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Course Descriptions
Thematic Courses and Upper Level Regional Courses
HST. 100: Historical Marxism
Selected consideration of the substance and context of themes in political
economy and historical Prognosis and major literary expressions of the Marxist
tradition, primarily, but not exclusively, in its European forms. Daniel Mulholland
HST. 103: Consumption, Power and Identity
A socioeconomic history of luxury goods and staples from the seventeenth
to the twentieth century. Coffee, tea, sugar, spices, opium, silk, cotton,
potatoes, and rice. National and social identity through commodities. Consumerism
and daily life in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Exports from Asia and the Americas
to Europe and from Europe to Asia and the Americas. Globalization and ecology.
Ina Baghdiantz McCabe
HST. 104: Gender, Travel & Imperialism
Female pirates, prisoners and slaves, missionaries, aristocrats, ambassadors'
wives, and tourists from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The
domestication of empire, the transformation of gender, race, class, and
family in expatriate life, and the construction of new social roles in
exile. Women as "honorary males," cross-dressing, the female gaze, and
views of race and identity in travel writing by women. The role of European
women in producing imperial discourse and in building empire.
Ina Baghdiantz McCabe
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the
course can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
HST. 105: Greece, Rome and China: Ancient Civilizations
of the Mediterranean and East Asia Compared [formerly HST. 119.12]
(Cross-listed as CLS 147)
Exploration of the strong parallels and telling differences between the
ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean—Greece and Rome—and ancient China.
This comparative approach helps us understand the formation and development
of cultural and political legacies that continue to shape the societies
of Europe, America, and East Asia into our times. Steve Hirsch
HST. 106: Cosmopolitanism and Colonialism [formerly
HST. 109.05]
What is cosmopolitanism, and how does it relate to the history of nationalism?
What significance did cosmopolitanism have for individuals and groups in
the colonized world in the modern period? This course offers comparative
and connective study of the transnational resistance movements of the Global
South from the early to mid-20th century, including Pan-Arianism, Pan-African
ism, International Communism and Islamic Universalism. Students will critically
engage with current theoretical debates on cosmopolitanism, decolonization
and the postcolonialnation-state. Kris Manjpara
HST. 108: Decolonization in Asia
Comparative historical study of the processes of decolonization in Asia with
particular reference to the end of the British Raj in South Asia. The independence
and partition of India will be compared to British withdrawal from Palestine,
Iraq, Iran, Burma, and Malaya. Ayesha Jalal
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the
course can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
This course meets the World Civilization Requirement.
This course meets the following culture options:
South and Southeast Asian Culture
HST. 110: Race, Class, and Power in Southern Africa
[formerly HST. 150]
Introduction:
Southern Africa is one of the most diverse, promising, threatened and
troubled areas of the African continent. It is a region dominated by
mineral economies, agriculture and the politics of new nations. The
contemporary map of the region closely reflects British, German and
Portuguese colonial diplomacy. The people of the region reclaimed
political authority between the 1960s and the 1990s, but continue to
wrestle with economic inequality.
This course begins with a brief introduction to the peopling of the
region, and the critical political and economic events of the 19th
century that strongly shaped the region's twentieth century history. We
pay particular attention to events and relationships of the twentieth
and early twenty-first centuries. South Africa, as the regional
powerhouse, receives detailed treatment, but not to the neglect of the
broader region. Race, class, age, ethnicity, gender, configurations of
meaning and health are raised for their roles in shaping the power
landscape. We link the environment to politics and spirituality. We
treat spirit possession, witchcraft and music with the same rigor
generally assumed for discussions of diplomacy and war.
Through scholarly essays, documentary films, feature films, short
stories, life histories, essays, poems and photographs students become
acquainted with Southern African voices, faces, ideas and landscapes. We
read the work of Southern African intellectuals, many of whom were
killed for their resistance to oppression. We read selections from the
diary of Hendrik Witbooi, one of Namibia's distinguished military men.
We read poems and short essays by men and women of Mozambique, Angola,
and South Africa. We read the prison journal of South African Ruth
First, a journalist, scholar and anti-apartheid activist. We read the
collected essays of intellectual/activist and leader of South Africa's
Black People's movement, Steve Biko.
Harry West's Kupilikula uses sorcery as a lens into Mozambican history –
quoting extensively from oral history collection. Marissa Moorman's
Intonations argues that musical compositions from the Angolan capital
city of Luanda shaped the Angolan people's sense of their newly
developing nation. J.D. Omer-Cooper wrote the basic political textbook
for the region. Since Omer-Cooper strongly emphasizes South Africa, we
complement his text with essays on Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique
and Angola from Birmingham and Martin's History of Central Africa. We
complement these texts with the poetry of José Craveirinha, Leroy Vail's
analysis of spirit possession liturgy, and Mamphela Ramphele
conceptualization of equity environments in post-apartheid South Africa.
