Historical Study A-13. China: Traditions and Transformations
Catalog Number: 5243
Peter K. Bol and William C. Kirby
Half course (fall term). M., W., F., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
Modern China presents a dual image: a society transforming itself through economic development and social revolution; and the world’s largest and oldest bureaucratic state, coping with longstanding problems of economic and political management. Whatever form of modern society and state emerges in China will bear the indelible imprint of China’s historical experience, of its patterns of philosophy and religion, and of its social and political thought. These themes are discussed in order to understand China in the modern world, and as a great world civilization that developed along lines different from those of the Mediterranean.
Note: For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study A or Foreign Cultures, but not both. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Societies of the World.
Historical Study A-14. Japan: Tradition and Transformation
Catalog Number: 5373
Andrew Gordon and Ethan Segal
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
From the emergence of a court-centered state 1500 years ago to a warrior-dominated society centuries later, Japan’s premodern past fascinates people across the world. The people, institutions, and ideas behind these traditions will be the focus of the first half of the course. We then turn to Japan’s modern era, which presents one of the more striking transformations in world history. We examine the invention of new traditions as one crucial aspect of the tumultuous changes from the mid-1880s through the present and explore how people in Japan have dealt with the dilemmas of modernity that challenge us all.
Note: For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study A or Foreign Cultures, but not both.
Historical Study A-16. Modern South Asia in Global History
Catalog Number: 9058
Sugata Bose and Amartya Sen
Half course (fall term). M., W., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
This course provides the historical depth and the comparative context in which to understand contemporary South Asia through an historical inquiry into the making and multiple meanings of modernity. It explores the history, culture, and political economy of the subcontinent which provides a fascinating laboratory to study such themes as colonialism, nationalism, partition, the modern state, economic development, refashioning of religious identities, center-region problems and relations between Asia and the West. Significant use of primary written sources (in English) and multi-media presentations.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study A or Foreign Cultures, but not both.
[Historical Study A-21. Africa and Africans: The Making of a Continent in the Modern World]
Catalog Number: 5568
Caroline M. Elkins
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
Understanding Africa as it exists today requires an understanding of the broader historical trends that have dominated the continent’s past. This course will provide an historical context for understanding issues and problems as they exist in contemporary Africa. It will offer an integrated interpretation of sub-Saharan African history from the middle of the 19th century and the dawn of formal colonial rule through the period of independence until the present time. Particular emphasis will be given to the continent’s major historical themes during this period. Selected case studies will be offered from throughout the continent to provide illustrative examples of the historical trends.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study A or Foreign Cultures, but not both.
Historical Study A-27. Reason and Faith in the West
Catalog Number: 8149
Ann M. Blair
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
Examines from an historical perspective one of the central themes in the Western intellectual tradition: the desire to reconcile rational philosophy with religious and biblical authority. Discusses the transformations in conceptions of reason, science, biblical interpretation, and divine intervention (among other themes) in the context of the long period of change from medieval to modern. Readings emphasize primary sources—including, for example, Augustine, Aquinas, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, and Darwin.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. Expected to be omitted in 2009-10. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief.
