While exploring the history of Europe and its neighbors from the ancient to the medieval period, this course focuses on how people borrowed from, adapted, and reconciled various ideas to suit their own needs to form, over time, a coherent set of cultural values. To this end, we will consider several themes throughout the semester, including changing models of political organization, ideas of individual rights and responsibilities, attitudes towards women and 'outsiders’, and understandings of nature and of divine power.

BUILDING: GRGEN | ROOM: 109

When Oprah Winfrey founded a secondary school for girls in post-apartheid Johannesburg, she was following a long tradition of African American solidarity with the equally oppressed black population of South Africa. Forged in the 1780s by black north Atlantic mariners, the solidarity would encompass many areas of life before and during the apartheid era. This course explores four of those areas: evangelical ties connecting African American churches with South Africa’s independent church organizations; the spread of Booker T. Washington’s educational ideals in black South African academic circles; the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on African popular township culture; and the cross-fertilization of political ideologies originating on both sides of the Atlantic: Africans fighting against apartheid learned important lessons from the crusades of anti-colonial activists and internationalists in the diaspora, such as Marcus Garvey, Paul Robeson, and Mahatma Gandhi.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 205

This course revolves around the most essential question in modern German history: was Hitler's regime particular to Germany, German culture, and German society, or was it merely the manifestation of an imminent quality in all modern nation states? What does it mean to compare any political figure to Hitler? Was his kind of "evil" sui generis or dangerously banal? This course places the rise and fall of the Nazi Party and Hitler in the longer duree of German history, from the Second Empire and WWI, to Weimar, the Nazi State, and the Two Germanys of the Cold War.

BUILDING: CSB | ROOM: 209

This course examines the history of the Russian Empire from the reign of Peter the Great (1692-1725) to the revolutions of 1917. Students will read primary sources in translation, academic articles, and a survey text. About one-half of class time will be devoted to discussion of the readings. Topics will include Peter's westernization of Russian elites and the costs thereof, the Pugachev rebellion of 1773-1775, the spread of Enlightenment ideals to Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, the abolition of serfdom, Sergei Witte’s industrialization drive, socialist movements in Russia, World War I, and the causes of the revolutions of 1917.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 224

Students will follow current events in Russia through the internet, newspapers, magazines, and other sources (including satellite broadcasts when available). Along with a general attention to current events, each student will follow a particular area of interest (e.g. national identity, the market economy, politics, health issues, crime, culture, foreign policy) throughout the term, do background work on this topic and write it up towards the end of the term. Students who read Russian will be encouraged to use available sources in that language. This course is designed to (1) familiarize students with the most important issues facing Russia today and the historical/political/cultural context in which to place them; (2) to acquaint students with a variety of resources from the US, Russia, and a number of other countries and the different perspectives these sources may give on one and the same issue. Students write two short essays and one longer research paper.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 401

This course focuses on the history of traditional China from antiquity to the 18th century. Two thousand years of civilization, six thousand miles of the Great Wall, a silk road linking China to Rome, and seven maritime voyages sailing across the Pacific and Indian oceans. How have the notions of “China” and “Chinese” civilization transformed over time through cultural diffusion, commercial exchange, and military expansion? How does increased knowledge of Chinese history change our conceptions of Western civilization and the currents of world history? No prior knowledge of Chinese history or language is required for this course. Besides a standard textbook, one academic monograph (Mountain of Fame) and one Chinese classics (Dream of the Red Chamber) will anchor our readings throughout the course.

BUILDING: B&L | ROOM: 269

This discussion-based course interrogates the construction and evolution of Japan’s cultural traditions and idioms from ancient times to the eve of modernity. Drawing from oral records and mythology, literary and historical texts, and performing and visual arts, among other mediums, this course asks students to understand and appreciate the dynamic contexts of Japanese “tradition.” At the same time, contemporary evocations of the past, as represented through manga and film, will help us understand the processes through which traditions are (re)invented and (re)made. This course is therefore invested in both the historical legacy of traditional Japan and the ways in which tradition itself remains central to contemporary evocations Japanese culture. No prior knowledge of Japan is required or expected.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 182

