Department of History

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

HIST 50b Race and America: Perspectives on United States History, Origins to the Present
[ dl ss ]

Investigates U.S. history in a wider world, from its origins to the present, starting with the premise that American History itself is a construct of modern empire. Only by investigating the roots of power and resistance can we understand the forces that deeply influence our world as we live it today. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 52b Europe in the Modern World
[ oc ss ]

Explores European history from the Enlightenment to the present emphasizing how developments in Europe have shaped and been shaped by broader global contexts. Topics include: revolution, industrialization, political and social reforms, nationalism, imperialism, legacies of global wars, totalitarianism, and decolonization. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 53a Labor, Land, and Money in Early America
[ ss ]

Examines the lives of the many distinct peoples that populated early America: Native nations, enslaved peoples, wives and widows, immigrants, and everyone else who inhabited the British colonies and, later, the United States. We will study how they worked, either to subsist their own households or to the benefit of masters. We will learn how settlers and states seized land with the aim of establishing farms and plantations, and how Indigenous peoples defended their territories against this fate. Finally, we will examine how money -- a term that meant many things in early America -- circulated throughout the continent's diverse societies, binding them together through trade, or fueling wars that drove them apart. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 54a History of Japan
[ oc ss ]

Charts the history of Japan from ancient times to the present. How did the people experience and understand migrations from the continent, the founding of the state, wars within and without, division and unification, modern revolution, emergence as the world’s first non-Western, modern empire, total war in the Asia-Pacific, postwar reemergence and economic resurgence, and the decades-long relative decline? We will approach the history of Japan in local, national, regional, and global contexts, examining how individuals made sense of these historical processes across lines of ethnicity, gender, and class, and how historians have analyzed and understood the past. Special one-time offering, fall 2026.

HIST 56b Rethinking World History (to 1960)
[ djw 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 year.

HIST 60a History of Korea
[ oc ss ]

How did there come to be two adversarial states on the Korean peninsula, one a prosperous democracy of global reach, and the other an impoverished dictatorship almost totally estranged from the international community, both claiming exclusive rights to speak for the Korean people and the Korean “nation” as a whole? This course introduces some of the most important historical and historiographical issues and debates in Korean history, from the ancient times to the present. Taking a civilizational approach, it seeks to place Korea in the context of regional and world history. It will thereby focus on Korea’s domestic developments as well as the roles played by outsiders, particularly those from China, Japan, the United States, and Russia (the Soviet Union) in shaping Korean history. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 61b A People's History of New England
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Studies the many people who shaped New England, yet are not known or commemorated today. We will consider their stories spatially, keeping in mind the changing landscape and human geography of the region once known to Indigenous peoples as the Dawnland. We will study migration to and from New England, work for wages and in bondage, women and gendered power, poverty and industrialization, Indigenous dispossession and survival, and consider the importance of memory and history for New England today. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 66a History of South Asia (2500 BCE - 1971)
[ djw nw oc ss ]

Introduces South Asian history from the earliest civilizations to the independence of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Surveys the formation of religious traditions, the establishment of kingdoms and empires, colonialism and its consequences, and post-independence political and economic development. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 71a Latin American and Caribbean History I: Colonialism, Slavery, Freedom
[ djw hum nw ss ]

Studies colonialism in Latin America and Caribbean, focusing on coerced labor and struggles for freedom as defining features of the period: conquest; Indigenous, African, and Asian labor; colonial institutions and economics; Independence and revolutionary movements. Usually offered every year.

HIST 71b Latin American and Caribbean History II: Modernity, Medicine, Sexuality
[ djw hum nw ss ]

Studies the idea of "modernity" in Latin America and Caribbean, centered on roles of health and human reproduction in definitions of the "modern" citizen: post-slavery labor, race and national identity; modern politics and economics; transnational relations. Usually offered every year.

HIST 80a Introduction to East Asian Civilization
[ djw dl hum nw ss ]

Offers a selective introduction to the development of major intellectual traditions, social and political institutions, and distinctive cultural achievements of continental East Asian regions—including China, Japan, Korea, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Mongolia—as well as the broader inter-regional maritime world, stretching from the Bohai Sea to the waters of Southeast Asia. Covers developments from early times to the beginning of the nineteenth century (1800). Usually offered every year.

