within classical music, and exchanges with Christian culture in each era.

Credits: 4

A survey of the history of Europe in the Middle Ages (1000–1400). Topics include the expansion of the frontiers of European civilization, the changing forms of intellectual and religious life, and the growth of towns and trade.

Credits: 3

Jewish individuals have had a major impact on modern music, including musical theatre, jazz, pop, rock, and more. The course covers a wide array of music from Drake to Bob Dylan to Sondheim and explores some of the most important musical innovations in North American music. By tracing historical trajectories that brought Jewish approaches to music from Europe to America in the twentieth century, we will examine the complexities of Jewish culture as a case study in the formation of modern American identity and how these identities are reflected in music. The ability to read music is welcome but not required for this course.

Credits: 4

An introductory survey of the history of the Spanish and Portuguese conquest and colonization of the Americas from 1450 to 1810, i.e., from the late preconquest period to the Latin American struggle for independence. Lectures, readings, and discussions provide an overview of the economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions of colonization.

Credits: 4

Examines the origins of modern Europe from the Renaissance in Italy through the Protestant Reformation and the age of religious wars, using both primary source readings and secondary historical scholarship.

Credits: 3

Focuses on the history of Latinos in urban centers across the U.S. and Latin America. Students explore how Latinos established and maintained distinctive social and cultural identities in the Americas. The historical definition of “Latinidad” is also discussed through the study of colonization, immigration, diaspora, globalization, and the history of the racialization of Latin American descendants.

Credits: 4

Explores the political and social transformation of Europe between the religious wars of the 16th century and the French Revolution. Topics include the growth of commercial capitalism and the scientific revolution.

Credits: 3

The invention of sound recording in the late 1800s caused profound aesthetic transformations in music. This course surveys the many styles that have swept through American music—from parlor songs, ragtime, blues, and brass band through R&B, top 40, heavy metal, rap, and hip-hop—and discusses the roles of rural and urban musical centers. Using the last 125 years of technological innovation in recording, students analyze the more significant cultural changes that continue to reverberate throughout American society.

Credits: 4

Explores migration and immigration from 1830 to the present. Major subjects include Native American removal and genocide, the intersection of migration and slavery, immigration exclusion, and race and the making of illegal immigration. Students examine long patterns of U.S. legislative policies alongside on-the-ground experiences and reactions to migration and immigration. The course concludes with an analysis of immigration in the post-9/11 era.

Credits: 4

Covers European institutions, traditions, economies, geopolitical boundaries, and the essential social and intellectual framework of the mid-18th to the mid-19th century. Critical changes and events covered include the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, Napoleon, the revolutions of 1848, romanticism, nationalism, and communism. Readings consist of extensive primary source materials in addition to secondary works.

Credits: 4

Focuses on the prehistory of the Americas from the first peoples through 1492, beginning with the Ice Age cultures of the New World and moving forward chronologically. South, Central, and North American cultures are examined, including the Olmec, Woodlands, and Mississippi Valley cultures, pueblo culture, and the Maya, Aztec, and Inca.

Credits: 4

Explores the encounters and interactions of the major populations who lived on the landmasses rimming the Atlantic Ocean (native peoples, Africans, and Europeans) from 1450 to 1888. Topics include migration, religion, slaves and enslavement, lived lives and material culture, foodways and folkways, the age of revolutions, and the fight for abolition.

Credits: 4

How are we to understand the century that has just ended? This course examines the political, social, and ideological forces that have shaped Europe since World War I. Special attention is paid to the impact of war and revolution, economic change, the Nazi dictatorship, the Cold War and its demise, and the changing role of Europe in world affairs.

Credits: 3

In this examination of the turbulent decade of the 1960s, students explore key social, political, economic, and cultural issues of the era. Specific topics include various struggles for civil rights and social equality; the escalation of the U.S. presence in Vietnam; the sexual revolution; the vision and limitations of the Great Society; and the rise of the New Right.

Credits: 4

Covers the experience of American women from colonial times to the 20th century, from political, social, religious, cultural, and economic points of view.

Credits: 4

Covers the history of Brazil from independence to the present. During this period, Brazil has transformed from a colonial, agrarian, slave society to a predominantly urban, industrialized nation and an aspiring world power. Students explore slavery, racism, urban life, immigration and industrialization, changing gender roles, political repression and military rule, carnaval and popular culture.

Credits: 4

An introduction to modern Japanese history, from the end of the Tokugawa period in the mid-19th century to the present. Japanese imperialism, Japan’s spectacular economic growth after World War II, and U.S.-Japanese relations are discussed.

