Colonialism and Empire
From the Roman to the Aztec, from the Mughal to the French, empire is one of the most enduring and oldest forms of political organization, and its story has never been simply one of conquest and resistance. Beyond its political manifestations, imperial relations have included and produced far-reaching networks of trade, religion, education, and culture. The relationships between colonizing and colonized peoples have been highly complex and have involved violence, collaboration, defiance and negotiation, often at the same time. Scholars debate not only the nature of these interactions, but also their enduring implications. How have people established, maintained and contested imperial power? How have colonizing forces justified empire, and how do we evaluate its impact? Is the age of imperialism over or does it persist in new forms?
Gender in Public and Private Life
Gender, as an expression of power relations and identity, lies at the root of human experience and historical inquiry. More than a synonym for women’s history, gender situates women as well as men, through ideas about manhood and womanhood, at the center of historical analysis. A gendered approach to the study of history asks questions about the ways human perceptions of sexual difference – of masculinity and femininity and the norms of behavior deemed appropriate for men and women – have shaped major forces and events in the past. Are gender identities fixed and biologically determined? Or are they constructed by societies to express the political, economic and social anxieties and values of a given time period? Is gender’s impact limited to domestic spaces, such as family organization, or is it present in larger public arenas, such as war, policy-making, law and diplomacy? Taking a gendered analysis into account can broaden what we deem as “history,” can highlight previously marginalized voices, and can challenge the assumptions and periodization of standard historical narratives.
Race and Ethnicity
Many people think of race as natural and self-evident; as old as humanity itself and as simple as black and white. However, human societies across time and geography have created ways of making and experiencing “difference” according to invented categories of ethnicity and race. These divisions have formed the rationale for oppressive hierarchies within societies as well as for liberation movements. What causes race to come into existence as a way of understanding the world? How has race operated in different regions of the world—for example, within and between the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe? What are the origins of racial-ethnic thinking, and how have racial and ethnic categories informed socio-political relations over time? How have people created and experienced social differences? How have individuals or groups developed strategies both to perpetuate and to change racial and ethnic dynamics?
Knowledge and Belief
The ways in which individuals and societies come to know the world and create meaning have changed dramatically across different times and places in history. Courses in this concentration investigate how religion, science, philosophy, art, and law affect human actions and beliefs. Going beyond the study of formally articulated ideas, these courses examine how individuals and societies create, contest, and transmit different systems of meaning and value. Students learn to analyze fundamental issues within the histories of religion, science, technology, popular culture, law, political ideology, and cultural transfer.
Resistance, Revolution and Reaction
Political upheavals occur when a group of individuals rejects the dominant values of the status quo and struggles to create a different social order. These upheavals can range from bottom-up mass movements to top-down military coups. In such struggles for power, insurgents endeavor to win support for a new set of norms, which can range from promoting civil rights to advocating genocide. Moreover, while some revolutions produce paradigm-shifting gains in democracy and social welfare, others conducted in the name of liberation have generated more of the very exploitation they first pledged to eliminate. How did people understand such transformations at the time and how did succeeding generations re-assess and re-imagine them? What prompts people to decide to break the rules of their community or risk their lives for social change? How is power won, and how is it maintained and institutionalized? How do societies, both ancient and modern, decide who should have rights and who should be denied them? What roles have civil disobedience, violent resistance, and even terror played in both the challenging of order and the crushing of dissent?
War and Memory
Wars do not begin and end on the battlefield. They originate within particular historical contexts, in response to factors ranging from the political and strategic, to the social and cultural. Moreover, long after the final battle has been fought, the memory of warfare continues to be shaped, debated, and changed, affected not least by whether one was on the winning or losing side. Memories of war can often be contentious, producing bitter conflicts about national holidays, museum exhibits, reenactments, school textbooks, literature, and films. What causes wars? How have contemporaries justified war? What effects have wars had on political development, gender relations, the economy, and society? What unintended consequences have resulted from war? Has there always been a clear winner and loser?
