Undergraduate History Courses

Fall 2008 Course Descriptions

The Undergraduate courses for Fall 2008 are also available in PDF format.

University Seminars (Hist 13184)

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 writing intensive courses in which students will write and read simultaneously and continuously throughout the semester. Every first-year student must take one University Seminar, and these courses are open only to first-year students. These courses can count toward either the university History requirement or the History major (see individual course descriptions for major breadth categories).

Pirates in History

MURRAY
Hist 13184 01 CRN # 13352
TR 9:30 - 10:45
(Major Breadth Category: Special)

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.

The Canadian Alternative

NOLL
HIST 13184 02 CRN #13351
TR 11:00 – 12:15
(Major Breadth Category: Special)

Although Canadians are welcomed in this course, it is designed as an introduction to the history of Canada studied as an alternative to the history of the United States. Canadian history resembles the history of the United States in many ways, even as, in many other ways, it is quite different. Why, as examples of differences with the United States, has Canada possessed a national system of universal health care for at least two generations? Why does every Canadian province provide some kind of financial support for private schools, including religious schools? Why were Canadians much more likely than Americans to be regular church goers until about 1965, but since 1965 much less likely? These and other questions will be explored historically through readings in books and Canadian periodicals, through some viewing of Canadian media, and through student writing and discussion.

Latin American Youth During the 1960's

PENSADO
HIST 13184 03 CRN #13353
TR 2:00 - 3:15
(Major Breadth Category: Latin American)

This course examines history, film, music, and political thought to study youth in Latin America during the sixties, with two main objectives. The first is concerned with the significance of the sixties as a particular moment in history. Did Latin America experience a cultural revolution during this time? If so, how were these changes manifested throughout the continent? The second objective of the class is concerned with the concept of youth as a historical construct. What did it mean to be a young person, student, or revolucionario during this time? Did young people construct these identities different in any way or fashion, as say, the media, the state, the conservative right, the left, or the cultural industry? If
so, what were some of the political consequences? To answer these broad historical questions, we shall critically evaluate the impression of rock and roll music on an increasingly global youth culture, the effect of a culture of protest evident in universities around the world, and finally, the impact of the Cuban Revolution and its rebellious spirit.

HIST 11184 03
Optional 1 -credit supplement

Students undertaking 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 and meet once a week with the instructor or a teaching assistant for a discussion in Spanish. 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 contact the instructor if you are interested in adding this supplemental credit.

World War II Europe

KUNICKI
HIST 13184 04 CRN #13762
TR 3:30 - 4:45
(Major Breadth Category: Modern Europe)

This course provides an overview of World War II in Europe, from its origins until its conclusion, with the defeat of Nazi Germany and the subsequent beginning of the Cold War. We will seek to examine World War II as a novel form of warfare, enemy occupation, and genocide. Although some attention will be paid to the course of the war in Asia and Africa, the class will focus primarily on the ways in which World War II dominated and determined the fate of Europe and the Europeans.

Fanaticism in 20th Century World

LYANDRES
HIST 13184 05 CRN #15106
TR 5:00 - 6:15
(Major Breadth Category: Modern Europe)

This seminar will introduce first-year students to aspects of the historical discipline and its method through close examination of selected autobiographical works describing personal encounters and fascination with modern political ideologies that led to unimaginable terrors, sufferings, and the deaths of millions: from the Nazi genocidal ideology and policies during the Second World War to the Communist Utopia in Russia and Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China, to the jihadist ideology of religious intolerance, hatred, and death. Students will be asked to participate in class discussions and to write several short primary-source analysis papers that will give the students an opportunity to: a) familiarize themselves with a particular chronological period/brand of fanaticism; b) communicate their understanding of historical issues; c) provide training in written expression.

Regular Courses (First-Year, Sophomore, and Major)

These courses fulfill the university History requirement and various major requirements (any exceptions are noted within individual descriptions). They are organized below into the various, largely geographic, breadth categories of the History major. Generally these courses are open to all students, but seats in many courses are restricted by class and major status, especially during initial registration. For general guidelines on seat access, see the explanatory notes to non-majors and majors in the overview. For any specific course, check Inside ND for student restrictions, which may change over the registration period.

Africa/Asia/Middle East

All majors must take one course from four of the Department’s six breadth categories. These courses satisfy major breadth category #1 (Africa/Asia/Middle East). See individual descriptions for courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.

