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History B.A.

Division of Social Sciences - Adm
Division of Social Sciences
  • Program Type: Baccalaureate
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2023
  • Required credits to graduate with this degree: 120
  • Required credits within the major: 40
  • Degree: Bachelor of Arts
The history curriculum is designed to introduce students to the study of the human past in a broad range of contexts across place and time. Emphasizing the role of the student as an active learner, the curriculum encourages individualized learning experiences, including those outside of established coursework, and the development of close working relationships between students and faculty. Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Students are introduced to the study of the human past across a diverse range of contexts. 2. Students learn to think critically through analysis of a variety of primary and secondary source materials. 3. Students learn to communicate their ideas effectively in writing and through oral presentation. 4. Students are exposed to the ethical frameworks within which historians pursue their work, both individually and collectively. 5. Students understand the construction of historical knowledge and gain exposure to a broad range of approaches used by historians.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Admission Requirements
For information about University of Minnesota admission requirements, visit the Office of Admissions website.
General Requirements
All students are required to complete general University and college requirements. For more information, see the general education requirements.
Program Requirements
Students are required to complete 2 semester(s) of any second language. with a grade of C-, or better, or S, or demonstrate proficiency in the language(s) as defined by the department or college.
Students should develop a coherent program of study in consultation with their major advisor. The student and advisor must meet to plan the student's course of study and ensure the major encompasses breadth across regions and time periods. The student's plan must involve at least one course prior to 1750, and at least one course each from three of the following areas: Asia, Europe, Middle East/Africa, Latin America, Native America/Indigenous, and United States. When the student applies for graduation, the advisor reviews the student's course of study to document that the student has successfully demonstrated breadth across regions and time periods in the major. Prior to the end of the second week of the student's last semester before graduation, the student completes an anonymous online assessment of how well the program of study has enhanced the student's: • Familiarity with range of historical periods and cultures sufficiently broad to allow meaningful exploration of the human experience in varied times and places; • Ability to critically analyze, interpret, and synthesize various types of historical materials; • Insight into the construction of historical knowledge as reflective of personal and social contexts; and • Ability to initiate and pursue a course of historical inquiry. No grades below C- are allowed. Courses may not be taken S/N, unless offered S/N only. A minimum GPA of 2.00 is required in the major to graduate. The GPA includes all, and only, University of Minnesota coursework. Grades of "F" are included in GPA calculation until they are replaced.
Required Courses
Students must complete at least 4 credits of HIST coursework at the 3000-level prior to enrolling in Hist 3181 (excluding directed studies). Students must complete 8 credits of HIST coursework at the 3000 level, NOT including Hist 3181, to fullfill the major.
HIST 1111 - Introduction to World History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
HIST 3181 - The Study of History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
HIST 4501 - Senior Research Seminar in History (4.0 cr)
Electives
Students must complete 28 credits choosing at least 4 credits prior to 1750 (which may come from outside the History discipline, and at least 4 credits each from three of the following areas: Asia, Europe, Middle East/Africa, Latin America, Native America/Indigenous, and United States. Directed Studies (X993) may be used in any of the areas if content is appropriate and approved by their major advisor.
Take 28 or more credit(s) from the following:
History Prior to 1750
Take 4 or more credit(s) from the following:
· ARTH 1111 - Ancient to Medieval Art [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 2102 - Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece [FA] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· ARTH 2103 - Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome [FA] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· ARTH 2104 - Irish Art and Archaeology [FA] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· ARTH 2106 - Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople: The Art of Three Ancient Capitals [FA] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3112 - Faith, Image, and Power: Art and the Byzantine Empire [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3113 - Early Islamic Art and Culture [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3142 - Art of the Italian Renaissance, 1300-1520 [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3161 - After Leonardo: Mannerist and Venetian Renaissance Art [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3171 - Baroque Art [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3272 - Athens, Art, and Theatre [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3273 - Ars Otii: The Art of Roman Leisure [FA] (4.0 cr)
· ARTH 3291 - Facing the Past: Portraiture and Social History [FA] (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3002 - MEMS: Civilization and Composition: Tools for Studying the Medieval and Early Modern Periods [HIST] (2.0 cr)
· FREN 3402 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Pre-Enlightenment Culture in France (2.0-4.0 cr)
· FREN 3406 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Emotional Extremes in Medieval and Early Modern Literature (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3407 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: The "East" and its Marvels (2.0-4.0 cr)
· FREN 3408 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Quests, Quails, and Custards--Food in Life and Literature (2.0-4.0 cr)
· FREN 3410 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Troubadours and Old Occitan: Creative Writing in the Middle Ages [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· FREN 3411 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Medieval and Renaissance Bodies (4.0 cr)
· HIST 1112 - Introduction to African History to 1880 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 1501 - Introduction to East Asian History: China, Japan, and Korea before 1800. [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 1601 - Latin American History: A Basic Introduction [IP] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2103 - Medieval Europe [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2104 - Medieval Cathedrals as Historical Sources [HIST] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· HIST 2105 - Topics in Ancient and Medieval History [HIST] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· HIST 2108 - Ancient Greek and Roman History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2609 - History of Brazil: From Sugar to Sugar Cars [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 2616 - Environmental History of Latin America [ENVT] (2.0 cr)
