Department of History

Last updated: November 25, 2009 at 4:37 p.m.

Objectives

Undergraduate Major
The major in history seeks to provide students with a broad introduction to the historical origins of the modern world. The major is flexible, enabling students to devise individual programs tailored to their own specific needs and interests. In consultation with their faculty adviser, students should design a major that makes sense in terms of their other course work and career plans. The strategy will be different for each student. A student planning a professional career in history, for example, will certainly want to take a broad variety of courses, perhaps do an independent study (HIST 98a or 98b), write a senior thesis (HIST 99d), and master the foreign languages required for that area of specialization. Students interested in other careers, such as law or business, will design programs of study that complement their course work in other departments and programs (for example, legal studies or economics). The department strongly recommends that students acquire geographical and chronological breadth, which is best provided by our set of two-semester surveys in American, Asian, European, and Latin American history. Apart from taking one or more of these surveys, students should also select appropriate offerings from our more advanced courses that are thematic or national in scope and that permit more intensive analysis. The department is deeply committed to the development of writing and analytical skills, which are invaluable and transferable, regardless of future career—be it higher education, teaching, law, business, or public service. The advanced courses, with smaller classes, provide an ideal opportunity to develop those skills.

Graduate Program in Comparative History
The graduate program in comparative history leads to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Applicants wishing to earn only the degree of Master of Arts may apply for admission to the MA program described below. Deadline for applications to the PhD program is January 15; for applications to the MA degree program, the deadline is April 30.

The graduate program trains students to approach the past from a comparative perspective. This method represents the most fruitful way to interpret the past, and the program fosters it in two ways. First, students specializing in European history will develop expertise in two broad fields of history—either medieval and early modern or early modern and modern. Students specializing in non-European history will master two comparable fields. Second, all students will study their fields from a thematic approach that transcends national boundaries and moves away from conventional periodization.

The comparative history program gives students a broad understanding of historical developments and fosters the ability to make cross-cultural comparisons. The thematic approach is central to the process. The Brandeis history faculty is exceptionally diverse in its interests and offers the student a variety of approaches to the past, such as the study of political structure, social relations and institutions, women and the family, war and diplomacy, psychohistory, culture, or thought. Each student will read widely on two topical areas and in the process learn what developments were unique and which ones were comparable over time and space.

Finally, students will take an outside field beyond the areas of their qualifying examinations. This may be in another area of history, such as the history of the United States, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, East Asia, Jewish history, or the history of science. It may also be in related programs such as anthropology, economics, English and American literature, literary studies, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, politics, or sociology.

The program is designed to prepare students for the competitive academic environment of the next decade. It trains them in methods of historical research and equips them to teach a broad range of subjects. On a deeper level, comparative history fosters intellectual flexibility and interdisciplinary skills that can be creatively employed inside and outside academia.

A small, select student body will work in close cooperation with the faculty. Most instruction will take place in seminars specifically designed for graduate students or in individual conferences with faculty advisors. From the beginning, the curriculum will help students prepare for their qualifying examinations and guide them toward eventual dissertation research.

During the first year, students must prepare a major research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with a principal adviser. The paper may be comparative in research (involving two or more symmetrical case studies) or it may focus upon a single case (with that research informed by a reading of secondary literature on similar cases). The paper constitutes the major intellectual enterprise of the first year, and students devote one-quarter of their time to it. Students must also enroll in HIST 210a (Historical Research: Methods and New Departures). During their first two years of residence, students must also enroll in comparative history seminars that treat significant problems in a comparative perspective and introduce students to the methods and issues of comparative history. European specialists will also enroll in two introductory graduate colloquia, which cover the early modern and modern periods. Finally, before they may take the qualifying examination, all students must complete a tutorial or other work focusing on a part of the world geographically or chronologically removed from their principal area of specialization with a view to gaining a comparative perspective on their major research interest.

Students specializing in European history are expected to have a general mastery of a major and a minor field of history, either medieval, early modern (1450-1750), or modern (1750-present). Students specializing in non-European history will present a major and minor field approved by the executive committee. Two faculty members examine in the major field; one faculty member shall examine for the minor field. First- and second-year colloquia shall provide the basic groundwork for field preparation. By the beginning of the fourth semester the student must submit a working orals bibliography, which will serve as the basis for the qualifying exam, to be administered at the end of the fourth semester. The exact delimitation of the major and minor fields is to be made by the student and examiners, with the formal approval of the chair of the comparative history program.

Students should normally plan to complete all work for the doctorate, including the dissertation, within eight years after entering the program; prolongation of study past the eighth year takes place on a case-by-case basis.

Graduate Program in American History
The program in American history offers two graduate degrees: Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. Its curriculum is designed to help students gain a comprehensive understanding of American history and mastery of historical research and writing.

Its flexible program of study allows students to work closely with the faculty in independent reading and research courses. Individual courses of study are developed for each student, to help in preparation for qualifying examinations and as preparation for dissertation research. Normally, the first year's work is concentrated in American history and centers on directed research and a critical approach to problems of historiography. Second-year students are encouraged to complete their preparation in their examination fields through directed readings and relevant courses. Applicants should note with care the four parts of the examination, specified under Degree Requirements, in which all students are expected to demonstrate proficiency. Studies in related fields are arranged individually with appropriate members of the university's graduate faculty. For students with appropriate qualifications, there are opportunities for advanced study and research at neighboring universities in such fields as legal, business, and religious history.

How to Become a Major

Students normally begin their studies with one of the general courses in historical studies and then go on to more advanced courses. To declare and design a major, the student should first see the undergraduate advising head; together they will select as adviser a faculty member who seems best suited to that student's interest and area of future work. The adviser and student will then select a course of study that gives greatest coherence to the student's other course work and career plans.

How to Be Admitted to the Graduate Program

Comparative History
The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School given in an earlier section of this Bulletin apply. Students with a sound preparation in history and who have demonstrated unusual imagination and critical insight will receive special consideration. Undergraduate majors in the other social sciences or in allied fields such as comparative literature may, however, apply. Applicants should submit a sample of written work, preferably in history.

Students may be admitted for full- or part-time work. Partial scholarship assistance is available for a limited number of exceptional candidates.

American History
The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, given in an earlier section of this Bulletin, apply to candidates for admission. An undergraduate major in history is the preferred preparation for admission, and the student's undergraduate curriculum should include some fundamental courses in American history and related fields in the social sciences or humanities. Students with the MA degree in history or a professional degree in law or other related fields are especially invited to apply. Prospective students interested in Crown Fellowships or the special arrangements for study in professional fields at neighboring universities, noted previously, should submit applications by January 15; for applications to the MA degree program, the deadline is April 30.

Faculty

Jane Kamensky, (Chair)
Colonial America. American social and cultural history.

Silvia Arrom
Latin America. Women's history. Social history.

Rudolph Binion
Modern history. Culture and thought. Psychohistory.

David Engerman (Graduate Advising Head for American History)
History of American foreign policy. International and cultural history.

David Hackett Fischer
Modern history. Social institutions.

Gregory Freeze, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Russia and Germany. Social and religious history.

Mark Hulliung
Intellectual, cultural, and political history—European and American.

Paul Jankowski
Modern European and French history.