Modern South Asia

SENGUPTA
History 10106 / 30106 CRN #18059 / 15123 / 15124
TR 9:30 - 10:45

Home to over a billion people, just over 23% of humanity, the South Asian subcontinent is a fascinating laboratory in which to analyze the unfolding of such themes in modern history as colonialism, nationalism, partition, decolonization, post-colonial democracies, the modern state, economic development, center-region problems and relations between Asia and the West. The course will consider critical themes in social, political, economic, and cultural history, which will include imperialism, capitalism, nationalism, religious politics, regionalism, ethnicity, globalization, diaspora, ecology, social inequality, and gender, development, and democracy. It will not only provide a lively historical narrative told through lectures based on scholarly research and primary texts, but will also seek to embellish this narrative with the perception and articulation of vision and sound, as well as with readings from representative genres of South Asian literature.

Hieroglyphs & History

LADOUCER
History 30078 CRN #18436
TR 11:00 - 12:15

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.

Middle East and the West

KAUFMAN
History 30088 CRN #18080 / 18081
MW 3:00 - 4:15

This course examines the relationship between what could roughly be defined as “the West” (Europe and the United States) and Middle Eastern societies from the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798 until the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. We shall start by trying to make sense of the terms the “West” and the “Middle East.” We shall then explore different and eclectic themes such as European colonial penetration into the Middle East, reciprocal stereotypes of the “Middle East” and the “West,” modern perceptions of the Crusades, cultural exchanges between these “regions,” and the relationship between Europe and its growing Muslim population. We shall also examine American involvement in the region by focusing on themes such as oil interests, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Iraqi imbroglio. Finally, we shall discuss contemporary Middle Eastern perceptions of the “West” in light of American hegemonic power around the globe in general and in the Middle East in particular.

Borders, Boundaries and Frontiers

KAUFMAN
History 30099 CRN # 18485
MW 11:45 - 1:00

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.We will explore the formation of political borders, life along borders and border conflicts and their resolutions (or lack thereof).Themes,including colonialism and globalization, will also be discussed through the prism of political boundaries. Geographically we will look at areas including the Middle East, Africa, Europe, South Asia and the US- Mexican border in order to analyze boundaries through both global and regional perspectives.

Japan Through the Camera Lens

THOMAS
History 30125 CRN# 18429/ 18447
MW 11:45 - 1:00

Japanese culture embraced the camera almost as soon as it was invented in Europe. Even while the Japanese government rigorously controlled contact with outside nations, this new device for recording and exploring the world entered a Japanese port and was put to use by Japanese and, eventually, by foreigners to document Japan’s opening to the West, its military adventures, its transformation into an industrial and consumer society, and its erotic longing. This course uses photography and film and writing about art and politics as a way of exploring key issues in Japanese society.

Modern China

JENSEN
History 30150 CRN #18531
TR 11:00 - 12:15

The course will provide a general survey of Chinese history from 1644 (the establishment of the Qing dynasty) to the present. It will highlight China's evolution from a period of strength and unity during the last dynasty to a period of disunity and weakness during the revolutionary period 1911-l949, back to a period of strength under the Communist government from 1949 to the present. Special attention will be given to the problems of economic modernization, the role that foreigners have played in this process, and the relationship of both to cultural development.

Gandhi's India

SENGUPTA
History 40180 CRN #18123 / 18124
TR 2:00 - 3:15

The dominant figure in India’s nationalist movement for nearly thirty years, M. K. “Mahatma” Gandhi has also been the twentieth century’s most famous pacifist, and a figure of inspiration for peace and civil rights movements throughout the world. This course offers an examination of Gandhi and the nature of his unconventional and often controversial politics. It charts Gandhi’s career against the background of events in London, South Africa and India, and examines the evolution and practical application of his ideas and techniques of non-violent resistance, and his attitudes toward the economy, society and state. Gandhi’s influence on Indian politics and society is critically assessed and his reputation as the ‘apostle of non-violent revolution’ examined in the light of developments since his death in 1948. Some of the questions that will be discussed are: how far did the distinctive character of Gandhian politics derive from his absolute commitment to India's nationalist struggle? Was his success due to the force and originality of his political ideas and his advocacy of nonviolent action? Can his achievements be explained by political wiliness and pragmatism, or by willingness to embark on new experiments with the truth? Though helpful, a prior knowledge of Indian history is not required for this course.

Ancient/Medieval Europe

All majors must take one course from four of the Department’s six breadth categories. These courses satisfy major breadth category #2 (Ancient and Medieval Europe). These courses all satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement. See individual descriptions for any courses that also satisfy other major categories.

Western Civilization I

NOBLE
History 10200/20200 CRN #15103/15107
MW 10:40 - 11:30
Students enrolled in History 10200/20200 Must also take History 12200/22200, a weekly tutorial

This course offers a survey of the central themes in Western Civilization from ancient Mesopotamia to the Renaissance. Emphasis will fall upon problems of social organization, especially the mutual obligations and responsibilities of individuals and states; evolving concepts of justice; aesthetic standards; religious ideas and institutions; basic philosophical concepts; different kinds of states and the ideologies that defined and sustained them.

