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131-132-133. History of Western Civilization I, II, III. PQ: Courses
must be taken in sequence. This course sequence fulfills the Common Core
requirement in civilizational studies. The purpose of this course is
threefold: (1) to introduce students to the principles of historical thought,
(2) to acquaint them with some of the more important epochs in the development
of Western civilization since the sixth century B.C., and (3) to assist them in
discovering connections between the various epochs. The purpose of the course
is not to present a general survey of Western history. Instruction consists of
intensive investigation of a selection of original documents bearing on a
number of separate topics, usually two or three each quarter, occasionally
supplemented by the work of a modern historian. The treatment of the various
topics varies from section to section. The sequence is currently offered twice
a year: in the autumn-winter-spring quarter sequence and in the summer quarter
(three quarters in one). Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer.
135-136-137. America in Western Civilization I, II, III. This course
sequence fulfills the Common Core requirement in civilizational studies.
This course sequence uses the American historical experience, set within
the context of Western civilization, to (1) introduce students to the
principles of historical thought, (2) probe the ways political and social
theory emerge within specific historical contexts, and (3) explore some of the
major issues and trends in American historical development. The course is not a
general survey of American history. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
135. The first quarter examines the establishment of the new
American society in the colonial and early national periods, focusing on the
experience of social change and cultural interaction. Subunits examine the
basic order of early colonial society; the social, political, and intellectual
forces for a rethinking of that order; and the experiences of Revolution and of
making a new polity.
136. The second quarter focuses on the creation of the American nation in
the nineteenth century. Subunits focus on the impact of economic individualism
on the discourse on democracy and community; on pressures to expand the
definition of nationhood to include racial minorities, immigrants, and women;
on the crisis over slavery and sectionalism; and on class tensions and the
polity.
137. The third quarter takes the society and nation thus created and
focuses on the transformations produced by immigration, industrial
reorganization, and the expansion of state power. Subunits focus on the
definitions of Americanism and social order in a multicultural society;
Taylorism and social engineering; culture in the shadow of war; the politics of
race, ethnicity, and gender; and the rise of new social movements.
151-152-153. Introduction to the Civilizations of East Asia I, II, III (=EALC
108-109-110, SocSci 235-236-237). PQ: Must be taken in sequence.
This is a three-quarter sequence on the civilizations of China, Japan, and
Korea, with emphasis on major transformation in these cultures and societies
from the Middle Ages to the present. This year's sequence focuses on Japan from
1600 to the present, China from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and
Korea from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. P. Duara, Autumn; H.
Harootunian, Winter; Staff, Spring.
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186. American Constitutional History (=LL/Soc 223). This course is a
one-quarter introduction to American constitutional history from 1787 to the
present, with emphasis on the period before 1937. It explores the relationship
between constitutional law and social change through a close, contextual
analysis of some of the primary Supreme Court opinions of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. Topics explored include the establishment of judicial
review, the relationship between constitutional law and a market economy, the
problem of federalism, the constitutional underpinnings of American political
thought, and the emergence of civil liberties and civil rights as the dominant
constitutional motif of the late twentieth century. W. Novak.
Spring.
187. The American South to 1860. This course explores social, political,
ideological, and economic consequences of the rise of a slaveholding planter
class in the southern United States. Readings are drawn largely from primary
sources in order to illuminate changing relationships among planters, yeoman
farmers, merchants, Indians, slaves, and ex-slaves, giving priority to
developments between 1750 and 1860. Discussion and analysis of the sources is
grounded in scholarship on such issues as the genesis of southern nationalism;
power, authority, and gender in slave society; the hemispheric distinctiveness
of the Old South; antebellum economic life; and the crystallization of
proslavery thought. J. Saville. Autumn.
188. U.S. Culture and Society since World War II. This course examines
American society since World War II: the domestic cold war and the cultural
ramifications of American "hot wars"; the cultural politics of gender, race,
class, and generation; the postwar economy in an international context; workers
and the labor movement; and suburbanization and urban change. G. Chauncey.
