Department of History
Welcome to the Department of History’s Spring 2013 undergraduate course offerings. The History Department offers a diversity of courses in terms of geography, chronology, and topic. If you have questions about the content of a particular course, please contact the listed instructor.
The courses are grouped into three main categories:
1. Courses for first-year students, including University Seminars – beginning on page 3
2. Regular courses (generally open to all students, though some are restricted by class, and most have some seats reserved for history majors) – beginning on page 9 – and broken into the following breadth areas:
Africa/Asia/Middle East – beginning on page 9
Ancient/Medieval Europe – beginning on page 13
Modern Europe – beginning on page 16
United States – beginning on page 18
Latin America – beginning on page 21
Special (global, thematic, etc.) – beginning on page 23
3. Special major courses open only to history majors (History Workshop, Department Seminars, History Honors Program courses, etc.) – beginning on page 25
If you have questions regarding registration, seat access, counting courses toward particular requirements, or any other related issues, please consult the guidelines below before contacting the Department of History:
Notes to History Majors:
• While the Department aims to make our courses available to as many students as possible, we cannot guarantee individuals access to particular courses. If you prove unable to register for a desired course via InsideND, you may make a special request for an exemption by contacting Dan Graff, Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), at dgraff@nd.edu. In any request for an exemption, please note your class year and reason for wanting the course (breadth requirement, concentration course, elective, etc.). Priority is always given to graduating seniors and those with compelling intellectual cases, especially concentration area requests.
• History majors may count no more than two lower-level courses toward the major (those that begin with a 1 or a 2). AP credit does not count toward the major.
• The History Workshop, HIST 33000, a required course for all majors, is intended as a “gateway” course into the major, so all majors should take this course as soon as possible, ideally the semester following the declaration of the major. With more than one section of this course available, majors should build their schedule around the Workshop, rather than the other way around. Majors cannot complete the History Workshop after the junior year.
• Majors should declare a concentration with their faculty advisor as soon as they begin taking courses beyond the Workshop and four breadth courses, if not before -- and by the end of the junior year at the absolute latest.
• Majors must complete a research capstone experience in one of two ways: a 25-page research paper in a semester-based course, or a year-long senior honors thesis under the direction of a history faculty member. Most majors will complete the former; the latter requires participation in the History Honors Program (see the History Department website for information on this). The Department Seminar (HIST 43XXX) is the standard capstone research course, and it should be taken once a major has declared a concentration and can build upon the knowledge acquired in regular coursework. Majors should consult the Department Seminars offered each semester and consult with their advisor to choose the most appropriate semester and course to fulfill this requirement.
Notes to Non-Majors:
• Please note that while the Department aims to make our courses available to as many students as possible, we cannot guarantee individuals access to particular courses. If you prove unable to register via InsideND for a desired course, you may make a special request for an exemption by contacting the Director of Undergraduate Studies at dgraff@nd.edu. However, please note that exemptions will not normally be given until AFTER all students have had their registration appointments. In any request for an exemption, please note your major, class year, and reason for wanting the course (university requirement, elective, etc.). Priority is always given to majors, graduating seniors, and those with compelling intellectual cases.
• Unless noted in the individual course description, any three-credit History course listed below satisfies the university history requirement (or College of Arts & Letters History/Social Science requirement).
• Courses (or crosslists) beginning with a 1 are generally reserved for first-year students, and other students generally need permission from Dean of First Year Studies to register for them. University seminars, designated by the number HIST 13184, are restricted exclusively to first-year students.
• Most courses beginning with a 2 are generally open to all students, but sometimes seats are reserved for sophomores and/or first-year students, especially during initial registration.
• Courses beginning with a 3 or 4 are generally open to all students, but since they are major-level courses, some seats are restricted to History majors. If there are open seats restricted to history majors once initial registration for all students has ended, the department may lift the restriction to accommodate more non-majors.
If you have any other questions, please contact the History Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Daniel A. Graff, at dgraff@nd.edu.
First Year Courses
Every Notre Dame student must complete at least one history course designated as satisfying the University History Requirement (UHR). All of the following courses designated for first-year students satisfy the UHR. A student who has already completed the UHR may take one of these to satisfy an elective, or count it toward the history major.