Credits: 4

Explores African civilizations from the ninth millennium BCE to the 16th century CE. The diverse regions of ancient Africa are studied using archaeology, written and oral history, linguistics, art, and science, following cultural development in simple societies, states, and empires. Ancient Africa is presented in global context in terms of past civilizations but also in modern scholarship, identity, and popular media.

Credits: 4

Covers the history and cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. Topics include Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period, Etruscan civilization, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, Roman interactions with neighbors, the birth of Christianity, and the early years of the Byzantine Empire. This course also addresses how to read primary sources, the historiography of antiquity, and how to use archaeological sources.

Credits: 4

How was the Holocaust possible in the 20th century? This course responds to the question by examining specific issues: German anti-Semitism; Hitler’s rise to power; the genocide process; responses to Nazism and the news of the Holocaust in Jewish and international communities; resistance and collaboration; and theological and moral questions.

Credits: 4

A survey of Chinese arts and culture that introduces approaches to and connoisseurship of painting, calligraphy, sculpture, gardens, and architecture in dynamic relation to dynastic changes, literati-scholar tradition, cosmological and aesthetic concepts, and influences of Taoism and Buddhism during the period 221 BC to 1950. Knowledge of Chinese language is not required or expected.

Credits: 3

Investigates the fascinating and complex social, economic, cultural, and political history of South Asia, focusing primarily on the Mughal Empire, British colonial rule in India, and the contemporary nation-states of India and Pakistan. Course materials include introductory history texts, speeches, primary source documents, photographs, musical clips, recipes, short stories, and films.

Credits: 3

Examines the histories of China, Japan, and Korea from the disintegration of the traditional order through the transition to modern nation states. Asian views and perspectives are introduced and discussed.

Credits: 3

Considers the profound influence Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have exerted on the social, cultural, and political history of the East and the West. This course examines the historical developments, tenets, and scriptures of the three religions.

Credits: 3

We will learn the skills needed to “read” the objects of America’s past – household items, buildings, images, etc. - in ways that allow for the interpretation of the lived lives of historical people. This course is excellent preparation for work in history museums, house museums, and other types of historic sites and agencies that preserve history.

Credits: 4

Explore how history is produced and represented in various media, including documentary film, podcasts, Twitter, blogs and other forms of professional writing. In addition to learning from real-world examples, gain experience analyzing and constructing compelling historical narratives for broad audiences, including researching, writing, producing, recording, and editing a history-based podcast or other multimedia project.

Credits: 4

Provides students with a variety of methods and strategies for teaching history to middle and high school students. Classes are focused on developing lessons that make historical content relevant to adolescents and training them on how to write and discuss history. The course also provides an introduction to working in a public K-12 education setting.

Credits: 4

Public history—history museums, historic houses and landscapes, objects, documentary films—reaches and educates millions of Americans. Students explore how these experiences evolve through time and take part in activities related to handling and interpreting the past. Hands-on learning projects and several off-campus lectures at local historic sites are a critical dimension of this course.

Credits: 4

The U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s. Topics include Prohibition; the New Morality; fundamentalism; the KKK and immigration restriction; African American migration and culture; causes and social effects of the Great Depression; FDR and the New Deal; popular culture; radical challenges; the coming of World War II.

Credits: 4

An interdisciplinary course that will trace the relationship between baseball and American society and culture. We will study the early history of the game and historical developments during the emergence of the American professional teams in connection with government, culture, and issues of society.

Credits: 4

Examines European social, political, and cultural developments since the 1950s through history, sociology, literature, and film. Themes include the Cold War, the evolution of the Common Market, youth, women and feminism, consumerism, immigration and labor migration, national identity, attitudes towards America, and Germany and Eastern Europe since the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

Credits: 4

Examines the founding and development of the British colonies in North America and the causes of the American Revolution. The course considers the political, social, religious, and institutional history of colonial America through 1783.

Credits: 4

In recent years, a growing number of cultural historians have taken inspiration from psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists and explored whether emotions have a history and, in turn, make history. Studying diaries, memoirs, and personal letters alongside normative and public texts such as advice literature, scientific works, and court cases, students assess how shifting ideas and experiences of emotions have affected individuals¹ self-understandings and provoked wider social change.

Credits: 4

Focuses on the relationship between cities, urban life, and form, and the construction of social and political rights in the Americas. The emphasis is on how cities and citizenship are mutually constituted historically, looking at ideas and policies that regulate the city, and how urbanites produce and consume urban space and claim their rights as citizens and urban residents.