HIST 80b East Asia in the Modern World
[ dl hum nw ss ]

Surveys East Asian history from the 1600 to the present. Compares Chinese, Korean, and Japanese encounters with forces of industrial capitalism, including colonialism, urbanization, and globalization, resulting in East Asia's distinctive cultural and social modernity. Usually offered every year.

HIST 92a Internship in History

History internships allow students to gain work experience and to improve their writing and analytical skills. Although non-credit internships are an option, students seeking course credit must obtain approval from the History internship supervisor in advance, and normally complete some written work under the supervision of a faculty sponsor. Students may count one HIST 92a toward completion of the major or minor. Usually offered every semester.

HIST 95a History Research Internship

Yields half-course credit.

Usually offered every year.

HIST 98a Readings in History

Usually offered every year.

HIST 98b Readings in History

Yields half-course credit. Usually offered every year.

HIST 99d Senior Research

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.

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

AAAS/HIS 131a African Americans and Health
[ ss ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took AAAS 131a in prior years.

Examines African American health experiences from the 17th century to the present, with a focus on the strategies and practices African Americans have employed to improve their health. Explores the historical development of 'racial' diseases and inequalities. Topics include: slave health, the black hospital movement, eugenics, midwifery, and the crack and opioid epidemics. Usually offered every second year.

AAAS/HIS 154b Race, Science, and Society
[ deis-us ss ]

May not be taken for credit by students who took AAAS 154b in prior years.

Traces scientific concepts of race from the 18th century to today, interrogating their uses and transformations over time. It explores how science has defined race, how people have challenged such conceptions, and alternate ways for understanding human difference. Usually offered every second year.

AAPI/HIS 163a Asian American History
[ deis-us dl ss ]

Provides students an introduction to the history and study of Asian persons in the United States from the mid-19th century to the present, with a focus on how their presence has shaped American institutions, society, and culture. We ask: How does our narrative of the United States shift when we center the experiences of Asian Americans—a group largely excluded or invisibilized in discussions of our nation’s collective past? How does studying Asian Americans push us to think about race and inequality beyond a Black-white binary? How does understanding anti-Asian racism inform our understanding of the US as a gatekeeping nation, at the same time the nation’s leaders purport it to be a melting pot and nation of immigrants? How do global politics and US imperial ventures into Asia—from formal colonial rule in the 19th century to US-waged wars and military interventions abroad in the 20th century—create waves of displaced peoples who are pushed towards America’s shores? Key themes and major events covered in this course include Orientalism, migrant labor, nativism and xenophobia, Chinese exclusion, US colonial empire, Japanese internment, the Cold War, refugees, the Asian American movement, anti-Asian violence and the murder of Vincent Chin, Asian/Black relations and the 1992 LA uprising, religion, islamophobia, the Global War on Terror, and much more. Usually offered every second year.

AAPI/HIS 171a The United States in the Pacific World
[ deis-us djw ss ]

How have U.S. imperial ventures—cultural, military, political, and economic—reconfigured local societies and geographies? What are the afterlives of those ventures and how have they reverberated between American society and the Pacific World? To answer these questions, this course explores the history of American incursion into places such as China, Hawai’i, the Philippines, Guam, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Sāmoa from the nineteenth century to present. We explore issues such as militarism and empire, labor and commerce, race and inequality, intimacy and sex, as well as migration, culture, and identity both in and across the Pacific Ocean. In focusing on the lasting legacies and human consequences of this contact, this course will allow students to: (1) think critically about US power (or what many scholars have called US empire) in the world, (2) deepen their understandings of the multiracial history and character of the United States, and (3) place the American experience within a larger global context. Usually offered every second year.

AAPI/HIS 186b Legacies of the Korean War
[ deis-us djw ss ]

The Korean War is often called “The Forgotten War” within U.S. historical memory. But to Koreans, the war was too brutal to be forgotten—resulting in nearly 3 million civilian casualties, mass movement, national division, and the unprecedented militarization of North and South Korean society. Today, Koreans and Americans alike are living with the consequences of a war that is still ongoing. Through insightful and accessible scholarship, media and news reports, oral histories, memoir, and other cultural productions, this class explores the social memory, lasting legacies, and human consequences of the Korean War in a transnational context. Usually offered every second year.

HIS/HSSP 142a Health Activism
[ deis-us oc ss ]

Formerly offered as HSSP 142a.

Examines the history of health activism in the U.S. over the past 125 years, from late 19th century debates over compulsory vaccination to contemporary public health campaigns around gang violence and incarceration. Usually offered every third year.

