Undergraduate History Courses
Fall 2006 Course Descriptions
The Undergraduate courses for Fall 2006 are also available in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat 4.0 or higher).
Groups of Courses
First Year Courses
Sophomore/Non-Major Courses
Major Courses
History Workshop
Africa/Asia/Middle East
Ancient/Medieval Europe
Modern Europe
United States
Latin America
Australia
History Honors Program
Course Numbers
Hist 10210: Ancient Greece and Rome
Hist 10600: US History 1: to 1877
Hist 10605: US History 2: 1877 to present
Hist 10750: US National Security Policy
Hist 13184-01: Religion and Violence in Comparative Perspective
Hist 13184-02: Pirates in History
Hist 13184-03: Writings about the Self in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Hist 13184-05: Religious Belief and the Dawn of Modernity
Hist 13184-06: The Collapse of Communism in East Central Europe: the 1989 Revolutions, Before and After
Hist 20600: US History 1: to 1877
Hist 20605: US History 2: 1877 to present
Hist 20075: Introduction to Islamic Civilization
Hist 33000: History Workshop
Hist 30060: African History since 1800
Hist 30078: Hieroglyphs and History
Hist 30085: Modern Middle East
Hist 30099: Borders, Boundaries, and Frontiers
Hist 30144: Introduction to Chinese Culture and Civilization
Hist 30220: History of Ancient Greece
Hist 30232: Roman Literature
Hist 30250: World of the Middle Ages
Hist 30291: Politics & Religion in Medieval Europe
Hist 30408: The Holocaust
Hist 30416: Victorian England
Hist 30432: Irish History 2: Irish History since 1800
Hist 30438: Science and Medicine in Ireland, 1600-1900
Hist 30451: Modern France
Hist 30470: Medieval and Early Modern Russia
Hist 30483: 20th Century Eastern Europe
Hist 30505: Italy in Modern Europe
Hist 30550: Technologies of War and Peace
Hist 30585: History of Fascism, 1919 - 1945
Hist 30604: The US Civil War Era, 1848-1877
Hist 30608: U.S. History, 1900-1945
Hist 30617: Women and American Catholicism
Hist 30621: Mexican - American History
Hist 30631: Sport in American History
Hist 30633: American Religious History
Hist 30634: Men, Women and Work in American History
Hist 30659: Imagining America: Encounters, Expectations, and Perceptions in Early America
Hist 30700: African-American History to 1877
Hist 30706: US Sex, Sexuality, and Gender to 1900
Hist 30707: American Intellectual History I
Hist 30854: U.S. Presidents: FDR to Clinton
Hist 30856: Labor and America since 1945
Hist 30886: American Men, American Women
Hist 30894: Visual America I
Hist 30912: Modern Mexico
Hist 30975: Making Australia
Hist 40236: The Roman Empire
Hist 40648: Science & Environmental Policy in the U.S.
Hist 40888: Building America
Hist 40891: Race, Gender and Women of Color
Hist 43559: SEM: The Age of Democratic Revolutions
Hist 43613: SEM: US Legal History
Hist 43614: SEM: Religious Factor in US History
Hist 53002: Honors Colloquium
Hist 58003: History Honors Thesis
First Year Courses
These courses are generally open only to first-year students. Unless otherwise noted, these courses fulfill the university History requirement, but they do not count toward the History major.
Ancient Greece and Rome
Mazurek
HIST 10210 CRN # 13836
MWF 11:45 -12:35
This first-year course introduces the general history and culture of ancient Greece and Rome to students coming to the subject for the first time. Literary texts central to the ancient Greek and Roman traditions receive prime attention, including works by Homer, Plato, Cicero and Virgil, but students are also exposed to the importance of learning from documentary texts, archeology, and art history. Topics discussed include concepts of divinity and humanity, heroism and virtue, gender, democracy, empire, and civic identity, and how they changed in meaning over time. The course allows students to develop a rich appreciation for the Greek and Roman roots of their own lives, and prepares them to study the Greco-Roman past at more advanced levels. Offered annually.
US History I: to 1877
Turner
HIST 10600 CRN #13667
MW 8:30 – 9:20
A survey of the social, cultural, and political history of the British North American Colonies and the United States to the close of the Civil War, including Reconstruction. Topics include Native American, European, and African encounters; regional development and divergence; imperial conflict and revolution; constitutional development and argument; democratization and its implications; religious impulses and reformism; immigration and nativism; the importance of land and westward expansion; slavery and emancipation; sectional division, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
Students enrolled in History 10600 must also take History 12600, a tutorial.
HIST 12600 01 CRN # 12864 F 8:30 – 9:20
HIST 12600 02 CRN # 12863 F 8:30 – 9:20
HIST 12600 03 CRN # 12862 F 9:35 – 10:25
HIST 12600 04 CRN # 16547 F 10:40 – 11:30
HIST 12600 05 CRN # 16550 F 11:45 – 12:35
US History II: 1877-present
Blantz
HIST 10605 CRN # 13671
MW 12:50 – 1:40
This course will be a survey of the political, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural development of the United States from 1877, the end of the Civil War, to 1988, the end of the Ronald Reagan presidency. Major topics to be covered include the industrial revolution of the late 19th century, the Progressive legislation of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the causes of the Wall Street Crash and Great Depression, the New Deal programs of Franklin Roosevelt, World Wars I and II, the Fair Deal and Containment policies of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower’s Modern Republicanism, the New Frontier of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the Civil Rights and Feminist Movements, Vietnam, Richard Nixon and Watergate, and the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. The class format will be two lectures each week and one discussion session. There will be a weekly quiz on the assigned readings, two short writing assignments, a mid-term and final examination.
Students enrolled in History 10605 must also take History 12605, a tutorial.