Winter.
196. Culture Wars. In recent decades, the entry of new thoughtways into the
humanities and social sciences have occasioned sharp conflict, both within
academia and between academia and the outside world. These have centered on
issues of neutrality and advocacy, truth and objectivity, determinacy and
indeterminacy of meaning, race and gender, "affirmative action,"
"multiculturalism," and related questions. In this course, we explore both the
substantive intellectual disagreements and the conflict as a social phenomenon
in its own right. Reading and writing assignments are heavy; only students who
are substantially engaged with or curious about the questions discussed should
register for this course. P. Novick. Spring.
197. Junior Colloquium. PQ: Priority given to students needing Hist 197
to meet history concentration requirements. The purpose of the junior
colloquia is to introduce students to historical practice, how historians have
conceived the past as an object of study, and the various methods they have
employed to reconstruct it. This is accomplished principally by reading and
writing on exemplary historical texts, narratives, and works dealing with the
question of history and discussing the different issues and approaches that
have guided historians in the effort to grasp a moment or event in the past.
The colloquia are intended to show students how historians make history, not
how to do research on their B.A. essay, which is the purpose of the senior
seminar. Staff. Winter, Spring.
199. B.A. Essay Seminar. PQ: Required of students writing history B.A.
essays. This seminar meets weekly and provides students with a forum within
which research problems are addressed, conceptual frameworks are refined, and
drafts of the B.A. essay are formally presented and critiqued. Staff.
Autumn, Winter.
201. Rethinking African Economic History. This course reconsiders some of
the arguments in the instructor's 1987 book African Economic History in
the light of competing or complementary works published since, developments on
the ground in both tropical and southern Africa over the last decade, and
African concepts of production and reproduction not directly linked to
market/commodity values. R. Austen. Autumn.
204-205. Problems in Gender Studies (=Anthro 215, Eng 102-103, GS Hum 228-229,
Hum 228-229, SocSci 282-283). PQ: Second- or third-year standing and
completion of a Common Core social science or humanities course or the
equivalent. This two-quarter interdisciplinary sequence is designed as an
introduction to theories and critical practices in the study of feminism,
gender, and sexuality. Both classic texts and recent reconceptualizations of
these contested fields are examined. Problems and cases from a variety of
cultures and historical periods are considered, and the course pursues their
differing implications for local, national, and global politics. Topics might
include the politics of reproduction; gender and postcolonialism; women, sexual
scandal, and the law; race and sexual paranoia; and sexual subcultures. L.
Berlant, E. Hadley, Staff, Autumn; E. Alexander, E. Povinelli, Staff,
Winter.
214. Roman Politics and Social Relations. This course considers how
political institutions worked and changed within the context of Roman social
relations through the Late Republic and the Augustan Age. Readings include
selections from Cicero, Sallust's Catilinarian War, and Augustus's
Record of My Accomplishments. R. Saller. Winter.
216. Gender and Society in Ancient Greece (=ClCiv 218, Class 318). This
course explores the social construction of gender in ancient Greece from Homer
through the classical period by examining a wide variety of literary,
philosophical, medical, and legal texts by such authors as Plato, Aristotle,
Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Lysias, Demosthenes, and Aeschines. Our
focus is on both heterosexual and homoerotic institutions and practices and
employs a good deal of comparative historical and anthropological material.
Students from disciplines outside classics and ancient history are encouraged
to attend. D. Cohen. Winter.
217. Tacitus on Liberty and Autocracy (=ClCiv 270, Fndmtl 225). The class
is devoted entirely to discussion of the major issues arising from the texts
(e.g., the relationship between emperor and senate, and Tacitus's attitude
toward the Celtic and Germanic tribes on the periphery of the empire). In
discussions, we give close attention to choice of materials and organization of
the text. R. Saller. Spring.