You will notice that we have to reach deeper to engage Southern African
women. We consistently reflect upon the views of ordinary and elite
Southern Africans and the history of international activism that linked
Southern Africans and people from around the world in struggles for
political representation and civil rights. Jeanne Penvenne
HST. 111: Africa and the Diaspora to the Americas
[formerly HST. 151]
The roots of African origin populations in the Americas. Introduction to
major West African political and social groups and their involvement in
the Atlantic system; exploration of the historical demography of African
Diaspora to the Americas. Themes include the changing nature of slavery
and dependent labor; the development of Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian,
and Afro-Latino cultures; Pan-Africanist history; contemporary bonds among
Africans and people of African origin in the Americas. Jeanne Penvenne
HST. 112: Angola and Mozambique: From Liberation
to Humanitarian Crises [formerly HST. 152]
Southern African settler colonies moved slowly to self-determination. The
transition in Portugal's colonies of Angola and Mozambique was especially
difficult. Both areas experienced a generation of fighting for independence,
and subsequently fractured into intractable insurgencies. This course grounds
a broader study of decolonization, sovereignty, social authority and governance
in a case study of Angola and Mozambique from the 1890s to the early twenty-first
century. Jeanne Penvenne
HST. 115: Revolution in Latin America: Mexico and
Cuba [formerly HST. 160]
Latin America's paradigmatic revolutions in comparative historical perspective.
The colonial legacy; the struggle for independence and its aftermath; economic
expansion and the failure of reform; and the roots, course, and consequences
of revolution, including international involvement and impact. Peter Winn
HST. 116: Revolution in Central & South America
[formerly HST. 161]
A comparative study in historical perspective of the causes, courses, and
consequences of revolution and counterrevolution in twentieth century Central
and South America. Peter Winn
HST. 120: American Military History to 1900
[formerly HST. 179.10]
This course explores the military history of the British-American
colonies and the United States through the end of the nineteenth
century. Through lectures, reading, and discussions, we will discuss
civilian-military relations; the role of culture and social hierarchies
in wartime; the effects of war on the home front; professionalization,
recruitment, and mobilization; imperial ambitions, strategies, and
tactics; technology and logistics; and the commemoration of war. We will
examine the ways in which historians and historical actors have
interpreted this subject. Students will explore both primary and
secondary sources. Benjamin Carp
HST. 122: America and the National Pastime
(Cross-listed as American Studies 88)
From the end of the Civil War to the present, baseball has reflected the
evolution of urbanization, immigration, segregation, the rise of labor,
entrepreneurial capitalism, crime, corruption, and legal precedents that
reached to the Supreme Court. We will examine "The National Pastime" both
inside and outside the lines, how it was played, and the place of this children's
game in the American psyche. Sol Gittleman
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the course
can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
HST. 123: Industrial America and Urban Society: The
Progressive Era to the Great Depression
The nation's transformation: industrial and urban growth after
Reconstruction, public debate over the country's destiny, responses to
inequality, social change, mass culture, and the politics of reform and
renewal. Reed Ueda
HST. 124: Sickness and Health in America [formerly
HST. 94]
Medical and cultural attitudes toward sickness and health in nineteenth-
and twentieth-century America. Attention to the impact of race, class, and
gender on medical beliefs and practice. Topics include epidemics in social
context, the popular health movement, rise of the modern medical profession,
decline of midwifery and rise of obstetrics, women's health and women's
rights, Tuskegee syphilis study, eating disorders. Virginia Drachman
HST. 125: Women and Religion in America: 1900 to
the Present
(Cross-listed as Rel 101)
This seminar examines the significance of women's presence in American religious
history from the 17th century to the present. We will explore
the role of religion in shaping, upholding, resisting and transforming gender
norms in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Drawing upon a range
of primary sources, including poetry, court records, conversion narratives,
autobiographies and novels, as well as on important secondary works in the
field of women's history, we will ask how participants in diverse religious
traditions have understood women's "nature," defined their "roles" in society,
and debated their "calling" to religious leadership. Students will undertake
a semester-long project based on primary-source research in the religious
history of American women. Virginia Drachman
HST. 126: Religion and Politics in American History [formerly
HST. 179.08]
(Cross-listed as CR Rel 42)
"In God we Trust," "One Nation Under God," "God Bless America,": phrases
like these alert us to the on-going influence of religion on American public
life. This course explores the role of religion in shaping American civil
engagement and political activity from the seventeenth century to the present,
aiming to put contemporary events in broader historical context. Key topics
and themes include: the relationship between church and state in the colonial
period; the role of religion in the American Revolution; faith and the founding
fathers; religion and social activism in the antebellum era (especially
anti-slavery and women's rights); religion, race and Civil Rights; Roman
Catholics and American politics from 19th century Nativism to JFK; spirituality
and social protest in the 20th century (labor reform, pacifism; debates
about abortion); the rise of the religious right; religion and American
politics post-9/11; and the 2008 presidential election. Heather Curtis
HST. 128: Civil Rights Movement
This course examines the social, political, economic, and cultural transformations
that impacted America during the modern civil rights era. Peniel Joseph
HST. 129: Black Political Thought in the Twentieth Century
Examines black political thought in the twentieth century. Topics include the
debates over "Negro rights" between W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington; the
New Negro political radicalism of Marcus Garvey and Hubert Harrison; black feminism
from Ida B. Wells to Shirley Chisholm; debates over race and American democracy that
pivoted around civil rights and Black Power leaders such as Martin Luther King and
Malcolm X; black politicians from Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama.
