Department of History

The course is an advanced study of selected topics designed for small groups of qualified students to work on subjects of mutual interest which may not be offered regularly. These courses appear in the course schedule, and will be more fully described in information distributed to academic advisors.

Independent reading and study on a topic to be selected under the direction of an instructor. Conferences and papers as appropriate.

Analysis of the development of historical theories, principles and methods and their application to historical research and writing. Required of all graduate students in history.

This course offers an introduction to the principal writings and interpretations of American history from the period of European colonization of America to the beginning of the American Revolution. Readings and discussions focus on the development of American cultures and identities and on the formation of American social, political, and economic life.

This course introduces the principal interpretations of the American Revolution era from the mid-18th century to the 1787 ratification of the federal constitution. Readings and discussions focus on themes including Britain's relations with the colonies, the independence movement, women, African Americans, Native Americans as well as historical memory of the Revolution.

An advanced course designed to familiarize students with the principal historiographical problems besetting the field of studies of the American Civil War and Reconstruction.

This course examines the history of immigration to the U.S., focusing particularly on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It critiques the "melting pot" metaphor through key themes, including transnationalism; the influences of class, race, gender, and nationality; working class and race relations; formal and informal economies; and popular and consumer culture.

This course explores the history of food and drink in the U.S. and the world as a way to examine the cultural, social, and political meanings about and consequences of producing and consuming food. This course will explore an array of topics including food as an essential element of identities and power relations, commodity chains, eating trends, and global security.

This course is designed to familiarize students with the principal historiographical problems besetting the field of U.S. military history from the pre-Revolutionary period to the present day.

This course examines the historiography of the Long Civil Rights Movement, the struggle for civil rights stretching from the nineteenth century to the present day and encompassing multiple movements that sought to achieve the basic rights of citizenship for a number of different groups.

This course provides a historiographical survey of U.S. labor and working class history, focusing on the period after the Civil War. Work as a reflection of everyday life, class formation and class consciousness and the development of unions and other labor organizations are examined through a variety of different methodologies and in the contexts of citizenship and civil rights.

This course explores the Atlantic World as a place, a process, and a new field of historical inquiry. It examines the global processes of imperial, economic, and demographic expansion that drew British North America into transnational networks that spanned the Atlantic Ocean and brought European, African, and American inhabitants together.

The course explores the trans-Atlantic slave trade from its beginnings in the 15th century to its suppression in the 19th century. It examines the historical literature on Africa, the Atlantic slave trade and the New World to provide students with a general orientation to the broad context of the Atlantic slave trade.

This course examines diverse interpretations of the origins of the 1959 Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro, its national and international repercussions, and relevant global contexts. Cuba's colonial status as a sugar plantation society based on African slave labor, the Cuban independence movement, the U.S. war with Spain, U.S.-Cuban relations, and the Cuban Revolution and its Cold War context are considered.

This course examines the historiography of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Key themes include the slow, uneven and often unsuccessful integration of the region into centralizing states in Mexico and the United States; the changing nature of migration and commerce across the international boundary; and the importance of violence and social conflict in shaping the region.

From a world-historical perspective and moving from a broad focus on continental change to national contexts, this seminar analyzes two core problems in Latin America's history: political tensions (conceptualized as authoritarianism versus democracy) and economic change (underdevelopment versus development).

The interaction of Spain and its overseas territories is the overarching theme of this seminar, which traces the rise of today's Hispanic world from its emergence in the Iberian peninsula in the 15th century, through the 19th century, when the Spanish Monarchy lost its American and Asian realms. Comparisons with other contemporary world empires will be considered.

This course traces the roots of current disorder in Mexico by analyzing the 1910 revolution, subsequent authoritarian rule, and the democratization process in the context of social forces that enabled the revolution and then brought it to a close in 2000. Themes include state formation, rule of law, democratization, economic development, U.S.-Mexico relations, and violence.

This course focuses on the social and cultural history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. It explores broad themes of social conflict, class divisions, race and racism, and gender dynamics presented in recent historiography . Topics include politics, culture, leisure, entertainment, arts, economy, and the impact of the Empire on Britain.

This course explores British imperialism and colonialism in the early modern and modern periods, from the Caribbean to Australia with emphasis on the "second British empire" of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Key themes will include: webs of power and communication, labor, gender, race, and colony/metropole relations.

Seminar.

This seminar delves into literary and archaeological sources to examine the development of ancient Greece in the archaic, classical and Hellenistic periods. It traces the development of Greece's vibrant culture, the struggles between Athens and Sparta, and the subsequent alliances forced by Phillip II and Alexander the Great.