HIST 12605 01 CRN # 13323 F 12:50 – 1:40
HIST 12605 02 CRN # 13322 F 10:40 – 11:30
HIST 12605 03 CRN # 13321 F 10:40 – 11:30
HIST 12605 04 CRN # 13320 F 11:45 – 12:35
HIST 12605 05 CRN # 13319 F 12:50 – 1:40
US National Security Policy
Soares
HIST 10750 CRN # 15744
TR 2:00 – 3:15
In the aftermath of 9/11, with American troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and concern about the nuclear ambitions of such nations as North Korea and Iran, "national security" is phrase that is often discussed and of crucial importance to informed citizens. This course will examine national security policy: what it is, how it is formulated and executed, and how U.S. national security policies have evolved since the 1890s. Using a variety of readings and films such as Casablanca and Dr. Strangelove, this course will examine U.S. national security policies from the late 1890s through two world wars, the interwar period, the Cold War, the post-Cold War years and up to the current post-9/11 world. We will identify continuities and departures in historic U.S. national security policies, and consider the roles of policymakers and their critics in a self-governing society.
Religion and Violence in Comparative Perspective
Bergen
HIST 13184 01 CRN # 15085
TR 9:30 – 10:45
In this seminar, we will explore the connections between religion and mass violence in a number of specific historical contexts. What roles have religious organizations, impulses, and individuals played in cases of extreme violence such as the genocide of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan genocide? What determines whether religion on balance serves the perpetrators of mass violence or ends up among its victims? Do religious institutions, beliefs, and practices tend to legitimate violence or produce rescuers and peacemakers? We will approach these and other questions using a variety of materials: histories, movies, memoirs, journalistic accounts, and personal interviews. Students will write short weekly responses to the readings and produce one longer analytical paper or a creative project.
Pirates in History
Murray
HIST 13184 02 CRN # 15084
TR 11:00 – 12:15
University Seminars are designed to foster intense interaction between first-year students and faculty in small settings where class discussion is the dominant mode of instruction in introducing the paradigms of a given academic discipline. These are to be writing intensive courses in which students will write and read simultaneously and continuously throughout the semester. In this particular course you will use piracy as the means to engage the work of historians. Each unit will be built around particular textual problems that historians face in their endeavors to recount the past. You will experience how historians reconstruct fragmented texts, how they use various kinds of primary sources to corroborate one another, and how they establish and disagree about the authorship of given texts. You will also see how historians and creative writers differ in their portrayal of piracy and what it means to their understanding of life around them. Since there will be no examinations in this course, the goal will be not to memorize dates and facts, but instead to marshal textual evidence in support of the arguments you will make in the course of your written reflection papers and essays.
Writings about the Self in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Van Engen
HIST 13184 03 CRN # 15087
TR 11:00 – 12:15
When did people first begin to write about the self? How did they write? This course will read some important early works of “autobiography” in European history. The purpose of the course is to help students learn to read and write with analysis and clarity, also to learn about several important authors from Augustine to Petrarch and Erasmus.
Religious Belief and the Dawn of Modernity
Martin
HIST 13184 05 CRN # 16551
TR 2:00 - 3:15
From the Enlightenment to the mid-19th century, the religious traditions of Christians and Jews in Central Europe and Russia were shaken by new intellectual currents, political upheavals, and a changing social order. Reading autobiographies and some scholarly works, we will examine the diversity of responses to these challenges--including mysticism and freemasonry, secularization and religious skepticism, as well as changing ideas about education, family, class, nationality, and gender. We will observe the emergence of a distinctly modern religious consciousness, and relate these observations to events of our own time.
The Collapse of Communism in East Central Europe: the 1989 Revolutions, Before and After
Kunicki
HIST 13184 06 CRN # 16552
TR 3:30 – 4:45
This course analyzes the 1989 revolutions in East Central Europe in their longue durée. We will examine their roots, course, and consequences through primary and secondary sources including historical interpretations, participant accounts, and films. By employing these methods and sources we will address the following questions and problems: Were these revolutions or rebirths? Did communist regimes fall or abdicate? Who were the major actors in this drama; did they come from inside or outside of the system? We will also consider the dynamics of the revolutionary and reforming processes: the “Gorbachev factor;” the political, social, and economic decline of the system; mass actions, dissent, and the generation gap; the role of symbols in the de-legitimization of communism. What comes next? Democracy, the market economy, civil society, and their discontents.
Sophomore/Non-Major Courses
These courses are generally open to all students, but in some cases sophomores have priority during the initial registration period. Unless otherwise noted, these courses count toward the university History requirement, but they do not count toward the History major.
Introduction to Islamic Civilization
Guo
HIST 20075 CRN # 16798
TR 12:30 - 1:45
This course is designed to introduce students to Islamic civilization and Muslim culture and societies. The course will cover the foundations of Islamic belief, worship, and institutions, along with the evolution of sacred law (al-shari'a) and theology, as well as various aspects of intellectual activities. The Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad will be examined in detail. Both Sunni and Shi'i perspectives will be considered. Major Sufi personalities will be discussed to illuminate the mystical, and popular, tradition in Islam. Topics on arts, architecture, literary culture, and sciences will be covered. Although the course is concerned more with the history of ideas than with modern Islam as such, it has great relevance for understanding contemporary Muslim attitudes and political, social, and cultural trends in the Muslim world today.
US History I: to 1877
Turner
HIST 20600 CRN # 15194
MW 8:30 – 9:20
A survey of the social, cultural, and political history of the British North American Colonies and the United States to the close of the Civil War, including Reconstruction. Topics include Native American, European, and African encounters; regional development and divergence; imperial conflict and revolution; constitutional development and argument; democratization and its implications; religious impulses and reformism; immigration and nativism; the importance of land and westward expansion; slavery and emancipation; sectional division, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
Students enrolled in History 20600, must take History 22600, a tutorial.
HIST 22600 01 CRN # 15117 F 9:35 – 10:25
US History II: 1877-present
Blantz
HIST 20605 CRN # 15199
MW 12:50 – 1:40
This course will be a survey of the political, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural development of the United States from 1877, the end of the Civil War, to 1988, the end of the Ronald Reagan presidency. Major topics to be covered include the industrial revolution of the late 19th century, the Progressive legislation of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the causes of the Wall Street Crash and Great Depression, the New Deal programs of Franklin Roosevelt, World Wars I and II, the Fair Deal and Containment policies of Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower’s Modern Republicanism, the New Frontier of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the Civil Rights and Feminist Movements, Vietnam, Richard Nixon and Watergate, and the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. The class format will be two lectures each week and one discussion session. There will be a weekly quiz on the assigned readings, two short writing assignments, a mid-term and final examination.
