An introduction to the field of environmental history, which asks how the natural world has shaped the course of human civilization, and how humans, in turn, have shaped the natural world, over time.
An examination of the events, people, movements, and themes of the region's past, from earliest known human habitation to the present. The course explores contrasting ways of life expressed by native and European peoples; implications of incorporating the area into the United States; the agricultural, industrial, and transportation revolutions of the nineteenth century; popular culture within and about Appalachia; contemporary issues of regional development and preservation; and ways the unique environment of these mountains has shaped and frustrated notions of regional identity.
This second offering in a two-course sequence addresses the modern Middle East, and emphasizes the region's place in global politics and the world economy. Among the topics considered are European imperialism and local responses, nineteenth-century reform movements, the rise of the nation-state, the impact of Arab nationalism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Islamic political movements, gender relations in the region, the importance of oil, the Iraq conflict, terrorism and the peace process.
An exploration of the Southern past from the earliest English settlements to the establishment of the Confederate States of America. This course charts the development of distinctive Southern political, economic, and social structures, examines the role of chattel slavery in shaping the region, and analyzes the causes of the war for Southern independence.
An exploration of the Southern past from the earliest English settlements to the establishment of the Confederate States of America. This course charts the development of distinctive Southern political, economic, and social structures, examines the role of chattel slavery in shaping the region, and analyzes the causes of the war for Southern independence.
An exploration of the importance of slavery to the development of higher education in the United States through a close study of the history of the University of the South, its antebellum roots in the slaveholding South, and the continuing impact of the legacies of slavery and racial injustice on its development. The course also examines campus monuments and memorials that shape collective memories and identities at Sewanee and considers the ethical questions of how universities may seek justice and reconciliation in light of their historic and long-unaddressed connections to slavery.
A seminar dealing with important political, social, and intellectual movements in American history.
A seminar dealing with important political, social, and intellectual movements in American history.
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.
Offering a broad view of Islam in contemporary politics, this course investigates the politicization of Islam and the "Islamization" of politics by Islamist groups (such as al-Queda and Hamas), governments (such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan), and non-state actors in the Muslim world. The class aims to demystify the so-called "Islamic turn" by considering how Islamic politics are shaped by wider debates about modern Islam, by Western actions in the regions, and by the emergence of powerful new technologies of propaganda and recruitment.
This course examines the political, economic, and social aspects of science and medicine in East Asia from 1500 to the present. It analyzes how ideas about the natural world, the body, and healing were constructed and disseminated across the region, with a focus on selective adaptation, empire, and hybridity. Students will question the universal nature of science and medicine taught in most classrooms as well as consider the importance of indigenous forms of knowledge in modern disciplines.
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 exploration of the conservation and wilderness preservation movements, and their impacts on peoples, landscapes, and animal populations, with a focus on North America and Africa. The class will examine the historiography of these interrelated phenomena, including their connections with colonialism, urban growth, anti-colonial resistance, local and indigenous agency, tourism, and landscape ecology. Case studies will might include the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and various U.S. national parks. Attention will also be given to recent work on private and public/private conservation. Students will develop research projects in an area of their interest.
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.
The idea of “the classic” has long been important to humanistic learning. But what is a classic? And where does the notion originate that one should study literary classics? This course explores an important point of origin in the American founding, when it was popular to consult Greco-Roman authors for wisdom, imitate their forms, and contemplate Rome’s rise and fall as a cautionary tale of imperial hubris. Ancient texts–including the Iliad and the Aeneid–found fertile soil in the colonial Americas. The course samples these “classics” alongside works by new practitioners such as Aphra Behn, Phillis Wheatley, and Olaudah Equiano.
International & Global Studies
This class considers the myriad experiences of gender and sexuality around the globe. The survey engages students in considering power dynamics and status accorded by gender in foraging societies, chiefdoms, archaic and late industrial states and the roles that subsistence, technology and religion play in shaping gender identity. Students examine the traditional cultural exceptions to binary categories in Native American, Middle Eastern and Indian societies and consider current movements around gender fluidity.
This anthropological investigation into medical topics with a cultural component (gerontology, substance abuse, nutrition, folk medicine, etc.) will also examine the ways in which various cultural backgrounds may impede or enhance the medical process. Issues such as disease and therapy will also be examined in cross-cultural perspective.
A survey of the peoples and polities of Southeast Asia from prehistory to the present, stressing the cultural and historical continuities that unite this ethnically diverse region. Special consideration is given to urban rule, peasants, popular religion, and indigenous notions of power, gender, space, and time.
This course examines major artistic currents in China from 1980 to the present day. Explores connections between artistic production, political movements, and political structures. Considers the position of Chinese artists in a global society, issues of diaspora, and the role of art institutions and markets in the production and reception of Chinese contemporary art.
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.”