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.

HIST 109b A Global History of Sport: Politics, Economy, Race and Culture
[ deis-us djw nw oc ss ]

Examines soccer, boxing, baseball, cricket and other sports to reflect on culture, politics, race, and globalization. With a focus on empire, gender, ethnicity, this course considers sport as the battleground for ideological and group contests. Usually offered every second year.

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.

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.

HIST 111b The Iranian Revolution in Global Context
[ djw dl nw ss ]

The 1979 revolution in Iran was the last great revolution of the 20th century that reverberates until today. We examine the roots of that revolution, and the nature of the state and society that resulted from it within a broader global context. The first two units focus on pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Iran, particularly the 1960s and 1970s, examining national and global forces that laid the groundwork for the 1979 revolution. We also analyze the multiple narratives of the revolution itself—as an Islamic movement, an anti-monarchical movement, and an anti-imperialist movement. In the final unit, we look at some of the characteristics of the Islamic Republic and the global tensions that have resulted from its specific historical development. Usually offered every second year.

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.

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.

HIST 113b Crazy Rich Europeans: Wealth and Inequality in Modern History
[ djw oc ss ]

Brings together insights from modern European and Asian history, business, economics, and sociology. We will investigate the changing role, power, and composition of social elites in history and how they impacted workers, colonial populations, women, and urban landscapes in the past two centuries. We will study how actors as diverse as fashion models, Russian oligarchs, and powerful bankers gain their status and influence. We will also discuss the origins of global social inequality, including the ‘great divergence’ debate on Chinese and European modernization. How do we get from ‘Crazy Rich Europeans’ to ‘Crazy Rich Asians’? Usually offered every year.

HIST 114b Histories of American Capitalism
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Explores the history of American capitalism as it developed from the colonial period to the near present. We will follow three main analytical themes through the centuries: racial capitalism; the role of the state in shaping economic development; and the function of social reproduction and other unwaged work in commercial societies. As we engage central historiographic debates about the timing and location of the transition to capitalism in the United States, we will use the concept of capitalism as a tool to better understand and differentiate the wide range of economic systems that have existed in the nation’s history. Topics include: the rise of wage labor and the expansion of markets; slavery and emancipation; territorial conquest; technological and infrastructural development; the rise of big business and organized labor; alternative labor regimes and the experience of work; the economic dimensions of gender, race, and other categories of social difference; social welfare policy; and recent developments in deindustrialization, globalization, and income inequality. Usually offered every year.

HIST 115b War and Gender in U.S. History
[ deis-us ss wi ]

Examines the ways that military conflict has both shaped and been shaped by gender norms and roles in the course of U.S. history, from colonial wars to contemporary conflicts. We will analyze how wars have influenced gender expectations, identities, and experiences for various groups including American service members, civilians, and people around the world affected by U.S. military operations. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 116b The History and Politics of Infrastructure in the United States
[ deis-us ss ]

Infrastructure is meant to recede into the background of civic life. But seemingly innocuous projects like roads, railways, electric grids, or even schools arose across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they became crucial nodes of colonial power, sites of enslavement and racial segregation, and of the policing of gender. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, states started to cede infrastructure to capitalist firms, privatizing key utilities and, increasingly, demurring from the responsibility to regulate these firms. By digging up the hidden history of infrastructural development, this class will reframe how we conceptualize the role of government in laying out the foundations for social activity, and give us the tools to intervene in contemporary debates over who should build, control, and maintain our infrastructure. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 117b The History of Modern Christianity
[ ss ]

Christianity is the common culture of about a third of the world’s population. The evolution of Christianity is a wonderful illustration of the history of ideas, and the way an ideology adapts itself to the needs of its followers. Usually offered every second year.

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.

HIST 121a Breaking the Rules: Deviance and Nonconformity in Premodern Europe
[ djw 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.

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.

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.

