History (HIST)

* HIST 001b / AFAM 095b, African American Freedom Movements in the Twentieth CenturyCrystal Feimster

Introduction to the study and writing of history, focusing on how African Americans fought for civil rights throughout the twentieth century. The civil rights movement placed in its historical context; African American freedom struggles placed in the larger narrative of U.S. history. Enrollment limited to freshmen. Preregistration required; see under Freshman Seminar Program.  HU
MW 1pm-2:15pm

* HIST 006a / HSHM 005a, Medicine and Society in American HistoryRebecca Tannenbaum

Disease and healing in American history from colonial times to the present. The changing role of the physician, alternative healers and therapies, and the social impact of epidemics from smallpox to AIDS. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* HIST 012a / AMST 012a, Politics and Society in the United States after World War IIJennifer Klein

Introduction to American political and social issues from the 1940s to the present, including political economy, civil rights, class politics, and gender roles. Legacies of the New Deal as they played out after World War II; the origins, agenda, and ramifications of the Cold War; postwar suburbanization and its racial dimensions; migration and immigration; cultural changes; social movements of the Right and Left; Reaganism and its legacies; the United States and the global economy. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  HU
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 016a / AFAM 060a / AMST 060a, Slavery in the ArchivesEdward Rugemer

This first-year seminar explores the significance of racial slavery in the history of the Americas during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We read the work of historians and we explore archival approaches to the study of history. Taught in the Beinecke Library with the assistance of curators and librarians, each week is organized around an archival collection that sheds light on the history of slavery. The course also includes visits to the Department of Manuscripts and Archives in the Sterling Library, the British Art Center, and the Yale University Art Gallery.  Each student writes a research paper grounded in archival research in one of the Yale Libraries. Topics include slavery and slaveholding, the transatlantic slave trade, resistance to slavery, the abolitionist movement, the coming of the American Civil War, the process of emancipation, and post-emancipation experiences.  Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* HIST 018b / AMST 019b, Commodities as U.S. HistoryMatthew Jacobson

American social, cultural, and political history introduced through study of the production, distribution, and consumption of common commodities. Topics include political economy, slavery, industrialization, labor, the rise of the corporation, the growth of the administrative and regulatory state, geopolitics, foreign policy, and cultural change. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  RP
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 020a, Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval SpainHussein Fancy

It is widely believed that Jews, Christians, Muslims lived together in relative harmony for significant periods of medieval Spanish history, that they experienced what has been called convivencia. What is more, the argument continues, because of this harmony, all benefited materially and culturally from diversity and interaction. Through careful reading of primary sources, students take a critical look at convivencia as both historical concept and practice. To what degree did tolerance exist in medieval Spain? And perhaps more critically, what do religious interactions in the distant past tell us about the possibilities for religious tolerance in the future. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 030a / EAST 030a, TokyoDaniel Botsman

Four centuries of Japan's history explored through the many incarnations, destructions, and rebirths of its foremost city. Focus on the solutions found by Tokyo's residents to the material and social challenges of concentrating such a large population in one place. Tensions between continuity and impermanence, authenticity and modernity, and social order and the culture of play. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* HIST 031a, What Makes An American?: U.S. National Identity, Founding to PresentAlvita Akiboh

What makes someone an “American”? This question has plagued the United States since its inception. Most countries, in constructing their national identity, point to shared language, culture, or ethnicity. The United States, on the other hand, has been called a “nation of immigrants,” a “melting pot,” or a “mosaic.” These terms seek to describe how disparate groups of people from all over the globe have come together to form a nation. In this course, students grapple with questions of who has been considered “American” at different points in U.S. history, how the boundaries of this U.S national community have been policed, and why those boundaries have changed over time to allow some to become American while continuing to exclude others. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
HTBA

* HIST 034b, Cuba from Slavery to RevolutionAnne Eller

Cuba’s rich history from the early colonial period to the present. Topics include colonialism, slavery, independence, emancipation, the Cuban Revolution, and the nation's relationship with the United States. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 9am-10:15am

* HIST 041b, The Americas in the Age of RevolutionsMarcela Echeverri Munoz

The connections, contrasts, and legacies of revolutions in the British, French, and Spanish Atlantic empires in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Interactions between liberalism, black politics and antislavery, indigenous autonomy and citizenship, and revolutions in the Atlantic world between the 1760s and 1880s. Topics include the foundations of the Atlantic empires, strands of anticolonialism across the Americas, social aspects of the revolutionary movements, abolitionism and emancipation processes, and relations between the emergent American nations. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
MW 4pm-5:15pm

* HIST 042b, The War in Ukraine and the Problem of EvilMarci Shore

When in November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, political scientist Francis Fukuyama spoke of “the end of History.” Somewhat deftly we replaced one Hegelian narrative with another, now with a telos of peacefully coexistent liberal democracies bound together by free trade. February 24th, 2022 brought an end to the postcommunist narrative arc. “The world is experiencing a turning point,” German chancellor Olaf Scholz announced. This turning point is the end of the “the end of History.” We now know that there is no such thing as a liberal teleology of progress. Fascism and totalitarianism are no less real today for taking on a postmodern form than they were nearly a century ago. The fall of what Ronald Reagan called the Evil Empire—the most far-reaching social engineering experiment ever performed on mankind—has not brought about the dissolution of evil. This seminar examines the war in Ukraine largely from an intellectual history perspective, with attention to the meaning of the Soviet experiment; the rise of new regimes of tyranny drawing upon post-truth; what Hannah Arendt calls “natality” and the uniquely human capacity for action; and the problem of evil in a postmodern world. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
MW 9am-10:15am

* HIST 061b, Information Revolutions: From the Origins of Writing to the Digital AgeMichael Printy

This course explores the history of information and its organization from the origins of writing to the present day. The course focuses on technologies of knowledge and information sharing (or hoarding) as they are embedded in social and political contexts, with an emphasis on paradigm shifts and on losses and gains as new systems of information organization replace old ones. The thematic focus is on the Western tradition and on scholarly knowledge, though students may explore other traditions and parts of the world in their research projects. Class structure consists of discussion of theoretical and historical readings selected by experts followed by hands-on interaction with special collection materials and site visits. The course introduces students to the multiple collections, curators, and librarians at Yale and serves to deepen their understanding of the modern research library. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* HIST 068a, The Global Gandhi: Histories of Nonviolent ResistanceSunil Amrith

At a time of rising violence and polarization both within and between nations, what can we learn from the history of nonviolent political action? This course examines the life and the afterlives of Mohandas (“Mahatma”) Gandhi, who led India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule. Gandhi’s practice of nonviolent struggle was shaped by multiple influences—by reading Thoreau and Tolstoy, by his experiences as a migrant Indian lawyer and journalist in South Africa, as well as by multiple Indian religious traditions. In turn, after his death Gandhi became an icon and an inspiration for political movements around the world, including the Civil Rights movement in the US and the anti-Apartheid struggle in South Africa.  HU
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

* HIST 086b / MMES 086b, Cairo, 1850-PresentOmnia El Shakry

This course explores the history of Cairo from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. We examine various facets of modern Cairo ranging from architectural modernism to urban expressions of Christian and Muslim piety, while focusing on the principal political, cultural, and social factors that have shaped the city. Themes include political technologies; colonial modernity; artifacts and architecture; workers and students; capitalism, commodities, and consumerism; gender and sexuality; policing and surveillance; urban expansion; piety; the everyday; soundscapes; and the 2011 Uprising. We mobilize a diverse array of primary and secondary sources, novels, films, music, art, and architecture in our exploration, with an emphasis on work produced in Cairo. Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program.  WR, HU
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* HIST 101Ja, History of Incarceration in the U.S.Regina Kunzel

This course explores the history of incarceration in the U.S. over more than two centuries. Among the topics we explore are the carceral conditions of slavery; the rise of the penitentiary and racial control; convict leasing and other forms of prison labor; the prisoners’ rights movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s; the effects of “welfare reform,” the “war on drugs” and the “war on crime” on the mass incarceration of the late twentieth century; immigration detention; and the privatization and globalization of carceral practices.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 104a / GLBL 207a, The World Circa 2000Staff

The World Circa 2000 is a global history of the present since ~ 1960. The course moves thematically to consider topics including, decolonization and nation building in the global south, crises of nationalism and recurrent authoritarianism, the politics of aid, humanitarianism and neo-liberalism, technophilia, environmentalism and networked societies, climate change and ‘free trade,’ new religious fundamentalisms and imagined solidarities, celebrity, individuality, and consumerism in China, the United States, and beyond.   HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 107b / AMST 133b / ER&M 187b, Introduction to American Indian HistoryNed Blackhawk

Survey of American Indian history, beginning with creation traditions and migration theories and continuing to the present day. Focus on American Indian nations whose homelands are located within the contemporary United States. Complexity and change within American Indian societies, with emphasis on creative adaptations to changing historical circumstances.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 10:30am-11:20am

HIST 109a / EVST 109a, Climate & Environment in American History: From Columbian Exchange to Closing of the FrontierStaff

This lecture course explores the crucial role that climate and environmental conditions have played in American history from the period of European colonization to the end of the 19th century. Its focus is on the dramatic changes brought about by the encounters among Indigenous, European, and African peoples in this period, the influence of climate and climate change on these encounters, and the environmental transformations brought about by European colonization and conquest and the creation of new economies and polities (including chattel slavery). The lectures offer a new framework for organizing and periodizing North American history, based on geographical and environmental conditions rather than traditional national and political frameworks. The course provides a historical foundation for understanding contemporary American (and global) climate and environmental issues.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 109Jb / HSHM 489b, Activism and Advocacy in the History of American Health CareKelly O'Donnell

