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2009 Fall-2015 Spring Schedule of Courses

Above is a complete listing of the department's teaching schedule that includes College and departmental distributives, but not course descriptions. Below is a list of all History Department courses and their descriptions.

 

INTRODUCTORY AND EXPERIMENTAL COURSES

1.  Turning Points in American History

Students in this course will analyze and evaluate a very select number of "pivotal moments" over the past four centuries of American history.   As an introduction to historical thinking and argumentation, the course will combine close scrutiny of documents from the past with an awareness of  interpretive issues of contingency, determinism, and historical agency raised by leading contemporary historians.

2.  Histories of America since the Civil War

This course examines how historians have constructed some of the most important narratives of modern American history. Students learn how the assumptions of historians and the questions scholars ask about the past shape and give meaning to the historical narratives they produce. Three different narratives will be interrogated: white supremacy; economic progress; and creation of a global "superpower." Students read primary sources and secondary sources, view films, and meet in lectures and discussion sections.

3.  Europe in Medieval and Early Modern Times

Emphasizing the analysis of primary sources, this course examines the foundation of Western European civilization from the fall of the Roman Empire to 1715. Topics include the origins of European nation states, the intellectual and cultural achievements of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the rise of constitutionalism and absolutism, the economic and technological roots of Europe’s global dominance, as well as the social, political, and religious crises that divided the continent.

4.  The Crusades

Crusades, launched in 1095 by Europeans who sought to control Jerusalem, led to a period of sustained and largely inimical contact between Christians and Muslims. This course explores the cultural, religious, and ideological contexts of crusade history which shaped notions of devotion, religious violence, holy war, and cultural purity, along with the long history of distrust between the peoples of Christian Europe (or the Christian West) and the Islamic Middle East.

5.1.  Pre-Colonial African History (Identical to African and African American Studies 14)

This course will examine the social and economic history of Africa to 1800. Several interrelated themes of social organization, the expansion of trade, rise of new social classes, the emergence and disintegration of various states and European intervention will be discussed. Through our readings, we will visit every major historical region of Africa (north, east, central, west and south) at least once during the semester to illuminate the various themes.

5.2.  Introduction to the Modern Middle East

This course will survey the history of Middle East from 1500 to the present day, and to situate that history within its global context. Rather than treating Middle East as an isolated and monolithic territory governed solely by the mandates of a religion, our goal will be to understand diverse dynamics and multiple actors that continuously unmade and remade the region. We will study both the local and trans-regional connections, smooth transitions and radical transformations that shaped the contemporary Middle East. As we will discuss the first week in detail, Middle East is an imagined cultural and political geography which lacks any agreed upon boundaries. Hence there are many, often conflicting ways to demarcate the region. Spatially, this course will mostly be concerned with the area that spans the Arab Middle East, Palestine/Israel, Iran and Turkey. Although, is the course schedule will follow some chronological order, the readings, lectures and the discussions will be organized around themes that will help understand and analyze issues pertaining to state formation, religious politics, gender relations, power inequalities, economic transformation, colonialism, and imperialism in the region since the 1500’s.

5.3.  The History of China since 1800

This survey course traces China’s social, political, and cultural development from the relative peace and prosperity of the high Qing period, through the devastating wars and imperialist incursions of the nineteenth century, to the efforts, both vain and fruitful, to build an independent and powerful new nation.

5.5.  The Emergence of Modern Japan

A survey of Japanese history from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Topics to be covered include the building of a modern state and the growth of political opposition, industrialization and its social consequences, the rise and fall of the Japanese colonial empire, and the postwar economic ‘miracle.’

5.6.  Pre-Columbian and Colonial America (Identical to Latin American and Caribbean Studies 10)

This course will examine the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Andes and Mesoamerica, the causes and consequences of the Spanish and Portuguese Conquests, and the establishment of colonial societies and economies.

5.8.  Africa and the World (Identical to African and African American Studies 19)

This course focuses on links between Africa and other parts of the world, in particular Europe and Asia. Readings, lectures, and discussions will address travel and migration, economics and trade, identity formation, empire, and cultural production. Rather than viewing Africa as separate from global processes, the course will address historical phenomena across oceans, deserts, cultures, and languages to demonstrate both the diversity of experiences and the long-term global connections among disparate parts of the world.

5.9.  Colonialism, Nationalism and Revolution in Southeast Asia

This course offers an overview of the political history of Southeast Asia from the early nineteenth century to the present. It examines the character of pre-colonial states, the development of European imperialism and the nature of colonial rule, the emergence of nationalism, the process of decolonization (with a focus on the Vietnamese Revolution), authoritarian and non-authoritarian regimes in post-colonial Southeast Asia, the mass killings in Cambodia and Indonesia, and movements for democracy in the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma (Myanmar).

6.  Experimental Courses in History

Refer to current "Schedule of Courses" above for offerings in any given term.

7.  First-Year Seminars

8.  Body Parts, Body Wholes: An Introduction to the Comparative History of Medicine

This course examines the possibilities and problems of comparing medicine across time and region. We will begin by considering divergent conceptions of body in Chinese and Greek antiquity before moving on to the transformation of the healing traditions and the advance of modern biomedicine since 1800. Instead of imposing "holism" or "reductionism" on medical traditions, this course encourages students to view past expressions of medicine as a means of analyzing our own self here and now.