HIST 124b Universities and Colonialism
[ deis-us ss ]

Brandeis, like every university or college in North America, sits on Native land. This course provides a primer to the history of that land and its people, while inviting your original research on a specific question: How have universities played a role in colonialism? To answer this question, you will undertake an independent or small-group research project on a topic of your choosing related to universities and colonialism, preferably (but not mandatorily) one located in New England. The audience for your research will be your campus community: peers, staff, and faculty who might seek context when crafting a land acknowledgment for Brandeis’ Indigenous hosts. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 125b Europe in the Global Cold War
[ deis-us ss ]

Offers a thematic overview of the history of the post-1945 period in Europe’s East and West, and situates these histories in their global contexts, such as decolonization, environmental change (Chornobyl catastrophe) the struggle of the USSR and the US, the Vietnam War, and debates on the “end of history” around 1989. We will study how events that started in Eastern and East-Central Europe, such as the Russian Revolution, World War II, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union triggered political and social changes in China, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world. Through reading diplomatic correspondence, pamphlets, memoirs and literature written by dissidents, party members, and politicians, as well as by watching and reflecting on media footage, we will examine how the Cold War and 1989 ushered in a new world order that is here with us up to the present. The course also focuses on how European states East and West rebuilt ties with the “Global South” through socialist solidarity, development aid and investments, and how the Cold War shapes the institutions and politics of the European Union up to the present. Usually offered every year.

HIST 126a Early Modern Europe (1500-1700)
[ oc 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.

HIST 127a Women and Gender in Modern China
[ ss ]

Explores the social, cultural, and political changes in the role of women in modern China, situating these transformations within the broader context of China’s modern history and the global landscape. The central question guiding our inquiry is: What insights can be gained by prioritizing gender as a category in historical analysis? We will examine the evolution of social practices and institutions that have influenced gender norms in modern China, including family dynamics, marriage, and educational structures. Additionally, we will trace the development of intellectual and ideological discourses produced by women seeking agency throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, investigating the impact of feminist movements on shaping modern China. Course materials will include biographies, intellectual-political debates, artistic expressions, literature, and social scientific studies. Usually offered every year.

HIST 128a A Spatial History of the Modern U.S.
[ dl oc ss ]

What happens when we approach American history through categories of place rather than periods time? Organized around contemporary categories of land use, this seminar explores how the United States’ landscape came to be. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 129b Ghosts, Graphic Literature, and Black History
[ dl ss wi ]

Centers the study of the African Diaspora through the medium of graphic literature. Topics include slavery and resistance, civil rights, gender and reproduction, and migration. Covers seventeenth century to the early twentieth century. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 130b Crime and Punishment in U.S. History
[ deis-us ss ]

The United States incarcerates more of its people per capita than any other nation on the planet. How did this come to be? This course examines how Americans have defined, represented, and punished crime, from the birth of the penitentiary to the present day. We will discuss an eclectic mix of historical texts and genres ' criminal codes, trial records, true-crime journalism, historical studies, social theory, urban sociology, and films. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 131b The Global Gandhi
[ oc ss ]

Explores the life, teachings, and global legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. We will study how Gandhi developed his unorthodox religious beliefs and practices, how he led India's independence movement and inspired global leaders with his principle of nonviolent civil disobedience, and how he faced criticisms and controversies over his views on caste, gender, and sexuality. The course will aim to present a balanced perspective on Gandhi by evaluating his contributions and challenges to the issues of nonviolence, justice, and ecology in the contemporary world. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 132a The Stuff of Dreams: Consumerism in the Modern U.S.
[ ss ]

This lecture and discussion course explores the evolution of consumer life in the 20th century U.S. – how it has shaped American culture and politics, and how it has been shaped by them in turn. Tracking changes in mass production, marketing, and mass media, we will ask how Americans’ lives changed as they adopted new ways of consuming goods, food, clothing, housing, transportation, entertainment, and culture. We will also explore historical perspectives on consumerism, considering both celebratory and critical perspectives on its social and environmental impacts. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 134b The Ottomans: From Principality to Republic by Way of Empire
[ ss ]

Starting around the year 1300, the Ottomans grew from a tiny principality into a global Islamic empire by the mid-sixteenth century, and in 1923 transformed into the modern Republic of Türkiye. Ottoman history is the history of southeastern Europe, Anatolia, the Middle East, and most of North Africa, including the Mediterranean, the Black, Red, and Caspian Seas, along with the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean. This course explores the arc of this 600-year history as it considers what enabled the Ottomans and their many constituent communities to emerge and flourish, as well as the processes that eventually tore the empire apart. By the end of the course, students will appreciate Ottoman legacies to modern and contemporary politics, economics, arts and architecture, language, food, and more. These legacies are local, regional, and global, with a direct influence on more than two dozen modern nations. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 135b Get Up, Stand Up: A Century of Revolutions in the Middle East
[ djw nw oc ss ]

