Courses

Courses

Fall 2007 Courses

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014. The Atomic Bomb and American Society
David Hecht T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55 Searles-116
Explores the impact of the atomic bomb on American society, politics, and culture. Few aspects of post-World War II United States history were unaffected by the bomb, which decisively shaped the Cold War, helped define the military-industrial complex, and contributed to profound changes in the place of science in American life. Influence of the bomb can be seen, with surprisingly varied effects, throughout American society: in consumer culture, domestic politics, civil rights, and literature. Uses a wide range of sources—such as newspaper articles, interviews, memoirs, fiction, film, and policy debates—to examine the profound effects of the atomic bomb in American society.

016. From Montezuma to Bin Laden: Globalization and Its Critics
David Gordon T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Chase Barn Chamber
Examines the challenge that globalization and imperialism pose for the study of history. How do historians balance the perspectives of victors and victims in past and present processes of globalization? How important are non-European versions of the past that may contradict European Enlightenment historical ideas and ideals? Class discussions interrogate questions about globalization and imperialism raised by proponents and critics, ranging from the Spanish conquest of Mexico to the American conquest of Iraq.

020. In Sickness and in Health: Public Health in Europe and the United States
Susan Tananbaum M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55 CT-16 Whiteside Room
Introduces a variety of historical perspectives on illness and health. Considers the development of scientific knowledge, and the social, political, and economic forces that have influenced public health policy. Topics include epidemics, maternal and child welfare, AIDS, and national health care.

023. Voices of the Excluded: Latin American History through Testimonials
Sarah Sarzynski M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Searles-116
One of the consequences of social and economic inequalities in Latin America is the exclusion of millions of voices from the official documents used to write history. Testimonial literature, a literary genre where scholars create a written account of the life stories of marginalized individuals, is one source where it is possible to find the voices of women, the poor, certain racial/ethnic groups, and victims of human rights abuses. Examines related issues of memory, politics and truth, authorship, and first world/third world relations. Sources include Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu’s testimonial, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala; and testimonials of political prisoners in Argentina and Chile, ex-slaves in Cuba and Brazil, and guerrillas in Central America and Cuba.

029. The Jewish Diaspora: Unity and Diversity
Mitchell Numark T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55 Searles-115
What makes someone or something Jewish? How does one characterize or define something as “Jewish?” To what extent are/were definitions of “Jewishness” culturally, historically, and geographically contingent? Explores comparatively how the meaning of being Jewish changed over time and varied by place and circumstance. Examines how Jewish definitions of Jewishness in various Jewish communities (in the United States, England, Germany, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, China, and Ethiopia ) were informed by the ways in which non-Jews treated and perceived Jews.

139. The Civil War Era
Patrick Rael M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Mass-Faculty Room
Examines the coming of the Civil War and the war itself in all its aspects. Considers the impact of changes in American society, the sectional crisis and breakdown of the party system, the practice of Civil War warfare, and social ramifications of the conflict. Includes readings of novels and viewing of films. Students are expected to enter with a basic knowledge of American history, and a commitment to participating in large class discussions.

206. Early Modern Europe
Dallas Denery M 9:30 - 10:25, W 9:30 - 10:25, F 9:30 - 10:25 Searles-213
A survey of European culture and society from the later Middle Ages to the origins of the Enlightenment. Topics include the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific Revolution.

209. Cultures of Deception: The Court in European History
Dallas Denery M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25 Hubbard-22
Seminar. Often looked upon as the source of European (indeed, Western) notions of civility and etiquette, the court was also a place of intrigue, gratuitous backstabbing, and grand deception. Examines the Roman origins of courtly ideals and traces their development to the end of the Middle Ages.

210. Modernity and Its Critics
Paul Friedland M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55 Searles-116
Seminar. Explores the concept of modernity through the eyes of its greatest critics. Authors read include Rousseau, Burke, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Marx, Weber, Kafka, Freud, Benjamin, Adorno, Horkheimer, and Foucault.

216. The French Revolution
Paul Friedland M 10:30 - 11:25, W 10:30 - 11:25, F 10:30 - 11:25 Searles-213
In the turbulent and violent years from 1789 to 1815, France experienced virtually every form of government known to the modern world. After a brief overview of the old regime, the focus turns to exploration of the politics of the Revolution, as well as Revolutionary culture in general (the arts, theater, songs, fashion, the cult for the guillotine, attitudes towards race and gender). Uses texts and images, produced by the Revolutionaries themselves whenever possible.

224. The Modern Middle East: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Susan Tananbaum T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Searles-213
A historical overview of the Middle East during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Focuses on the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, the role of Islam, British rule in the region, Palestine, Jewish and Arab nationalism, the intifada, and ends with a brief review of contemporary issues.