Credits: 4

Is the United States now, or has it ever been, an empire? Students explore this question and others as they examine diplomatic, political, economic, and cultural aspects of U.S. foreign relations since the Spanish American War in 1898. The lecture/discussion format draws upon fiction, films, and other images, as well as traditional historical writing.

Credits: 4

Explore the history of poverty and informality in Latin American cities since the late 19th century to the present. Explore the social, economic, and political circumstances through which cities become spaces of difference. Focus on the history of housing, shantytowns, and slums and popular mobilizations that claimed for citizenship and the right to the city.

Credits: 4

A narrative survey of U.S. history from the colonial period to the present through an exploration of its musical history. The course investigates America’s fundamental principles of politics, its primary social issues, and its wealth of aesthetic musical initiatives. Students examine the unity, diversity, originality, and adaptability of significant political, social, and musical institutions.

Credits: 4

An overview of the development and tradition of Chinese cinema through representative screenings of important films from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Students gain a comprehensive understanding of the historical and political context(s) that informed the creation and reception of these films and learn critical scholarly terminology and historical issues related to the analysis of Chinese film.

Credits: 4

Examines the main historical events in the Mediterranean area from late antiquity through the Renaissance. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were born here, and the diverse peoples and cultures around its shores competed for intellectual and political dominance. These interactions resulted in the legacy of beliefs and institutions at the core of Western culture, including some issues still unresolved today.

Credits: 4

Examines the relationships among Jews, Muslims and Christians in North Africa and the Middle East in the period of British and French colonialism. From Morocco to Egypt to Lebanon, explore first-person memories of shared food, music, languages, and religious practices that emerged from centuries of migration. The course also examines the conclusion of the colonial era.

Credits: 4

An exploration of the relationships between orthodox religions and heretical sects in the medieval West and how heterodoxy evolved into the witch-craze of the early modern period. Questions of gender, spirituality, repression, and interpretation are examined in light of their effects on society and established religion. Focuses are on Islamic, Jewish, and Christian relations in medieval Europe; the development and perception of certain heretical sects; the discernment of saints and spirits; Protestant and Catholic Reformations; and the persecution of witches.

Credits: 4

Examines how war changed gender relations in 20th-century Europe. For instance, how did mobilization reinforce or undermine masculine and feminine norms? How did total wars that blurred the line between fighting front and home front challenge notions of chivalry and turn noncombatants into warriors of sorts? Did new job opportunities outweigh the trauma and grief suffered by women during wartime?

Credits: 4

This course explores the history of European imperialism in its political, cultural, and economic dimensions from 1850 to the present. Students examine case studies from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Topics include: theories of imperial expansion, the rise of “scientific racism”; colonial warfare; class and gender in colonial ideologies; economic, social, and environmental impacts of colonialism; decolonization and globalization.

Credits: 4

This course offers a broad survey of environmental history. Students are introduced to major debates in the field, for instance regarding the impact of capitalism and imperialism on the environment, and whether, and for how long, we have lived in an Anthropocene age. Readings include journalistic investigations and science fiction, alongside more conventional historical, philosophical and scientific sources.

Credits: 4

Examine the history of American capitalism from the nation’s founding through the present; treating capitalism as a historical construct, examining how it has changed over time. Moreover, we define capitalism as more than the "economy." Rather, students analyze how economic activity has shaped and been shaped by political, cultural, and social developments.

Credits: 4

Explores the history of American Jewry from its beginnings to the present, touching on such topics as integration into American society, formation of Jewish identity, anti-Semitism, evolving religious traditions, cultural clashes, cultural issues involving various waves of immigration, the evolving role of women, Jews and entertainment, and economic and political issues.

Credits: 4

Survey the approaches to various important religious questions and practices within Ancient Judaism and Christianity. Particular attention devoted to the Jewish roots of Christianity and the assimilation of Jewish faith practice into the Early Christian movement. We also examine the historical and ongoing relationship between the two faith systems.

Credits: 4

Introduces systems of health and medicine in the European Middle Ages, elite learned traditions taught in universities, and everyday approaches to wellness. Sources for medieval medicine include religious and academic texts, household accounts and even charms, and are used to explore how people managed their health, practiced medicine, and dealt with challenges ranging from treatments to bubonic plague.

Credits: 4

Explore urban life in early modern Europe focusing on social history and how people of different backgrounds (e.g., gender, religion, and class) experienced urban life. Themes include community politics, women and work, family life, migration, culture and festivals, crime and punishment, and universities. Case studies include Venice, Rome, London, Amsterdam, Prague and Geneva.