Ancient Greece and Rome

MAZUREK, T.
HIST 10210 CRN #12609
MWF 12:50 - 1:40

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.

King Arthur in History & Literature

BOULTON & BOULTON
HIST 20204 CRN # 18416
TR 12:30 - 1:45

This course - intended to introduce undergraduates to one of the major themes as well as to the interdisciplinary approaches characteristic of Medieval Studies -is a team-taught examination of the development and influence of the legend of Arthur, King of Britain, both in history and in literature. The historical Arthur is very obscure, but he was probably a Romanized Celtic war-leader who fought the invading Angles and Saxons at the beginning of the history of what was to become England. His memory was preserved in the oral literature of his own people, now called the Welsh, but he was soon converted into a mythic hero surrounded by magical companions. In the twelfth century this legendary Arthur was not only incorporated into the new historiography of England (since 1066 under the rule of French-speaking Normans) but into the new genre of literature created in France around 1150 - the chivalric romance - which itself embodied a new ideal for the relationship between men and women derived from the songs of the troubadours of the south. The great majority of these tales of love and marvelous adventures written over the next four centuries were to be set in the court of the legendary Arthur, and the Round Table was invented in this period as the central focus of the ideals it was made to represent. History soon began to imitate literature, as kings and princes attempted to emulate the idealized Arthurian court in their tournaments and other court festivities, and from 1330 to 1469 actually founded orders of knights based on the Round Table. The class will read the relevant parts of some of the chronicles, histories, and epics in which Arthur was mentioned, as well as a representative sample of the Arthurian romances of the later period, and of related documents like the statutes of the chivalric orders. Two in-class tests, two short papers, and a final examination will be required.

History of Ancient Greece

BARON
HIST 30220 CRN #18437
MW 12:50 - 1:40

An outline introduction to the history of ancient Greece from the Bronze age to Roman conquest. The topics covered include the rise of the distinctive Greek city-state (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. Students enrolled in History 30220 must also take CLAS 32105, a weekly tutorial

History of Catholicism 300 to 1500

SULLIVAN
HIST 30202 CRN # 18082 / 18083
MW 11:45 - 1:00

A survey of the development of Catholicism from late antiquity to the eve of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Emphases include processes of Christianization, definitions of prescribed and proscribed beliefs and practices, institutional elaboration, relations with imperial and royal authority, impact of and on culture, varieties of religious behaviors. Although the history of the Catholic Church is highlighted, the dynamics and consequences of the separation first of the Oriental and then the Orthodox churches will be examined. The course aspires to achieve a routine of interactive lectures. There will, in addition, be three small-group reading seminars and at least one individual conference. Requirements include three short (five to six pages) papers that engage the texts discussed in the seminars, midterm and final examinations, class attendance and participation. The written examinations seek to assess knowledge applied as analysis.

Medieval Cities and Urban Life

CONSTABLE
HIST 30255 CRN # 18084 / 18056
TR 11:00 - 12:15

What is a town, and how did our modern concept of urban life come into being? This lecture course will examine the evolution of European towns and urban life from late antiquity, through the middle ages, and into the early modern period. Though taking a historical approach, the course is fundamentally interdisciplinary, and we will consider many different types of primary sources, including written materials, visual images, material and archeological data, town plans, topography, and architecture. Students will be responsible for completing regular reading assignments, participating in class discussions, writing several short analytical papers, and contributing to three group projects. These group projects form the core of the course. Early in the semester, each group will begin by creating a fictional late Roman town (inventing its history and political structure, name, economy, topography, town plan, and so forth) that they will present to the class. In the middle of the semester, each group will evolve their Roman town into a medieval town, addressing similar issues and making another presentation. Near the end of the semester, each group will make a third presentation of the same town, detailing its development and changes in the early modern period.

Early Medieval Ireland

RAPPLE
HIST 30321 CRN #15150/15151
TR 3:30-4:45

Consideration of the period between 950 and 1400 is of crucial importance in understanding Irish history. This course not only covers the range of continuities and radical discontinuities that marked Ireland's development during this time, but charts the attempted conquest of the entire country by the English Crown. The lecture series also seeks to answer a number of questions. Why did the Papacy give the English Crown sovereignty over Ireland? Why did a country like Ireland, on the verge of attaining political and economic centralization, not organize better resistance to English attempts to subdue it? Why did the English colony fail to prove more successful in exerting its will over indigenous Irish potentates? Culturally the period also witnessed the growing assimilation of English invaders to the norms of Gaelic Irish politics and society. Lastly, events in Ireland had a serious influence on developments in England, Wales and Scotland, provoking, amongst other things, the fall of the Plantagenet dynasty and an attempted invasion by King Robert I of Scotland.