This introductory survey course will cover the difficult process of nation-building that twenty-odd societies south of the Rio Grande experienced during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 205

The second of a sequence of two, the course approaches "The Divine Comedy" both as a poetic masterpiece and as an encyclopedia of medieval culture. Through a close textual analysis of the second half of "Purgatorio" and the entirety of "Paradiso," students learn how to approach Dante’s poetry as a vehicle for thought, an instrument of self-discovery, and a way to understand and affect the historical reality. They also gain a perspective on the Biblical, Christian, and Classical traditions as they intersect with the multiple levels of Dante’s concern, ranging from literature to history, from politics to government, from philosophy to theology. A visual component, including illustrations of the "Comedy" and multiple artworks pertinent to the narrative, complements the course. Class format includes lectures, discussion, and a weekly recitation session. Intensive class participation is encouraged. No prerequisites. Freshmen are welcome. Part of the Dante Humanities Cluster.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 431

The vast territory of the new United States was doubled by the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, emphasizing the necessity of breaking the Appalachian barrier to reach the new Mississippi River basin. The Erie Canal achieved this goal in 1825, facilitating transport of goods and people. Rochester grew from a small settlement in 1811 to become “the first American city” due to its location on the canal, the power generated by the High Falls of the Genesee River, and the agricultural bounty of the Genesee Valley. Waves of immigrants passed through and many stayed to enjoy social, religious, and economic freedoms in the new community. Railroads and highways followed the original canal route while new industries met the needs of a growing nation. In recent decades the region’s economy has transformed from manufacturing to education, medicine, and technology, but high rates of poverty have persisted despite robust amelioration efforts.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 525

This course surveys New York City’s social, cultural, and economic history in the twentieth century, including units examining labor history and the city’s working-class population; changing demographics of the city between America’s closed gates in 1924 and the end of nation-based quotas in 1965; the fashion and commercial industries; and the culture of consumption in the city. New York came to be the center of innovation and modernism. Studying its labor, beauty culture, and consumption will reveal why “the city that never sleeps” attracted millions of people to the city, and what the city in turn represented to the rest of the nation. We will be examining primary sources such as documentaries, labor laws, magazines, advertisements, and newspapers, as well as important secondary works.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 148

Violence is a familiar presence in contemporary American life, from the dramatic impact of terrorist attacks and mass shootings to the use of force in policing to the entertainment media that we consume every day. It has also been a consistent, undeniable and crucial part of American history. In this class, we will examine North America’s colonial history (1492-1776) through the prism of violence. Students will engage with primary sources, secondary literature and contemporary memory and media to develop a fuller understanding of the colonial period that utilizes key historical skills, and fosters shrewd analysis, thoughtful empathy and a rich historical imagination. By focusing on an aspect of America’s past that has been consistently de-emphasised or ignored, we will discover the ways that historical narratives shape our understanding of our past and ourselves, and uncover aspects of the colonial period that have so often been glossed over, left out or silenced.”

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 362

From antiquity to the present day people have recognized both the power and importance of travel. Traveling allows individuals to see famous places and experience the new while participating in cross-cultural encounters. In this course, we will explore the expansion of the early modern world through early modern travelers and their travelogues, looking at how individuals, societies, beliefs, cultures, ideas, and the world expanded and transformed as a result of travel. We will examine the social, cultural, religious, and political reasons behind travel, as we consider what possessed certain individuals to go abroad. Further, we will analyze the social and cultural implications of the travelogue and the impact that it had on early modern readers and their world.

BUILDING: B&L | ROOM: 315

This course introduces students to the histories and cultures that constitute Native America. The course will be ambitious in its geographic and chronological scope, but no prior knowledge of Native American history is necessary. Our objective will be to explore how knowledge about these histories has been and should be produced. To this end, we will consider Euro-American researchers’ archeological and anthropological findings and government-produced sources to some degree, but we will foreground the perspectives of Native peoples past and present. In addition to Native memoirs, political and literary writings, and oral histories, we will examine origin stories, winter counts, and other methods by which Native groups have recorded and remembered their own histories. Students will put the methodological skills they gain into practice by writing a short research paper on a relevant topic of their choice.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 456