219. Theories of Justice from Plato to Rawls (=ClCiv 219, Class 319, LL/Soc
252). This course closely examines major texts in classical political
theory and considers them against the development of modern theories of the
just society. Readings include texts by Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles, Cicero,
Montesqieu, Rousseau, Arendt, and Rawls. D. Cohen. Spring.
220. Restoration Culture, the Glorious Revolution, and the Origins of
Liberalism. This course reexamines the Revolution and the Restoration
period in light of new research. The course uses primary texts to raise a
series of questions about the ideological stakes in later seventeenth-century
English political and cultural polemic. Topics discussed include the rise of
the early modern state; the nature of English republicanism; the place of
gender in seventeenth-century political thought; toleration, comprehension, and
indulgence; English cultural style; court culture; the nature of English and
early modern nationalism; and the origins of British liberalism. S. Pincus.
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233. Modern Irish History. A survey of Irish history from the Union (1800)
to the Treaty (1921), which includes the development of Irish nationalism, the
rise of the Catholic confessional state, the struggle for the land, and the
acquisition of a new cultural identity by the Irish people. E. Larkin.
Autumn.
234. Law and Society: Early England (=LL/Soc 210). English law
before the common law is the center of the course, with attention to
comparative Germanic law, major sources for general Anglo-Saxon and
Anglo-Norman history, and prefeudal to feudal social structures. C. Gray.
Autumn.
235. Law and Society: High Medieval England (=LL/Soc 211). The emergence
and consolidation of the common law in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is
the center of this course, with attention to political history in the period
from Henry II to Edward I, government and administration beyond the legal
system proper, and the medieval Church as a part of the legal order and as
rival and complement to secular government. C. Gray. Winter.
238. Early Byzantine History: A.D. 330-610. This lecture and discussion
course addresses social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual
history. Topics include the rise of Constantinople, the growth of a distinctive
culture as the Byzantines tried to cope with the challenges and contradictions
of old classical and new Christian values, Byzantine survival in the fifth and
sixth centuries, religious and social and ethnic strifes, dilemmas of trade and
fiscal policy, institutional continuity and change, and problems in external
relations. Primary readings include Procopius, Secret History; Baynes
and Dawes, Three Byzantine Saints; Theodosian Code; Justinina's
Digest; and Theophylact Simocatta, History. W. Kaegi.
Autumn.
239. The Byzantine Empire: A.D. 610-1025. This course raises the principal
issues in attempting to understand and interpret the dynamics of Byzantine
society, culture, and institutional life in the middle Byzantine period. The
major focus is on controversies concerning the survival or nonsurvival of urban
life, the challenge of Muslim and Slavic invasions, military and economic
institutional change, iconoclasm, defense against foreign invasions, and
tensions between elites in the capital and the provinces. The course includes
discussion of social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual history
and current theories about their status in Byzantium. W. Kaegi.
Winter.
253. Spain and Portugal: 1
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state formation and the evolution of kingship in the Iberian peninsula in the
late medieval period. The second part deals with the cultural institutions of
the Siglo de Oro and the political status of Spain within Europe. The
course closes with a consideration of processes of deterioration and of
renewal. T. B. Duncan. Autumn.
254. Spain and Portugal: 1700-1900. Topics include the Bourbons in Spain
and the Braganzas in Portugal, the Napoleonic invasions, the liberal
revolutions, and the prolonged struggle after 1820 for political stability.
T. B. Duncan. Winter.
255. Spain and Portugal: From 1900 to the Present. The course opens with a
consideration of the Spanish crisis of 1898 and the Portuguese revolution of
1910, followed by consideration of the development of authoritarian structures,
Salazar, the Spanish Civil War, and Franco. The course concludes with the
Portuguese revolution of 1974 and its consequences, and with the unraveling of
the Francoist state in Spain after 1975. T. B. Duncan. Spring.
