History

Academic Year: 
2018-19
Address: 
Dickinson Hall
Phone: 
609-258-5529
Website: 
Department of History
Program offerings: 
Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies
Michael Laffan
Graduate Program Administrator
Kristy Novak
(Graduate Assistant)
Jaclyn Wasneski

Academic department detail

Overview

The graduate program in history values an approach to scholarship grounded in the particular while retaining a sense of the whole. The faculty encourage students to take as comprehensive a view of history as possible with the goal of cultivating a far-reaching understanding of the past. Throughout their enrollment, students develop the necessary skills to conduct discipline-defining research.

Vibrant intellectual communities within the department and across campus encourage students to engage in interdisciplinary conversations with faculty, other students, and visiting scholars. Faculty advisers supervise the progress of each student and closely oversee the research and writing of the dissertation. Deep departmental commitment to professional development aids students in becoming expert historians and effective teachers.

Courses

Permanent Courses

Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

CLA 547 Problems in Ancient History (also
PAW 503
/
HLS 547
/
HIS 557
) Study of a topic involving both ancient Greece and ancient Rome, such as imperialism or slavery, from a comparative perspective.
EAS 518 Qing History (also
HIS 532
) Topics in Chinese social and cultural history, 1600-1900, ranging from material culture, popular religion, and education to the history of science.
EAS 526 Research Seminar in Ancient and Medieval Japanese History (also
HIS 525
) This course is a research and writing seminar that introduces major historical methods of research in ancient and medieval Japan. In addition to weekly research assignments, students identify a research topic by the third week of the class, and complete a research paper at the end of the semester (entailing 15-20 pages). Instruction focuses on research methods and topics, although some reading of sources also occurs.
EAS 572 Readings in Modern Korean History (also
HIS 528
) A survey of major issues and debates in the historiography of modern Korea. Course introduces the major English language works on modern Korean history. Topics include: "opening" of Korea, Japanese colonialism, space of liberation, the Korean war, issues of gender and labor, and U.S.-Korean relations. No previous knowledge of Korean history or language is necessary, but basic knowledge of twentieth century East Asian history is expected.
HIS 500 Introduction to the Professional Study of History A colloquium to introduce the beginning graduate student to the great traditions in historical writing, a variety of techniques and analytical tools recently developed by historians, and the nature of history as a profession.
HIS 501 Global History (1850s - Present) This seminar offers a history of global interactions roughly since the 1850s, combining an analytical framework with an overarching narrative. It singles out geopolitics, political economy, empire, networks and exchange, warfare and welfare, and oil. Key themes include the Anglo-German antagonism, the U.S.-Japan clash, the rise and fall of global communism, the German story and the European Union, the fall and rise of China, and America's global predominance and partnerships.
HIS 502 Writing History The craft of historical writing. As older notions of objectivity come under attack, what narrative options exist for historians? Course focuses on recent work by historians experimenting with new forms of writing and considers the boundaries between fact and fiction, the use of first-person narratives, and the limits of historical speculation. Course also examines how journalists, novelists, and film-makers narrate the past to ask what literary lessons they might offer academic historians. In a series of structured assignments, students experiment with different ways of writing about the past.
HIS 503 Research Ethics and the Dissertation Prospectus (also
HOS 503
) The course includes an intensive two-day, 12-hour training program in eight sessions designed to introduce post-generals students in History and History of Science to key issues of responsibility in research, including: problems in sources, data collection and processing; responsible authorship and peer review; human subjects, oral history, and intellectual property; collaborative research; research misconduct; and history in society. Each session is introduced by one or more faculty members. Students are assigned readings as well as on line resources. The dissertation prospectus part of the course includes eight additional 3-hour sessions.
HIS 504 Colonial Latin America to 1810 (also
LAS 524
) An examination of selected subjects in early Latin American history from the apogees of the great Amerindian civilizations, through the years of Spanish and Portuguese imperial control to the rebellions preceding independence. The course emphasizes social and cultural change, explores developments in historiography, and treats a variety of major problems in the field.