Is health care a human right? Can health advocacy shape health policy? What does it mean to be a health “activist” and to demand change of medicine? Health care in America has always been political. In this seminar students explore the rich history of health activism and health advocacy in the modern United States, focusing primarily on the postwar period through the present day. Each week we encounter new varieties of grassroots organizing, individual activists, and advocacy organizations that have made political claims about health care and pushed for its reform. We examine how health activism shapes broader cultural conversations about health and the practice of medicine itself. This course does not aim to provide a comprehensive history of health activism in modern America, but rather takes a case study approach, for critical analysis of themes and tactics. For each session, students read a selection of essays, book chapters, or primary source materials about a particular variety of health activism. Through these readings, we discuss how the critiques of activists and the responses by medical practitioners reveal the significant impact of race, gender, class, and sexuality on the provision of health care in this country. We also consider how historians have approached this subject, both as scholars and participant-observers. Students become adept at primary source analysis and able to engage in scholarly conversations with secondary sources.  WR, HU
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 111Ja / HSHM 426a, Race and Mental Health in New HavenMarco Ramos

Recent scholarship in the humanities has critically examined the violence that the mental health care system has inflicted on marginalized communities in the United States. This advanced research seminar explores race, mental health, and harm through the local history of New Haven. We interrogate the past and present of Yale University’s relationship to the surrounding community by unearthing the history of “community mental health” at Yale in the 1960s. In particular, the seminar is built around a newly discovered archive in the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC), an institution that was developed as an urban renewal project that displaced citizens from their homes and jobs in the Hill Neighborhood. The archive details, among other things, the contentious relationship between Yale University and activist community organizations in New Haven during this period, including the Black Panthers and Hill Neighborhood Parents Association. Students develop original research papers based on archival materials. The seminar touches on historical methodology, archiving practices, and how to circulate knowledge about community healing and harm within and beyond the academy. Organizers in New Haven will be invited to reflect on our work at the end of the seminar. Priority is given to undergraduate juniors and seniors.  WR, HU
M 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 112a / AMST 328a / ER&M 357a / HUMS 418a, "None Dare Call It Conspiracy:" Paranoia and Conspiracy Theories in 20th and 21st C. AmericaStaff

In this course we examine the development and growth of conspiracy theories in American politics and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. We look at texts from a variety of different analytical and political traditions to develop an understanding of how and why conspiracy theories develop, their structural dynamics, and how they function as a narrative. We examine a variety of different conspiracy theories and conspiratorial groups from across the political spectrum, but we pay particular attention to anti-Semitism as a foundational form of conspiracy theorizing, as well as the particular role of conspiracy theories in far-right politics, ranging from the John Birch Society in the 1960s to the Tea Party, QAnon, and beyond in the 21st century. We also look at how real conspiracies shape and reinforce conspiracy theorizing as a mode of thought, and formulate ethical answers on how to address conspiracy as a mode of politics.  HU
MW 9am-10:15am

* HIST 112Ja / WGSS 112a, Early Histories of SexualityCaleb Knapp

This course examines histories of sexuality across a range of colonial and national contexts, including the British Caribbean, colonial Hawai’i, Mexico, and India, the U.S. South, and the North American West. It tracks how people thought about, regulated, and engaged in sex prior to the emergence of sexuality as a category of knowledge and explores the historiographical challenges of narrating histories of sex before sexuality.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 115Jb / AFAM 349b / AMST 326b / WGSS 388b, Civil Rights and Women's LiberationCrystal Feimster

The dynamic relationship between the civil rights movement and the women's liberation movement from 1940 to the present. When and how the two movements overlapped, intersected, and diverged. The variety of ways in which African Americans and women campaigned for equal rights. Topics include World War II, freedom summer, black power, the Equal Rights Amendment, feminism, abortion, affirmative action, and gay rights.  HU
HTBA

HIST 116b, The American RevolutionJoanne Freeman

The American Revolution from the perspective of the colonists; their shifting identities as English subjects, colonial settlers, revolutionaries, and Americans. Readings include contemporary correspondence and eyewitness accounts.  HU
TTh 1:30pm-2:20pm

* HIST 117b / AMST 307b / ER&M 298b / LITR 375b / MGRK 306b, The Greek Diaspora in the United StatesMaria Kaliambou

The seminar explores the history and culture of the Greek diasporic community in the United States from the end of the 19th century to the present. The Greek American experience is embedded in the larger discussion of ethnic histories that construct modern America. The seminar examines important facets of immigration history, such as community formation, institutions and associations, professional occupations, and civic engagement. It pays attention to the everyday lives of the Greek Americans as demonstrated in religious, educational, and family cultural practices. It concludes by exploring the artistic expressions of Greek immigrants as manifested in literature, music, and film production. The instructor provides a variety of primary sources (archival records, business catalogs, community albums, personal narratives, letters, audiovisual material, etc.). All primary and secondary sources are in English; however, students are encouraged to read available material in the original language.  WR, HU
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 118Jb, U.S. Immigration Policy: History, Politics, and Activism, 1607-PresentBrendan Shanahan

How can we study a history so broad, complex, and evolving as the history of American immigration policy?  This course explores that question by studying U.S. immigration law, politics, and activism from the colonial era to the present day.  Chronologically, we particularly examine: (1) antebellum immigration policy in the context of forced migration, settler colonialism, and slavery, (2) the rise of a federal “gatekeeping” immigration regime in the post-Civil War era, and (3) transformations in immigration policymaking and policies during the long twentieth century. Thematically, we emphasize how U.S. immigration policies have often been framed—and challenged by immigrant rights advocates—on the grounds of racialized and gendered exclusion and/or subordination.     WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 123a / AMST 430a / ANTH 430a / ER&M 432a, Muslims in the United StatesZareena Grewal

Since 9/11, cases of what has been termed “home-grown terrorism” have cemented the fear that “bad” Islam is not just something that exists far away, in distant lands. As a result, there has been an urgent interest to understand who American Muslims are by officials, experts, journalists, and the public. Although Muslims have been part of America’s story from its founding, Muslims have alternated from an invisible minority to the source of national moral panics, capturing national attention during political crises, as a cultural threat or even a potential fifth column. Today the stakes are high to understand what kinds of meanings and attachments connect Muslims in America to the Muslim world and to the US as a nation. Over the course of the semester, students grapple with how to define and apply the slippery concept of diaspora to different dispersed Muslim populations in the US, including racial and ethnic diasporas, trading diasporas, political diasporas, and others. By focusing on a range of communities-in-motion and a diverse set of cultural texts, students explore the ways mobility, loss, and communal identity are conceptualized by immigrants, expatriates, refugees, guest-workers, religious seekers, and exiles. To this end, we read histories, ethnographies, essays, policy papers, novels, poetry, memoirs; we watch documentary and fictional films; we listen to music, speeches, spoken word performances, and prayers. Our aim is to deepen our understanding of the multiple meanings and conceptual limits of homeland and diaspora for Muslims in America, particularly in the Age of Terror.  HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 126Jb, Witchcraft in Colonial AmericaRebecca Tannenbaum

This class examines the social, religious, economic, and gender history of British North America as it manifested itself through witchcraft beliefs and trials. We also explore the portrayal of the trials in literature and the continuing resonance of witchcraft in modern American culture.  WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 128a / AMST 228a / GLBL 201a, Origins of U.S. Global PowerStaff

This course examines the causes and the consequences of American global power in the “long 20th century,” peeking back briefly into the 19th century as well as forward into the present one. The focus is on foreign relations, which includes but is not limited to foreign policy; indeed, America’s global role was rooted as much in its economic and cultural power as it was in diplomacy and military strength. We study events like wars, crises, treaties, and summits—but also trade shows and movie openings. Our principal subjects include plenty of State Department officials, but also missionaries, business people, and journalists. We pay close attention also to conceptions of American power; how did observers in and beyond the United States understand the nature, origins, and operations of American power?  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 131Ja / ER&M 392a, Urban History in the United States, 1870 to the PresentJennifer Klein

The history of work, leisure, consumption, and housing in American cities. Topics include immigration, formation and re-formation of ethnic communities, the segregation of cities along the lines of class and race, labor organizing, the impact of federal policy, the growth of suburbs, the War on Poverty and Reaganism, and post-Katrina New Orleans.  WR, HU
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 133Ja, The Creation of the American Politician, 1789–1820Joanne Freeman

The creation of an American style of politics: ideas, political practices, and self-perceptions of America's first national politicians. Topics include national identity, the birth of national political parties, methods of political combat, early American journalism, changing conceptions of leadership and citizenship, and the evolving political culture of the early republic.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 134Jb, Yale and America: Selected Topics in Social and Cultural HistoryJay Gitlin

Relations between Yale and Yale people—from Ezra Stiles and Noah Webster to Cole Porter, Henry Roe Cloud, and Maya Lin—and American society and culture. Elihu Yale and the global eighteenth century; Benjamin Silliman and the emergence of American science; Walter Camp, Dink Stover, and the all-American boy; Henry Luce and the information age; faith and ideology in postwar Yale and America.  WR, HU
HTBA

* HIST 135Jb, The Age of Hamilton and JeffersonJoanne Freeman

The culture and politics of the revolutionary and early national periods of American history, using the lives, ideas, and writings of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton as a starting point. Topics include partisan conflict, political culture, nation building, the American character, and domestic life.  WR, HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 140a / HSHM 215a, Public Health in America, 1793 to the PresentStaff