Courses Applicable to Each Theme
- Colonialism and Empire
- Gender in Public and Private Life
- Race and Ethnicity
- Knowledge and Belief
- Resistance, Revolution and Reaction
- War and Memory
Colonialism and Empire
HIST 101 Sex, Nationalism and Ideology
HIST 101 Pirates to Patriots: 1500-1800
HIST 101 Playing with the Past
HIST 101 Race & Ethnicity in Latin America
HIST 101 Global History of Technology
HIST 104 Perspectives on Asia II
HIST 109 Ancient Near East and Greece
HIST 110 Rome: Republic & Empire
HIST 113 Renaissance to Napoleon
HIST 126 Colonial Latin America
HIST 127 Modern Latin America
HIST 155 World War II in East Asia
HIST 196 African Colonial Lives
HIST 198 Modern Africa Since 1800
HIST 199 History of Capitalism in U.S. in the World
HIST 199 Gandhi Non-violence and Justice
HIST 199 Gender and Power in African History
HIST 199 The Global Environment and Visual Culture
HIST 201 Colonial America
HIST 203 Slavery, Industry, Empire 1815-60
HIST 206 U.S. in the 20th Century II: 1945-Present
HIST 207 19th Century U.S. Diplomacy
HIST 208 The U.S. & the World since 1890
HIST 210 Early American Lives
HIST 212 History of Colonialism: U.S. in the World
HIST 229 The Asian American Experience
HIST 230 Environmental History
HIST 236 Renaissance Europe
HIST 239 Louis XIV’s France, Ca. 1560-1715
HIST 241 French Rebels and Revolutionaries
HIST 242 British Society & Empire 1: 1763-1901
HIST 243 20th C British Soc. & Empire II
HIST 244 Medicine, Health and Empire
HIST 245 Imperial Russia East/West
HIST 251 Colonial Ireland and India
HIST 255 Eur. in the Age of Mass Polt & Total War
HIST 256 Europe and the Superpowers
HIST 258 Nature, Culture, and Power in Global History, 1500-1850
HIST 260 Wicked Women Proud Patriarchs: Gender & Sexual in Col. Lat. Amer.
HIST 262 Germany from Dictatorship to Democracy
HIST 271 Native American History I
HIST 272 Native American History II
HIST 275 U.S. Mexican Border
HIST 277 Afro-Latin America
HIST 278 Raza e Identidad
HIST 279 America’s Colony: Puerto Rico 1898
HIST 280 Modern India
HIST 281 Imperial China
HIST 282 Modern China
HIST 284 Vietnam, Nationalism and War
HIST 286 Modern Japan
HIST 287 Pacific War
HIST 290 Gender History in Africa
HIST 291 Making Modern Mid East I
HIST 292 Making Modern Mid East II
HIST 293 Ottoman Empire 1: 1300-1600
HIST 294 Ottoman Empire 2, 1500-1922
HIST 296 South Africa & Apartheid
HIST 297 History of Disease and Healing
HIST 298 Asian Revolutions
HIST 299 Modern Revolutions
HIST 299 Chinese Migrations
HIST 299 Knowing Nature in the Early Modern World
HIST 299 Sex and Revolution/Latin America
HIST 299 Global Environmental History
HIST 299 Sports, Society, and History
HIST 299 Disaster History in East Asia
HIST 299 Filming Revolution in 20th C Asia
HIST 305 America’s First Global Age
HIST 310 Global Modernities: Polities of Difference
HIST 315 East Asia Displayed: Global Sports and International Exhibitions
HIST 317 Pain & Suffering: U.S. History
HIST 346 Archeology, Empire, Nationalism in Ottoman Medit
HIST 352 Rebels & Radical Thinkers
HIST 365 Resistance & Rev in Mod Africa
HIST 399 Riots, Revolts, Famine: Colonial Violence in the British Empire
HIST 399 Law and Power in South East Asia
HIST 399 Gilded Age-U.S. in the World
HIST 399 Science and Empire in the Modern Middle East
HIST 399 Indigenous Latin America
HIST 399 Colonialism, Law and Gender
HIST 401 History Fiction w/Footnotes
HIST 401 Manhood in the British Empire
HIST 401 Gender, Violence in the 19 & 20 C B.E.