HIS 506 Modern Latin American History Since 1810 (also
LAS 526
) This course covers some of the major themes in Latin American historiography. It centers on the formation and contestation of different levels of community, from the local to the national, and gives additional consideration to Latin America's integration into global economic and political processes.
HIS 507 Environmental History: Plural Global and Local Narratives The course critically assesses the paradigms and models underlying the analysis and description of environmental change and explores alternative ways of understanding and narrating environmental change beyond the constraints of the current linear, singular, and homogenizing Nature-to-Culture conceptualizations. The class readings draw from different historical periods and different parts of the world, including Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia.
HIS 511 Precolonial African History This seminar is designed to introduce graduate students to recent studies in African history with a regional emphasis on West, West Central Africa, and East Africa and thematic emphasis on social/cultural history. We will discuss some of the recent trends in historical writing on African history. Works cover the period from earliest times to the 1880s and readings selected represent important themes emerging in scholarly research.
HIS 513 Themes in World History, 1300-1850 This seminar attempts to understand the historical processes that have divided the modern world into the West and the non-West. While it emphasizes the study of non-Western regions, its aim is to highlight global transformations that have connected their histories with the formation and dominance of the West.
HIS 515 Modern African History: Society, Violence, Displacement, and Memory Reading and research on Africa from the partition to independence are the focus of this course. Topics include the forces that impelled Europe to partition Africa in the 1880s, the impact of Europe on Africa, modernization, resistance, nationalism, and decolonialization. The first nine weeks are devoted to general readings introducing these topics; for the remainder of the term, students work on a research project of their own choosing.
HIS 516 Atlantic Slavery This graduate level readings seminar introduces students to the historiography of Atlantic slavery, largely but not exclusively focused on the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. Indigenous slavery, imperial slavery, chattel slavery, and other forms of bonded labor are covered. Comparative readings also may introduce alternate trajectories and models of slavery in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
HIS 517 Southeast Asian Islams This seminar explores topics ranging from the Islamization of Insular Southeast Asia, the development of Muslim polities, reactions to colonialism, and transnational critiques of everyday praxis. It evaluates the role of indigenous informants in creating the body of knowledge about Islam in Southeast Asia among scholars, and looks at how that knowledge informs our present day discourse on the region and its relations with the rest of the Muslim World.
HIS 518 Topics in Middle East History (also
NES 519
) This graduate seminar examines key historiographical and methodological issues in modern Middle Eastern history. Based on student interest, themes and materials may vary. Based on student interest, readings in Arabic will be added where appropriate.
HIS 519 Topics in the History of Sex and Gender (also
GSS 519
/
HOS 519
) A study of the historical connections linking sex and gender to major social, political, and economic transformations. Comparative approaches are taken either in time or by region, or both. Topics may include family, gender, and the economy; gender, religion, and political movements; gender and the state; and gender and cultural representation.
HIS 523 Topics in Modern South Asia This course explores special topics in modern South Asian history. The precise topic varies from year to year.
HIS 526 Readings in Early Modern Japanese History (also
EAS 521
) Selected topics in the institutional and intellectual history of Tokugawa and Meiji Japan. Students attend the meetings of 321 and take part in a special graduate discussion group.
HIS 527 20th-Century Japanese History (also
EAS 522
) Selected topics in Japanese social and economic history since 1900.
HIS 529 Late Imperial/Early Modern China (also
EAS 519
) Selected problems and topics on 19th- and 20th- century China, that will also address historiographical issues in the West, the People's Republic, and Taiwan.
HIS 530 Modern China (also
EAS 520
) This seminar will examine the major historiographical and methodological issues in Chinese history for the period 1600-1900. We will read and evaluate the most important historians and consider the issues that seem especially provocative or interesting.