258. Ideological Transformations of Early Modern Europe. This course
investigates how the discovery of the New World and the Protestant Reformation
transformed the ways in which Europeans and their governments thought of
themselves between 1500 and 1700. Three pan-European crises--the
late-sixteenth-century religious wars, the Thirty Years' War, and the wars of
Louis XIV--act as prisms through which one can see transformations in
discourses of allegiance. Topics include the problems of commerce and religious
toleration in this period. The course concludes with a discussion of the
various political and cultural responses to the religious and commercial
challenges of early modern Europe. S. Pincus. Autumn.
262. Historical Thought and Writing in the Renaissance. The course is
concerned with the evolution of historical thought and practice through the
reading of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century texts. H. Gray. Spring.
263. The Italian Renaissance. This course concentrates on the political
environment of Italy in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and early sixteenth
centuries and on the evolution of humanism--its ways of thought and its related
institutions--during that age. Primary texts are emphasized. H. Gray.
Autumn.
269. Northern Renaissance and Reformation. In surveying the history of this
period, attention is devoted to the relationships between the movements of
Renaissance and Reformation in northern Europe from the late fifteenth to the
mid-sixteenth centuries. Primary texts are emphasized. H. Gray.
Winter.
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272. Erasmus's Praise of Folly and More's Utopia. These major
texts are read and analyzed as documents of Renaissance Christian humanism and
as works engaged in dialogue with one another. H. Gray. Winter.
290-291. History of Modern China: From 1600 to the Present. PQ: Hist
152. This two-quarter sequence lecture course presents the main
intellectual, political, economic, and social trends in modern China. The
course covers the ideological and organizational structures, and the social
movements that define a process variously described in Western literature as
modernization, reform and revolution, or political development. Readings are in
the English-language secondary literature. Emphasis is on institutional and
intellectual developments during this period, especially in the twentieth
century. Some attention is paid to historiographic analysis and criticism.
G. Alitto. Autumn, Winter.
293. Politics and Culture in Early Modern Japan (=Japan 293). An
intermediate-level survey of the history of the old Tokugawa Era, from 1600 to
1868. T. Najita. Autumn.
294. Ideologies of Modernism in Japan, 1900 to the Present (=Japan 294).
H. Harootunian. Winter.
296. Topics in Chinese History II: Civilization and Peasant Society (=Chin 279,
EALC 279). PQ: EALC 108-109-110 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
We think of the cultured elites of imperial China and peasants as
inhabiting separate worlds. Yet the peasants who sustained the superstructure
came into contact with the elites in myriad ways. This course tries to create a
dialogue between the two worlds and to problematize the issue of "the unity of
Chinese culture." We study elite and popular understandings of such phenomena
as the state, commerce, gender, religion, kinship, nation, and "the people" in
late traditional and revolutionary China. P. Duara. Winter.
301. Readings in Literary Chinese III: Qing Documents (=Chin 316). PQ:
Chin 213 or equivalent. Reading and discussion of nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century historical political documents, including such forms as
memorials, decrees, local gazetteers, diplomatic communications, essays, and
the like. G. Alitto. Spring.
311. Historiography of the History of Science and Medicine (=CFS 349, HiPSS
212). PQ: Consent of instructor. This course is a study of the
writing of the history of science and medicine from the sixteenth century to
the present, enabling students to follow major trends in this subject. Special
emphasis is placed on current schools of thought. A. Debus. Winter.
312. Seventeenth-Century Scientific Revolution (=CFS 349, HiPSS 212).
Seventeenth-century science is normally presented in terms of "the
ancients" versus "the moderns." In this course, we discuss the period from
Francis Bacon through the major works of Isaac Newton, emphasizing the
continued debate between the chemists and the mechanists, the various "new
philosophies," the impact of corpuscularian thought, and the organization of
science. A. Debus. Autumn.
325. History of the Modern Middle East I (=NEHist 219/319). This course
provides an introduction to the modern history of the Middle East until 1914.
It focuses on the paradigm of decline of the Middle Eastern state, the
concomitant rise of Western influence, and indigenous reactions to these
processes, starting in the eighteenth century. Works read include Gerber's
Social Origins of the Modern Middle East and Hourani's Arabic Thought
in the Liberal Age. R. Khalidi. Winter.