This introductory research seminar considers the historical realities of piracy and imperial rivalry in the Early Modern Atlantic World and the popular mythology it has spawned in the past two centuries. Students will read primary sources and contending historical interpretations of piracy, see films about piracy, and play a pirate simulation game to develop critical historical reading, thinking, and writing skills.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 456

The course will examine the nature and culture of the African Diaspora as found on the African continent, Europe, the Americas and elsewhere. Among key issues on which the course will focus are variability, continuity and change in the cultures of different groups of Diasporan Africans, and relationships that are found between major environmental challenges as well as historical events such as the Islamic Jihads, Trans-Saharan Trade, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, colonialism, and Plantation Slavery in West Africa and the relocation and redistribution of African populations in Africa. A critical component of this class examines the historical, ethnographic, and archaeological research done in Africa, Europe, and the Americas to inform the student about theories and interpretations concerning the African Diaspora.

BUILDING: HYLAN | ROOM: 203

This course will review the prehistory of ancient societies in the Andes, which will begin from the peopling of the continent to the conquest of the Inca Empire by the Spanish. Students will become familiar with Andean chronologies as well as the prehispanic cultures of Chinchorro, Caral, Chavin, Pukara, Paracas, Moche, Nasca, Wari, Tiwanaku, Chimú, and the Inca, among others. Special attention will be paid to how these societies adapted to the diverse ecology of the Andes. Topics include the history of Peruvian archaeology; plant and animal domestication; the development of social complexity, the emergence of religion; prehispanic art and symbolism; ancient technology, economies and trade; and urbanism. The course includes material from archaeological investigations and interpretations as well as ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 210

The 2010 Brazilian national census shows 97.2 million Afro-Brazilians and 90.6 million Whites. These two ethnic nationalities have developed unequally since the establishment of colonial Brazil by Portugal in the sixteenth century. The 2010 census shows the average income of Afro-Brazilians was less than half that of White Brazilians. In 2009, the wealth gap between White and Black American families was $236,500. The most populous African nation, Nigeria, shows similar inequality among its major ethnic nationalities. This magnitude of inequality among ethnic nationalities has given rise to serious problems in inter-group relations in the three countries. This course aims to trace, comparatively, the historical origins of the phenomenon, examine the political and economic consequences, and discuss the politics and economics of state policy designed to address it. *NOTE: Students taking this Course for ECO credit must have previously taken ECO 108*

BUILDING: HYLAN | ROOM: 203

Ethnoarchaeology is the ethnographic study of peoples for archaeological reasons, usually through the study of the material remains of a society. Ethnoarchaeology aids archaeologists in reconstructing ancient lifeways by studying the material and non-material traditions of modern societies. This course will examine ethnoarchaeological work in Africa that is sensitive to the daily realities of peoples’ lives while it simultaneously builds the types of knowledge necessary for ethnoarchaeology to meet its important cognitive role within archaeological research. Examples will be drawn from research with potters and consumers, iron smelters, pastoralists, artists, and ethno-pharmacologists in West Africa, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa. The course will guide the student to understand what ethnoarchaeology is, and to acquire skills, which would enable her or him to practice it. Lectures will be combined with class discussions of specific case studies.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 205

This team-taught class will explore the life and works of the father of modern taxidermy, Carl Akeley, who trained in Rochester. Akeley rose to fame in the early 20th century as the designer of the taxidermy animals in New York's American Museum of Natural History. In lieu of writing a final research paper, students will team up to create a podcast series. Based in part on documents at the University's department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation.

BUILDING: GAVET | ROOM: 301

This team-taught class will explore the life and works of the father of modern taxidermy, Carl Akeley, who trained in Rochester. Akeley rose to fame in the early 20th century as the designer of the taxidermy animals in New York's American Museum of Natural History. In lieu of writing a final research paper, students will team up to create a podcast series. Based in part on documents at the University's department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation.