Students enrolled in History 20605, must take History 22605, a tutorial.
HIST 22605 01 CRN # 15120 F 11:45 – 12:35
Major Courses
Most of these courses are open to all students, but some seats are usually reserved for History majors. In most cases section 1 of the course reserves seats for majors, while section 2 of the course has unrestricted seats (Courses that the department crosslists from other programs usually have only a single section whose seats are reserved for majors.). Unless otherwise noted, these courses fulfill the university History requirement; they also fulfill various major requirements (any exceptions are noted below). Each of the courses below fulfills at least one of the History major requirements.
History Workshop
MURRAY
History 33000-01 CRN # 1083
1 TR 9:30 – 10:45
BEDERMAN
History 33000-02 CRN # 10832
MW 11:45 – 1:00
BEATTY
History 33000-03 CRN # 10833
TR 3:30 – 4:45
This course is a requirement for - and open only to - History majors pursuing the standard major in History (not the supplementary malwebajor). History Workshop introduces students to how historians study the past. Students will gain insight into the nature of historical inquiry through discussion of exemplary works of history, analysis of primary source documents from various time periods and places, and, most important, their own efforts to write history. Readings will include important secondary historical works as well as discussions of how historians actually do history. Writing assignments will include at least two ten-page histories written by each student from primary source documents.
Africa/Asia/Middle East
See individual descriptions for those courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.
African History since 1800
Osborn
HIST 30060 CRN # 16553/16554
TR 11:00 – 12:15
This course will focus on African history from 1800 to the independence movements of the 1960s. In the nineteenth century, new states, economies, and societies emerged in Africa as African peoples developed new relations among themselves and with the rest of the world. With the 'scramble for Africa' of the 1880s, European powers colonized Africa and suppressed many of these processes. In the 1960s, however, self-rule resurged as Africans helped throw off the yoke of colonial rule and form independent nation-states. This course will consider the social, economic and political history of Africa by using case studies from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Zaire), Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa.
Hieroglyphs & History
Ladouceur
HIST 30078 CRN # 17235
TR 9:30 – 10:45
This course will focus on Egyptian hieroglyphs both as a means to reconstruct Egyptian history and culture as well as a reflection of that culture. The student will be taught to translate and interpret primary sources especially on monuments and archaeological finds. Material from the tomb of Tatankhamun will be read and analyzed in detail. In addition there will be lectures and discussions on specific historical topics and also on developing chronologies, understanding color symbolism, recognizing the numerous Egyptian deities, and interpreting Pharaonic names. This course satisfies the History major pre-1500 requirement. This course does not satisfy the university History requirement.
Modern Middle East
Kaufman
HIST 30085 CRN # 15601/16555
MW 11:45 – 1:00
This course surveys Middle Eastern history from 1800 to the present. The primary themes to be covered include: the demise of the Ottoman Empire; European colonial and imperial penetration of the Middle East in the 19th century; the social and cultural impact of imperialism; state-building in the 20th century; new ideologies/nationalisms; the Arab-Israeli conflict and contemporary problems of political and economic development. We will also consider the most important movements of Islamic reform and revival over the past two centuries.
Borders, Boundaries, and Frontiers
Kaufman
HIST 30099 CRN # 17377
MW 1:30 – 2:45
This course explores political borders, boundaries and frontiers and their changing meaning and dynamics from the beginning of the colonial era (circa 1500) until the present. Through the analysis of these three terms we will explore the formation of political borders, life along borders and border conflicts and their resolutions (or lack thereof). Geographically we will look at areas including the Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia and the US- Mexican border in order to analyze this theme through both global and regional perspectives.
Introduction to Chinese Culture and Civilization
Yang
HIST 30144
MW 3:00 - 4:15
This is a survey course that introduces the student with little or no knowledge of the Chinese language or culture to the major aspects of Chinese cultural tradition from the dawn of its civilization to the present time. Readings (in English translation) include traditional Chinese historical, philosophical, religious and literary texts as well as modern scholarship. Students are encouraged to bring in their experience, living or reading, of Western culture in order to approach the Chinese texts from a comparative perspective.
Ancient/Medieval Europe
These courses all satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement.
History of Ancient Greece
Aaron
HIST 30220 CRN # 17233
MWF 1:55 – 2:45
An outline introduction to the history of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to the Roman conquest. The topics covered include the rise of the distinctive Greek city-state (the polis), Greek relations with Persia, Greek experiments with democracy, oligarchy, and empire, the great war between Athens and Sparta, the rise to power of Philip and Alexander of Macedon, and the Greeks' eventual submission to Rome. Readings include narrative, documentary, and archeological sources. The course prepares students for advanced study in ancient history. Offered biennially.
Roman Literature
MacCormackHIST 30232 CRN # 17230
TR 11:00 – 12:15
This course surveys the leading works of ancient Roman literature and examines the cultural contexts in which they were written, received, and transmitted. Students read poetry and prose from many genres, and sample works from six hundred years of literary versatility that combined enormous originality with a literary tradition inherited from the Greeks. Among the authors introduced are Plautus, Lucretius, Catullus, Cicero, Horace, Livy, Lucan, Tacitus, Apuleius, Ammianus, and Augustine. Special attention is paid the formal structures of Roman literary works, the cultural issue they raise, and the lasting value of Latin literature to the modern age. The course prepares students for more advanced study in classical literature and culture. Offered annually.