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the course
can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
HST. 132: Religion in Japanese History [formerly
HST. 122]
(Cross-listed as Rel 136)
Traces development of religious ideas and institutions from prehistory to
the present, stressing connections to broad socioeconomic and cultural trends.
Topics include Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism, Christian missions, and new
religions. Gary Leupp
HST. 133: Japanese History through Literature
[formerly HST. 123]
Reading and discussion of primary sources with both historical and literary
interest, including representative samples of chronicles, courtly diaries,
war tales, novels, and kabuki dramas. Gary Leupp
HST. 134: Tokugawa Japan [formerly HST. 124]
This course is an intensive examination of Japan's early modern period (1572-1868),
particularly the period of Tokugawa rule (from 1600). During these centuries,
feudal institutions reached their highest level of development, while an
increasingly sophisticated urban-driven economy worked to undermine feudal
social relations and pave the way for Japan's subsequent transformation
into an advanced capitalistic, industrial power. Course will combine lectures
with class discussion; individual readings and reports; and a substantial
research paper on a topic to be chosen by the student in consultation with
instructor. Gary Leupp
HST. 135: Gender and Sexuality in Japanese History
[formerly HST. 125]
Course description to be posted soon. Gary Leupp
HST. 140: Nationalism and Its Critics in South
Asia [formerly HST. 134]
Course description to be posted soon. Ayesha Jalal
HST. 141: Religion, Law and Misplaced Secularity
in South Asia [formerly HST. 135]
(Cross-listed as Rel 140)
The historical relationship between religion and law in the precolonial,
colonial, and postcolonial periods. A reconceptualization of the separation
of public and private, secular and religious. How Indian self-perceptions
of religiously informed identities were shaped by the challenge of colonial
modernity, and their influence upon anticolonial nationalism and
postcolonial national ideologies. Ayesha Jalal
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the
course can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
This course meets the World Civilization Requirement.
This course meets the following culture options:
South and Southeast Asian Culture
HST. 142: Islam in South Asia [formerly HST.
136]
Social and political conflict and cultural and political accommodation in
the history of South Asian Islam, spanning the precolonial, colonial, and
postcolonial periods. The question of Muslim identity and the politics of
coexistence with members of other religious communities, especially Hindus
and Sikhs. The multiple and shifting affiliations of Muslims as individuals
to the community of Islam, as well as to the linguistic groups, economic
classes, and modern nations. Ayesha Jalal
HST. 144: South Asia and the World
A consideration of the global arenas of South Asian history from the
precolonial to the post-colonial period. We study how textual practices,
economic systems and political action produced linkages and travel patterns
connecting South Asia to the world, c. 1500-present. Orientalism, imperial
economies and diaspora are among the major themes considered. Ayesha Jalal
HST. 148: Rise of the Greeks [formerly HST.
119.01]
(Cross-listed as CLS 142)
Examination of the formation and development of the characteristic Institutions,
practices and values of Greek civilization during the Archaic Period, approximately
800 to 500 B.C., beginning with the emergence of the Greeks from the centuries-long
isolation of the Dark Age and the resumption of contact and commerce with
other peoples of the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire. Exposure
to original sources, including Homer, Hesiod, lyric poetry, Herodotus and
Aristotle, and attention to the fragmentary nature of the evidence for this
period- archaeological, literary and historical- and some useful interpretative
approaches. Topics to include agriculture, colonization, origins of the
polis, tyranny, hoplite, warfare, the social and political evolution of
Sparta and Athens, religions, orality and writing, lyric poetry, presocratic
philosophy, and the origins of historical writing. Steven Hirsch
HST. 149: Greeks and Barbarians
(Cross-listed as Classics 143)
Exploration of the unsettling and stimulating cross-cultural encounters
of Greeks with other peoples of the ancient world, leading both to the Greeks'
discovery of themselves-the formulation of a Greek "cultural identity"-and to
expanding knowledge of the wider world. Attention to contacts and conflicts with
Cretans, Trojans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Romans, with emphasis on the seminal,
two-century-long, encounter of the Greek city-states with the mighty Persian Empire.
Sources include the accounts of Greek poets, historians, explorers, and playwrights,
documents from the Persian Empire, and images of ancient artifacts and sites such
as Athens, Persepolis, and Alexandria. Steve Hirsch
Prerequisites:
Classics 31 or 37
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the course
can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
This course meets the following culture options:
Classical Culture
HST. 150: Ancient Greek and Roman Medicine [formerly
HST. 119.02]
(Cross-listed as CLS 146)
The historical development of ancient Greek and Roman medicine with emphasis
on methodology and sources, as well as the assessment of the influence of
ancient medicine on the development of modern Western clinical medicine.
Topics covered include ancient theory and practices with regard to anatomy,
physiology, surgery, pharmacology, etiology of disease, and medical deontology.