239. Comparative Slavery and Emancipation
Patrick Rael T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Searles-313
Seminar. Examines slavery as a labor system and its relationship to the following: the emergence of market economies, definitions of race attendant to European commercial expansion, the cultures of Africans in the diaspora, slave control and resistance, free black people and the social structure of New World slave societies, and emancipation and its aftermath. Spends some time considering how historians have understood these crucial issues. Non-majors invited.

244. City, Anti-City, Utopia: Building Urban America
Jill Pearlman M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25 VAC-Beam Classroom
Explores the evolution of the American city from the beginning of industrialization to the present age of mass communications. Focuses on the underlying explanations for the American city's physical form by examining cultural values, technological advancement, aesthetic theories, and social structure. Major figures, places, and schemes in the areas of urban design and architecture, social criticism, and reform are considered.

248. Family and Community in American History, 1600-1900
Sarah McMahon M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-109
Examines the social, economic, and cultural history of American families from 1600 to 1900, and the changing relationship between families and their kinship networks, communities, and the larger society. Topics include gender relationships; racial, ethnic, cultural, and class variations in family and community ideals, structures, and functions; the purpose and expectations of marriage; philosophies of child-rearing; organization of work and leisure time; and the effects of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and social and geographic mobility on patterns of family life and community organization.

255. Modern Latin America
Sarah Sarzynski M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55 Sills-117
An introductory survey of the history of Latin America from the era of independence (c. 1800–1825) through the present day. Recurrent themes include colonialism and independence, nation- and state-building, liberalism, citizenship, economic development and modernization, social organization and stratification, race and ethnicity, gender relations, identity politics, reform and revolution, authoritarianism and democratization, and U.S.-Latin American relations. The course is divided in four main themes: Independence and Liberalism; Race, Slavery, and War; Populism and Nationalism; and the Cold War. Focuses on the negotiations and struggles for power between elite and popular groups as the catalyst that drove major historical change in Latin America from the nineteenth century to the present day.

261. Modern South Asia
Mitchell Numark T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Searles-115
Chronological and thematic introduction to the history of South Asia from the rise of British imperial power in the mid-eighteenth century to the present. Topics include the formation of a colonial economy and society; religious and social reform; the emergence of anti-colonial nationalism; the road to independence and partition; and issues of secularism, religious fundamentalisms, democracy, and inequality that have shaped post-colonial South Asian societies.

262. Africa and the Atlantic World, 1400–1880
David Gordon T 2:30 - 3:55, TH 2:30 - 3:55 Sills-205
A survey of historical developments before conquest by European powers, with a focus on west and central Africa. Explores the political, social, and cultural changes that accompanied the intensification of Atlantic Ocean trade and revolves around a controversy in the study of Africa and the Atlantic World: What influence did Africans have on the making of the Atlantic World, and in what ways did Africans participate in the slave trade? How were African identities shaped by the Atlantic World and by the slave plantations of the Americas? Ends by considering the contradictory effects of Abolition on Africa.

268. Asian American History, 1850-Present
Connie Chiang M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25 Searles-113
Surveys the history of Asian Americans from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Explores the changing experiences of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans within the larger context of American history. Major topics include immigration and migration, race relations, anti-Asian movements, labor issues, gender relations, family and community formation, resistance and civil rights, and representations of Asian Americans in American popular culture. Readings and course materials include scholarly essays and books, primary documents, novels, memoirs, and films.

270. Chinese Thought in the Classical Period
Kidder Smith M 8:00 - 9:25, W 8:00 - 9:25 Sills-117
An introduction to the competing schools of Chinese thought in the time of Confucius and his successors.

277. Trials of the Twentieth Century
David Hecht T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-117
Uses controversial legal cases to explore changing notions of justice, rights, and equality in twentieth-century America. Focuses on issues of race, class, science, Cold War politics, and foreign policy. Trials discussed include Sacco & Vanzetti, the Scopes Monkey Trial, the Rosenberg spy case, Watergate, and O. J. Simpson. Uses a variety of primary and secondary sources, such as trial transcripts, news coverage, memoirs, film, and literature.

332. Community in America, 1600–1900
Sarah McMahon T 1:00 - 3:55 CT-16 Harrison McCann
Explores the ideals and the social, economic, and cultural realities of community in American history, focusing on change, continuity, and racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity in community experience from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Examines the formation of new communities on a “frontier” that began on the Atlantic seaboard and gradually moved westward across the continent; the attempts to create alternative communities either separate from or contained within established communities; and the changing face of community that accompanied cultural diversity, expansion, modernization, urbanization, and suburbanization.

370. Problems in Chinese History
Kidder Smith T 8:30 - 11:25 Sills-Peucinian Room
Reviews the whole of Chinese history. Students develop their research skills and write a substantial research paper. Primarily for seniors.

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