An examination of the various revolutions that have shaped the modern Middle East since the late 19th century. The course focuses on four different revolutionary moments: The constitutional revolutions of the turn of the century, the anti-colonial revolutions of mid-century, the radical revolutions of the 1970's, and most recently, the Arab Spring revolutions that have affected the region since 2011. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 136b Global War and Revolutions in the Eighteenth Century
[ djw oc ss wi ]

Surveys global conflicts and revolutions and examines exchanges of idea, peoples, and goods in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World. Explores the legacies of inter-imperial rivalry and the intellectual borrowings and innovations of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions in comparative perspective. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 137b World War I
[ ss wi ]

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.

HIST 138b History of Korea-Japan Relations
[ oc ss ]

Explores Japan and Korea’s troubled yet intimately connected histories from the earliest times to the present. Delving into the often overlooked yet indispensable connections between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean peninsula, this course will also situate the multinational history of Korea-Japan relations within the broader currents of world history by also examining how they have responded to the challenges and opportunities coming from abroad. Usually offered every year.

HIST 142a Crime, Deviance, and Confinement in Modern Europe
[ ss ]

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.

HIST 144b Native North America
[ deis-us ss ]

Explores the history of peoples Indigenous to Turtle Island, or the lands known today as the United States. Over five hundred years, settlers carried out an invasion of the Native Old World, a place in which diverse Indigenous people developed robust civilizations and dealt with complex geopolitical rivalries. Contrary to settler assumptions, however, Indigenous peoples did not disappear in the face of European encroachment, nor did they consolidate into a singular stereotyped Indian figure. For this reason, our course will trace the diverse evolutions of distinct Indigenous societies as a result of their ordeals with colonization. In short, we will encounter the many Native New Worlds that emerged and endure today. Usually offered every year.

HIST 147a Russian Empire: Gender, Minorities, and Globalization
[ djw dl oc ss ]

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.

HIST 147b Twentieth-Century Russia: Revolution, Nationality, Global Power
[ dl oc 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.

HIST 152b The European Occult Tradition, 1200-2021
[ ss ]

Is the universe alive? Yes...according to the European occult tradition, a coherent intellectual stream that has roots in religion, philosophy and history and the more supernatural elements of conventional religion, such as providence, prophecy and messianism. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 153b Slavery and the American Civil War: #1619 Project
[ deis-us dl ss ]

A hard look at American slavery from the Middle Passage to Mass Incarceration, plus an investigation into the Civil War through the lens of Black self-emancipation. Uses the tools and insights from #1619 Project. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 157b Marginalized Voices and the Writing of History
[ deis-us dl ss wi ]

Seeks to understand not only the system but the inner lives and cultures of slaves within that system. This course is a reading-intensive seminar examining both primary and secondary sources on American slaves. Focuses on the American South but includes sources on the larger African diaspora. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 158b Social History of the Confederate States of America
[ deis-us dl 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.

HIST 159b Modern African American History
[ deis-us ss ]

Introduces students to some of the key social, political, economic, and cultural moments that defined the African American experience in the United States, 1865 through the present. Through the use of primary and secondary source materials, critical surveys, lectures, and guided discussion, this class highlights the richness and significance of the African American history. This course covers a diverse array of key themes and topics including: Reconstruction and segregation; the Great Migration; the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Feminist movements; black political power; mass incarceration and the surveillance state; and Hip Hop culture. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 160a American Legal History I
[ deis-us 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.

HIST 160b American Legal History II
[ deis-us 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.

HIST 161b American Political History
[ deis-us 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.

HIST 162a Writing on the Wall: Histories of Graffiti in the Americas
[ djw dl ss ]

Focuses on the history of graffiti in the U.S. from 1960s forward. Includes the historical role of Caribbean migration, the impact of criminology and economic recession of the 1970s on graffiti culture, and the relationship between private property, public space, and graffiti. Usually offered every second year.

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.

HIST 166a History of Crises: Europe's Twentieth Century
[ djw nw ss ]

Systematically tackles the main turning points of Western and Eastern Europe’s modern history and their global impact. The focus is on the first half of the twentieth century, and the histories of the First and Second World Wars that still shape contemporary world politics today. We will also touch on the histories of colonialism, totalitarianism, the Ukrainian famine under Stalin, the Holocaust, and "moral panics" around changing gender roles. Analyzes both primary sources and the most recent scholarly debates. Requirements include a book review and a short research paper. Usually offered every year.