History 10061 (CRN: 25775)
Modern Africa
OCOBOCK
MW 9:35, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 12061 01, F 9:35 (CRN: 29119)
History 12061 02 F 10:40 (CRN: 29120)
(Major Breadth Category: Africa/Asia/Middle East)
This course is an introduction to the history of the peoples of Africa from the late nineteenth century to the present day. During the term, we will consider the ways in which Africans shaped and were shaped by the transformative events of the period. In the second half of the nineteenth century, European powers conquered and colonized much of the continent. Over the next sixty years, Africans lived and died under the yoke of European rule; some resisted, others collaborated, but all influenced the nature of colonialism and its eventual collapse. By the 1960s, most Africans were free of foreign rule. Since then the peoples of Africa have endeavored to achieve political stability, navigate Cold War politics, harness development aid, and adapt to a globalizing economy. In recent years, they have succumbed to brutal wars and endured devastating famines, but they have also inspired the world with their triumph over apartheid, emerging vibrant democracies, rich cultures, and deep history. In this class, we will identify, problematize, and debate these major themes in Modern African history. We also will make use of a variety of texts, from historical documents to classic academic works to works of African art, film, and fiction.
History 10451 (CRN: 29735)
Modern France
KSELMAN
MW 9:35, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 12451 01 F 9:35 (CRN: 29736)
(Major Breadth Category: Modern Europe)
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 poltical, 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 (totalling around 20 pages) and two exams.
History 10500 (CRN: 29737)
Italian Renaissance
MESERVE
MW 10:40, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 12500 01 F 10:40 (CRN: 29738)
History 12500 02 F 11:45 (CRN: 29739)
(Major Breadth Category: Ancient/Medieval Europe, Pre-1500)
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.
History 10605 (CRN: 21921)
U.S. History since 1877
MISCAMBLE
MW 10:40, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 12605 01, F 10:40 (CRN: 21547)
History 12605 02, F 10:40 (CRN: 20019)
History 12605 03, F 9:35 (CRN: 21589)
History 12605 04, F 8:30 (CRN: 23678)
History 12605 05, F 11:45 (CRN 23679)
History 12605 06 F 10:40 (CRN: 23680)
(Major Breadth Category: United States)
This course is a topical and chronological survey of the political, social, diplomatic and economic life of the American people from Reconstruction to the present. The principal areas of investigation include the age of industrialism, the progressive era, World War I, the Great Depression and the New Deal, World War II and the Cold War, the revolution in Civil Rights, Kennedy-Johnson and the war in Vietnam, the presidencies of Nixon, Carter and Reagan, and post-Cold War America. The course will devote special attention to such themes as the changing role of government in American economic and social life, the emergence of the United States as a world power and its subsequent influence in international politics, race relations and civil rights. The class format will consist of two lectures each week, supplemented by a smaller weekly discussion session. There will be three examinations, three book reports, and a required reading list of approximately six books.
History 10901 (CRN 28673)
Colonial Latin America
GRAUBART
MW 3:00, with co-requisite tutorial on Friday
History 12901, F 11:45 (CRN: 28674)
(Major Breadth Category: Latin America)
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 deaths 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, using documents 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.
University Seminars (for First-Year Students only)
University Seminars are designed to foster intense interaction between first-year students and individual 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. A University Seminar can satisfy the university history requirement, it can serve as an elective, or it can count toward the history major, but it cannot do more than one simultaneously (see individual course descriptions for major breadth categories).
History 13184 01 (CRN: 20770)
Media Revolutions
HOBBINS
TR 11:00
(Major Breadth Category: Special)
All of us are immersed in a matrix of accelerating technological change that profoundly affects the ways we communicate with each other. We often hear these changes called “revolutionary.” The internet is offered as the prime example and driving force of a new “information age.” For those of us living through these transformations, it can be hard to get some perspective on them. Providing that perspective is the central goal of this course. To meet that goal, we will explore together a series of historical changes involving the technology of human communication. We will focus in particular on writing, printing, and hypertext technologies, tracing the story from the invention of writing through the medieval book, the printing press and up to the internet and the World Wide Web. For each technology, we will focus on the following elements: Production, Distribution, Preservation, and Impact. We will explore these historical developments through the assigned course readings, lectures, presentations, visits, and outside speakers. The aims of these activities include: learning about the historical development of central communication technologies, developing a set of conceptual tools and terms for analyzing any communication technology and becoming more critical users of the communication technologies that we use on a daily basis. This course also satisfies the History major pre-1500 requirement.
