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African History
History 2301 – African Peoples and Empires in World History
Instructor: Sikainga, Ahmad Second Session
Days/Times: Hybrid, TR, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
A thematic course focusing on African world history, empire building, and commercial and cultural links across the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean worlds before and during the Atlantic slave trade.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Instructors: Sikainga, Ahmad Second
Session Days/Time: TR, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Description
This course will focus on the oft-neglected African dimension of WWII. The course will explore the importance of Africans as soldiers and producers; the effects of WWII on class, race, and gender relations within the continent; and the importance of WWII in provoking crises in colonial empires and transforming the nature of political mobilization across the African continent.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
African American History
History 2080 – African American History to 1877
Instructor: Ryan Fontanilla
Days/Times: WF, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
The study of the African American experience in America from arrival through the era of Reconstruction, focusing on slavery, resistance movements, and African American culture. Students will analyze the intersection of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, social class, and other categories through the lens of African Americans’ lived experiences and how they functioned in Black communities.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
History 2081 – African American History from 1877
Instructor: Hasan Jeffries
Days/Times: TR, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
The study of the African American experience in the United States from the era of Reconstruction through the present.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
History 3083 – Civil Rights and Black Power Movements
Instructor: Hasan Jeffries
Days/Times: TR, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
Examines the origins, evolution, and outcomes of the African American freedom struggle, focusing on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Sometimes this course is offered in a distance-only format.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US, GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
History 3086 Black Women in Slavery and Freedom
Instructor: Maria Hammack
Days/Times: WF, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
Come learn about Black women who shaped the United States! We will learn about their lives and legacies, under slavery and in freedom. We will bring focus to their experiences from the early colonial period to the era of #BlackLivesMatter. Importantly, we will center & visibilize them and the many ways in which they shaped the nation through their resistance, mobility, and many fights. The knowledge we will engage will offer students tools to not only be aware of Black Women’s contributions but also their erasure from the annals of our history. Together we will help challenge their erasure, and in the process of our course we will learn not only how to resituate them Back into our history but also we will learn to #citeBlackwomen.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US, GEN Theme: Migration, Mobility, and Immobility
American History
History 1151 – American History to 1877
Instructor: TBD
Days/Times: TBD
Description
The political, constitutional, social, and economic development of the United States from the colonial period through the era of Reconstruction.
General Education
GEL Historical Study. GEN foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies.
History 1152 – American History since 1877
Instructor: TBD
Days/Times: TBD
Description
The political, constitutional, social and economic development of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the present.
General Education
GEL Historical Study. GEN foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies.
History 2001H - Multiple Americas: US History from Colonialism to Reconstruction
Instructor: Cashin, Joan
Days/Times: TR, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
We will explore the social, economic, cultural, military, diplomatic, and political history of the American people from the Age of Encounter to the eve of the Civil War. We will include the experiences of Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans, and their descendants, in all parts of what is now the United States. We will discuss the lives of famous historical figures, such as presidents, as well as immigrants, slaves, and working-class people, men and women. Students will read secondary sources, such as books and essays, and primary sources, such as documents created by historical figures.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
History 2010 History of American Capitalism
Instructor: Elmore, Bart
Days/Times: TR, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Description
Study of the evolution of "American Capitalism" from pre-capitalist economies of the medieval period to the early 21st century.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 3001 – American Political History to 1877
Instructor: Elmore, Bart
Days/Times: TR, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
The origins and development of American politics from early modern origins and national revolution to the era of Civil War and Reconstruction.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US
History 3014 – Gilded Age to Progressive Era, 1877-1920
Instructor: TBD
Days/Times: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Advanced study of U.S. social, political, cultural, foreign policy history from 1877-1920: Industrialization; immigration; urbanization; populism; Spanish-American War; progressivism; WWI.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US, GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
History 3016 – The Contemporary U.S. Since 1963
Instructor: Clayton Charles Howard
Days/Times: MWF, 11:30 am - 12:25 pm
Description
Examination of postwar America's pivot point, focusing on civil rights; liberal, radical, and conservative politics; sweeping social, cultural, and economic change; and the Vietnam War.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
History 3017 - The Sixties
Instructor: Flamm, Michael
Days/Times: TR, 2:20 pm - 3:40 pm
Description
Examination of postwar America's pivot point, focusing on civil rights; liberal, radical, and conservative politics; sweeping social, cultural, and economic change; and the Vietnam War.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
History 3030 – History of Ohio
Instructor: Coil, William
Days/Times: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Survey of economic, social, political development of the geographic area that became Ohio from Native Americans to present.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
History 3071 - Native American History from Removal to the Present
Instructor: Rivers, Daniel Winunwe
Days/Times: WF, 9:35 am - 10:55 am
Description
Covers major events in American Indian history from 1820s to present, including removal, reservations, cultural adaptation, federal policies, self-determination, activism, and contemporary issues.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US
Ancient Mediterranean History
History 2201 – Ancient Greece and Rome
Instructor: Vanderpuy, Peter
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Comparative historical analysis of ancient Mediterranean civilizations of the Near East, Greece, and Rome from the Bronze Age to Fall of Rome.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Instructor: Anderson, Greg
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Survey of Greek history during the Classical era (480-320 BC).