Gender in Public and Private Life
HIST 101 Family and Gender in China
HIST 101 American Social Movements
HIST 101 Post 1945 Social Movements
HIST 101 Sex & Power: A Global History
HIST 105 Asia in Western Fiction and Film
HIST 106 Origins of Japanese Culture
HIST 122 Food, Power & Environment
HIST 124 Religion and Society in the U.S.
HIST 134 Spirit Worlds: Early America
HIST 199 Family and Gender in China
HIST 199 U.S. Populism and Protest
HIST 199 Food Power the Environment
HIST 199 Gender and Power in African History
HIST 201 Colonial America
HIST 202 Age of American Revolution
HIST 204 Civil War and Its Aftermath
HIST 205 US in the 20th Century I: 1890-1945
HIST 206 US in the 20th Century II: 1945-Present
HIST 210 Early American Lives
HIST 212 History of Capitalism: U.S. in the World
HIST 214 Comparative Women’s History
HIST 224 Catholicism in U.S.
HIST 227 Muslim Africa
HIST 232 Medieval Lives
HIST 241 French Rebels and Revolutionaries
HIST 242 British Society & Empire 1763-1901
HIST 243 British Society & Empire Since 1901
HIST 244 Medicine, Health and Empire
HIST 245 Imperial Russia East/West
HIST 247 Gender & Sexuality in the Middle East
HIST 253 Soviet Experiment
HIST 254 Soviet Union After Stalin
HIST 260 Wicked Women & Proud Patriarchs: Gender & Sexuality in Colonial Lat. Amer.
HIST 263 Work, Culture, and Power in the U.S.
HIST 267 History of Modern Italy
HIST 277 Afro-Latin America
HIST 284 Vietnam, Nationalism & War
HIST 289 Migration Mobility/African Hist.
HIST 290 Gender History in Africa
HIST 299 Sex and Revolution/Latin America
HIST 299 Witchcraft and Persecution in Europe (c. 1300-1700)
HIST 299 Witchcraft, Magic, and Ritual
HIST 299 Sinners or Saints?: Women & Gender in the Middle Ages
HIST 299 Big History of Humanity
HIST 299 Sports, Society, and History
HIST 310 Global Modernities: Polities of Difference
HIST 314 Music/Sport/Cultural Encounter
HIST 317 Pain & Suffering: U.S. History
HIST 319 Joan of Arc & Medieval Warfare
HIST 324 Italy & France: War and Resistance
HIST 325 Women and Gender in War, Holocaust, Resistance
HIST 327 Cultures of the Cold War
HIST 342 Americans in Paris
HIST 361 Germans, Jews and Memory
HIST 365 Resistance & Rev in Mod Africa
HIST 392 Arab-Israeli Conflict
HIST 399 Law and Power in South East Asia
HIST 399 American People
HIST 399 Conspiracy in American History
HIST 399 Riots, Revolts & Famine: Colonial Violence in the British Empire
HIST 399 20th Century U.S. Lives
HIST 399 Colonialism, Law and Gender
HIST 401 Manhood in British Empire
HIST 401 Putin's World
HIST 401 Afro-Latin American Religions
HIST 401 Gender in 20 C U.S.
HIST 401 Gender, Violence in the 19 & 20 C B.E.