BUILDING: GAVET | ROOM: 301

North Africa and the Middle East is in a mess: Instead of democracy, the Arab Spring delivered a military dictatorship to Egypt; Iraq and Syria are melting into warring tribal enclaves; Saudi Arabia is waging a savage war in Yemen; and the Palestinians remain an unprotected stateless people. There is a crisis, and this course introduces students to the predicament, arguing that since the first Industrial Revolution in England, the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East have refashioned their destinies in partnership with the West. Students will examine how the following encounters helped make the region as we know it: the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1838, transition from Ottoman to West European colonialism, discovery of huge and easily extractable oil reserves, creation of the state of Israel, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003. The class will also explore how the above patterns of engagement shaped the histories of the region’s working classes, women, and the peasantry.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 456

North Africa and the Middle East is in a mess: Instead of democracy, the Arab Spring delivered a military dictatorship to Egypt; Iraq and Syria are melting into warring tribal enclaves; Saudi Arabia is waging a savage war in Yemen; and the Palestinians remain an unprotected stateless people. There is a crisis, and this course introduces students to the predicament, arguing that since the first Industrial Revolution in England, the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East have refashioned their destinies in partnership with the West. Students will examine how the following encounters helped make the region as we know it: the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1838, transition from Ottoman to West European colonialism, discovery of huge and easily extractable oil reserves, creation of the state of Israel, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and the US Invasion of Iraq in 2003. The class will also explore how the above patterns of engagement shaped the histories of the region’s working classes, women, and the peasantry.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 456

Alternately friends and rivals, modern France and the United States have had a complicated relationship ever since both nations were born in revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. This course will seek to understand France on its own terms by considering a series of formative events such as the Revolution of 1848, the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair and the birth of the intellectual, the very different experiences of World Wars I and II, the post-colonial conflicts in Algeria and Vietnam, the near-revolution of May 1968, and contemporary arguments over French foreign and domestic policy.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 205

Alternately friends and rivals, modern France and the United States have had a complicated relationship ever since both nations were born in revolution at the end of the eighteenth century. This course will seek to understand France on its own terms by considering a series of formative events such as the Revolution of 1848, the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, the Dreyfus Affair and the birth of the intellectual, the very different experiences of World Wars I and II, the post-colonial conflicts in Algeria and Vietnam, the near-revolution of May 1968, and contemporary arguments over French foreign and domestic policy.

BUILDING: MEL | ROOM: 205

The course purposes to illustrate some of the major characteristics of contemporary Italian society through a few representative films produced in Italy since the second World War. Aspects of Italian culture that will be touched upon include the so-called “Southern Question” relating to the economic differences between Italy’s Northern and Southern regions, the Resistance against Nazi Fascism, the post-war reconstruction, the internal migration of the Southerners towards the industrial North, the condition of women within Italian society, and the youth culture. The films selected for the screenings touch on these issues both explicitly and implicitly; through a brief introduction to the main approaches in film analysis and criticism the students will learn how to go beyond a simple thematic reading of the works so as to embrace a more sophisticated multilayered approach which will reveal hidden meanings and intents that will help to construct a more comprehensive picture of Italy's recent past.

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Enough record evidence survives from the operations of the medieval English government to allow students to reconstruct at least public life narratives of certain individuals. This course (1) provides the setting of medieval English history and (2) guides students in individual research projects based on printed and translated English royal documents. Choices include an Italian merchant-banker in London, an English bishop running the administration of Ireland, a rebellious knight at the time of Edward II, a great lady who acts virtually as an earl, and a combative Lincolnshire landowner.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 504

Enough record evidence survives from the operations of the medieval English government to allow students to reconstruct at least public life narratives of certain individuals. This course (1) provides the setting of medieval English history and (2) guides students in individual research projects based on printed and translated English royal documents. Choices include an Italian merchant-banker in London, an English bishop running the administration of Ireland, a rebellious knight at the time of Edward II, a great lady who acts virtually as an earl, and a combative Lincolnshire landowner.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 504

Tibet: the rooftop of the world. The land of Tibet has occupied a contested zone between history and myth for hundreds of years, from a proud Central Asian empire to a Buddhist hermit kingdom guarded by fighting monks, and from a mystical Land of Snows to a militarized ethnic region of China today. In this class we will study the history of Tibet and the roles of neighbors like China and India in shaping that history. We will also explore how Tibet has become a cultural phenomenon, from legends of Shangri-La to Dalai Lama CDs to films like “The Golden Child” and “Seven Years in Tibet.” Careful reading and discussion will be crucial in this class as we wade through myths, political controversies, and even good, bad, and terrabad Hollywood movies in search of the historical Tibet.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 121

