 |
|
The political, cross-cultural, and social development of India
from the classical civilizations of late antiquity to the beginning of
British rule in the 18th century. Artistic and architectural
achievements of Indo-Islamic civilization; the Mughal Empire and regional
polities; religious and cultural syncretism; influence of contact
with the West. Emphasis on the historical antecedents
of contemporary debates about South Asia's regional and
religious identities, state formation and fragmentation, and
the origins of colonialism.
Prerequisite: None
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
| ----Emperor Shah Jahan receiving eldest son Dara Shikoh, 1650 © Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 |
|
The social,
economic, and political history of the Indian subcontinent from
the 18th century to the present. The cultural foundations
of Indian society; the East India Company and the expansion of British
power; the experience of Indians under the British Raj; Gandhi and
the rise of Indian nationalism; Independence and Partition; the postcolonial nations of
South Asia. Thematic
emphasis on the causes and consequences of Western imperialism,
religious and cultural identities, and competing historical interpretations.
Prerequisite: None
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
| ----British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and Mohandas Gandhi at the London Roundtable Conference, 1931 © United World Photos
 |
|
The
British Isles from the 14th century to the Glorious
Revolution. The church and state in late medieval Britain; the English
and Scottish Reformations; Elizabeth and her realm; evolution
of monarchical and aristocratic power under the Tudors and Stuarts;
Shakespeare, Milton, and the English literary renaissance; conquest
and settlement in Ireland; Cromwell, the Puritans, and the English
Civil War; life in the villages and the growth of the mercantile
economy; the Glorious Revolution and the shaping of constitutional
monarchy.
Prerequisite: None; HIST 120 recommended
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
| ----Coronation Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558 (artist unknown) © National Portrait Gallery, London
 |
|
Britain and its people from the Glorious Revolution to the end
of the Napoleonic War. The end of absolutism and the rise of the
constitutional monarchy; the Augustan Age: arts, letters, and religion;
the Atlantic world and British overseas expansion; the Enlightenment
and Scientific Revolution; the American Revolution and its aftermath;
Union with Scotland and Ireland and the creation of the British
national identity; the revolution in France and the wars against
Napoleon; the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.
Prerequisite: None; HIST 121 recommended
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Nicholas Pocock, HMS Victory at anchor, 1807 © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
 |
|
Britain from the Industrial Revolution to the present. Industrialization
and its social consequences; the shaping of Victorian society; the
rise and fall of the British Empire; the Irish question and the
emancipation of women; political reform and the rise of mass politics;
the age of total war; popular culture, immigration, and
multi-cultural society. Themes include the growth
of the social and economic class structure, the shaping of national
and regional identities, and the consequences of imperialism.
Prerequisite: None; HIST 121 recommended
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Celebrating V-E Day, May 8th, 1945 © Getty Images
 |
|
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of Ireland from the mid-19th century to the present.
Literary study focuses on the works of Yeats, Joyce, Shaw, Synge,
Kavanagh, and O'Casey along with contemporary authors Heaney and Doyle. Historical
topics include famine and emigration; home rule, republicanism, and unionism;
the war for independence, the Irish Civil War, and the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland;
religion, politics, and civil society in the Irish Republic. This course counts towards the English major.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing; HIST 121 recommended
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Jack B. Yeats, The Liffey Swim, 1923 © National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
 |
|
The colonial and postcolonial development of East Africa from the mid-19th
century to the present. European exploration, missionary activity, and interaction between
indigenous societies and settler populations; formation of the colonial
state and economy; technological and agrarian development and its consequences;
African nationalism, independence, and regional integration; the postcolonial politics
and economies of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Required course for the
East Africa Program; taught in Kenya and Tanzania.
Prerequisite: Participation in 2008 East Africa Program
Taught: Fall 2008 (possibly repeated), 4 semester credits |
|
----Baroness Karen Blixen-Finecke, Portrait of a Kikuyu girl, 1924 © Karen Blixen Museum, Nairobi, Kenya
 |
|
The history of British overseas expansion from the early 17th
century to the end of the 20th century. Theories of imperialism;
Britain's Atlantic trade network; the Victorian empire in war and
peace; collaboration and resistance among colonized peoples; India
under the British Raj; the Scramble for Africa; the effects
of empire on British culture; the creation of the British Commonwealth;
the rise of nationalism in the colonies; decolonization
and postcolonial perspectives. This course counts toward the International Affairs
major.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of the instructor; HIST 121, 222, or 224 recommended.
