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HIST 301 India and South Asia to 1700s (3)
TR 1200-0115p Bertz, Ned
CONTENT: This course will introduce students to the history of India and South Asia from the earliest civilizations in the Indus Valley to the fall of the Mughal Empire, a time when many forces—internal and external—were competing for control of India. Material covered in class and in readings will introduce key themes in understanding the histories of various South Asian civilizations and their communities. A further focus will be on how people have interacted across South Asia and encountered groups from and/or outside South Asia.
The course will open with a geographical, historical, social, and cultural overview of South Asia. In the first weeks of the semester, we will study the early civilizations uncovered at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, followed by the rise of Vedic culture, especially through the telling of one of the world’s most popular epics, The Ramayana. The next unit will continue to focus on the changes in Hinduism, but also on the rise of Buddhism and Jainism as political and religious forces. Classical Indian culture as produced under the Guptas will be studied through ancient tales in Sanskrit before we move on to the advent of Islam in the early modern period. The last several weeks of the course will deal with the trajectory of the Mughal Empire, concluding with the struggles involving the Marathas and the British after the fall of Mughals. The course will end with the shadow of Europe drawing over South Asia in the eighteenth century.
For extra credit, there will be an optional Bollywood film series with movies shown in the late afternoon every two-to-three weeks.
REQUIREMENTS: To be announced in class.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Thapar, Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300; Narayan, The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic; Van Buitenen, Tales of Ancient India; Murari, Taj: A Story of Mughal India
HIST 305 History of Southeast Asia (3)
TR 1030-1145a Andaya, Leonard
CONTENT: TBA
REQUIREMENTS: TBA
REQUIRED TEXTS: TBA
HIST 311 History of China (3)
MWF 1030-1120a Davis, Edward
CONTENT: History of China from the Neolithic to 1600. Course will emphasize the development of the Chinese state and institutions, Chinese religion and thought, China’s relations with the people of Central Asia, Chinese social structure and gender issues.
REQUIREMENTS: Mid-term, final, and short papers.
REQUIRED TEXTS: TBA.
HIST 321 History of Japan (3)
MWF 0130-0220p Farris, Wayne
CONTENT: This course focuses on the social and economic history of Japan until 1700. Topics include the development of agriculture and the life of peasants, the rise of trade and urban centers, the birth of various industries such as ceramics, iron, silk, and fishing, family structure and the status of women, social classes both free and unfree, and the role of disease, famine, and war in population change. Every attempt will be made to place premodern Japan in an international context.
REQUIREMENTS: One mid-term and a comprehensive final (all essay). A paper to be decided in consultation with the instructor. There will be several class discussions and participation is an important element in the final grade.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Addis et al, eds., Traditional Japanese Arts and Culture; de Bary et al, Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 1, 2nd ed.; Keene, Anthology of Japanese Literature; Totman, Japan Before Perry
HIST 333 Ancient Rome: The Republic (3)
MWF 0930-1020a Speidel, Michael
CONTENT: The history of Rome unfolding from a tiny village of wolf-warriors, the Etruscan heritage, the peasants fighting for life and land, their aristocracy providing foresight: alliances, roads, strongholds, Etruscans, Samnites. Greeks and Gauls united into a Roman Italy: the war with Hannibal, “world” conquest within 50 years, and its aftermath: wealth and civil wars; Caesar, Cleopatra, Mark Anthony, and the lasting peace brought by Augustus; mankind’s “happiest” time and an epoch of great artistic achievements.
A lecture course, but with class participation. The Romans’ own writings, Caesar, Virgil, Suetonius. Infer historical knowledge from color slides, shown in class.