HIST 168b America in the Progressive Era: 1890-1920
[ deis-us 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.

HIST 172b Historicizing the Black Radical Tradition
[ djw ss ]

Introduces students to the many ways that people and scholars of African descent have historically struggled against racial oppression by formulating theories, philosophies, and practices of liberation rooted in their experiences and understandings of labor, capitalism, and modernity. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 173a What's the Big Ideas? People and Concepts You Should Know About from Darwin to Derrida
[ ss ]

The history of ideas stands at the intersection of several disciplines: philosophy, literature, religion and history. Beliefs and their expression drive action in the real world, and grasping how they connect sparks an intellectual excitement that can literally be life-enhancing. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 173b Digital History, Digital Historians: What's it All About?
[ dl ss ]

"Digital Humanities" are becoming widespread as a research approach to history. These qualitative and quantitative methods offer historians new research insights and efficiencies. This course explores Digital Humanities through reading, discussion, and experimentation to discover their strengths and weaknesses. Usually offered every year.

HIST 174b History Lab: Research and Writing in History
[ dl ss ]

Topics change from year to year. Refer to the schedule of classes for more information.

Offers a unique opportunity to engage in real historical research. Through research into key themes in history, it introduces components of the historian's craft, opens up archives and exposes students to the exciting field of digital humanities research. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 175b Resistance and Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Focuses on questions of race, gender and modernity in resistance movements and revolutions in Latin American and Caribbean history. The Haitian Revolution, Tupac Amaru Rebellion, and Vaccination Riots in Brazil are some topics that will be covered. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 176a Haiti and the Modern Caribbean
[ djw ss ]

Studies how Haitian political thought traveled throughout and the Caribbean in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the themes we will thus encounter include: race and the formation of nation-states in the 19th century Caribbean; the place of Haiti in the world economy; Haiti-US diplomatic relations; and interactions, antagonisms, and entwined histories of Haiti with other Caribbean societies. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 178b Britain and India: Connected Histories
[ djw oc ss wi ]

Surveys the history of Britain and India from the rise of the East India Company to the present. Explores cultural and economic exchanges; shifts in power and phases of imperial rule; resistance and collaboration; nationalism; decolonization and partition; and postcolonial legacies. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 179a Labor, Gender, and Exchange in the Atlantic World, 1600-1850
[ deis-us 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.

HIST 179b India and the Superpowers (USA, USSR, and China): 1947 and Beyond
[ nw ss ]

Examines the history of modern India through its relationships with the "superpowers," USA, USSR, and China. Covering the period between 1947-2018, the course analyses ideological, economic, foreign policy shifts and subcontinental conflict in a constantly changing geo-political scene. Usually offered every second year.

Avinash Singh

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.

HIST 182b Modern China
[ djw nw ss ]

Surveys Chinese history from the Ming to Mao, with an emphasis on political, social, cultural, and literary trends; and attention toward ethnic minorities and overseas communities and diaspora. Usually offered every year.

HIST 183a Empire at the Margins: Borderlands in Late Imperial China
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Explores Ming and Qing China's frontiers with Japan, Korea, Inner Asia, Vietnam, and the ocean from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, examining the role of borderlands in forging the present-day multiethnic Chinese state and East Asian national identities. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 184a Silk, Silver, and Slaves: China and the Industrial Revolution
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Examines why industrial capitalism, which underpins the current world order, first developed in Western Europe rather than China. Comparative treatment of commercialization, material culture, cities, political economies, and contingencies on both ends of Eurasia in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 184b Swashbuckling Adventurers or Sea Bandits? The Chinese Pirate in Global Perspective
[ nw ss wi ]

Explores the commercial role, political economy, social structure, and national imaginations of the Chinese pirate situated in both world history and in comparison to "piracies" elsewhere. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 185a The China Outside China: Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Diaspora in the Making of Modern China
[ djw nw ss wi ]

Studies the history of Chinese outside Mainland China, from Hong Kong and Taiwan to Siberia and Africa, from fifteenth century to present day. Ambivalence to ancestral and adopted homelands made these communities valuable agents of transnational exchange and embodiments of Chinese modernity. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 185b Turkey: From Ataturk to Erdogan
[ djw ss ]

Examines the history of the Turkish Republic, from its founding in the wake of World War I until the beginning of the 21st century. Through discussions of politics, economics, society and culture, the course studies the forces that shaped and reshaped Turkey. Like the Ottoman Empire from which it emerged, Turkey has attracted the attention of admirers and detractors alike. Meanwhile, it has played key roles and continues to be an important economic, political and cultural hub in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the world. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 186a Europe in World War II
[ dl ss wi ]

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.