· HIST 3021 - Gender and Sexuality in African History [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3107 - Silenced Voices: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· HIST 3207 - The Crusades [IP] (2.0-4.0 cr)
· HIST 3614 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· POL 3351 - Ancient and Medieval Political Thought [HUM] (4.0 cr)
· Geographical Areas
Take 24 or more credit(s) including 3 or more sub-requirements(s) from the following:
Asia
· HIST 1501 - Introduction to East Asian History: China, Japan, and Korea before 1800. [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2551 - Modern Japan [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2552 - History of Modern China [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2557 - History of Southeast Asia [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3557 - East Asia Since 1800 [IP] (4.0 cr)
· Europe
· HIST 2103 - Medieval Europe [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2104 - Medieval Cathedrals as Historical Sources [HIST] (2.0-4.0 cr)
or HIST 2105 - Topics in Ancient and Medieval History [HIST] (2.0-4.0 cr)
or HIST 2108 - Ancient Greek and Roman History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2132W - History of Fairy Tales and Folklore in Europe [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2151 - Modern Europe [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2152 - Modern Germany [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2708W - Gender, Women, and Sexuality in Modern Europe [IP] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3107 - Silenced Voices: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3161 - The Enlightenment [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3204 - Nazi Germany [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3207 - The Crusades [IP] (2.0-4.0 cr)
or HIST 3211 - Modern France [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3212 - The French Revolution [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3213 - Modern Britain [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3214 - History of Childhood [HIST] (4.0 cr)
· Middle East/Africa
· HIST 1112 - Introduction to African History to 1880 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 1113 - Introduction to African History since 1880 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2312 - History of South Africa to 1976 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2313 - History of South Africa since 1910 [IP] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3021 - Gender and Sexuality in African History [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
· Latin America
· HIST 1601 - Latin American History: A Basic Introduction [IP] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2608 - History of Cuba: From Colony to Revolutionary State [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2609 - History of Brazil: From Sugar to Sugar Cars [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2616 - Environmental History of Latin America [ENVT] (2.0 cr)
or HIST 3612 - Social Revolution in 20th-Century Latin America [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3613 - U.S.-Latin American Relations in Historical Perspective [IP] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3614 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
· Native American/Indigenous
· HIST 2251 - American Indians and the United States: A History [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2252 - Comparative Indigenous History: Beyond Native America [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2451 - The American West [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3359 - Native Strategies for Survival, 1880-1920 [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3402 - Representations from the Field: American Indian Ethnography and Ethnohistory [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3403 - American Indian Education: History and Representation [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
· United States
· HIST 1301 - Introduction to U.S. History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 1402 - Gender, Women, and Sexuality in American History [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2003 - Public History [HIST] (2.0 cr)
or HIST 2352 - The U.S. 1960s [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2441 - The United States and the Great War [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 2452 - Minnesota History [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3303 - Creation of the American Republic [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3304 - Race, Class, and Gender in American History [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3351 - The U.S. Presidency Since 1900 [SS] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3353 - World War II [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3355 - United States in Transition, 1877-1920 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3356 - Civil Rights Era, 1954-1974 [E/CR] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3358 - Civil War and Reconstruction [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3360 - American Experience in World War II [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3361 - An Environmental and Geographic History of the United States [ENVT] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3453 - The American Presidency, 1789-1900 [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3455 - American Immigration [HDIV] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3456 - History of Religion in America [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3465 - History of the American Family [HIST] (4.0 cr)
or HIST 3467 - The Fracturing of America: A History of the United States from Nixon to Trump [HIST] (4.0 cr)
 
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HIST 1111 - Introduction to World History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 1101/Hist 1102/Hist 1111
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Methods, themes, and problems in the study of world history.
HIST 3181 - The Study of History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Introduction to historical research methods and 20th-century historiography. How to evaluate and employ primary and secondary sources, to cite evidence, and to develop critical historical arguments in a research project. Exploration of key transformations within the field of history, surveying various schools of thought, and assessing the specific advantages and challenges of the approaches. Topics may include Freudian and Marxist interpretations, the Annales school, quantitative analysis, anthropological and sociological approaches, and gender and postcolonial theory. [Note: no credit for students who have received cr for Hist 2001] prereq: 4 credits of 3xxx level Hist courses and instr consent
HIST 4501 - Senior Research Seminar in History
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Advanced historical thematic analysis and guided research resulting in an original, substantial paper or project. prereq: 3181, instr consent
ARTH 1111 - Ancient to Medieval Art (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Survey of the major works of art of western Europe from its origins in the Paleolithic period through to the full development of the Gothic era. Includes the monuments of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome as well as those of the Early Christian and Romanesque periods. Also includes some treatment of non-Western traditions in this era.