The World of the Middle Ages
NobleHIST 30250 CRN # 17494
MWF 1:55 – 2:45
The Middle Ages have been praised and reviled, romanticized and fantasized. The spectacular popularity of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia have brought a revival of interest in and curiosity about the Middle Ages. But what were they like, these ten centuries between Rome and the Renaissance? In this course, we will explore major themes and issues in medieval civilization in an attempt to offer some basic answers to that question. We will have in view three kinds of people: rulers, lovers, and believers. But we will also study carefully those who wrote about those kinds of people. We will constantly ask how can we know about the Middle Ages, and what kinds of things can we know? We will consider major literary texts as both works of art and historical documents. We will explore various kinds of religious literature. We will try to understand the limits, boundaries, and achievements of philosophy and theology. Some lectures will incorporate medieval art so as to add a visual dimension to our explorations. This course will constitute an extended introduction to the dynamic and fascinating world of the Middle Ages.
Politics & Religion in Medieval Europe
Van EngenHIST 30291 CRN # 16557/16558
TR 2:00 – 3:15
This course considers the intersection between political action and religious claims in medieval Europe. Virtually all the powers-kings and popes, princes and bishops-claimed to act on religious principle and in accord with transcendent notions of virtue or world order. And yet they fought bitterly with each other, with words and with swords, and mutually condemned one another. The course will begin with the showdown between emperors and popes known as the Investiture Contest, then take up pivotal figures like Pope Innocent III, King Frederick II, and Pope Boniface IX, and conclude with sections on the Spiritual Franciscans and on conciliarism. Two papers based on primary sources, one midterm, and a final.
The Roman Empire
BradleyHIST 40236 CRN # 17237
TR 2:00 – 3:15
This advanced course in ancient history examines the Roman Empire from Augustus to Constantine, It deals with the establishment of the Augustan Principate and the progression of autocracy at Rome in the first two centuries of the imperial age, leading to discussion of what is generally called the third-century crisis and the new monarchy of Diocletian and Constantine. It investigates how the Roman Empire as a geo-political unit was governed and administered (paying particular attention to the all-powerful figure of the Roman emperor), and how the diverse regional cultures of the greater Mediterranean world were affected by Roman rule. Among topics studied are contemporary debates on Roman society, economy, demography, and culture.
Modern Europe
See individual descriptions for those courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.
The Holocaust
BergenHIST 30408 CRN # 16559/16561
T 2:00 – 3:15
In this lecture/discussion class we will study the Nazi German program of mass killings that has come to be known as the Holocaust. We will explore the ideas, decisions, and actions that culminated in murder of an estimated hundred thousand people deemed handicapped, perhaps half a million Roma (Gypsies), and six million European Jews. The role of historical prejudices, the impact of National Socialist ideology and leadership, and the crucial factor of the war itself will all be considered. We will address the experiences of those targeted for annihilation as well as the actions of perpetrators and the role of others: bystanders, witnesses, and rescuers. At the same time we will examine how attacks on other groups--for example, homosexuals, Polish intellectuals, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Afro-Germans--fitted into the overall Nazi scheme for a "new world order." The legacy of the Holocaust after 1945 will be discussed as well. Course requirements include short papers in response to weekly readings, a comparative book review, and a cumulative final exam.
Students who have completed the Notre Dame language requirement in German are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Languages across the Curriculum (LxC) initiative in the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will do some additional reading in German language material (approximately 10 to 20 pages per week) and meet once a week with a graduate student or faculty tutor from either the Department of German and Russian or History who will guide a discussion in German and grade some brief writing assignments. The LxC discussion section in German associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and credited to the student's transcript. Up to three LxC discussion credits can be applied toward a major, secondary major, or minor in German. Please talk to Professor Bergen if you are interested in adding this supplemental credit.
Students enrolled in History 30408, must take History 32408, a tutorial.
History 32408 01
CRN # 17334
R 2:00 – 3:15
History 32408 02
CRN # 17335
R 2:00 – 3:15
History 32408 03
CRN # 17336
R 2:00 – 3:15
History 32408 04
CRN # 17337
TR 3:30 – 4:45
Victorian England
DeacHIST 30416 CRN # 15139/16562
TR 12:30 – 1:45
The history of Great Britain during the long 19th century, from the impact of the French revolution in 1789 to the First World War in 1914, is one of innovation and social experiment. The period saw the emergence of many of the most characteristic and most controversial features of the modern world, such as urban industrialism; corporate capitalism; the welfare state; the transformation of civil and political rights, of the civic role of religion, of gender and class relations; the non-revolutionary expansion of democracy; the professionalization of government; paternalist colonial conquest and administration of much of the world; the rise of classical economics, Marxism, and Darwinism. Most remarkable is the intensity of Victorian public examination of these and other issues. The Victorians are known for the thoroughness with which they interrogated their souls on everything from the foundations of faith to social responsibility to their own sexuality, and equally the passion and brilliance with which they examined these issues in public in their doctrinaire social novels, their scathing reviews of one another's ideas in periodicals, their eloquent and witty speeches in the House of Commons, and through enormous campaigns of social investigation. It was a time of immense confidence that through the exercise of intellect human beings could finally get the world to run right. In their depth and breadth these discussions reflect a far richer political culture than most of us are accustomed to, one which incorporates morality with efficiency, duties with rights, progress with the maintenance of values. Course assignments will include research on the life of a not so eminent Victorian, someone like Henry Brougham, an insufferable polymath, who could speak extemporaneously (and eloquently) for six hours straight or Harriet Martineau, radical economist, pioneer anthropologist, and mystic. Course materials include general texts, novels of the period, and a packet of primary and modern sources.
Irish History 2: Irish History Since 1800
LeaneyHist 30432 CRN # 17982 /17983
TR 9:30
This course examines political history and Anglo-Irish relations from the Act of Union (1801) up to and including the Northern Ireland "troubles" and the peace process. It focuses on religious conflict, Catholic emancipation, famine, the development of romantic and revolutionary nationalism, unionism, rebellion, the changing nature of Anglo-Irish relations, modernization, and the special problems of the North.
Science and Medicine in Ireland, 1600-1900
LeaneyHIST 30438 CRN # 17984 / 17985
TR 11:00
This course surveys the history of science and medicine in Ireland from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The course will consider the role of science and medicine in Irish social and political life and will offer a fresh dimension to the cultural and intellectual history of Ireland. Lectures will situate scientists and doctors within their historical contexts, showing how intellectual history intersects with political history. Topics will include science as an instrument of colonialism in Cromwellian Ireland, the scientific satires of Jonathan Swift, the role of the medical community during the Great Famine, women in Irish science, and the role of science in the Cultural Revival. Note that no scientific knowledge is assumed or required.