Satisfies the Classics Culture area and the Humanities Distribution requirements.
Joanne Phillips
Prereq: Sophomore Standing
HST. 151: Athens: Marathon to Socrates [formerly
HST. 119.04]
(Cross-listed as CLS 144)
Investigation of Athens in the period of her greatest power, prosperity
and cultural achievement. Consideration of the methods by which Athens acquired
and maintained an empire, the internal workings of the Athenian democracy,
the economy of the Athenian state, the conditions of life for citizens,
women, slaves and foreigners, the intellectual renaissance which made Athens
into "the School of Hellas," and the contribution of outstanding individuals,
among them Themistocles, Cimon, Pericles, Alcibiades and Socrates. Frequent
reference to ancient documents, works of literature in translation, and
images of archaeological sites and objects which serve as the basis for
our knowledge of Athens in fifth century B.C. Satisfies the Social Sciences
Distribution Requirement.
Prereq: CLS 0031/CLS 0037 Steve Hirsch
HST. 152: The Religious and Spiritual Map of Europe,
300-1500 [formerly HST. 113]
(Cross-listed as Rel 113)
The encounter between Christianity and Roman, Celtic, and German Paganism;
resistance to established Christianity among the common people; spread of
Judaism and changing relations between Christians and Jews; coexistence
of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Spain. Focus on cultural history and
development of institutions such as monasticism, a clerical hierarchy, and
rabbinical communities, with attention as well to evolution of spiritual
practices in the three "religions of the book": Judaism, Christianity, and,
for southern Europe, Islam. Steven Marrone
HST. 153: Martin Luther: The Man and his Era (GER68/CR68) [formerly HST. 119.13]
A study of selected political and religious writings of Luther and his
contemporaries to introduce the man and his era, while reflecting their
impact on twentieth-century Christendom. Emphasis on Luther and the
German Reformation. Attention give to Zwingli, Calvin, and the radical
reform movements. Cross-listed with CR 68, HIST 153. Daniel Brown
HST. 154: Health and Healing in Medieval and Early
Modern Europe [formerly HST. 39.08]
How did the Black Death start? Did doctors really use leeches? This course
explores the history of medicine in Western Europe from approximately 1100-1700.
It presents the key intellectual, social, and cultural themes and trends
in pre-modern medicine. Major topics include: (a) the development of university
medicine from its Greek and Arabic roots through the theoretical upheavals
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; (b) medical practice, particularly
the many and diverse types of healers and the relationship between patients
and practitioners; (c) epidemic disease, such as plague and syphilis, and
the early public health measures formed in response; (d) the development
of hospitals and other medical institutions. Overlapping naturalistic, religious,
and magical approaches to disease and healing will be emphasized throughout
the course. Alisha Rankin
HST. 155: Women, Gender, Family 1200-1800 [formerly HST. 181.05]
Social and cultural history of gender and family, from the late
Middle Ages through the Enlightenment. The course covers a range
of topics relating to gender and family life, including Renaissance
ideals of the family; daily life in urban, rural, and courtly households;
the role of marriage in society and the changes brought about by the
Protestant Reformation; childbearing and childhood; gender and the
monarchy; women and education; and the family as a model for the early
modern state. We also consider the social position of individuals
outside of the 'normal' family unit, such as widows, orphans,
monks, and nuns.
Throughout the course we will explore shifting expectations of
women, men, and the family in early modern European society. Alisha Rankin
HST. 156: Science, Magic, and Society 1100-1700
[formerly HST. 114]
Western European intellectual and cultural history from the twelfth-century
Renaissance to the scientific revolution: the development of a rationalist
worldview among intellectuals, the persistence of magic among the lower
classes, and the phenomenon of the witch craze in the seventeenth century.
Steven Marrone
HST. 159: French Revolution [formerly HST. 26]
The French Revolution from the fall of the Old Regime to the rise of
Napoleon. Topics include the intellectual, social and political
landscape of eighteenth century France, the crisis of the Old Regime,
revolutionary politics and culture, radicalization and violence, slave
revolts in Saint-Domingue (Haiti), as well as legacies and historical
interpretations of the revolution. Features a wealth of primary source
readings and a sampling of the imaginative historical inquiry prompted
by the revolution. Elizabeth Foster
HST. 160: France and Africa
Encounters between France and Africa from the eighteenth century to the
present. Topics and themes include slavery, Napoleon in Egypt, French
colonial rule in North and West Africa, African responses to French
rule, competing conceptions of a French "civilizing mission" in Africa,
the role of non-state actors (such as missionaries) in colonial Africa,
decolonization, relations between France and its former African
colonies, and the experience of African immigrants and their descendants
in contemporary France. Some prior knowledge of French or African
history is helpful, but not required. Elizabeth Foster
HST. 162: Economics of the British Industrial Evolution,
1750-1850 [formerly HST. 119.11]
(Cross-listed as Econ 87)
English property rights, the demographic revolution, the agricultural revolution,
the Poor Law, labor market integration, standard of living, domestic and
international capital flows, foreign trade, Empire trade (India, Ireland,
West Indies), and the relative retardation of France and Holland.
