Spring 2010 Course Descriptions
200-300 Level
SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE! Always check the University online schedule for the latest changes.
HIS 204 - History of Africa since 1870
10115 MW 3:30-4:45
Colleen Kriger
When, how, and why did European nations colonize the African continent? And, an equally important question, What is the legacy of European colonialism in Africa today? This course examines major themes in recent African history, and discusses theoretical debates in the history of Africa during the colonial period and since.
Topics to be covered include: the imposition of colonial rule and wars of resistance; styles of colonial rule; theories of underdevelopment and the effects of colonial policies; Pan-Africanism, nationalism, and independence movements; the creation of apartheid; decolonization; and issues facing independent Africa such as neo-colonialism and the dismantling of apartheid. These themes will be studied with reference to the regions of west, east, central, and southern Africa.
HIS 207 - Topics in Premodern World History II: "Introduction to Islamic History and Civilization, 1200 C.E. - present"
By the tenth and eleventh centuries, Islamic civilization from Spain to Central Asia had reached its peak with a system of elaborate cities, expansive trade networks, and profound achievements in arts and architecture, science, literature, law, political and religious thought. However, by the twelfth century, contact with western European world with the onset of the Crusades and with the eastern world with the advent of Turkic nomads fundamentally transformed the course of Islamic civilization. In this course we will examine how these changes reverberated through medieval and modern Islamic history in two parts. The first part will familiarize students with the dynamic history and changes in Islamic cultural process from time of the Crusaders through the legacy of the Mongols. The second part will explore the transition of the medieval to modern Islamic world, focusing on the formation of the �gunpowder� Ottoman, Safavid, and Moghul Indian empires and the effects of nationalism in shaping the modern Middle East. Throughout the course we will focus on themes of tradition and change in Islamic society with the assimilation, influence, and conflict of non-Arab and non-Muslim cultures. Our approach will be interdisciplinary. We will look at the history, art and architecture, archaeology, environment, literature, and religion of Islamic civilization.
207-01 through 04 Asa Eger
The lecture portion of this class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9:00-9:50. Smaller discussion groups meet on Fridays at either 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50.
10395 207-01 - MW 9-9:50, F 9-9:50
10396 207-02 - MW 9-9:50, F 9-9:50
10397 207-03 - MW 9-9:50, F 10-10:50
10398 207-04 - MW 9-9:50, F 10-10:50
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HIS 211 - United States History to 1865General survey of American history from colonization through the Civil War. 211-01 through 04 Greg O'Brien
211-05 Susannah Link Online 211-06 Susan Thomas TR 12:30-1:45 |
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HIS 212 - United States History since 1865General survey of American history from Reconstruction to the present. 212-01 through 04 Mark Elliott 212-05 Thomas Jackson M 6:00-8:50 p.m. Writing Intensive Section 212-06 Paige Meszaros Online 212-07 Susan Thomas TR 9:30-10:45 |
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HIS 218 - The World of the Twentieth Century, since 1945
10128 218-01 MW 3:30-4:45
Mark Moser
This class will examine global issues in the contemporary world, focusing mainly on the post-World War II period, from the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan in August 1945, to the complex, high-tech, evolving world of today. We will examine some of the important political, economic, social, and cultural changes of the second half of the twentieth century and how these changes have shaped the world we live in today.
HIS 220 - The Ancient World
10129 MWF 10:00-10:50
Stephen Ruzicka
Early civilizations: Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman to Reign of Constantine.
HIS 221 - Medieval Legacy
This course explores the rich legacy of Medieval Europe. The Middle Ages lasted from the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west (around 500 AD) until the so-called Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries AD). This is an enormous time span, and I have no intention of trying to cover every event and every aspect of the Middle Ages. Rather, we will focus on several themes examined over three sub-periods of the Middle Ages. We begin with the ancestors of the Middle Ages: the civilization of Rome, its Christian overlay, and the arrival of the Germanic tribes. From there we will look in turn at the Early (c.500-950), Central (c.950-1250) and Late Middle Ages (c.1250-1500). Within each of these mini-periods we will examine several of the following themes: the nature and effectiveness of government (primarily kingship), the role of Christian belief and Christian institutions in shaping medieval life, the shape of everyday life, and the capacity of women to exercise power.
