Global Arc

The Reconstruction of the Union, following the American Civil War, remade the United States. This course will examine how Reconstruction set the stage for rest of the Nineteenth century in all its contradictions. One big theme for the course is how the Civil War and Reconstruction shaped American political philosophy, especially how later debates of the Progressive Era over the size of the government and over laissez-faire capitalism developed out of Reconstruction. We will examine some of the major Constitutional and political changes that occur during the aftermath of the Civil War.

This course explores the social, political, and cultural history of the African diaspora in the period spanning national independence and decolonization; civil rights, Black Power, and black consciousness; postcolonialism, migration, and transnational cultural exchange. It considers the ways Africans and African-descended peoples in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe helped bring about the fall of the old colonial order and responded to the various developments that arose in its wake. Topics will include racial formation, nationalism, pan-Africanism, anticolonialism, anti-apartheid, and popular culture. AAS Subfields: AACL, GRE

The ups and downs of the so-called "special relationship" between the United Kingdom and the United States is one of the major themes of the history of the twentieth century, and the one figure who embodies that association in all its many contradictory guises is Winston Churchill, who actually coined the phrase. For Churchill's relationship with the United States was much more nuanced and complex (and, occasionally, hostile) than is often supposed, and it will be the aim of this course to tease out and explore those nuances and complexities (and hostilities), in the broader context of Anglo-American relations.

An introduction to the discipline of history aimed at, but not limited to, history majors. Through case studies, students will learn how historians of the last few generations have framed problems, found and interpreted evidence, and built arguments. Participants will both study the major recent movements in the discipline of history and reflect on and improve their own historical techniques. The course will culminate with an examination of history and memory in the early 21st century. Prerequisites: successful completion of the department's junior requirements or comparable work in another department. One three-hour seminar.

The French Enlightenment was one of the most intensely creative and significant episodes in the history of Western thought. This course will provide an introduction to its major works. Each class meeting will consist of a two-hour discussion, followed by a 45-minute background lecture for the subsequent week's readings.

This course explores the medieval understanding of nature, the heavens, bodies, and minds. In medieval Islam and the Latin West, science was shaped by debates over important questions - the extent of divine and human power, the existence of other worlds, the generation of life, the legitimacy of magic and astrology. We will ask how medieval people sought to put this knowledge into practice, from healing sickness and prolonging life, to making automata, transmuting metals, or predicting the future. The course draws on a wide range of sources, including books, images, material objects, and our own attempts to reconstruct experiments in class.

In this course we will explore various examples of "the dictator novel," attempting to make sense of the genre in its overlapping historical and world-literary contexts. Each week our focus will be on a specific novel, which is to be read alongside scholarly work and other writing as we consider the aesthetic, political, and cultural significance of this strikingly global literary form. We will strive to understand the complex relationship between literature and politics; more specifically, the representation of state power, authoritarian rule, and struggles for human freedom in--and through--cultural production. All readings are in English.

Explores the 300-year history of what has been described as an "impossible but inevitable city." Settled on perpetually eroding swampland at the foot of one of the world's great waterways, this port city served as an outpost of three empires and a gateway linking the N. American heartland with the Gulf Coast, Caribbean, and Atlantic World. A unique crossroads of capitalism and cultures, New Orleans is, as one writer puts it, "an alternative American history all in itself." From European and African settlement through Hurricane Katrina, we'll consider how race, culture, and the environment have defined the history of the city and its people.

This course explores the history of incarceration over the course of more than two centuries. It tracks the emergence of the penitentiary in the early national period and investigates mass incarceration of the late 20th century. Topics include the relationship between the penitentiary and slavery; the prisoners' rights movement; Japanese internment; immigration detention; and the privatization and globalization of prisons.

An in-depth exploration of a topic in American legal history. In some years the course will investigate an event, such as a famous or infamous trial or case. In other years the course will explore historical dimensions of a particular legal concept, such as "rights," "coercion," "dependency," the "family," or "property." One three-hour seminar.