9.  Introduction to Korean Culture (Identical to Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures 11)

This course provides an introduction to Korean culture and history, examining Korea's visual and textual expressions from the pre-modern age to the twentieth century. What are the origins of Korean national and cultural identities? How have Korean claims of cultural distinctiveness been manifested and modified over time? Tracing answers to these questions simultaneously helps us to consider how and why Korea has entered America's consciousness. As Korean matters to the US not simply as a fact but as a project, this course avoids portraying Korea through any generalized statements or uncritical categories. Rather, students are encouraged to explore and perspectives on Korea and thereby unravel their own prejudices and agendas. No prior acquaintance with the Korean language is required.

10.  What is History?

The discipline of History is about much more than names, dates, and events.It is actually a realm of robust argument, changing interpretations, and vivid imagination. This brand-new, team-taught course explores different genres of professional historical research and writing (e.g. biography, political history, professional historical research and writing (e.g. biography, political history, cultural history). Through a dynamic mix of lectures and small-group discussions, both History majors and non-majors will gain a new appreciation of the historian's craft. No prerequisites; first-year students welcome.

 

UNITED STATES AND CANADA

11.  The Age of the American Revolution

This course begins with an examination of relations between England and its American Colonies in the middle of the eighteenth century. It deals with the collapse of British authority in America, emphasizing the social and intellectual sources of rebellion. Treatment of the war years focuses more on the problem of political and economic adjustment than on military history. The final topic covered is the adoption of a federal Constitution.

12.  The American Civil War

The American Civil War was a defining moment in American history. This course examines the causes of the conflict, the war itself, and the period of Reconstruction up to 1877. Topics to be discussed include the diplomatic conduct of the war, political developments in both the north and the south, military developments, the question of race and slavery, emancipation, the participation of African Americans in the war, the women’s rights movement and the involvement of women in the war, and medical advances. The social and economic aspects of the war will receive as much emphasis as military and political developments.

13.  History of New England

The course focuses primarily on developments within New England but involves some discussion of the region’s historical relationship with the rest of the United States and with Canada. Specific topics include the logic of regionalism, the origins of the six New England states, town founding, the dynamics of economic change, immigration and ethnicity, education (both public and private), regional literature, historic preservation, and patterns of community development. The course covers the entire history of the region and concludes with a section on ‘New England Today.’

14.  The Invasion of America: American Indian History, Pre-Contact to 1830 (Identical to Native American Studies 14)

This course surveys the history of the American Indians from contact with Europeans to c. 1830. It provides an overview of the major themes and trends in Indian history, supplemented by case studies from a number of regions and readings that illuminate particular issues. The overall context of the course is the conflict generated by the colonial drive of European nations and the U.S. and their citizens, but the primary focus is the historical experience of Indian peoples and their struggles to retain their cultures and autonomy while adapting to great changes in the conditions of their lives.

15.  American Indian History: 1830 to Present (Identical to Native American Studies 15)

This course surveys the history of the American Indians from the year 1830 to the present day. It provides an overview of the major themes and trends in Indian history, supplemented by case studies from a number of regions and readings that illuminate particular issues. The overall context of the course is the expansion of the U.S., the ‘Indian policies’ adopted by the U.S. government, but the primary focus is the historical experience of Indian peoples and their struggles to retain the cultures and autonomy while adapting to great changes in the conditions of their lives.

16.  Race and Slavery in U.S. History (Identical to African and African American Studies 12)

This course deals with the African heritage, origins of white racial attitudes toward blacks, the slave system in colonial and ante-bellum America, and free Black society in North America. Specific emphasis will be placed on the Afro-American experience and on the relationship between blacks and whites in early American society.

17.  Black America since the Civil War (Identical to African and African American Studies 13)

This course is a continuation of History 16. Among the topics to be discussed are Black Reconstruction, segregation and disfranchisement, migration, nationalism, Blacks and the New Deal, the impact of war on Blacks, and the 1960s.

18.  United States Political History in the Nineteenth Century

This course studies the growth of the American political system. It will examine the development of both formal and informal political institutions as well as the forces which have shaped these institutions. Among the topics considered are the growth of political parties, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian influences, sectionalism, and the breakdown of the political system, and the political effects of expansion, industrialization, immigration, and urbanization.

19.  United States Political History in the Twentieth Century

This course defines and examines major themes in the development of twentieth century American politics. There are two versions of this course. This lecture course explores politics, the presidency, and national policy-making in the twentieth century. Special attention will be paid to the evolution of parties, how individual presidents have defined the powers of the presidency, and to the different ways that modern presidents have responded to changing external demands for national leadership in times of prosperity and peace, economic depression, domestic upheaval, and war.

20.  American Thought and Culture to 1865

This course examines leading thinkers, writers, artists, and reformers as a way of understanding American intellectual and cultural history. Some of the issues explored include: the nature and meaning of American Puritanism; the impact of the Enlightenment; the evolution of American political thought; ideas about slavery and race; Transcendentalism and Romantic reform; the American Renaissance in literature; and the role of intellectuals in the Civil War. Almost all of the readings will be drawn from primary texts (including material by Franklin, Jefferson, Emerson, Fuller, Hawthorne, Douglass, and Lincoln).