HIST 187a Frenemy States: Identity and Integration in East Asia
[ ss wi ]

Examines the emergence and development of distinct national identities in East Asia. We focus upon key transformative moments and events in the histories of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam from the dawn of time to the early twentieth century. Usually offered every third year.

HIST 187b Unequal Histories: Caste, Religion, and Dissent in India
[ djw dl nw oc ss ]

Examines the religious, political, and social dimensions of discrimination in India. In order to study caste, power, and representation, we will look at religious texts, historical debates, film, and literature from the Vedic Age to contemporary India. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 188b The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1350-1900
[ ss ]

How do you talk about religion after Darwin, when science has replaced religion as the authoritative discourse, but most people everywhere adhere to some sort of religious belief? By reading together The Varieties of Religious experience (1902) by William James. Usually offered every third year.

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.

HIST/IGS 180b Modern India: From Partition to the Present
[ djw dl nw oc ss ]

Examines the history, culture, and economy of modern India (1947-2019) with a focus on key concerns, such as the environment, urbanization, gender/sexual relations, and the transformations of democratic politics. Usually offered every second year.

HIST/JOUR 163a The Road to September 11th and Beyond: History and Media
[ djw oc ss ]

The September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center ushered in two U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and drained the U.S. Treasury of at least $8 trillion. 9/11 radically changed the dynamics between the U.S. and the Middle East, along with those between the press and military and government officials. Co-taught by a historian of modern Middle East and a journalist who extensively covered these events, this course aims to give students a fresh lens for examining the history and the aftermath of this crucial event from both a Middle Eastern and American perspective. Usually offered every second year.

HIST/SOC 170b Gender and Sexuality in South Asia
[ djw nw ss ]

Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or permission of the instructor.

Explores historical and contemporary debates about gender and sexuality in South Asia; revisits concepts of "woman," "sex," "femininity," "home," "family," "community," "nation," "reform," "protection," and "civilization" across the colonial and postcolonial periods. Usually offered every second year.

HIST/WGS 120b Queer History in the United States
[ deis-us dl oc ss ]

Traces shifting concepts and practices of gender and sexual deviance in the United States from the colonial period to the present. We will treat queer identity and experience as a topic of historical inquiry as well as a theoretical problem, following the way that currently distinct concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality historically defined each other in shifting configurations. Topics include: queer life and concepts of gender and sexuality before Stonewall; the emergence of the categories of heterosexuality and homosexuality, and later transgender identity; the dependence of gender and sexual categories on class and racial categories; the mechanisms of state and informal policing of gender and sexual norms; the creation of social movements around queer an0d gender-nonconforming identities; attitudes towards gender nonconformity in the gay rights and feminist movements of the seventies; the AIDS Crisis and activist responses to it; and the politics of contemporary representations of the history of queer and transgender struggle. Usually offered every year.

(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students

GSAS 360c Article Publication Workshop

Full year course. Yields two credits per semester. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. May be repeated for credit. Students should check with their departments about whether or not the course will fulfill any degree requirements.

Open to PhD, including ABD, and MA students in all Humanities, Arts, and Humanistic Social Sciences graduate programs.

This proseminar/workshop will meet every other week and introduce graduate students to the larger philosophy, as well as the nuts and bolts, of academic publication. Each student should come to the class with an academic journal article project in mind and aim to send out the article to a journal by the end of the year (or earlier!). We will workshop the papers in class, and peer review will be an essential component of coursework. Discussions will be general as well as field-specific.

HIST 200a Colloquium in Early American History

An examination of major themes in the historiography of the North American colonies and the United States before the Civil War. Topics vary from year to year. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 200b Colloquium in Modern U.S. History

An examination of major themes in the historiography of the United States since the Civil War. Topics vary from year to year. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 201a Major Problems in American Legal History
[ ss ]

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.

HIST 205b Introduction to Doctoral Studies

Examines major problems in the study of history. Usually offered every year.