REQUIREMENTS: Mid-term, quizzes, and final examination.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Caesar, The Civil War; Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul; Sallust, The Jughurtine War; Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars; Virgil, Aeneid
HIST 335 Early Middle Ages 300-900 (3)
TR 0130-0245p Jolly, Karen
CONTENT: The purpose of this class is to introduce you to the formative years in the development of European society and to develop your historical thinking skills through the study of primary source materials. We will examine the diverse elements that combined to make medieval Europe distinctive: Graeco-Roman cultures of the Mediterranean; Judeo-Christian traditions of the ancient Near East; Celtic, Germanic, and Scandinavian cultures in western Europe; Russian, Slavic, and Magyar cultures in eastern Europe; and the influences of Byzantine and Islamic civilizations. Class discussion and writing exercises geared around the primary sources will develop historical empathy and understanding of the past in context, while group presentations and the research paper will enhance information processing and analytical skills.
REQUIREMENTS: In addition to the textbook, students are required to read primary source selections in translation on the web at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook and be prepared to discuss these readings in class. Two topical secondary histories engage students with issues surrounding the study of early medieval Europe. This course is writing intensive: we will use writing to learn the materials through journal and in-class writing exercises and will approach writing as a process in the formal papers.
• 10% In class writing, journal, and paper workshops
• 20% Book Review (3-5 pages)
• 30% Primary Source analysis paper (7-9 pages)
• 40% Research paper (12-15 pages)
REQUIRED TEXTS: Barbara Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages, 2nd ed.; Rosamond McKitterick, ed., The Early Middle Ages; Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe
HIST 345 France in the Old Regime (3)
MWF 0930-1020a Lauzon, Matthew
CONTENT: This course will examine the characteristics that marked the old regime as distinct from the world the French Revolution created. The course, however, will also take seriously Alexis de Toqueville’s famous suggestion that the seeds of European modernity were already being sown in the centuries before the Revolution. The course therefore also will examine the period as one of significant historical changes. Students will discuss major social, cultural, religious, political, and intellectual developments in western Europe from 1500 to 1789. The focus will be primarily on France but the course may occasionally draw comparisons and contrasts with Britain as an example of an alternative example of Old Regime society.
REQUIREMENTS: Attendance; all readings; classroom discussions, one book review (3-5 pp.); one short paper (3-5 pp.); one research paper (8-12 pp.).
REQUIRED TEXTS: Dunn, Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1715; Wolloch, Eighteenth Century Europe: Tradition and Progress, 1715-1789
HIST 348 Modern England (3)
TR 1200-0115p Hoffenberg, Peter
CONTENT: History 348 traces the social, political, cultural and economic development of "Modern Britain" between the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the outbreak of World War One in 1914. We will use historical, literary and cinematic sources to better understand the birth, dynamics and anxieties of the first "modern society" and the various complementary changes in national identity, or "Englishness." Among the specific topics to be considered are the seventeenth-century inheritance of revolution, civil war, and regicide; the growth of political stability between 1688 and 1715; the rise of the gentry as a ruling class; the growth and control of party politics among Whigs, Tories, Labor and others; the roles of religion and the Church of England, since the Reformation; "The Great Transformation" of urbanization, industrialization and the agricultural revolution; key developments in thought, art and literature; England's "damnable" relationships with Scotland and Ireland; economic and political "Reform;" trade unionism and popular Radicalism; and the rise, decline "and strange death" of Liberalism; the problems and promises of 19th-century cities and the world of Edwardian Britain. England was and is not an Island unto itself, so our course will also try to place modern British History in two wider geo-political contexts: Britain's relationship with its vast Empire, which included North America, India,and Southern Africa, and with the European Continent, particularly France and Germany.
REQUIREMENTS: Attendance and participation.
Midterm examination, including an essay on Moll Flanders (100 points).