[Historical Study A-40. The Middle East and Europe since the Crusades: Relations and Perceptions]
Catalog Number: 5423
Cemal Kafadar
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
Nine centuries of interaction between two neighboring world civilizations centered around the Mediterranean basin. Examines the transformation of the terms of coexistence and competition over time from an asymmetry in favor of the Islamic world to one favoring Europe in terms of power and prestige. Surveys major events and broad patterns of human activity (wars, migrations, conversions, trade, cultural exchange); compares institutions and worldviews; studies the ways in which the two civilizations perceived and imagined each other. Focus on common roots and mutual influences. Analysis of (mis)perceptions as historically constructed cultural categories and of their legacy in the modern world.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Historical Study A-44. Jews in Modern Times: From the French Revolution to the Emergence of Israel
Catalog Number: 9323
Jay M. Harris
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
This course seeks to understand the transformation of the Jews from a relatively homogeneous group that was readily distinguished from its surrounding cultures, to their current state in which they are neither homogeneous nor readily distinguished from other identifiable groups. The focus will be on the political, social, and economic shifts that led to major changes in Jewish political and cultural aspirations and achievements. Specifically, the course will examine processes of change in France, Germany, Russia, and the US.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
Historical Study A-51. The Modern World Economy, 1873-2000
Catalog Number: 1263
Jeffry Frieden
Half course (fall term). M., W., 2–3:30, and a 90-minute weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
The past 125 years have seen more rapid economic growth, and more global economic integration, than ever before. Yet the gap between rich and poor countries has widened, and “globalization” has alternated with attempts at national self-sufficiency under fascist, communist, and other banners. The course explores the impact of technological, economic, social, and political trends, at both global and national levels, on the development of the world economy since 1873. Topics include free trade and the gold standard in the 19th century, European colonialism, the depressions of 1873–96 and 1929–39, and the postwar economic order.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
Historical Study A-67. Gendered Communities: Women, Islam, and Nationalism in the Middle East and North Africa
Catalog Number: 0352
Afsaneh Najmabadi
Half course (fall term). M., W., 1:30–3, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
This course will focus on how concepts of woman and gender have defined meanings of religious and national communities in the Islamic Middle East and North Africa. It will survey changes in these concepts historically through reading a variety of sources—religious texts and commentaries, literary and political writings, books of advice, women’s writings, and films—and will look at how contemporary thinkers and activists ground themselves differently in this historical heritage to constitute contesting positions regarding gender and national politics today.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Historical Study A-73. The Political Development of Western Europe]
Catalog Number: 8261
Peter A. Hall
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
A survey of the creation of modern politics in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy from the feudal period to the 20th century, focusing on the causes and consequences of crucial developments such as the English and French Revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, 19th-century democratization, and the appearance of fascism. Emphasizes the usefulness of comparative, historical analysis for understanding the origins of contemporary politics and competing approaches to understanding the processes of change associated with the development of the modern state.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11.
[Historical Study A-74. Contemporary China: The People’s Republic and Taiwan in the Modern World]
Catalog Number: 0893
William C. Kirby
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
What are the enduring problems of modern China? How do different Chinese governments confront them? This course assumes that the basic question of post-imperial China remains unanswered: what kind of government, society, and economy will ultimately replace the old imperial system? Part I defines basic themes: quests for national unity and international importance; population and ecological pressures; competition between capitalism and socialism; problems of democracy in Chinese political culture. Part II contrasts the revolutionary experiments of two “new Chinas” after 1950. Part III discusses eras of reform in the PRC and Taiwan, and explores the future of “Greater China,” in the light of its past.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study A or Foreign Cultures, but not both.
[Historical Study A-75. The Two Koreas]
Catalog Number: 0786
Carter J. Eckert
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
This course seeks to provide a broad historical context in which to understand the contemporary political division on the Korean peninsula. It examines key historical forces that have created and shaped the two Koreas before, during, and after the actual partition of the country in 1945. Topics include nascent nation-building efforts between 1876 and 1910, the impact of Japanese colonialism and the Cold War, and North/South development and interaction after 1948. The course interweaves political, socioeconomic, and cultural themes within an historical framework centered on nation-building while also highlighting a number of major historiographical issues in modern Korean history.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study A-76. Germany 1871–1990: From Unification to Reunification]
Catalog Number: 3594
David Blackbourn
