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Use the prefix HIST (History) to find the most up-to-date information about history courses.

Course Descriptions

Descriptions only for Special Topics Courses and Seminars. For a complete list of Spring 2012 courses offered by the History Department please consult the Online Bulletin.

SPRING HISTORY 2012 SPECIAL TOPICS COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:

HIST 014S (01): The Stuff of Life                (4 crs.)
MW: 9:05-11:00                                BRESL 026            Yohn
This seminar focuses on material culture or the history of the objects that surround us. We will study material culture, or the physical “ stuff ” that is part of human life, focusing on the late 19th century and the mid 20th century in the United States. Material culture includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. What will people make of American society 500 years from now? How would a scholar study a society if only durable objects remain? Over the course of the semester you will choose two objects, one from the collection of the University Archives and one of your own choosing, to do research on the story behind the object. We will examine objects in their historical, economic, and cultural contexts, learn how to research those objects, and write a research paper and design a web page about them. How are these objects a reflection of the society in which they are found and used? What stories do they tell? What can we learn about history by examining objects.
Prerequisites: This course is open to first-year students only.

HIST 014S (02): “O Creature of Light in the Midst of Darkness”: Origins of “Primal Man,” Paradise, and the Return to the “Dread Empire of CHAOS” Where “Universal Darkness Buries All” (4 crs).
TR: 10:05-12:00                                  LOWE 0201         Kern
Beginning with and then diverging from the traditional Judaeo-Christian texts of Creation and Armageddon, the course will consider selected texts of the lost and supplanted mythic cycles of the Western tradition—the Gnostic gospels, the Kabbalah, the Haggadah and Midrash, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jewish Pseudoepigrapha, and the Christian Apocrypha--, pre-Christian polytheistic traditions, and primal myths of non-Western traditions, ranging from Africa to the Middle East to Asia to the Pacific to native cultures of the Americas.  A detour will pursue the theme in postmodern American satiric form in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle (1963).  Moving from cosmology (origins) to the eschatology (final days), the course will trace the extraordinary diversity of attempts to explain and understand our origins, our reasons for being, our ethical beliefs, and our potential end in the context of a broader understanding of human nature.
Prerequisites: This course is open to first-year students only.

HUHC 20: Transforming Love’s Body: Science, Medicine, Technology and the Evolution of Modern Sexuality (4 crs.)
TR: 2:20-3:45                                      GTLSN 0108        Kern
The course will focus on the period 1900 to the present with particular emphasis on the post-1940 period and will consider the ways in which technological innovations (personal vibrators, contraceptive devices—condoms, diaphragms, IUDs, dermal implants, etc.), medical advances (as they affect contraception, reproduction, and body image, including the development of the birth control pill and in vitro fertilization, Viagra, and somatic elective surgery), scientific investigations and discoveries (including changing perspectives on masturbation, explorations of the biology, function, and the process of female orgasm, and the rise of social scientific statistical studies of sexual behavior—especially those conducted by Alfred C. Kinsey that inaugurated the modern era of sexology), and shifting cultural attitudes towards the broad range of human sexual behavior—homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexulaty, and sex in later life—especially as they have been shaped by pop sexology, advice manuals and feminism.  The intent of the course is to provide a multi-faceted approach to the broad range of influences that have resulted in the creation of contemporary sexual attitudes, the understanding of the sexual body, and current standards of sexual behavior.

HIST 020 (01): Pres-Hist Perspective (3 crs.)
TR: 12:45-2:10                    DAVSN 0015                       Doubleday
Is it possible that the so-called “Dark Ages” might actually shed light on the present? The word “medieval” often has negative connotations, when political commentators talk about the world today. This course will overturn these expectations, exploring how we might think in new, fresh, ways about issues in our own society by looking at how these issues were handled in the Middle Ages. Topics will include torture, marriage, sexuality, imprisonment, refugees, poverty, work, the status of women, disability, race, end of life care, and political leadership.

HIST 020 (03): Pres-Hist Perspective (3 crs.)
TR: 11:10-12:35                  BARND 0102                       Galgano
This course is designed with the upcoming 2012 presidential campaign in mind.  In order that we can better understand the inner workings of the presidential selection process in the 21st century, we shall study and analyze key history-making elections of the past, beginning with the Jefferson-Adams contest, the so-called “Revolution of 1800.”  We shall examine the growing participation of the much-celebrated “common man” in the electoral process, not to mention the ever-present usage of scandal, demagoguery, and “dirty tricks” to gain political advantage, the strong influence of party bosses and other “kingmakers” over their prospective candidates, the emerging power of money in campaigns, and the use of different mediums to communicate the candidate’s message to the American people, and to “sell” his carefully crafted image to the votes through advertisement and gimmicks.  Having done that, hopefully we can determine whether or not the methods by which we select our presidents has improved over the past 200 years.