William Kapelle
Medieval history.

Alice Kelikian
Modern history. Social institutional history.

Govind Sreenivasan, Graduate Advising Head for Comparative History
Early modern European history. Germany.

Ibrahim Sundiata
Africa: Social history. Slavery. The African diaspora. Afro-Brazil.

Michael Willrich, Undergraduate Advising Head
American social and legal history.

The following members of other departments are affiliated with the Department of History:

Joyce Antler (AMST), Brian Donahue (AMST), Karen Hansen (SOC), Peniel Joseph (AAAS), Avigdor Levy (NEJS), Antony Polonsky (NEJS), Benjamin Ravid (NEJS), Jehuda Reinharz (NEJS), Jonathan Sarna (HRNS), Stephen Whitfield (AMST).

Requirements for the Minor

All minors are expected to complete five courses of which four must be taught by members of the history faculty. The fifth course can be cross-listed from another department or transferred from study elsewhere, subject to the approval of the department advising head. Advanced Placement exam credits would not count toward the minor; neither would any course grade below a C nor would any course taken Pass/Fail. Students should declare the minor in history no later than the beginning of their senior year.

Requirements for the Major

All majors are expected to complete satisfactorily at least nine semester courses in history from among the HIST and cross-listed offerings. No course grade below a C will be given credit toward the major requirement of nine courses. Acceptable AP scores in American or European history exempt majors from equivalent course(s) but do not reduce the total number of courses required to complete the major.

Of these nine courses, at least one must cover history before 1800 and another history after 1800. Of the nine courses, also, at least one must be in U.S., another in European, and another in non-Western history. Finally, at least one course, normally taken in the sophomore or junior year, must require a substantial research paper.

Students may not double-count the same course toward the period requirement (pre-1800 and post-1800) or double- or triple-count the same course toward the area requirement (U.S., Europe, and non-Western). They may, however, double- or triple-count the same course towards the period, area, and/or research paper requirements as long as it meets each of them.

A minimum of six courses counted toward the major must be taught by members of the history faculty. Transfer students and those taking a year's study abroad may offer up to four semester courses taught elsewhere, depending on individual circumstances, and need take only five courses instead of the usual six taught by members of the history faculty. To apply such transfer courses to the history major, a student must obtain the approval of the department advising head.

In addition, HIST 98a and 98b (Readings in History) may be taken by students on a subject of particular interest to them that is not covered in the regular curriculum or as a supplement to work on the Senior Honors Thesis. (The consent of the instructor is required.) HIST 99d (Senior Research), which must be taken in addition to the regular nine-course requirement, enables students to undertake an honors thesis and is required for degrees granted with distinction.

The major can be combined with other programs of study, such as Latin American studies or Russian and East European studies. Students should consult their advisors to design a major that best complements the requirements of other programs.

Combined BA/MA Program

Students with exceptional records may apply for the BA/MA program in either comparative history or American history. Applications to either graduate program must be made no later than May 1 preceding the senior year. Consultation with the adviser is highly recommended by the beginning of the sixth semester; transfer students should apply by the fourth semester of residence. All applications should include a proposed course of study, specifying how all degree requirements will be met. A consistent record of superior performance in history courses is required. The total number of courses required for completion of a BA/MA program is thirty-eight, of which at least four must be at the graduate level and not counted toward the major requirements.

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

Comparative History
This one-year, full-time program has the following requirements. Each student must complete the first-year program as defined by the graduate program in comparative history and must pass an examination in one foreign language.

An MA degree in history will be awarded to those students who have satisfactorily completed one year of residence as full-time students, completed the mandated first-year courses, fulfilled the language requirement, and completed their master’s thesis. The master’s thesis must also be deposited electronically to the Robert D. Farber University Archives.

PhD candidates in comparative history may apply for the MA degree contingent upon successful completion of these first year requirements.

American History
Students who are admitted for a terminal MA degree must complete one full year of coursework and the foreign language requirement. Courses will include the two-semester colloquium in American history, a master’s thesis, and four other courses approved by the executive committee. An average of at least A- is normally required for continuation in the program. The master’s thesis must also be deposited electronically to the Robert D. Farber University Archives. 

Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy


Comparative History


Program of Study
During the first year in the program, students will complete an MA thesis over two semesters and take four graduate seminars or colloquia. During the second year in the program, students will take six new courses, consisting of graduate seminars, individual readings tutorials, and one course of study in a field outside the program.

Teaching Requirement
As part of the graduate training program, PhD students are required to participate in undergraduate teaching, normally during their second, third, and fourth years.

Residence Requirement
The minimum residence requirement for doctoral students is three years.

Language Requirement
The use of foreign languages is an essential tool for the comparative historian. Each student will be expected to pass in the first year one language examination testing the ability to read historical prose with a dictionary. The second language examination must be passed before taking the qualifying examination. All students in European history must normally show competence in French and German. Medieval students must also offer Latin. Students may, in some instances, petition to substitute a language appropriate to their research interests for either French or German.

Qualifying Examination
Each student will take the qualifying examination at the end of the fourth term. Any student who has failed to complete the qualifying examination by the fifth term will be dropped from the program.

Dissertation Prospectus
The student will normally define a dissertation topic in the term preceding the qualifying examination, but in no case later than the end of the fifth term in the program.

For the dissertation prospectus, students will make an oral presentation setting their proposed topic in comparative perspective.

Dissertation Defense
When the student's dissertation committee accepts the completed dissertation, the candidate must defend it at the final oral examination.


The Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies for Doctoral Students in Comparative History


During the course of their work toward the PhD, students in comparative history may earn a joint MA with women's and gender studies by completing the following requirements in conjunction with program requirements for the MA:

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies. Under certain circumstances, an alternative course may be substituted for WMGS 205a. See adviser and women's and gender studies program coordinator for approval.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two elective courses in women's and gender studies, one inside and one outside the history department.

D. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

E. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the history department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

For further information about the joint MA, please see the women's and gender studies program section found elsewhere in this Bulletin.


American History


Program of Study
Doctoral candidates must complete three years in residence at Brandeis and a minimum of sixteen semester courses. Programs of study and major will be formulated for each student, subject to the approval of the executive committee. Students who do not maintain an A- average may not continue in the program.

Incoming students normally will be expected to take two double-credit courses of Directed Research in American History in their first year of residence. The committee may, at its discretion, grant a student transfer credit of up to one year toward the PhD residence requirement for relevant graduate or professional work done elsewhere. Application for such credit shall be considered only after a student has completed one term's residence in a full-time program. The second 300-level directed research course may be waived by the committee on the basis of a master's thesis or comparable research project at the graduate or professional level done elsewhere. In the first year, all students enroll in the Colloquium in American History.

Teaching Requirement
As part of the graduate training program, PhD students serve as teaching fellows for four semesters, normally during their second and third years of study. All teaching fellows enroll in a section of HIST 340a and b, which provides supervision as well as instruction in the aims and techniques of teaching American history at the college level.

Residence Requirement
The minimum residence requirement for doctoral students is three years.

Language Requirement
A high level of reading proficiency in one foreign language is required of all students. Students are expected to pass the language examination during the first year of residence. The completion of language requirements at another university does not exempt the candidate from the Brandeis requirement.

