Courses

An introduction to historical analysis and argumentation. While individual sections will focus on different topics and time periods, in all sections students will investigate a range of sources, methods and historical approaches to the past. Hist 100 may be repeated for credit with different topics.

Spring Semester information

100A: Historical Encounters: History of Happiness

Americans are committed to happiness as one of the core values on which our nation rests--as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, we hold as inalienable rights "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But what is happiness? In what does a happy life consist? This course will look at how conceptions of happiness and a happy life have changed over time from the ancient Greeks to the present day. We will discuss the problems of trying to study an emotion historically, the contradictions in the philosophical conceptions of happiness, and the breakthroughs in our psychological understandings of this transient emotion.

100B: Historical Encounters: The Olympics

This course focuses upon the "modern games" developed by Baron Coubertin and first staged in Athens in 1896. Fundamental questions posed by this class include the following: What is "Olympism" and how have its values shifted? How did an event with deep political implications in its origins come to be regarded as "above politics"? In what ways do social class, race and gender intersect with questions of who competes, when and how? Are there fundamental value differences between the Winter and Summer games? How do the Olympics illuminate politico-historical contexts such as those surrounding white supremacy, nationalism, the rise of Fascism, Cold War divisions, decolonization, etc.? What are the legacies of the games for host cities and countries? How has the International Olympic Committee deliberated over sportsmanship, cheating scandals, athlete protests and the tensions between amateurism and professionalism? What has been the impact of print, broadcast and more recently, social media on the conduct of the games and their meanings?

100C: Historical Encounters: Sons and Daughters of Ireland: The History of Ireland and Irish America from 1776-1998

There are more people of Irish descent living in America than there are people in Ireland. How this came about is the subject of this course. For centuries Ireland and Irish culture has fascinated Americans, and millions of Irish men and women have come to call America, home. This course explores how the histories of Ireland and America were intertwined with one another for two centuries. Both began as pieces of the Great British Empire, both struggled under that system, and both eventually reestablished themselves as democratic republics. However, the histories of America and Ireland were just as different as they were similar. From the earliest days of American Independence until the Good Friday Agreement at the end of the last century, this course will also explore the history of Ireland, Irish America, and the ties that bound the Irish people together across space and time. From labor and politics, to religion and literature, to music and dance, the sons and daughters of Ireland at home and abroad made their mark on the development of the modern world.

Fall Semester information

100A: Historical Encounters: Life and Death in Early Modern China

This course is an exploration of seventeenth-century Jiangnan, the heart of the Chinese Ming empire, one of the largest empires of the early modern world and the center of the emerging global economy. Today, the region of Jiangnan is best-known for modern cities like Shanghai and the traditional gardens of Suzhou. The early modern period (ca. 1500-1800) was a transformative and turbulent time in world history and, by focusing on Jiangnan during this time, this course opens a window on the challenges, dramas, and fascination of people's lives and social change during this period. Through the best-selling fiction and historical sources of the seventeenth century, discover seeds of the modern world in the environmental issues, family relationships, economic growth, political conflict, and cross-cultural interactions of this time and place. This course provides an introduction and foundation for further work in Asian studies, history, and the humanities and social sciences.

100B: Historical Encounters: God and Sex: Religion and Culture in Africa

Societies across the world attach different values, taboos, sacredness, and interpretations of sex, sexuality, and sexual relationships. In Africa, although societies saw sex as a routine exercise that every "adult" aspired to engage in, the act, however, was intersected with religion, culture, ritual, belief systems, and customs. The course investigates the historical, cultural, and social contexts of sexual diversity, identity, discrimination, and sexual violence in 20th and 21st-century Africa while paying close attention to the influence of cultural norms and religion. We will organize our inquiries around the themes of sexuality and sexual relations, religion, culture, family, and courtship. Some of the questions we will raise include: What counted as sex? What types of sex were considered socially acceptable in different societies in Africa? Who was allowed to engage in them? How did taboos, values, customs, and rituals on sexual relationships change over time and across histories and geographies? Also, the course covers ongoing issues such as HIV-AIDS and the current struggles for the rights of the LGBTQIA communities in Africa.

100C: Historical Encounters:Birth Control and Reproductive Justice

In this course, we will explore the global history of birth control and the rise of the reproductive rights movement. From Colonial Mexico to Postwar Japan, we will explore how the state, religious institutions, juridical system, healthcare practitioners, international organizations, and society have negotiated but also competed in their reproduction and birth control definitions. We will ask why doctors, governments, religious groups, left and right-wing politicians, feminists, intellectuals, and scientists had --and still have-- something to say about who should have children, who should not, and what means to prevent pregnancies are acceptable. Moreover, we will address how the appeal to control fertility had techno-material results, such as the development of new contraceptive technologies like the pill or the IUD in the second half of the 20th century, bringing new urgency to the discussions on women's health and bodily autonomy.