ARTH 2102 - Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece (FA)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
Beginning with the Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean (Minoan, Cycladic, and Mycenaean), this course follows the development of the painting, sculpture, and architecture of ancient Greece, concentrating on the Classical period in Athens and the Hellenistic period in the Mediterranean. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or sophomore status or instr consent
ARTH 2103 - Art and Archaeology of Ancient Rome (FA)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
In-depth study of Roman art and archaeology beginning with the Villanovans and Etruscans and ending with the rise of Early Christian art. Focus on the public and political art of the various emperors. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or sophomore status or instr consent
ARTH 2104 - Irish Art and Archaeology (FA)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Ireland looms large in our imaginations and remains a bucket list item for many. Yet, what is it exactly that one sees when one visits the emerald isle? This course introduces students to the rich artistic and architectural heritage of Ireland and the various historical, literary, social, political, and environmental forces that shaped it. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or soph status or instr consent
ARTH 2106 - Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople: The Art of Three Ancient Capitals (FA)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Rome, Jerusalem, and Constantinople were important capitals of the medieval world and their study offers an exciting window into the major empires of the time. This course introduces students to Byzantine, Islamic, and Late Antique art and architecture as reflected in the monuments of these three cities over their long histories. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or soph status or instr consent
ARTH 3112 - Faith, Image, and Power: Art and the Byzantine Empire (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
How are the seemingly unrelated strands of faith and power combined to make art in the Byzantine Empire? This course explores this question through a chronological and socio-political treatment of Byzantine art and the various roles that it acquired. Examine political art, religious art, and the many ways in which they were combined. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or instr consent
ARTH 3113 - Early Islamic Art and Culture (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Prerequisites: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or #
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
An investigation of Islamic art and architecture in both the secular and religious realm. Examination of these works in the context of the cultures and historical periods that produced them. Begins with the birth of Islamic art and continues up until the Ayyubid dynasty (14th century). prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or instr consent
ARTH 3142 - Art of the Italian Renaissance, 1300-1520 (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
A variety of methods (including stylistic, gender, and contextual theories) are used to explore the painting and sculpture of such artists as Giotto, Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or instr consent
ARTH 3161 - After Leonardo: Mannerist and Venetian Renaissance Art (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
An investigation of the fascinating trends in Italian 16th-century art considered through the lenses of art theory, biography, social history, and style. Includes discussion of such artists as Michelangelo, Parmigianino, Bellini, and Titian. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or instr consent
ARTH 3171 - Baroque Art (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Prerequisites: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or #
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
A sociohistorical consideration of the stylistic and thematic diversity present in the works of such 17th-century masters as Caravaggio, Bernini, Velazquez, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or instr consent
ARTH 3272 - Athens, Art, and Theatre (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Prerequisites: any 1xxx ArtH course or #; attendance at evening UMM theatre performance required
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Classical Athens was a special place. It produced works of art and theatre that are still considered cultural treasures today. Combining archaeological, art historical, and textual sources, explore the context of these great works and looks at their interaction with one another and with performances on the Morris campus today. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or instr consent; attendance at evening UMM theatre performance required
ARTH 3273 - Ars Otii: The Art of Roman Leisure (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Prerequisites: any 1xxx ArtH course or #
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
What did Romans do in their free time? Explore the art of daily life in ancient Rome focusing on themes and activities related to leisure. Outside the home, Romans bathed, hunted, and went to the theatre. Inside the home, they held lavish dinner parties. In all of these activities, status and social display were of central concern. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or instr consent
ARTH 3291 - Facing the Past: Portraiture and Social History (FA)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
This seminar examines functions and formats of portraits created primarily in Western Europe between 1400-1800, in order to gain greater insight as to how various social identities (such as that of husband and wife, child, friend, and freak of nature) were visually constructed and verbally interpreted. prereq: any 1xxx ArtH course or jr status or instr consent
FREN 3002 - MEMS: Civilization and Composition: Tools for Studying the Medieval and Early Modern Periods (HIST)
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Study Paris as the center of society, culture, religion, and literature from 1100-1300, while also refining the ability to write academic papers and engaging in academic discussions in French. Read primary texts about religion, mythology, and Classical epics that form the foundation of much of medieval French literature. Meets Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) requirement in French major. prereq: 2002 or instr consent
FREN 3402 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Pre-Enlightenment Culture in France
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
This course traces the history of French culture in the Middle Ages and into the Early Modern Period; it examines the geography, language, and institutions of medieval and early modern France through literature. Meets Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011 or instr consent
FREN 3406 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Emotional Extremes in Medieval and Early Modern Literature
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Theories from cultural and religious studies, anthropology, history, psychology, and sociology combine to approach emotional expression in society and in literature. Readings: Durkheim, Freud, Laplanche, Bataille, Chretien's Lancelot, Partonopeus, Le Roman de Troie, troubadour lyric, Aucassin et Nicolette, Legenda Aurea, Saint Augustine, Ovid's Metamorphoses. Meets Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011
FREN 3407 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: The "East" and its Marvels