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 3219 – Historical Jesus
Instructor: Harrill, Bert
Days/Time: TR, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
Jesus Christ is a major religious figure about which there is considerable academic and theological debate. This course examines this debate and thus explores the problem of how historical facts and religious persuasion are related where a religion, such as Christianity, lays claim to historical truth. Since the Enlightenment this has been a matter of considerable intellectual and cultural interest. The basic questions are: Who was Jesus? What can we know about him that will satisfy ordinary standards of historical knowledge? What difference does it make? Attempts to answer these questions have resulted in what is usually called the “quests” for the “historical Jesus.” This course will study those previous quests for the historical Jesus and their analyses of the early Christian Gospels. Students will write a paper analyzing the primary sources for the historical Jesus, using the methods of critical analysis that they have been learning in the course.
Assigned Readings
- E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (Penguin Books, 1996).
- Paula Fredriksen, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Early Christianity (Vintage Books, 2000).
- Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (Oxford University Press, 2001).
- David R. Cartlidge and David L. Dungan, eds., Documents and Images for the Study of the Gospels, 3d edition (Fortress Press, 2015).
- Joan E. Taylor, ed., Jesus and Brian: Exploring the Historical Jesus and his Times via Monty Python’s Life of Brian (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015).
Assignments
Midterm, interpretative essay (6–8 pages), and a final exam.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 3222 - The Roman Empire, 69-337 CE
Instructor: Arnold, Ellen
Days/Time: WF, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
An advanced survey of Rome's imperial history from the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty to the death of Constantine.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
History 3227 Gnostics and Other Early Christian Heresies
Instructor: Brakke, David
Days/Time: Hybrid, W, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Description
“Gnosticism” was the first great Christian “heresy”; indeed, it prompted the creation of the idea of “heresy.” But who were the Gnostics? And what did they teach? Manuscripts discovered in the twentieth century now enable us to read works from the Gnostics themselves. This course will explore the writings and teachings of the Gnostic school of thought and related groups in second- and third-century Christianity. The Gnostics taught that this world is a mistake, created by an evil and ignorant god, and that Jesus has come to rescue people from it. They presented their teachings in an elaborate myth that drew from the Bible and Platonist philosophy. Other groups, like the Valentinians, presented their own variations of the Gnostic myth, and “proto-orthodox” Christians developed their theologies and notions of heresy in response to Gnostic views. We will read such “heretical” works as The Secret Book According to John, The Gospel of Judas, and The Gospel According to Thomas, as well as writings by opponents of the Gnostics, including Irenaeus of Lyons and Origen of Alexandria. Lectures will be presented on Zoom most Fridays live 2:20–3:40 and recorded. You may attend live or view the recording or both. In-person meetings on Wednesday will be devoted to questions about the lectures and discussion of texts.
Required Texts
Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (2nd edition, 2021)
Robert Grant, Irenaeus of Lyons
Assignments
Attendance and participation in in-person meetings, quizzes on Carmen lectures, two short papers (4–6 pages), midterm and final exams.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations
Asian & Islamic History
History 3426 - History of Modern Japan
Instructor: Reed, Christopher Alexander
Days/Time: TR, 2:20 pm - 3:40 pm
Description
Japanese history since 1800: politics, economics, intellectual change, foreign relations. International scientific, technological and cultural interaction, World War II, Japanese contributions to global culture featured.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Required Texts
This class will have one or more required texts.