21.  Modern American Thought and Culture

This course examines leading thinkers, writers, artists, and reformers as a way of understanding American intellectual and cultural history. Some of the issues explored include: the impact of Darwinism; social science and the modern university; responses to industrialization; the tension between self and society; debates over democracy; the challenge of civil rights and feminism; and recent debates over multiculturalism. Almost of all the reading will be drawn from primary sources (including material by Mark Twain, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, William James, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., W.E.B. DuBois, John Dewey; Langston Hughes; Lionel Trilling; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Malcolm X).

22.  Civil Rights in the United States in the 20th Century (Identical to African and African American Studies 80)

This course examines movements for civil rights, broadly defined, in the 20th century U.S. Students explore concepts of American citizenship, considering struggles for political inclusion and efforts to participate fully in the nation’s social and cultural life. We focus on women’s and gay rights and the struggles of African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asians, examining how these and other groups have envisioned and pursued full American citizenship.

23.  History of the United States since 1980

This course examines American history during the era of rapid globalization. It focuses on the continued ideological power of the American Dream and the diminishing opportunity to actually live that Dream; conflicts between groups struggling to achieve genuine equality for all men and women and other groups determined to maintain traditional hierarchies based on class, race, and gender; and the contested meaning of the actions of the world's sole military superpower.

24.  The Cold War and American LIfe

This course will examine the diverse ways that the Cold War changed how Americans lived, understood, and experienced their lives at home and abroad from 1945-1968. It will explore issues like the rise of the national security state; the impact of the Cold War on thinking about race, gender and sexuality; Cold War consumerism; nuclear cultures; the Cold War and higher education; conflicts in Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam; and new concepts of American internationalism.

25.  The United States and the World

This sequence of three courses surveys the history of the United States' relations with the world from the colonization of North America to the present. In addition to examining war, diplomacy and U.S. foreign policy, these courses will also explore the many ways in which Americans' dealings with other nations have been shaped by economic, social and cultural interactions. Key themes include empire, race, citizenship, revolution, modernization and globalization.

25.1. The United States and the World from the Colonial Era to 1865.  This course examines the colonial origins of the Unites States and the ways in which Americans perpetuated, challenged and transformed empire in their dealings with non-American nations and peoples between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Key topics include U.S. relations with Indian nations, the Mexican-American War, the pursuit of informal empire in East Asia and the Pacific, and the colonization of Liberia.

25.2. The United Stats and the World, 1865-1945. This course explores America's interactions with the world and its emergence as a global imperial power in the decades after the end of the U.S. Civil War. Key topics include the conquest of the Great Plains, the War of 1989, U.S. colonialism in the Philippines, Wilsonianism and the U.S. embrace of "total war" during World War II.

25.3. The United States and the World since 1945. This course examines U.S. relations with the wider world during the Cold War and the post-Cold War era. In addition to America's global rivalry with the Soviet Union, students will investigate American responses to decolonization, globalization and the emergence of global norms of human rights. They will also study U.S. interventions in "Third World" nations such as Cuba, Guatemala and Vietnam, as well as U.S. efforts to exercise unprecedented forms of global hegemony in the post-Cold War period.

26.  The Vietnam War

This course examines the conflict which Americans call “The Vietnam War” as a major event in the 20th century histories of both the United States and Vietnam. In addition to exploring the key decisions made by U.S. and Vietnamese leaders, students will also learn about the experiences of ordinary soldiers and civilians. This course incorporates multiple American and Vietnamese sources and perspectives, and also investigates multiple explanations of the war’s origins and outcome.

27.  Gender and Power in American History from the Colonial Period to the Civil War (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 23.1)

This course examines the history of men and women from the period of colonial set-tlement to the achievement of woman’s suffrage. We will explore the construction of gender particularly as it relates to social, political, economic, and cultural power. Topics will include: the role of gender in political thought and practice, the intersection of gender with categories of class and race; gender in the debate over slavery and the Civil War; and the rise and evolution of the woman’s rights movement.

28.  American Women’s History, Civil War to the Present (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 23.2)

This course is a multi-cultural multi-media history of American women from the Civil War to the present. We will discuss race and class tensions in the woman suffrage movement; women, labor and radicalism from the 1910s through the 1940s; civil rights, welfare rights, the rebirth of feminism in the 1960s and 70s, and backlash politics from the 1950s to the 1980s.

29.  Women and American Radicalism Left and Right (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 23)

This course will trace the involvement of U.S. women in radical political movements from the mid-nineteenth century to the present including: Abolitionism; Anti-lynching; Socialist Trade Unionism; the Ku Klux Klan; the Communist Party; the National Welfare Rights Organization; the Civil Rights Movement; the New Left; the New Right; the direct-action wing of the anti-abortion movement; Earth First; and the neo-Nazi American Front. It will also examine the relationship between feminist ideologies and non-gender-specific radical political ideologies centered on race, class, and other social identifiers.

30.  American Economic and Business History

This course examines the history of the American economy and its business institutions. Subjects covered include the thirteen colonies as offshoots of British capitalism; the long-term significance of plantation slavery; regional specialization and uneven development; the significance of technologies including railroads, electrical power, automobiles, and computers; the rise of big corporate business and its impact on markets and workers; mass consumer culture; the military-industrial complex; globalization since 1980; and long term patterns in the distribution of wealth and income.