Modern France
KselmanHIST 30451 CRN # 16566/16567
MWF 9:35 – 10:25
This course will provide students with an opportunity to learn about the modern history of a country that has played a major role in European and world affairs over the last two centuries, and which continues to claim a leading position in the world as we move into the twenty-first century. As a survey course, the lectures, readings, films, and discussions will aim at providing a comprehensive introduction to the political, social, and cultural life of France, starting in 1800. Topics will include: the revolutions of the nineteenth century that culminated in a democratic republic; industrialization and the development of the working class; the persistence of the peasant ideal; religious change, which include both religious revivals and secularization; changes in women's roles, gender relations, and sexuality; colonialism and imperialism; victory in World War I; defeat and collaboration in World War II; the role of intellectuals in French social life; decolonization and postcolonialism; cultural and ethnic differences in contemporary France; and Franco-American relations. Students will develop an appreciation for the vitality of the French past and an understanding of the current role of France in Europe and the world. The format will be lectures supplemented by discussions, readings, and some films. Assignments will include a class presentation, three writing assignments (totaling around 20 pages) and two exams.
Students who have completed the Notre Dame language requirement in French are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) initiative of the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will do some additional reading in French language materials (approximately 20-25 pages a week), and meet once a week with a graduate student or faculty tutor from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures who will guide a discussion in French and grade some brief writing assignments. The LxC discussion section in French associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be credited on the student's transcript. Up to three LxC discussion sections can be applied toward a major, secondary major or minor in French. Please talk to Professor Kselman if you are interested in adding this supplemental credit.
Medieval and Early Modern Russia
MartinHIST 30470 CRN # TBD
TR 3:30 – 4:45
This course will examine the history of Russia from its medieval origins until the age of Catherine the Great in the 18th century. We will begin with the genesis of Orthodox Slavic civilization in medieval Kievan Rus and that state’s destruct ion in the Mongol invasion. Then we will study the rise of the tsardom of Muscovy and the fateful developments that nearly doomed it in the 16th-17th century—the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Time of Troubles, the imposition of serfdom, the schism of the Orthodox Church, and widespread popular revolts. Lastly, we will see how Peter the Great and his 18th century successors attempted to stabilize the social order, Westernize the upper classes, and make Russia a great European power. This course also fulfills the major’s Ancient/Medieval Europe requirement and the pre-1500 requirement.
20th-Century Eastern Europe
KunickiHIST 30483 CRN # 17986
MWF 10:40 - 11:30
This course surveys the history of twentieth century Eastern Europe, the conglomeration of states and nations between Germany and Russia, stretching from the Baltic sea in the north to the Black and Adriatic seas in the south. The class aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the chronology of events and developmental processes in this part of Europe. It also attempts to answer the question whether ‘Eastern Europe’ is or is not a meaningful historical, political, and cultural construct. Themes include nationalism, the creation of nation-states and the influence of Great Powers, indigenous fascism, the role of the intelligentsia, Nazi occupation, Stalinism, the evolution of Communism and response from society. Finally, by employing participant accounts, novels, and films the course will introduce students to the cultures, traditions, and leading voices of the lands and peoples under discussion.
Italy in Modern Europe
SalwaHIST 30505 CRN # 17617
TR 11:00 – 12:15
The course will treat the historical, cultural, literary, artistic, and political relationships between Italy and the rest of Europe in the modern period (since the Renaissance). Central concerns will be the radiation through Europe of Italian humanism and of Renaissance ideals of culture and conduct, the European influence of the great Italian pioneers in publishing, Italy as a center of cultural European tourism, the development and European role of Italian cultural academies, the presence and influence of masterpieces of Italian literature both in translation and in the original Italian in other European countries, the phenomenon of European Petrarchism, the influence of Machiavelli's political ideas and their relation to the image of Italy, the influence of Italian theatre (in particular the pan-European legacy of the Italian commedia dell'arte), the relations among the European languages and the question of national identity, and the image of Italy (and in particular of Rome) in the religious polemics (Catholic/Protestant) of modern Europe. This course does not satisfy the university History requirement.
Technologies of War and Peace
HamlinHIST 30550 CRN # 17340/17341
MW 3:00 – 4:15
This course surveys the impact of military technologies on world history, using approaches of technology studies. Topics include the rise of gunpowder weaponry and the fortification revolution in the early modern period, navalism, particularly in the nineteenth century, the role of military technologies in European colonial expansion, chemical (and biological) weapons, and the science-based military of the twentieth century, leading up to the age of nuclear weapons. The course focuses on three main issues: the impact of weapons on the policies of governments, the impacts of cultures (including military cultures) on decisions about weaponry and innovation, and the phenomenon of arms races and their relation to security. This course also satisfies the major’s US requirement.
History of Fascism, 1991-1945
DonahueHIST 30585 CRN # 17849/17850
MWF 8:30 - 9:20
This course focuses on the rise and fall of fascism from D’Annunzio’s seizure of Trieste in 1919 to the fall of the Axis Powers in 1945. We will begin with an understanding of the historical events and key ideas of Italian and French fascism after the Great War. Then we will examine the expansion of fascism into Germany, Spain, Britain, and Japan in the late 1920s and 1930s. We will conclude with a discussion of the fruits of fascism during the Second World War. Throughout the semester students will be asked to compare these different fascist movements with one another. To aid in this comparative task, different themes will be highlighted: themes such as the role of anti-Semitism, the modern aestheticization of politics, fascist relationships with the Christian churches, and the importance of ideology in totalitarian movements. Probable readings include Stanley Payne’s A History of Fascism: 1914-1945; Giovanni Gentile’s Origins and Doctrine of Fascism; Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf; Eugen Hadamovsky’s Propaganda and National Power; and, Masao Maruyama’s Thought and Behavior in Modern Japanese Politics. Requirements for the course will include weekly one-page assignments (15%), two midterm exams (20% each), a final exam (25%), and one term paper (20%).