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
Examines the forces that have shaped modern German history from the Empire created in 1871, through the Weimar Republic and Third Reich, to division and reunification. The continuities as well as discontinuities of this history provide a major theme, particularly the roots of the Nazi period and the question of how far the two postwar Germanys broke with the past. The course is built around three interrelated themes: politics, economy and society, and culture. The principal focus is domestic affairs, but the nature of the “German question” means that attention is given to the international dimension where appropriate.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study A-84. American Constitutional History from the Framing to the Present]
Catalog Number: 0718
Morton J. Horwitz (Law School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., F., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
This course is a survey of American constitutional history from the Framing of the Constitution to the present. Our focus will be on the texts of important Supreme Court opinions as well as on other significant documents that have shaped our constitutional understanding.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study A-86. Men and Women in Public and Private: the US in the 20th Century]
Catalog Number: 4182
Nancy F. Cott
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
This course offers historical perspective on the social relations and relative power of the sexes, tracing sharp changes and striking continuities over the past century. We will look at sexuality, masculinity, and femininity, centering these in US social, cultural and political history. Demographic patterns, economic demands, public policy, war, and gender-based social movements will provide the context for examining expectations for manhood and womanhood as they play out in family lives, work, popular culture and politics.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study A-87. Madness and Medicine: Themes in the History of Psychiatry]
Catalog Number: 6692
Anne Harrington
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
An attempt to integrate the history of medical thought on the nature of madness and the madman with recent historiography on the social history of psychiatry and its institutions. Topics include the birth of the asylum, the challenge of “moral therapy,” madness and the brain, madness from the patient’s point of view, the “discovery of the unconscious,” schizophrenia, and the antipsychiatry movement.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Historical Study A-88. The British Empire - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 9910
Maya Jasanoff
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
Less than a century ago the British Empire ruled a quarter of the world. This course surveys the extraordinary reign of the British Empire from the American Revolution to World War II. Course presents a narrative of key events and personalities, introduces major concepts in the study of British imperial history, and considers the empire’s political and cultural legacies. Readings include works by Niall Ferguson, Linda Colley, Winston Churchill, and Mahatma Gandhi.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
Historical Study A-89. The Chinese Overseas - (New Course)
Catalog Number: 7869
Michael A. Szonyi
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
This course introduces the emigration of people from China to other parts of the world over the last five centuries. It considers the causes of emigration, the ties that emigrants retained to China, and the communities that Overseas Chinese created abroad. It compares the experiences of emigrants and their descendants in Southeast Asia and in North America. Last, it tries to situate the recent wave of Chinese migration to North America in global and historical context.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-13. Charlemagne and the Birth of Medieval Civilization]
Catalog Number: 2567
Michael McCormick
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
For 200 years, the family of Charlemagne welded together the disparate fragments of a fallen Roman Empire and free Germania. The result was a new civilization, called Europe; a new cultural movement, called Renaissance. “Charlemagne” investigates how a new civilization arose in the countryside and in the conquests of the 8th and 9th centuries AD with consequences that endure down to our own time. But “Charlemagne” is also about historical analysis: the techniques by which today’s historians wrest new data and insights from manuscripts, memorandums, and mud to rediscover the lives of the men and women who created the first European civilization.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-18. The Protestant Reformation]
Catalog Number: 0623
Steven Ozment
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
In the 16th century hundreds of thousands of people surrendered religious beliefs, practices, and institutions that had organized and given meaning to daily life for the greater part of a millennium. The Protestant Reformation attempts to explain why this happened and how it changed history. Lectures, art, and readings present the movers and shakers of the Reformation; its development in representative cities and lands; its theologies and social philosophies; its impact on contemporary society and culture; the Catholic response; and its legacy to the modern world.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Historical Study B-19. The Renaissance in Florence
Catalog Number: 4631
James Hankins
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 1, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 6
The Renaissance has been described by historians as a revival of antiquity, as a revolt against the Middle Ages, and as the beginning of the modern world. This course examines these claims in the context of a detailed examination of the society and culture of Florence, the most important Renaissance center, from the time of Dante to the time of Machiavelli.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study B or Literature and Arts C, but not both.