A survey of public health in America from the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 to AIDS and breast cancer activism at the end of the past century. Focusing on medicine and the state, topics include quarantines, failures and successes of medical and social welfare, the experiences of healers and patients, and organized medicine and its critics.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 149a / GLBL 452a / HUMS 416a, The Crisis of LiberalismStaff

Is there a “crisis of liberalism” occurring in the United States and around the world? What is liberalism? If it is in crisis, what are the features of the disorder and what are possible responses? Is it possible to believe in the further progress of liberal societies, or have they fallen into a decadent condition?  SO0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 150Jb / HSHM 406b, Healthcare for the Urban UnderservedSakena Abedin

Exploration of the institutions, movements, and policies that have attempted to provide healthcare for the urban underserved in America from the late nineteenth century to the present, with emphasis on the ideas (about health, cities, neighborhoods, poverty, race, gender, difference, etc) that shaped them. Topics include hospitals, health centers, public health programs, the medical civil rights movement, the women’s health movement, and national healthcare policies such as Medicare and Medicaid.   WR, HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 151Ja / AMST 422a / ER&M 435a, Writing Tribal HistoriesNed Blackhawk

Historical overview of American Indian tribal communities, particularly since the creation of the United States. Challenges of working with oral histories, government documents, and missionary records.  WR, HU
Th 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 154Ja, Neighboring Democracies: Representative Politics in the United States and Canada, 1607-PresentBrendan Shanahan

This seminar examines how representative politics have evolved in the United States and Canada from the turn of the seventeenth century to the present. Students learn diverse ways in which forms of liberal democracy—republicanism and constitutional monarchy in particular—have emerged in North America, how processes of democratization have operated, and the degree to which representative governments in Canada and the U.S. borrow from and emerge out of common and/or disparate contexts. Special emphasis is placed on—but is not limited to—the history of suffrage and voting rights in the United States and Canada.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 156Jb, Capitalism, Labor, & Class Politics in Modern U.S.Jennifer Klein

History of American capitalism from the mid-19th century through the 21st century. This course examines different modes of capitalist accumulation and creation of landscapes, territories, boundaries. Readings address how regionalism, race, and class power shaped the development of American capitalism. We consider the continuum of free and coerced labor well after the end of slavery in the U.S. We read about indigenous communities, the environment, energy politics, and on-going struggles with the state. This mix of labor history, social theory, intellectual history, business history, social history, and geography also impel us to imagine the workings of American capitalism beyond the borders of the nation—to think about how capitalists and workers move through space and reshape space; the exchange of workers, ideas, technologies, and resources across national, imperial, and oceanic boundaries.  WR, HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

HIST 165b / AMST 199b, The American CenturyBeverly Gage

United States politics, political thought, and social movements in the 20th century. Pivotal elections and political figures (Wilson, Roosevelt, Nixon, Reagan) as well as politics from below (civil rights, labor, women's activism). Emphasis on political ideas such as liberalism, conservatism, and radicalism, and on the intersection between domestic and foreign affairs. Primary research in Yale archival collections. Students who have already completed HIST 136J must have the instructor's permission to enroll in this course, and will perform alternate readings during some weeks.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 10:30am-11:20am

* HIST 167a / PLSC 209a, Congress in the Light of HistoryDavid Mayhew

This reading and discussion class offers an overview of U.S. congressional history and politics from 1789 through today, including separation-of-powers relations with the executive branch. Topics include elections, polarization, supermajority processes, legislative productivity, and classic showdowns with the presidency.  Emphasized is Congress's participation in a sequence of policymaking enterprises that have taken place from the launch of the nation through recent budget difficulties and handling of climate change. Undergrads in political science and history are the course's typical students, but anyone is welcome to apply.   SO
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 168Ja, Quebec and Canada from 1791 to the PresentJay Gitlin

The history of Quebec and its place within Canada from the Constitutional Act of 1791 to the present. Topics include the Rebellion of 1837, confederation, the Riel Affair, industrialization and emigration to New England, French-Canadian nationalism and culture from Abbé Groulx to the Parti Québécois and Céline Dion, and the politics of language. Readings include plays by Michel Tremblay and Antonine Maillet in translation.  WR, HU
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 181Jb, Time Machines: Reimagining the PastJohn Gaddis

This course explores how representations of the past can help us to reimagine it, and thereby to “travel” there. We explore the concept of time machines and the means by which they might be―or are―constructed. This involves a quick review of the physics involved; some ways historians have used archives to reconstruct times past; the extent to which novelists complement, contradict, or complicate the work of historians; the possibility of “animating” past visual representations, whether through art, film, or computer simulation; and as individual student projects the reading of some digitally available newspaper for some particular place in some particular year.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 183a / AMST 272a / ER&M 282a / WGSS 272a, Asian American History, 1800 to the PresentStaff

An introduction to the history of East, South, and Southeast Asian migrations and settlement to the United States from the late eighteenth century to the present. Major themes include labor migration, community formation, U.S. imperialism, legal exclusion, racial segregation, gender and sexuality, cultural representations, and political resistance.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 184a / AFAM 160a / AFST 184a / AMST 160a, The Rise and Fall of Atlantic SlaveryStaff

The history of peoples of African descent throughout the Americas, from the first African American societies of the sixteenth century through the century-long process of emancipation.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 187b / AFAM 162b / AMST 162b, African American History from Emancipation to the PresentElizabeth Hinton

An examination of the African American experience since 1861. Meanings of freedom and citizenship are distilled through appraisal of race and class formations, the processes and effects of cultural consumption, and the grand narrative of the civil rights movement.  WR, HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 188b / AMST 234b / ER&M 243b / RLST 342b, Spiritual But Not ReligiousStaff

Study of the historical and contemporary “unchurching” trends in American religious life in a comparative perspective and across different scales of analysis in order to think about the relationship between spirituality, formal religion, secular psychology and the self-help industry.  HU, SO0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 190Ja / HSHM 497a, Technology in American Medicine from Leeches to Surgical RobotsKelly O'Donnell

From leeches to robot-assisted surgery, technology has both driven and served as a marker of change in the history of medicine. Using technology as our primary frame of analysis, this course focuses on developments in modern medicine and healing practices in the United States, from the nineteenth century through the present day. How have technologies, tools, and techniques altered medical practice? Are medical technologies necessarily “advances?” How are technologies used to “medicalize” certain aspects of the human experience? In this class we focus on this material culture of medicine, particularly emphasizing themes of consumerism, expertise, professional authority, and gender relations.  WR, HU
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 196Jb / AMST 353b, 21st-Century US History: The First DecadeJoanne Meyerowitz

Students conduct collaborative primary source research on the first ten years of the 21st century. Topics include September 11th, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, the financial crisis of 2008, the election of Barack Obama, and battles over domestic surveillance, immigration, policing, gun control, same-sex marriage, and reproductive rights.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 197Jb / HSHM 409b, Marriage and Medicine in Modern AmericaKelly O'Donnell

This seminar explores histories of health, gender, and sexuality, by focusing on the intertwining of two institutions that have fundamentally shaped our culture: medicine and marriage. It uses marriage as a lens for viewing the historical and social transformations of the American medical profession, as well as to examine the medicalization of intimate relationships in the broader society. Weekly readings cover topics such as: eugenics, LGBTQ marriage and adoption, disability rights, sexuality and reproduction, sex education, health activism, the changing gender composition of the health professions, and the reform of medical education and training. Students also analyze a variety of primary sources, ranging from scientific studies and medical advice literature to popular magazines and romantic comedy films.   WR, HU
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

HIST 199b / AMST 236b / EVST 318b / HSHM 207b, American Energy HistoryPaul Sabin

The history of energy in the United States from early hydropower and coal to present-day hydraulic fracturing, deepwater oil, wind, and solar. Topics include energy transitions and technological change; energy and democracy; environmental justice and public health; corporate power and monopoly control; electricity and popular culture; labor struggles; the global quest for oil; changing national energy policies; the climate crisis.  WR, HU0 Course cr
MW 11:35am-12:25pm

HIST 204b / CLCV 200b / GLBL 204b, Global Leadership, 600 BCE–600 CENoel Lenski

This course provides students with an accessible and engaging introduction to both the classical world and the problems of political organization and leadership through time and across societies. Students learn to think comparatively between individuals, societies, and systems and to analyze different ideals of leadership. This means considering not only traditional masculine and military conceptions of rule but also the leadership roles and styles of women, slaves, and rebels. We hope to bring into view, in other words, the intersectional challenges to power faced by non-traditional leaders in a world dominated by gender, class, and cultural prejudices, and to show how non-traditional leaders confronted and overcame these. Students draw upon this experience to access the premodern world as an alternative but related historical reality which can productively inform their engagement with the present.  HU0 Course cr
MW 9am-10:15am

HIST 205a / CLCV 205a, Introduction to Ancient Greek HistoryStaff

Introduction to Greek history, tracing the development of Greek civilization as manifested in the political, military, intellectual, and creative achievements from the Bronze Age through the end of the Classical period. Students read original sources in translation as well as secondary scholarship to better understand the rise and fall of the ancient Greeks—the civilization at the very heart of Western Civilization.   HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 210a, Early Middle Ages, 284-1000Staff

Major developments in the political, social, and religious history of western Europe from the accession of Diocletian to the feudal transformation. Topics include the conversion of Europe to Christianity, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam and the Arabs, the "Dark Ages," Charlemagne and the Carolingian renaissance, and the Viking and Hungarian invasions.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 210Jb / HUMS 224b, Hobbes and Galileo: Materialism and the Emergence of ModernityWilliam Klein