Credits: 4

An exploration of the peoples, religions, cultures, places, and monuments of the land of Israel. Home to three major world religions, the land has been embraced, fought over, and conquered repeatedly throughout history. Why? Students explore the reasons for Israel’s prominence and discover how its position and importance in the worldview is constantly being reinvented.

Credits: 4

The historicity of the Hebrew Bible is explored, from the protohistory of the Israelites as related through the Pentateuch and early prophetic works, through the period of the Monarchies, to the 6th-century B.C. exile, the birth of early Judaism, and the books of prophets and writings. Issues relating to historiography and biblical criticism are essential elements in this course.

Credits: 4

Explores important works of ancient literature in conversation with important Enlightenment texts and ideas. Students will read selections from the Bible and Greek literature and study the reception of their ideas and ideals in the work and thought of prominent Enlightenment authors.

Credits: 4

Major trends in the intellectual history of Europe from the latter part of the 17th century through the end of the 18th century, including changing perceptions of the relationship of the individual (male and female) to society, in the context of social change.

Credits: 4

An introduction to the history and culture of New York City. New York’s colonial origins, its critical role in the American Revolution, and its 19th-century ethnic and social conflicts are studied. Secondly, the evolution of the city’s dynamic growth in the 20th century and the impact of 9/11 are examined. Lastly, the image of New York City as portrayed in literature and film is explored.

Credits: 4

Decades after its end, the legacy of the Vietnam war—America’s second longest war and a defining episode in its history—is still felt and hotly debated. Using documents, memoirs, fiction, poetry, song, and film, this course explores the war’s origins, development, ultimate conclusion, and aftermath, while paying special attention to those who experienced it both “in country” and at home.

Credits: 4

This course retraces the history of Europe’s multicultural present. Students excavate aspects of Europe’s colonial and postcolonial past and explore how migration from within and beyond Europe has transformed concepts of national citizenship and European identity in recent decades. In so doing, students are equipped to reexamine concepts of race and ethnicity and models of multiculturalism that have been developed in the US context.

Credits: 4

Explore the vast experiences of women in medieval Western Europe from the end of the Roman Empire (500) to the beginning of the Early Modern Era (1500). Students will analyze both societal expectations and the daily realities of what it meant to be a woman in rural villages, larger towns, in religious and secular spheres, in the home and outside it, as marginalized members of society and as major political actors. Sources of study will include recent historiography on women’s history in medieval Europe, modern feminist theory, and primary source materials such as legal and religious writings, literature, and proscriptive manuals on running a household.

Credits: 4

Examines the role of Chinese literature in relation to politics. Readings include masterpieces of modern Chinese literature in translation and a couple of typical “propaganda pieces.” The class also sees, discusses, and compares several Chinese films.

Credits: 4

A general historical survey of the relations between the United States and East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam) from the mid-19th century to the present. The course examines the roots of the diplomatic, political, and cultural interactions and conflicts across the Pacific Ocean.

Credits: 4

The historical relationship of Judaism and Christianity and the encounter of the Jewish and Christian communities from ancient to contemporary times are examined. Topics include the split between the two religions in late antiquity, medieval disputations, and the challenges of the modern period. Students also examine the varying ways in which texts can be interpreted.

Credits: 4

The last sixty years have witnessed a digital revolution that has forever changed scientific practices. In this course stu-dents will gain valuable technical experience with sophisticated off-the-shelf software solutions and discuss what role these digital technologies should have in traditionally anthropocentric fields such as the humanities and social scienc-es. Students will need a computer, but there are no technological prerequisites.

Credits: 4

Explores the relationship between politics and archaeology. Topics include who owns antiquities; fakes, forgeries, and the manipulating of history; presentations of archaeology to the public; buying, selling, and auctioning of antiquities; and archaeology in wartime. The geographic range of topics includes Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Syria, and other countries in region, as well as Greece and Rome.

Credits: 4

Students explore the underlying historical narratives of films from 1930 to 1960 that address topics from early America. These narratives are compared to the ways Hollywood recast historical lessons to suit modern circumstances and to promote “American values” challenged by economic depression and the rise of fascism and communism. Special emphasis is on the works of Ford and Capra.

Credits: 4

History of U.S.–Latin American relations from the mid-19th century to the present day. It explores how Latin America and the Caribbean became the object of US intervention into the region’s realities and how Latin American societies involved into nationalist, anti-imperialist, class, racial, and gender struggles that shaped policy outcomes in ways unanticipated by the US.