[Historical Study B-34. The World in 1776]
Catalog Number: 2507
Sugata Bose, Emma Rothschild, and Richard Tuck
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
The world in 1776 was connected by empire, influence, law, commerce, migration, war, and the exchange of ideas. 1776 also saw the publication of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and Bentham’s Fragment on Government. The course examines ideas and ways of life in 1776, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It considers a pivotal year in American history from the vantage point of world history. Readings will include books and periodicals published in 1776, including translations from French, Spanish, and Persian sources.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-35. The French Revolution: Causes, Processes, and Consequences]
Catalog Number: 0525
Patrice Higonnet
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
The cultural, social, and political life of France before 1789; the rise of a public sphere; the Revolution in its development from the decentralized “consensus” of 1789 to Jacobin terrorism in 1793–94; the structures of Jacobin thought; the ideological, social, and administrative effects of the Revolution in France. The roles of Mirabeau, the Montagnards, the Girondins, Robespierre, Babeuf, and Napoleon are considered, as well as more general themes such as the effect of public opinion and the redefinition of gender roles.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-39. American Revolutions in the Atlantic World]
Catalog Number: 9016
Vincent Brown
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
This course considers the Age of Revolution in the North Atlantic world, roughly encompassing the latter half of the 18th century, as a continuous sequence of radical challenges to established authority resulting in fundamental transformations of governance throughout the region. We will view the progression of the American and Haitian revolutions as a kind of chain reaction, as if the Atlantic world was swept by a single revolutionary movement, though one of widely ranging inspirations, goals, and outcomes.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11.
Historical Study B-40. Pursuits of Happiness: Ordinary Lives in Revolutionary America
Catalog Number: 2264
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 12
When Thomas Jefferson listed the “pursuit of happiness” as one of the inalienable rights of humankind, he offered future generations an evocative but elusive vision of the good society. This course explores the competing visions of “happiness” that animated political and social life in the half century surrounding the American Revolution. Was happiness best achieved through collective commitment to public good? Through submission to God? Or in the possession of property and the cultivation of private affections? And what happened when happiness became misery or its pursuit provoked political rebellion, riot, scandal, and crime?
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. Expected to be omitted in 2009-10. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for United States in the World.
Historical Study B-43. (formerly History 1629). Slavery/Capitalism/Imperialism: The US in the Nineteenth Century
Catalog Number: 5470
Walter Johnson
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
This course treats the history of the 19th-century US and the Civil War in light of the history of US imperialism, especially the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the illegal invasions of Cuba and Nicaragua in the 1850s. Likewise, it relates the history of slavery in the US to the Haitian Revolution, the Louisiana Purchase, Indian removal, Atlantic cotton, land and money markets, and the hemispheric history of antislavery.
[Historical Study B-45. The Darwinian Revolution]
Catalog Number: 8691
Janet Browne
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 11, and a weekly section to arranged. EXAM GROUP: 4
An examination of the intellectual structure and social context of evolutionary ideas as they developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on Darwinism as a major transformation in Western thought. Topics include an introduction to origin stories in different cultures; the natural history tradition in the West; evolutionary thought before Darwin; key aspects of Darwin’s ideas; the comparative reception of Darwinism in Britain, US, Germany, Russia and France; social Darwinism, eugenics and racial theories; early genetics and biological determinism; the search for the gene; religious controversy.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-49 (formerly History 1651). History of American Capitalism]
Catalog Number: 0227
Sven Beckert
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
Examines the development of the American economy from its beginnings to the late 20th-century.
Focuses on the nature of economic change during the past 400 years and the reasons for and effects of capitalist growth. Topics include Native-American economies, the industrial revolution, slavery, the rise of new business structures, labor, technological change, and government-business relations.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-52. Slavery and Slave Trade in Africa and the Americas]
Catalog Number: 3834
Emmanuel K. Akyeampong
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 14
This course begins with the question of terminological precision and the definition of slavery and other forms of servile labor—especially in Africa. The course then examines the institution of slavery in Africa and the Americas within this wider historical context, analyzing the political economies and ideologies that underpin slavery and the crucial role of slave trade in reproducing slave communities that were barely able to reproduce themselves naturally. The course explores the impact of slavery on political, economic, social, and cultural life in Africa and the Americas and ends with a discussion of the legacy of slavery and the global nature of the African diaspora.
Note: Expected to be given in 2010–11.