Prerequisites: Economics 1 and 2, or 5. Winifred Rothenberg
HST.163: A Special Relationship: Britain and America
Since WWII [formerly HST. 118]
The Anglo-American relationship viewed from the British perspective. From
the GI "invasion" of England in 1942 to present-day mass tourism. Political,
diplomatic and economic issues will be treated, but the course will emphasize
issues of "Americanization" through popular culture and the media.
Howard Malchow
HST. 165: Mongol Empire [formerly HST. 146]
The nomad empires of Eurasia, from the development of mounted nomadism
to its decline in the seventeenth century. The Mongol Empire (founded by
Genghis Khan) and its many successor states that lasted into the modern
period. Political traditions, the relation of nomads to settled peoples,
the legacy of the Mongol Empire in both settled and nomad worlds. Beatrice Manz
HST. 166: History of Afghanistan [formerly HST.
147]
Colloquium on history, society and culture of Afghanistan. Ethnic groups
and lifestyles. History from Alexander the Great to the Taliban, with emphasis
on modern. Formation of the Afghan state in the 18th century, 19th century
imperial politics, Cold War, Soviet Invasion, civil war. Beatrice Manz
HST. 167: Medieval Islamic History [formerly
HST. 64]
Political, social, and intellectual history of the Middle East, 600-1400.
Muhammad and the spread of Islam. The Caliphate and the formation of a distinctive
Islamic culture. The role of Persians and Turks in the Islamic world. Beatrice Manz
HST. 170: Advanced Special Topics: Development in History
This course explores the evolving concept of development and how it can
serve as a means to execute, support, or justify various ideological, state,
and geopolitical programs. Development is a notoriously vague concept. It
can be synonymous with progress or simply social, cultural, or economic
change. "Development" in this context describes an intentional action, not
merely a "natural" process of social or economic evolution. We will not
use the term as social scientists of the last century who sought to define
a universal paradigm of "modernization." Rather, the course will examine
the multiple, changing, and contested meanings of the concept in different
times and places by different historical actors. David Ekbladh
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the course
can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
HST. 170: Jesus' Dangerous Ideas (Spring 2010)
(Cross-listed as CLS 186)
As one scholar observes, any study of Christianity and Roman society,
"whatever its perspective, must still confront the great question: how on earth
did this tiny religious splinter-group survive to become the dominant religion
of the Roman empire? … The traditional Christian answer uses words ascribed to
the Jewish teacher Gamaliel. 'If this enterprise, this movement of theirs,
is of human origin, it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact
come from God, you will not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find
yourselves fighting against God' (Acts 5.38-39)."
Yet, even for those who think
this explains why Christianity survived, there is still a question of how.
This class will focus on early Christian ideas and how these ideas interact
with the classical Greco-Roman intellectual and material contexts within which
they were written. We will compare these emergent, formative Christian texts
such as the Gospels and the letters of Paul with the classical literatures
(drama, history and philosophy) that (in)formed the religious and secular
intellectual koine of the Roman world.
Emphasis will also be placed on situating early Christian texts and their
narrated events within their spatial and historical complexes, as attention
to time and space will amplify our understanding of early Christian experiences
within the Roman Empire. Gregory Crane
HST. 170: The Persian Gulf in the 20th Century (Fall 2010)
This class provides a survey of the socio-economic and political history of four
countries in the Persian Gulf Region of the Middle East. These countries are:
Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Even though all of these countries have
access to oil, they have significant political and social differences. Two of
these countries are still functioning monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Kuwait),
while two are republics (Iran and Iraq). Studying these four countries provides
us with a comparative historical picture about the emergence of monarchies and
republics in the Persian Gulf. Exploring the social, political and economic
historical experiences of these four countries provides a comprehensive
picture of the most societies and states in the Gulf region. Karam Dana
HST. 170: Islam on the Indian Ocean Rim
Survey of best scholarship on Islam in South Asia and along the Indian Ocean rim.
Broad coverage of early modern, colonial, postcolonial and contemporary periods.
Themes include cosmopolitanism in Islamic empires, anti-colonialism, Islamic
universalism and decolonization. Special attention given to comparative study
of politics and culture in the Indus Valley and the Gangetic delta, with focus
on Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Effects of globalization and contemporary policy
implications in the age of "global terror" addressed. Course material integrates
use of digital resources including weekly videolink with
classroom in Lahore.
Ayesha Jalal/Kris Manjapra
HST. 171: Advanced Special Topics, Africa
Course description to be posted soon. TBA
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the course
can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
This course meets the World Civilization Requirement.
This course meets the following culture options:
African and African-American Culture
HST. 172: Advanced Special Topics, Latin America
Course description to be posted soon. Peter Winn
HST. 173: Advanced Special Topics, North America:
Boston's American Revolution
This course deals with the major themes surrounding the Era of the American Revolution in Boston.
Taking advantage of local resources, this course will focus on Boston, which was crucial to the
development of the revolutionary movement, and remains central to historians' understanding of
the period. Students will gain a greater understanding of the political and social changes of
the Revolutionary Era, and the ways in which Americans have remembered this period of history.