Italian Renaissance

MESERVE
History 30500 CRN #18101/18102
MW 10:40 - 11:30
Students enrolled in History 30500 Must also take History 32500, a weekly tutuorial

This course examines the political, cultural, social, and religious history of Italy from about 1300 to 1525. Key topics include the growth of the Italian city-state; the appearance of new social types (the merchant, the prince, the courtier, the mercenary, the learned lady, the self-made man); Renaissance humanism and the classical revival; the relationship between art and politics; and Renaissance ideas of liberty, virtue, historical change, and the individual's relationship to God. The course will not tell a story of steady progress from medieval to modern institutions, societies and modes of thinking; rather, we will consider the Renaissance as a period in flux, in which established traditions thrived alongside creative innovations and vigorous challenges to authority.

Modern Europe

All majors must take one course from four of the Department’s six breadth categories. These courses satisfy major breadth category #3 (Modern Europe). See individual descriptions for any courses that also satisfy the pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.

The Reformation

GREGORY
HIST 30352 CRN # 18087 / 18088
MW 9:35 - 10:25
Students enrolled in History 30352 must also take History 32352, a weekly tutorial

This course offers a narrative history of Christianity in Western Europe from c.1500-c.1650, and it takes an international and comparative perspective, including Catholicism, Protestantism, and radical Protestantism. Topics covered include Christianity on the eve of the Reformation, Christian humanism, Luther and the German Reformation, the Peasants' War and Anabaptism, the English Reformation, Calvin and Calvinism, Catholic Reform and the Council of Trent, the French Wars of Religion, confessionalization, the Thirty Years' War, and the English Revolution. Major themes include matters of religious content (doctrinal positions and devotional sensibilities), the relationship between different Christian groups and political regimes, the impact of religious changes across the population, and the definitive emergence of Christian pluralism.

The Holocaust

SPICER
HiST 30408 CRN #13764/13765
MW 10:40 - 11:30
Students enrolled in HIST 30408 must also take HIST 32408, a weekly tutorial.

An historical analysis of the Holocaust of European Jews under National Socialism. This includes a study of the origins of antisemitism, the rise of National Socialism, German Jews in the Weimar Republic and their exclusion from public life under National Socialism, the euthanasia action, Reichskristallnacht, ghettoization, deportation, and the concentration and death camps. The course will use both primary sources in the form of government documentation, diaries, and memoirs and secondary sources to study these events. Documentary films will supplement lectures and discussions.

Tudor England: Politics & Honor

RAPPLE
HIST 30410 CRN # 15152/15153
TR 12:30 - 1:45

The period from 1485 to 1603, often feted as something of a 'Golden Age' for England, saw that country undergo serious changes that challenged the traditional ways in which the nation conceived of itself. These included the break from Rome, the loss of England's foothold in France, and the unprecedented experience of monarchical rule by women. Each of these challenges demanded creative political responses and apologetic strategies harnessing intellectual resources from classical, Biblical, legal, chivalric and ecclesiastical sources. This course will examine these developments. It will also look at how the English, emerging from under the shadow of the internecine dynastic warfare of the fifteenth century, sought to preserve political stability and ensure a balance between continuity and change, and, furthermore, how individuals could use these unique circumstances to their own advantage.

England since 1789

SULLIVAN
HIST 30415 CRN # 18091 / 18092
MW 8:00 - 9:15

The course involves, besides lectures, reading and thinking about and discussing both the history and the interpretation of major elements in the development of modern English politics, society, and culture. Requirements include regular class attendance and participation, midterm and final examinations, and 20-25 pages of writing associated with the small seminars into which the class will divide a few times during the semester.

Irish History since 1800

SMYTH
HIST 30432 CRN #18093 / 18095
MWF 9:35 - 10:25

This course consists of lectures and readings examining Irish (mainly) 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. A mid-semester paper/essay and a final are required.

Russian History since World War II

LYANDRES
HIST 30474 CRN # 18821/18822
TR 3:30 - 4:45

This course surveys the history of Russia and its peoples in the second half of the 20th century, with a particular focus on the role of ideology, politics, and culture in Soviet and contemporary Russian society. We will explore the emergence of the Soviet Empire at the end of WW II, the experience of late Stalinism and post-Stalinist socialism, the collapse of the communist regime, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, as well as Russia's uneasy transition "out of totalitarianism" during the last decade of the 20th century. Students will be asked to take two exams and to write a 10-page term paper.

20th Century Polish History

KUNICKI
HIST 30495 CRN # 18097 / 18100
TR 11:00 - 12:15

This course surveys Polish history from 1900 to the present. It aims to provide a basic knowledge of the major events and processes that shaped the political, social, and cultural history of Poland in the twentieth century. Key themes include: nationalism and the rise of independent Poland in 1918; democracy and its failure during the interwar period; Nazi and Soviet occupations, and the impact of World War 2 on Polish society; the imposition and evolution of Communism and response from society; the Polish Solidarity movement and the collapse of the communist system; and contemporary Poland.