United States
See individual descriptions for those courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.
US Civil War & Reconstruction, 1848-1877
DeGruccioHIST 30604 CRN # 13794/16568
MW 8:00 – 9:15
The study of the American Civil War is a suitable training ground for novice historians, for traditionally a historian must learn to examine events and issues from varying perspectives. Indeed, in this course, emphasis lies not only on the events of the period, but also on the interpretation of those events by different interest groups. Students are expected not only to learn the facts of the era, but also to think about the consequences of events on different sections and different peoples. This course divides the period into three sections: the coming of the Civil War, the War, and Reconstruction. A test follows the end of each section; half of the final exam will be on the Reconstruction section and the rest will be comprehensive. In addition to the tests, students will write a short paper and a short book review.
US History 1900-45
BlantzHIST 30608 CRN # 13830/16577
MWF 9:35 – 10:25
The purpose of this course is to study the political, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural development of the United States from 1900 to 1945. Major topics will include the background for Progressive reform, the New Nationalism and New Freedom administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the diplomacy of the early twentieth century, the causes and results of World War I, the Republican administrations of the 1920's, the New Deal administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, isolationism and neutrality in the inter-war period, and the American home front during World War II. There will be a required reading list of approximately seven books, two shorter writing assignments, and three major examinations, including the final.
Women & American Catholicism
CummingsHIST 30617 CRN # 16593/16594
MWF 10:40 – 11:30
This course is a survey of the history of American Catholic women from the colonial period to the present. Through a combination of lectures, reading and discussion, we will explore the following themes and topics: the role of religious belief and practice in shaping Catholics‚ understanding of gender differences; the experience of women in religious communities and in family life; women‚s involvement in education and social reform; ethnic and racial diversity among Catholic women; devotional life; the development of feminist theology, and the emergence of the „new feminism‰ as articulated by Pope John Paul II. We will seek to understand how Catholic women, both lay and religious, contributed to the development of Church and nation, and examine how encounters with the broader American society have shaped Catholic women‚s relationship to the institutional church over the last three centuries. Requirements include three short writing assignments and a final exam.
Mexican-American History
RodriguezHIST 30621 CRN # 16595/16596
TR 3:30 – 4:45
This course is an introductory survey of Mexican American history in the United States. Primarily focused on events after the Texas Revolution and annexation of the American Southwest, we will consider the problems the Spanish and Mexican settlers faced in their new homeland, as well as the mass migration of Anglo-Americans into the region following the annexation. Throughout the course, we will explore the changing nature of Mexican American U.S. citizenship. Other themes and topics examined will include immigration, the growth of agriculture in Texas and California, internal migration, urbanization, discrimination, segregation, language and cultural maintenance, and the development of a U.S.-based Mexican-American politics and culture. Although primarily focused on the American Southwest, Texas, and California, this course also highlights the long history of Mexican American life and work in the Great Lakes and Midwestern United States. We will conclude with the recent history of Mexican and Latin American migration to the United States after 1965, and the changing nature of Mexican-American identity and citizenship within this context.
Sport in American History
SoaresHIST 30631 CRN # 15765/16598
TR 5:00 – 6:15
Sport, a major part of American entertainment and culture today, has roots that extend back to the colonial period. This course will provide an introduction to the development of American sport, from the horseracing and games of chance in the colonial period through the rise of contemporary sport as a highly commercialized entertainment spectacle. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, we will explore the ways that American sport has influenced and been influenced by economics, politics, popular culture, and society, including issues of race, gender and class. Given Notre Dame's tradition in athletics, we will explore the university's involvement in this historical process.
American Religious History
GrowHIST 30633 CRN # 16851/16852
TR 12:30 – 1:45
This course will examine religion in American life from the encounter between Europeans and Native Americans in the sixteenth century to the present. We will explore the ways in which religion has shaped American society, culture, and politics, and in turn how the U. S. setting has shaped religious expression. Themes will include the rise of religious diversity and ideas of religious freedom; the interactions between the American religious “mainstream” and minority religious traditions; the relationship between religion in the U.S. and its international setting; and the diversity and persistence of religion in American culture.
Men, Women and Work in American History
WhiteHIST 30634 CRN # 17777
MW 11:45 – 1:00
Why do Walmart's current advertising campaigns idealize the 'stay-at-home mom'? Conversely, why does Congress require that mothers on welfare be sent out to work? This course will introduce students to a broad view of American social history that foregrounds the gendered aspects of work and asks students to examine the meaning of work in American history from the colonial period to the 21st century. This broad historical perspective is especially crucial to the examination of the construction of current beliefs about work in the United States since changing gender ideologies dictated the work experiences of large race- and class-defined segments of the population. On one level, this approach allows for the recovery of women and girls' contributions to the formal and informal economies, including their work activities within the household. Male work practices will be similarly illuminated through a gender studies approach. Hence, an overarching purpose of the course will be to explore the fluidity and instability of those conceptions of work that were applied alternately to masculine as opposed to feminine occupations, just as they were alternately applied to white versus non-white, free versus enslaved, and public versus domestic activities.
Imagining America: Encounters, Expectations, and Perceptions in Early America
LeeHIST 30659 CRN # 17846/17847
MW 1:30 - 2:45
The European encounter with America brought the peoples of Africa, America and Europe into close contact and intertwined their fates. What happened to Europeans' conceptions of the world and their place in it as they became aware of the existence of America? How did they view the land and the peoples of Africa and America? Conversely, how did the Africans and the Indians perceive the Europeans? This course surveys the responses of Africans, Indians, and Europeans to the social, economic, and intellectual changes wrought by their mutual encounter from their first contact to the eighteenth century. Europeans projected their best hopes and worst nightmares onto the New World. Some imagined it to be a paradise populated by noble savages. Others believed Indians an Africans were barbaric pagans, devoid of humanity. The close contact between Europeans, Africans, and Indians prompted new discussions of the differences between what we now call "races." Many Europeans came to the Americas for economic profit. Yet others saw the new world as a mission field or a land in which they could build a new pristine, Christian civilization, free from the corruptions of Europe. The course will be divided into three broad categories: empire, anthropology, and religion.