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
A Medieval French course introducing cultural and literary aspects of the Middle Ages through marvelous figures and manifestations of the medieval French interpretation of the "East," including attention to exotic forms of clothing and food in romance, crusades, bestiaries, and fabliaux. Students read medieval interpretations of adventure stories such as the Iliad and Aeneid. Meets Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011
FREN 3408 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Quests, Quails, and Custards--Food in Life and Literature
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Spices, game, and chocolate trace the real and imagined movement of European people in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in literary and historical sources. Make authentic recipes and read authors, including Marco Polo, from many genres of literature. Meets Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) requirement in French major. prereq: (or coreq) 3011 or instr consent
FREN 3410 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Troubadours and Old Occitan: Creative Writing in the Middle Ages (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 8.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The Troubadours considered Occitan, at the crossroads of French, Spanish, and Italian, the best vernacular for lyric poetry. Poetic innovation flourished at the courts from Auvergne to Catalonia. Learn the grammar of this medieval language as you translate lyric texts and compose and workshop parallel modern poems in a variety of forms. Non-French students and students below French 3xxx write and workshop their poems in English, and French students above French 2002 wanting to count the course for the MEMS elective in the major write and translate in French. Language of instruction is English. Meets Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS) requirement in French major. prereq: completion of 1002, its equivalency, or above in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Portuguese, or Greek or instr consent
FREN 3411 - Medieval and Early Modern Studies: Medieval and Renaissance Bodies
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Through literature, students learn about the diversity of the understandings of the body in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. By studying fictional, religious, and historical portrayals of habits and customs alongside medical treatises, students analyze different conceptions of the body through a variety of primary and secondary sources. prereq or coreq: 3011 or instr consent
HIST 1112 - Introduction to African History to 1880 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Exploration of Africa's incredible human and environmental diversity from the earliest times to European contact. Special attention to how historians of Africa interpret non-written sources to understand the past.
HIST 1501 - Introduction to East Asian History: China, Japan, and Korea before 1800. (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Examination of the social, political, economic, technological, and cultural changes in East Asia before 1800. Possible sub-themes include the rise of the Confucian world order, the spread of Buddhism, and East Asian interactions with the outside world. Discussion of changing perceptions of gender.
HIST 1601 - Latin American History: A Basic Introduction (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Methods, themes, and problems in the study of Latin American history.
HIST 2103 - Medieval Europe (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Survey of historical developments in Europe from about 500 to 1500.
HIST 2104 - Medieval Cathedrals as Historical Sources (HIST)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to the medieval past using Gothic cathedrals as primary sources. Over the course of the semester, students explore a wide variety of clues these spectacular buildings provide to the historical forces shaping Europe during the 12th and 14th centuries. Students consider the influence not only of religious, political, and economic factors but also social, geographical, technical, literary, and artistic currents out of which such structures emerged.
HIST 2105 - Topics in Ancient and Medieval History (HIST)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Survey of specific topics and problems in the history of ancient and/or medieval Europe. Consider how ancient and medieval writers constructed their history; who is represented in historical sources from this time period; how modern historians understand the ancient and medieval past. Some topics may be determined by student or faculty interest.
HIST 2108 - Ancient Greek and Roman History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Provides a broad survey of the political, social, and cultural history of ancient Greece and Rome from the archaic period (c. 700 BCE) to the rise of Islam (c. 600 CE).
HIST 2609 - History of Brazil: From Sugar to Sugar Cars (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Examination of Brazilian history from Portuguese colonization in the early 1500s to its current status as a growing world economic power. Topics include Portuguese colonial rule, independence and the creation of the Brazilian Empire in the nineteenth century, the end of the Brazilian monarchy and the emergence of the oligarchic republic, the rise of the populist state in the mid-twentieth century, military dictatorship during the Cold War, and the return to democracy and Brazil's rise to world-power status. Additional topics include the Amazon and environmental history, indigenous history, Afro-Brazilian history, the U.S.-Brazilian relationship from a historical perspective, Brazilian economic development, how Brazilians are coping with the socioeconomic changes in their society, and how they perceive their role in the world.
HIST 2616 - Environmental History of Latin America (ENVT)
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
A broad examination of human interaction with the natural environment in Latin America and how these interactions have shaped the region's social, cultural, political, and economic history. The course also considers historical and contemporary environmental challenges and people's responses to them. The course covers colonial, modern, and contemporary Latin America. Possible topics include: the Columbian Exchange, the Amazon, agriculture, economic development, cultural attitudes toward the environment, sustainability, conservation and environmentalism, ecotourism, indigenous rights, and urbanization.
HIST 3021 - Gender and Sexuality in African History (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination and discussion of pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial African history through the debates and trends in and between Western feminism, U.S. women of color feminism, Third World feminism, LGBT studies, queer theory, and the emerging interdisciplinary field of African queer studies. Also suitable for students interested in understanding past and present issues of gender and sexuality in Africa through the theories and conditions that animate black queer studies and the black queer diaspora. prereq: 1111 or 1112 or 1113 or Anth 1111 or GWSS 1101 or instr consent
HIST 3107 - Silenced Voices: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
By reading ancient sources and modern historians, students will course examines groups living in the ancient Mediterranean whose voices have been traditionally silenced. Groups to be studied could include those based on gender (women and non-binary individuals), ethnicity (Persians, Celts, Germans), or class (enslaved and lower class people).