31.  Latinos in the United States: Origins and Histories

An examination of the diverse social, economic, political, and cultural histories of those who are now commonly identified as Latinos in the United States. Particular emphasis will be placed on the formative historical experiences of Chicanos and mainland Puerto Ricans, although some consideration will also be given to the histories of other Latino groups—e.g., Central Americans, Cubans, and Dominicans. Topics include cultural and geographic origins and ties; imperialism and colonization; the economics of migration; work, women, and the family; racism and other forms of discrimination; the politics of identity; language and popular culture; and the place of Latinos in the U.S. society.

32.  The Life, Death and Rebirth of Great American Cities

This course takes a thematic and multi-media look at the history of four iconic American cities: New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Two are old cities, centuries old, that grew in fits and starts organically over a very long time. Two are new cities, each of which mushroomed dramatically after World War II. Two are cities that have come to characterize American creativity and diversity. One of these is a city that has largely created and marketed American popular culture nationally and globally. One of these cities was America's fastest growing city for half a century and now is one of the hardest hit places in the U.S. by the 2008 crash and ensuing Great Recessions. There is no way to do justice to the history of four such complex cities, Instead, we examine and compare how key issues in the lives of these cities played out over time and space: founding and growth, enslavement, immigration and migration, labor and politics, arts and counterculture, sexuality, disaster and recovery.

34.  Building America: An Architectural and Social History (Identical to Art History 52)

This course draws upon recent scholarship in anthropology, archaeology, material culture, social history and architectural history in its review of five centuries of American architecture. Course lectures not only emphasize America’s principal architects and their designs, but also summarize the social and cultural forces that shaped the country’s built landscape.

36.  Health Care in American Society: History and Current Issues

This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of critical issues in health care through the study of the historical development of the United States health care system. The course illuminates the influence of historical forces and cultural factors on the delivery of health care and on the discourse about health care reform in American history. By studying the components and relationships within the American health care system, students are enabled to acquire an understanding of the relationship between American history and the health care system, and also enabled to obtain a working contextual knowledge of the current problems of the American health care system and their proposed solutions. Each topic is presented from an historical perspective. Through an historical investigation of health, disease, and medicine students should be able to understand and discuss the changing organization of health care delivery in American history, the changing methods of financing of health care, the distinctive role of technology in health care, primary ethical issues in health care, comparative features of health care systems of other cultures, the historical changes in public health precepts, images of health care in popular culture, and the process of health care reform in American history.

37. Black Radical Tradition in America (Identical to African and African American Studies 24)

Throughout the history of the United States, African Americans have offered alternative visions of their nation’s future and alternative definitions of their nation’s progress. Not limited to reforming the worst social ills, these discourses have called for a fundamental restructuring of our political, economic, and social relations. A radical tradition provided the intellectual continuity and ideological coherence of these critiques, and it allowed African Americans to cultivate and pass on a legacy of social resistance.

38. American Odysseys: Lewis and Clark, American Indians, and the New Nation (Identical to Native American Studies 38)

In 1804-06, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark completed a remarkable odyssey, from St. Louis to the Pacific, and back. They wrote more than one million words, describing the country, and paid particular attention to the Indian nations they met. This class will use the abridged edition of the journals to examine the context, experiences, and repercussions of an expedition that initiated journeys of discovery for both the young United States and the Native peoples of the American West.

39. 20th Century Native American History (Identical to Native American Studies 16)

Serving as the final course in a three-quarter survey of Native American history, this class reviews Native history from the late 19th century to the present, focusing on the interplay between large institutions and structures—such as federal and state governments, or the US legal system—and the lived, local experience of tribal communities. The major themes followed throughout the course of the semester include: historical narrative (and what it justifies or explains), place and space (how local and national entities define territories), and indigeneity (indigenous identity).

 

EUROPE

40.  Foreign Study Program: London in History

Through lectures, readings, discussions, and fieldwork this course explores aspects of London’s history from medieval to modern times. Using the city itself as a living laboratory for historical thinking, the course relates the development of London and its neighborhoods to the larger concentric histories of nation, region, empire, and world. Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program.

41. Foreign Study Program: History Study Abroad

Graded credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed an approved course offered by the History faculty of University College London while a member of the Dartmouth Foreign Study Program in History. Selections for 2010 include: “The Remaking of the English Working Class, 1660-1785”; “Remembering Slavery: Britain, Colonial Slavery and Abolition”; “Marx and History”; “Making of a Multicultural City”; “Crime and Popular Disorder in Georgian England” and “Everyday Life in 20th Century European Dictatorships.”

42.  Gender and European Society from Antiquity to the Reformation (Identical to Women’s and Gender Studies 22.1)

This course examines the roles of women and men in Western Europe from Antiquity through the Reformation period. Emphasis will be placed on the intellectual and social structures that had a long-term effect on the concept and role of gender in European society. Topics included are biological and mythological foundations of gender concepts, attitudes toward the body and sex in pre-Christian and Christian culture, sin and ecclesiastical legislation on sex and marriage, family life and education, the individual and kinship, heresy and charismatic religion, and the impact of social-economic development on gender in professional life. We will discuss the textual and visual sources for our inquiry, as well as the changing contemporary views on gender roles in pre-industrial Europe.