African-American History to 1877
PierceHIST 30700 CRN # 16599/16600
W 5:30 – 8:00
The African-American history survey begins with an examination of West African origins and ends with the Civil War era. We will discuss the Atlantic slave trade, slavery in colonial America, the beginnings of African American cultures in the North and South during and after the revolutionary era, slave resistance and rebellions, the political economy of slavery and resulting sectional disputes. Particular attention will be paid to northern free blacks.
US Sex, Sexuality, and Gender to 1900
BedermanHIST 30706 CRN # 15157/16602
MW 3:00 – 4:15
Sexuality, like other areas of social life, has a history. Yet historians have only written about the history of sex for the last forty years or so. This course will both introduce students to a variety of current themes in the history of sexuality and invite them to consider how they themselves might research and write that history. The class will survey recent topics in the history of sexuality from first colonial settlement to the end of the Victorian era. Issues we may consider include different religions' attitudes towards sexuality (the Puritans were not anti-sex!); how different cultures' views of sex shaped relations between colonists and Indians; why sex was an important factor in establishing laws about slavery in Virginia ; birth control and abortion practices; changing patterns of courtship; and relationships between men who loved men and women who loved women. Written assignments will include a weekly journal, four short (4-5 page) essays and a longer final project (paper or research) that will count for the final examination.
American Intellectual History I
TurnerHistory 30707 CRN # 15161/16604
TR 2:00 – 3:15
This lecture course will survey major developments in American thought from the first English contacts with North America to the mid nineteenth century. Emphasis will fall on ideas about religion, society, politics, and natural science and on the institutions and social contexts of intellectual life, with an eye towards understanding the roots of our own ways of thinking. Especially in the first weeks of the course, European backgrounds will also receive attention. Students will write a midterm and a final exam, as well as a ten-page research paper.
US Presidents, FDR to Clinton
De SantisHIST 30854 CRN # 13743
TR 9:30 – 10:45
A study of the personalities, style, policies and performances of American presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton as they developed the Modern American Presidency and made it the most important office in the world.
Labor and America since 1945
GraffHIST 30856 CRN # 16605/16606
TR 9:30 – 10:45
This course explores the relationship between workers and the labor movement to American politics and culture since 1945. The United States emerged from World War II as the strongest global power, and its citizens subsequently enjoyed a long postwar economic boom that created what we might call the first truly middle-class society in world history. At the heart of that new society was the American labor movement, those unions like the United Auto Workers and the United Steel Workers who ensured that at least some of the postwar profits made it into the wallets of workers and their families. Today, however, unions represent only 8% of workers in the private sector. What accounts for the decline of organized labor since the 1950s? What has the decline of the labor movement meant for workers specifically, and the American economy and politics more broadly? How and why have popular perceptions of unions changed over time? What has been the relationship of organized labor to the civil rights movement, feminism, and modern conservatism? What is “globalization” and what has been its impact upon American workers and their unions? Through an exploration of historical scholarship, memoirs, polemical writings, and Hollywood films, this course will try to answer these questions. Students interested in politics, economic development, international relations, social justice, human rights, peace studies or mass culture are particularly welcome.
American Men, American Women
ArdizzoneHIST 30886 CRN # 17393
MW 3:00 – 4:15
What does it mean to be male or female in America? How different are our ideas about gender from those of other cultures? This course will focus on the 20th century and look at the origins and development of masculine and feminine roles in the United States. How much have they changed over time and what aspects have been retained? We will explore the ways that cultural images, political changes, and economic needs have shaped the definition of acceptable behavior and life choices based on gender. Topics will range from Victorian ideals through the Jazz Age and war literature to movie Westerns, '50s television families, and '60s youth culture; and into recent shifts with women's rights, extreme sports, and talk shows.
Visual America I
SchlerethHIST 30894 CRN # 17308
TR 11:00 – 12:15
A course that provides an introduction, for prospective majors and electors, to the theory and methods of American studies scholarship by using several types of visual culture--landscape painting, portraiture, public sculpture, domestic architecture and genre painting--as historical evidence. A sequel course, Visual America II, interpreting different visual culture, will be offered in the spring semester. The course has two basic purposes. First, to introduce students to the various methods scholars have developed to use visual evidence in cultural history research; second, to provide students with a content course in United States cultural history, one where they receive an overview of the various roles that the art forms noted above have played in American life, 1700-1950. Students prepare and submit three types of written cultural history research: (1) an historical interpretation of an American master art work; (2) a critical review of an American art museum exhibition; (3) an interdisciplinary, interpretative visual portfolio analyzing a major figure, event or theme in American visual history. Two examinations, a midterm and a final, are also required. An online visual archive, containing all the graphic evidence and research methods used throughout the course will be always accessible to students for pre-class preparations, research and writing projects, and pre-examination review. Fieldwork class meetings will be held at the Native American Galley (Snite Museum), W. Washington Historical District (South Bend), and the American Art Gallery (Snite Museum).
Science and Environmental Policy in the United States since 1850
VandeWallHIST 40648 CRN # 18417
MW 3:00 - 4:15
This class will meet in a seminar format. We’ll examine the history of US scientific and environmental policy from 1850 to the present day. Particular attention will be paid to what kinds of research are funded by the federal government in each period and how this reflects the changing concerns of the populace. We also examine the role of both the executive and legislative branches of government in supporting science and identify interest groups that have been influential in shaping science policy. Attending a conference on The Commerce and Politics of Science, being held at Notre Dame this fall, will be required of students in this course. This will introduce students to two central concerns: first, how do commercial and political interests shape scientific inquiry, knowledge, and practice, both now and in the past? Second, is it possible to say that one or another economic or political context is favorable or unfavorable to science or more likely or less likely to produce “good science?” The final portion of the course will be devoted to case studies in current scientific and environmental policy. Students will be required to research the development of a particular policy – stem cell research, the clean air act, the space station – and present to the class and analysis of both the history of the policy and an evaluation of its impact on public life. This course does not satisfy the university History requirement.