HIST 3207 - The Crusades (IP)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Explores the historical contexts and consequences of the European Crusades between the 11th century and early modern period, including the perspective of European Jews, Turkish and Arabic Muslims, and Byzantine and Near Eastern Christians.
HIST 3614 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Explore issues of race and ethnicity in Latin America from a historical perspective. Covering the colonial and national periods, examine how ideas of race and ethnicity have intersected with political, economic, and socio-cultural developments in the region. Consider the ways in which race, class, and gender have intersected in Latin America.
POL 3351 - Ancient and Medieval Political Thought (HUM)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Even Year
A survey of Western social and political thought from 5th century BCE through the 15th century. prereq: 1101 or instr consent
HIST 1501 - Introduction to East Asian History: China, Japan, and Korea before 1800. (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Examination of the social, political, economic, technological, and cultural changes in East Asia before 1800. Possible sub-themes include the rise of the Confucian world order, the spread of Buddhism, and East Asian interactions with the outside world. Discussion of changing perceptions of gender.
HIST 2551 - Modern Japan (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The history of Japan from the foundation of the Tokugawa Shogunate until the present. Special attention to issues of gender, nationalism, and modernity.
HIST 2552 - History of Modern China (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Study of the history of China from the foundation of the Qing dynasty in the 1600s until the present. Special attention to issues of gender, nationalism, and modernity.
HIST 2557 - History of Southeast Asia (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
A broad survey of Southeast Asia's civilization and its modern challenges. Emphasizes recent colonialism, nationalism, and postwar development.
HIST 3557 - East Asia Since 1800 (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the social, political, economic, technological, and cultural changes in East Asia [China, Japan, and Korea] since 1800.
HIST 2103 - Medieval Europe (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Survey of historical developments in Europe from about 500 to 1500.
HIST 2104 - Medieval Cathedrals as Historical Sources (HIST)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Introduction to the medieval past using Gothic cathedrals as primary sources. Over the course of the semester, students explore a wide variety of clues these spectacular buildings provide to the historical forces shaping Europe during the 12th and 14th centuries. Students consider the influence not only of religious, political, and economic factors but also social, geographical, technical, literary, and artistic currents out of which such structures emerged.
HIST 2105 - Topics in Ancient and Medieval History (HIST)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Survey of specific topics and problems in the history of ancient and/or medieval Europe. Consider how ancient and medieval writers constructed their history; who is represented in historical sources from this time period; how modern historians understand the ancient and medieval past. Some topics may be determined by student or faculty interest.
HIST 2108 - Ancient Greek and Roman History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Provides a broad survey of the political, social, and cultural history of ancient Greece and Rome from the archaic period (c. 700 BCE) to the rise of Islam (c. 600 CE).
HIST 2132W - History of Fairy Tales and Folklore in Europe (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of fairy tales and folklore in European history from the early modern era to the present, with a primary emphasis on tracing changes in the social and cultural use of fairy tales over time. Sources drawn from a diverse corpus of tales and retellings, as well as scholarly interpretations from historians, ethnographers, and folklorists. Explores key developments, such as the transformation of 17th-century French tales written as political allegory into the Grimms' 19th-century reinvention of the fairy tale as a staple of middle-class childhood. Other topics may include the oral tradition and literacy; changing ideas about gender, class, and religion; and themes of violence, nationalism, and sexuality.
HIST 2151 - Modern Europe (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
History of modern Europe emphasizing political, economic, social, and intellectual developments since 1789.
HIST 2152 - Modern Germany (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of German history from the development of German national ideas through unification and consolidation of the modern German state in 1871 and through its re-unification at the end of the 20th century. Examines one of the most fascinating and tumultuous periods in German and European history, why the attempt to understand the German past has occupied so many historians, and why the debates surrounding that attempt have been so contentious. Sources include writings by established historians of Germany, novels, films, and music. [Note: no credit for students who have received cr for Hist 3209]
HIST 2708W - Gender, Women, and Sexuality in Modern Europe (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination of the forces that have shaped the lives of European women since 1600 and analysis of how changes in the structures of power and authority--religious, political, social, familial--affected the choices available to them. Students engage critically with the question of what bringing gender to the forefront of the study of European history has to teach them. Students gain an understanding of many of the underpinnings of American society, which has been deeply affected by European patterns of thought about women and their place in the world.
HIST 3107 - Silenced Voices: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
By reading ancient sources and modern historians, students will course examines groups living in the ancient Mediterranean whose voices have been traditionally silenced. Groups to be studied could include those based on gender (women and non-binary individuals), ethnicity (Persians, Celts, Germans), or class (enslaved and lower class people).
HIST 3161 - The Enlightenment (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The intellectual ferment of the Enlightenment has been given the credit and the blame for all things modern--from the concept of human rights and the democracies it has engendered to the subversion of those rights in the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century. Exploration of the ideas of the Enlightenment and their political context and attempt to answer the question of how such an important development in human history can be viewed in such contradictory ways.
HIST 3204 - Nazi Germany (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
History of Nazi Germany. Social and political origins, Nazi rule in the 1930s, the "final solution," World War II, and Germany's attempt to assess this era in its history.