Students will also have the opportunity to contribute to public history in this course, by
researching and writing entries for the website "Mapping Revolutionary Boston," an ongoing
project hosted by the Bostonian Society. Benjamin Carp
HST. 174: Advanced Special Topics, East Asia
HST. 175: Calcutta and Dacca: Exploring in South Asian Urban History
[formerly HST. 139]
This interdisciplinary course explores the changing social and cultural geographies of Bengal's
two capital cities, Calcutta and Dacca, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Comparisons with other
metropolises of South Asia, including Bombay, Lahore and Karachi will be made. Themes include the
history of colonial and post-colonial architecture and public works, the shifting relationship
between Hindu and Muslim cultural identity and urban geography, the connections between urban centers
and hinterlands, and the problem of massive population transfers that affected both cities beginning in
1947 due to partition and war. Students will help develop web content about South Asian urban history
for a new website that archives oral history interviews about life
in Calcutta and Dacca from the 1940s onwards. For the main research project, students will have the
opportunity to focus on an Asian metropolis of their choice, in consultation with the instructor.
Kris Manjapra
HST. 175: Contemporary South Asia
Going beyond the simplistic notion of a great civilizational divide, this course
lends historical depth and comparative context to the currently vexed relationship
between Islam and the West. It puts both categories 'Islam' and 'the West' under the
spotlight of searching analysis. After providing some essential background, the course
concentrates on the colonial and post-colonial encounter between Muslim and Western
societies and polities.
It does so with particular but not exclusive reference to the South Asian subcontinent.
Organized along both historical and thematic lines, the course studies both the domains
of culture and politics, thought and practice, in their interaction in order to elucidate
the aspects of dialogue, tension and confrontation between the worlds of Islam and the West.
Ayesha Jalal
HST. 175: South Asian Urban History
Course explores South Asian urbanization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
up to the present. Study of Calcutta, Dacca, Bombay and Lahore. Themes include the
history of colonial and postcolonial architecture and public works, shifting relationships
between Hindu and Muslim communities in urban contexts, connections between urban
centers and hinterlands, port cities and trade, poverty and privilege, the new middle
classes, and problems of mass population migrations because of partitions and internal
displacement. Literary and cultural texts also used to explore the cultural meaning of
the South Asian city. Kris Manjapra
HST. 176: Vienna: A Biography
(Cross-listed as GER 76)
A "biography" of Vienna through the texts the city has produced/inspired;
the changing (multi)cultural role Vienna has played and continues to play in
the heart of Europe. The emphasis is on literary texts, but in conjunction with
art, architecture, and music, as well as their modes of consumption.
No prerequisites. In English. Cross-listed as GER 76. Christiane Romero
HST. 176: History of Madrid
Addresses the major political and cultural changes in Madrid from the
early modern period to the present. From a tiny village, Madrid became
the capital of the vast Spanish Monarchy in the later sixteenth century.
While remaining the seat of Spanish political power over the centuries,
Madrid was also the site of dramatic uprisings and battles (the Dos de
Mayo in 1808 and the Spanish Civil War) and great cultural innovation
(costumbrismo, the novels of Galdós, the Generation of '27, the films
of Pedro Almódovar). The class will combine broad coverage of Madrid's
history in relation to Spain's national and imperial history with in-depth
exploration of particular topics and themes, including displays of royal
power, the city at war, the avant garde, and everyday life under
dictatorship and democracy. Christopher Schmidt-Nowara
HST. 177: History of Iraq
This course will provide a historical overview of Iraq. The course will
examine the 20th century in details. We will explore the demography and
division of the provinces of Iraq, the colonial presence in Iraq and its
impact on society, the emergence of the Kingdom of Iraq, the emergence
of the republic, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's relationship with its
neighbors, Gulf War I, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Karam Dana
HST. 177: The Maghreb since 1945
This course will examine the history of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia
and Western Sahara since the end of World War II in 1945. It will
consider how colonial rule and anti-colonial nationalism shaped
post-colonial states and regimes; the character of social and economic
development since independence; the role of minorities and especially
the various Berber populations; the place of Islam; the impact of
Islamist movements; foreign policies, relations and diasporas; the
evolution of the state-society relationship and the experience of
economic and political reform. Hugh Roberts
HST. 178: Colloquium on International Research
[formerly HST. 192]
(Cross-listed as INTR 91)
This half-credit course offered on a pass/fail basis encourages
undergraduates to approach their study abroad or other international
programs as opportunities to conduct quality research that might later
form the basis of a senior project, research seminar paper or senior
thesis. We recall and build upon the basic analytical and research
skills introduced through the college writing requirement and the
introductory / foundation courses in the various disciplines that comprise
the International Relations Program. International research poses specific
practical, ethical, and cultural challenges. We raise those issues as part
of the research process from an initial exploration of a project to the
completion of a research précis. SPRING 2012, WEDNESDAYS 9:30 - 10:20,
Eaton 206 Jeanne Penvenne
HST. 180: Independent Study, World/Transregional
Course description to be posted soon. TBA (Steven Marrone for Fall 2010)
This course meets the following distribution requirements:
Please note: If more than one distribution area is listed, the course
can be used to satisfy ONE area only.
