HIST 141, Western Civ. to 1660 (11-12.50 M/W/F)
3 credit hours [CRN: 69524]
Fulfills Cultural Studies-Western and Humanities - Hist & Phil Gen Eds.
This course surveys essential developments in Western Civilization from Antiquity through 1660. It focuses on the evolution of politics, ideas and religious beliefs, and social structures and conflicts. This course examines the contributions of successive and interacting civilizations from the early empires of Mesopotamia to the European colonization of the New World, including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Medieval Europe and the Islamic world. In the process, students gain a new understanding of the cultural fusions and conflicts that continue to define, and challenge, the West and the wider world.
HIST 258, 20th Century World to Midcentury (1-2.50, M/W/F)
3 credit hours [CRN: 56798]
Fulfills Cultural Studies-Western and Humanities - Hist & Phil Gen Eds.
A survey of global history from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, focusing on histories of empire, colonialism, nationalism, and resistance. Beginning with the height of New Imperialism in the 1880s and 1890s, we will examine the rise of colonial ethnography and museology; immigration, displacement, and racial quotas; imperial exhibitions, literature, and music; world wars; and anticolonial revolutions, ending with decolonization and the construction of post-colonial nation-states in the 1950s and 1960s.
HIST 264, Technology in Western Society(9-10.50AM, M/W/F)
3 credit hours [CRN: 63376]
Fulfills Cultural Studies-Western and Humanities - Hist & Phil Gen Eds.
This class covers the major interactions between technology and society in the West from Ancient Greece (800 B.C.) to the present (2019). The class encourages students from all academic disciplines to critically examine technology. The course is geographically centered on Europe and the United States of America. The following themes will be explored in depth: development of technology, technological change, relationship between science and technology, social and environmental consequences of technology, religion and technology, imperialism and technology, war and technology, and the impact of the electronic technologies of today.
HIST 281, Constructing Race in America(1-2.50, M/W/F)
3 credit hours [CRN: 69523]
Fulfills Cultural Studies - US Minority and Humanities - Hist & Phil Gen Eds.
Why did Kendrick Lamar incorporate African dancers into his 2016 Grammy performance? History 281 will focus on "The African in 'African-American'": the ways that ideas and images of “authentic" Africanness have been adopted and/or rejected by folk of African descent in the USA in the 20th and 21st centuries. Tracking controversies in the deployment of these ideas and images, we will start with political histories of engagement with African anti-colonial struggles and decolonization, and move on to cultural practices: naming, holiday observances, dance, music and film. Students will complete a short research project in lieu of a final exam.
HIST 283, Asian American History (12-1.50, M/W/F)
3 credit hours [CRN: 69814]
Fulfills Cultural Studies - US Minority and Humanities - Hist & Phil Gen Eds.
Asian Americans are a dizzyingly diverse group. Most do not even see themselves as "Asian American." How then can we speak of "Asian American history?" What issues arise in trying to incorporate this diversity into one historical narrative, one story? In this course, we will attempt to grapple with this problem. We will relate the activity and the historical circumstances Asian Americans have faced in the United States to the themes of capitalism and democracy, unity and difference that have challenged all Americans. We will examine the reasons why men and women of the Asian continent migrated to what is today the United States, the ways they establish communities and related across generational divides, the challenges of racism, gender, discrimination, and class exploitation they faced, and the ways they responded to their new conditions. We will explore Asian American history using primary sources, literature, and film as our windows.