Tibet: the rooftop of the world. The land of Tibet has occupied a contested zone between history and myth for hundreds of years, from a proud Central Asian empire to a Buddhist hermit kingdom guarded by fighting monks, and from a mystical Land of Snows to a militarized ethnic region of China today. In this class we will study the history of Tibet and the roles of neighbors like China and India in shaping that history. We will also explore how Tibet has become a cultural phenomenon, from legends of Shangri-La to Dalai Lama CDs to films like “The Golden Child” and “Seven Years in Tibet.” Careful reading and discussion will be crucial in this class as we wade through myths, political controversies, and even good, bad, and terrabad Hollywood movies in search of the historical Tibet.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 121

Interested in learning about the Silk Road, Eurasian continental trade, and digital mapmaking at the same time? The historical Silk Road extended over 4,000 miles across land and sea, connecting China, India, Central Asia, Persia, and Rome. The ongoing “One Belt, One Road” initiative, unveiled in 2013, is part of Beijing’s ambitious plan to girdle the globe. In this class we will juxtapose the past and present routes of the Silk Road, and muse over the familiar travelogues of “made-in-China” goods. Then we will take one step further, using ArcGIS to translate our book knowledge into creative digital maps. There are no prerequisites required; just bring your curiosity.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 121

Interested in learning about the Silk Road, Eurasian continental trade, and digital mapmaking at the same time? The historical Silk Road extended over 4,000 miles across land and sea, connecting China, India, Central Asia, Persia, and Rome. The ongoing “One Belt, One Road” initiative, unveiled in 2013, is part of Beijing’s ambitious plan to girdle the globe. In this class we will juxtapose the past and present routes of the Silk Road, and muse over the familiar travelogues of “made-in-China” goods. Then we will take one step further, using ArcGIS to translate our book knowledge into creative digital maps. There are no prerequisites required; just bring your curiosity.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 121

The Korean War claimed over 3 million lives and led to the division of Korea, the isolation of China, and the rise of postwar Japan. In America, it helped push massive military buildup and McCarthyism. It was the first battlefield of the Cold War, the first jet war, and the first “limited war” whose battlefields---Chosin, Heartbreak Ridge, and Pork Chop Hill---taught Americans painful lessons that were all too quickly forgotten as the United States stumbled into Vietnam just over a decade later. This course covers modern Korean history, the role of Soviet and American intervention, China’s entry into the war, and the trauma of a Korean nation divided between North and South. Through history books, memoirs, and films, we will explore the lessons of the “Forgotten War” and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 504

The Korean War claimed over 3 million lives and led to the division of Korea, the isolation of China, and the rise of postwar Japan. In America, it helped push massive military buildup and McCarthyism. It was the first battlefield of the Cold War, the first jet war, and the first “limited war” whose battlefields---Chosin, Heartbreak Ridge, and Pork Chop Hill---taught Americans painful lessons that were all too quickly forgotten as the United States stumbled into Vietnam just over a decade later. This course covers modern Korean history, the role of Soviet and American intervention, China’s entry into the war, and the trauma of a Korean nation divided between North and South. Through history books, memoirs, and films, we will explore the lessons of the “Forgotten War” and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 504

This course focuses on the historical experiences of Africans and their descendants in the Latin American region. While Brazil, Cuba and Haiti form the core regions for the class, less-studied areas (such as Mexico) where people of African descent had a considerable impact on culture, religion and politics. Readings and discussions will address early interactions between Central African rulers with Portuguese priests, merchants and slave traders. We will then focus on the history of the “Spanish” America through an African diaspora lens through colonialism and Independence. Afro-Latin@s’ struggle for inclusion in the nation-state and the formation of Black political parties will center our focus on the national period (1820-present). While grounded in history, the course also explores visual and literary representations of Blackness and racial mixture, the poetry of Nicolás Guillén, Tato Laviera and others. Students will write two essays, including a research paper on a topic of their choice.