History 13184 02 (CRN: 20806)
The Consumer Revolution
CANGANY
TR 11:00
(Major Breadth Category: United States)
Ever wonder where Americans’ insatiable love of shopping comes from? Or why we eat so much sugar? The answer lies in the Consumer Revolution (1670-1815), a period in which customers around the Atlantic world began demanding freer and cheaper access to what had once been luxury goods. We will spend the semester unraveling how and why this economic and cultural phenomenon occurred and thinking about its impact on our own lives, focusing on trade, shipping, banking, credit, fashion, foodways, and more. This is a reading- and writing-intensive course, and requires significant participation during class meetings.
History 13184 03 (CRN: 20858)
On the Road: Travel in American History
COLEMAN
TR 3:30
(Major Breadth Category: United States)
This seminar will chart the movement of people across the North American continent when they pack up and leave home as immigrants, workers, tourists, and runaways. A writing intensive course, students will compose and revise three essays dealing with primary sources –travel narratives-from the colonial, nineteenth, and twentieth-centuries. Students will leave the class with an appreciation for how movements has vexed and inspired Americans, how travel has altered people’s lives and identities, and how the road functions as a place, an event and a story.
History 13184 04 (CRN: 21343)
Abraham Lincoln’s America
GRAFF
TR 9:30
(Major Breadth Category: United States)
This seminar will use the life of the republic's most celebrated president as a window to explore the transformations and continuities in American politics, cultures, economics, ideologies, and social life during the half-century ending in the cataclysmic Civil War. Using Lincoln's own experiences as a starting point - his poor upbringing, his family's frequent moves across the sectional borderlands, his self-motivation and professional ambition, his embrace of mass politics, and his rapid ascent to national leadership during the republic's greatest crisis - students will explore much more than the sectional struggle and the fight to save the Union from secession. Important topics will include the evolving struggles over the meanings of race, freedom, and slavery; the increasing commercialization of the economy and the forging of new class relationships and identities; migration, property-holding, and relations with Native Americans in the rural and small-town west; changing realities and conceptions of gender, family, childhood, and parental authority; the changing role of local and national governments and the rise of political parties and mass political participation; and the heated contests over nativity, religion, and citizenship. In short, Lincoln's personal experiences will be the entry into understanding American society as a whole during his life (1809-1865), and students will ponder the usefulness of biography to the larger historical project as well as the importance of memory and myth in the ways we repeatedly reconstruct the past.
History 13184 05 (CRN: 24281)
Mental Health in American History
HAMLIN
TR 3:30
(Major Breadth Category: United States)
This seminar provides an opportunity to explore the American response to mental disabilities over a long time span and in terms of a number of different standpoints – states and communities, professions, institutions and charities, families and sufferers. Our focus will not only be with “madness” per se, but with broader questions of mental incapacity – with conditions known as melancholia and neurasthenia, as well as feeble-mindedness and dementia. Readings will explore changing concepts of mental illness, technologies of intervention, and societal response. Students will be responsible for a term paper based on primary sources.
History 13184 06 (CRN: 24993)
The Vietnam War
BRADY
TR 12:30
(Major Breadth Category: United States)
“The Vietnam War is always with us,” according to one historian of the war. Indeed, the Vietnam War was the most divisive event in the nation’s history since the American Civil War of the 1860s. Perhaps in part because of its painful legacy, the war has remained little-understood by the American public, even while it remains a topic of endless fascination to scholars, both in America and elsewhere. In this course, we will investigate the causes, course, controversies, and consequences of this remarkable event in the history of the Twentieth Century world--keeping in mind, at all times, that this was never exclusively an American story. Students will read memoirs, novels, and documents, as well as secondary sources. They will engage in discussion and debate, and write a number of short papers, as well as one longer paper. In the end, students should finish the semester with a stronger understanding of—and the ability to better expresses themselves on-- the history and legacy of the Vietnam War.