326. History of the Modern Middle East II (=NEHist 220/320). This course
examines the history of the Middle East after World War I. The focus is on the
relations between external powers and the region and on internal developments,
notably the rise of modern national movements. Among the topics examined are
revolutionary change in the Arab world from the 1950s on and the growing
legitimacy of the territorial nation-state and of radical Islamic ideologies.
R. Khalidi. Spring.
335-336-337. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I, II, III (=Anthro
307-1,-2,-3, LatAm 345-346-347, SocSci 261-262-263). This three-quarter
course sequence introduces students to the history and cultures of Latin
America, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean
islands. Each quarter may be taken independently of the others, although most
students enroll for the entire sequence. The autumn quarter examines the
origins of civilizations in Latin America, with a focus on the political,
social, and cultural features of the major pre-Columbian civilizations of the
Maya, Inca, and Aztec. The quarter concludes with consideration of the Spanish
and Portuguese conquest and the construction of colonial societies in Latin
America. The winter quarter addresses the evolution of colonial societies, the
Wars of Independence, and the emergence of Latin American nation-states in the
changing international context of the nineteenth century. The spring quarter
focuses on the twentieth century, with a special emphasis on the challenges of
economic, political, and social development in the region. F. Katz, Autumn;
C. Lomnitz, Winter; F. Katz, Spring.
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358. Europe in the Early Middle Ages: A.D. 312-1066. This course surveys
the history of Western Europe from the conversion of the Roman Empire to
Christianity in the fourth century to the Norman expansion into England and the
Mediterranean in the eleventh. Main themes include the fragmentation of the
classical world under the pressure of the barbarian invasions; the conversion
of the Germanic peoples to Christianity; interactions between the new kingdoms
in the West with their Muslim, Byzantine, and Scandinavian neighbors; the
development of political, social, economic, and religious institutions in
response to these unstable conditions; and the emergence of a distinctive
"medieval" culture and worldview. Readings include both primary and secondary
texts. R. Fulton. Autumn.
359. Europe in the High Middle Ages: A.D. 1066-1348. This course addresses
the social, cultural, religious, intellectual, economic, and political history
of medieval western Europe considered as the entity "Christendom." Potential
topics include the growth of papal and royal government, the revival of urban
life and commerce, social groups and statuses, the consolidation of Christian
belief and practice and the challenges levied against this new order, the
twelfth-century renaissance, the origins of the universities, the expansion of
Europe, and the Crusading mentality. Readings are taken from both primary and
secondary literature. R. Fulton. Winter.
380. Politics of Religion and Gender in South Asia (=SoAsia 283). C.
Breckenridge. Autumn.
387. The American Revolution: 1763-1789. This course explores the
background of the American Revolution and the problem of organizing a new
nation. The first half of the course uses the theory of revolutionary stages to
frame the events of the 1760s and 1770s; the second half examines the period of
constitution making (1776-89) for evidence of the ways in which the Revolution
was truly revolutionary. E. Cook. Winter.
390. History of the Book in America (=Educ 212/312). Recent scholarship on
the history of the book has given greater attention to the readers of the
printed word and to the uses of literacy. This course considers the advent of
printing and the impact of the book in early modern Europe, then studies the
history of print culture in the United States, beginning in British colonial
America, and analyzes the expanding and diverse uses of published reading
matter in the United States from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.
Intended primarily for undergraduates. C. Kaestle. Spring.
402. The Century of Progress: The U.S. from 1890 to 1990. This course
surveys the century of American experience from the perspective of the
political ideas that have driven it. Emphasis is on the program of social,
economic, and cultural reform that have used government intervention as the
means of generating change. B. Karl. Spring.
