History Courses Spring 2012

HIS 1109-01 Survey of Modern U.S. History: 1865-2000 (Dr. Bryn Upton) An inquiry into the events and forces that have shaped the United States since 1865, including industrialization, urbanization, race relations, reform, social and cultural tensions, and global conflict. McDaniel Plan: Social, Cultural, Historical.

HIS 2214-01 Early Modern Europe (Ms. Darcy Kern, Visiting Lecturer) An examination of Europe from the 14th through the 18th centuries. The class traces the development of Europe from small, internally-focused kingdoms and city-states to the beginnings of world hegemony. Topics include the Bubonic Plague and subsequent economic recovery; technological developments; humanism and the Renaissance; political conflicts, revolutions, and religious reformations; the rise of the Atlantic empires; and the creation of the modern nation-state.

HIS 2220-01 Twentieth Century Europe (Dr. Jakub Zejmis) In the early twenty-first century, historians must grapple with how to define the tumultuous and in many ways tragic period that preceded. Worldwide depression, two world wars, Cold War, communism, totalitarianism, Holocaust, collectivization, decolonization: these singular events have greatly altered the image of a prosperous and progressive Europe that took hold in the previous century. This wide-ranging course will consider cultural, social, economic, and political trends in Europe from the First World War to the present. We will attempt to understand the various paths that Europe and individual European nations have taken, their global and human implications, and the place of Europe in the world today. McDaniel Plan: International Western, Social, Cultural, and Historical Understanding. Basic Liberal Arts Requirements: Humanities. HIS 2229-01 U.S. in the Cold War Era: 1945-1991 (Dr. Bryn Upton) An exploration of the transformation of American life, politics, and world position since 1945. McDaniel Plan: Social, Cultural, Historical. Basic Liberal Arts Requirements: Humanities.

HIS 2232-01, -02 History of East Asia Since 1600 (Dr. Qin Fang) A survey of East Asian history from 1600 to the present, this course maps the intersections and divergences in Chinese, Korean and Japanese history, from the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, global economic crisis in the 17th century, and Chinese domination of the world market in the 18th century, to the violent encroachment on East Asia by imperialist powers in the 19th century, the reforms and revolutions of the turn of the 20th century, massive destruction during the Second World War, and political and economic developments of recent decades. McDaniel Plan: International Nonwestern. Basic Liberal Arts Requirements: Global Perspective, Humanities. HIS 2266-01 SP: Greek Myth & History (Dr. Donna Evergates) How did the ancient Greeks use myth to speculate about their past? How did Greek historians use or abuse myth? This class will review modern mythological classifications and approaches and then examine Greek myths from the different perspectives available to the Greeks themselvespoetry, drama, ethnography, ritual, material cultureto explore how the Greeks used them to speculate about past and current social issues, identities, and historical events.

HIS 2266-02 SP: The Enlightenment & French Revolution (Mr. Khalid Kurji, Visiting Lecturer) Every generation must rediscover the French Revolution for itself. It birthed modernity and might not yet be over. This course aims not only to provide students with a solid understanding of what happened during the Revolution, insight on how historians have grappled with interpreting the event, and the ability to interrogate its repercussions on our world.

HIS 2266-03 The Spanish Empire (Ms. Darcy Kern, Visiting Lecturer) This class traces the creation of the Spanish empire from its Iberian roots in the Reconquest victories of the 11th century, to Spanish exploration along the coast of Africa, to exploration in the Americas in the 15th century. We will see how Spain conquered and administered the first global empire from Europe to the Americas to the Philippines, ending with the abolition of slavery and the Spanish-American War. Topics include conflict and cooperation in the Iberian Peninsula; destruction and reconfiguration of indigenous societies; labor migration of Spaniards, Native Americans, and Africans; the development of new cultures; religion; and the various means of accommodation, resistance, and rebellion used by the inhabitants of the Empire. HIS 2269-01 SP: Russian Eurasia (Dr. Jakub Zejmis) This course will introduce students to Russia's history as a multinational empire made up of diverse peoples and cultures and to its unique geography joining Europe to Asia. The course will address the question of Russian origins, the place of Ukraine in Russia's history, and the impact of Mongol conquest and dominance. It will pay special attention to non-European peoples in Siberia and Central Asia and the integration of these regions into an expanding empire. Students will consider the rise of modern national movements, the "national question" in the Russian Revolution, and the fortunes of non-Russian peoples in the Soviet Union. Students will see how ethnic separatism contributed to the breakup of the Soviet state and led to the "rebirth" of nations since the early 1990s. HIS 3327-01 Seminar: Modern U.S. History (Dr. Bryn Upton) In this course we will take a detailed look at the emerging history of the late 20th century, beginning with the 1980s. We will use new scholarship on this era and examine the challenges historians face when dealing with such recent history. Students will read, research, discuss, and write about issues and events from the last quarter of the 20th century. HIS 3331-01 Gender and Family in China (Dr. Qin Fang) This course will examine the changing constructions of gender and shifting configurations of the family from imperial times to the present. Primary sources (in translation) and secondary literature together convey how changing notions of kinship, property, ritual, space, and the body have informed notions of gender in China, from the traditional courtyard house to the modern high-rise apartment. McDaniel Plan: Social, Cultural, and Historical Understanding and International Nonwestern. Basic Liberal Arts Requirements: Global Perspective, Humanities. HIS 3367-01 SP: Stalin (Dr. Jakub Zejmis) This course will examine one of the twentieth centurys most notorious figures, Joseph Stalin, and his leadership of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death in 1953. In part this will be a history of the Stalin era in its political, economic, social, cultural, diplomatic, and military aspects. The course will include a study of the non-ethnically Russian regions of the Soviet Union and will address many issues of ethnic, religious, and national diversity. The course will likewise include a review of historiography, or historians changing interpretations of Stalins rule. Students will address controversies such as whether Stalin was the rightful heir to Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Revolution, his degree of direct responsibility for the political terror of the 1930s, his cooperation with Hitler at the outset of World War II in Europe, and his contribution to the beginnings of the Cold War.