43.  European Intellectual and Cultural History, 400-1300

A course on the intellectual and cultural origins of European civilization, from the fall of Rome to the advent of the Renaissance. After a review of the Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman, Celtic, and Germanic components of medieval culture, we will examine the rise of the Christian Church and its impact on values and behavior of Europeans during the middle ages. Of special interest will be the relationship between medieval thinkers and the society in which they lived, the role of ritual, ceremony, and magic, and the persistence of heresy. Along with the products of high culture associated with such intellectuals as Augustine, Peter Abelard, Hildegard of Bingen, and Thomas Aquinas, we will thus review the fundamental values of medieval society at large and explore ways in which popular and elite culture converged or contrasted.

44. Medieval France, 400-1494

The course traces the medieval foundations of the French nation, from the Roman Era to the end of the fifteenth century, with emphasis on institutional, social, and cultural development. Topics include: the Merovingian origins of ‘France,’ the construction and impact of feudal relationships, the emergence of French vernacular culture, regional diversity within centralized rule, and the formation of a French national identity. In addition we will examine how French medieval history became a testing-ground for innovative research on the Middle Ages, and to what extent these views have changed our concept of medieval France in the last decades.

45.  Early Modern Europe (1300-1650)

A study of Western Europe’s transition from medieval to modern times, tracing the impact of new forces on traditional structures. Among the topics covered are Italian culture and society in the 14th-15th centuries; the concept of the Renaissance; intellectual and religious themes of the Reformation; the emergence of the basic forms of the modern state; developments in warfare and international relations; the political and ideological polarization of Europe after Luther; the ‘general crisis’ of the mid-17th century.

46. Spain in the Golden Age

The course deals with the unification of Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella, its rise to world primacy in the sixteenth century, and its decline in the seventeenth. Among topics examined are the development of a system of imperial government, the impact on Spain of colonial empire, the problems of multicultural society within the Iberian peninsula, the struggle against heresy, and the political challenges of the great European powers.

47. The French Revolution and Napoleon

The course studies the French Revolution and its implications for Europe and the world. It considers the social, political and ideological causes of the Revolution in 1789 and then pays close attention to the successive stages of revolution from the experiment with constitutional monarchy to the radical republic and the Terror to Napoleon’s popular dictatorship. The revolutionary wars, the development of democratic and nationalist ideology and their spread beyond France and beyond Europe, and also beyond elite men to peasants, city workers, Blacks and women are important themes.

48.  European Society in the Industrial Age

This course traces the transformation of Western European society through the industrial period from the mid-18th century to the mid-20th century. Focusing upon social class and gender, it examines how economic and social change intertwined to produce the world’s first industrial societies. Work, family, leisure and nationalism are topics of specific attention. Although the course deals primarily with the core societies of Western Europe—France, Germany and Great Britain—it provides the opportunity for student research in other areas such as Italy, Ireland, Spain and Eastern Europe.

49.  Early Modern England, 1485-1780

This course explores the relationships among economic, social, cultural and political developments in England during the Tudor, Stuart, and Hanoverian periods. Topics for discussion include: family and gender; village and city life; religious reformation and the reformation of government; the Elizabethan renaissance; responses to poverty, crime, and nonconformity; the development of political parties; the British enlightenment; commercialization and consumerism; the interaction of ‘plebeians’ and ‘patricians’; rebellions and civil wars; and radicalism, conservatism, and imperialism.

50.  Modern Britain, 1780 to Present

This course explores the relationships among economic, social, cultural and political developments in Britain from the modern industrial revolution to Thatcherism and New Labour. Topics for discussion include: industrialization and its effects; Liberals, Conservatives, and Parliamentary politics; enduring Victorian attitudes about class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and race; the rise of Labour politics; suffragism; the Irish question; the impact of imperialism and world wars on British subjects; and responses to Britain’s postwar decline and post-colonial multiculturalism.

51.  Modern European Intellectual History, the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Through a close reading and discussion of Europe’s most influential thinkers from the advent of the Enlightenment to the end of the twentieth century, this course will explore the key concepts that shaped and reflected modern European experiences. We will discuss how European intellectuals of diverse background—social scientists and philosophers, theologians and political theorists—fiercely debated the causes and solutions to major European phenomena, including technological revolution, total war, social upheaval, secularization, and terrorism.

52. Modern Germany: 1870-1990

This course will explore the dramatic transformations that permeated German culture, politics, and society from 1870 to the end of the Cold War. We will discuss the diverse trends, visions and anxieties that shaped German life through the birth of the German state, industrialization and expansion, World War I, the creation of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Nazism, total War and genocide, and the country’s division between Communist dictatorship and Western democracy during the Cold War.

53. World War II: Ideology, Experience, Legacy

This course will explore the origins, nature, and legacies of the most dramatic war in modern times. Rather than focusing only on the military aspect, we will discuss the different ideological, cultural, political, and social factors that intersected in this monumental conflict. Students will learn about the worldviews that led to the war; the experiences of soldiers, policymakers, and ordinary people at the home fronts; and the institutions and cultures that emerged at the war’s aftermath.

54.  The Russian Empire

After a review of Kievan and Muscovite antecedents, the course surveys the history of Russia from the Time of Troubles to the beginning of the twentieth century. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of the Russian autocrat, on the institution of serfdom, and the development of the 19th century intelligentsia. Intended to precede, but not prerequisite to, History 55.

55.  The Russian Revolutions and the New Regime

Following an introductory survey of the social and political problems confronting Imperial Russia, the course concentrates on the causes and processes underlying the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the development of Marxism-Leninism, and the eventual establishment and consolidation of the new Soviet Regime.