HIST 3207 - The Crusades (IP)
Credits: 2.0 -4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Spring Odd Year
Explores the historical contexts and consequences of the European Crusades between the 11th century and early modern period, including the perspective of European Jews, Turkish and Arabic Muslims, and Byzantine and Near Eastern Christians.
HIST 3211 - Modern France (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of French culture and history from the Revolution (1789) to the present. The ways in which successive governments, from Napoleon's empire through the Fifth Republic, have come to terms with legacies of the Revolution such as national citizenship, individual rights, and the politicization of women.
HIST 3212 - The French Revolution (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the causes, players, drama, complexity, and legacy of the French Revolution. Beginning with the changing social order and new political philosophies of the 18th century, the course follows not only the initial unfolding of revolution, terror, and counter-revolution, but also the rise of Napoleon and revolutionary wars. Later reverberations in the revolutions of 1848, the Commune of 1871, and global influences (such as the Haitian Revolution) also addressed. Throughout these events, the experiences of both prominent figures and ordinary participants (the "crowd") considered.
HIST 3213 - Modern Britain (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the history of modern Britain and its empire since the 17th century. Topics include the growth of Britain as a world power through imperialism and industrialization, the challenges of shaping a modern polity, and the 20th-century shifts that reduced its global profile.
HIST 3214 - History of Childhood (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of changes in childhood and youth from the early modern era to the present. Geographic emphasis on Europe, although the course also allows for exploration of similar themes in other parts of the world. Considers key developments in both ideas about and experiences of children, such as the emergence of children's rights discourse. Other topics may include schooling, play, labor, family, sexuality, consumption, migration, welfare, imperialism, and war. Readings drawn from social, cultural, and political approaches to the history of childhood, as well as historical documents created by children themselves across contexts.
HIST 1112 - Introduction to African History to 1880 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Exploration of Africa's incredible human and environmental diversity from the earliest times to European contact. Special attention to how historians of Africa interpret non-written sources to understand the past.
HIST 1113 - Introduction to African History since 1880 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Consideration of Africa's past from the colonial era to the present. Special attention to the challenges Africans faced living under Europe's grip as well as their courage to build independent African nations.
HIST 2312 - History of South Africa to 1976 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Exploration of South Africa's settler colonial history from European contact to youth resistance against white supremacy. Special attention to examining the history of structural racism in a global perspective.
HIST 2313 - History of South Africa since 1910 (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Consideration of apartheid South Africa's roots and the multiracial country's struggle to reconcile its colonial past. Special attention to 20th-century black and non-racial political thought from a global perspective.
HIST 3021 - Gender and Sexuality in African History (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination and discussion of pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial African history through the debates and trends in and between Western feminism, U.S. women of color feminism, Third World feminism, LGBT studies, queer theory, and the emerging interdisciplinary field of African queer studies. Also suitable for students interested in understanding past and present issues of gender and sexuality in Africa through the theories and conditions that animate black queer studies and the black queer diaspora. prereq: 1111 or 1112 or 1113 or Anth 1111 or GWSS 1101 or instr consent
HIST 1601 - Latin American History: A Basic Introduction (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Methods, themes, and problems in the study of Latin American history.
HIST 2608 - History of Cuba: From Colony to Revolutionary State (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
A survey of the history of Cuba from Spanish colonization to the present, with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include colonization, slavery, imperialism, nationalism, and the Cuban Revolution.
HIST 2609 - History of Brazil: From Sugar to Sugar Cars (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Examination of Brazilian history from Portuguese colonization in the early 1500s to its current status as a growing world economic power. Topics include Portuguese colonial rule, independence and the creation of the Brazilian Empire in the nineteenth century, the end of the Brazilian monarchy and the emergence of the oligarchic republic, the rise of the populist state in the mid-twentieth century, military dictatorship during the Cold War, and the return to democracy and Brazil's rise to world-power status. Additional topics include the Amazon and environmental history, indigenous history, Afro-Brazilian history, the U.S.-Brazilian relationship from a historical perspective, Brazilian economic development, how Brazilians are coping with the socioeconomic changes in their society, and how they perceive their role in the world.
HIST 2616 - Environmental History of Latin America (ENVT)
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
A broad examination of human interaction with the natural environment in Latin America and how these interactions have shaped the region's social, cultural, political, and economic history. The course also considers historical and contemporary environmental challenges and people's responses to them. The course covers colonial, modern, and contemporary Latin America. Possible topics include: the Columbian Exchange, the Amazon, agriculture, economic development, cultural attitudes toward the environment, sustainability, conservation and environmentalism, ecotourism, indigenous rights, and urbanization.
HIST 3612 - Social Revolution in 20th-Century Latin America (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of social revolution in 20th-century Latin America. Particular attention paid to social revolution in Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Populism, democratic attempts at social revolution, and counterrevolution in other parts of Latin America also considered. Key issues include imperialism, capitalism, communism, nationalism, and the Cold War.
HIST 3613 - U.S.-Latin American Relations in Historical Perspective (IP)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the history of U.S.-Latin American relations from U.S independence to the present. Focuses on the political, economic, social, and cultural relationships between the two.