Hobbes considered himself a disciple of Galileo, but as a systematic philosopher and ideologue during a period of civil unrest in England, he no doubt produced something that Galileo, a Tuscan astrophysicist and impassioned literary critic, was not entirely responsible for: an absolutist theory of the modern state situated within an eschatological time frame. In this course we will reflect on the relation between Galileo’s anti-Aristotelian physics and Hobbes’ system by reading key texts by Galileo and Hobbes along with an array of interpretations and criticisms of Hobbes that will serve to situate Hobbes in early modern currents of thought in science, religion and politics, while at the same time situating us in contemporary ideological debates about the origins of modernity.    HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

HIST 211b, The Birth of Europe, 1000-1500Hussein Fancy

Europe during the central and late Middle Ages, from the feudal revolution to the age of discoveries. Europe as it came to be defined in terms of national states and international empires. The rise and decline of papal power, church reform movements, the Crusades, contacts with Asia, the commercial revolution, and the culture of chivalry.  HU0 Course cr
MW 2:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 212a / CLCV 223a, The Ancient EconomyStaff

A survey of the economies of the ancient Mediterranean world, with emphasis on economic institutions, the development of the economies over time, ancient economic thought, and the interrelationships between institutions and economic growth. Material evidence for studying the economies of the ancient world, including coinage, documentary material, and archaeology.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 212Jb / HUMS 313b, Philosophy of Dissent in Central and Eastern EuropeMarci Shore

This is a seminar in the field of European intellectual history, based on primary sources. It focuses on how philosophers, novelists, sociologists, and other thinkers developed and articulated a philosophy of dissent under communism. More specific topics include the relationships between temporality and subjectivity and between truth and lies, and the role that existentialism played in formulating philosophical critiques of repression. Readings consist of a mixture of philosophical and literary works from the Soviet Union, East Germany and the lands in-between. Potential authors include Merab Mamardashvili, Danilo Kiš, Józef Tischner, Adam Michnik, Jacek Kuroń, Ladislav Hejdanek, Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Leszek Kołakowski, Gajo Petrović, Norman Manea, Lev Kopelev, Igor Pomerantsev, Tomas Venclova.   HU
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 215Jb, The Art of BiographyJohn Gaddis

A comparative examination of successful as well as unsuccessful biographies, intended to identify both principles and pitfalls.  HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 217a / CLCV 206a / HUMS 144a, The Roman RepublicStaff

The origins, development, and expansion of Rome from the earliest times to the deaths of Caesar and Cicero. Cultural identity and interaction; slavery, class, and the family; politics, rhetoric, and propaganda; religion; imperialism; monumentality and memory; and the perception and writing of history. Application of literary and archaeological evidence.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 218b / CLCV 207b, The Roman EmpireStaff

The history of the Roman Empire from its establishment by Augustus to the reign of Justinian. Attention to social, intellectual, and religious changes, as well as to the framework of historical events within which these changes took place, and to the processes by which the Roman Empire was replaced by the institutions of the Western Middle Ages and the Byzantine Empire.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 219a / ER&M 219a / JDST 200a / MMES 149a / RLST 148a, Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern TimesIvan Marcus

A broad introduction to the history of the Jews from biblical beginnings until the European Reformation and the Ottoman Empire. Focus on the formative period of classical rabbinic Judaism and on the symbiotic relationships among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Jewish society and culture in its biblical, rabbinic, and medieval settings. Counts toward either European or non-Western distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  HURP0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 220Ja, Grand Strategy and the Origins of the Second World WarPaul Kennedy

A survey of the most important literature and debates concerning the coming of the Second World War in both Europe and the Pacific. Emphasis on the comparative approach to international history and on the interplay of domestic politics, economics, and strategy. Counts toward only European distributional credit within the History major.  WR, HURP
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 222Jb / RSEE 222b, Russia and the Eurasian SteppePaul Bushkovitch

A study of Russia's interaction with the nomads of the Eurasian steppe. Topics include the Mongol invasion, the Mongol Empire in Asia and the Golden Horde, Islam, nomadic society, and the Russian state. Focus on conquest and settlement. May count toward either European or Asian distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 224Ja / GLBL 224a, Empires and Imperialism Since 1840Arne Westad

Empire has been a main form of state structure throughout much of human history. Many of the key challenges the world faces today have their origins in imperial structures and policies, from wars and terror to racism and environmental destruction. This seminar looks at the transformation empires and imperialisms went through from the middle part of the nineteenth century and up to today. Our discussions center on how and why imperialisms moved from strategies of territorial occupation and raw exploitation, the “smash and grab” version of empire, and on to policies of racial hierarchies, social control and reform, and colonial concepts of civilizational progress, many of which are still with us today. The seminar also covers anti-colonial resistance, revolutionary organizations and ideas, and processes of decolonization.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 225a / CLCV 236a, Roman LawStaff

Basic principles of Roman law and their applications to the social and economic history of antiquity and to the broader history of international law. Topics include the history of persons and things, inheritance, crime and tort, and legal procedure. Questions of social and economic history and the history of jurisprudence from the fifth century B.C.E. to the present.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 225Ja, Perfect Worlds? Utopia and Dystopia in Western CulturesMaria Jordan

This course explores the history of utopia and the ways in which societies at different times defined and conceived alternative or ideal worlds. It explores the relationship between real historical conditions and the models of utopia that were elaborated. By examining classic texts like Plato and Thomas More, as well as fictional accounts, students discuss the relationship between utopias and dystopias. The course also discusses how the crises of the last century, with WWII, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the difficulties of global capitalism provoked what some people now consider to be a crisis of utopian thought or, a moment of a redefinition of utopias as more pragmatic, inclusive, and egalitarian of societies.  WR, HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 226Jb / JDST 370b / RLST 231b, How the West Became Antisemitic: Jews and the Formation of Europe 800-1500Ivan Marcus

Students study how Jews and Christians interacted on a daily basis as medieval Europe became more restrictive and antisemitic, a contributing factor to the Holocaust. In this writing seminar, students discuss a variety of primary sources in class―laws, stories, chronicles, images―while researching and writing their own seminar paper structured by sessions on topics, bibliographies, and outlines.   WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 231b / HUMS 277b, European Intellectual History from Renaissance to RevolutionIsaac Nakhimovsky

A survey of eighteenth-century European intellectual life, considered in its social and cultural contexts and with attention to its historical legacies, focusing on responses to emerging global networks of trade, finance, and empire.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 1:30pm-2:20pm

HIST 232b / ER&M 231b, Hitler, Stalin, and UsTimothy Snyder

This course presents the study of the Stalinist and Nazi regimes, reviews the mass atrocities of the mid-twentieth century, and considers the legacies of these regimes in contemporary memory and politics.  HU
TTh 2:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 232Ja / HUMS 443a / JDST 270a / MMES 342a / RLST 201a, Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims In ConversationIvan Marcus

How members of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities thought of and interacted with members of the other two cultures during the Middle Ages. Cultural grids and expectations each imposed on the other; the rhetoric of otherness—humans or devils, purity or impurity, and animal imagery; and models of religious community and power in dealing with the other when confronted with cultural differences. Counts toward either European or Middle Eastern distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  WR, HURP
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 234Ja / RLST 234a, History of the Supernatural from Antiquity to ModernityCarlos Eire

This survey course aims to provide an introduction to ancient, medieval, and early modern Western beliefs in supernatural forces, as manifested in saints, mystics, demoniacs, ghosts, witches, relics, miracles, magic, charms, folk traditions, fantastic creatures and sacred places. Using a wide range of primary sources and various historical methodologies, our aim is to better understand how beliefs and worldviews develop and change and the ways in which they shape and determine human behavior.  This course is not open to students previously enrolled in HIST 299.  HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 236Ja / HUMS 323a, Truth and SeditionWilliam Klein

The truth can set you free, but of course it can also get you into trouble. How do the constraints on the pursuit and expression of “truth” change with the nature of the censoring regime, from the family to the church to the modern nation-state? What causes regimes to protect perceived vulnerabilities in the systems of knowledge they privilege? What happens when conflict between regimes implicates modes of knowing? Are there types of truth that any regime would—or should—find dangerous? What are the possible motives and pathways for self-censorship?  We begin with the revolt of the Hebrews against polytheistic Egypt and the Socratic questioning of democracy, and end with various contemporary cases of censorship within and between regimes. We consider these events and texts, and their reverberations and reversals in history, in relation to select analyses of the relations between truth and power, including Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Brecht, Leo Strauss, Foucault, Chomsky, Waldron, Zizek, and Xu Zhongrun.  WR, HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

HIST 239a, Britain's Empire since 1763Staff

The varieties of rule in different parts of Britain's vast empire, from India to Africa to the West Indies. Ways in which events in one region could redirect policy in distant ones; how British observers sought to reconcile empire's often authoritarian nature with liberalism and an expanding democracy at home; the interaction of economic, cultural, political, and environmental factors in shaping British imperial development.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 240a / RLST 347a / SOCY 331a / WGSS 291a, Sexual Minorities from Plato to the EnlightenmentStaff

This interdisciplinary course surveys the history of homosexuality from a cross-cultural, comparative  perspective. Students study contexts where homosexuality and sodomy were categorized, regulated, and persecuted and examine ancient and medieval constructions of same-sex desire in light of post-modern developments, challenging ideas around what is considered normal and/or natural. Ultimately, we ask: what has changed, and what has remained the same, in the history of homosexuality? What do gays and lesbians today have in common with pre-modern sodomites? Can this history help us ground or rethink our sexual selves and identities? Primary and secondary historical sources, some legal and religious sources, and texts in intellectual history are studied. Among the case studies for the course are ancient attitudes among Jews, early Christians, and Greeks; Christian theologians of the Middle Ages; Renaissance Florence; the Inquisition in Iberia; colonial Latin America; and the Enlightenment’s condemnation of sodomy by Montesquieu and Voltaire, and its defense by Bentham.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 240Jb / RSEE 241b, Government, Law, and Society in Modern Russia, 1853-1953Sergei Antonov