Qualifying Examination
Each doctoral candidate must pass at the doctoral level a qualifying examination in the following four fields: (1) general American history, one examiner to be in early American history and the other in modern American history; (2) a period of specialization in American history; (3) an area of comparative modern European, Asian, Latin American, or African history; (4) a related discipline in the social sciences or humanities, or a subdiscipline in history.

All proposed fields must be submitted in writing and approved by the executive committee. The period of specialization will normally be selected from the following: 1607-1763, 1763-1815, 1815-1877, 1877-1914, 1914-present.

The comparative history field may focus on such themes as nineteenth-century emigration/immigration, eighteenth-century American and European political and social philosophy, the history of the modern family, or the frontier in global perspective. The fourth field may involve training in politics, international relations, or literature; for example, to provide perspectives and methods that can illuminate historical problems. Or it can involve a subdiscipline in history that has a distinctive subject matter and methodology, such as American social, legal, ecological, or intellectual history.

Students entering the program without previous graduate training in American history are expected to take the qualifying examination no later than the end of their fifth term of residence and must pass the examination by the end of the sixth term. Students who have earned an MA degree in history elsewhere are expected to take and pass the qualifying examination by the end of their second year in the program.

Qualifying examinations will be taken separately for each of the fields, with the general American field coming at the end. For each of the fields (2), (3), and (4), as above, the student will choose one appropriate faculty member with the approval of the chair of the program. That faculty member, in consultation with the student, will define the requirements, course of preparation, and mode of examination (written and/or oral) for the field.

For the general American field, the chair will appoint two members of the executive committee as examiners. The two faculty members in consultation with the student will define in advance the major themes or problems on which the examination will be based. So far as possible, fields (3) and (4), as above, should be selected with a view to broadening and deepening the student's understanding of his/her American history fields and providing valuable background for the dissertation work.

With the consent of the chair and the professor concerned, qualified students in appropriate cases may be examined in fields (3) or (4), as above, by a faculty member at another university. Moreover, with the consent of the executive committee, examinations in fields (3) or (4), as above, may be waived for students with the MA, JD, or other advanced degrees.

Dissertation
During the early stages of their dissertation work, students are expected to present a prospectus in a works-in-progress session attended by the program's students and faculty. When the dissertation is accepted by the committee, a Final Oral Examination will be scheduled, at which the candidate must successfully defend his/her dissertation before the committee and other members of the faculty who may participate. In most cases, a student's dissertation committee consists of the adviser, another American history faculty member, and an outside reader from another university.


The Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies for Doctoral Students in American History


During the course of their work toward the PhD, students in American history may earn a joint MA with women's and gender studies by completing the following requirements in conjunction with program requirements for the MA:

A. WMGS 205a, the foundational course in women's and gender studies. Under certain circumstances, an alternative course may be substituted for WMGS 205a. See adviser and women's and gender studies program coordinator for approval.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies).

C. Two elective courses in women's and gender studies, one inside and one outside the history department.

D. Participation in a fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

E. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the history department and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

For further information about the joint MA, please see the women's and gender studies program section found elsewhere in this Bulletin.

Special Note About Courses

History and cross-listed courses that meet the area and period requirements:

Pre-1800 History
AAAS 18b, 70a, 85a, 115a; AMST 101a, 104b; CLAS 100a, 115b, 120a; HIST 51a, 55b, 56b, 61a, 71a, 80a, 100a, 103a, 110a, 110b, 112b, 113a, 115a, 116a, 120a, 121a, 123a, 123b, 126a, 127b, 132a, 133b, 135a, 140a, 142a, 145a, 151b, 152a, 152b, 153a, 154b, 155a, 159a, 160a, 173b, 174a, 175a, 179a, 181a, 189a, 189b; IMES 104a; NEJS 35a, 140a, 140b, 151b, 152b, 162a, 188a

Post-1800 History
AAAS 18b, 70a, 85a, 115a; AMST 101a, 104b, 125a; ANTH 108b; GECS 155a; HIST 51b, 52b, 55b, 56b, 61a, 71b, 80b, 100a, 111a, 111b, 115a, 116a, 132b, 137b, 139b, 140a, 142a, 145a, 145b, 146a, 146b, 147a, 147b, 148a, 148b, 152a, 153a, 153b, 159a, 160b, 164a, 164b, 166b, 168b, 169a, 170a, 171b, 173b, 174a, 176a, 181b, 186a, 189b, 191b, 192b, 195a, 195b, 196a; IMES 104a; NEJS 35a, 135a, 136b, 137a, 137b, 138a, 142a, 142b, 145a, 150b, 151b, 152b, 162a, 162b, 167a, 185a, 185b; POL 113b

US History
AAAS 70a; AMST 101a, 104b, 125a; HIST 51a, 51b, 56b, 100a, 115a, 151b, 152a, 152b, 153a, 153b, 154b, 155a, 159a, 160a, 160b, 164a, 164b, 166b, 168b, 169a, 171b, 174a, 179a, 189a, 189b, 195a, 195b, 196a; NEJS 142b, 162a, 162b, 167a; POL 113b

European History
CLAS 100a, 115b, 120a; GECS 155a; HIST 52b, 55b, 56b, 61a, 100a, 103a, 110a, 110b, 112b, 113a, 120a, 121a, 123a, 123b, 126a, 127b, 132a, 132b, 133b, 135a, 137b, 139b, 140a, 142a, 145a, 145b, 146a, 146b, 147a, 147b, 148a, 155a, 170a, 179a, 181b, 186a, 192b; NEJS 35a, 135a, 136b, 137a, 137b, 140a, 140b, 142a, 142b, 150b, 151b, 152b

Non-Western History

AAAS 18b, 85a, 115a; ANTH 108b; HIST 56b, 61a, 71a, 71b, 80a, 80b, 100a, 111a, 111b, 115a, 116a, 148b, 173b, 174a, 176a, 181a; IMES 104a; NEJS 138a, 142b, 145a, 185a, 185b, 188a

Research Courses
AMST 101a; ANTH 108b; HIST 115a, 127b, 137b, 139b, 140a, 142a, 145a, 145b, 146a, 147a, 147b, 148a, 148b, 152a, 154b, 155a, 160a, 160b, 164b, 168b, 169a, 170a, 173b, 174a, 186a,  189a, 191b; NEJS 136b, 137a, 137b, 138a, 142a, 142b, 150b, 162A, 162b, 167a; POL 113b

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

HIST 51a History of the United States: 1607-1865
[ ss ]
An introductory survey of American history to the Civil War. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Heinrich

HIST 51b History of the United States: 1865 to the Present
[ ss ]
An introductory survey of American history from the Civil War to the present. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Heinrich

HIST 52b Europe from 1789 to the Present
[ ss ]
Analytical introduction to modern European history considering such issues as the French Revolution, economic and social modernization and the Industrial Revolution, the evolution of modern nationalism, imperialism and socialism, development of the world market, imperialism, diplomacy and war in the twentieth century, Bolshevism and the decline of liberalism, modern totalitarianism, World War II, decolonization, the Cold War, the revival of Europe, and the revolutions of 1989. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Jankowski