BUILDING: WILMT | ROOM: 116

This course focuses on the historical experiences of Africans and their descendants in the Latin American region. While Brazil, Cuba and Haiti form the core regions for the class, less-studied areas (such as Mexico) where people of African descent had a considerable impact on culture, religion and politics. Readings and discussions will address early interactions between Central African rulers with Portuguese priests, merchants and slave traders. We will then focus on the history of the “Spanish” America through an African diaspora lens through colonialism and Independence. Afro-Latin@s’ struggle for inclusion in the nation-state and the formation of Black political parties will center our focus on the national period (1820-present). While grounded in history, the course also explores visual and literary representations of Blackness and racial mixture, the poetry of Nicolás Guillén, Tato Laviera and others. Students will write two essays, including a research paper on a topic of their choice.

BUILDING: WILMT | ROOM: 116

Explore how big business emerged in modern Brazil and impacted the country’s development and classification as one of the world’s five major emerging economies. Using an economic historical lens, we will investigate how Brazilian growth and development conforms to or diverges from traditional economic history models. The course looks particularly at theories of development and how transportation, banking, and the film industry impacted Brazil’s 19th and 20th century history.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

Explore how big business emerged in modern Brazil and impacted the country’s development and classification as one of the world’s five major emerging economies. Using an economic historical lens, we will investigate how Brazilian growth and development conforms to or diverges from traditional economic history models. The course looks particularly at theories of development and how transportation, banking, and the film industry impacted Brazil’s 19th and 20th century history.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

In this colloquium we will look at the history of international feminism and explore its many faces. We will examine the various factors that have contributed to women’s historically lower status in society; will look at the emergence of women’s rights and feminist movements as well as the distinctions among various feminist theories, and will discuss the relevance of feminism today.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

In this colloquium we will look at the history of international feminism and explore its many faces. We will examine the various factors that have contributed to women’s historically lower status in society; will look at the emergence of women’s rights and feminist movements as well as the distinctions among various feminist theories, and will discuss the relevance of feminism today.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

This course uses the close reading of primary documents—memoirs, autobiographies, fiction, sermons, journalism—to explore how Americans have crossed physical space, confronted racial and gender divides, embarked on spiritual discovery, and made other kinds of transformative journeys between the colonial era and the twenty-first century. It will consider such figures as John Winthrop, Mary Rowlandson, Langston Hughes, and Barack Obama. Its larger goal is to figure out some of the values, aspirations, and anxieties that have marked American culture from the beginning to the present.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 362

This course uses the close reading of primary documents—memoirs, autobiographies, fiction, sermons, journalism—to explore how Americans have crossed physical space, confronted racial and gender divides, embarked on spiritual discovery, and made other kinds of transformative journeys between the colonial era and the twenty-first century. It will consider such figures as John Winthrop, Mary Rowlandson, Langston Hughes, and Barack Obama. Its larger goal is to figure out some of the values, aspirations, and anxieties that have marked American culture from the beginning to the present.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 362

What is America? A country? A continent? A political ideal? A culture? This course traces the development of ideas about America, from its historical beginnings to our own time, from European fantasies about the New World and its possibilities to the experiences of settlers and citizens facing its realities. We will explore the competing and even contending narratives of America in a wide variety of cultural documents, from orations, sermons and political tracts to novels, poems, photographs, and films. The course is open to all interested students and required for all American Studies majors.

BUILDING: LATT | ROOM: 431

The debate on the role of the state versus that of the free market in the socioeconomic process is as old as the history of political economy. We discuss wheconomics of state policy and the long-run historical processes that created the political & economic conditions. Students’ performance is based on three short essays (four typed pages each) presented to the class for discussion and thereafter revised for grading. No mid-term & final examinations.

BUILDING: MOREY | ROOM: 501

The debate on the role of the state versus that of the free market in the socioeconomic process is as old as the history of political economy. We discuss wheconomics of state policy and the long-run historical processes that created the political & economic conditions. Students’ performance is based on three short essays (four typed pages each) presented to the class for discussion and thereafter revised for grading. No mid-term & final examinations.