The process of our trip through the Middle Ages, however, will not merely be one of mastering names and dates (although you certainly must do a fair amount of memorization). Indeed, a major purpose of the class is to demonstrate to you the methods by which historians approach the past. Thus we will be interested in learning about the nature of the sources available to us, and, above all, in learning how to interpret them. Interpretation, after all, is the keystone of the historian�s craft, and it will be one of our purposes in this course to subject all of the material at our disposal to careful prodding, questioning, and criticism.
221-01 through -04 Richard Barton
The lecture portion of this class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:00-1:50. Smaller discussion groups meet on Mondays at either 12:00-12:50 or 1:00-1:50.
10130 221-01 - MW 1-1:50, F 12-12:50
10131 221-02 - MW 1-1:50, F 12-12:50
10132 221-03 - MW 1-1:50, F 1-1:50
10133 221-04 - MW 1-1:50, F 1-1:50
HIS 222 - Europe 1400-1789
Survey of major socio-economic, political, and cultural trends in Europe from the Renaissance to the French Revolution.
222-01 through -04 Jodi Bilinkoff
The lecture portion of this class meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:00-12:50. Smaller discussion groups meet on Fridays at either 12:00-12:50 or 1:00-1:50.
10697 222-01 - MW 12-12:50, F 12-12:50
10698 222-02 - MW 12-12:50, F 12-12:50
10699 222-03 - MW 12-12:50, F 1-1:50
10700 222-04 - MW 12-12:50, F 1-1:50
HIS 223 - Modern Europe
10135 223-01 Kevin Crowder MW 2:00-3:15
14444 223-02 Kevin Crowder MW 5:00-6:15
A survey of the political, social and cultural history of Europe from the time of the French Revolution to the present. Emphasis will be placed on the political culture and the emergence of the great ideological systems of the West (e.g., liberalism, conservatism, socialism, communism, nationalism, and fascism).
HIS 302 - Race and Segregation
10136 TR 11:00-12:15
Watson Jennison
Race and segregation in the United States since the Civil War, including the origins of the Jim Crow laws, the civil rights movement, black urbanization, the Harlem Renaissance, black nationalism, and the African American experience in America.
HIS 328 - Women in American History I
10137 MW 2:00-3:15
Phyllis Hunter
This course seeks to introduce students to women's experiences in the past as a vital component of the making of the United States. In addition, we will explore the history (historiography) of the study of women. Students will read and analyze both primary accounts -- letters, diaries, slave narratives, and novels -- and recent secondary studies that use methods of social history and gender analysis to reconstruct our understanding of American history. During the semester, we will have both lectures, class discussions, and class presentations including a final paper/project.
HIS 332 - Civil Rights and Black Freedom
10138 MW 2:00-3:15
Thomas Jackson
Research Intensive
This class is especially topical given the 50 th anniversary of the Greensboro student sit-ins on February 1, 2010. But the black freedom movement -- or �long civil rights movement� as it has been called -- was more than simply a heroic battle against southern segregation, violence and disfranchisement. The series of dramatic, publicized confrontations in the South that led to national policy breakthroughs between 1954 and 1968 are certainly crucial to understanding the movement. But the movement had deep historical and local communal roots that lie way back in the era of �Jim Crow,� and it continued long after the big marches stopped. This was a mass movement of ordinary people, with lots of internal conflict and contending ideologies, but also with impressive local and national coalitions that crossed racial and class lines. So in addition to the grand dramas that usually get attention in �civil rights� courses or commemorations, we will examine issues and people that did not make headlines, but certainly made history: grass-roots organizers, women, labor union activists and working class �foot soldiers,� northern civil rights activists, and local black nationalists. We will examine coalition builders, people who insisted that class and gender equality must also be goals in the struggle for racial equality. We will consider how the civil rights revolution contributed strategies and inspiration for other rights struggles: the war on poverty, the antiwar movement, the women�s movement, and gay and lesbian liberation. We will examine the bitter failures on issues that continue to divide the nation as well as the extraordinary breakthroughs that reshaped a multi-racial society. Through examining primary sources, we will come to understand the mass media�s powerful role in communicating (and in some ways obscuring) the movement�s aspirations to national and international audiences. The course will draw on scholarship, but also examine primary sources; biographies, memoirs, oral histories, letters, speeches, interviews and news coverage. As a Research Intensive course, this class will ask you to improve your mastery of several major tools of historical research.