HIS 536 Cross-Cultural Encounters in the Medieval Mediterranean (also
HLS 536
/
MED 536
) The littoral of the Mediterranean Sea has long been viewed as a major place of contact, conflict and exchange for groups belonging to the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This course approaches the encounters of different religions and ethnicities in such a manner as to introduce students not only to the classic historiography on the subject, but also to the main controversies and debates current in scholarship. Our discussions involve forays into the fields of transnational and global history.
HIS 537 Islam Across the Indian Ocean This seminar will consider Islam and mobility across the Indian Ocean, discussing ways that Southeast Asians, Africans, and Indians have created their distinct communities while nonetheless declaring themselves to be of one discrete entity: the Umma. Alongside discussions of knowledge creation, orientalism and nationalism, the seminar will also explore issues relating to global projects for religious and political reform, using Indonesia as a primary example.
HIS 538 Readings in the Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History of the Modern Middle East (also
NES 517
) This graduate reading seminar explores important works in the history of the modern and contemporary Middle East. Weekly readings consist of scholarly monographs on a particular theme, to be read and discussed in conjunction with related articles and other readings. Students are evaluated on active oral participation, two presentations, one critical book review as well as a longer historiographical essay.
HIS 539 Britain and France in the Eighteenth Century A survey of the main themes of British and French history in the eighteenth-century. Topics include nationalism, forms of government, social structure, women and gender, and the French Revolution.
HIS 540 Themes in World History, 1300-1850: The Mediterranean (also
HLS 545
/
NES 548
) This course introduces students to the recent theoretical literature on the history of the sea as well as the current historiography on the early modern (1300-1850) Mediterranean. The Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic and North Africa all feature prominently. Students must be able to write a paper based on primary sources. Wide latitude is given in order to accommodate student interest.
HIS 542 Problems in Byzantine History (also
HLS 542
/
MED 542
) Reading and research on selected problems in Byzantine social and cultural history are the focus of the course. Specific topics are announced in the term preceding the seminar.
HIS 543 The Origins of the Middle Ages (also
HLS 543
) Reading and research on the transition of ancient into medieval society, religion, and culture are the focus of the course.
HIS 544 Seminar in Medieval History (also
MED 544
) Selected problems in the social, administrative, and legal history of Western Europe in the Middle Ages, primarily during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.
HIS 545 Readings in Renaissance and Reformation History A comprehensive study of major problems in the period, with particular attention to disputed questions of historical analysis and interpretation.
HIS 547 Revolutionary Lives in the Atlantic World This course will take a new approach to the "Age of Democratic Revolutions," looking at the French, American and Haitian Revolutions through the prism of biography, and notions of selfhood. It will explore how individuals attempted to construct and reconstruct their lives during his period of unprecedented tumult. It will also examine how we can recapture those lives,and how individual biographies can illuminate the period's larger events.
HIS 548 Histories of Language and Communication How should we think about the history of language and communication, especially in light of the digital revolution of our own time? This course considers the different themes, approaches, and conclusions of recent scholars of history and related fields. Reading and discussion of one or two books each week. All readings in English. No prior knowledge required.
HIS 549 Enlightenment and Revolution in France A survey of the main themes (social, political, and intellectual) in the development of France since the last years of Louis XIV, followed by intensive study of the Revolution. A reading knowledge of French is required.
HIS 550 Davis Center Seminar This course offers students an opportunity to explore topics related to the Davis Center Seminar. Topics studied vary as the Davis Center theme changes every two years.
HIS 551 Problems in French History Topics in French history from the Napoleonic era to the present. Political volatility, imperial grandeur, artistic creativity: how do these facets of modern French life fit together and mutually interact? Topics will vary from year to year.
HIS 552 International Financial History The course examines financial innovation and its consequences from the early modern period to present: it examines the evolution of trading practices, bills of exchange, government bonds, equities, banking activity, derivatives markets, securitization. How do these evolve in particular state or national settings, how are the practices regulated, how do they relate to broader processes of economic development and to state formation? What happens as financial instruments are traded across state boundaries, and how does an international financial order evolve? What are the effects of international capital mobility?
