Selected plays of Aristophanes and Menander are read.
History
Topics and themes related to the development and impact of Western civilization upon the human community. This subject will be analyzed through an intensive examination of a specific historical theme, issue or period.
This course examines women's participation in social and political movements throughout the world since the late eighteenth century in order to understand how gender (the set of beliefs each culture has regarding male and female difference) has affected women's involvement. The course explores a variety of gender-based arguments that women have used to bring social change, assessing whether these approaches are effective or ultimately limit women to a narrow range of issues. Some attention is paid to how gender affects men's involvement in social movements.
This course examines women's participation in social and political movements throughout the world since the late eighteenth century in order to understand how gender (the set of beliefs each culture has regarding male and female difference) has affected women's involvement. The course explores a variety of gender-based arguments that women have used to bring social change, assessing whether these approaches are effective or ultimately limit women to a narrow range of issues. Some attention is paid to how gender affects men's involvement in social movements.
This class investigates the controversial history of European empires since 1800 to understand how imperialism has shaped the modern world. It explores the motivations behind the creation of European empires, the technologies and tactics that made the acquisition of colonies possible, and the economic, cultural, and social effects of imperialism on the colonized and the colonizer. The course also considers how and why European hegemony collapsed during the age of decolonization and the impact of the rise of the United States on imperialism.
This course examines the history of the interconnected region that scholars today call the Indian Ocean World. One of the oldest and most significant maritime highways in the world, it joined the east coast of Africa with the Chinese empires. The course focuses on the adventures of people who traversed long distances and shaped this world - merchants, soldiers, religious pilgrims, sailors, pirates, coolie laborers and sex workers. It considers the varieties of sources that can aid in constructing the history of the region, how forces of globalization and colonization affected its development, and how this region influenced the patterns of world history.
This course is an introduction to the study of the Black Atlantic. Built on a chronological and thematic basis, the course will focus on the history and culture of populations of African descent, particularly in Europe and the Americas. This course is divided into three parts. The first part will conceptualize the notion of Black diaspora and the Black Atlantic. The second part will explore the history of slavery and the Atlantic slave trade, in particular, how this forced migration impacted societies in the Americas and Europe. The third section of this course will explore the postemancipation period and the modern construction of race in western societies. Students will review both primary and secondary readings throughout the semester.
Citizenship has a complicated history in Indian country, one that long predates the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. While Native nations often rejected citizenship as a hollow promise and conduit of colonization, other Indigenous people within the United States actively sought citizenship to combat inequality and dispossession. Some achieved unique recognition of rights, while most navigated limited citizenship as a framework to remain in their homeland. Featuring readings on regional case studies of Native political rights, the course will cover early victories and defeats of Native citizenship in the early American republic, citizenship in the Civil War era on state, federal, and tribal levels, tensions between tribal sovereignty and citizenship through the allotment era, and the long history of Native suffrage.
Survey level courses generally focused on a specific geographical region of the world.
A general survey of the political, constitutional, economic, and social history of the United States.
A general survey of the political, constitutional, economic, and social history of Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire from the Revolution of 1688 to the present.
This class focuses on the modern transformations of China, Japan, and Korea from roughly 1800 to the present, considering the relationships between these three countries and the wider world. With many describing the 21st century as the “Asian century,” students will gain a greater understanding of key topics that have shaped modern Asian experiences, such as war and memory, reform and revolution, and empire and decolonization.
This course encompasses both the established history of the southern African region c. 1500-2004 and recent historiographical developments. As a result of this dual focus, the course highlights the production of southern African history, considering how, for whom, and why that history has been written. Topics include: the environment in history; the creation and interactions of racial groups; the mineral revolution and capitalist development; white domination, segregation, and apartheid; and political and popular resistance to these oppressive racial regimes. The course ends with the transition to majority rule, the role of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the democratic future of South Africa.
A study of the mixture of Indian and Spanish civilizations. Concentration on sixteenth-century culture of Aztecs and Incas, the evolution of Spanish colonial empire, the historical background to strongman government, the art and architecture of the colonies, and the Independence Period 1810-25.
This course offers a comparative perspective on the processes that led to the emergence of the Incas and the Aztecs. The course focuses on primary sources and texts from a variety of experts and scholars concerned with issues of state-building, self-sustained economy, warfare, aesthetics, rituals, religion, and culture.
A survey of the major topics and issues in African-American history from 1865 to the present: the era of emancipation, the turn-of-the-century nadir of race relations, black participation in both world wars, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and various dimensions of contemporary black life. The course will also explore some of the historiographical themes that have catalyzed current scholarship and will analyze diverse theories about the black experience in America.
This course examines why and how Protestantisms of differing type replaced Roman Catholicism as the official church in England, Scotland, and Ireland; how people throughout each society sought to encourage or oppose these changes; and how religious developments in these three nations from 1500 to 1750 diverged so sharply, yet remained so closely intertwined.
An introduction to the history of German-speaking Europe, c. 1450 to 1850. The course examines the complex history of the Holy Roman Empire, a vast, economically and culturally rich, multi-ethnic state. It also focuses on imperial politics in theory and practice, territorial expansion and diplomacy, the relative autonomy of many German cities, the Protestant Reformation and its aftermath, peasant revolts, the Thirty Years War, the German Enlightenment, and the Vormärz period that culminated in the 1848 Revolutions.
Although modern France is a product of the same tumultuous nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments experienced by the rest of Europe, the French reacted to the processes of industrialization, urbanization, and the democratization of politics, and the two world wars in their own fashion. This course considers in detail how France became "modern" and what the effects of this process were on different groups of individuals in French society. Readings center on primary documents.
In 1791, enslaved Africans in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue rose up in a coordinated attack against their colonial masters. In so doing, they directly challenged the plantation regime and the system of racial hierarchy that prevailed throughout the Atlantic world. By 1804, the Haitians declared their independence from France and constructed the first “Black Republic” in world history. Exploring primary sources ranging from the Code Noir to slave narratives, accounts by revolutionary black leaders, and worldwide reactions to the insurrection, the course examines some of the major themes and debates surrounding the Haitian Revolution and its immediate aftermath.