History 3436 - History of Modern Korea
Instructor: Barnes, Melvin
Days/Time: TR, 3:55pm – 5:15pm
Description
Modern Korean History, with focus on the legacy of colonialism, the Korean War, the impact of the Cold War, divided Korea, the growth of competing national ideologies and economic systems, and the recent military crises.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies
Required Texts
This class will have one or more required texts.
History 3475 - History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Instructor: Ori Yehudai
Days/Time: TR, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
This course follows the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from its inception in the late 19th century to the early 21st century. Course materials include secondary historical sources, a variety of primary documents, short stories, memoirs and films. These materials will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the history of the conflict from multiple perspectives.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Cultures and Ideas, GEN Theme: Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations
Required Texts
This class will have one or more required texts.
Diplomatic/International History
History 3505 – U.S. Diplomacy in the Middle East
Instructor: Hahn, Peter
Days/Time: TR, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
Survey of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East emphasizing the Cold War, Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran, and wars against Iraq.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 3506 - Diplomacy, Congress, and the Imperial Presidency
Instructor: Parrott, Joe
Days/Time: TR, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
This class will explore how the relationship between the branches of government in the United States have evolved over the last 100 years, and how thinking historically can shape contemporary discussions of policy. We'll consider the separation of powers, and how historical precedents have elaborated, challenged, and codified the vague outline defined in the Constitution.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
Environment, Health, Technology, and Science
History 2701 – History of Technology
Instructor: Cahn, Dylan
Second Session
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Survey of the history of technology in global context from ancient times.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Lived Environments
History 2702 – Food in World History
Instructor: Ellen F Arnold
Days/Time: WF, 2:20 pm - 3:40 pm
Description
Survey of the history of food, drink, diet and nutrition in a global context.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Sustainability
History 2702 – Food in World History
Instructor: Cahn, Dylan
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Survey of the history of food, drink, diet and nutrition in a global context.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Sustainability
History 2703 – History of Public Health, Medicine and Disease
Instructor: Christopher Otter
Days/Time: TR, 11:10 am - 12:30 pm
Description
Survey of the history of public health, disease and medicine in a global context.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Health and Well-being
History 2703 – History of Public Health, Medicine and Disease
Instructor: Harris, Jim
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
Survey of the history of public health, disease and medicine in a global context.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Health and Well-being
History 2704 – Water: A Human History
Instructor: Ellen F Arnold
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
History of human use and understandings of water from ancient to modern times, with case studies taken from different geographic locations.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Sustainability
History 2711 - History of Nuclear Energy
Instructor: Eaglin, Jennifer
Days/Time: WF, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
Nuclear energy has been vaunted as a sustainable energy source yet remains a controversial part of the world's energy matrix today. This course will historicize its development from the product of WWII scientific tests to the promise of limitless energy in the 1960s and 1970s, to the infamous catastrophes of Chernobyl and Fukushima, to present day advances and climate change issues.
General Education
GEN Theme: Sustainability
History 3700 – American Environmental History
Instructor: Roth, Randy
Days/Time: WF, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
The history of American ecosystems from the last Ice Age to the present; focuses on historical debates over the causes and consequences of environmental change.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
History 3704 – HIV: From Microbiology to Macrohistory
Instructor: McDow, Dodie & Jesse John Kwiek
Days/Time: TR, 12:45 pm - 2:05 pm
Description
This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of HIV/AIDS, tracing the evolution of the virus at both the molecular level and within in its global historical context. This course is team-taught by a virologist and a historian.
General Education
GEN HIP: Interdisciplinary and Integrated Coll Tch, GEN Theme: Origins and Evolution
History 3708 – Vaccines: A Global History
Instructor: Harris, Jim & Summers, Katie
Days/Time: MTWR, 11:30am – 12:25pm
Description
This course examines the history and biology of vaccines. We explore the discovery and development of vaccines, along with the political and cultural controversies that have surrounded them for centuries. Team-taught course with faculty member in Pharmacy.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN HIP: Interdisciplinary and Integrated Coll Tch, GEN Theme: Health and Well-being
European History
History 1211 – European History II
Instructor: Parker, Geoffrey
Days/Time: Online, 1 synchronous recitation each Monday and 2 asynchronous lectures each week
Description:
Description: What is distinctive about the West? For better or worse Western Civilization and Western values are a dominant force in the world today – and not just in the West but, thanks to Karl Marx and the Internet, also in the rest of the world. Why? That is one of the questions this course seeks to answer. In addition it tries to show How Things Happened. Examples include • When did the West first develop the right to free speech for all citizens later guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution (answer: Athens 2,500 years ago.) What is the origin of the right to “trial by jury” enshrined in its Fifth Amendment (answer: Magna Carta, 1215.) • Why were half of all Western populations in this period under the age of 20? Why did one quarter of all children die before their first birthday? • How could 2,000 Spaniards overthrow the Aztec Empire, with perhaps 25 million subjects, and go on to colonize much of Central America? How could 167 Spaniards overthrow the Inca Empire, with perhaps 8 million subjects, and go on to colonize much of South America?
