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Experimental Courses

History Department Homepage

HIST 100. The Ancient Mediterranean World (1 course)

The Mediterranean world from the beginning of civilization to the end of the Roman Empire: the Ancient Near East, Classical Greece, the Hellenistic Age, the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and the Emergence of Christianity.

HIST 101. Foundations of Western Civilization (1 course)

European civilization from the beginning of Medieval Europe to the end of the 16th century: the collapse of the Ancient World, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and Reformation.

HIST 102. Introduction to Modern Europe (1 course)

Europe from the beginning of the 17th century to World War I: the crises of the early 17th century, the Age of Louis XIV, the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Reason, the French Revolution and Napoleon, the Romantic Era, industrialization and its consequences; triumph of liberalism and nationalism and imperialism and power politics.

HIST 103. Twentieth-Century Europe (1 course)

Europe in the 20th century: the Great War and its aftermath; struggles among liberal, Communist, fascist and other ideologies; the Great Depression and its effects; the failure of the quest for international security; World War II and postwar reconstruction and organization; the Cold War; the moves toward European unity; and 20th-century civilization in Europe.

HIST 105. The American Experience (1 course)

An introduction to American history through study of a special topic. Regularly offered American Experience courses include: The West, Women and Families, Race Relations, the American Dream, and Mexican Americans. HIST 105 may be repeated for credit with different topics.

HIST 107. Introduction to China and Japan (1 course)

An interdisciplinary introduction to Chinese and Japanese civilizations from their beginning through the mid-19th century, stressing cultural ideals and the social relations of families and classes, including peasants and townsmen, bureaucrats, beggars and bandits, warlords and women.

HIST 108. Modern China and Japan (1 course)

An introductory examination of East Asia in the modern world, beginning with the Western impact in the mid-19th century and focusing on Japanese industrialization and empire, Chinese revolution, World War II in Asia and trends to the present.

HIST 109. African Civilizations (1 course)

The precolonial and colonial history of Africa from 1500 to 1945; the early socioeconomic and political organization of African society; problems of state formation; organization of acephalous society and African production and trade; the impact of capital on the African formation as seen in the slave trade, the era of legitimate commerce and early capitalist penetration.

HIST 110. Modern Africa (1 course)

Africa since 1945; the diverse socioeconomic and political concerns of a mature colonialism on the eve of decolonization; the many contradictions of a colonialism caught up in a wind of change, concession-prone in some areas, stolidly uncompromising in others; political independence and the policies it produced; and the path to Africa's present state of dependency and political instability.

HIST 115. Colonial Latin America (1 course)

The societies and cultures of Latin America from pre-Hispanic times to the early 19th century. Topics include indigenous societies, period of contact and conquest, resistance and accommodation in the emerging colonial regimes, and the revolutions for independence. Emphasis on social relations and cultural practices of the diverse Latin American peoples.

HIST 116. Modern Latin America (1 course)

The legacies of independence, modernization processes, revolutionary upheaval, nationalisms and the populist movements that marked the history of Latin America from 1825 to the present. Emphasis on social relations and cultural practices of the diverse Latin American peoples.

HIST 117. Violence of Everyday Life in Latin America (1 course)

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach toward understanding the problem of citizenship, inequality and agency in Latin America since World War Two. It is a discussion based course, with readings from anthropology, sociology, political science and history.

HIST 156. Advanced Placement in History (1 course)

Advanced placement credit for entering first-year students. A. United States History; B. European History.

HIST 197. First-Year Seminar (1 course) 

The first-year seminars focus on different historical topics, but all introduce students to the interdisciplinary nature of historical inquiry, and include emphasis on discussion, writing and reading a variety of primary sources. Seminar topics include: the French Revolution and Americans and War. HIST 197 is generally open only to first-year students.

HIST 206. History of Mexico (1 course)

A social history of Mexico from pre-Hispanic times to the present. Emphasizing processes of resistance, rebellion and accommodation, examines the social and cultural dynamics of the major Mesoamerican societies (Aztecs and Maya), the colonial period, and the process of nation formation. Attention will be given to gender and ethnic issues.

HIST 221. France from Charlemagne to Napoleon (1 course)

The history of France from the Merovingians of Gaul through the Napoleonic era with an emphasis on intellectual, cultural and social movements of this early period. Major topics: Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire; the Hundred Years' War; rise of absolutism; the Wars of Religion; the Fronde; the Age of Louis XIV; the Enlightenment; the French Revolution.

HIST 222. Modern France (1 course)

A survey of the political, cultural and social history of France from the Revolution (1789) to the present.

HIST 225. European Women's History (1 course)

An examination of the cultural and intellectual roles of women in Western Europe. In addition to surveying the women's traditional place in European society, this course also considers the work of exceptional women who argued against that role. Topics include the debate on the nature of women, women in power, witchcraft, women and science, women in revolutions and the education of women.