HIS 554 Global History of Capitalism, c. 1850-Present This course surveys capitalism's beginning. It asks students to think about comparative responses to global economic integration. Topics include: European free trade and the "opening" of Asia and Africa, the gold standard and international finance, and commodity chains. We examine the economic consequences of world war and the Great Depression, the reconstruction and the experiment in multilateralism with the Bretton Woods system and its breakdown in the 1970s and origins of recent globalization. There are three running themes: the history of commodities, the changes in global finance, and the role of institutions.
HIS 555 Monotheism and Society from Constantine to Harun al-Rashid (also
HLS 555
) This seminar introduces students to some of the most important ideas and debates surrounding the major religious revolutions of Late Antiquity, including the triumph of Christianity over paganism and the advent of Islam followed by astonishing world conquests. The course focuses on reading both primary and secondary literature; texts may also be read in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. No prior knowledge of Late Antiquity, Christianity, or Islam will be assumed in the course.
HIS 556 The Russian Empire: 1672-1917 This seminar covers major topics of Russian history from the late 17th century to 1917: political cultures and the institutions of autocracy; Russia in the age of Enlightenment; Nationalism and the policy toward non-Russian nationalities; Russian Empire in comparative perspective; Church and State in Imperial Russia; Russian village before and after the emancipation of peasants; social, legal, and cultural reforms; revolutionary movement and the development of Russian political thought.
HIS 558 Topics in Early Modern European History This seminar covers major themes in the comparative study of early modern European states. It is intended for history graduate students to prepare for exams and independent research but also for students in related disciplines. The seminar uses both classical and contemporary historiography to explore fundamental topics in early modern political history such as the nature of course society and absolutism, religion and confessionalization, the military revolution, and rituals and bureaucratic practices.
HIS 559 The Soviet Empire and Successor States Readings and research in the culture, society, economy, and politics of the Soviet empire and successor states are the focus of this course. This course explores the possible approaches and strategies as well as the availability and the use of sources, with an eye to the formulation or further refining of a topic and preparation for fieldwork.
HIS 560 After Empire This graduate seminar explores the postcolonial world in the aftermath of World War II - a period convulsed by the aftereffects of wartime upheavals, nationalist insurgencies, imperial retreat, and the onset of the Cold War. Focusing on this tumultuous period from the end of World War II to Bandung and treating it as a distinct and bounded historical conjuncture, this seminar examines decolonization as a global phenomenon, caught between the no longer and not yet, and sparking changes in imperial and anticolonial projects.
HIS 561 European Intellectual History This seminar will provide an introduction to recent theoretical debates and methodological approaches to 20th Century European intellectual and cultural history. Its central focus will be on the legacy of Marx, Nietzsche, and Weber for the debates on "enlightenment" and "counter-enlightenment" during the first half of the century. Among the thinkers we will be examining are: T.W. Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault, Martin Heidegger, Georg Lukacs, and Carl Schmitt.
HIS 562 British Histories and Global Histories, c.1750-1950 This seminar explores the inter-connected histories of Britain and the British Empire from the even broader perspective of global history, and in so doing examines the rise and fall of the British nation and empire as world hegemon. Topics to be covered include industrial revolutions, citizens, subjects and constitutions, empire and race, the First and Second World Wars as imperial conflicts, and the collapse of British world power thereafter.
HIS 566 Work and Inequality This seminar surveys classic and more recent works in the labor history of the United States, a recently re-invented and newly invigorated field. Pathbreaking works to be considered include studies that are imbricated with histories of capitalism as well as those that emphasize transnational approaches.
HIS 567 Topics in English History A survey of the main problems and literature in the field is the focus of this course. Topics studied will vary from year to year according to the interests of the students involved.
HIS 569 Expanding British History 1700-1830: Nations, States and Empires Seminar examines recent secondary works concerning how Britain in the 18th and early 19th century changed from fragmented, unstable, and second-ranking polity to the dominant European commercial, industrial, financial and naval power, commanding and empire that comprised one-quarter of the world¿s population. Some of the most influential primary texts from this era will also be considered.