[Historical Study B-53. World War and Global Transformation in the 20th Century: World War I]
Catalog Number: 4388
Charles S. Maier
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
Viewed together, the two world wars shattered Germany’s bid for European domination, revolutionized Russia and extended her influence over Eastern Europe for over 40 years, helped dissolve the colonial empires and create the modern welfare state, and made the US the world’s preeminent power. Historical Study B-53 and B-54 examine the origin of each war; the grand strategies of the belligerents and the actual nature of combat; the war economies; response of intellectuals; and the dilemmas of peacemaking. B-53 focuses particularly on critical decisions; frontline experiences; cultural responses; political radicalization; and the fragility of the interwar global order.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.
Historical Study B-54. World War and Global Transformation in the 20th Century: World War II
Catalog Number: 6497
Charles S. Maier
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
Examines the failure of the Versailles system, the Pacific conflict after 1937, the continental European war of 1939–41, the vast coalition struggle of 1941–45, and the bipolar postwar settlement. Topics include the strategic demands of multifront warfare; the role of city bombing, intelligence, and partisan warfare; occupation regimes, collaboration, and resistance; America’s “good war” –the politics and culture of the home fronts; war costs, including the civilian toll; postwar purges, liberation movements, and commemoration.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
Historical Study B-61. The Warren Court and the Pursuit of Justice, 1953–1969
Catalog Number: 6840
Morton J. Horwitz (Law School)
Half course (fall term). M., W., F., at 12, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 5
Examines the significance of the Supreme Court during the Chief Justiceship of Earl Warren in the broader context of the development of American thought and society. Explores the basic premise that the Warren Era represented not only a major constitutional revolution but that it produced a fundamental transformation in the conception of the role of law in American society. Subjects to be studied are Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Movement, and the history of race relations; McCarthyism and civil liberties; the emergence of a right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut; and the “rights” revolution in jurisprudence.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10.
[Historical Study B-64. The Cuban Revolution, 1956-1971: A Self-Debate]
Catalog Number: 6974
Jorge I. Domínguez
Half course (fall term). M., W., F., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
Focus on the insurrectionary war, the consolidation of power, Fidel Castro’s role, the role of organized labor and the peasantry, the US-Cuban conflict, the alliance with the Soviet Union, the choice of economic strategy, the “remaking of human beings,” the role of intellectuals, the support for revolutions in Africa and Latin America, and the change toward “orthodox” policies. The instructor will debate himself, presenting two or more views on each issue. Readings include original documents in translation.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10. For students under the Core requirement, counts as either Historical Study B or Foreign Cultures, but not both. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Societies of the World.
Historical Study B-67. Japan’s Modern Revolution
Catalog Number: 4164
Ian J. Miller
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 13
On July 8, 1853, Commodore Mathew C. Perry steamed into Japan’s Edo Bay with four heavily armed US Navy warships. Two were the so-called “black ships,” ominously painted steamships of the latest design. There, within view of a stunned populace, Perry issued an ultimatum: open the country to trade or face unstoppable bombardment. Thus began Japan’s modern engagement with the outside world, a new chapter in the broader encounter between “East” and “West.” Through primary sources, discussion and lecture, this course examines Japan’s rapid development from samurai-led feudalism into the worlds first non-Western imperial power.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2009–10. Expected to be omitted in 2009-10. No Japanese language skills required.
[Historical Study B-68. America and Vietnam: 1945-1975]
Catalog Number: 3447
Hue-Tam Ho Tai and -----
Half course (spring term). M., W., at 10, and a weekly section to be arranged. EXAM GROUP: 3
Examines modern conflicts in Vietnam and their implications for the US from 1945–75, from both Vietnamese and American perspectives. Seeks to provide an understanding of the complexity of the war and the ethical dilemmas it raised by examining issues ranging from the power-politics assumptions of decision makers to the personal experiences of those caught in the war. Covers both background and consequences of the war, but the main focus is on the 30-year period during which the fortunes of America and Vietnam became intertwined.
Note: Expected to be given in 2009–10.