HIST 231. England to 1760 (1 course)

A social, political, cultural and intellectual study of England to the mid-18th century. Major themes: constitutional and legal development; the Elizabethan Age; religious movements; the Civil War; and cultural and social life in pre-industrial England.

HIST 232. Modern England (1 course)

A social, political, economic and intellectual study of the English people, their outlooks and their attitudes from the 18th century to the present. Major themes: Victorian society; social and political reform; Evangelicalism; the Industrial Revolution; liberalism; imperialism; Fabian socialism; the rise of Labour; and the emergence of the welfare state in the 20th century.

HIST 241. Russian History to the 19th Century (1 course)

Development of Russian state, society and culture from the ninth to the 19th centuries, with particular attention to the Kievan, Mongol, Muscovite, and Imperial periods.

HIST 242. Modern Russia (1 course)

Culture and society in the last years of the Empire; the growth of the revolutionary movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the establishment of the Soviet Union, its development, decline and collapse; and the beginnings of post-Soviet Russia.

HIST 243. Germany from the Thirty Years War to National Unification, 1648-1870   (1 course)

Located in the heart of Europe, Germany has played a central role in the history of Europe. The domestic and foreign conflicts that have dominated the country's history provide the focus of the course. The course covers political, social, and cultural developments in German history from the mid-seventeenth into the nineteenth centuries including the Treaty of Westphalia, the German dualism, the German Enlightenment, the rise of Prussia, Germany in the age of revolution and reaction, and German national unification.

HIST 244. Germany from Unification to Unification, 1870-1989 (1 course)

Germany has played a central and disruptive role in the recent history of Europe. The domestic and foreign conflicts that have dominated the country's history, with such far-reaching consequences, will provide the focus of the course. The course covers the political, social, and cultural developments that shaped the course of German history from the creation of a unified Germany in 1871 to the reunification of Germany in 1990. It examines the Imperial period, World War I, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi experience, the division of postwar Germany and its reunification in our own times. 

HIST 252. United States-East Asian Relations (1 course)

An examination of the interactions between the United States and the major countries in East Asia - China, Japan and Korea - from the 19th century to the present. Topics explored include cultural interactions and changing mutual images, impact of imperialism, Asian nationalism, the Pacific War, Communism in Asia, and Japan's rise as an economic superstate.

HIST 255. Economic Transformations in Africa (1 course)

Economic change from the pre-colonial period to the present; early modes of production (lineage, slave, feudal, etc.), rise of the capitalist, colonial state; white settler economies and the processes of labor migration and proletarianization; economic struggles in the nationalist era: the postcolonial economy and the decline into economic dependency.

HIST 256. African Cultures (1 course)

A review of cultural change in various African societies from earliest times to present. African society is first examined in the primordial state and then reviewed against the coming of Islam, Christianity and Western cultural penetration; a discussion of the current prevalence of cultural syncretism and plurality in African cultures.

HIST 257. Ethnicity and Conflict in South Africa (1 course)

The history of South Africa from the 17th century to the present; her relations with neighboring communities; the coming of white settlers; African subjugation and the rise of apartheid; local and foreign reaction to the apartheid state; the process of decolonization; and ethnic and class cleavages in post-Apartheid society.

HIST 263. The Founding of United States Civilization (1 course)

A survey of U.S. history from European invasions of North America to completion of U.S. independence in 1815.

HIST 264. Nineteenth-Century United States (1 course)

The United States between 1815 and 1900: development of a market economy and industrial society; political parties and presidential leadership; westward expansion; reform movements; slavery and emancipation; sectional crisis and Civil War; ethnic and class conflicts; and roles of women, African Americans and Native Americans.

HIST 265. Twentieth-Century United States (1 course)

United States social, economic, political and diplomatic history from 1900 to the present.

HIST 275. African American History (1 course)

A survey of the black experience in the United States focusing on ways African Americans reacted individually and collectively to their condition and how they have contributed to the development of the United States.

HIST 276. Women in the United States, 1890-Present (1 course)

A chronological survey of U.S. women's history from 1890 to the present. It considers experiences of women of different classes, races and ethnic backgrounds. Among the topics covered are changes in women's paid employment, women's participation in selected social and political movements, women and popular culture, and the impact of the Great Depression and wars on women.

HIST 281.  History of the Black Experience  (1 course)

An exploration of the historical foundations and the development of Black life in Africa and its later diffusion in the Black Diaspora. Its purview will range from pre-colonial dynamics to the more contemporary manifestations of global Black history in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, Latin America and Melanesia. Topics may include: African cultures before European contact, the slave trade and its impact on Africa and the Atlantic economy, the middle passage, internal migration in Africa and case studies of the creation of Diasporic communities and cultures.