Assignments
• Watch all materials for the course posted online • Read and discuss all assigned readings; attend and participate in all group discussions • Complete all assigned recitation exercises • one 5-page term paper • one final take-home exam
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 1212 – European History II
Instructor: Limbach, Eric
Second Session
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description:
Political, scientific, and industrial revolutions; nationalism; the two World Wars; the decline of empires; the Cold War.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Instructor: Bond, Elizabeth
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description:
An introductory survey course on the history of Paris from its earliest human settlement to the present day. This course will explore the history of the people and events that have shaped the Paris we know today.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Instructor: Kern, Stephen
Days/Time: TR, 2:20 pm - 3:40 pm
Description:
History of love in philosophy, literature, and art, focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 3247 - Magic and Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe (1450-1750)
Instructor: Goldish, Matt
Days/Time: TR, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Description
Investigation of the history of European witchcraft, focusing on intellectual, religious, and social developments and on the great witchcraft trials of the early modern period.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Theme: Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations
History 3251 - Europe in the Age of Industry and Empire, 1815-1914
Instructor: Harris, Jim
Days/Time: TR, 3:55 – 5:15pm
Description
Europe in the Age of Industry and Empire examines a period in European history when various `Great Powers? sought to cling to the traditions of the Old Regimes, while Europe simultaneously transformed due to revolution, industrialization, and imperialism. Other topics include: liberalism, socialism, Romanticism, modernism, nationalism, and the emergence of mass culture and mass politics.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations
History 3253 – 20th Century Europe to 1950
Instructor: Kern, Stephen
Days/Time: WF, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Description
Description: This course covers one of the most dynamic periods in modern European history from 1900 to 1950 that spans the two world wars. It will concentrate on Modernist culture, World War I, the Russian Revolution, Weimar Germany, the rise of Nazism, and Hitler and the holocaust.
Required Texts /Assigned Readings
Richard Hamilton, Decisions for War, 1914-1917.
Rex Wade, The Russian Revolution, 1917.
Eric Weitz, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy.
Rudolph Binion, Hitler and the Holocaust
Assignments:
Three papers, 5 pages each.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Traditions, Cultures, & Transformations
History 3282 - History of the Soviet Union
Instructor: Hoffmann, David
Days/Time: MW, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Description
This course is a survey of the entire Soviet period, from the 1917 Revolution to the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. It will also cover the post-Soviet period, from 1991 to the present. A central theme of this course is the unfulfilled promise of the Revolution and the genesis of the Stalinist dictatorship. Topics include the Civil War, the New Economic Policy and problems of underdevelopment, collectivization and industrialization, Soviet culture, the delineation of gender roles, the Second World War and its legacy, the Cold War, de-Stalinization, nationality issues, the collapse of Communism, and Russia under Putin’s government.