56.  Twentieth-Century Russia

An examination of major developments and problems in twentieth century Russian history with particular attention to the consequences of the October Revolution, Leninism, civil war and its impact, politics and society during the New Economic Policy of the 1920s, the formation of the Stalinist system and its historical legacy, the Krushchev era, the Brezhnev years of “stagnation,” Gorbachev’s perestroika and the problems of transition to a law based on democratic and open market system of the Russian Federation, the successor state to the Soviet Union.

57. Scientific Revolutions and Modern Society

An introduction to major revolutions in Western science since 1700, focusing on changing definitions of science; on political and religious implications of scientific theories; and on the effect of national contexts on scientific practice. Topics include Newton and Newtonianism in the 18th century, the Darwinian Revolution, Einstein and the birth of modern physics, and science under ‘banners’ in revolutionary France, Nazi Germany, and Soviet Russia.

58.  History of the Holocaust (Identical to Jewish Studies 37.1)

The focus of this course will be on the history of the murder of European Jews and the destruction of European Judaism at the hands of the Nazis. After surveying the history of racism in European society from the 18th to 20th century, the course investigates, from perspectives of history, psychology, literature, philosophy, and religion, how bureaucracy could exterminate six million Jews.

59.  History of Warfare

This course examines the relationship between warfare and the way society has developed in the past. Primary emphasis will be placed on the evolution of Western society, showing how political, economic, social and technological developments governed the decisions achieved in war and vice versa. Warfare is a cultural activity and the story of war looms large in the history of western civilization. Topics will include human aggressiveness, the origins of organized conflict, violence limitations and just war theories, bronze and iron warfare, Greek hoplite warfare, Alexander the Great, the Roman legions, the Chinese way of war, barbarian kingdoms, feudal warfare, the crusades and the Mongols, the military revolution, limited warfare during the Age of Reason, the French Revolution and Napoleon, Nineteenth-Century warfare, the commercialization and industrialization of war, World War I and II.

61.  Britain and the Atlantic World, 1480-1780

This course focuses on Atlantic society, economy, politics and culture shaped by the nature of maritime life in early modern times. Topics include: British voyages of trans-Atlantic exploration; the effects of trans-Atlantic contacts on communal life and settlement patterns; navies, merchant seamen, and pirates; the slave trade; life in port towns and coastal villages; the lore and creative traditions of Anglo-American maritime culture; and the impact of European competition on the British vision of an Anglo-Atlantic world.

62.  The First World War

The First World War was fought in Europe for the most part but it involved belligerents from every continent and had global effects, many of which bedevil our world today. This course introduces you to the vast subject of what the British still call The Great War, its causes, combat, homefronts and far-reaching consequences as well as to some of the unresolved questions that continue to propel our research.

63.  History of Recent Science and Technology

This course will consider selected case studies of scientific and technological work since 1960, using analytical tools from science studies, historical sociology, philosophy of science and gender studies. Participants will read classic books deploying these tools, and then will research and present their own case studies on topics such as the development of the personal computer, invention of the “abortion pill” RU-486, or disposal of high level nuclear waste.

64.  Modern Europe: The Enlightenment Through the First World War

An examination of the major political, social, economic and cultural developments in Europe from the early eighteenth century through the First World War. In this crucial period of world history, Europe generated the Enlightenment, constitutional democracy, industrial capitalism, advanced technology and global imperialism. Topics include: political revolutions in France, the Germanies and Russia; the industrial revolution and its consequences; liberalism, nationalism and imperialism, the rise of socialism and world wars over the course of two centuries.

65.  Modern Europe: The Twentieth Century

An examination of major political, social, economic, and cultural developments in twentieth century Europe. Topics to be treated include the impact of the World Wars and Cold War, the Great Depression, the growth of totalitarianism, the recession and integration of Europe. A subsidiary focus of the course will be the perspective taken on these develop-ments by some major European thinkers.

 

AFRICA, ASIA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

66.  History of Africa since 1800 (Identical to African and African American Studies 15)

This course explores some of the major historical processes unfolding in Africa since 1800. Our analysis will focus on social and economic history as we examine Africa’s integration into the international economy during the nineteenth century, the rise of new social classes, and the creation of the colonial and post-colonial state. Our primary case studies will be drawn from east, west and southern Africa to highlight both the similarities and differences of their historical development.

67.  The History of Modern South Africa (Identical to African and African American Studies 46)

After an initial overview of colonialism in Africa, this course will concentrate on Southern Africa, with special emphasis on the historical development, effects, and implications of the racial situation in the Republic of South Africa. Readings will be drawn from primary and secondary materials and from works of fiction. Illustrative films will be shown, and some opportunity offered to compare the history of race relations in South Africa with that in other African countries and in the United States.

68.  History of North Africa from the Arrival of Islam to the Present (Identical to African and African American Studies 52)

This course offers an introduction to the history of North Africa from its conversion to Islam to its current, transnational political and social formations. Focusing on religion and conversion, Sufism and mysticism, French and Italian colonialism, trade and economic history, environment, the region’s engagement with the Sahara, literature and culture, and migration, assignments will emphasize major themes in the social, political, economic, and cultural history of the region.

69.  Islam in Africa (Identical to African and African American Studies 53)

This course aims to introduce students to the formation of Islam in the Maghrib, Sa-haran Africa, and Africa south of the desert. Assignments will address continuities with and differences from the practices of Muslims in other parts of the world while emphasizing the central role the religion has played in the unfolding of history in various parts of Africa. Topics covered will include conversion, popular religion and mysticism, cultural formations, and social organization.