HIST 020 (04): Pres-Hist Perspective (3 crs.)
MW: 4:30-5:55                  TBA                                        Staudt
America’s Founding Era and its historical characters hold a civic sacredness over the American public that is unrivaled by any other major nation.  From the early days of the republic to the present day, Americans have used and abused the history of the American Revolution.  One current-day example includes the battle waged by the Tea Party Movement and other like-minded groups to "take back America." The object of History 20 is to better understand how current political movements both on the left (Jeremy Rifkin’s Tax Equity for Americans parties of the 1970s) and the right (Conservatives and Christian Fundamentalists of the 1980s and today) often misconstrue and abuse the historical events and rhetoric of the past to exploit their own political purposes.  In a larger sense, the battle that is currently being waged over what we remember of “our Revolution” is a clash between popular memory (including the type of memory that writer Jill Lepore calls “historical fundamentalism”) and the scholarship of trained historians; a battle that has been waged since the start of the profession at the end of the nineteenth century.

HIST 020 (A): Pres-Hist Perspective (3 crs.)
TR: 4:30-5:55                      DAVSN 0014                       Ahr
The problem of genocide has-at various times, for different reasons-devastated the Caribbean, Africa, and especially Europe.  Why and how occurred the destruction during the Third Reich of European Jewry, Roma, Sinti, and others, among them homosexuals?  And was this holocaust singular, unique--compared to others, catastrophes in Armenia, Rwanda, and Sudan?  Classes will combine lecture and discussion; and readings are a combination of fiction and non-fiction, primary and secondary.

HIST 102 (01): Questioning the Past: The Historian’s Craft and World War II in the Middle East (4 crs.)
W: 1:00-4:00                       NAB                                       Ruiz
This methodology course will introduce you to the practice of history by focusing on the effects of World War II in the Middle East.  In order to develop the skills necessary to think and work like historians, we will study how World War II transformed the daily lives of citizens, soldiers, spies, and civilians.  At the end of the course, you will learn how to identify historical questions related to the War, critique and assess a selection of secondary and primary sources (e.g. films, novels, propaganda posters), and write a short research paper dealing with a topic of your choice.
Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes: HIST 020.  Course is recommended for sophomores.  May not be taken on a Pass/D+/D/Fail basis.

HIST 168 (A): Asia and the United States in Historical Perspectives          (3 crs.)
TR: 12:45-2:10                    BRESL 0015                          Terazawa
This course examines U.S.-Asian relations from the eighteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, with a particular focus on China, Japan, and to a lesser extent, the Philippines.  One of the major topics that is discussed throughout this course is the impact of the U.S. and Japanese imperialism as it shaped the relations between the United States and Asian nations.  Specific political, cultural, and socio-economic developments that pertain to a particular Asian nation at a given period are studied from a perspective of how such processes helped form a nation’s response to U.S. foreign policy.  This course investigates larger economic and political forces that fostered a particular type of relationship between the United States and an Asian nation, but at the same time, it pays attention to the individual human experiences through the use of biographical writings, and feature documentary films.  Another important goal of this course is to discover a continuity between Asian history and Asian American history and to locate Asian and Asian American experiences within the world-wide historical process.

HIST 177A (01): History as Decision Making (3 crs.)
W: 4:00-7:00                       NAB                                       D’Innocenzo
This course will use deliberative approaches to evaluating policy options confronted by leaders and citizens during different eras of American history.  The past was uncertain as to its direction as the present is to us now.  Consequently, the framing of reasonable options for historical events (as is done for contemporary concerns with National issues Forums) highlights vividly the realistic alternatives that were available to decision-makers at various points in American history.  While this approach involves aspects of “alternative” directions, it focuses primarily on the ways in which evidence and arguments were used to shape policy.  Students in this course will be able to consider whether better, more effective decisions could have been made in light of the times they are studying.  This course, being developed in association with the Kettering Foundation and National Issues Forums Institute, can be of particular value to students who intend to become teachers, but it will also be of interest to anyone who wishes to evaluate the nature of political decision making.

HIST 177A (A): The War on Terrorism in Historical Perspective (3 crs.)
W: 4:30-7:30                       GALWNG 0018                  Eisenberg
Did history begin on 9-11, as some overly dramatic politicians and commentators suggested at the time?  Most historians would answer with a firm “No.”  But in what respects did the attack on the United States and our government’s subsequent response reflect longstanding historical trends?  In this class, we will read some first-hand accounts and significant documents, view important films and wade into the historical controversies that can illuminate the post 9-11 world.  The emphasis is on critical reading and discussion.  This class should help everyone get up to date on current vents, while deepening our historical knowledge and understanding.

HIST 177C (02): The Wise King
TR: 11:10-12:35                  DAVSN 0017                       Doubleday
Students will explore the dramatic world of a medieval Spanish king, who ruled at a time when Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived in tense co-existence. Alfonso X, “The Wise”, (1252-1284)—an unusually literate, even intellectual monarch—is said to have had his head so high in the clouds that he stumbled on the ground. He developed the first legal code in the medieval West, and created the famous school of translators in Toledo, where members of all three religious cultures worked together; but his deep admiration for Jewish and Muslim wisdom clashed with the interests of the state. His reign has much of the glamour, pathos, and pivotal historical significance that one might associate in an English context with the reigns of the Tudors (and a new TV series is currently being filmed in Spain). Students will be asked to write biographical narratives of some key figures in the kingdom, using primary sources to bring this world alive.  