Russian political culture from the Crimean War to the death of Stalin. Special attention to continuities, as well as changes, across the revolutionary divide of 1917, and to comparing official policies with daily experiences of ordinary Russians. Changing ideologies and ruling styles of tsars and early Soviet leaders (esp. Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin) and relations with aristocratic and bureaucratic elites; political dissent and protest, including popular and state-imposed violence; the problem of legality and the rule of law. All discussions and readings in English.  WR, HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 242Jb / CLCV 319b / MGRK 300b / WGSS 293b, The Olympic Games, Ancient and ModernGeorge Syrimis

Introduction to the history of the Olympic Games from antiquity to the present. The mythology of athletic events in ancient Greece and the ritual, political, and social ramifications of the actual competitions. The revival of the modern Olympic movement in 1896, the political investment of the Greek state at the time, and specific games as they illustrate the convergence of athletic cultures and sociopolitical transformations in the twentieth century.  HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 245Ja or b / GLBL 289a or b / PLSC 431a or b, War and Peace in Northern IrelandBonnie Weir

Examination of theoretical and empirical literature in response to questions about the insurgency and uneasy peace in Northern Ireland following the peace agreement of 1998 which formally ended the three-decade long civil conflict known widely as The Troubles and was often lauded as the most successful of its kind in modern history. Consideration of how both the conflict and the peace have been messier and arguably more divisive than most outside observers realize.  SO
HTBA

HIST 246b / EVST 189b, The History of FoodPaul Freedman

The history of food and culinary styles from prehistory to the present, with a particular focus on Europe and the United States. How societies gathered and prepared food. Changing taste preferences over time. The influence of consumers on trade, colonization, and cultural exchange. The impact of colonialism, technology, and globalization. The current food scene and its implications for health, the environment, and cultural shifts.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 10:30am-11:20am

* HIST 247a, The Making of Modern UkraineStaff

Study of the Ukraine from the Cossack rebellions of 1648 to the democratic revolution of 2004. Topics include the decadence of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic, Russian and Austrian imperial rule, the collapse of traditional Jewish and Polish social life, the attraction of Russian culture, the emergence of a Ukrainian national movement, civil war, modernization, terror, the consequences of Nazi occupation (including genocide and ethnic cleansing), problems of democratic reform, and European integration since 1991.  WR, HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 250b, Gender and Sexuality in Modern EuropeCarolyn Dean

European concepts of gender and sexuality from the Enlightenment to the present. Changing constructions of ideas about womanhood and manhood; the relationship between gender and politics.  WR, HU0 Course cr
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

HIST 254b / GMAN 208b, Germany from Unification to Refugee CrisisJennifer Allen

The history of Germany from its unification in 1871 through the present. Topics include German nationalism and national unification; the culture and politics of the Weimar Republic; National Socialism and the Holocaust; the division of Germany and the Cold War; the Student Movement and New Social Movements; reunification; and Germany's place in contemporary Europe.  HU0 Course cr
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 262Ja, Union and Empire in the History of Political ThoughtIsaac Nakhimovsky

This course explores the relationship between the history of political thought and European imperial expansion from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries, with a focus on the development of ideas of the nation state and forms of federation as putative alternatives to (or alternate forms of) empire. Readings and class discussions aim to define a historical and conceptual framework for investigating a wide variety of other primary sources that illuminate the history of union and empire as a economic, social, religious, political, and legal process.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 268Ja / JDST 351a / PLSC 466a / RLST 324a, The Global Right: From the French Revolution to the American InsurrectionElli Stern

This seminar explores the history of right-wing political thought from the late eighteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on the role played by religious and pagan traditions. This course seeks to answer the question, what constitutes the right? What are the central philosophical, religious, and pagan, principles of those groups associated with this designation? How have the core ideas of the right changed over time? We do this by examining primary tracts written by theologians, political philosophers, and social theorists as well as secondary literature written by scholars interrogating movements associated with the right in America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Though touching on specific national political parties, institutions, and think tanks, its focus is on mapping the intellectual overlap and differences between various right-wing ideologies. While the course is limited to the modern period, it adopts a global perspective to better understand the full scope of right-wing politics.  HU, SO
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 269Ja, History and Holocaust TestimonyCarolyn Dean

The history and memoirs of Holocaust testimony. How victims' experiences are narrated and assessed by historians. Questions regarding memory and history.  WR, HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

HIST 271a / HUMS 339a / RSEE 271a, European Intellectual History since NietzscheStaff

Major currents in European intellectual history from the late nineteenth century through the twentieth. Topics include Marxism-Leninism, psychoanalysis, expressionism, structuralism, phenomenology, existentialism, antipolitics, and deconstruction.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 274Jb, Colonialism and PsychologyOmnia El Shakry

This seminar is a thematic exploration of colonialism as a historical, cultural, and, above all psychological experience. We explore topics such as the relation between Self and Other (Colonizer and Colonized) in the colonial encounter; the psychoanalysis of race and racism; violence and decolonization; psychopolitics; gender, language, and the intimacy of the colonial encounter; and the psychic life of the postcolony. We follow the itineraries of the renowned Martinican psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) from the Antilles to metropolitan France, to colonial Algeria. We shall begin in the colony–‘Albert Camus’s Algeria’–and end in postcolonial Paris. We mobilize a diverse array of primary and secondary sources, novels, and films in our exploration, traversing Europe, the Antilles, and North Africa, with a primary emphasis on French colonialism in Algeria and its aftermath in the postcolony.  WR, HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 277Ja, Memory and History in Modern EuropeJennifer Allen

An interdisciplinary study of memory as both a tool in and an agent of modern European history. Collective memory; the media of memory; the organization and punctuation of time through commemorative practices. Specific themes vary but may include memory of the French Revolution, the rise of nationalism, World Wars I and II, the Holocaust, decolonization, the revolution of 1968, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Cold War.  WR, HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

HIST 280a / ITAL 315a / RLST 160a, The Catholic Intellectual TraditionStaff

Introductory survey of the interaction between Catholicism and Western culture from the first century to the present, with a focus on pivotal moments and crucial developments that defined both traditions. Key beliefs, rites, and customs of the Roman Catholic Church, and the ways in which they have found expression; interaction between Catholics and the institution of the Church; Catholicism in its cultural and sociopolitical matrices. Close reading of primary sources.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 290a / RSEE 225a, Russia from the Ninth Century to 1801Staff

The mainstream of Russian history from the Kievan state to 1801. Political, social, and economic institutions and the transition from Eastern Orthodoxy to the Enlightenment.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 293a / RSEE 325a / RUSS 325a / URBN 303a, Ten Eurasian CitiesNariman Shelekpayev

This course explores histories and identities of ten cities in Northern and Central Eurasia. Its approach is based on an assumption that studying cities is crucial for an understanding of how societies developed on the territory of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and post-Soviet states. The course is structured around the study of ten cities—Kyiv, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Odesa, Baku, Magnitogorsk, Kharkiv, Tashkent, Semey (former Semipalatinsk), and Nur-Sultan (former Astana)—that are located on the territory of modern Ukraine, Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. We study these cities through the prism of various scholarly approaches, as well as historical and visual sources. Literary texts are used not only as a means to illustrate certain historical processes but as artifacts that were instrumental in creating the identity of these cities within and beyond their territories. The ultimate goal of the course is to acquaint all participants with the dynamics of social, cultural, and political development of the ten Eurasian cities, their urban layout and architectural features. The course also provides an overview of basic conceptual approaches to the study of cities and ongoing urbanization in Northern and Central Eurasia.  HU, SO
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 294a / MGRK 305a, The Age of RevolutionParis Aslanidis

The course is a comparative examination of the international dimensions of several revolutions from 1776 to 1848. It aims to explore mechanisms of diffusion, shared themes, and common visions between the revolutionary upheavals in the United States, France, Haiti, South America, Greece, and Italy. How similar and how different were these episodes? Did they emerge against a common structural and societal backdrop? Did they equally serve their ideals and liberate their people against tyranny? What was the role of women and the position of ethnic minorities in the fledgling nation-states? As the year 2021 marks the bicentennial of the Greek Revolution of 1821, special attention is given to the intricate links forged between Greek revolutionary intellectuals and their peers in Europe and other continents  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 300b / CLCV 204b, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic WorldStaff

The history and culture of the ancient world between the rise of Macedonian imperialism in the fourth century B.C.E. and the annexation of Egypt by Augustus in 30 B.C.E. Particular attention to Alexander, one of the most important figures in world history, and to the definition of "Hellenism."  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 303b, Japan's Modern RevolutionDaniel Botsman

A survey of Japan's transformation over the course of the nineteenth century from an isolated, traditional society on the edge of northeast Asia to a modern imperial power. Aspects of political, social, and cultural history.  WR, HU0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:25pm

* HIST 304Jb / EAST 304b, Japanese Historical DocumentsDaniel Botsman

Few pre-industrial societies anywhere in the world have bequeathed us a body of historical documents as varied and plentiful as those Tokugawa Japan (1600-1867). This class offers students who already have a solid command of modern Japanese an introduction to these remarkable sources, focusing particularly on what they can teach us about life in the great cities of Edo (now Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto—three of the largest urban centers anywhere in the pre-industrial world.  Prerequisite: JAPN 140 or equivalent.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 305a / LAST 100a, Introduction to Latin American Studies: History, Culture and SocietyMaria Aguilar