European Military History since 1600

ORR
HIST 30554 CRN #18483 / 18484
MW 1:55 - 2:45

This course surveys European military history since 1600. It studies changes in European society and its military institutions, technology, and techniques of warfare over the last four centuries. Beginning during what some historians have dubbed the “Military Revolution” this course will trace Europe’s military history and its links to political, social, and cultural changes until the contemporary period, and include units on decolonization and European experiences with counter-insurgent warfare in the Middle East and North Africa. This class will focus on exploring how changing "styles" of warfare, the composition of the military establishment, and the transformations in military technology have impacted modern European politics and culture.

Latin America

All majors must take one course from four of the Department’s six breadth categories. These courses satisfy major breadth category #4 (Latin America). See individual descriptions for any courses that also satisfy the pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.

Colonial Latin America

Graubart
HIST 10901/30901 CRN # 16060/16061/16062
MW 11:45-12:35
Students enrolled in History 10901 must also take History 12901/32901, a weekly tutorial

When Columbus stepped ashore in the Caribbean in 1492, he set in motion a process that led to the creation of wealthy Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas, the genocide of countless numbers of indigenous men and women, the enslavement of millions of African men and women, and the eventual formation of a variety of independent states competing in the world economy. In this semester-long survey, we will examine topics in this history that will allow us to consider how history is produced as well as what happened in the past, from various perspectives, from elite colonial administrators and merchants to indigenous peasants and formerly enslaved men and women. Most weeks' assigned readings include primary texts -- sources written by participants in these events -- and written assignments and discussion sections will concentrate upon the use of these sources.

Modern Mexico

PENSADO
History 30912 CRN #18120 / 18121
TR 11:00 - 12:15

This course examines Mexico from the late 19th 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 20th-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 neo-liberalism have shaped Mexico over the last century will receive particular attention.

United States

All majors must take one course from four of the Department’s six breadth categories. These courses satisfy major breadth category #5 (United States). See individual descriptions for any courses that also satisfy the pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.

US History to 1877

COLEMAN
HIST 10600 CRN # 18068
TR 9:35 - 10:25
Students enrolled in History 10600 must also take History 12600, a weekly tutorial

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. Organized around the question of American "nationhood," 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 and Civil War.

US History to 1877

DEGRUCCIO
HIST 20600 CRN # 13393
TR 3:30 - 4:45

US National Security Pollicy since the 1890s

SOARES
HIST 20750 CRN # 18564
MW 3:00 - 4:15
NOTE: THIS COURSE IS OPEN ONLY TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

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 a 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.

The American Revolution

SLAUGHTER
HIST 30602 CRN # 15935/15936
TR 2:00 - 3:15

This course examines the American Revolution as a process of change and an event with profound consequences for the history of the American people and the world. It emphasizes conditions and consequences of the Revolution for common people and for those living at the fringes of economic subsistence and political power—laborers, women, slaves, and Indians—in addition to the ambitions of the founding fathers. The long-term preconditions for revolution are considered within the contexts of domestic and international politics. We will focus on the conflict that was the heart of the Revolutionary experience and that was the fundamental legacy of the war for American society. The course is decidedly NOT military history.

The US Civil Wa Era, 1848 - 1877

DEGRUCCIO
HIST 30604 CRN # 12585 / 13766
MW 4:30 - 5:45

Through intensive reading and writing students will explore the social and cultural history of America's most costly war. We will focus on various topics as they relate to the war: antebellum origins, religion, gender, Lincoln's reasons for waging war, dead bodies, freedmen's families, black soldiers, and the uses of war memory. This will not be a guns-and-generals-smell-the-smoke course, though knowledge of military matters can be helpful. We will ask and try to answer who really "won" and "lost" the war.

United States History, 1900 - 1945

BLANTZ
HIST 30608 CRN #12606/13769
MWF 9:35 - 10:25

This course explores 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.

Gender& American Catholocism

CUMMINGS
HIST 30617 CRN# 18574 / 18575
TR 9:30 - 10:45

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.

Mexican-American History

RODRIGUEZ
HIST 30621 CRN #18107 / 18108
MW 10:40 - 11:30
Students enrolled in History 30621 must take History 32621, a weekly tutorial

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 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.