Assignments
Each week there will be reading assignments from a variety of sources, including eyewitness accounts, memoirs, and novels. There will be an in-class midterm exam, a paper, and an in-class final exam. In addition, there will be short weekly writing assignments on assigned readings.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 3641 - Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (1450-1750): Diversity in Context
Instructor: Bond, Elizabeth
Days/Time: Online, asynchronous
Description
Investigation of the lives and experiences of early modern European women, with special focus on family life, gender, works, education, religious life, and political power.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
History 3642 - Women and Gender in Modern Europe (1750-1950): Diversity in Context
Instructor: Soland, Birgitte
Days/Time: TR, 3:55pm – 5:15pm
Description
An introduction to the history of women and gender in Europe, from approximately 1750 to the 1950s, with a focus on the intersecting categories of race, ethnicity and class. We will explore the ways women have been perceived, defined, and categorized as a gender, and how they have both lived within and rebelled against these societal and cultural norms and restrictions.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
Jewish History
History 2680 - It's the End of the World!: Apocalypticism in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
Instructor: Goldish, Matt
Days/Times: TR, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
This course will explore how the end of the world-generally understood to be preceded by enormous wars and disasters as well as the judgment of people and a reckoning of their deeds-was imagined over two millennia by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The course will cover primary and secondary historical works, as well as fictional bestsellers, about the apocalypse from around the world.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Latin American History
History 3105 – History of Brazil
Instructor: Eaglin, Jennifer
Days/Times: WF, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
History of Brazil during colonial and independence periods with major emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
History 5194 Group Studies, Topic: Frida and Diego
Instructor: Smith, Stephanie
Days/Times: Online, TR, 12:50pm - 2:10pm
Description
This course examines the art, lives, and times of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, two of Mexico’s most famous artists. Through discussion, lectures, readings, and visual analysis we will consider the historical and artistic roots of their radical aesthetics as well as the ideals and struggles that shaped their lives. During their era, Kahlo was overshadowed by her husband Rivera, but in recent decades her fame has eclipsed his. To make sense of this we will address the changing meaning of their art over time, especially in relation to social movements, and gender and sexual identities. By the end of the semester, students will have a strong understanding of these two artists and their work, as well as the historical contexts in which they lived, including the Mexican Revolution, the postrevolutionary era, and recent efforts toward ethnic and gender inclusion.
Note: Graduate students and upper-level undergraduate students may enroll in this course.
Military History
History 2550 – History of War
Instructor: Grimsley, Mark
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
“History of War” is an introduction to the salient concepts and problems involved in the study of military history. Although it examines war from prehistoric times to the present, the course is thematic rather than strictly chronological—less a survey of wars and military developments per se than an examination of the major concepts involved in the study of war. In addition, the course focuses extensively on the warrior codes of various cultures (Greek, Roman, Japanese, Native American, etc.).
Students will achieve an understanding of the causes, conduct, and consequences of war, as well as how various societies—past and present, western and nonwestern—have understood and practiced war. They will also hone their skills at critical writing and analysis, and gain greater insight into the way historians explore the human condition.
The course contends that the martial warrior ethos translates metaphorically into civilian life. As used in the course, this ethos is defined as aggressive, disciplined action taken on behalf of a cause larger than oneself. That cause may take the form of military service, but it may take many other forms, ranging from social justice activism to a sustained effort to improve one’s own life. As a direct encounter with the warrior ethos, students will have the option to undertake a Personal Challenge Assignment (PCA). Or they may select a book review essay assignment as another way to encounter the warrior ethos.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Required Texts / Assigned Readings
(tentative)
- Shannon E. French, The Code of the Warrior: Exploring Warrior Values Past and Present.
- Wayne E. Lee, Waging War: Conflict, Culture, and Innovation in World History.
- Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.
Assignments
- Twice weekly quizzes (15 percent of course grade)
- Surveys, both graded and anonymous (5 percent)
- Participation in Discussion Groups (10 percent)
- Personal Challenge Assignment or Book Review Essay Assignment (10 percent)
- Midterm Examination (25 percent)
- Final Examination (35 percent)
Special Comment
More information about the Personal Challenge Assignment may be found in a 6-minute video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MRgDZH-7bX0
More information about the Book Review Essay Assignment may be found in a 3-minute video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PCCcvS-K36s?si=Cj5PtINzQXHOUBYn
History 2552 - War in World History, 1900-Present (The Experience of War in the 20th Century)
Instructor: Cabanes, Bruno
Days/Time: TR, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
This course is an introduction to new approaches in the history of war. A class about the impact of war on individuals and societies, about war as a human experience. You will get to think about all the wars that you have read about before, but in a different way – looking for themes, patterns, and ideas rather than just learning about when the battles happened and who wrote the peace treaties. We begin in August 1914 with the invasion of Belgium and Northern France. The course ends with the collapse of Yugoslavia and the atrocities of “ethnic cleansing”. We will examine the actors, forms of violence, ideological stakes, and memories of modern war. Special attention will be given to identifying the various problematics common to modern conflicts.