HIST 55b The History of the Family
[ ss ]
A social history of the family in Europe from early modern to contemporary times. Topical emphasis on changing patterns in kinship and household structure, child rearing, sex-role differentiation, employment, and marriage. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 56b World History to 1960
[ nw ss ]
An introductory survey of world history, from the dawn of "civilization" to c.1960. Topics include the establishment and rivalry of political communities, the development of material life, and the historical formation of cultural identities. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 61a Cultures in Conflict since 1300
[ ss ]
Explores the ways in which cultures and civilizations have collided since 1300, and the ways in which cultural differences account for major wars and conflicts in world history since then. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Freeze and Mr. Jankowski

HIST 71a Latin American History, Pre-Conquest to 1870
[ hum nw ss ]
Introduction to the historical foundations of Latin America: Amerindian civilizations, Spanish conquest, colonial economy and society, independence movements, and their aftermath. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Arrom

HIST 71b Latin American History, 1870 to the Present
[ hum nw ss ]
Modern Latin America, with stress on the interactions of economics, politics, and external dependency in the region. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HIST 80a Introduction to East Asian Civilization
[ hum nw ss ]
A selective introduction to the development of forms of thought, social and political institutions, and distinctive cultural contributions of China and Japan from early times to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Usually offered every year.
Mr. James

HIST 80b East Asia: Nineteenth Century to the Present (China and Japan)
[ hum nw ss ]
The civilization of East Asia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the impact of the West, the contrasting responses of China and Japan to the confrontation, and the development and nature of their present societies. Usually offered every year.
Mr. James

HIST 98a Readings in History
Usually offered every year.
Staff

HIST 98b Readings in History
Usually offered every year.
Staff

HIST 99d Senior Research
Does not meet the major requirement in history.
Seniors who are candidates for degrees with honors in history must register for this course and, under the direction of a faculty member, prepare an honors thesis on a suitable topic. Usually offered every year.
Staff

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

HIST 100a Ice and Fire: An Ecological Approach to World History
[ ss ]
A survey of world history through the past 10,000 years, with particular attention to the choices that people have made in relation to their changing environment. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 103a Roman History to 455 CE
[ hum ss ]
Survey of Roman history from the early republic through the decline of the empire. Covers the political history of the Roman state and the major social, economic, and religious changes of the period. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 109b College 101
[ ss wi ]
This seminar studies one of the most important institutions in modern America: the university. Students examine the current organization and orientation of higher education in historical and sociological perspective, using nonfiction accounts, memoirs, and fiction about the college experience. Usually offered every fouth year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 110a The Civilization of the Early Middle Ages
[ ss ]
Survey of medieval history from the fall of Rome to the year 1000. Topics include the barbarian invasions, the Byzantine Empire, the Dark Ages, the Carolingian Empire, feudalism, manorialism, and the Vikings. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 110b The Civilization of the High and Late Middle Ages
[ ss ]
Survey of European history from 1000 to 1450. Topics include the Crusades, the birth of towns, the creation of kingdoms, the papacy, the peasantry, the universities, the Black Death, and the Hundred Years' War. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 111a History of the Modern Middle East
[ ss ]
An examination of the history of the Middle East from the nineteenth century to contemporary times. Focuses on political events and intellectual trends, such as imperialism, modernity, nationalism, and revolution, that have shaped the region in the modern era. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Sohrabi

HIST 111b The Iranian Revolution: From Monarchy to the Islamic Republic
[ ss ]
An examination of the roots of the Iranian revolution of 1979, the formation of the Islamic Republic, and its evolution over the past 30 years. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Sohrabi

HIST 112b The Crusades and the Expansion of Medieval Europe
[ ss ]
Survey of the relationships between medieval Europe and neighboring cultures, beginning with the decline of Byzantium. Topics include a detailed look at the Crusades, the Spanish reconquista, the Crusader kingdoms, economic growth, and the foundations of imperialism. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 113a English Medieval History
[ ss ]
Survey of English history from the Anglo-Saxon invasions to the fifteenth century. Topics include the heroic age, the Viking invasions, and development of the English kingdom from the Norman conquest through the Hundred Years' War. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 115a History of Comparative Race and Ethnic Relations
[ ss ]
Explores and understands the origin and nature of racial and ethnic differences in the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. Explores how theoreticians explain and account for differences, and how race and ethnicity relate to economic class and social institutions. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

HIST 116a Black Homeland: West Africa
[ nw ss ]
Surveys the history of the ancestral land of most African Americans from the rise of the great African empires through the period of the slave trade and colonialism. Traces the rise of African nationalism up to 1960. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

HIST 117a Native United States American History
[ ss ]
Studies the North American indigenous people, including their role in American culture, their history, and their experiences in the contemporary United States. Special one-time offering, spring 2008.
Ms. Hangen

HIST 120a Britain in the Later Middle Ages
[ ss ]
Exploration of the critical changes in government and society in the British Isles from the late fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Topics include the Black Death, the lordship of Ireland, the Hundred Years' War, the Scottish War of Independence, economic change, the Tudors, and the Reformation. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 121a Breaking the Rules: Deviance and Nonconformity in Premodern Europe
[ ss wi ]
Explores the ways in which "deviant" behavior was defined and punished by some, but also justified and even celebrated by others in premodern Europe. Topics include vagrancy, popular uprisings, witchcraft, religious heresy, and the status of women. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 123a The Renaissance
[ ss ]
Culture, society, and economy in the Italian city-state (with particular attention to Florence) from feudalism to the rise of the modern state. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kapelle

HIST 123b Reformation Europe (1400-1600)
[ ss wi ]
Survey of Protestant and Catholic efforts to reform religion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Topics include scholastic theology, popular piety and anticlericalism, Luther's break with Rome, the rise of Calvinism, Henry VIII and the English Reformation, the Catholic resurgence, and the impact of reform efforts on the lives of common people. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 126a Early Modern Europe (1500-1700)
[ qr ss ]
Survey of politics, ideas, and society in Western Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Focuses on the changing relationship between the emerging modern state and its subjects. Topics include the development of ideologies of resistance and conformity, regional loyalties and the problems of empire, changing technologies of war and repression, and the social foundations of order and disorder. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 127b Household and Family in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1300-1800)
[ qr ss ]
An examination of the fundamental building block of premodern European society. Topics include the demographic structures, economic foundations, and governing ideologies that sustained the household, as well as the repercussions of failure or refusal to live according to "normal" forms. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 130a The French Revolution
[ ss ]
The sources, content, and results of the French Revolution; its place in the broader context of the democratic revolution of the West. A study of the events and analysis of the elements involved. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 132a European Thought and Culture: Marlowe to Mill
[ ss ]
Main themes and issues, modes and moods, in philosophy and the sciences, literature and the arts, from the skeptical crisis of the late sixteenth century to the Romantic upheaval of the early nineteenth century. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 132b European Thought and Culture since Darwin
[ ss ]
Main themes and issues, modes and moods, in philosophy and the sciences, literature and the arts, from mid-nineteenth-century realism to late twentieth-century unrealism. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 133a Politics of the Enlightenment
[ ss ]
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken USEM 6b in previous years.
The Enlightenment as a source of the intellectual world we live in today. Examination of some of the political, philosophical, and scientific writings of the philosophers. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 133b Rights and Revolutions: History of Natural Rights
[ ss ]
An examination of the doctrine of national rights, its significance in the contemporary world, its historical development, and its role in revolutionary politics. The English and French Declarations of 1689, 1776, and 1789 will be compared and contrasted. Usually offered every second or third year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 134a Nineteenth-Century Europe: From Revolution to National Unification (1789-1870)
[ ss ]
The demographic, economic, and French revolutions; Napoleonic imperium; instability and revolt in restoration Europe; romanticism; urbanization and industrialization; revolutions of 1848; national unification and ethnic politics; the "liberal era." Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 134b Nineteenth-Century Europe: Nationalism, Imperialism, Socialism (1850-1919)
[ ss ]
The world of nation-states; urbanization and mature industrial societies; science and culture; attacks on liberal civilization; socialism, collectivism, and imperialism; domestic tensions and world politics. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 135a Monarchies and Republics: Early Modern Political Thought
[ ss ]
An examination of early modern European political thought. Texts include plays, pamphlets, and political treatises. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 137a Evolution of the International System, 1815 to the Present
[ ss ]
The evolution of the modern international system from 1815 to the present. Focuses on the domestic bases of international strengths and changes in the balance of power from Napoleon to the end of the Cold War. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