What is Latin America? The large area we refer to as Latin America is not unified by a single language, history, religion, or type of government. Nor is it unified by a shared geography or by the prevalence of a common language or ethnic group. Yet Latin America does, obviously, exist. It is a region forged from the merging of diverse cultures, historical experiences, and processes of resistance. This course provides an overview of Latin America and the Caribbean from the 16th century up to the present. While the class aims to provide students with an understanding of the region, due to time constraints, it focuses primarily on the experiences and histories of selected countries. The course introduces students to some of the most important debates about the region’s history, politics, society, and culture. The course follows a chronological structure while also highlighting thematic questions. Drawing on academic readings, films, music, art, literature, testimony, oral histories, and writings from local voices the class explores the political transformation of the region, as well as topics related to ethnic and racial identity, revolution, social movements, religion, violence, military rule, democracy, transition to democracy, and migration.   HU0 Course cr
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

* HIST 310b / EAST 403b, Law and Order in East Asia to 1800Staff

Law is not only a practical instrument but has also shaped East Asian civilization. In implementing the governance blueprints of rulers and thinkers, law formulated the operations of East Asian empires and kingdoms, as well as their people's life in nearly all aspects. This course introduces students to the law and legal systems in premodern East Asia. Starting with early legal theories, it explores the traditional East Asian ideas of 'justice' and how the law attempted to achieve them under imperial rule and major religious beliefs. By careful and critical reading of premodern codes and court cases, we also seek to trace the life experiences of commoners under such laws and systems. We try to understand the conflicts and tensions among the people through their frustrations in disputes, their pains in different kinds of violence, and other issues.  HU
HTBA

HIST 311a / CLCV 219a / NELC 111a, Egypt of the PharaohsStaff

Egypt was among the first centralized territorial states in the world, and, because Egyptian history offers us 4000 years of institutional development and change, the focus of this course is on the long-term development of the ancient Egyptian state, its institutions, and its culture. The course introduces students to the history and culture of ancient Egypt from the rise of the central state to the early Christian period. General historical trends, the relationship of Egyptian history to other contemporary ancient cultures, and the legacy of Egypt to the “West” are also considered. At the end of the course, students have an understanding of the material culture and the historical development of ancient Egypt, and an appreciation for the relationship of the ancient sources to the construction of ancient Egyptian history.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

HIST 315a, State of War: Conflict, Conquest, and Consolidation in Late Imperial ChinaStaff

This course explores the many ways in which the functions of the state are intertwined with, determine, and develop with the making of war in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties. Students explore the manifold concerns of the throne in not only conducting war, but also financing it, consolidating its gains, and handling its political consequences. The role of evolving frontier strategies, ruler-subject relations, administrative institutions, and resource dilemmas will be foregrounded in a history of warfare and its impact on the development of the late imperial state.  HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 317Ja, History of Infrastructure in AsiaNurfadzilah Yahaya

This seminar looks at the history of infrastructure throughout Asia from ancient times till the 21st century. How did human beings aim to achieve sustainability through time? What were the differences between pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial infrastructure? The areas we delve into include urban planning, agriculture, military communications, waste management, transportation, and energy.  WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 321a / EAST 220a, China from Present to PastStaff

Underlying causes of current issues facing China traced back to their origins in the premodern period. Topics include economic development, corruption, environmental crises, gender, and Pacific island disputes. Selected primary-source readings in English, images, videos, and Web resources. Preference given to first years and sophomores.   WR, HU0 Course cr
HTBA

* HIST 328Jb, History of IndonesiaNurfadzilah Yahaya

As a diverse archipelago of more than 10,000 islands in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has a rich and diverse history with different languages, religions as well as rich flora and fauna. We explore the history of Indonesia from its earliest beginnings to the recent times through themes such as religion, environmental history, colonialism, revolution, Cold War, and democracy.  WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 333b / NELC 320b / RLST 420b, Introduction to Syriac ChristianityMaria Doerfler

This seminar aims to introduce students to the literary, historical, and theological tradition of Syriac Christianity and the developing field of Syriac Christian studies. In this vein, students encounter a number of the tradition's key authors; learn to locate its development in the context of different imperial cultures and religious interlocutors, including Judaism and Islam; and explore topics at the vanguard of current scholarship, including distinctive approaches to asceticism, ritual, and historiography. In addition to weekly meetings, the seminar further requires attendance for three special sessions: a visit to the Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscripts Library and its considerable Syriac manuscript holdings; a visit to the Yale University Art Gallery and its collection of relevant artefacts and coins; and an introduction to the use of digital humanities in Syriac Studies through the Yale Digital Dura-Europos Archive (YDEA). Permission of Instructor is required.   HU
M 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 334Ja / ER&M 364a / LAST 334a, Ethnicity, Nationalism, and the Politics of Knowledge in Latin AmericaMarcela Echeverri Munoz

Examination of ethnicity and nationalism in Latin America through the political lens of social knowledge. Comparative analysis of the evolution of symbolic, economic, and political perspectives on indigenous peoples, peasants, and people of African descent from the nineteenth century to the present. Consideration of the links between making ethnic categories in the social sciences and in literature and the rise of political mechanisms of participation and representation that have characterized the emergence of cultural politics.  WR, HURP
T 9:25am-11:15am

HIST 342b / RLST 180b / SAST 280b, Mughal India, 1500–1800Supriya Gandhi

Exploration of religion and the state in Mughal India, focusing on the period between 1500–1800. Topics include sacred sovereignty, orthodoxy, Sufism, vernacular literary and religious cultures, and the early colonial encounter.   HU0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

HIST 345b / JDST 265b / MMES 148b / RLST 202b, Jews in Muslim Lands from the Seventh to the Sixteenth CenturiesIvan Marcus

Jewish culture and society in Muslim lands from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to that of Suleiman the Magnificent. Topics include Islam and Judaism; Jerusalem as a holy site; rabbinic leadership and literature in Baghdad; Jewish courtiers, poets, and philosophers in Muslim Spain; and the Jews in the Ottoman Empire.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 345Ja / ER&M 359a, Gender and the State in Latin America and the CaribbeanAnne Eller

This seminar offers an introduction to historical constructions of gender identity and gendered polities in Latin America and the Caribbean from pre-colonial native societies into the twentieth century. We begin with an analysis of gender in the Inca empire and several lowland societies, focusing on spirituality, agriculture, and land tenure particularly. The arrival of Spanish colonialism brings tremendous and complex transformations to the societies that we consider; we analyze discourses of honor, as well as how various subjects navigated the violence and the transforming colonial state. Our readings turn to Caribbean slavery, where studies of gendered experiences of enslavement and resistance have grown considerably in recent decades. Building on these insights, we analyze the gendered experiences of abolition and inclusion into contentious new Latin American and Caribbean nations of the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, we consider some of the most salient analyses of the growth of state power, including dictatorships, in multiple sites. Throughout we maintain an eye for principle questions about representation, reproduction, inclusion, political consciousness, sexuality, migration, kinship, and revolutionary struggle through a gendered lens.  WR, HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

HIST 355a / LAST 355a, Colonial Latin AmericaStaff

A survey of the conquest and colonization of Latin America from pre-Columbian civilizations through the movements for independence. Emphasis on social and economic themes and the formation of identities in the context of multiracial societies.  HU0 Course cr
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HIST 364b / EAST 364b, Modern ChinaDenise Ho

Today’s China is one of the world’s great powers, and the relationship between the United States and China is one of the most consequential of our times. Yet we cannot understand China without examining the historical context of its rise. How have the Chinese searched for modernity in the recent past? How were the dramatic changes of the late imperial period, the twentieth century, and after experienced by the Chinese people? This introductory course examines the political, social, and cultural revolutions that have shaped Chinese history since late imperial times. The emphasis of this course is on the analysis of primary sources in translation and the discussion of these texts within the context of the broader historical narrative. It assumes no prior knowledge of Chinese history.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 367a / AFST 366a / EP&E 305a / PLSC 364a, Bureaucracy in Africa: Revolution, Genocide, and ApartheidJonny Steinberg

A study of three major episodes in modern African history characterized by ambitious projects of bureaucratically driven change—apartheid and its aftermath, Rwanda’s genocide and post-genocide reconstruction, and Ethiopia’s revolution and its long aftermath. Examination of Weber’s theory bureaucracy, Scott’s thesis on high modernism, Bierschenk’s attempts to place African states in global bureaucratic history. Overarching theme is the place of bureaucratic ambitions and capacities in shaping African trajectories.
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 370Ja, The Arabic AtlanticAlan Mikhail and Beshouy Botros

This course begins with advent of colonialism in the Americas in order to rethink the ways in which race and religion comingled in histories of conquest, genocide, and slavery that bridge, but also to sort through the differences between the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean worlds. The course examines and conceptualizes how the Middle East figured in European imperial projects in the Western Hemisphere. It starts with the Papal sanction of Spanish and Portuguese colonial projects in the Americas as a continuation of their expulsion of the Moors from Iberia and proceeds to examine the histories of enslaved Black Muslims. A visit to the Beinecke Library and the Yale Archives to examine Ezra Stiles’ collection of Hebrew and Arabic texts and the ‘moorish’ identity of the boy he enslaved brings our inquiry closer to home. Additional visits to the archives of American missionary societies active in the Middle East, which are housed at the Yale Divinity School, invites students to examine primary sources linking Yale and New Haven to the Middle East. Our class ends in 1887 with Frederick Douglass’ visit to Egypt and the concurrent histories of officers in the US Confederacy who served in the Egyptian military. By examining how the Middle East came to appear in European imperial projects in the Americas, we can more critically understand how American and European colonizers, missionaries, and travelers came to appear in the Middle East. Topics include toleration and violence, women and gender, settler colonialism, slavery, ecological and climatic changes, and the birth of financial capitalism. The study of the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and the Americas.   WR, HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