General Education
GEL Historical Study
Required Texts / Assigned Readings
- Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
- Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin
- Henri Alleg, The Question
- Jean Hatzfeld, Machete Season. The Killers in Rwanda Speak
History 3560 – American Military History, 1607-1902
Instructor: Grimsley, Mark
Days/Time: Online, asynchronous
Description
This course describes and analyzes the American military history from the colonial period to the end of the Philippine War. It focuses on the creation of American military institutions, the genesis of policy-making and maintenance of civilian control over that process, the causes, conduct, and consequences of America’s wars during this period, and the influence of American society upon the armed forces as social institutions. It also examines Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831) as a case study in how Americans outside the military forces utilized organized violence.
Students will achieve an understanding of the main developments in American military history, the ways in which these developments have reflected or shaped developments in general American history, and the main interpretations advanced by scholars who have studied this subject. They will also hone their skills at critical writing and analysis, and will gain greater insight into the way historians explore the human condition.
Readings
Allan R. Millett and Peter Maslowski, For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America, Revised and Expanded Edition.
James M. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War.
Stephen B. Oates, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion.
Selected articles, essays, and primary documents.
Assignments
Participation in Discussion Groups (10 percent of course grade)
Surveys, both graded and anonymous (5 percent)
Weekly quizzes (15 percent)
Preliminary Midterm Examination (10 percent)
Midterm Examination (25 percent)
Final Examination (35 percent)
General Education
GEL Historical Study
History 3561 - Citizenship and American Military History: 1902 to the Present
Instructor: Douglas, Sarah Second Session
Days/Time: Online, Asynchronous
Description
This course examines how uniformed service impacted Americans' conception of citizenship from the aftermath of the Spanish-American War through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after the terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland on September 11, 2001.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
History 3570 – World War II
Instructor: Douglas, Sarah
Days/Time: Online, asynchronous
Description
Study of the causes, conduct, and consequences of World War II.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
Instructor: Mansoor, Peter
Days/Time: M, 2:15pm – 5:00pm
Description
One of three Spring prerequisite courses to the World War II Study Program's May term in Europe. Only students accepted into the program during the October registration period may enroll. This class will deepen the contextual knowledge of students about the different national histories and the specific sites they will encounter in May.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
Seminars
History 2800 – Introduction to the Discipline of History
Instructor: Joan Cashin
Days/Time: Online, Synchronous, TR, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Topic: Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation
This is the gateway course for history majors, and it is designed to introduce undergraduates to the historical method, that is, how historians write history. We will learn how to distinguish between primary sources (those created by historical figures) and secondary sources (those created by historians), and how to interpret primary sources in context. We will concentrate on dissent in the Civil War, and the debate among historians on the impact it had on the war's outcome. Students will read chapters in a textbook, two monographs, and documents generated by people who lived through the conflict. They will also write papers on the secondary reading and on different aspects of wartime dissent.
Required Materials
Michael Fellman, Lesley J. Gordon, and Daniel Sutherland, This Terrible War: The Civil War and Its Aftermath, Third Edition (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2015).
History 2800 – Introduction to the Discipline of History
Instructor: Fontanilla, Ryan
Days/Time: WF, 2:20pm – 3:40pm
Description
Investigation of the methods and analytical approaches historians use to understand the past.
History 2800 - Introduction to the Discipline of History
Instructor: McDow, Dodie
Days/Time: TR, 9:35am – 10:55am
Description
Investigation of the methods and analytical approaches historians use to understand the past.
History 2800 - Introduction to the Discipline of History
Instructor: Shaw, Stephanie
Days/Time: TBD
Description
Investigation of the methods and analytical approaches historians use to understand the past.
History 4015 – Seminar in Modern US History
Instructor: Howard, Clay
Days/Time: M, 2:15pm – 5:00pm
Description
Advanced research and writing on selected topics in Modern U.S. History.
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4085 - Seminar in African American History
Instructor: Hammack, Maria
Days/Time: Online, T, 3:55pm – 6:40pm
Topic: The Meanings of Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution.
Description
Do you know that our country will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2025? Are you interested in learning about the American Revolution and the historical Actors who shaped, fought for, and helped deliver freedom at the founding of the nation? This undergraduate seminar will cover this consequential period in US history through the theme of freedom and liberation. We will learn about freedom, how it was experienced firsthand in various geographies, and the many meanings it took for the multitude of individuals and groups who lived during this era. We will interrogate what freedom was, how it was defined, how it was constructed, and how it was claimed and secured by Black, White, and Indigenous actors as well as the legal processes that both, rendered it feasible for some, while simultaneously made it unavailable for others.