HIST 137b World War I
[ ss ]
Examines the opening global conflict of the twentieth century. Topics include the destruction of the old European order, the origins of total war, the cultural and social crisis it provoked, and the long-term consequences for Europe and the world. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Jankowski

HIST 139b Fascism East and West
[ ss ]
A comparative analysis of dictatorship in Europe, Japan, and Latin America during the twentieth century. Topical emphasis on the social origins, mass culture, and political organization of authoritarian regimes. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 140a A History of Fashion in Europe
[ ss wi ]
Looks at costume, trade in garments, and clothing consumption in Europe from 1600 to 1950. Topics include sumptuous fashion, class and gender distinctions in wardrobe, and the rise of department stores. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 141b Studies in British History: 1830 to the Present
[ ss ]
Topics include Victorian society and culture, Britain in the world economy, liberalism, socialism, and the rise of labor, democracy, and collectivism between the wars, labor in power, mass culture, and the Thatcher Revolution. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 142a Crime, Deviance, and Confinement in Modern Europe
[ ss wi ]
Examines the crisis of law and order in old regime states and explores the prison and asylum systems that emerged in modern Europe. Surveys psychiatry and forensic science from the Napoleonic period until World War II. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 145a War in European History
[ ss ]
Introduces students to the changing nature of war and warfare in European history since the Middle Ages. Explores the reciprocal influence of armies and societies and the ways in which wars reflect the cultures of the polities waging them. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Jankowski

HIST 145b Introduction to Modern France
[ ss ]
Explores French politics and society from 1789 to the present. Emphasis on the shocks from which it has had to recover, including revolutions, wars, and foreign occupation, the implantation of stable institutions, and the continuing role of intellectuals in French society. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Jankowski

HIST 146a Romantic Europe, 1798-1848
[ ss wi ]
Revolution and reaction; social ferment; religion, philosophy, and ideology; the arts and sciences; historicism and exoticism; heroism and populism; realism and reverie; vitality and languor; dreams and nightmares in Europe's age of Romanticism. Lectures; common readings; individual research. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 146b Hitler, Germany, and Europe
[ ss ]
Hitler's personality and politics in their German and European context, 1889-1945. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 147a Imperial Russia
[ ss wi ]
Examines the processes and problems of modernization--state development, economic growth, social change, cultural achievements, and emergence of revolutionary and terrorist movements. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Freeze

HIST 147b Twentieth-Century Russia
[ ss ]
Russian history from the 1905 revolution to the present day, with particular emphasis on the Revolution of 1917, Stalinism, culture, and the decline and fall of the USSR. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Freeze

HIST 148a Religion and Society in Modern Russia
[ ss ]
Examines the role of religion, institutional and popular, in the social, political, and cultural development of Russia from the eighteenth century to the present. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Freeze

HIST 148b Central Asia in Modern Times
[ nw ss ]
Surveys the modern history of Central Asia, emphasizing the twentieth century and contemporary history; it gives particular attention to the processes of colonialization and modernization and their impact on the traditional social order and Islamic religious life. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Freeze

HIST 151b The American Revolution
[ ss ]
Explores the causes, character, and consequences of the American war for independence. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 152a The Literature of American History
[ ss ]
Readings and discussions on the classical literature of American history, the great books that have shaped our sense of the subject. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 152b Salem, 1692
[ ss wi ]
An in-depth investigation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 and their role in American culture during the last 300 years. Focusing on gender, religion, law, and psychology, the class explores primary sources as well as films, plays, and novels. Students will also conduct field research in Salem. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 153a Americans at Home: Families and Domestic Environments, 1600 to the Present
[ ss ]
This survey of nonpublic life in the United States explores the changing nature of families and the material environments that have shaped and reflected American domestic ideals during the last four centuries. Major topics include gender roles and sexuality; production, reproduction, and material culture in the home; conceptions of the life course; racial, ethnic, and regional variations on the family; the evolution of "public" and "private" life; and the relationship between the family and the state. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 153b Slavery and the American Civil War
[ ss ]
A survey of the history of slavery, the American South, the antislavery movement, the coming of the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 154b Women in American History, 1600-1865
[ ss ]
An introductory survey exploring the lives of women in Anglo America from European settlement through the Civil War. Topics include the "history of women's history"; the role of gender in Native American, African, and European cultures; women's religion, work, and sexuality; and the changing possibilities for female education and expression from the colonial period through the nineteenth century. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 155a Thinking with Witches: Witchcraft in England and New England
[ hum ss ]
Examines the history, literature, and scholarly debate surrounding witchcraft in England and New England from 1500-1700. Readings include accounts of witchcraft trials and testimonials; contemporary plays, poems, woodcuts, and novels; anthropological and historical texts; and several important films. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kamensky and Ms. Targoff

HIST 157a Americans at Work: American Labor History
[ ss ]
Throughout American history, the vast majority of adults (and many children, too) have worked, although not always for pay. Beginning with the colonial period, we shall explore the idea that a job is never just a job; it is also a social signifier of great value. Topics include slavery and servitude, race and gender in the workplace, household labor and its meanings, technological innovation, working-class political movements, and the role of the state in shaping patterns of work. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

HIST 158b Social History of the Confederate States of America
[ ss ]
An examination of the brief life of the southern Confederacy, emphasizing regional, racial, class, and gender conflicts within the would-be new nation. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

HIST 159a Old South, New South, from Jim Crow to Katrina
[ ss ]
A survey of southern history from the Civil War to the present, emphasizing political and economic changes that were initiated by and shaped the lives of men and women, farmers and factory workers, immigrants and native-born blacks, and whites. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 160a American Legal History I
[ ss ]
Surveys American legal development from colonial settlement to the Civil War. Major issues include law as an instrument of revolution, capitalism and contract, invention of the police, family law, slavery law, and the Civil War as a constitutional crisis. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Willrich

HIST 160b American Legal History II
[ ss ]
Survey of American legal development from 1865 to the present. Major topics include constitutionalism and racial inequality, the legal response to industrialization, progressivism and the transformation of liberalism, the rise of the administrative state, and rights-based movements for social justice. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Willrich