HIST 295. History Today: Debates and Practices  (1 course)

An introduction to history as a discipline, including why historians interpret the past in different and often contested ways; problems of historical method, including use of evidence, objectivity, causation, periodization and categories of historical analysis (such as, nation-state, gender, race and class); and current approaches and methodologies in the history profession today.

HIST 300. Topics (1/2-1 course)

A study of a special topic at an advanced level. This and all 300 level courses are small discussion classes. Descriptions of HIST 300 courses offered in a given semester are available in the history department prior to registration for that semester. HIST 300 courses may be repeated for credit with different topics.

HIST 330. Sex, Politics and Society in Victorian England (1 course)

An exploration of changing class and power relations in response to modernization in the 19th century (rapid industrialization, urbanization and the disruption of old class patterns). Alongside traditional themes-- structure of landed society, strict settlement, standard of living debate, evangelicalism, poor laws and welfare reform--the course is equally concerned to penetrate the seemingly monolithic edifice of Victorianism to examine questions of class, gender and sexual attitudes to discover how the Victorians perceived themselves and articulated their notions of morality. The course examines changing roles of women, notions of family and sexual attitudes that transcended conventional ideas to invent new concepts of sexual identity.

HIST 332. Political Culture of Modern Britain (1 course)

An examination of ideas that have shaped the political development of modern England. It spans the period from the 1870s, which experienced an evolution of liberal-democratic ideas, into the kind of social democracy that emerged by the 1970s. It examines the shifting content of liberal, conservative and socialist ideas, not just as addressed by intellectual and governing elites, but also as understood and expressed by the British working classes.

HIST 333. Northern Ireland: The Debate (1 course)

An attempt to understand the roots of the present Irish conflict through a study of the background and history of Anglo-Irish relations from ca. 1870 to the present. Debate topics will cover issues ranging from the first attempts at home rule and the emergence of an Irish nationalist party in the late 19th century to the recent civil rights movements and present conflict in Northern Ireland. A range of political, social, economic, intellectual and religious factors are considered.

HIST 335. The History of History (1 course)

A study of selected problems and texts in the critical history and philosophy of history. Major questions addressed by the course: Is objective history possible? What is the role of the historian? How is history politicized through selection of subject matter? And, how has the idea of progress influenced the writing of history? Prerequisite: HIST 102 or permission of instructor.

HIST 337. The Age of Louis XIV (1 course)

A study of life in France during the reign of the Sun King. A deeper understanding of 17th-century French life is attempted through a study of French history, politics, society, literature, philosophy and art.  Prerequisite: HIST 102 or permission of instructor.

HIST 338. The Enlightenment (1 course)

This 18th-century European intellectual movement is approached through the works of the major thinkers of the period, writers such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Beccaria and de Sade.  Prerequisite: HIST 102 or permission of instructor.

HIST 341. The Russian Revolution (1 course)

A political, social, and intellectual history of the last decades of Tsarist Russia and the first decade of the Soviet Union.

HIST 342. Europe of Dictators (1 course)

An examination of the social, economic, political and ideological conditions and processes that led to the establishment of single-party dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union.

HIST 350. The Samurai in Feudal Japan (1 course)

An exploration of feudal Japanese society (1185-1800) through an in-depth study of its major actors - the samurai. The topics that are explored in this course include the mores, ethos and valor of the samurai on the one hand, and the changing as well as enduring social, economic and political structure of this period on the other hand.

HIST 351. Women and Family in Modern China (1 course)

The role and status of women and the evolution of the Chinese family from the late imperial period to the present. It draws on materials from novels and biographical case studies.

HIST 352. Reform and Revolution in Modern China (1 course)

An examination of 20th-century China's revolutionary history. The topics include the early communist movement, the communist state's attempts at socialist modernization and the current "capitalistic" experiments in China.

HIST 353. Industrial East Asia (1 course)

An examination of the emergence of East Asia from a pre-industrialized backwater in the 19th century to a vibrant economic region by the 1980s.

HIST 355. African Nationalism, 1890-1985 (1 course)

A survey of African resistance to European imperialism, with emphasis on the national peculiarities of the European penetration, the experience of Settler and non-Settler Africa, the personnel and methodology of proto-nationalist and nationalist resistance, and the general outcome of these efforts.

HIST 356. African Slavery (1 course)

A review of the processes of incorporation into slavery; slaves in production and exchange; the resistance history of slavery; the gender implications of the slave state; slaves and social mobility, interdependence and the manipulations of class; and the dynamics of manumission and abolition.

HIST 364. Civil War and Reconstruction (1 course)

The causes, impact and consequences of the Civil War: origins of sectional conflict, the secession crisis, emancipation, Reconstruction policies, political and military leadership, the impact of events on civilians and soldiers, and long-term effects of this period on American society and political institutions.