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In this course we will explore the nature and development of Greek and Roman economies, the ways in which these economies intersected with social and political structures, and the strategies of the men and women who lived in them. We will devote considerable attention to issues of methodology: what questions should we ask about ancient economic life, and with what evidence can we answer them? All sources will be read in English translation.

BUILDING: B&L | ROOM: 315

This course explores a number of thematic topics in the history and politics of sex, sexuality, and the body. It looks at human bodies as cultural sites that have been constructed, experienced, and regulated in different ways at different times. In this continuous process of redefining and reimagining bodies, sex and sexualities emerge as important strategies that shape, control, and liberate bodies, both cultural and physical, individual and political. The course examines changing sexual behaviors and identities and considers the politics of sex as it moves out of private bedrooms into the realm of political ideologies, discourses, and practices.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

This course explores a number of thematic topics in the history and politics of sex, sexuality, and the body. It looks at human bodies as cultural sites that have been constructed, experienced, and regulated in different ways at different times. In this continuous process of redefining and reimagining bodies, sex and sexualities emerge as important strategies that shape, control, and liberate bodies, both cultural and physical, individual and political. The course examines changing sexual behaviors and identities and considers the politics of sex as it moves out of private bedrooms into the realm of political ideologies, discourses, and practices.

BUILDING: LCHAS | ROOM: 160

This course introduces students to a range of beliefs and practices in Africa frequently referred to as “Witchcraft” or “The Occult.” We will approach these phenomena not as cultural exotica, but rather as quintessentially modern forms of theory and practice. Through a series of case studies from across the continent in the colonial and postcolonial eras, the course poses a number related questions: Is witchcraft rational? Is it a matter of belief? How is “the occult” related to other aspects of politics, economy, and society? How do we explain observable patterns in who gets accused of witchcraft? What are the responsibilities of Government to accused witches and their alleged victims? Is practicing witchcraft a crime?

BUILDING: DEWEY | ROOM: 4162

Selected problems in the political, social, and intellectual history of the Middle Ages.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 456

Who or what is a captive? Traditionally, the term describes a person unwillingly held by colonial pirates, invading soldiers and slave traders. This advanced seminar challenges us to consider the continued practice of captivity in our present-day societies. How do prisons, migrant detention centers, and guerrillas draw on former strategies of coercion and control? How integral is the denial of personhood to these practices, past and present? What of non-human captives? This course focuses on Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia) and the United States, but our readings will include comparisons to Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean. We will explore how historical narratives of captivity are crafted, voiced, but also silenced. The following themes (and others) will be studied this semester: ransom, captive migrants, captive animals, sexual trafficking and imprisonment. Students will produce one short essay and a research paper on a topic of their choice. The seminar meets once a week.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 362

This reading seminar explores modern U.S. history within a global context. Through readings and discussions, we will consider two central questions: How has the U.S. shaped the modern world, and how did the world shape the U.S. in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries? The course is open to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 456

What is the relationship between disease and the society in which it strikes? How do societies define disease, and how does culture affect the treatment of the sick? How have scholars written the history of disease? In this research seminar, students will explore such questions by examining interactions between disease and society in western cultures from antiquity through the present, at the same time pondering what this insight can tell us as we face the frightening prospect of new killers like Ebola and resistant strains of old diseases like tuberculosis. Throughout, the course will insist that the experience of disease is not simply a biological fact, but is conditioned by the culture in which we live.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 362

Individual instruction in the teaching of history under the supervision of a faculty member.

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No description

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Designed for junior and senior students who wish to pursue an independent reading program with a professor; required for honors program participants. Upper-level writing credit awarded if students prepare and revise an extended essay.

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No description

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For seniors writing an extended essay under faculty supervision. Upper-level writing credit awarded if students prepare and revise an extended essay.

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Experience in an applied setting supervised on site. Approved and overseen by a University instructor.

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No description

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No description

BUILDING: | ROOM:

A forum in which students can present preliminary versions of their theses and get critical feedback from both their student colleagues and the instructor.

BUILDING: RRLIB | ROOM: 362