History of Consumerismin Modern America, 1880s - Present

GLOEGE
HIST 30622 CRN #18593 / 18594
TR 12:30 - 1:45

This course will explore the creation of contemporary consumer culture in the United States. Beginning in the late 1880s, the nature of buying, selling and consuming was fundamentally transformed in the United States. After a brief examination of the broader history of consumption, this course will explore the changes in production, marketing, retailing, and consumption from the Gilded Age to the present. Next it will trace the ways in which those changes have influenced broader cultural, institutional, and political developments throughout the twentieth century. A particular emphasis will be placed on the ways in which patterns of consumption helped define and redefine categories of race, class and gender. Evaluations will be based on a midterm and final exam, a few shorter writing assignments and a final historiographical essay.

History of the American West

COLEMAN
HIST 30627 CRN #18113 / 18114
MW 1:30 - 2:45

Few American regions have generated as many cultural narratives, myths, and icons as the trans-Mississippi West. This course takes both the reality and the romance of the West seriously, asking students to examine how the American conquest of the West inspired storytelling traditions that distorted and shaped the region's history. To get at this interaction, we will read novels, histories, and first-hand accounts as well as view several Hollywood westerns. The class is reading and discussion intensive. Students will write several short papers as well as a longer final essay.

Sport in American History

SOARES
HIST 30631 CRN # 18115 / 18116
MW11:45 - 1:00

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 also explore the university's involvement in this historical process.

Men, Women & Work in American History

WHITE
HIST 30634 CRN #18371
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.

"Mixed Race" America

ARDIZZONE
HIST 30639 CRN # 18372
TR 12:30 - 1:45

Despite popular images of American as a "melting" both of races and ethnicities, our institutions, values, and practices have often tried to create or maintain spatial and social distance between groups defined as racially different. This course will explore that ways in which Americans
have transgressed those boundaries or found other ways of interacting across cultural lines, primarily in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will examine popular cultural perceptions of people of mixed ancestry, their social experiences, the development of various mixed-ancestry communities, and historical attempts to limit interracial socializing, relationships, and marriage. These issues were and are deeply imbedded in debates over the meaning of race, gender expectations and ideas about sex and sexuality. We will also pay close attention to how minority communities have understood people of mixed ancestry in the United States, and how mixed-race identities intersect with African American, Native American, Asian, White, and Latino identities.

Black Chicago Politics

PENDERHUGHES
HIST 30752 CRN# 18684
TR 9:30 - 10:45

This course introduces students to the vast, complex and exciting dimensions of Black Chicago Politics. First, institutional structures, geographic distribution and population characteristics will inform students about the sociodemograpic background of the African American population in the city. Second, the course explores varying types of political expression that have developed over more than a century, including electoral politics, mass movements, partisan politics; it will also examine the impact of the Chicago machine, and of the Washington era on the political and economic status of African Americans in the city. Third, public policy developments in housing, education and criminal justice will be discussed. Fourth, the course also compares Black political standing with other racial and ethnic groups in the city. Finally, the course will introduce students to the long tradition of social science research centered on the city of Chicago. This course does not satisfy the university history requirement, nor can it be used to satisfy a major breadth requirement. It is designed for majors who might use it as a concentration area course or as an elective to deepen their interest in a particular area of history.

US Foreign Policy since 1945

BRADY
HIST 30805 CRN #
MWF 8:30 - 9:20

This course covers the main developments in American foreign policy from World War II through the end of the Cold War. The principal topics of investigation will be wartime diplomacy and the origins of the Cold War; the Cold War and containment in Europe and Asia; Eisenhower/Dulles diplomacy; Kennedy-Johnson and Vietnam; Nixon-Kissinger and détente; Carter and the diplomacy of Human Rights; Reagan and the revival of containment; Bush and the end of the Cold War.

US Presidents FDR to Clinton

DESANTIS
HIST 30854 CRN # 12548
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 elective office in the world.

The United States During the 1960s

SWARTZ
HIST 30857 CRN #18117 / 18118
MW 3:00 - 4:15

“History with a capital H had come down to earth,” wrote New Leftist Todd Gitlin of the 1960s, “People were living with a supercharged density.” This course probes the decade's ferment, exploring the political, economic, social, cultural, and religious development of the United States from roughly 1960 to 1974. Placing the era in historical and global perspective, this course covers major events and trends including the New Frontier of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the civil rights and feminist movements, the Vietnam War, the New Left, the counterculture, Richard Nixon and Watergate, and seeds of the New Right.

Popular Culture

RUIZ
HIST 30885 CRN #18707
MW 3:00 - 4:15

Drawing upon critical work in history, cultural studies, and American studies, this course will explore the history and meanings of the U.S.-Mexican border since 1848. We will pay special attention to American popular culture (located in film, literature, art, music, and even dime novels) to understand the myriad—often contradictory—roles that the border has played in the popular imagination of the United States.

American Men, American Women

ARDIZZONE
HIST 30886 CRN #14173
TR 3:30 - 4:45

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.