HIST 366. United States Diplomatic History in the Cold War Era (1 course)

The history of United States foreign policy from the end of World War II to the present. Primary focus is on U.S.-Soviet relations and on the U.S. covert and military actions in Vietnam and Latin America. Prerequisite: HIST 265 or permission of instructor.

HIST 367. The Civil Rights Movement (1 course)

The black-led freedom movement in the South from the end of World War II to the late 1960s. Prerequisites: HIST 265, HIST 275 or permission of instructor.

HIST 368. United States in the Sixties (1 course)

The decade of the 1960s was a tumultuous and often bewildering period in recent United States history. The course assesses the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Causes and manifestations of social, political and cultural change are examined. The Civil Rights, Black Power, New Left, Anti-War and Women's Liberation movements are studied, as well as the war in Southeast Asia.

HIST 370. American Indian History (1 course)

A study of Indian cultures and Indian-white relations in the United States from initial European contacts in the 15th century to the present, including the impact of government policies; Indian resistance and cultural adaptation; and ways Native Americans have shaped the cultural, economic and political development of the United States.

HIST 371. Family and Community in America (1 course)

An interdisciplinary study of the history of the family and community in the United States from colonial times until the present.

HIST 372. United States Legal History (1 course)

This course, which concentrates on the 19th century, examines selected topics in the legal history of the United States. The course reflects the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of the field through a close study of the following: property rights of women in early America and the 19th-century South; family law; the emergence of the negligence principle and developments in contract and corporate laws; and slavery, federalism and comity.

HIST 375. Women's Social and Political Movements (1 course)

This course focuses on several varieties of female activism in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. Among the topics covered are benevolence, abolitionism, women's rights, the movement for reproductive freedom, the social settlement movement, temperance, suffragism and anti-suffragism, labor organizing, civil rights, women's liberation and radical feminism.

HIST 380. Women in Latin America (discontinued 4/00)(1 course)

An examination of the varying experiences of Latin American women from pre-Hispanic times to the present. Emphasis on women of different classes, races and ethnicities, from rural and urban areas, during ordinary times and during period of extreme social upheaval and change.

HIST 381. The Mexican Revolution (1 course)

An examination of the social fabric of the 1910 Mexican revolution, emphasizing both internal and external factors, it will cover from roughly 1876 to 1940. Major areas of analysis are: the formation of the Porfirian regime and its modernizing agenda during the late 19th century, the national eruption of diverse forms of cultural and political opposition led by peasants and workers; the emergence of the post-revolutionary regimes; and the various and competing efforts of nation formation of the early 20th century.

HIST 400SS. Teaching of Social Studies (1/2 course)

A divisional course serving students in the departments of economics and management, history, political science, and sociology and anthropology. The work covers values and objectives, viewpoints of the individual social sciences, curriculum problems, classroom procedures and correlation and integration of the social studies. Prerequisite: junior or senior classification and candidacy for a teacher's certificate in the social studies. May not be counted toward a major in history.

HIST 490. Seminar (1 course)

The study of history as a discipline, through research, interpretation and writing a major paper. Students are expected to take the seminar in their major area of concentration. Descriptions of seminar topics offered in a given semester will be made available prior to registration.

HIST 491. Reading Course (1/2-1 course)

A study of either a geographical area (East Asia, Russia, France, etc.) a period (Europe since 1789, early America, etc.), or a movement, division of history or institution (socialism, military history, feudalism, etc.). Reading and/or research. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

HIST 495-496. Senior Thesis (1 course each semester)

Intensive research on a topic approved by the instructor and resulting in a thesis prepared under the instructor's supervision. During the first semester the student will normally participate in either a section of HIST 490 or a seminar group limited to students enrolled in HIST 495; during the second semester the student will complete the thesis and defend it before a committee of history department faculty. Prerequisite: a major in history with a GPA in the major of at least 3.3 and permission of the department.

Experimental Courses

Historical Editing (1/2 course)

(offered Second Semester 1998-99) An introduction to the theory, process and etiquette of scholarly editing, including the role of the editor in the scholarly publication, the differences between print and electronic journals, the special conditions of an electronic editing environment, and the vocabulary of printing and page layout. Skills in grammar and word usage, punctuation, spelling, style, checking evidence and facts, use of reference books and writing abstracts and captions will be taught and developed through assignments and working with the journals--History Reviews On-Line and the Journal of the Association for History and Computing.

History of Science and Technology (1 course) 

(offered First Semester 1999-2000) This course surveys the history of science and technology in the West from the Classical period to the present.

E-mail questions or comments to: sbates@depauw.edu

©1999 DePauw University