HIST 3614 - Race and Ethnicity in Latin America (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Explore issues of race and ethnicity in Latin America from a historical perspective. Covering the colonial and national periods, examine how ideas of race and ethnicity have intersected with political, economic, and socio-cultural developments in the region. Consider the ways in which race, class, and gender have intersected in Latin America.
HIST 2251 - American Indians and the United States: A History (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
The experience of the original Americans and their interaction with later immigrants.
HIST 2252 - Comparative Indigenous History: Beyond Native America (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 2252/AmIn 2252
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Same as NAIS 2252. Explore indigenous experiences with settler colonialism in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and sub-Saharan Africa. With special attention to issues of race, labor, gender, education, and movements for decolonization, place the indigenous histories of Morris and Minnesota within a global context. [Note: no credit for students who have received credit for NAIS 1701 or Hist 1701]
HIST 2451 - The American West (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3451/Hist 2451
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
The American West has loomed large in the imagination of the public since the first Europeans set foot on what would become the United States of America. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner argued that the frontier of the West was what distinguished Americans from their European counterparts. However, the West was already home to complex and sophisticated cultures long before the first fur trapper, gold miner, missionary, or cowboy arrived. Disagreements over the future of the West fueled violent confrontation, disagreements that continue to reveal themselves on contemporary relations among a variety of ethnic, class, and cultural backgrounds. Explore the historical underpinnings of confrontations between settlers and indigenous inhabitants, farmers and ranchers, and the federal, state, private, environmental, and tribal interests in the West. These historical underpinnings help to re-imagine the West and the American identity, and continue to shape contemporary controversies.
HIST 3359 - Native Strategies for Survival, 1880-1920 (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Odd Year
Exploration of the events and policies that sought to eliminate American Indian communities and cultures and the strategies that American Indians developed to survive. Students gain insight into a pivotal time for the "incorporation" of the United States and ongoing tensions between unity and diversity that characterize the nation's political economy and social structure. Paradoxes under scrutiny include the degree to which policies claiming to emancipate actually imprisoned and prisons became homelands.
HIST 3402 - Representations from the Field: American Indian Ethnography and Ethnohistory (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3402/Anth 3402
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Same as Anth 3402. An analysis of ethnographic and ethnohistoric materials focusing on specific American Indian cultures.
HIST 3403 - American Indian Education: History and Representation (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Course Equivalencies: Hist 3403/AmIn 3403
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
Same as NAIS 3403. Examination of indigenous education in the United States from pre-contact to the late 20th century. Topics include indigenous ways of teaching and learning, efforts to assimilate Native peoples through education, the movement toward educational self-determination within Native communities, and contemporary representations of boarding school experiences. Students also gain insight into the history of the Morris Indian School and its contemporary representation at UMM.
HIST 1301 - Introduction to U.S. History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Methods, themes, and problems in the study of the history of the United States.
HIST 1402 - Gender, Women, and Sexuality in American History (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Themes and methods in the history of women in the United States. Topics may include women in the colonial era; American Indian, African American, and immigrant women; sex roles; women and work, family, politics, the law, and religion.
HIST 2003 - Public History (HIST)
Credits: 2.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Introduction to the many ways historians conduct research and present historical topics to public audiences. Public historians, who typically come from a traditional academic discipline, utilize their knowledge in such public settings as museums, archives, historic sites, historical societies, and federal agencies. Examine a number of themes ranging from oral histories and historical reenactments to websites and electronic media. Explore what is public history, who practices it, the role of audience, the tension between history and memory, and the ethical concerns that influence public history practice. Gain hands-on experience in facets of public history such as archival management and oral history.
HIST 2352 - The U.S. 1960s (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
History of the United States in the 1960s. Backgrounds to the 1960s; political and cultural issues of the decade; the Kennedy promise, civil rights and other movements, Vietnam war, counterculture, conservative backlash, and legacy.
HIST 2441 - The United States and the Great War (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Summer
Presentation of a highly integrated picture of the American experience in World War I. Part of the focus is on the military experience, although approached from the perspective of average sailors and soldiers. More of the emphasis is on the home front and how the war at home encouraged the emergence of a new, more powerful, federal state while simultaneously inviting attacks on civil liberties and ethnic culture. Follow the impact of war through the post-war Red Scare and into the 1920s and explore how it ushered in a new period in American life but one rife with political and cultural contradictions.
HIST 2452 - Minnesota History (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the social, cultural, and political history of Minnesota with emphases on American Indian and European-American conflict, immigration and ethnicity, the development of political culture, and the changing nature of regional identity.
HIST 3303 - Creation of the American Republic (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Examination of the history of the United States from the beginning of the Seven Years' War in 1754 to the end of the War of 1812. The origins of the nation and the political, cultural, and social changes that accompanied the birth and early years of the American Republic. Focus on the political and social history of the American Revolution. Other topics include women in revolutionary America, the retrenchment of slavery, indigenous people and early Indian policy, religion and revivalism, the constitutional crisis, and the early presidencies.