70.  On the Margins of the Ottoman Empire: Heresy, Desire and Slavery

This course introduces students to the politico-cultural and social cosmos of the Ottoman Empire from 1400s until its disintegration in 1918. It focuses on the intricate, conflict -ridden and sometimes violent encounters among the categories of religion, sexuality and social status. Drawing on scholarly discussions, primary and secondary sources, legal texts, and case studies, this course examines the anxieties, contradictions, and conflicts that that defined the societal margins of the Ottoman Empire.

71.  Violence and Conflict in the Middle East

This course will explore the major episodes that have transformed the Middle East since World War I through the prisms of conflict and violence. Challenging the discourses that characterize Middle Eastern societies as essentially stagnant, authoritarian and violent, this course will look critically at the complexities and dynamism of the conflicts with respect to their origins, the actors involved, and the key historical and political factors that have shaped them.

72.  Imperial China in a Global Context

China’s history, from the 3rd century BCE to the twentieth century, examined in the context of global developments in demography, economy, urbanization, technology, trade, and the arts.

73.  Early Chinese Culture (Identical to Chinese 62.1)

A survey of early Chinese culture. The literary tradition will be taken as the primary evidence in the reconstruction and students will read early Chinese poetry and historical texts in translation. This tradition will then be examined in the light of new evidence from archaeological excavations, concerning the material culture of ancient China, and from ancient inscriptions.

74.  Intellectual History of East Asia

A comparative exploration of Chinese and Japanese thought, from the formation of Confucianism in the Warring States period to the confrontation between traditional thought and the imported ideologies of the twentieth centuries. In writing assignments, students may concentrate upon either Chinese or Japanese topics.

75.  Colonialism, Development, and the Environment in Africa and Asia (Identical to Environmental Studies 45 and African and African American Studies 50)

This course examines the environmental history of Africa and Asia, focusing on the period of European colonialism and its aftermath. Topics include deforestation and desertification under colonial rule; imperialism and conservation; the consequences of environmental change for rural Africans and Asians; irrigation, big dams and transformations in water landscapes; the development of national parks and their impact on wildlife and humans; the environmentalism of the poor; urbanization and pollution; and global climate change in Africa and Asia.

76.  The History of Modern India

This course examines the history of South Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Themes of the course include the development of British imperialism, the impact of colonial rule on Indian rural society and economy, processes of cultural change, the development of nationalism, the historical role of Gandhi, the emergence of Hindu-Muslim conflict, and the character of post-colonial South Asia.

77.  Imperialism in Modern East Asia

An examination of Western and Japanese imperialism in East Asia from the Opium War to the Pacific War. Subjects to be treated include the imposition of unequal treaties, the “scramble for concessions” in China, the creation of Japan’s formal and informal empires, and the rise and fall of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

79.  Postwar Japan: From Occupied Nation to Economic Superpower

This course examines the internal and external forces that have shaped Japan’s gov-ernment, economy, and society since 1945. Topics to be treated include American Occupation reforms, the conservative hegemony in politics, rapid economic growth and its costs, the mass middle-class society, and Japan’s changing world role.

81.  From Coca to Cocaine: Drug Economies in Latin America

The coca leaf has a sacred history in Andean culture, but coca’s relationship to cocaine production has also made this plant the centerpiece of international controversy. U.S. drug control policy has associated the cocaine trade with leftist movements and even terrorism. This course will explore the way in which drug production has affected Latin America’s political, cultural and economic life and shaped U.S. foreign policy toward the region.

82.  Popular Struggle, Political Change and U.S. Intervention in Central America

This course will explore the history of popular struggles, political change and U.S. intervention in Central America. The region’s rich and complex history has been marked both by repressive dictatorships and by struggles for national liberation, social justice and indigenous rights. We will look at the different factors that played a part in determining this history including commodity production, labor systems, U.S. foreign policy, race relations, liberation theology and revolution.

83. Twentieth-Century Latin America

This course seeks to address major issues in twentieth century Latin America through the history of three or four countries. Topics discussed will include development, imperialism, nationalism, revolution, state formation and violence.

86.  Slavery and Emancipation in Latin America and the Caribbean (Identical to African and African-American Studies 83.3)

For over 300 years, Africans were transport to Latin America and the Caribbean to work as enslaved laborers. This course will examine the history of African slavery in the region from the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade to the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. For each class session, students will review primary source documents such as autobiographies, slave codes, plantation journals, visual images, and anti-slavery tracts as well as historical scholarship.

87.  Culture and Identity in Modern Mexico (Identical to Latin American and Caribbean Studies 76)

From the Porfiriato and the Revolution to the present, a survey of Mexican society and politics, with emphasis on the connections between economic developments, social justice, and political organization. Topics include fin de siècle modernization and the agrarian problem; causes and consequences of the Revolution of 1910; the making of the modern Mexican State; relations with the United States; industrialism and land reform; urbanization and migration; ethnicity, culture, and nationalism; neoliberalism and social inequality; the problems of political reform; and the zapatista rebellion in Chiapas.

 

INTERREGIONAL AND COMPARATIVE

The following courses fulfill the Department’s Interregional requirement. Full course descriptions may be found in the listing above.