HIST 177C (03): Shop til You Drop: History of Consumer Culture, 1750 to the Present                          
TR: 12:45-2:10                    TBA                                        Charnow
This course examines the rise of urban life with its new realms of consumer pleasure. The growth of a mass commercial culture in the late 19th century recast issues of identity, gender, race, class, family and political life. We explore this new burgeoning commerce and its impact on the urban landscape, changing attitudes toward shopping and spending, fashion, conspicuous consumption, the birth of advertising, and protests and popular movements organized around issues of consumption. This class also investigates the complex relationship between the new commercial culture and art movements, including impressionism, cabarets, and modern theater. At the turn of the century, the city was the testing ground for modern life. As such, the course includes trips to museums and department stores in New York City.

HIST 177D (A): Latin America and the United States       
MW: 4:30-5:55                  RSVLT 0309                         Yohn
This course examines major moments of contact and contest between Latin American nations and the United States.  We will examine events and policies like the Monroe Doctrine, William Walker’s excursion into Nicaragua, the Spanish-American War, US intervention in Nicaragua in the 1920s, the CIA overthrow of the Guatemalan government in the 1950s, the Cuban Embargo, and the Dirty Wars of the 1980s to see how United States policy was understood by Latin Americans.  These are events that, here in the United States, we generally study from our perspective.  In this course the lens will shift.

HIST 177G (A): World War II in Asia and the Pacific (3 crs.)
TR: 4:30-5:55                 DAVSN 0017                       Terazawa
This course investigates World War II in Asia and the Pacific from Asian perspectives.  We begin by comparing U.S. and Japanese imperialism in Asia.  Particular attention will be paid to the rise of Japanese imperialism and colonialism after the 1868 Meiji Restoration through the early twentieth century.  This will be followed by the study of the social, economic, and political conditions in Japan, colonial Korea, Republican China, Europe and the United States that led to the outbreak of World War II.  For the rest of the semester, we examine special topics including: the Japanese American Internment; life in Japan and other nations; the Nanjing Massacre, “comfort women,” and other Japanese war atrocities; the decision to drop the Atomic Bombs; Atomic bomb victims.

HIST 183 (01): Seminar: History and Memory in the 20th Century (3 crs.)
TR: 4:30-6:30                      GALWG 0134                     Charnow
This seminar explores the problem of national memory in the twentieth century. Topically we will look at the rise of national histories in the nineteenth century and the ideas and symbols that were deployed to promote its acceptance. The subject of war and remembering will occupy considerable class attention. The impact of the two world wars in Europe, and the Holocaust had crucial consequences for people living in postwar cultures. Wars raised questions about the promise of nationalism for better futures based upon reason and progress; they produced traumatic memories of brutality and loss that promoted widespread cultural debates about the very viability of earlier histories and memories that had glossed over the violent potential of nations themselves. Postwar discussions about the past were driven as much by victims of brutality as they were by citizens dreaming of progress and justice. They were also shaped by the products of mass culture. Thus, memory will also be examined in many of its "frames" such as films, monuments, and museums.

HIST 187 (01): Seminar: 20th Century America: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 1960s Reform Movements (3 crs.)
T: 1:00-4:00                         NAB                                       D’Innocenzo
This seminar will examine Dr. King’s leadership and the US Civil Rights Movement in the context of the ferment of the 1960s (involving issues of race, class, gender, war, peace and generations).  Particular attention will be paid to Dr. King’s interactions with other African-American and white leaders, including a rising role of college students in protests and reforms.  The years of discord, involving the Vietnam War, peace movements, and the emerging counter culture are studied in the context of political struggles that illuminate the positions and power of both conservatives and liberals.  Each student in this class will write a research paper on an aspect of the ferment and changes during the 1960s.

HIST 196 (01): Seminar: History of Roman Gladiatorial Experience (3 crs.)
MF:  11:15-12:40               DAVSN 0020                       Walsh
This course is intended for history majors to complete requirements for graduation.  A paper of 20 pages is required.  The history of Roman gladiatorial  experience is the subject.  There is a wide variety of topics available:  the early history, weapons and techniques involved in the fight, social significance (such as what did gladiators do after retirement), archaeological evidence for the arenas, the use of gladiatorial games as a major source of medical research, and on and on.  All this can be discussed in class.  We will be viewing the movie Gladiator which is in some ways the best movie made about the Roman gladiatorial experience and in other ways the worst, but on balance it is very instructive.  If you need more information, just get in touch via email. I have taught this course once before and it was very successful.  Be aware that the size of the class is limited as it is a seminar.