HIS 570 The World and Britain c. 1830-c.1960 This seminar examines the apogee of British global dominance and the growing challenges to it after 1870. Themes include the organization and dissolution of the empire, the effects of two world wars, and the impact on post-1945 Britain of three invasions from without: immigration from onetime colonies, the establishment of American bases, and membership of the European Union. Seminar examines both recent secondary literature and some influential primary texts.
HIS 572 Topics in American Legal History This seminar explores a changing array of topics in legal history. Subjects explored in a particular year might include transnational legal history, constitutional conflicts and rights discourses, the legal history of the family, labor history and the history of the corporation, the history of legal thought, or the history of international law and of international legal institutions
HIS 573 Readings in American Legal History, 1607-1977 A survey of the major secondary literature concerning the history of American law since the founding of the original colonies is the focus of this course. While attention is paid to the earlier tradition of narrowly legal scholarship, emphasis is given to more recent writing. The readings are organized around the major themes of social and economic history, especially in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
HIS 574 Race, Racism, and Politics in the United States, 1877-present A reading seminar focusing on race and ethnicity in modern American politics and society. Readings in topics including segregation, immigration, citizenship, assimilation, World War II, Cold War, the civil rights movement, economic rights, Black Power, mass incarceration, white backlash, etc.
HIS 576 Comparative Race/Ethnicity in the United States This course examines the historical approaches to multiracial and multiethnic interactions in the United States. By focusing on the constructions of race and ethnicity through a comparative lens, privileges and societal hierarchy becomes more pronounced and difference more nuanced. Some of the central themes of the course are identity, empire, citizenship, and migration. The majority of readings are from 1850 to the present.
HIS 577 Readings in African American History (also
AAS 577
) Course examines significant themes in the evolution of African American life and culture since about 1619 and ending with the signing of the Emanicipation Proclamation. Some attention will be paid to historiographical issues and to pedagogical approaches.
HIS 578 Topics in African Diaspora History (also
AAS 578
) This readings course considers the dispersals, political movements, cultural production, social bonds, and intellectual labors that together have constituted and continually re-configured the modern African diaspora, from the emergence and collapse of the Atlantic slave system through the late twentieth century. The course tracks the evolution of diaspora as an idea and analytical framework, highlighting its intersections with concepts of Pan-Africanism, black nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and citizenship.
HIS 581 Research Seminar in American History This course is an intensive research seminar on the political history of the United States from the Revolutionary era to the present. Students work closely with the instructor and with each other in defining and developing original research topics, and then in drafting and revising research papers. During open weeks, we cover readings that either discuss or exemplify changing trends in the writing of American political history. Emphasis falls on the history of formal politics and government, but topics may include matters such as political culture and the interplay of government and social movements.
HIS 582 Readings in Western American History This readings course focuses on the central problems engaged by recent scholarship on the American West, with particular attention given to how this regional history intersects with the larger thematic concerns of North American history. Readings address topics ranging from the 16th to 21st centuries, including environmental history, Native American history, race, gender, urban history and popular culture.
HIS 583 Readings in American Political History An introduction to the field of U.S. political history. Readings are divided into four primary areas of scholarship: institutions, public policy, social movements, and political culture. Primary goal of the course is for students to come away with a strong working knowledge of the methodological and substantive trends in the field.
HIS 584 Topics in Urban History Course surveys the rich recent scholarship on the history of cities and their regions, which intersects with many disciplines¿including geography, political science, visual studies, the built environment, planning, policy, and architecture--as well as with established historical fields of research in race, ethnicity, gender, class, and culture. Seminar covers evolution of the field from detailed community studies of the 1960s to recent interdisciplinary and national studies, addressing problems of place, social processes, and human experience. Students focus on methods, frameworks, and narrative strategies.
HIS 585 United States Intellectual History: Method and Historiography Issues and methods in the interpretation of American intellectual and cultural history, through the study of topics ranging chronologically from Puritanism to the present, are the focus of this course. Students may elect to take the course either as a reading or a research seminar.