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4125 - Seminar in Latin American History
Instructor: Delgado, Jessica
Days/Time: TR, 11:10am – 12:30pm
Topic: Critical Archive Studies in Colonial Latin American and Atlantic World History
Description
Critical Archive Studies: This course is meant to help us develop greater awareness and understanding of how archives are produced, maintained, and interpreted in order to read histories more critically and write them more creatively. The shared reading for this class will focus on recent theoretical work on archives, historical interpretation and philosophy, and “doing” history as a practice and craft.
Latin American and Early Atlantic Historiography: Historians of colonial Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as historians of slavery, race, and religion in the early Atlantic world, have been particularly active in what has come to be called “the archival turn” in historical scholarship. Our reading will focus on critical archive studies written by these scholars. The course will also introduce you to a number of recent areas of expansion within Latin American historiography through presentations and student projects. Your primary source work and writing will also focus on this area of history.
Primary Source Analysis: We will read and analyze published and translated primary source material related to colonial Latin America. (Additional original, unpublished primary sources in Spanish will be available for students able to and interested in reading them.)
Writing: Students will learn the craft of historical writing through a variety of formats and exercises. These include: 1) weekly journal freewrites reflecting on and responding to the week's critical archive readings (see the "course journal" document for more information); 2) drafting and revising a research question and proposal; 3) short primary source analysis papers; 4) annotated bibliography of secondary and primary sources that correspond to the research question and proposal; 5) a final essay related to critical archive studies. (Stay tuned for more information about this!)
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4255/4255E – Seminar in Modern Europe
Instructor: Dragostinova, Theodora
Days/Time: W, 12:45pm – 3:30pm
Topic: Europe on the Move: Nation, Political Violence, and Migration
Description
This seminar will explore migration and mobility as an inextricable part of the history of Modern Europe during the long twentieth century. Students will study migration as a part of state- and nation-building efforts and pay attention to the role of political violence in triggering radical population shifts. We will examine a range of historical experiences—from attempts to control internal migration and mobility to the radicalization of population control during war to the horrors of genocide to the intertwining of mobility and immobility during people’s movement. Some examples will come from immigration controls in post-WWI Western Europe, the dynamics and aftermath of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust, the dilemmas of post-WWII multicultural Europe, and Cold War migration and political exile. Each student will select a topic of their choice to write a final 15-to-20-page paper.
Required Texts:
- Nimisha Barton, Reproductive Citizens: Gender, Immigration, and the State in Modern France, 1880-1945 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2020).
- *E-book. Fethiye Cetin, My Grandmother: An Armenian-Turkish Memoir (Verso, 2012). ISBN-13: 978-1844678679
- Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt, Flight from the Reich: Refugee Jews, 1933-1946 (Norton, 2012). ISBN-13: 978-0393062298
- Wendy Lower, The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed (Mariner, 2022). ISBN-13: 978-0358627937
- Jordanna Bailkin, Unsettled: Refugee Camps and the Making of Multicultural Britain (Oxford University Press, 2018).
- *E-book. Loring Danforth and Riki von Boethen, Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011). ISBN-13: 978-0226135991
- Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (Penguin Books, 1990). ISBN-13: 978-0140127737
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
Instructor: Akin, Yigit
Days/Time: W, 9:45am – 12:30pm
Topic: Modern Turkey: Past & Present
Description
This research seminar focuses on history, politics, society, and culture of modern Turkey. Now more than ever, Turkey’s geopolitical role, its ambitious foreign policy, its complex and ever-shifting internal dynamics, and finally its crisis-ridden relations with the United States, the European Union, and its neighbors in the Middle East are making the country a prime focus of interest for journalists, scholars, and policy makers alike. This research seminar provides a nuanced understanding of the past and present of modern Turkey. It explores the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, the formation of a secular, republican Turkish nation-state, and the country’s dramatic socio-political transformation during the Cold War in response to domestic, regional, and international challenges. We will also critically consider Turkey’s fluctuating relations with the U.S., the meteoric rise of political Islam, and the war against Kurdish separatism.
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4475 – Seminar in Jewish History
Instructor: Yehudai, Ori
Days/Time: T, 2:15pm – 5:00pm
Description
Advanced research and readings on selected topics in Jewish History.