Humanities
Social Sciences
This course meets the following culture options:
African and African-American Culture
HST. 190: The Global 1930s
The 1930s were a tumultuous period that saw the collapse of world order
and the rise of a set of unsettling regimes and ideologies. The course
will cultivate student research on how the chronic, worldwide economic
Depression impacted political, social, and cultural life. We will explore
how new views reshaped assumptions about the individual and his or her
role in society and how old ideologies were demolished or were fundamentally
refashioned to contend with new realities. Many assumptions about the role
of the state in everyday life, basic economic questions, and what constituted
prosperity and individual well-being were reconsidered in manners that still
shape discussion today. Even the way critical issues were discussed in the
public at large were refashioned by revolutionary technologies such as radio
and novel ways people interacted with it. The United States serves as one point
of entry (but not the sole) for the exploration of the nature of an era of
global crisis and conflict. The primary goal of the course is for students
to produce a detailed research project on a topic related to the period.
First we will look at how historians frame international issues. Second
we will lay out research programs to answer a historical question. Third,
we will write up, critique, revise, and present our research projects.
As historians do, we will present our work in various forms: both a written
paper and an oral presentation of your research and conclusions.
David Ekbladh
HST. 190: Research Seminar: Travel Writing (Spring 2011)
This research seminar examines the literary roots of historiography.
Travel accounts and their major influence in shaping historiography,
from Marco Polo, to colonial reports, to travelogues and journalism today.
The focus is on how cross-cultural encounters and exchanges shaped
historiography, revolutionary writing and political philosophy in Europe
and how narrative style and description still shapes historical text.
Travel descriptions of Europe, the New World, Persia, India and China
and Africa, some integrated into later historical texts are used as primary
sources. Sources include text, early maps, photographs and documentary
film are analyzed. Several short oral and written papers. Sources are
analyzed for views of the "other", views of the world, post-colonial
issues of representation, Orientalist discourse, expressions of racism,
sexism, imperialism and colonialism.
Ina Baghdiantz McCabe
HST. 190: Research Seminar in American History:
Pacific Coast America: Global Migration, 1850-2000
Examines areas in the Pacific coast states that received international migration from Europe,
Latin America, Asia, and other worldwide regions, as well as migration from eastern regions
of the United States. Research on the settlement process and activities of these migrants,
and their impact on west coast life, communities, and institutions. Reed Ueda
HST. 191: Research Seminar, Africa
Course description to be posted soon. Jeanne Penvenne
HST. 191: Research Seminar, Latin America
Course description to be posted soon. Peter Winn
HST. 192: Brazil and Argentina
(Fall 2011)
A research seminar on Argentina and Brazil that surveys their history
and historiography from the colonial era to the present day. Colonialism
and imperialism, race and ethnicity, export economies and
industrialization, democracy and dictatorship, reform and reaction are
among the themes that will be explored, as will gender, class and
culture. Most of the seminar will focus on student research papers
and will culminate in the presentation of student research projects to
the class. A reading knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is strongly
recommended. Instructor's permission required. Peter Winn
HST. 193: Research Seminar, North America:
Cities in Revolution: The Urban Experience of the American Revolution
[formerly HST. 187] (Fall 2009)
This research seminar aims to explore the urban experience of the American Revolution.
The cities were particularly diverse and cosmopolitan places with populations that
crossed political, racial, ethnoreligious, gender, and class lines.
This class will explore revolutionary mobilization (and its weaker counterpart,
Loyalist countermobilization) in the legislative halls, streets, wharves,
taverns, churches, and households of the cities. We will examine politics,
culture, ideas, and social and economic changes in the cities during the
Revolutionary period the Revolution against Great Britain and the social
upheaval that accompanied it. Benjamin Carp
HST 193: Massachusetts and the American Revolution
This course aims to explore major themes of the American Revolution. Taking
advantage of local archives, this course will focus particularly on Massachusetts
and Boston, which were crucial to the development of the revolutionary movement,
and remain central to historians' understanding of the period. We will examine
politics, culture, ideas, and social and economic changes in Massachusetts during
the Revolutionary period--the Revolution against Great Britain and the social
upheaval that accompanied it. Students will develop research methods, using primary
and secondary sources, to write and present a full-length research paper.
They will also exchange feedback with fellow students. Benjamin Carp
HST. 193: Black Panther Party
This course examines the history, legacy, and controversy surrounding
the Black Panther Party (1966-1982). The BPP represents arguably the
most potent symbol of 1960s era militancy. This course examines the
group's innovative, successful, and at times deeply flawed efforts to
transform American democracy at the local, national, and international
level. Peniel Joseph
HST. 193: Courtship, Dating, and
Modern Love
This course explores the search for love and sex. It begins in the
early 20th century when Victorian values defined the rules of courtship,
examines the rise and evolution of dating throughout the century and
explores contemporary social and sexual behavior in historical context.