HIST 3304 - Race, Class, and Gender in American History (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The themes of race, class, and gender are explored in-depth throughout the semester. Students gain a new awareness about historiography and theories that highlight this growing subfield of American history. Prominent topics covered in lecture and readings include colonization, slavery, suffrage, immigration, sovereignty, labor, ghettoization, art, literature, culture, and the rise of self-determination. Study the intersection of race, class, and gender relations through multiple perspectives of region, ideology, political-economy, and religion.
HIST 3351 - The U.S. Presidency Since 1900 (SS)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Fall Even Year
History of the 20th-century U.S. presidency. Brief consideration of the Presidency before 1900, analysis of performance of presidents since 1900 in roles of chief executive, commander-in-chief, chief diplomat, and chief of state during an era of enlarged governmental functions at home and world power abroad.
HIST 3353 - World War II (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Origins, political and military aspects of the war in Europe and Asia, domestic mobilization, the Holocaust and Atomic Bomb, aftermath.
HIST 3355 - United States in Transition, 1877-1920 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
Topics, themes, and problems in U.S. history, 1877 to 1920.
HIST 3356 - Civil Rights Era, 1954-1974 (E/CR)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Background of the Civil Rights movement, emergence of the theory and practice of nonviolence, various Civil Rights groups, role of women, legislative and other accomplishments of the movement, its aftermath and influence.
HIST 3358 - Civil War and Reconstruction (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Origin, context, and significance of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
HIST 3360 - American Experience in World War II (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Seven former American Presidents were veterans of World War II and over 175,000 books have been published on this subject alone. Arguably this one event has commanded more attention by writers, filmmakers, and academics than any other modern historical event. For decades historians have also debated the significance of World War II. After the conclusion of the war, the worldwide devastation and loss of life had reached apocalyptic proportions and new military technologies, like the atom bomb, forever altered the American experience. Scientists and intellectuals, such as Albert Einstein, emerged as new celebrities. Literally every sector of American society and culture had been transformed by World War II. Investigate these questions and more throughout the semester. It is important to note that this course is not a strict military history of the European and Pacific campaigns. Instead, the purpose of this class is to challenge students to grapple with the historic origins and legacies of the war. prereq: jr or sr or instr consent
HIST 3361 - An Environmental and Geographic History of the United States (ENVT)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
A broad examination of how humans interacted with their natural world throughout American history. Combined emphasis on cultural ecology (the study of how various cultural groups shaped the American landscape) with political ecology (the role of the nation's political economy in driving environmental change). Possible topics include: the Columbian Exchange, European and American Indian conflict, Thoreau and the creation of an environmental ethic, the slaughter of the bison as an ecological tragedy, urbanization and environmental racism, conservation as a political movement and the development of environmental policy, eco-feminism, American religion and the environment, the politics of global climate change. [Note: no credit for students who have received cr for Hist 2361]
HIST 3453 - The American Presidency, 1789-1900 (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
Growth and development of the U.S. presidency during its first century. Emphasis on selected presidencies such as those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, and William McKinley.
HIST 3455 - American Immigration (HDIV)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
The role of voluntary migration in U.S. history from the late 18th century to the present. Emphases on settlement, ethnicity, nativism, transnational issues, and immigration law. Possible topics include European immigrants and "whiteness," restriction of immigration from Asia, ethnicity and U.S. foreign and military policy, and the varieties of immigration, legal and undocumented, since 1965.
HIST 3456 - History of Religion in America (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall & Spring
The history of religion in American life from the perspective of ordinary Americans. Religious diversity receives special emphasis. Topics may include New England witchcraft, the First and Second Great Awakenings, American Indian belief systems, nativism and Anti-Catholicism, religion and politics, immigrant religion and new fundamentalist movements.
HIST 3465 - History of the American Family (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Spring
Examination of the history of the American family from the colonial period to the present. One focus is demographic and explores changes in family size and structure due to economic change and modernization. Also examined are altered relationships within families, as the nuclear family became more democratic and affectionate, as the position of women within American life changed, as people began to practice different methods of family limitation, and as childhood and adolescence were recognized as distinctive life course phases. Additional topics include the role of class and cultural differences in defining family systems, shifting gender and sexual norms, the rise of unrelated individuals, and the aging of the population, etc.
HIST 3467 - The Fracturing of America: A History of the United States from Nixon to Trump (HIST)
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Periodic Fall
This course will examine American history from the Vietnam War to the election of Donald J. Trump. Although it will paint a broad picture of American history and engage a wide variety of issues--ranging from foreign policy and the American role in the world to technological and cultural change--the course's primary focus will be on social change and how it played out in American electoral politics. More precisely, the class centers on America coming apart on the wide array of interrelated historical forces whose aggregation beginning with the presidency of Richard Nixon posed severe challenges to American social arrangements. Thus, the 2016 election of Donald Trump is seen less as a singular political event and more as the product of long-term historical trends. The goal then is to challenge those popular narratives that privilege the significance of certain events, the personality of the candidates and the interworkings of their campaigns and offer a more complicated history based on a deeper understanding of America's recent past.