HIS 334 - Environmental History of the United States
10139 MW 2:00-3:15
Greg O'Brien
In this course you will examine the interaction of humans and nature in American history from the colonial period to today. The approach will be roughly chronological, with emphasis on selected issues, events, and persons. The course will consider two large themes: 1. The way that Americans (of different types) have thought about nature and the relationship between people and nature. 2. The history of the human impact on nature in the area now known as the United States and the role of nature in shaping American history. Grading will consist of exams, short topical papers, and quizzes.
HIS 335 - American Colonial Period: 1607-1763
12149 TR 12:30-1:45
Todd Miller
This course will examine the interaction of American Indians, Europeans, and Africans in colonial North America and the creation of a unique "American" society. Class time will be split between lectures, discussions of readings, and films.
HIS 339 - War, Society, and Reform: America, 1896-1945
12150 TR 3:30-4:45
Natasha Thompson
Examines the impact during the first half of the twentieth century of two world wars, reform, industrialization, the changing status of women and minorities, and the emergence of mass culture.
HIS 345 - The Unfit: Race Cleansing in the United States
10140 TR 2:00-3:15
Cheryl Logan
From 1880 to well into the twentieth century, America pioneered the international movement to cleanse society of those deemed biologically �degenerate� or �unfit�. Families in American competed in county fairs like cows and horses to win ribbons as the �Fitter Families�. Laws that forcibly segregated and sterilized non-whites, women, immigrants, and the disabled made a shambles of human rights in the name of eugenics. This course will concentrate on the social and scientific influences that produced the eugenics movement, one of the great tragedies in the history of the relation between science and society. We will also explore the vestiges of eugenics present in our society today.
HIS 347 - History of North Carolina
10142 347-02 MWF 9:00-9:50 Laurinda deBeck
10143 347-03 MWF 1:00-1:50 Christine Flood Speaking Intensive Section
This is a survey course. It spans more than 400 years of state history - from colonization to the present. It is American history with the spotlight on North Carolina. Objectives of the course include an examination of:
- when, how, and why North Carolina developed as it did.
- How its actions and reactions were similar or different from the other states.
- How the development of its economic, social, and political structure determines present-day North Carolina with special emphasis on such topics as: a) the economy b) politics c) race relations.
HIS 349 - The World at War 1914-1945
101-01 through 04 Paul Mazgaj
The period between 1914 and 1945 marked one of the most catastrophic in world history. It encompassed not only the First and Second World wars, but the Great Depression, the rise of fascism and communism, the crisis of Western democracy, and, finally, the Holocaust. An effort will be made to look at the period as a whole and measure its impact on both European and world history, but emphasis will be placed on the origins, events, interpretive questions, and impact of the Second World War.
The lecture portion of this class meets on Mondays and Fridays at 9:00-9:50. Smaller discussion groups meet on Wednesdays at either 9:00-9:50 or 10:00-10:50.
10144 101-01 - MF 9-9:50, W 9:00-9:50
10145 101-02 - MF 9-9:50, W 9:00-9:50
10146 101-03 - MF 9-9:50, W 10:00-10:50
10147 101-04 - MF 9-9:50, W 10:00-10:50
HIS 360 - Structure of Scientific Change
10148 TR 9:30-10:45
Ken Caneva
Writing and Research Intensive
In-depth examination of selected topics to elucidate the nature of scientific change. Representative topics: Thomas Kuhn's image of science; the Copernican Revolution; continental drift.