HIS 586 American Technological History (also
HOS 586
) This reading course introduces History Department graduate students to historical literature on American technology from the Colonial Era through the Twentieth Century. A chronological survey of technological development highlights the variety of ways scholars have understood technology from a historical perspective. A small number of students from other departments may be admitted with the Professor's approval. These students must meet with the Professor prior to the first class meeting to review their qualifications.
HIS 587 Readings in Early American History A comprehensive introduction to the historical literature and problems of American history from the Great Awakening of the 1740s through the War of 1812.
HIS 588 Readings in American History: The Early Republic through Reconstruction, 1815-1877 A comprehensive introduction to the literature and problems of American history from the Era of Good Feelings to the conclusion of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
HIS 589 Readings in American History: Reconstruction to World War I A comprehensive introduction to the literature and problems of American history from the end of the Civil War to the United States entry into World War I.
HIS 590 Readings in American History: World War I to the Present A comprehensive introduction to the literature and problems of American history in the most recent period.
HLS 500 Topics in Hellenic Studies (also
HIS 512
) An interdisciplinary seminar devoted to the study of some aspect of Greek civilization, with special emphasis on Byzantine and/or modern Greek civilization, including their relation to the classical tradition. Topics and instructors change yearly. Topic for spring: Greek Paleography.
HOS 594 History of Medicine (also
HIS 594
) Problems in the history of medicine and the medical sciences. Topic varies from year to year. Representative subjects would include the history of health and disease, medicine and the body, and the history of the mind and mental illness.
HOS 595 Introduction to Historiography of Science (also
MOD 564
/
HIS 595
) Introduces beginning graduate students to the central problems and principal literature of the history of science from the Enlightenment to the 20th century. Course is organized around several different methodological approaches, and readings include important works by anthropologists, sociologists and philosophers, as well as by historians of science.
HOS 598 Introduction to Historiography of Technology (also
HIS 598
) Introduces students to the scholarly literature in the history of technology. Readings include classic texts as well as recent scholarship, and demonstrate a variety of approaches to thinking and writing about technology from an historical perspective.
HOS 599 Special Topics in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (also
HIS 599
) This course explores special topics in the history of science. The precise topic varies from year to year.
NES 523 Readings in Judeo-Arabic (also
HIS 563
) An introduction to the reading of Arabic texts written by medieval Jews in the Hebrew script, especially documents from the Cairo Geniza.
NES 535 Recovering the Voices of the Oppressed in Middle East and North Africa (also
HIS 505
) Historians of modern North Africa have frequently complained about the scarcity or absence of "local" sources for writing its history. Instead they have often relied on European colonial sources. This course explores this in the context of the voices and testimonies of the oppressed. We first discuss theoretical approaches that aim to recover the voices of such people during pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial times and then focus on specific North African cases, such as slaves, women, "queers", and victims of authoritarian postcolonial regimes.
NES 547 Introduction to Arabic Documents (also
HIS 546
) An introduction to hands-on work with medieval Arabic documentary sources in their original manuscript form. Between 100,000 and 200,000 such documents have survived, making this an exciting new area of research with plenty of discoveries still to be made. Students learn how to handle the existing repertory of editions, documentary hands, Middle Arabic, transcription, digital resources and original manuscripts, including Geniza texts currently on loan to Firestone from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. The syllabus varies according to the interests of the students and the instructor.
NES 549 Documents and Institutions in the Medieval Middle East (also
HIS 509
) Seminar is part of a multi-year collaborative project devoted to reading Arabic documents from the medieval Middle East in Hebrew and Arabic script. Students contribute to a corpus of diplomatic editions, translations and commentaries to be published in the project's collection of texts. We introduce the most common legal and administrative genres: letters, lists, deeds, contracts, decrees and petitions. Our goal is to make this material legible as historical sources by combining philology, diplomatics, attention to the material text, and institutional and social history. Prerequisite: good reading knowledge of classical Arabic.