Regular Courses (Sophomore and Major Level)
The following courses fulfill the university History requirement and various major breadth 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 some seats in most are restricted to history majors, especially during initial registration. Moreover, some lower-level courses have seats restricted by class. For general guidelines on seat access, see the explanatory notes to majors and non-majors in the preface of this description booklet. For any specific course, check InsideND 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. The following 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 breadth categories.
History 30061 (CRN: 24994)
Modern Africa
OCOBOCK
MW 9:35, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 32061 01 F 9:35 (CRN: 29129)
History 32061 02 F 10:40 (CRN: 29130)
This course is an introduction to the history of the peoples of Africa from the late nineteenth century to the present day. During the term, we will consider the ways in which Africans shaped and were shaped by the transformative events of the period. In the second half of the nineteenth century, European powers conquered and colonized much of the continent. Over the next sixty years, Africans lived and died under the yoke of European rule; some resisted, others collaborated, but all influenced the nature of colonialism and its eventual collapse. By the 1960s, most Africans were free of foreign rule. Since then the peoples of Africa have endeavored to achieve political stability, navigate Cold War politics, harness development aid, and adapt to a globalizing economy. In recent years, they have succumbed to brutal wars and endured devastating famines, but they have also inspired the world with their triumph over apartheid, emerging vibrant democracies, rich cultures, and deep history. In this class, we will identify, problematize, and debate these major themes in Modern African history. We also will make use of a variety of texts, from historical documents to classic academic works to works of African art, film, and fiction.
History 30080 (CRN: 28676)
Medieval Middle East
Tor
MW 11:45, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 32080 01 F 11:45 (CRN: 28690)
History 32080 02 F 12:50 (CRN: 28691)
This course offers a survey of medieval Middle Eastern history from the rise of Islam in the seventh century CE through the Mongol era. The course is structured to cover political, religious, and cultural developments and their relationship with broader changes in society during the formative centuries of Islamic civilization. Specific topics include the career of the Prophet Muhammad and the origins of the earliest Muslim polity; the creation and breakup of the Islamic unitary state (the Caliphate); ethnic, racial, and religious tensions and movements in the medieval Islamic world; the era of the Persianate dynasties; the impact of Turkic migrations on the Middle East; the diversity of approaches to Muslim piety and their social and political expression; popular culture; non-Muslims in Islamic society; and the formation of a civilization stretching well beyond the Middle East, from the Central Asian steppes to the shores of the Atlantic. Among the more important themes will be long-term cultural and social continuities with the pre-Islamic and ancient Near East, and concepts of religious and political authority. This course also satisfies the History major pre-1500 requirement.
History 30099 (CRN: 28677)
Borders, Boundaries, Frontiers
KAUFMAN
MW 1:30
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, national and local perspectives. This course also fulfills the major’s Special breadth requirement.
History 30100 (CRN: 29492)
Gateway to East Asia I: The Classical Foundations
YASAR
TR 3:30
An interdisciplinary introduction to the literature, history, art, religion, and philosophy of China, Japan, and Korea from antiquity to ca. 1400. Readings are focused on primary texts in translation and complemented by critical and scholarly studies, films, and other materials from the visual arts. The objective of the course is to gain a greater understanding of these cultures while exploring – and possibly challenging – the received Dichotomies that shape our interpretations of the world. The course will include guest lectures by Asian studies faculty in East Asian Languages and Cultures, Anthropology, History, Political Science and Comparative Theology. NOTE: This course does not fulfill the University History Requirement. This course also satisfies the History major pre-1500 requirement.
History 30106 (CRN: 24996)
Modern South Asia
SENGUPTA
TR 9:30
Home to nearly 1.5 billion people, or approximately a quarter 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.
