Selected topics in the history of western Europe during the Middle Ages. Emphasis on reading, papers, discussion.
From sudden events such as the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, to those that unfolded over many years, crises and catastrophes were omnipresent in early modernity. While contemporaries often agreed that crises were imminent or unfolding, like today they did not always agree on how to respond. This course considers specific public health crises of the period, such as the global spread of smallpox and plague, positioning these within key readings in the history of science, medicine, capitalism and empire. Students also will study the disruptive dimensions of the period’s political and ecological crises and links between experiencing crisis and activism.
This American History course covers the Black Power Movement’s history from its origins in the late 1960s and early 1970s through the current Black Lives Matter era. Together we review how the Black Power Movement empowered individuals and groups to protest police brutality, advance criminal justice reform, advocate for self-defense, promote Black collective interests, advance Black values, create Black institutions, and secure Black autonomy.
This seminar compares the warfare that accompanied colonial encounters in North America and southern Africa, from the first European contact through the early twentieth century. It focuses on wars fought in response to resistance by native peoples and on the use of native allies in warfare between imperial foes as windows into the processes of acculturation, resistance, dispossession, and representation that characterized the colonial encounter as a whole. Texts range from traditional military history to religious, cultural, environmental, and comparative approaches to the topic.
Religious nationalist parties and social movements play an increasingly important role in our contemporary world. Promising a more “authentic” approach to nationalism than secular nationalism, these movements provide meaning to millions of adherents, while also contributing to partisanship and conflict around the world. This class investigates the history of religious nationalism with a focus primarily on the history of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish nationalism in the 20th and 21st centuries. Case studies will be drawn from the history of Israel/Palestine, India/Pakistan, Ireland, and the United States.
Public historians work with a variety of people and non-academic institutions, including community heritage groups, historical societies, and museums. In this course, students will explore the practice of conducting historical research in support of projects proposed by these institutions. This course will blend theory and experience by examining the cultural, intellectual, and economic implications of conducting public history research while exploring the practical aspects of conducting public history fieldwork.
Selected topics in the history of England from the Roman conquest to the accession of Henry Tudor. Emphasis on reading, papers, discussion.
This seminar investigates how and why sexuality became the key to selfhood in modern Europe. Drawing on the tools of gender analysis and cultural history, students explore the ways in which political, socioeconomic and cultural tensions of particular historical moments were manifested in the sexuality of individuals. Students also examine a variety of primary sources from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries to consider how individuals defined themselves through sexuality and how definitions were imposed on them by a variety of institutions and authority figures.
The impulse to combine land, labor, and capital in profitable ways has always existed; this course focuses on how British and American entrepreneurs have attempted this challenge over the past 500 years of history. The differing cultural, institutional, and technological developments faced by entrepreneurs in each country are considered.
An examination of the historical origins and development of the discourses of sustainability, sustainable development, and the green economy, which have been ubiquitous, influential, and critically and historiographically under-examined in contemporary U.S. and global society. The course draws on contemporary global environmental historiography, while analyzing key primary sources such as Malthus' An Essay on the Principles of Population, Marsh's Man and Nature, Ehrlich's Population Bomb, Club of Rome's Limits to Growth, the United Nations' Brundtland Commission's "Our Common Future," the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, and the University of the South's Sustainability Master Plan.
Humanities
As a critical introduction to cultural contexts and ideological tensions in the modern world, this interdisciplinary course examines the intersections of literature, the arts, philosophy, and politics to investigate what it means to be modern and how the modern era has reshaped and redefined the human experience. The course will compare literary, visual, and aural texts from different global traditions to de-link the concept of the modern from “the West” in its investigation of how societies have negotiated, registered, and expressed the experience of modernity.
This course explores Futurism, an avant-garde movement that developed in Italy in the early twentieth century. The course covers examples from multiple mediums (painting, sculpture, literature, architecture, urban design, dance, fashion, music, and cooking) to study how Futurism proposed to fashion a way of life and not solely an artistic idiom. Analyzing the numerous Futurist manifestos, this course investigates the movement’s programmatic approach to art and its position in the general artistic ferment that characterized Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century.
International & Global Studies
Explores the breadth of Japanese print culture, focusing on eighteenth to twentieth century artworks. Examines prints in light of economic and socio-cultural contexts, with special emphasis on topics such as the masculine culture of eighteenth century urban Japan, and globalization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Genres covered include: early modern landscapes, “beautiful women” and actor prints, nineteenth-century political prints, and twentieth-century creative and revival prints from wartime and postwar Japan. Incorporates the study of museum print collections.
This course explores the early modern art movement known as “Baroque.” It begins with an historiographical examination of the term “baroque” and considers how and why the baroque visual language of delectare et movere appears across the globe from Europe to Asia and Latin America. (Of note: “global” in this sense would be excluding Africa.) The course examines and compares key works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts in consideration of their motivations and meanings. We conclude with an examination of the extension of baroque forms and styles in contemporary art in what has been referred to as the “Neobaroque” and “Ultrabaroque.”
This course surveys the rich and varied traditions of Chinese theater from their origins in ritual and spectacle to their current formulations in traditional and modern productions. We will discuss both dramatic texts and theatrical performances. All readings will be in English. Course will be taught in English.
A study of the causes of and solutions for pollution and environmental degradation weighs the value of ecosystems and their role in sustaining economic activity. Applies cost/benefit analysis to environmental issues and provides an introduction to economics of nonrenewable and renewable resources such as mines, forests, and fish.
This courses studies financial aspects of growth, income and price level determination in open economies. Topics include the balance of payments, exchange rate determination, international payment adjustment mechanisms, capital flows, and international macroeconomic policy.
This course explores the contemporary Anglophone novel since 1989, a period that coincides with the increased pace of globalization. Written largely from transnational perspectives that defy traditional national boundaries, the novels in this course share a common concern with capturing global experience and analyzing the cultural and economic impact of globalization. Potential readings include works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Amitav Ghosh, Michael Ondaatje, and Ruth Ozeki.
Integrating local, regional, and global perspectives, this course outlines the history of agriculture, introduces the development of food systems and policy, and reviews the environmental impact of food production. Among topics addressed are the history of agricultural expansion in the US, the development of agriculture and food policies, interaction among agricultural markets at home as well as abroad, and sustainable agriculture. Classroom activities emphasize the involvement of multiple constituencies in identifying and articulating agricultural issues. Field opportunities include garden activities and local trips aimed at relating broader issues to how livelihoods are pursued on the Cumberland Plateau.
A survey of existing and emerging threats to wetland ecosystems and the consequences for animal and human populations. This course discusses causes, consequences, and solutions for issues of international and local concern based on an understanding of freshwater ecology and function. Also considers multiple perspectives on water use and attempts to reconcile these differences so as to identify and publicize potential conservation solutions.