HIST 209b Empires: Boundaries and Belonging

Explores the diverse ways that the boundaries of overseas empires were constructed and asserted between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Topics include: possession, sovereignty, treaties, passports, mapping, captivity, gender, family intimacies, and conceptions of difference. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 210a Historical Methods

Provides an introduction to research methods and new pioneering approaches (conceptual, methodological, thematic) in historical scholarship. Open to students in other graduate programs seeking to add a sophisticated historical dimension to their research in the humanities and social sciences. Usually offered every year.

HIST 215a Colloquium in 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.

HIST 217a Topics in the World Wars, 1914-1945

This graduate seminar explores the two world wars of the twentieth century and the links between them. Covering Eurasia, North America, and the Pacific, it examines national pathways into the wars, the connections between domestic crisis and foreign policy, collective impacts and memory, and the presence of total war in the twentieth century.

HIST 217b Archives: History, Theory, and Practice

Examines archives from a multidisciplinary perspective to understand both the theory behind the formation and use of archives, and also the ways in which varied approaches to archives shape the questions we ask and limit/expand the meanings we glean from them. The goal of the seminar is to expand students' notions of what constitutes archives and what archival research means for various disciplines and geographies. The seminar is aimed at graduate students from both the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 218a Empires and Indigeneity

Examines the histories of diverse empires with a focus on the experiences of the Indigenous peoples who lived within them. The course offers a broad historical survey in terms of geography and chronology, and will address the methodological, conceptual, and ethical considerations that inform scholarship on Indigenous peoples. While primarily historical, the course should offer valuable preparation for graduate students interested in the topic from other disciplines. Usually offered every year.

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.

HIST 223a Quantifying Globalization: Methods and Metrics

Seeks to develop a quantitative global perspective for research and teaching. The sessions provide hands-on training in the abundant transnational datasets that abound not only for the current period, but for modern history and earlier periods as well. Usually offered every second year.

HIST 225b Twentieth-Century Christianity: Secularization and Globalization

offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of twentieth-century Christianity, the goal being to elucidate the patterns and dynamics of expansion and crisis. It draws upon the profusion of new cutting-edge research in multiple fields, all directed toward elucidating how secularization (and desecularization) as well as globalization have reconfigured and transformed what was once primarily European Christianity. Usually offered every fourth year.

HIST 230a Capital Cities in History

Open only to graduate students.

What is a capital city? Most people have no problem naming several capital cities, whether they are county, state, national or imperial, contemporary or historical, official or unofficial. You may have heard of summer and winter capitals. Yet when we stop to consider what 'capital' means, what makes a capital exactly that, many possibilities emerge. Does anything unite them? And what roles did they play in the history of the places for which they were capital? This seminar explores the idea and phenomenon of 'capital city' in order to problematize and defamiliarize this term, that is, to cast doubt on the assumption that it is a universal concept whose meaning, form and role are shared across polities and cultures.

HIST 300e Directed Research for PhD Students

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 adviser. Usually offered every year.

HIST 301c PhD Dissertation Writers' Seminar

Prerequisites: ABD status, at least one drafted dissertation chapter ready to share.

Advances doctoral student training through the medium of shared dissertation chapters. Participants practice close reading, critical thinking, attentive editing, and lucid writing. Usually offered every year.

HIST 301d Directed Research for MA Students: Master's Thesis

Year-long research project designed to provide experience in designing, researching, and writing a substantial essay of a monographic character, based on extensive use of primary sources. Students select a specific research topic in consultation with the adviser. The course covers two semesters, with one course credit given in each term. Usually offered every year.

HIST 302a Directed Research for MA Students: Master's Essay

Semester-long research project culminating in a Master's essay. Students select a specific research topic in consultation with the adviser. Usually offered every semester.

HIST 320a Readings in History

Usually offered every term. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.

HIST 320b Readings in History

Usually offered every term. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.

HIST 340a Teaching in History

Usually offered every term. Supervised graduate teaching in history.

HIST 340b Teaching in History

Usually offered every term. Supervised graduate teaching in history.

HIST 393g Graduate Internship

Permission of the graduate advising head required. Yields quarter-course credit.

Offers graduate students the opportunity to engage in research in the practice of public history through the completion of a paid or an unpaid internship lasting a minimum of ten weeks. This internship must be approved and monitored by a faculty member. Usually offered every year.

HIST 401d Dissertation Research

Usually offered every semester. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.

HIST Digital Literacy