Race and Ethnicity
HIST 101 Sex & Power: A Global History
HIST 101 Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
HIST 101 Post 1945 Social Movements
HIST 101 African American Lives
HIST 101 China and America
HIST 105 Asia in Western Fiction and Film
HIST 106 Origins of Japanese Culture
HIST 114 Napoleon to the E.U., 1815-Present
HIST 122 Food, Power & Environment
HIST 126 Colonial Latin America
HIST 127 Modern Latin America
HIST 128 Latino History
HIST 134 Spirit World: Early America
HIST 137 American Slavery, American Freedom
HIST 145 History of Medicine
HIST 196 African Colonial Lives
HIST 197 Early Africa to 1800
HIST 198 Modern Africa Since 1800
HIST 199 U.S. Populism and Protest
HIST 199 Food Power & the Environment
HIST 199 Gender and Power in African History
HIST 201 Colonial America
HIST 203 Slavery, Industry, Empire 1815-60
HIST 204 Civil War and Its Aftermath
HIST 205 U.S. in the 20th Century I: 1890-1945
HIST 206 U.S. in the 20th Century II: 1945-Present
HIST 209 Hamilton's America
HIST 212 History of Capitalism: U.S. in the World
HIST 221 American Urban History
HIST 225 The Civil Rights Movement
HIST 226 Irish American Experience
HIST 227 Muslim Africa
HIST 229 The Asian American Experience
HIST 234 Medieval Spain
HIST 242 British Society & Empire I: 1763-1901
HIST 247 Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East
HIST 260 Wicked Women & Proud Patriarchs: Gender & Sexuality in Colonial Lat. Amer.
HIST 261 Germany in Age of Nationalism
HIST 263 Work, Culture, and Power in the U.S.
HIST 267 History of Modern Italy
HIST 271 Native American History I
HIST 272 Native American History II
HIST 275 U.S. Mexican Border
HIST 277 Afro-Latin America
HIST 278 Raza e Identidad
HIST 279 America’s Colony: Puerto Rico 1898
HIST 281 Imperial China
HIST 283 Ethnic Conflict in 20th C Asia
HIST 286 Modern Japan
HIST 287 Pacific War
HIST 289 Migration Mobility/African Hist.
HIST 290 Gender History in Africa
HIST 296 South Africa & Apartheid
HIST 299 Science & Empire in the Modern Middle East
HIST 299 Global Environmental History
HIST 299 Sport, Society and History
HIST 299 Disaster History in East Asia
HIST 299 Filming Revolution in 20th C Asia
HIST 299 Witchcraft, Magic and Ritual
HIST 310 Global Modernities: Polities of Difference
HIST 314 Music, Sports, & Cultural Encounter
HIST 315 East Asia Displayed: Global Sports and International Exhibitions
HIST 317 Pain & Suffering: U.S. History
HIST 342 Americans in Paris
HIST 361 Germans, Jews & Memory
HIST 365 Resistance & Rev in Mod Africa
HIST 392 Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
HIST 399 Riots, Revolts, Famine: Colonial Violence in the British Empire
HIST 399 20th Century U.S. Lives
HIST 399 Indigenous Latin America
HIST 399 Gilded Age-U.S. in the World
HIST 399 Science and Empire in the Modern Middle East
HIST 401 Disaster History in East Asia
HIST 401 Manhood in the British Empire
Knowledge and Belief
HIST 101 Sex & Power: A Global History
HIST 101 Playing with the Past
HIST 101 Global History of Technology
HIST 101 Spies and Lies, 1945-Today
HIST 101 China and America
HIST 111 Rise of Christian West
HIST 112 Emerging Europe, 1000-1500
HIST 113 Renaissance to Napoleon
HIST 124 Religion & Society in U.S.
HIST 134 Spirit Worlds: Early America
HIST 197 Early Africa to 1800
HIST 199 East Asia History in Print and Visual Culture
HIST 199 Global Environment and Visual Culture
HIST 199 Gandhi Non-violence and Justice
HIST 204 Civil War and Its Aftermath
HIST 224 Catholicism in U.S.