Research projects will be based on documents in the Tufts archives.
TBA
HST. 194: Research Seminar, East Asia
[formerly HST. 187]
Course description to be posted soon. Ayesha Jalal, Kris Manjapra
HST. 195: Comparative Anti-Colonialism
[formerly HST. 183] (Fall 2009)
This course offers a comparative study of "anti-colonialism", or the politics and
ideologies aimed at ending European colonial rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Our study will span the decades from the 1850s to the 1970s, as we compare varieties of
anti-colonial action in colonial India, the Dutch East Indies (especially Indonesia),
Vietnam and Algeria. Special attention will be given to the role of social class in
defining strategies of resistance, the tension between radicalism versus reformism,
the history of European imperial competition, counterinsurgency, and the many coalitions
that developed between colonial politicians and European anti-colonial activists.
A number of small-group projects during the semester will culminate in the research
paper at the end of the course. Kris Manjapra
Paris, 1919, and the Treaty of Versailles
A research seminar that will examine the great conference that
ended the First World War. The chief personalities and their
political contexts, ambitions and mentalities. How the conference
did its work; its procedures, staffs and experts. How events “on the ground”
impacted the negotiations. What the conference, the treaties that followed,
and the long historiography about them, tell us about the field of diplomatic
history and the discipline of International Relations. Howard Malchow
HST. 196: Research Seminar, Europe:
World War One and its Legacy (Fall 2009)
The Great War of 1914-1918 brought the "long nineteenth century" (1789-1914)
to a close and gave rise to new orders, new conflicts, and new ideas that
re-shaped Europe and the wider world in the twentieth century. In this research
seminar, students will use a variety of primary and secondary sources to
study the origins, the experience, and the aftermath of this unprecedented
conflict. The course explores testimony and scholarship dealing with a variety
of fronts, including the Western Front, the Eastern Front, the homefronts,
and Europe's colonial empires. The course will also examine the legacies
of the war, including the effects of violence on society and culture, popular
and official memory of the conflict, as well as the peace settlement and
the tensions it provoked in Europe and its colonies. TBA
HST. 196: Research Seminar, Europe:
Renaissance and Reformation Europe (Spring 2012)
This seminar will teach students to write a substantial research paper on a
historical topic of their choosing related to the European Renaissance and
Reformation. The first weeks of the seminar will survey a variety of approaches
and historiograhies involved in studying Renaissance and Reformation history:
intellectual history, social history, political and economic history, religious
history, the history of women and gender, the history of science and medicine,
and the history of art. We will also discuss ways to find primary and secondary
sources and how to develop a research question; we will also visit Special
Collections at Tufts and Houghton Library at Harvard. Students will then choose
a topic and spend the rest of the semester researching, writing, and discussing
their papers. Alisha Rankin
HST. 196: Misogyny and Patriarchy in Europe, 1100-1700
Though misogyny and patriarchy have characterized European
society for most of its history, it would appear that both
intensified in the period just before the rise of the modern
nation-state. This seminar will investigate that hypothesis,
with an eye to determining its validity and discovering what
such a phenomenon might have meant in the real lives of the
European people Steven Marrone
HST. 197: Research Seminar, Middle East/Central Asia:
Religion and Law in Islamic History [formerly HST. 184]
We will examine issues concerning religion, law and the state: sources
of religious and legal authority, the development of a recognized
religious class, the separation of religious and state power, Islamic
mysticism (Sufism) the legal system and its impact on society, women and
family law, the effect of modernization on religious institutions. Possible paper topics range from studies of individual figures or Sufi
orders to religious uprisings against colonial rule, or developments in
Islamizing states such as the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Beatrice Manz
HIST 212: Graduate Colloquium on Cultures of Violence in the
West
This course will critically examine a number of major themes and
disputes in Western history, including crowd action and rituals of
misrule; wartime violence, atrocity, and "total war"; legal regimes,
violent crime, and criminal punishment; domestic violence and slavery;
and the intersection of violence, empire, and colonization. The first
part of the course will introduce students to major works in the field;
the second part of the course will focus on early America as a case
study; in the third part of the course, students will present readings
closer to their own areas of study and link them to the broader themes
of global violence and culture. Students will survey a number of
methodological and theoretical approaches, interpret the historiography
of this subject, and master the practices of critical reading,
evaluation, and inquiry. Students will work on synthesizing historical
arguments, both verbally and in writing.
HST 212: World War I (War and Society in Historical Perspective)
World War I and its settlement shaped the modern Middle East. The end of the
Ottoman Empire and the emergence of successor states in search of internal
ideology and regional influence have characterized the region to this day.
This course addresses both the Middle East and the broader topic of struggle
and survival during cataclysmic events such as a world war. It is a research-based
class in which students will learn how to better research conflict and how to
develop a thematic approach to the study of conflict given the many perspectives
of those affected by it. The course will also discuss the ways in which a conflict
can transform a region. Students are expected to write a long paper
(20-25 double-spaced pages) on one example of struggle and survival.
Leila Fawaz
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