Credits: 4

European cultural and intellectual history are examined by focusing on three “storm centers of modern culture”: Paris in the 1860s and 1870s, fin de siècle Vienna, and Berlin in the 1920s. Topics include representations of bourgeois society in art and literature; psychoanalysis; and the auditory and visual revolution in mass culture produced by film, radio, photography, and recorded sound.

Credits: 4

An exploration of Native American life before 1492, using books, documentaries, and films. Topics include the rise and fall of native cultures in the Americas, commerce, politics, economics, agriculture, and urbanization. The focus is on institutions, values, and interrelationships among people across the Americas, and the accomplishments and influences of individual civilizations on the history of the Americas.

Credits: 4

This course will explore German politics, society, and culture from the 18th century to the present. Through history and literature, the course examines themes like the creation of a unified state, the two world wars unleashed from German soil, the rise and fall of Nazism, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, the division into two states during the Cold War, and the role of reunified Germany in today’s Europe.

Credits: 4

Explores the political and cultural history of modern Italy, charting Italy’s emergence as a modern nation and its subsequent reinvention as a fascist society. The rise and fall of Christian democracy, the building of the European Union and the impact of Americanization feature in the second half of the course. Another prominent theme is Italian migrations across Europe and the Americas.

Credits: 4

Explores the global and historical dimensions of the black freedom struggle. Students are challenged to reflect on the contingent nature of identity and power by historicizing self-proclaimed black movements on five continents. Assignments move students to practice civic and scholarly engagement around past silences through research and multimedia history-telling.

Credits: 4

Examines some of the political, social, and economic transformations in the United States between 1877 and 1945. Topics include immigration, the expanding international role of the U.S., reform movements, urbanization, and technological change. Analysis of a range of primary sources, from paintings to film, is emphasized.

Credits: 4

The meaning of freedom and citizenship is a central theme in this examination of the social, political, economic, and cultural forces that have shaped the lives of African Americans since the end of the Civil War. Topics include Reconstruction, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights and black power movements.

Credits: 4

The social, political, economic, and cultural development of Ireland from 1610 to the present is examined. Topics include the effects of conquest and land confiscation, survival techniques, the creation of Anglo-Irish society, the rise of nationalism, the legacy of the Great Famine, the Celtic cultural revival, the cost of Irish independence, and the emergence of the “Celtic Tiger.”

Credits: 4

Examines transformations of Chinese society and culture since the early 19th century. Themes include the impact of the West; the rise of Chinese nationalism; modernization, reforms, and revolution; and rapid economic growth in the 1990s.

Credits: 4

The Civil War was arguably the most controversial and traumatic event in American history. This course considers how and why the war developed, its long-term results, and why it is such an important part of America’s cultural heritage. Through an examination of novels, films, diaries, and letters written by Civil War participants, students analyze the impact of this war and our continuing fascination with it.

Credits: 4

Explore the natural world, in the form of plants, animals, microbes, minerals, climates, and topographical features, and its connection to an influence on historical events. Case studies will explore migrations, innovations, risks, and ecological disasters.

Credits: 4

The influence of warfare is arguably the least understood aspect of human history; too often, war is considered like a sporting event—teams, winners, and losers. Students critically examine the effects of warfare on U.S. history in the 20th century. Topics include how militarization and “modern” warfare influence American society and shape its history.

Credits: 4

Examines crucial factors that shaped the U.S. from the ratification of the Constitution to the Compromise of 1850, a period that witnessed the spread of democracy, the development of capitalism, and the expansion and consolidation of slavery in the South. Special emphasis is placed on race and class, technological developments, and the period’s influential movements and personalities.

Credits: 4

Examines the development of popular culture and the major cultural industries in the U.S. from the early 19th century to the present. Students are also introduced to theoretical approaches to popular culture and learn how to apply these tools to selected texts from various periods and media.

Credits: 4

Introduces the largest unit of political organization, the empire, and its early appearances in various regions of the world. The focus is on Akkadia in Mesopotamia, Egypt’s New Kingdom, the Qin Dynasty in China, and the Inca Empire in South America (also known as the Inka Empire). The course reviews theories of sociopolitical organization and development drawn from anthropological archaeology, economics, ecology, and political science.

Credits: 4

This study of African history addresses the continent’s geography and how it has affected Africa’s place in history, the rise and fall of civilizations, Islamic/Arab influences, European colonization, independence movements, and current challenges. In particular, students examine the slave trade and its effects on African societies, colonial domination, and the rise of nationalist movements.