HIST 161b American Political History
[ ss ]
Development of American party politics, the legal system, and government. Special attention paid to the social and cultural determinants of party politics, and economic and social policymaking. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 164a Recent American History since 1945
[ ss ]
American politics, economics, and culture underwent profound transformations in the late twentieth century. Examines the period's turmoil, looking especially at origins and legacies. Readings include novels, memoirs, key political and social documents, and film and music excerpts. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 164b The American Century: The U.S. and the World, 1945 to the Present
[ ss wi ]
America's global role expanded dramatically in the aftermath of World War II. Explores key aspects of that new role, from the militarization of conflict with the Soviets to activities in the Third World. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 166b World War II
[ ss ]
Focuses on the American experience in World War II. From the 1920s to the early 1940s, totalitarian regimes were widely believed to be stronger than open societies. The outcome of World War II demonstrated the opposite. By combining the methods of the old military and political history with the new social, cultural, and economic history, examines history as a structured sequence of contingencies, in which people made choices and choices made a difference. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 168b America in the Progressive Era: 1890-1920
[ ss ]
Surveys social and political history during the pivotal decades when America became a "modern" society and nation-state. Topics include populism, racial segregation, social science and public policy, the Roosevelt and Wilson administrations, environmental conservation, and the domestic impact of World War I. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Willrich

HIST 169a Thought and Culture in Modern America
[ ss wi ]
Developments in American philosophy, literature, art, and political theory examined in the context of socioeconomic change. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 170a Italian Films, Italian Histories
[ ss wi ]
Explores the relationship between Italian history and Italian film from unification to 1975. Topics include socialism, fascism, the deportation of Jews, the Resistance, the Mafia, and the emergence of an American-style star fixation in the 1960s. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Kelikian

HIST 171b Latino/a History
[ ss ]
History of the different Latino groups in the United States from the nineteenth century when westward expansion incorporated Mexican populations through the twentieth century waves of migration from Latin America. Explores the diversity of Latino experiences including identity, work, community, race, gender, and political activism. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Arrom

HIST 173b Latin American Women: Heroines, Icons, and History
[ nw ss wi ]
Graduate students who wish to take this course for credit must complete additional assignments.
Explores Latin American women's history by focusing on female icons and heroines such as La Malinche, Sor Juana, Eva Perón, Carmen Miranda, and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Topics include conquest, mestizaje, religion, independence, tropical exoticism, dictatorship, and social movements. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Arrom

HIST 174a The Legacy of 1898: U.S.-Caribbean Relations since the Spanish-American War
[ nw ss wi ]
This seminar explores relations between the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic) and the United States during the twentieth century. Topics include interventions, cultural misunderstandings, migration, transnationalism, and Puerto Rican status. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Arrom

HIST 175a Topics in Latin American History
[ nw ss wi ]
Course may be repeated for credit.
Examines a major theme or problem in Latin American history. Topics very from year to year. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Navarro

HIST 176a The Emergence of Modern Japan
[ nw ss ]
A general introduction to Japan's modern transformation from a late feudal society into a powerful nation-state capable of challenging the Western powers. Particular attention is given to feudal legacies, rapid economic growth, nationalism and ultranationalism, the "Pacific War" between Japan and the United States, the meaning of defeat, issues of postwar democracy, and the workings of the postwar political economy. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. James

HIST 177b Modern Germany: From Second Empire to Second Republic
[ ss ]
Offers a systematic examination of modern Germany from the establishment of the German Empire in 1871 to unification in 1990. Primary focus is political and social history. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 178a Middle Eastern Encounters with Europe in the Nineteenth Century
[ nw ss wi ]
Examines Middle Eastern travel to Europe in the nineteenth century. Topics include: the city, the transfer of knowledge, spectacles and world fairs, gender and sexuality, notions of sovereignty, and the immigrant experience. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Sohrabi

HIST 179a Labor, Gender, and Exchange in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850
[ ss ]
An examination of the interaction of cultures in the Atlantic World against a backdrop of violence, conquest, and empire-building. Particular attention is paid to the structure and function of power relations, gender orders, labor systems, and exchange networks. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 181a Seminar on Traditional Chinese Thought
[ nw ss ]
Social, historical, and political theory is one of China's greatest contributions to world civilization. Studies the most influential schools (Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, and Legalism) through the reading and discussion of original texts. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 181b Red Flags/Black Flags: Marxism vs. Anarchism, 1845-1968
[ ss ]
From Marx's first major book in 1845 to the French upheavals of 1968, the history of left-wing politics and ideas. The struggles between Marxist orthodoxy and anarchist-inspired, left Marxist alternatives. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 182a Sino-American Relations from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
[ ss ]
A seminar providing a historical overview of two centuries of Sino-American relations. Diplomacy and war, mutual perceptions, Americans in China, Chinese emigration and communities in the United States, and relations between the United States and the People's Republic. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

HIST 183b Community and Alienation: Social Theory from Hegel to Freud
[ ss ]
The rise of social theory understood as a response to the trauma of industrialization. Topics include Marx's concept of "alienation," Tönnies's distinction between "community" and "society," Durkheim's notion of "anomie," Weber's account of "disenchantment," and Nietzsche's repudiation of modernity. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 186a Europe in World War II
[ ss ]
Examines the military and diplomatic, social and economic history of the war. Topics include war origins; allied diplomacy; the neutrals; war propaganda; occupation, resistance, and collaboration; the mass murder of the Jews; "peace feelers"; the war economies; scientific warfare and the development of nuclear weapons; and the origins of the Cold War. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Jankowski

HIST 186b A Global History of the Vietnam Wars
[ ss wi ]
A reading and research seminar on the American involvement in Vietnam. Focuses on teaching the history of America's longest war, as well as improving the student's ability to write a research paper using source materials. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 189a Topics in the History of Early America
[ ss ]
Reading and discussion seminar exploring problems in the history of British North America from the first white settlement through the mid-eighteenth century. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 189b Reading and Research in American History
[ ss ]
Advanced coordinated research from primary materials. Students will engage in a common project in American social history. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 191b Psychohistory
[ ss ]
The theory and practice of psychohistory from its beginnings as applied psychoanalysis through its emergence as an independent discipline to the main tendencies and controversies in the field today. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 192b Romantic and Existentialist Political Thought
[ ss ]
Readings from Camus, Sartre, Beckett, and others. Examination and criticism of romantic and existentialist theories of politics. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 195a American Political Thought: From the Revolution to the Civil War
[ ss ]
Antebellum America as seen in the writings of Paine, Jefferson, Adams, the Federalists and Antifederalists, the Federalists and Republicans, the Whigs and the Jacksonians, the advocates and opponents of slavery, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 195b American Political Thought: From the Gilded Age through the New Deal
[ ss ]
Topics include the Mugwumps, Populists, Progressives; Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; the New Nationalism and the New Freedom; the continuities and discontinuities of the New Deal and the Progressive Era. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 196a American Political Thought: From the 1950s to the Present
[ ss ]
Covers the New Left of the 1960s, its rejection of the outlook of the 1950s, the efforts of liberals to save the New Left agenda in the New Politics of the 1970s, and the reaction against the New Left in the neoconservative movement. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hulliung