The Meaning of Things

WHITE
HIST 40885 CRN #15568
MW 1:30 - 2:45

"The Meaning of Things" asks how objects as diverse as an 'heirloom' quilt, a pair of jeans or an iPod acquire meaning and value. This course will introduce students to a range of practices relating to consumption in American history from the colonial period to the present. We will investigate the gendered aspects of production, marketing, buying and using goods as these impact not only on gender, but also on the construction of class, ethnic and 'racial' identities. Students will work on small collaborative projects as a foundation for writing substantive individual research papers on a topic of their choice.

Media and the Presidency

OHMER
HIST 40893 CRN #18693
TR 12:30 - 1:45
Co-Req FTT 41501 W 4:00 - 6:00

This course examines how print and broadcast media have
functioned in U.S. elections since way we choose a President was
first established. After a brief overview of changing
relationships between journalists and Presidential candidates in
the 19th century, we will focus on elections since the 1920s,
when radio first broadcast election updates. We will analyze how
candidates have used radio, television and the internet to
construct images of themselves and their platforms, and how
journalists have become an active force in representing the
political process. Rather than see electronic media as neutral
or "objective," we will assess the narrative strategies and
visual and verbal codes by which media present politics to us,
the voters. This course does not satisfy the University History Requirement.

Special Courses

All majors must take one course from four of the Department’s six breadth categories. These courses satisfy major breadth category #6 (Special), a designation for courses that either don’t fit into the geographic scope of the other categories or offer a more thematic, global, or comparative approach to the past. See individual descriptions for any courses that also satisfy the pre-1500 requirement or other major categories.

Oral History 1

RUIZ
HIST 40884 CRN#18708
MW 11:45 - 1:00

This is the first of a two-semester senior seminar in oral history theory and methods. By surveying the current field, students will learn how oral history is uniquely suited to both contribute to historical knowledge and challenge dominant narratives. The final project will prepare students to engage in collecting oral histories during the Spring Semester if they register in Oral History 2: Practicum. Note that this course can be taken independently without plans to register for the spring course.

Courses Open to History Majors Only

History Workshop
Departmental Seminars

History Workshop

This course is a requirement for - and open only to - students pursuing the standard major in History (not the supplementary major). Designed as a "gateway" into the major program, it should be taken the semester after the student has declared the major.

The History Workshop introduces students to how historians study the past. Students gain insight into the nature of historical inquiry through discussion of how historians actually do history, analysis of primary source documents from two different time periods and places, and, most important, their own efforts to write history. Readings (both exemplary histories and discussions of how to write history) include several books and journal articles, short excerpts from classic theoretical texts, and two large collections of primary source documents. Writing assignments include two 3-5 page essays on how to write history and two 5-8 page histories written by each student based on the assigned primary sources. At the discretion of the instructor, occasional one-page reader response papers may also be required.

GRAFF
HIST 33000 01 CRN #10031
MW 1:30 - 2:45

McGreevy
HIST 33000 02 CRN#10030
TR 11:00 – 12:15

HIST 33000 03 CRN# 10032
TR 9:30 - 10:45

Exploring History Beyond the Classroom

GRAFF
HIST 33005 CRN # 16762
In this special course designed for inquisitive history majors, students will attend a number of lectures, panels, and seminars on campus during the semester -- and then have a follow-up discussion for each led by a historian (either a visitor or a member of the history faculty). Before each discussion, students will be expected to complete a short reading assignment. At each follow-up session, the students will submit a 1-2 page summary and analysis of the talk, with a critical question for discussion. The goal is to encourage students to enrich their major experience by participating in the intellectual discussions that occur amongst ND and visiting scholars across the campus. This is a 1-credit course open only to history majors and by permission. Please see the Director of Undergraduate Studies for more information about this opportunity.

History Internship

GRAFF
HIST 35000 CRN # 14937

History Internship credit is designed for students who undertake unpaid internships with organizations dedicated to the discipline of history, whether through preservation, exhibition, public education, or scholarship. Please see the Director of Undergraduate Studies for more information about this variable credit opportunity.

Departmental Seminars

These courses are open only to History majors, who 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: Age of Hadrian

BRADLEY
HIST 43230 CRN #18438
W 4:00 - 6:30
(Major Breadth Category: Ancient/ Medieval Europe)

This advanced seminar in ancient history and literature examines the life and reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who is remembered as one of the most complex and enigmatic of Roman rulers: the builder of the Wall in Britain and the Pantheon and Castel Sant-Angelo in Rome, an inveterate traveller across the ancient Mediterranean world, a devotee of Greek culture, a reformer of Roman law, a poet who mused about his soul on his death-bed, a creator of new gods, the first Roman emperor to wear a beard. A principal theme of the course is the question of how historical experience can be recovered, and readings from original sources (in English translation) are studied in conjunction with documentary and iconographic evidence. The course also considers how modern historians, biographers and novelists have recreated this mysterious figure, Ronald Syme and Marguerite Yourcenar included.