405. Modern U.S. Women's History. This course explores the distinctive
experience of women in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and its
meaning for the worlds of both sexes. The course focuses on changing gender
ideologies; the social, cultural, and political forces shaping women's lives;
and the implications of race, class, and ethnic difference among women. Topics
include the condition of women under slavery and industrial capitalism, the
women's rights movements, the politics of sexuality, the impact of consumer
culture, and women in the welfare state. A. Stanley. Spring.
415. The Law of Bondage and Freedom. PQ: Third-year standing. This
undergraduate colloquium explores the history in America of legal categories of
bondage and freedom and the cultural, social, and political conflicts that
transformed the meaning of these terms. The course spans the period from the
American Revolution to the Reconstruction. It focuses on such themes as rights,
coercion and contract, equality and difference, the relationship between law
and other systems of language and belief, market paradigms of liberty and
obligation, and the historical interplay of race and gender in the law of
bondage and freedom. Readings include legal cases, jurisprudence, and literary
texts, as well as contemporary legal theory and historical works. A.
Stanley. Winter.
448. Introduction to the History of European Military Strategy to 1815.
This is a lecture and discussion course on the emergence of and changes in
European thinking about strategy and command from the end of antiquity to 1815.
Topics include the gradual evolution of European military thinking away from
dependence on classical thinking about warfare; relationships between firepower
and the character of warfare after the appearance of gunpowder; changing
conceptions of strategy, tactics, and generalship; and thinking about warfare,
maneuver, and battle. Readings are drawn from classics of military history in
historical context. W. Kaegi. Winter.
453. Europe from 1930 to 1990. This course is primarily designed for
upper-level undergraduates. The course covers both Western and Eastern Europe.
At its center are the origins and the nature of postwar European stabilization
and what happened to it in the 1980s and 1990s. We discuss the regime of
mass-production and consumption as well as the politics of national and
transnational integration in the context of East-West confrontation. We also
look at processes of regional and social marginalization and pay particular
attention to questions of immigration and citizenship. M. Geyer.
Spring.
523. Colloquium: Modern Irish History. PQ: Hist 233 and consent of
instructor. E. Larkin. Winter.
545. Autobiography I: Rousseau. K. Weintraub. Winter.
545. Autobiography II: Goethe. K. Weintraub. Spring.
552. Reading Hannah Arendt. PQ: Consent of instructor. This course
explores the writings of Hannah Arendt, with special reference to her
understanding of politics and culture. It culminates in a critical reading of
The Origins of Totalitarianism that compares her interpretation with
competing notions. M. Geyer. Spring.
564. Colloquium: Modern Japanese Historiography (=Japan 564). Discussion of
key interpretations in modern Japanese history. T. Najita. Spring.
580. Introduction to the Study of Islamic History. PQ: Consent of
instructor. J. Woods. Autumn.
582. The Mongol World Empire. PQ: Consent of instructor. J. Woods.
Winter.
616. Telling Women's Lives. PQ: Consent of instructor. This course
is a colloquium on varieties and genres of women's autobiography in
twentieth-century Russia, using English-language texts. Focus is on the
intersection of gender and class identities, with comparative and theoretical
discussion according to the interests of participants. S. Fitzpatrick.
Winter.
625. Studies of Slavery. PQ: Consent of instructor. J. Saville.
Autumn.
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627. Colloquium: American Ideas of the State. PQ: Consent of instructor.
This course surveys the sciences of American politics that have developed
since 1760. Readings are divided into three sections: federalism and
nationalism, 1760-1860; regionalism and nationalism, 1850-1940; and nationalism
and internationalism, 1920-90. Emphasis is on the relation among theoretical
schools and their impact on policy-makers. B. Karl. Spring.
Go to middle of documentHistory Courses
There are three levels of history courses listed below. The first level,
consisting of courses numbered 100-199, is open only to College students. The
second level, consisting of courses numbered 200-499, is open to both College
students and graduate students unless stated otherwise. The third level,
consisting of courses numbered 500-699, is open to graduate students and, with
the consent of the instructor, to College students. Courses rarely open to
College students are not listed in this catalog.
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