(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students

CHIS 300d Master's Thesis
Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Offered every year.
Staff

CHIS 320a Readings
Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Offered every year.
Staff

CHIS 320b Readings
Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Offered every year.
Staff

CHIS 400d Dissertation Research
Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Offered every year.
Staff

HIST 200a Colloquium in American History
Topics vary from year to year. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Fischer

HIST 200b Colloquium in American History
An examination of major themes in the historiography of modern America. Topics vary from year to year. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Willrich

HIST 201a Major Problems in American Legal History
An advanced readings seminar on major interpretive issues in the field of American legal history. The seminar examines the different ways historians have interpreted law, political culture, and governing institutions, and their historical relationship to broader social, economic, cultural, and political processes. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Willrich

HIST 202a History of the Present
An advanced readings seminar that explores recent scholarship on American history since 1945, including politics, culture, social movements, and international relations. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 202b Modern American History from a Global Perspective
Note: Open only to MAT students.
Examines recent scholarly works that situate American history in a broader transnational framework, with a focus toward how the books challenge central and reshape narratives of American history. Focus for summer 2009 is on twentieth-century U.S. history. Usually offered every summer.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 203a American Historians and American Identity
Analyzes the major intellectual and institutional changes of the American historical profession since its founding in the late nineteenth century. By focusing on historians' conceptions of American identity, it also reveals early antecedents to contemporary "identity politics." Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Engerman

HIST 204a The Worlds of William Bentley
Graduate research seminar centered on the life and times of Salem minister William Bentley (1759-1819). Through their work with Bentley's diary, as well as field study, archival visits, secondary readings, and group research projects, students explore such topics as religion, politics, economic thought, intellectual life, material culture, gender relations, and the life course in the post-Revolutionary United States. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 204b Writing History
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken HIST 188a in previous years.
This reading seminar and writing workshop explores the changing nature of the historian's craft in an age when notions like "objectivity," authors' control over texts, even the possibility of verifiable truth have come under attack. Explores theoretical writings on postmodern narrative, but focuses mainly on practice: reading and writing history that engages these concerns. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Kamensky

HIST 205a Social Politics in the Progressive Era
An advanced readings seminar that examines the different ways historians have interpreted the origins, causes, and consequences of social politics in Progressive Era America (1890). Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Willrich

HIST 206a Problems in American Women's History
[ ss ]
Selected readings in the history of American women, with an emphasis on historiography, research methodology, and the conceptual frameworks of several major, recent secondary works in the field. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

HIST 206b Text/Context in American Social History
This seminar explores interdisciplinary perspectives--sociological, autobiographical, journalistic, anthropological--on the writing of American history. Six classics in American social history are paired with a recent monograph dealing with the same or a similar topic. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 210a Historical Research: Methods and New Departures
Provides an introduction to research methods and the main current approaches (conceptual, methodological, thematic) in historical writing. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 211a Seminar in Comparative History I
Designed for first- and second-year graduate students. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Freeze

HIST 212a Seminar in Comparative History II
Mr. Fischer and Mr. Jankoski

HIST 213a Historiography
A critical analysis of classical historiography. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hulliung

HIST 215a World History
Designed to introduce students to the methods, sources, and writings about global and non-Western histories. Taught collectively by specialists in Latin American, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern history. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 215b Teaching World History
Open only to MAT students.
Focuses on the rational and content of world history as a teaching subject. Explores whether the "case" for world history is simply that more material must be somehow be better, or whether a global perspective offers genuine analytic and interpretive gains. Offered summer 2008.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 221a Colloquium in European Comparative History since the Eighteenth Century
Designed for first-year graduate students. Comparative examination of major historical issues in Europe from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Jankowski

HIST 221b Colloquium in Early Modern European History
An introduction to the major episodes in the religious, social, political, and intellectual history of early modern Europe (c. 1450-1800), with special attention given to methods of historical scholarship and discussion of various historiographic interpretations. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Sreenivasan

HIST 300e Directed Research in American History
Students will normally elect one research topic in the fall term and the spring of the first year. Each is designed to provide experience in designing, researching, and writing a substantial essay of a monographic character, based on extensive use of sources. Each is the equivalent of two full courses. Specific research topics are selected by the student in consultation with the professor. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HIST 301d Directed Research in American History for MA Students
HIST 301d Directed Research in American History for MA Students
Year-long research project culminating in a master's thesis. Students select a specific research topic in consultation with the adviser. The course runs for two semesters, with one course credit given in each term. Usually offered every year.
Staff

HIST 320a Readings in American History
Usually offered every term. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.
Staff

HIST 320b Readings in American History
Usually offered every term. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.
Staff

HIST 340a Teaching in American History
Usually offered every term. Supervised graduate teaching in American history.
Staff

HIST 340b Teaching in American History
Usually offered every term. Supervised graduate teaching in American history.
Staff

HIST 401d Dissertation Research
Usually offered every semester. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.
Staff

Cross-Listed in History

AAAS 18b Africa and the West
[ nw ss ]
Focuses on the relationship between Africa and the "West" from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the postcolonial period. It also assesses the dilemma neocolonialism poses for the West. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

AAAS 70a Introduction to Afro-American History
[ ss ]
A survey of the Afro-American experience from the era of slavery to the present. Topics include the rise of a distinct community and its institutions, reconstruction and segregation, the contributions of blacks to American society, and the struggles for freedom and equality. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

AAAS 85a Survey of Southern African History
[ nw ss ]
Explores the roots of segregation and apartheid in South Africa, the development of a regional political economy dominated by South Africa, labor migrancy and land alienation in southern Africa, and the rise of African and Afrikaaner nationalisms. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

AAAS 115a Introduction to African History
[ nw ss ]
Explores the history of African societies from their earliest beginnings to the present era. Topics include African participation in antiquity as well as early Christianity and preindustrial political, economic, and cultural developments. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sundiata

AMST 101a American Environmental History
[ ss ]
Provides an overview of the relationship between nature and culture in North America. Covers Native Americans, the European invasion, the development of a market system of resource extraction and consumption, the impact of industrialization, and environmentalist responses. Current environmental issues are placed in historical context. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Donahue

AMST 104b Boston and Its Suburbs: Environment and History
[ ss ]
Advanced seminar follows the development of the cultural landscape of Boston, Waltham, and the western suburbs from glacial retreat to urban sprawl. Employs ecology and history to better understand and address contemporary environmental issues. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Donahue

AMST 125a History of United States Feminisms
[ ss ]
An investigation of the development and politics of women's rights in the United States. Explores the internal and external coalitions and conflicts at the nexus of race, ethnicity, sexuality, and religion. Examines the transnational shift to organizing for human rights. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Antler and Ms. Hansen

ANTH 108b History, Time, and Tradition
[ ss ]
Explores topics relating to the historical dimension of societies in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives: the cultural construction of the past, temporal and calendrical systems, the invention of tradition, ethnohistorical narrative, cultural memory and forgetting, historical monuments, and museums. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Parmentier

CLAS 100a Survey of Greek History: Bronze Age to 323 BCE
[ hum ]
Surveys the political and social development of the Greek city-states from Bronze Age origins to the death of Alexander. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Walker