5.8. Africa and the World

10. Colonial America

26. The Vietnam War

31. Latinos in the United States: Origins and Histories

53. World War II: Ideology, Experience, Legacy

54. The Russian Empire

57. Scientific Revolutions and Modern Society

58. History of the Holocaust

61. Britain and the Atlantic World, 1480-1780

62. The First World War

82. Popular Struggle, Political Change and U.S. Intervention in Central America

 

In addition, the following courses have an interregional or comparative focus.

94.1.  War and Peace: A Global History

This course explores how the changing character of modern warfare, the collapse of empires, and globalization have enabled increasingly diverse and successful efforts to establish more peaceful relations between nations and among previously hostile groups within nations. The focus is on developments since 1890. Subjects covered include war and human nature, total war and nuclear weapons, disarmament and antiwar movements, international law, transitional justice, human rights, and the rising success rate of nonviolent revolutions.

94.2.  Science, Technology and Culture in the Nuclear Age

An examination of the social, political and cultural dimensions of nuclear technology from the discovery of fission in 1938 through the 1980s. We will consider how contexts and politics shaped the development of nuclear weapons and power reactors, and how these technologies in turn affected politics and culture. Topics include efforts in Germany, USA, USSR, Japan and England to build fission weapons during World War II; Hiroshima and Nagasaki in American and Japanese memory; the arms race, atomic scientists and the Cold War; the nuclear power industry in international comparison; living in and resisting the Nuclear Age; literary and film representations of the Nuclear Age; and the impact of the Nuclear Age on the development of science and technology since 1945.

94.3.  Greek History: Archaic and Classical Greece (Identical to, and described under, Classical Studies 14)

94.4.  Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Kings (Identical to, and described under, Classical Studies 15)

94.5.  Roman History: The Republic (Identical to, and described under, Classical Studies 17)

94.6.  History of the Roman Empire: Roman Principate to Christian Empire (Identical to, and described under, Classical Studies 18)

94.7.  Methods and Theory in Ancient History (Identical to, and described under, Classical Studies 19)

94.8.  History and Culture of the Jews: The Classical Period (Identical to, and described under, Jewish Studies 10)

94.9.  History and Culture of the Jews: The Modern Period (Identical to, and described under, Jewish Studies 11)

COLLOQUIA

95.  The Mongols

Primarily centered on the empire of the Great Khans, the Ilkhans in Persia and the Yuan dynasty in China, this course analyzes the phenomenon of the Mongolian conquests and state building from the perspective both of the cultural and political history of the Eurasian steppe, and from the perspective of world economic, cultural, and political development in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

95.  People, Print and Politics in Early America

Exploring the social and cultural worlds of print, literacy, and politics in early America, this course assesses methodological approaches to the histories of the book, readership, and political culture. Numerous social theorists maintain that the evolution of republican and democratic institutions depends upon a literate and informed citizenry, who imagine themselves as a community through printed and visual mediums. This course evaluates these theories in relation to the late colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods.

95.  Advanced Topics on Holocaust Historiography (Identical to, and described under, Jewish Studies 80)

 

SEMINARS

96. Colloquia:  Introduction to Global Methods

96.  Seminar:  Topics in Nineteenth Century American History (Butler)

96.  Seminar:  American Odysseys: Lewis and Clark, Indian Country, and the New Nation (Identical to NAS 81)—Calloway

96.  Seminar:  Personal Narratives in the Age of the American Revolution (Cullon)

96.  Seminar:  Napoleon and His Enemies (Darrow)

96.  Seminar:  The Great Depression (Edsforth)

96.  Seminar:  Topics in Modern Japanese History (Ericson)

96.  Seminar:  Topics in British History (Estabrook)

96.  Seminar:  Medieval Rulership (Gaposchkin)

96.  Seminar:  World War II (Greenberg)

96.  Seminar:  Colonialism and Culture in Asia and Africa (Haynes)

96.  Seminar:  Science and Medicine in Germany, 1933-1945 (Kremer)

96.  Seminar:  Research in Early Modern Europe (Lagomarsino)

96.  Seminar:  Empires, Imperialism and the United States (Miller)

96.  Seminar:  Race, Ethnicity and Immigration in U.S. History (Orleck)

96.  Seminar:  Latin American Rebels (Padilla)

96.  Seminar:  Africa in the African-American Mind (Rickford)

96.  Seminar:  Topics in African History (Sackeyfio)

96.  Seminar:  Topics in Medieval History (Simons)

96.  Seminar:  Topics in Islamic Africa (Trumbull)

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY AND HONORS

97.  Independent Study

This course offers an opportunity for a student to pursue some subject of special interest under the direction of a member of the Department through a specially designed program of readings and reports.

D.F.S.P. Independent Field Project

In consultation with members of the Dartmouth faculty, each student will design and carry out an independent project which makes use of London’s unique research opportunities. The project may relate to any aspect of British, European, and World History.

Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program.

98.  Honors Seminar

The focus of the seminar is historiographic and great emphasis will be placed on the skills needed to write a research thesis in History. Only students enrolled in the Honors Program may take History 98; permission of the instructor. This course does not fulfill the requirement of a culminating experience in the Major and it may be taken only once. Butler.

99.  Thesis

This course involves an extensive investigation of some topic and submission of a bound undergraduate thesis by the designated deadline. Only students enrolled in the Honors Program may take History 99; permission of the thesis advisor and the Chair.