HIST 226 Irish American Experience
HIST 227 Muslim Africa
HIST 232 Medieval Lives: Biographies of Faith & Action
HIST 236 Renaissance Europe
HIST 244 Medicine, Health, and Empire
HIST 245 Imperial Russia: Between East and West
HIST 247 Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East
HIST 253 Soviet Experiment
HIST 254 Soviet Union after Stalin
HIST 258 Nature, Culture, and Power in Global History, 1500-1850
HIST 291 Making Modern Mid East 1882-1952
HIST 292 Making Modern Mid East II
HIST 297 History of Disease and Healing
HIST 299 Knowing Nature in the Early Modern World
HIST 299 Big History of Humanity
HIST 299 The Last Age of Samurai Rule: Japanese History (1550-1868)
HIST 299 Sinners or Saints?: Women and Gender in the Middle Ages
HIST 299 Witchcraft and Persecution in Europe (c. 1300-1700)
HIST 305 America's First Global Age
HIST 315 East Asia Displayed: Global Sports and International Exhibitions
HIST 317 Pain & Suffering in American Thought
HIST 327 Cultures of Cold War
HIST 329 Collapse of Communism
HIST 352 Rebels and Radical Thinkers
HIST 361 Germans, Jews and Memory
HIST 399 German & Making of the Global Economy
HIST 399 The 70's in America
HIST 399 Law and Power in South Asia
HIST 399 Science & Empire in the Modern Middle East
HIST 399 Gilded Age-U.S. in the World
HIST 399 Colonialism, Law and Gender
HIST 401 Islam and Modernity
HIST 401 Europe of the Dictators
HIST 401 Religion and Politics: Modern U.S.
HIST 401 Disaster, History in East Asia
HIST 401 Gender in 20C U.S.
Resistance, Revolution and Reaction
HIST 101 Family and Gender in China
HIST 101 Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
HIST 101 African American Lives
HIST 101 War and Revolution in the 20c
HIST 101 Struggles for Justice U.S.
HIST 101 Global History of Technology
HIST 101 Spies and Lies, 1945-Today
HIST 111 Rise of Christian West to A.D. 1000
HIST 112 Emerging Europe, 1000-1500
HIST 113 Renaissance to Napoleon
HIST 114 Napoleon to the E.U., 1815-Present
HIST 126 Colonial Latin America
HIST 155 World War II in East Asia
HIST 196 African Colonial Lives
HIST 198 Modern Africa Since 1800
HIST 199 The West in the World-post 1989
HIST 199 Making of Modern US: 1876-1919
HIST 199 Making History
HIST 199 Gandhi Non-violence and Justice
HIST 199 History of Capitalism in U.S. in the World
HIST 202 Age of American Revolution
HIST 203 Slavery, Industry, Empire 1815-60
HIST 204 Age of American Revolution
HIST 207 19th Century U.S. Diplomacy
HIST 208 The U.S. & the World since 1890
HIST 209 Hamilton's America
HIST 210 Early American Lives
HIST 211 Labor and Capital in America
HIST 212 U.S. Capitalism and Politics
HIST 222 Great Leaders
HIST 223 Radicalism in America
HIST 225 The Civil Rights Movement
HIST 229 The Asian American Experience
HIST 231 Medieval England to 1216
HIST 233 War and Chivalry in Medieval France
HIST 237 The Reformation
HIST 241 French Rebels and Revolutionaries
HIST 243 20th C British Soc. & Empire
HIST 245 Imperial Russia/East &West
HIST 251 Colonial Ireland and India
HIST 253 Soviet Experiment
HIST 254 Soviet Union After Stalin
HIST 255 Europe: Mass Politics/Total War
HIST 256 Europe and the Superpowers
HIST 261 Germany in Age of Nationalism
HIST 262 Germany: Dictatorship to Democracy
HIST 263 Work, Culture, and Power in U.S. History
HIST 267 History of Modern Italy
HIST 272 Native American History II
HIST 280 Modern India
HIST 282 Modern China
HIST 285 Warrior Tradition in Japan
HIST 286 Modern Japan
HIST 291 Making Modern Middle East I
HIST 292 Making Modern Middle East II
HIST 293 Ottoman Empire I: 1300-1600
HIST 294 Ottoman Empire II: 1500-1922
HIST 296 South Africa & Apartheid
HIST 298 Asian Revolutions
HIST 299 Modern Revolutions
HIST 299 Indian Nationalism, The British Empire & Gandhi
HIST 299 Global Environmental History
HIST 299 Mao and Memory
HIST 299 Chinese Migrations
HIST 299 Witchcraft, Magic and Ritual
HIST 299 The U.S. and the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era 1865-1920
HIST 305 America’s First Global Age
HIST 320 Crafted by War: Late Medieval England
HIST 322 War & Cinema
HIST 324 Italy and France: War and Resistance
HIST 327 Cultures of the Cold War
HIST 329 Collapse of Communism
HIST 340 Gilded Age America
HIST 345 Reform and Change in Ottoman Empire
HIST 352 Rebels & Radical Thinkers
HIST 365 Resistance & Rev in Modern Africa
HIST 392 Arab-Israeli Conflict
HIST 399 Germany & the Global Economy
HIST 399 The 70's in America
HIST 399 Riots, Revolts & Famine: Colonial Violence in the British Empire
HIST 399 20th Century U.S. Lives
HIST 401 European Dictatorship and Democracy
HIST 401 Putin's World
HIST 401 Religion & Politics: Modern U.S.
