Global Arc

The impact of European colonial rule on the traditional societies of Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the dominant themes will be the emergence of the intelligentsia in colonial areas as proponents of nationalism. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Beginning with a brief precolonial regional overview, the course examines European occupation following 1652; explores slavery, the frontier, intergroup relations, the growth of nationalism, the Boer War and unification, African resistance movements, the structure of politics, constitutional developments, and debates over race and class; and ends with the 1980s constitutional crisis. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An exploration of three major themes in the history of India's emergence as a nation-state: colonial socio-economic and cultural transformations, the growth of modern collective identities and conflicts, and nationalism. Topics covered include: trade, empire, and capitalism; class, gender, and religion; Gandhi, national independence, and partition; and postcolonial state and society. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An analysis of change and continuity in modern Japanese society, with emphasis on industrialization, social discontent, parliamentary democracy, war, defeat, the "economic miracle," and Japanese preoccupation with national identity in a Western-dominated world. Divided between the prewar and postwar periods. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

China between the 1570s and the 1860s, from its early involvement in the new world economy to the crises of the Opium War era. Emphasis on the history and culture of the Qing empire, its success and challenges, with attention to family and society, religion, art, and literature. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

China's transformations and continuities from the civil wars of the mid-19th century to the economic reforms of the 1980s. Topics include the opium crisis, the impact of natural disasters, the fall of the imperial dynasty, China's struggle with Western and Japanese imperialism, and experiments in government and society on mainland China and Taiwan since 1949. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Far from being an isolated place, medieval and early modern South Asia was an important world region connected to Central Asia, Persia, and Europe by trade, politics, migration, and culture. Complex interactions between Indic and Islamic traditions shaped its popular and elite culture from the 11th century. This course provides an overview of the intriguing composite society and dynamic political culture of India prior to the British Victorian Empire and re-examines the processes by which the subcontinent was colonized by the British East India Company.Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course examines the history of modern Brazil from its independence in the 1820s to the present day. The lectures, readings, and discussions chart conflict, change, and continuity within Brazilian society, highlighting the role played by disenfranchised social actors in shaping the country's history. Topics include the meanings of political citizenship; slavery and abolition; race relations; indigenous populations; uneven economic development as well as Brazil's experiences with authoritarianism and globalization.

Who is a minority? In contemporary South Asia, "minority" often defined by religion, linguistic identity, caste, ethnicity, or other social markers. But the category of "minority" is not static. It has been constructed, remade, and enforced through both colonial and post-colonial legal and political projects. In this course, we study the ways that minorities have been defined in South Asia over the last two centuries. We historicize the fraught categorization of religious, linguistic, caste, and other minority groups, and we ask how minoritized people have attempted to avert or contest forms of majoritarian rule.

Provides an introduction to Southeast Asia and its prominent place in global history NES 343 through a series of encounters in time, from Marco Polo in Sumatra to the latest events in such buzzing cities as Bangkok, Jakarta, and Hanoi. For the early modern period we will read various primary sources before turning to consider a series of diverse colonial impacts across the region (European, American, and Asian), and then the mechanisms underpinning the formation of some of the most vibrant, and sometimes turbulent, countries on the world stage. Two 90-minute classes.