SEM: Europe Between the Wars

SPICER
HIST 43554 CRN #18125
MW 3:00 - 4:15
(Major Breadth Category: Modern Europe)

This research seminar examines Europe from the end of World War I through the beginning of the Second World War. Readings will place special emphasis on the cultural history of Germany under the “Golden Years” of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Though this tumultuous period gave birth to the careers of Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Weill, Berthold Brecht, and Peter Lorre, it also saw the rise to power of extreme right-wing movements such as Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Through the examination of film, literature, theater, and music this course will seek to understand the transformation of Germany from a democratic to an authoritarian state and the effect this shift had on European society more broadly.

SEM: Notre Dame History

BLANTZ
HIST 43610 CRN #18126
MW11:45 - 1:00
(Major Breadth Category: US)

This seminar will offer the student the opportunity to research an aspect of Notre Dame history of his or her particular interest -- academic program, student life, administrative decisions, etc. Research topics might include Father Sorin's rebuilding of the Main Building after the fire of 1879, priest-chaplains serving in the Civil War, Notre Dame during World War I or World War II, Rev. Julius Nieuwland, CSC, and the discovery of synthetic rubber, Notre Dame's Minims Department (grade school), Notre Dame's Preparatory School (high school), Notre Dame's Manual Labor School, immigrant scholars on the Notre Dame faculty in the 1930's, Holy Cross Religious as Japanese prisoners of war in World war II, the inauguration of the Great Books Program, Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, CSC, and the Kennedy family, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, and the Civil Rights Commission, etc. After some introductory readings on the history of the University, the principal work of the course will be the research (in primary and secondary sources) and writing of a paper of approximately thirty pages, and a presentation of the paper for class discussion.

SEM: US Legal History

RODRIGUEZ
HIST 43613 CRN # 18128
MW 1:30 - 2:45
(Major Breadth Category: US)

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 large percentage of the grade. Each student is required to write a significant 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 round-table discussions a week, with time for research meetings, independent research, in-class workshops, and writing of the term paper.

History Honors Program

These courses are open only to those History majors participating in the History Honors Program.

Honor Colloquium

BEDERMAN
HIST 53002 CRN# 10240
MW 3:00 - 4:15

This course, open only to students in the History Honors Program, introduces students to the ways in which history is conceptualized, written, and argued about. Students approach these issues by reading and discussing the historiography of the instructor's chosen field or fields. 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.

History Honors Thesis

GRAFF
HIST 58003 CRN # 10193

Working under the direction of one supervisor (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.

Department of History

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

Undergraduate History Courses

Fall 2008 Course Descriptions

Groups of Courses

Courses by Region

Course Numbers

University Seminars (Hist 13184)

Pirates in History

The Canadian Alternative

Latin American Youth During the 1960's

World War II Europe

Fanaticism in 20th Century World

Regular Courses (First-Year, Sophomore, and Major)

Africa/Asia/Middle East

Modern South Asia

Hieroglyphs & History

Middle East and the West

Borders, Boundaries and Frontiers

Japan Through the Camera Lens

Modern China

Gandhi's India

Ancient/Medieval Europe

Western Civilization I

Ancient Greece and Rome

King Arthur in History & Literature

History of Ancient Greece

History of Catholicism 300 to 1500

Medieval Cities and Urban Life

Early Medieval Ireland

Italian Renaissance

Modern Europe

The Reformation

The Holocaust

Tudor England: Politics & Honor

England since 1789

Irish History since 1800

Russian History since World War II

20th Century Polish History

European Military History since 1600

Latin America

Colonial Latin America

Modern Mexico

United States

US History to 1877

US History to 1877

US National Security Pollicy since the 1890s

The American Revolution

The US Civil Wa Era, 1848 - 1877

United States History, 1900 - 1945

Gender& American Catholocism

Mexican-American History

History of Consumerismin Modern America, 1880s - Present

History of the American West

Sport in American History

Men, Women & Work in American History

"Mixed Race" America

Black Chicago Politics

US Foreign Policy since 1945

US Presidents FDR to Clinton

The United States During the 1960s

Popular Culture

American Men, American Women

The Meaning of Things

Media and the Presidency

Special Courses

Oral History 1

Courses Open to History Majors Only

History Workshop Departmental Seminars

History Workshop

Exploring History Beyond the Classroom

History Internship

Departmental Seminars

SEM: Age of Hadrian

SEM: Europe Between the Wars

SEM: Notre Dame History

SEM: US Legal History

History Honors Program

Honor Colloquium

History Honors Thesis

History Workshop
Departmental Seminars