Building America
SchlerethHIST 40888 CRN # 17421
TR 2:00 – 3:15
A seminar designed to examine the social and economic factors, energy and land use policies, demographic urban/suburban trends, technological innovations, and artistic impulses that have produced the American built environment, 1640-1940. Comparing several building types-the private residence, the workplace, and the public building the seminar will explore structures and spaces as material culture evidence of American domestic, real estate, political, and cultural history.
Race, Gender & Women of Color
ArdizzoneHIST 40891 CRN # 17408
TR 3:30 – 4:45
This seminar analyzes dominant American beliefs about the significance of race and gender primarily through the focusing lens of the experiences of women of color in the U.S. How did intersecting ideologies of race and gender attempt to define and limit the lives of women of color as well as other Americans? How have women of color responded to and reinterpreted white American ideas about their identity to develop their own self-defenses and ideologies?
Latin America
See individual descriptions for those courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.
Modern Mexico
BeattyHIST 30912 CRN # 16845/16849
TH 11:00 – 12:15
This course examines Mexico from the late nineteenth century to the present. Through readings, lecture, discussion, film, and research we will visit the major themes of modern Mexico. Our studies range from the country’s economic growth at the turn of the century to NAFTA, from the violent years of revolution after 1910 to the gradual emergence of democracy in the 1990s, and from the many who have struggled with poverty to those few who have wielded economic and political power. One of the paradoxes of twentieth century Mexico is the juxtaposition of one of Latin America’s most politically stable nations in a society filled with divisions and frequently with conflict. The ways in which the Mexican Revolution, the nation’s unique agrarian reform project, and late-century neoliberalism have shaped Mexico over the last century will receive particular attention.
Students who have completed the Notre Dame language requirement in Spanish are eligible to sign up for an additional single credit discussion section as part of the Languages Across the Curriculum (LxC) initiative of the College of Arts and Letters. Choosing this option means that students will do some additional reading in Spanish language materials (approximately 20-25 pages a week), and meet once a week with a graduate student or faculty tutor from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures who will guide a discussion in Spanish and grade some brief writing assignments. The LxC discussion section in Spanish associated with this course will be graded on a pass/fail basis and will be credited on the student's transcript. Up to three LxC discussion sections can be applied toward a major, secondary major or minor in Spanish. Please talk to Professor Beatty if you are interested in adding this supplemental credit.
Australia
Making Australia
MiscambleHIST 30975 CRN # 15189/16850
MW 3:00 – 4:15
The struggle to 'make' Australia, as opposed to replicating Britain, got underway early on after European settlement, and it has been in process ever since. This course will seek to understand and illuminate this nation-building process. Approximately two-thirds of the course will be devoted to examining the major issues in Australia's history, beginning with an appropriate treatment of Aboriginal history through to the present debates over Australian identity and the nation's future. The final third of the course will explore important issues in contemporary society and culture. This course will have special interest for students who either have studied or plan to study in the Notre Dame Australia program. In addition to reading 5-6 books, students will view a number of important Australian documentary and feature films. A willingness to participate in extracurricular activities is a prerequisite for the course. The course will involve lecture, discussion and class presentations. Students will write a ten-page research paper, a number of small reaction papers, and take mid-semester and final examinations. This course can fulfill one of the four distribution requirements for History majors.
Departmental Seminars
These courses are open only to History majors, who will conduct research in primary sources and write a 20-25 page paper. Every major must take at least one of these courses, ideally in the area of concentration, but they are encouraged to take more than one.
SEM: The Age of Democratic Revolutions
KselmanHIST 43559 CRN # 16858
MW 11:45 – 1:00
Between 1770 and 1850 North America, South America, and Europe were swept by wave of revolutionary unrest, a period that marks the beginnings of the modern world across several dimensions - political, social, and cultural. This seminar will begin with some common readings, looking at this period in comparative perspective through works by R.R. Palmer, Eric Hobsbawm, and others, in order to define both the common and distinctive features of the revolutions as they affected the different nations. Students will write seminar papers of about twenty-five pages based on their interests in particular topics and regions.
SEM: US Legal History
RodriguezHIST 43613 CRN# 16856
TR 2:00 – 3:15
This research seminar examines the role of law in the history of the Modern United States. The course will examine constitutional, common, and statutory law, as well as legal culture and institutions. Key subjects include citizenship, labor rights, Mexican-American and African-American civil rights. As a research seminar students will be expected to participate each week in class discussion, and participation will account for a significant percentage of the grade. Each student is required to write a research paper on a legal history topic of their choosing, and this will account for the majority of the course grade. The class format will be two lectures a week for part of the semester followed by ample time for research meetings, independent research, in-class workshops, and writing.
SEM: Religious Factor in US History
MarsdenHIST 43614 CRN #15205
MW 3:00 – 4:15
Why are people in "Blue-state" America so often mystified by "Red-state" America? One reason is the neglect in standard histories of the religious factor in American culture. This research seminar will focus on the various ways that American religion and American culture have interacted throughout American history. It will include a broad survey of the topic and some examples of particularly controversial episodes or representative experiences. Students will write a major research paper on a specific topic of their choosing.
History Honors Program
These courses are open only to those History majors participating in the History Honors Program
Honors Colloquium
ColemanHist 53002 CRN #11105
W 1:30 - 4:00
History Honors Program Seniors Only. This course, designed for students in the Honors Program in the History department, will introduce students to the ways in which history is conceptualized, written, and argued about. Students will approach these issues through an introduction to the development of colonial American history. Students will approach this topic by reading and discussing both classic texts and recent works. The emphasis of the class will be on understanding how historians have framed their questions for research, in conversation with one another and with their own interests, and how their work, collectively and individually, has shaped the development and the research agendas of the larger discipline of history. Written assignments will include several book reviews, and one longer historioriographical essay.
History Honors Thesis
GraffHist 58003 CRN# 11037
History Honors Program Seniors Only. Working under the supervision of an advisor (generally a faculty member of the History department), History Honors Program seniors research and write a thesis over the course of the senior year. They register for 3 thesis credits in both the Fall and Spring semesters.