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Robert Home, Lord Cornwallis receives the sons of Tipu Sultan as hostages, 1792 © National Army Museum, London
 |
|
This reading-intensive
course focuses on the steady dismantling of Europe's overseas empires
during the latter half of the 20th century, primarily in Asia and
Africa. A critical and comparative analysis of such examples
as India/Pakistan, Kenya, Algeria, Vietnam, and Jordan as well as a
focus on postcolonial literature and theory. Readings are drawn
from a wide range of historical scholarship addressing the political,
cultural, social, and economic dimensions of decolonization and its legacies
in our own time.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of the instructor; HIST 121, 224, or 328 recommended.
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Union Jack lowered after the death of King Fuad, Cairo Citadel, 1936 © Getty Images
 |
|
A comparative
and critical analysis of the political and social development of
Ireland from the late 18th century to the present. The birth of Irish republicanism; the Catholic
Church and the Protestant Ascendancy; the Famine and the diaspora;
the Irish literary renaissance; Home Rule campaigns and rise
of Ulster Unionism; the Easter Rising and the war for independence; Northern
Ireland's "Troubles"; contemporary politics and society. Competing interpretations of history and the shaping
and reshaping of Irish identities.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of the instructor; HIST 121, 222, or 224 recommended.
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Easter 1916 Mural, Whiterock Road, Ballymurphy, West Belfast, 1991 © BBC Online
 |
|
This seminar focuses on the transformation of Britain and its empire from
the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837 to her death in 1901. Readings
and discussions provide thematic emphasis on the development of class
society, urbanization, science and technology, crime and punishment, political and social reform, religious and intellectual
history, imperial expansion, and biographical study of key figures. The
aim of the course is the completion of a major research paper.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of the instructor; HIST 300 required; HIST 121, 224, or 328 recommended.
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Queen Victoria with sceptre and orb; Victoria Memorial, London
 |
|
This seminar traces, chronologically and thematically, the various
and often competing strands of British imperial control over the Indian subcontinent
from the Revolt of 1857 until the independence
of India and Pakistan in 1947. The scope of the readings and discussions
include the ideological, political, technological, social, economic,
psychological and cultural impact of the British in India and Indian society under colonialism. The aim
of the course is the completion of a major research paper.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of the instructor; HIST 300 required; HIST 217, 224, or 328 recommended.
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Sir Humphrey Trevelyan and Maharaja Bhawani Singh, 1942 © Private Collection of Lady Trevelyan
 |
|
The focus of this seminar is the transformation of Britain and its empire from the Edwardian era to the beginning of the 21st century. Readings and discussions provide thematic emphasis on the political, social, and cultural history of British society: the impact of the two world wars, the building of the welfare state, cultural and social changes during the interwar and postwar years, and decolonization and the rise of a multicultural society. The aim of the course is the completion of a major research paper.
Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of the instructor; HIST 300 required; HIST 121, 224, or 328 recommended.
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Royal Marines march toward Port Stanley, East Falkland, 1982 © Ministry of Defence
 |
|
The materials and craft of historical research. Bibliographic method; documentary
editing and annotating; use of specialized libraries, manuscripts, government records,
oral interviews, photographs, maps and nautical charts, newspapers and periodicals,
art and architecture, and physical artifacts; career options in history. Through in-class
exercises and individual editing projects students gain skills in library research,
editing, writing, analysis of sources, and historical judgment.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing; preference given to history majors and minors
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
|
----Rare books in the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology © Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
 |
|
This section of the first-year core program offers a broad and interdisciplinary focus on the First World War and its legacies in our own time. The origins of the war and the breakdown of the international system; the experience of total war on the front and at home; science, technology and psychology of warfare; moral and philosophical arguments; the impact of the war on literature, art and music; the postwar peace settlement and the aftermath. Emphasis on developing writing and research skills.
Prerequisite: None; this course fulfills the second half of the first-year core program
Taught: Alternate years, 4 semester credits |
| ----"Mourning a fallen comrade, 1917" (Q.2756) © Imperial War Museum, London
|