Courses
HIST 200 Topics (formerly HIST 290)
A study of a special topic with an emphasis on discussion and participation. Descriptions of HIST 200 courses offered in a given semester are available on the History department Website or in the History department office prior to registration for that semester. May be repeated for credit with different topics.
Credits
1 course
Fall Semester information
Robert Dewey200A: Topics:Black Britain
While contemporary British popular culture acknowledges the contributions of Black athletes, musicians, fashion designers, actors and film-makers, the historic Black presence in Britain has been overwhelmingly denied, "othered" or rendered invisible. HIST 200AFST 290 - "Black Britain" seeks to redress the balance by emphasizing and analyzing the presence and contributions of the African diaspora in Britain from the Tudor era to the present. Particular emphasis will be placed upon 20th century events, ideas and experiences including the post-1945 West Indian "Windrush" generation. The course is interdisciplinary, drawing upon scholarship in History, Black and Africana Studies, Cultural Studies and Sociology, among others. The course will also utilize materials from literature, film, art and music to explore articulations of "Blackness" in a British context.
Spring Semester information
Joshua Herr200A: Topics:Cities in Asia
This is a course on urban history in Asia, c. 1500-present. We will examine how cities are founded and designed; the politics of cities; trade and economy; and complex issues like epidemics, protest, diversity, and provisioning. We will also explore how people experienced and navigated urban life. Students will gain a critical understanding of urban issues and urban experience in Asia, learn to understand and analyze complex historical relationships in a globalized framework, and develop a self-reflective sensibility towards cultural difference in the area of urban issues and experience.
Aldrin Magaya
200B: Topics:Health and Healing in Africa
For many people, the mention of health and disease in Africa invokes images of a collapsing public health system and millions dying from infectious diseases such as Ebola and AIDS. Focusing on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, this course will introduce students to the significant socio-economic, political, and cultural ideas that shaped health and healing in Africa. We will use an interdisciplinary, historical, and anthropological approach to examine diseases, therapies, healing institutions, and conceptions of illness among various African communities. Using case studies in Africa, this course will analyze the interplay between colonialism, race, gender, and health. The case studies will help establish how the colonial racial apartheid system generated the conditions in which epidemics such as Tuberculosis, Malaria, Ebola, Cholera, and AIDS flourished among the socially and economically disadvantaged African communities.