Credits: 4

Examines conflicts and controversies over the issue of American identity from the early 19th century to the present, emphasizing the links between Americanism and “whiteness.” Students explore how immigrants and people of color contested their exclusion from the symbolic national community, and how these groups have been incorporated into a larger national community during the last century.

Credits: 4

The history of the American West is surveyed from its beginnings to the present. The focus is interdisciplinary: art, the popular novel, film, and historical documents are examined as a way of understanding the role of the West in the American mind. Writing is an integral part of the course.

Credits: 4

Examines the responses of European intellectuals to the Russian Revolution, Great Depression, spread of fascism, two world wars, and genocide. Themes include: the ideological conflict between communism, fascism, and democracy; race and empire; attempts to rethink socialist and capitalist economics; and reappraisals of human nature and modern progress in the light of the savageries unleashed in these decades.

Credits: 4

An examination of American society, culture, and politics from World War II to the present. Topics include the Cold War, Vietnam, and the rise of a global order dominated by America; economic development and its social and cultural consequences; movements of the 1960s and their legacy in American politics; and the triumph of conservatism and emergence of a “postliberal” era.

Credits: 4

Examines the new historiography on gender and sexuality in Latin America. It is organized around the themes of changing gender roles and shifting constructions of masculinity, femininity, and honor, with particular attention to issues of sexuality, sexual preferences, constraints, and transgressions.

Credits: 4

Spanish Heritage Speaker students learn skills in the field of oral history to produce histories of the Latinx experience in the U.S. Students study theories and methodologies of oral storytelling and collect family and community histories to contribute to the production of a digital archive on Latinxs lives, developing community identity, history, and memory. Students practice language skills in Spanish.

Credits: 4

Jews, Christians, and Muslims each have their own scriptures, but also share stories, traditions, and ideas in common. Students explore this relationship through examination of important examples of biblical commentary and interreligious dialogue in the late ancient and early medieval periods.

Credits: 4

Combines classroom learning with practical experience. Lectures, discussions, and reading in urban, regional, and local history alternate with library and on-site archival education. Students spend half the semester on campus and half the semester at the Westchester County Archives.

Credits: 4

Explores the place of women in Western society, from ancient Greece to the 17th century. The roles covered range from the prescribed (wife and mother) to the actual (intellectual and worker). Lectures are supplemented by discussion of primary sources.

Credits: 4

Explores the place of women in European society, from the Enlightenment through the 20th century. Topics include the emergence of a women’s movement, the effects of industrialization on women, and the impact of both democratic and totalitarian regimes on women. Lectures are supplemented by discussion of primary sources.

Credits: 4

Explores traditional Chinese civilization, including the shaping of the strong imperial tradition; Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; arts and literature; and China’s relations with other Asian countries before the modern age.

Credits: 4

Develops students’ interviewing and interpretive skills in the field of oral history. Students learn the theory and methodology and work on a final research project that seeks to bring forward the voices of those frequently excluded from more typical historical sources. Students also learn to produce archival quality interviews, and the final project includes some form of public presentation.

Credits: 4

This hands-on course invites students to transform oral histories into captivating digital projects. From archiving and transcribing interviews to producing video and audio clips, podcasts, and interactive maps, participants will learn the art of narrative production. Students work on uncovering the past and the present by amplifying voices, and creating a lasting legacy through the lens of modern technology.

Credits: 4

Students read selections from the works of major historians and examine new techniques and methodologies. Designed to help juniors prepare proposals for their senior projects. Required for junior history majors and intended exclusively for them.

Credits: 4

Through studying modern Chinese literature, this course offers students an opportunity to approach China in depth in its social, historical, cultural, and political aspects. The stories of people and land, revolutions and traumas, and dream and utopia make it possible to comprehend this vast and seemingly impenetrable entity in an intimate and critical way.

Credits: 4

In this interdisciplinary course students explore the disciplines of history and literature in order to study South Asia, one of the most significant sites of English-language literary production in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course takes a historicist approach to South Asian literature of the last two centuries. Topics covered: Empire; Nationalism; Religion; Modernity; Independence; Development; and Diaspora.

Credits: 4

Meeting at the Academy of Drama in Prague, students study and perform plays by Václav Havel, the dissident playwright imprisoned during the Communist era who became president of the Czech Republic. Students explore political and cultural contexts of theatrical performance, enhanced by meetings with theatre professionals and visits to sites relevant to the intersection of artistic creation and political revolution.

Credits: 6