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4525 - Seminar in International History
Topic: Religion and U.S. Foreign Relations
Instructor: Nichols, Christopher McKnight
Days/Time: R, 2:15pm – 5:00pm
Description
Assignments
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4525 – Seminar in International History
Instructor: Parrott, Joseph
Days/Time: M, 11:00am – 1:45pm
Topic: The Global Cold War
Description
The Cold War defined the second half of the 20th century. The unique nature of the conflict – undeclared, transnational, ideological, and potentially apocalyptic – touched all parts of the globe in ways that even the previous world wars had not. It set two of history’s most powerful militaries and economies against each other, inspiring a technologically driven weapons race and splitting much of the world into armed ideological camps whose borders were policed by proxy conflicts. These expansive competitions and the constant fear of nuclear war effectively reshaped the way that nations defined both security and social relations. As the world seems poised once more to retreat into great power conflict, understanding the origins, dynamics, and legacies of the Cold War is more important than ever.
This course will prepare you to explore the history and historiography of the Cold War. It is designed to deepen your understanding of how historians have interpreted the diplomacy, politics, and continuing influence of this era, while preparing you to conduct your own research into a specific topic related to the conflict.
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
History 4625 - Seminar in Women's/Gender History
Instructor: Rivers, Daniel
Days/Time: F, 11:00am – 2:00pm
Topic: LGBT History
Description
Advanced research and readings on selected topics in Women’s/Gender History.
Prerequisites
A grade of C or above in History 2800, and any 3000-level History course; or permission of instructor.
Women's Gender & Sexuality History
History 2620 - Women Changing the World: Histories of Activism and Struggle
Instructor: Soland, Birgitte
Days/Time: WF, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
History of women’s activism in global perspective.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
History 3086 Black Women in Slavery and Freedom
Instructor: Maria Hammack
Days/Times: WF, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
Come learn about Black women who shaped the United States! We will learn about their lives and legacies, under slavery and in freedom. We will bring focus to their experiences from the early colonial period to the era of #BlackLivesMatter. Importantly, we will center & visibilize them and the many ways in which they shaped the nation through their resistance, mobility, and many fights. The knowledge we will engage will offer students tools to not only be aware of Black Women’s contributions but also their erasure from the annals of our history. Together we will help challenge their erasure, and in the process of our course we will learn not only how to resituate them Back into our history but also we will learn to #citeBlackwomen.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Social Diversity in the US, GEN Theme: Migration, Mobility, and Immobility
History 3641 - Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe (1450-1750): Diversity in Context
Instructor: Bond, Elizabeth
Days/Time: Online, asynchronous
Description
Investigation of the lives and experiences of early modern European women, with special focus on family life, gender, works, education, religious life, and political power.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
History 3642 – Women in Modern Europe, from the 18th Century to the Present
Instructor: Soland, Birgitte
Days/Time: TR, 3:55pm – 5:15pm
Description
An introduction to the history of women and gender in Europe, from approximately 1750 to the 1950s, with a focus on the intersecting categories of race, ethnicity and class. We will explore the ways women have been perceived, defined, and categorized as a gender, and how they have both lived within and rebelled against these societal and cultural norms and restrictions.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
World, Global, Transnational History
History 1681 – World History to 1500
Instructor: TBD
Days/Times: TBD
Description
Survey of the human community, with an emphasis on its increasing global integration, from the first European voyages of exploration through the present.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 1682 – World History from 1500 to the Present
Instructor: Limbach, Eric
Days/Time: Online, asynchronous
Description
Survey of the human community, with an emphasis on its increasing global integration, from the first European voyages of exploration through the present.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 2620 - Women Changing the World: Histories of Activism and Struggle
Instructor: Soland, Birgitte
Days/Time: WF, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
History of women’s activism in global perspective.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies, GEN Foundation: Race, Ethnicity & Gender Diversity
Instructor: Roth, Randy
Days/Time: WF, 12:45pm – 2:05pm
Description
Global perspective on major forces that shaped the world since 1914. Provides students with factual knowledge and a critical interpretive framework for responsible global citizenship.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies
History 2650 – The World since 1914
Instructor: Limbach, Eric
Second Session
Days/Time: Online, asynchronous
Description
Global perspective on major forces that shaped the world since 1914. Provides students with factual knowledge and a critical interpretive framework for responsible global citizenship.
General Education
GEL Historical Study, GEL Diversity: Global Studies, GEN Foundation: Historical and Cultural Studies