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HIS 373-01 - English History to 166014110 MW 2:00-3:15 From 55 BC to the restoration of Charles II in 1660, this course surveys all the major developments- Roman, Britain, the Anglo-Saxons, Normans, and Medieval England, the Reformation and the Puritan Revolution. Within each period the main political, intellectual, religious, social, and economic themes are examined. |
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HIS 387 - History of the Chinese Frontier
14712 TR 12:30-1:45
Jamie Anderson
While remaining �China-focused,� we will explore in this course the ways in which the various peoples have existed in the frontier region of the Chinese empire throughout history, fighting during much of this time for political and cultural autonomy. Some of the topics we will explore include the fluid, border-less nature of the frontier, both north and south, Imperial China�s �grand strategy� for the settlement of Inner Asia, court tribute relations with various northern and southern kingdoms, and modern China�s border management as a challenge to shaping the new nation state. It is the desire of the instructor that, after the completion of this course, we will have a larger historical context in which we can more clearly evaluate the events of the last 400 years. Comparing and analyzing various scholarly works, we will write our own history of the Chinese frontier and, in the process, reveal how the present informs our understanding of the past.
HIS 389 - West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade
10179 TR 3:30-4:45
Colleen Kriger
Examines how trade between European and African countries developed into a trans-Atlantic slave trade. Focus on origins of slaves and effects of slave trade on Africa, ca. 1450-1850.
HIS 390 - History Internship
10180
Field learning experience in public
or applied history. Academic supervision provided by job supervisor. Assigned
reading and written reports. May be repeated. Prerequisite: Consent of Director of Public History. Written permission needed to register. Contact Benjamin Filene for information.
HIS 396 - Honors Seminar in History: "Postwar Comparative Reconstruction"
13790 T 3:30-6:20
Jeff Jones
Honors Program and Written Permission Required
This advanced seminar, required for the honors distinction in history, introduces students to important approaches and perspectives in the historical profession, in a forum which promotes collegiality and discussion.
HIS 392 - The Holocaust: History and Meaning
10182 TR 9:30-10:45
Karl Schleunes
This course examines the history of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and explores the variety of understandings and meanings -- historical, political, intellectual, artistic, and theological -- that have been proposed as possible explanations for how such a horror was possible. The Holocaust raises questions about the nature of good and evil, the nature of human beings, and the powers of the divine. No event of the 20th century has so shocked and unnerved the human consciousness.
The immediate focus of the course is upon the Nazi efforts to exterminate the Jewish people in its entirety, although other victims -- Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), mentally and physically handicapped, homosexuals, and the Polish intelligentsia -- are likewise defined as being "unworthy of life."
The course begins with a lengthy examination of the history of anti-Jewish sentiment in Western culture and its transformation during the 19th into a central component of European racism. From there it explores the political and social circumstances that in 1933 brought the Nazis to power and examines their efforts to establish what they believed would be a racially-pure world in which those they deemed to be inferior ceased to exist.
HIS 440 - Principles and Practices of Teaching History
10183 TR 3:30-4:45
Lisa Tolbert
According to the American Historical Association (AHA), we face a challenge and a responsibility as history educators in contemporary society. � The history taught in classrooms and presented in books and articles too often lacks energy and imagination. As a consequence, many students not only fail to gain a sense of history, they come to dislike it.� The AHA has issued a call to action: �As educational institutions share responsibility for devaluing the past, so also do they have it in their power to restore its value by educating those in their charge to think historically and to use knowledge and understanding of the past to challenge the present and the future.� (See Liberal Learning and the History Major www.historians.org/pubs/Free/LiberalLearning.htm.)
This course is especially designed for history majors who plan to engage in teaching as a career. As an aspiring educator, how will you instill in your students a sense of the value and relevance of thinking historically in the 21st century? How do people learn history? Is there something distinctive about learning history compared to learning other academic subjects? This course will introduce you to the growing scholarship that addresses the distinctive challenges of teaching and learning history as both a subject and a discipline.
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:
- Explain the importance of historical reasoning for 21 st century learners.
- Use research and theory to evaluate how people learn history.
- Design effective learning experiences for history courses paying particular attention to using different types of primary sources, developing information literacy and communication skills, and promoting analytical reading.
- Design assessment strategies to evaluate the effectiveness of student learning based on specific learning objectives.
- Produce a professional portfolio that documents how you conceptualize and operationalize student learning in the subject of history, supported by the scholarship of teaching and learning.
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