HIST 401 Gender in 20C U.S.
HIST 401 Gender & Violence in 19 & 20c B.E.
HIST 401 The American Way of War
HIST 401 Europe of Dictators
War and Memory
HIST 101 Pirates to Patriots: 1500-1800
HIST 101 Commies, Yanks and Nukes
HIST 101 War and Revolution in the 20C
HIST 101 Spies and Lies, 1945-Today
HIST 101 Struggles for Justice
HIST 101 China and America
HIST 110 Rome: Republic and Empire
HIST 112 Emerging Europe, 1000-1500
HIST 114 Napoleon to the E.U., 1815-Present
HIST 155 World War II in East Asia
HIST 199 History of Diplomacy
HIST 199 Transpacific Histories
HIST 204 Civil War and Its Aftermath
HIST 205 U.S. in the 20th Century I: 1890-1945
HIST 207 19th Century U.S. Diplomacy
HIST 208 The U.S. & the World since 1890
HIST 209 Hamilton's America
HIST 211 Labor and Capital in America
HIST 222 Great Leaders
HIST 231 Medieval England to 1216
HIST 253 The Soviet Experiment
HIST 262 Germany, Dictatorship/Democracy
HIST 276 Historically Speaking
HIST 283 Modern China
HIST 299 Russia Reborn? 1991 to Present
HIST 299 Global History 1 to 1600
HIST 299 Sex & Society in Modern Middle East
HIST 299 Chinese Migrations
HIST 299 Filming Revolution in 20th C Asia
HIST 299 The Last Age of Samurai Rule in Japanese History (1550-1868)
HIST 317 Pain and Suffering: U.S. History
HIST 319 Joan of Arc & Medieval Warfare
HIST 320 Craft by War: Medieval England to 1485
HIST 322 War and Cinema
HIST 324 Italy and France: War & Resistance
HIST 325 Women and Gender in War, Holocaust, Resistance
HIST 327 Cultures of Cold War
HIST 329 Collapse of Communism
HIST 340 Gilded Age America
HIST 342 Americans in Paris
HIST 346 Archeology, Empire, Nationalism in Ottoman Medit
HIST 352 Rebels & Radical Thinkers
HIST 361 Germans, Jews, & Memory
HIST 365 Resistance & Revolution in Modern Africa
HIST 392 Arab-Israeli Conflict
HIST 399 Lincoln's America
HIST 399 Human Rights Africa/Diaspora
HIST 399 Asia’s Women Warriors
HIST 399 Ireland and India
HIST 399 Diplomacy
HIST 401 The Great War
HIST 401 U.S. and Japan Since 1850
HIST 401 Sex & Power: War and Holocaust
HIST 401 Origins of War and Conflict in Africa
HIST 401 Putin's World
HIST 401 Europe of the Dictators