Using historical texts and archaeological remains as sources, this course considers Ancient Rome from the city's mythological foundation stories to its decline in late Antiquity. It will study Roman history and historiography exploring topics including the economy, the military, women's roles, religion, art and architecture in the Republic and the Principate.

This seminar focuses on the development of Greco-Roman Palestine, from its encounter with Hellenism to its conquest by Rome, and ultimately to its transformation into the Christian Holy Land under the patronage of Constantine and Helen.

Research in Soviet archives in the past decade has enriched and enlarged the study of Stalin's era (1924-1953). This reading seminar samples new literature on traditional topics, such as Stalin's rise to power, methods of rule, and foreign policies, as well as scholarship in newly emerging fields. These areas include social history, gender and the family, cinema and popular culture, nationalities, patron-client relations, and the history of science.

The seminar explores recent maritime historiography and demonstrates how maritime history presents unique understandings of human history and also works within or redefines broader historical constructs. Students will analyze sources related to specific topics of maritime history.

This course examines the complex ways in which the French viewed the Atlantic Ocean and other bodies of water and the opportunities water travel provided them from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Emphasis is placed on the Atlantic as a zone of interaction and on the French global trading networks and the development of overseas empires.

This course examines the religious, political and civil strife as well as the ramifications of social change in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. Emphasis will be on religiosity and how early modern peoples understood and experienced religious life and how the "reformations" altered gender relations, sexual dynamics, everyday life, and intellectual thought in Western Europe.

This course introduces students to the interpretive methodologies of questions of "Enlightenment" and the French Revolution that drive much of the historiography in European intellectual history today.

Seminar.

This class examines how coastal societies around the North Atlantic have developed their use of fish stocks and other marine resources since the late medieval period and analyzes how and why over-fishing of nearly all major species took place and how international agreements sought to address the issue of sustainable, biological oceanic resources.

Students work to gain field experience with professionals in such areas as museum management, archives administration, historical editing, historical preservation, electronic records management, archaeology, or oral history. Students are supervised by graduate faculty members who assign academic reading and written work to contextualize and enhance the field experience. Individually arranged. Minimum of 120 hours.

This course examines the intersections of politics and economy with culture and society in Europe from 1880 to 1914 with an emphasis on continental trends. It explores political ideologies relating to nationhood, race, ethnicity, class, and gender and their articulation in the arts, cultural production, technological innovation, and intellectual development at the turn of the century.

This course examines the complex history of the Holocaust, beginning with the rise of anti-Semitism in the 1930s. It will explore issues of resistance and collaboration as well as ambivalence. It will also examine aspects of postwar Holocaust denial and the memory of the Holocaust as well as its representation in the historiography to the present.

This advanced seminar integrates the skills needed to pass the M.A. exam in history. Exercises include designing examination reading lists, learning the historiography of the exam fields, preparing for orals, and writing and evaluating a practice exam. This course is not open to students pursuing the thesis option.

This course prepares students transitioning from one degree option--examinations, portfolio, or thesis--to another.

This advanced seminar integrates the skills needed to construct the Portfolio Option for the M.A. in history. Exercises include conducting research and writing for a research paper, learning the historiography of a single examination field, preparing teaching materials, working on an applied history project, and preparing for the oral defense. This course is not open to students pursuing the thesis or examination option.

Through the work of historians around the world, this course examines the nature of events in the 1960s. It explores global commonalities and local particularities, focusing on the simultaneous and interrelated phenomena of anti-colonial struggle, youth activism, and culture of dissent. It also looks at the countervailing pressures and groups that emerged in opposition.

The course is an advanced study of selected topics designed for small groups of qualified students to work on subjects of mutual interest which may not be offered regularly.

Individually arranged with appropriate professor and with permission of the graduate program director.

Individually arranged with appropriate professor and with the permission of the graduate program director.

3 credits.

3-9 credits.

This reading seminar will focus on the changes of the Chinese society since the beginning of the 20th century. It will examine the pivotal historical events that led to the Chinese revolution, which put Mao's Communist regime in power and has changed Chinese society ever since. While studying the history chronologically, students will identify issues and factors that affect the Chinese political system and society, and examine the legacies of Mao's revolution from social and individual perspectives. The course will also focus on political formation and transformation of the government, social structure and upheavals, economic reforms, and foreign policies. (cross listed with IS 718 and IS 818)

The advanced historical study of selected topics in international studies.

This course is a pass/fail course for master's students in their final semester. It may be taken to fulfill the registration requirement necessary for graduation. All master's students are required to be registered for at least one graduate credit hour in the semester of their graduation.

This course is a pass/fail course doctoral students may take to maintain active status after successfully passing the candidacy examination. All doctoral students are required to be registered for at least one graduate credit hour every semester until their graduation.