Final examination, including an essay on The Classic Slum (100 points)
5-pp essay on North and South (50 points)
2-pp essay on one film (25 points)
2-pp essay on Parliamentary sources (25 points)
2-pp essay comparing and contrasting The Seven Years' War (1756-63) and the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) (25 points)
REQUIRED TEXTS: Willcox and Arnstein, The Age of Aristocracy, 1688-1830; Arnstein, Britain Yesterday and Today, 1830 to the Present; Gaskell, North and South; Defoe, Moll Flanders; Roberts, The Classic Slum
HIST 354 Introduction to Islamic History (3)
TR 0900-1015a Daniel, Elton
CONTENT: This course will acquaint the student with the main features of the religion of Islam and the history of the Muslim peoples in the classical period. It will focus in particular on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, the Koran, classical Islamic civilization, and the achievements of the major Muslim empires. The course is being offered with an emphasis on the sources, development, and implementation of Islamic ethical thought, particularly as it pertains to questions of government and politics, war and peace, terrorism, and various human rights issues such as the treatment of minority populations or the status of women in society. The last part of the course will consider in particular the relevance of the classical legal and ethical tradition for Muslims in modern times and their implication for relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.
REQUIREMENTS: Class attendance, readings, mid-term and final examination, essay on topic related to Islamic ethical thought.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Brockopp, Islamic Ethics of Life; Milton-Edwards & Hinchcliffe, The Formation of Islam; Pickthall, Mohammad
HIST 371 U.S Foreign Relations to 1920 (3)
TR 1030-1145a Njoroge, Njoroge
CONTENT: TBA
REQUIREMENTS: TBA
REQUIRED TEXTS: TBA
HIST 373 American Thought and Culture (3)
TR 0900-1015a Rapson, Richard
CONTENT: This description includes both halves of the year-long sequence of History 373-374 (American Studies 343-344), though each course stands on its own and may be taken separately. The courses attempt to define the "climates of opinion" in America at different stages of our past. Consequently a wide range of material is dealt with, the intellectual aim being synthesis. An attempt is made to maximize the possibilities of discussion. Students can expect to attend lectures, hear music, watch movies, participate in several small discussion groups, etc. The first semester (373) moves from European antecedents of colonization to the early years of the 20th Century. The second semester (374) concentrates on the more recent period. Students may take either semester, or they may take both in any sequence. Opportunities are offered for the student to fulfill the requirements of the course in a wide variety of ways. The course carries graduate credit, is limited to 20 students, and requires permission of instructor to enroll.
REQUIREMENTS: Papers, oral presentations, and book reports.
REQUIRED TEXTS: G. Collins, America's Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drugs, Helpmates and Heroines; E.L. Doctorow, Ragtime; R. Nash, From These Beginnings, Vol 1, 7th ed.; A. Schlesinger, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society; R. Rapson, Magical Thinking and the Decline of America
HIST 396B Introduction to the Study of History: Historiography (3)
MWF 0230-0320p Lauzon, Matthew
CONTENT: Hist 396B is an introduction to the study of history as historiography (the history of historical writing), historical theories (philosophy of history), and practical methods (how recent historians approach their subject). It is designed to introduce students to a wide variety of both ideas about history and historians’ approaches. It will also give students practice in the analysis of historical sources and researching and writing historical papers. There will be a combination of lecturing by the instructor and class discussion and independent work by each student.
REQUIREMENTS: 1) Class attendance; all readings; performance in class discussions; two discussion presentations.
2) Two short papers (4-5 pages) each on the readings for one of the weeks.
3) Final paper (8-12 pages) on a specific historical aspect of the course.
Note that all course requirements must be satisfactorily completed in order to pass the course.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Dening, The Death of William Gooch; Pottle, ed., Boswell’s London Journal, 1762-1763; Spence, The Question of Hu; Brundage, Going to the Sources
HIST 396B Introduction to the Study of History: Historiography (3)
W 0300-0530p McNally, Mark
CONTENT: This course will cover the fundamentals of current historiography. It will focus on assumptions, trends, and methodologies favored by contemporary historians in the United States. Students will analyze the process of historical interpretation and the various debates that different interpretations create.
REQUIREMENTS: Weekly oral presentations; four 3-5 page papers; take-home final exam.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Carr, What is History?; Hartman, trans., Hegel: Reason in History, Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed.; Marx, Communist Manifesto; Nietzsche, The Use and Abuse of History, 1st ed.; Said, Orientalism; White, Tropics of Discourse