HIST 371b, Ayiti and the WorldAnne Eller

The modern-day states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti explored in their shared historical framework and in the broader context of Caribbean, Atlantic, and global histories. Focus on issues of conflict and interconnection. Hispañola prior to European colonialism; the island's central role in transatlantic slavery; battles for emancipation; imperial pressures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  HU0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* HIST 372Jb / ER&M 342b / LAST 372b, Revolutionary Change and Cold War in Latin AmericaGreg Grandin

Analysis of revolutionary movements in Latin America against the backdrop of the Cold War. Critical examination of popular images and orthodox interpretations. An interdisciplinary study of the process of revolutionary change and cold war at the grassroots level.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 380Jb / LAST 357b, Revolutionary MexicoStaff

The Mexican revolution erupted as a rebellion to overthrow president Porfirio Diaz after thirty years of oppressive rule, but it soon grew into a fierce conflict between warring factions to define the country's future. For certain revolutionaries, like Emiliano Zapata, this was a battle for the survival of their villages and the recovery of ancestral lands claimed by wealthy elites. For urban liberals, it was a fight to establish a democratic and secular state. Others yet- including industrial laborers, Indigenous leaders, and feminist activists-understood the revolution as a struggle against global capitalism and structures of power, like those of race and gender. As the defining event of modern Mexican history, the revolution casts a long shadow. Engaging in our own process of historical investigation, we ask: How did the revolution transform Mexican society? How do we make sense of the multiplicity of revolutionary experiences? How have Mexicans from across all sectors of society constructed their own historical narratives about the revolution, and what is at stake with their competing interpretations?  WR, HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 388Ja, Slavery and the Slave Trade in AfricaRobert Harms

The slave trade from the African perspective. Analysis of why slavery developed in Africa and how it operated. The long-term social, political, and economic effects of the Atlantic slave trade.  WR, HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 391a / AFST 385a / EP&E 350a / HLTH 385a / PLSC 429a, Pandemics in Africa: From the Spanish Influenza to Covid-19Jonny Steinberg

The overarching aim of the course is to understand the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic in Africa in the context of a century of pandemics, their political and administrative management, the responses of ordinary people, and the lasting changes they wrought. The first eight meetings examine some of the best social science-literature on 20th-century African pandemics before Covid-19. From the Spanish Influenza to cholera to AIDS, to the misdiagnosis of yaws as syphilis, and tuberculosis as hereditary, the social-science literature can be assembled to ask a host of vital questions in political theory: on the limits of coercion, on the connection between political power and scientific expertise, between pandemic disease and political legitimacy, and pervasively, across all modern African epidemics, between infection and the politics of race. The remaining four meetings look at Covid-19. We chronicle the evolving responses of policymakers, scholars, religious leaders, opposition figures, and, to the extent that we can, ordinary people. The idea is to assemble sufficient information to facilitate a real-time study of thinking and deciding in times of radical uncertainty and to examine, too, the consequences of decisions on the course of events. There are of course so many moving parts: health systems, international political economy, finance, policing, and more. We also bring guests into the classroom, among them frontline actors in the current pandemic as well as veterans of previous pandemics well placed to share provisional comparative thinking. This last dimension is especially emphasized: the current period, studied in the light of a century of epidemic disease, affording us the opportunity to see path dependencies and novelties, the old and the new.  SO
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 403Jb / HSHM 473b, Vaccination in Historical PerspectiveJason Schwartz

For over two centuries, vaccination has been a prominent, effective, and at times controversial component of public health activities in the United States and around the world. Despite the novelty of many aspects of contemporary vaccines and vaccination programs, they reflect a rich and often contested history that combines questions of science, medicine, public health, global health, economics, law, and ethics, among other topics. This course examines the history of vaccines and vaccination programs, with a particular focus on the 20th and 21st centuries and on the historical roots of contemporary issues in U.S. and global vaccination policy. Students gain a thorough, historically grounded understanding of the scope and design of vaccination efforts, past and present, and the interconnected social, cultural, and political issues that vaccination has raised throughout its history and continues to raise today.  HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 404a / EDST 281a / HUMS 303a / PLSC 281a, What is the University?Mordechai Levy-Eichel

The University is one of the most influential—and underexamined—kinds of corporations in the modern world. It is responsible both for mass higher education and for elite training. It aims to produce and disseminate knowledge, and to prepare graduates for work in all different kinds of fields. It functions both as a symbol and repository of learning, if not ideally wisdom, and functions as one of the most important sites of networking, patronage, and socialization today. It is, in short, one of the most alluring and abused institutions in our culture today, often idolized as a savior or a scapegoat. And while the first universities were not founded in the service of research, today’s most prestigious schools claim to be centrally dedicated to it. But what is research? Where does our notion of research and the supposed ability to routinely produce it come from? This seminar is a high-level historical and structural examination of the rise of the research university. We cover both the origins and the modern practices of the university, from the late medieval world to the modern day, with an eye toward critically examining the development of the customs, practices, culture, and work around us, and with a strong comparative perspective. Topics include: tenure, endowments, the committee system, the growth of degrees, the aims of research, peer-review, the nature of disciplinary divisions, as well as a host of other issues.  HU, SO
Th 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 407Ja, Textual Technologies in the Early Modern GlobeDevin Fitzgerald

In this methodology seminar, students are invited to explore different aspects of textual technologies to: (1) consider the relationship between textual objects and the societies that produce them; and (2) illustrate how direct engagement with material texts found across many pre-modern and modern societies facilitates a comparative approach to similarities and differences across world regions. Participants deepen and broaden their knowledge while also exploring individual research interests and how they fit within an inclusive vision of global history. By balancing specific knowledge and examples of issues in textual-material history, we endeavor to develop comparative and connected sensitivities that allow for formations of research questions that decenter the hegemonic narratives of the historical discipline.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 410Jb, Money and Its Crimes: Forgers, Schemers, and ConmenVanessa Ogle

For as long as it has existed, people spending, producing, earning, legislating, or saving money have been confronted with its potential for deception. We look at the evolution of money through different forms (credit systems; coins, paper money) in the pre-modern era and then move forward from the 19th century, when arguably the wider availability of paper money, now firmly established financial markets, central banking, joint stock companies, and the principle of limited liability ushered in distinctly new and modern ways of understanding and encountering money. This new landscape of money also opened the doors to new criminal enterprises: Forgers who used the advent of paper money as an opportunity to produce counterfeit bills; conmen who lured gullible fellow citizens into their get-rich-quick schemes; dubious entrepreneurs who praised endless opportunities in the emerging markets of that time and age, in Latin America and the colonial world; and men like Charles Ponzi, after whom the notorious pyramid investment fraud is named, among other examples. How did societies historically view those engaging in such criminal activity, and what kind of laws, safeguards, and investigative tools were put in place to protect people from money crimes? How did understandings of what constituted such crimes, and what, accordingly, should be made illegal, change over time? How do we view what is now often referred to as “white collar crime” today, and what does the future of money crimes look like in the age of cryptocurrencies? Over the course of the semester, we combine different historical perspectives on these topics and questions.   WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 413a / AMST 449a / FILM 447a, The Historical DocumentaryCharles Musser

This course looks at the historical documentary as a method for carrying out historical work in the public humanities. It investigates the evolving discourse sand resonances within such topics as the Vietnam War, the Holocaust and African American history. It is concerned with their relationship of documentary to traditional scholarly written histories as well as the history of the genre and what is often called the “archival turn.”  WR, HU
T 3:30pm-5:20pm, M 7pm-10pm

HIST 418b, The History of MoneyVanessa Ogle

This is a lecture course on the history of money from the Middle Ages to the present. The geographical focus lies on Europe and North America, with occasional forays into other world regions. Students acquire in-depth knowledge of the evolution of money in its different forms. The course shows that the way we understand money today, and the forms in which money comes, are extremely recent developments and that for vast stretches of history, people used very different moneys. From cocoa beans to leather tokens to slips of paper that we would not recognize as money today, money existed in extremely diverse guises. The course can therefore help us see that anything we today might assume to be natural or inevitable about money and monetary politics, might in fact not be so given money’s colorful and mixed history  HU0 Course cr
TTh 9:25am-10:15am

* HIST 418Jb / WGSS 297b, Gender Expression Before ModernityIgor De Souza

What are the historical forms of gender non-conformity? This course investigates expressions of gender that were considered non-conforming within their historical contexts. Our point of departure is the idea that gender constitutes a “useful category of historical analysis” (Joan Scott). In this course we ask how deviant gender expression can be a category of historical analysis. How do we write history from the perspective of gender fluidity, non-binarism, and gender transgression? How can this history give us the tools to critique regnant norms of gender expression, then and now? How does this historical approach relate to trans* and non-binary people & movements today? The course is historically wide-ranging, from Antiquity to the Early Modern period, and geographically diverse, including Europe, the Middle East, and the colonial Americas. The breath of contexts enable us to consider broad patterns, continuities, and discontinuities. At the same time, we discuss the specificities of particular contexts, emphasizing the connection between gender fluidity/non-conformity, on the one hand, and local cultural norms around gender and sex, on the other. We investigate intellectual and cultural trends, as well as the lives of gender fluid/non-conforming individuals. We analyze sources drawn from law, medicine, religion, philosophy, visual arts & literature, biographies, and memoirs. All readings are in English translation. No prior background is required. However, it will be helpful to have taken either WGSS 291/HIST 287J or WGSS 306 before or in concurrence with this course.  HU
T 3:30pm-5:20pm