CLAS 115b Topics in Greek and Roman History
[ hum wi ]
Topics vary from year to year and the course may be repeated for credit with permission of the instructor. Topics include the Age of Alexander the Great, the Age of Pericles, the Greekness of Alexander, and Imperialism in Antiquity. See the Schedule of Classes for the current topic. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Walker

CLAS 120a Age of Caesar
[ hum wi ]
This course may not be repeated for credit by students who took CLAS 115b in spring 2005.
The life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) viewed through primary texts in a variety of genres: from Caesar himself to contemporaries Cicero and Catullus and biographers Plutarch and Suetonius. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Walker

GECS 155a Modern German Jewish History
[ hum ]
Course to be taught at Brandeis summer program in Berlin.
Study of Germany and the European Jews from the period of emancipation in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century to the present. Examines the role of German Jews in German politics, economic life, and culture; the rise of anti-Semitism in the nineteenth century; the Nazi government's anti-Jewish policies to the postwar period. Usually offered every year.
Ms. von Mering

IMES 104a Islam: Civilization and Institutions
[ hum nw ]
Provides a disciplined study of Islamic civilization from its origins to the current state of affairs. Approaches the study from a humanities perspective. Topics covered will include the Qur'an, tradition, law, theology, politics, Islam and other religions, modern developments, women in Islam, and Islam and Middle Eastern politics. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 35a History of the Jews from 1492 to the Present
[ hum ss ]
Open to all students.
Main trends and events in the legal, economic, social, cultural, and religious history of the Jewish people in the context of the general background, with emphasis on major areas of Jewish settlement. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Ravid

NEJS 135a The Modern Jewish Experience
[ hum ]
Themes include Enlightenment, Hasidism, emancipation, Jewish identity in the modern world (acculturation and assimilation), development of dominant nationalism in Judaism, Zionism, European Jewry between the world wars, Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel, and contemporary Jewish life in America, Israel, and Europe. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Freeze or Mr. Sheppard

NEJS 136b History and Culture of the Jews in East-Central Europe, 1914 to the Present
[ hum ]
An examination of the history of the Jews in the countries of East-Central Europe (Poland, the Soviet Union and its successor states, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia) from the outbreak of World War I until the present day. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 137a The Destruction of European Jewry
[ hum ]
Open to all students.
Why did the Jews become the subject of genocidal hatred? A systematic examination of the anti-Jewish genocide planned and executed by Nazi Germany and the Jewish and general responses to it. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 137b A History of the Jews in Warsaw, Lodz, Vilna, and Odessa
[ hum ss ]
Examines the history of the four largest Jewish communities in the Russian Empire from the earliest settlement through the Holocaust to the present, comparing internal organization, different political and cultural allegiances, and relations with the majority population. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 138a Genocide and Mass Killing in the Twentieth Century
[ hum ]
Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of twentieth-century world history is preferable.
An interdisciplinary seminar examining history and sociology of the internationally punishable crime of genocide, with the focus on theory, prevention, and punishment of genocide. Case studies include Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, Stalin's Russia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, and Rwanda. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 140a History of the Jews from the Maccabees to 1497
[ hum ss wi ]
Judea during the Second Commonwealth; Jews in the Roman Empire; origins of anti-Judaism; Jewish religious heritage; Islam and the Jews; the Jewish community; church, state, society, economy, and the Jews; the expulsion from Western Europe. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Ravid

NEJS 140b The Jews in Europe to 1791
[ hum ]
Considers the following topics: church, crusades, state, economy, society, and the Jews; religious and intellectual life, family and community; England, France, and the Germanic lands; Spain, Spanish exile, and Iberian Diaspora; Renaissance, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation; Eastern Europe and Hasidism; the return to the West; and the Enlightenment and emancipation. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Ravid

NEJS 142a Modern History of East European Jewry
[ hum ]
A comprehensive survey of the history (economic, sociopolitical, and religious) of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe from the middle of the eighteenth century until World War II, with emphasis placed on the Jews of Poland and Russia. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 142b Secular Jews: Lives and Choices from 1750 to the Present
[ hum ]
A survey of the lives of Jews who since 1750 have seen their identity in new ways, either as individuals without religious faith but still identified as Jews or as adherents of ideologies which provided alternative definitions of Jewish identity. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 145a History of the State of Israel
[ hum ]
Examines the development of the State of Israel from its foundation to the present time. Israel's politics, society, and culture will be thematically analyzed. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 150b History of Poland since 1750
[ hum ]
May only count toward the NEJS major or minor with the written permission of the instructor.
Surveys the history of Poland from the middle of the eighteenth century to the recent changes since 1989. Emphasizes the specific character of the Polish lands as a borderland and as a multi-religious and multi-ethnic area. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Polonsky

NEJS 151b Ghettos, Gondolas, and Gelato: The Italian Jewish Experience
[ hum ss ]
Topics include the Jews of classical antiquity, attitude of church and state toward Jews, ghetto, Jewish merchants and moneylenders, Renaissance and the Jews, Marranos and the Inquisition, raison d'état, emancipation, Holocaust, and communities today. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Ravid

NEJS 152b Anti-Judaism, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Zionism
[ hum ss ]
A historical survey of the three major forms of hostility toward the Jews from classical antiquity to the present. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Ravid

NEJS 162a American Judaism
[ hum ss wi ]
American Judaism from the earliest settlement to the present, with particular emphasis on the various streams of American Judaism. Judaism's place in American religion and comparisons to Judaism in other countries. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sarna

NEJS 162b It Couldn't Happen Here: Three American Anti-Semitic Episodes
[ hum ]
A close examination of three American anti-Semitic episodes: U.S. Grant's expulsion of the Jews during the Civil War, the Leo Frank case, and the publication of Henry Ford's The International Jew. What do these episodes teach us about anti-Semitic prejudice, about Jews, and about America as a whole? Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Sarna

NEJS 167a East European Jewish Immigration to the United States
[ hum ss ]
Open to all students.
A historical survey of East European Jewish immigration to the United States (1881-1924). Regular readings will be supplemented by primary sources, immigrant fiction, and films. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Sarna

NEJS 185a Topics in Israeli Social and Political History
[ hum ]
Focuses on key topics in the shaping of the Israeli experience, including Zionist colonization; absorption of immigrants; shaping Jewish identity, personal and national, in a secular sense; and homeland/Diaspora relations. Comparative perspectives are employed. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Troen

NEJS 185b The Making of the Modern Middle East
[ hum nw ss ]
Open to all students.
Discusses the processes that led to the emergence of the modern Middle East: disintegration of Islamic society, European colonialism, reform and reaction, and the rise of nationalism and the modern states. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

NEJS 188a The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1800
[ hum nw ss ]
A historical survey of the Middle East from the establishment of the Ottoman Empire as the area's predominant power to 1800. Topics include Ottoman institutions and their transformation, and the Ottoman Empire as a world power. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Levy

POL 113b The American Presidency
[ ss ]
Philosophical and historical origins of the presidency, examining the constitutional role of the chief executive. Historical development of the presidency, particularly the emergence of the modern presidency during the twentieth century. Contemporary relationships between the presidency and the electorate, as well as the other branches of government. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kryder