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HIS 201 The Historian's Craft

This course introduces undergraduate majors and minors to the exercise of thinking, researching and writing historically, focusing on the technical, methodological and theoretical skills that guide professional practice in diverse settings: museums, archives, secondary education and universities. Students will learn how to distinguish between evidence and interpretation and how to assess different kinds of evidence. Class meetings will sample representative fields, approaches and primary sources to provide the foundations for independent research in the capstone course.
Credit Hours: 4

Prerequisites

History Major or Minor

HIS 204 Twentieth Century Europe

European History in the 1900s.
Credit Hours: 4

HIS 205 Native American Histories: Colonialism and Resistance

A survey of the history of Native Americans in the Caribbean, North America, and South America from the pre-Columbian period through the twentieth century. By focusing comparatively on the themes of colonialism and resistance over five centuries, students will study the range of tactics that Native Americans have adopted to create and preserve their communities, cultures, and sovereignty since 1492.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 206 Slavery and Racism in the Early Americas: A Comparative Perspective

A study of the development of slavery and relations between European Americans and African Americans in British, Spanish, and Portuguese America from the beginning of European settlement in the New World until the abolition of slavery in the mid-19th century.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 212 Witchcraft and Magic in the Early Modern Atlantic World

A study of the development of witchcraft accusations, beginning with continental Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and continuing with the later scares in England and New England. Particular emphasis will be given to international comparisons and to the changing social, cultural and economic positions of women.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 215 Women in American History

A survey of women's accomplishments, lifestyles, changing image and struggle for equality and recognition from colonial times to the present.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 217 China's Centuries of War and Revolution: since 1800

Napoleon Bonaparte said: “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” This course will explore how prophetic his words were by exploring China’s often torturous search for modernity. It surveys the interplay between China and the outside world from before the Opium War through the collapse of two millennia of dynastic rule, the rise of the Communist movement, decades of Japanese aggression, the Maoist years of almost constant revolution, and its gradual transition to a socialist-style entrepreneurial state, and its emergence on the world stage as a major power.

Credit Hours: 4

Prerequisites

AWR 201

HIS 220 Introduction to African History

An exploration of the history of Africa from the rise of the great Sahel empires to the struggle for independence from European imperialism, with an emphasis on the period from 1500 to 1975. Major topics include the role of Islam, colonialism, nationalist movements, Pan-Africanism, decolonization and the challenges facing newly independent states and societies.

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 221 Japan's Modern Centuries

This course surveys Japanese history from the coming of the Western gunboats in the 1850s through the Meiji restoration, the early development of international trade and democracy, the rise of militarism in the 1930s, World War II, the American Occupation, the economic "miracle" and the troubled 2000s.

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 225 The Age of the Civil War

A study of mid-19th century America, with particular emphases on the political developments, changing regional economies, patterns of interracial, interethnic and interclass relationships, as well as the course of military events during the Civil War.

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 227 China and the World to 1800

China is frequently represented as a monolithic civilization, ethnocentric, and static in pre-modern times. This course challenges those stereotypes. It is a descriptive and analytical survey of China’s dynamic history from its historical origins in the 2nd millennium to 1800. It focuses on the evolution of the state, emphasizing cultural and political interactions with both neighboring and more distant societies. It further examines how China’s civilization influenced the emergence of the East Asian family of nations. This is a writing intensive course in which writing is a mode of learning and written assignments are a substantial part of the course grade.

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 228 Traditional Japan

This course examines the history of Japan from its pre-historical origins until the rise of modern Japan in the mid-nineteenth century. Special focus is given to indigenous Japanese beliefs, the influence of Chinese political and social values on Japanese life, Buddhist religious culture, the military ethos of the samurai, and the material cultural and artistic achievements of the Tokugawa period. In addition to a conventional textbook, literature and film are used to immerse students in the worldviews of traditional Japan. Group work and collaborative learning is emphasized. 

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 229 History of Sexuality

This course surveys major trends and turning points in the history of sexuality since 1500. We will examine the governing regimes (legal, religious, medical, etc.) that defined sexual behavior and reproductive practices in mainland North America, paying particular attention to the changing relationship between sexual regulation and politics over time. The course will also explore the ways that official pronouncements differed from the actual practices and perceptions of ordinary woman and men. We will ask how factors such as race and ethnicity, class, and gender shaped sexual understandings and behavior.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 236 Latin America

A study of Latin American history from the colonial period to the present.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 256 The Era of World War I

The course traces the diplomatic and economic events leading to the outbreak of war in 1914 and follows the progress of the war, revolution and peace.

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 257 The Era of World War II

The course traces the political, economic, social and diplomatic events leading to the outbreak of hostilities and the military and diplomatic aspects of the war itself. It concludes with the Nuremburg Trials.

Spartan Studies:

SSD

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 260 The Holocaust

This course covers the persecution and systematic extermination of Jews, Romany, Slavs and other targeted populations of Europe by the Nazis and their collaborators. The course will explore antisemitism in modern European history, the ways in which antisemitism was legalized in Nazi Germany and the consequences of those policies in Nazi-occupied Europe. 

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 275 The Civil Rights Movement

This course focuses on the struggle for racial equality and freedom in the American South after World War II. It also helps students comprehend this struggle within the broader context of post-Civil War American race relations.

Credit Hours: 4

HIS 290 Special Studies

Special courses are offered each year.

Credit Hours: 2-4