* HIST 420Jb / URBN 370, Urban Laboratories: Early Modern CitymakingStaff

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the diverse forms of urbanism that emerged in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia before the modern era. Course readings probe the ideas of writers, travellers, politicians, and social reformers on topics including commerce, migration, policing, citizenship, and sexuality. The aspirations and setbacks that emerge from these sources offer a long timescale of evidence of the different ways in which urban societies operated and structured day-to-day life. At the end of term, we look at urban environments of our time. In doing so we articulate comparative perspectives, identifying how today’s cities have mirrored, advanced, and built upon the actions, designs, and errors that early modern cities gave rise to.  WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 426Jb / GLBL 398b, Yale and the World: Global Power, Local HistoryDavid Engerman

This course uses moments in the history of Yale University to shed light on the forms, functions, and trajectory of U.S. global power from the late 19th century through the early 21st century. Key episodes include missionary work in East Asia, scientific expeditions in South America, mobilization for war and Cold War, and the internationalization of the student body. Students investigate these episodes by reading scholarly work as well as archival sources, and through discussions with Yale faculty and staff.  WR, HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

* HIST 435Ja, Colonial Cities: A Global SeminarHannah Shepherd

Cities of empire, both imperial capitals and colonial outposts, played crucial roles in the reinforcement of racial hierarchies, the flow of goods, people, and capital, and the representation of imperial power. This course looks at histories of cities around the world in the age of empire, and how they were shaped by these forces. Students gain visual analysis and mapping skills, and learn about the history and theory of imperial, colonial and postcolonial cities, and how they still inform debates over the urban environment today.  WR, HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 459a / EVST 228a / HUMS 228a / LITR 345a, Climate Change and the HumanitiesKatja Lindskog

What can the Humanities tell us about climate change? The Humanities help us to better understand the relationship between everyday individual experience, and our rapidly changing natural world. To that end, students read literary, political, historical, and religious texts to better understand how individuals both depend on, and struggle against, the natural environment in order to survive.  HU
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

* HIST 467Ja / HSHM 422a, Cartography, Territory, and IdentityBill Rankin

Exploration of how maps shape assumptions about territory, land, sovereignty, and identity. The relationship between scientific cartography and conquest, the geography of statecraft, religious cartographies, encounters between Western and non-Western cultures, and reactions to cartographic objectivity. Students make their own maps. No previous experience in cartography or graphic design required.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* HIST 482Jb / GLBL 342b / PLSC 321b, Studies in Grand Strategy IArne Westad, Jing Tsu, and Michael Brenes

The study of grand strategy, of how individuals and groups can accomplish large ends with limited means. The spring term focuses on key moments in history that illustrate strategic thinking in action. During the summer, students undertake research projects or internships analyzing strategic problems or aspects of strategy. The following fall, students put their ideas into action by applying concepts of grand strategy to present day issues. Admission is by application only; the cycle for the current year is closed. This course does not fulfill the history seminar requirement, but may count toward geographical distributional credit within the History major for any region studied, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies. Previous study courses in political science, history, global affairs, or subjects with broad interdisciplinary relevance encouraged.  HU, SO
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

* HIST 483Ja / GLBL 344a / PLSC 161a, Studies in Grand Strategy IIArne Westad, Jing Tsu, and Michael Brenes

The study of grand strategy, of how individuals and groups can accomplish large ends with limited means. During the fall term, students put into action the ideas studied in the spring term by applying concepts of grand strategy to present day issues. Admission is by application only; the cycle for the current year is closed. This course does not fulfill the history seminar requirement, but may count toward geographical distributional credit within the History major for any region studied, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies. Prerequisite: PLSC 321. Previous study courses in political science, history, global affairs, or subjects with broad interdisciplinary relevance encouraged.  SO
MW 1pm-2:15pm

HIST 485a / AMST 215a / HSHM 217a / HUMS 219a, Biomedical Futures and Michael Crichton's MonstersStaff

What forms of life have been produced by modern science? The literal life-changing technologies that began to emerge after the Second World War also provoked new anxieties. They expressed themselves in the speculative fiction of Michael Crichton in terms of monsters: the virus in The Andromeda Strain, the androids in Westworld, the velociraptors of Jurassic Park, and even the patients maimed by gunshot wounds in ER. Crichton wrote thrilling stories that also asked his readers to consider what monsters humans could make if they didn’t stop to consider whether or not they should. This course examines the emergence of modern life science to consider what it would take to produce more life-sustaining futures.  HU, SO0 Course cr
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* HIST 494a or b, Individual Writing TutorialStaff

For students who wish, under the supervision of a member of the faculty, to investigate an area of history not covered by regular departmental offerings. The course may be used for research or for directed reading. It is normally taken only once. The emphasis of the tutorial is on writing a long essay or several short ones. To apply for admission, a student should present the following materials to the director of undergraduate studies on the Friday before schedules are due: a prospectus of the work proposed, a bibliography, and a letter of support from a member of the History department faculty who will direct the tutorial. A form to simplify this process is available from the office of the director of undergraduate studies.
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* HIST 495a or b and HIST 496a or b, The Senior EssayHussein Fancy

All senior History majors should attend the mandatory senior essay meeting in early September at a time and location to be announced in the online Senior Essay Handbook. The senior essay is a required one- or two-term independent research project conducted under the guidance of a faculty adviser. As a significant work of primary-source research, it serves as the capstone project of the History major. Students writing the one-term senior essay enroll in HIST 497 (see description), not HIST 495 and 496. The two-term essay takes the form of a substantial article, not longer than 12,500 words (approximately forty to fifty double-spaced typewritten pages). This is a maximum limit; there is no minimum requirement. Length will vary according to the topic and the historical techniques employed. Students writing the two-term senior essay who expect to graduate in May enroll in HIST 495 during the fall term and complete their essays in HIST 496 in the spring term. December graduates enroll in HIST 495 in the spring term and complete their essays in HIST 496 during the following fall term; students planning to begin their essay in the spring term should notify the senior essay director by early December. Each student majoring in History must present a completed Statement of Intention, signed by a department member who has agreed to serve as adviser, to the History Department Undergraduate Registrar by the dates indicated in the Senior Essay Handbook. Blank statement forms are available from the History Undergraduate Registrar and in the Senior Essay handbook. Students enrolled in HIST 495 submit to the administrator in 237 HGS a two-to-three-page analysis of a single primary source, a draft bibliographic essay, and at least ten pages of the essay by the deadlines listed in the Senior Essay Handbook. Those who meet these requirements receive a temporary grade of SAT for the fall term, which will be changed to the grade received by the essay upon its completion. Failure to meet any requirement may result in the student’s being asked to withdraw from HIST 495. Students enrolled in HIST 496 must submit a completed essay to 211 HGS no later than 5 p.m. on the dates indicated in the Senior Essay Handbook. Essays submitted after 5 p.m. will be considered as having been turned in on the following day. If the essay is submitted late without an excuse from the student's residential college dean, the penalty is one letter grade for the first day and one-half letter grade for each of the next two days past the deadline. No essay that would otherwise pass will be failed because it is late, but late essays will not be considered for departmental or Yale College prizes. All senior departmental essays will be judged by members of the faculty other than the adviser. In order to graduate from Yale College, a student majoring in History must achieve a passing grade on the departmental essay.
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* HIST 497a or b, One-Term Senior EssayHussein Fancy

All senior History majors should attend the mandatory senior essay meeting in early September at a time and location to be announced in the online Senior Essay Handbook. The senior essay is a required one- or two-term independent research project conducted under the guidance of a faculty adviser. As a significant work of primary-source research, it serves as the capstone project of the History major. Seniors writing a two-term senior essay do not register for HIST 497; instead, they register for HIST 495 and HIST 496 (see description). History majors may choose to write a one-term independent senior essay in the first term of their senior year and register for HIST 497; however, students who choose the one-term senior essay option are not eligible for Distinction in the Major. The one-term essay must include a substantial research paper of no more than 6,250 words (approximately twenty-five pages) based on primary sources, along with a bibliographic essay and bibliography. Seniors enroll during the fall term of senior year; only History majors graduating in December may enroll during the spring term (or seventh term of enrollment). In rare circumstances, with the permission of the adviser and the Senior Essay Director, a student enrolled in HIST 497 during the fall term may withdraw from the course according to Yale College regulations on course withdrawal and enroll in the spring term. Each student enrolled in HIST 497 must present a completed Statement of Intention, signed by a department member who has agreed to serve as adviser, to the History Department Undergraduate Registrar by the dates indicated in the Senior Essay Handbook. Blank statement forms are available from the History Undergraduate Registrar and in the Senior Essay Handbook, available on the History department Web site. Additional details about the senior essay, including the submission deadlines are included in the Senior Essay Handbook. Essays submitted after 5 p.m. on the due date will be considered as having been turned in on the following day. If the essay is submitted late without an excuse from the student's residential college dean, the penalty is one letter grade for the first day and one-half letter grade for each of the next two days past the deadline. No essay that would otherwise pass will be failed because it is late. All senior departmental essays will be judged by members of the faculty other than the adviser. In order to graduate from Yale College, a student majoring in History must achieve a passing grade on the departmental essay. Permission of the departmental Senior Essay Director and of the student’s faculty adviser is required for enrollment.
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