History 30110 (CRN: 28678)
Ancient Japan
THOMAS
TR 11:00
History is not a single “true story,” but many competing narratives, each defined by values, interests, and political commitments. Ancient Japanese history is no different. It too is a battleground of contending views. This course is organized around three such debates: first, the politically charged question of Japan's origins where evidence from archeology and ancient chronicles provide contending narratives; second, the question of whether culture (through continental imports of writing, religious forms, and statecraft) or nature (as disease and environmental degradation) truly defined the Yamato state from the sixth to the ninth century; and, third, whether Heian court power rested on economics, politics, military might, judicial probity, or aesthetics and if its foundation was undermined internally or by the invading Mongols. In examining these competing narratives, the course aims to develop the disciplined imagination necessary to enter another culture and another time. This course also satisfies the History major pre-1500 requirement.
History 30121 (CRN: 29126)
Christianity in Asia
CHOI
TR 12:30
This course examines the growth of Christianity in a variety of strikingly different Asian contexts. The largest church in the world with a membership of one million gathers in Seoul, South Korea offering 15 services in 7 different languages each Sunday. The number of Christians in Japan remains less than 1% of the total population despite first missionary activity dating back to the 16th century. After generations of suppressing Christianity, China is well on its way to becoming the largest Christian country in the world. The rapid pace of indigenous growth as well as persistent challenges to the spread of Christianity in Asia will be the major focus of this course. By examining the proliferation of Asian Christianity in local, national, and global contexts, students will be able to identify trends in political, economic, social, and theological factors shaping the spread of Christianity in Asia.
History 30144 (CRN: 29494)
Chinese Culture & Civilization
YANG
TR 2:00
This survey course introduces students with little or no knowledge of Chinese culture to the major themes and forms of premodern Chinese literature. Readings (in English translation) are drawn from a variety of genres, including poetry, fiction, essays, and drama. Students are encouraged to bring in their experience of reading Western literature in order to form a comparative perspective. This course also satisfies the History major pre-1500 requirement.
History 40180 (CRN: 25005)
Gandhi’s India
SENGUPTA
TR 3:30
The dominant figure in India’s nationalist movement for nearly thirty years, Mohandas Karamchand “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? How central to his politics was his critique of "modern civilization?" Films and other media will be used as necessary. Though helpful, a prior knowledge of Indian history is not required for this course. History majors may use this course to satisfy the Department Seminar requirement if they arrange with the instructor to write a longer research paper.
Ancient/Medieval Europe
All majors must take one course from four of the department’s six breadth categories. The following courses satisfy major breadth category #2 (Ancient and Medieval Europe). These courses also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement. See individual descriptions for any courses that also satisfy other major breadth categories.
History 30023 (CRN: 29491)
The Romans and Their Gods
BRADLEY
TR 11:00
This upper-level course in classical studies provides an introduction to the ways in which the ancient Romans conceptualized, worshipped, and communicated with the myriad gods of their pantheon. The course focuses first on the conventional rituals of Roman religion and their cultural meaning, and secondly on the success of Roman polytheism in adapting to different historical and social conditions. It concludes with a study of what are usually called the 'Mystery Religions' that flourished in the Roman imperial age, Christianity included, and an examination of their relationship to conventional forms of Roman religious behavior.
History 30210 (CRN: 29127)
The Popes and the Papacy
NOBLE
MW 4:30
The papacy is the world's oldest functioning institution. Its history involves the serial biography of all the men who have been pope (and anti-pope!), the history of an idea, the history of an institution, and more or less the history of Western Civilization. We will survey these four stories from St. Peter to Benedict XVI. Students will write two exams during the term and a final. Students will also write four short papers treating biographies of individual popes. Reading will consist of a general survey, primary sources, and books on individual popes. This course also satisfies the History major Modern Europe requirement.
History 30223 (CRN: 28679)
The Age of Alexander
BARON
TR 9:30
This course examines the military achievements of Alexander of Macedon (356-323 B.C.) and their far-reaching political, social, cultural, and religious consequences. Topics covered include the Greek, Macedonian, Persian, and other cultural contexts of the time, Alexander's attitude toward divinity (including his own), his concept of empire, his generalship, and his legacy for Greco-Roman antiquity. Particular attention is devoted to representations of Alexander through the ages, beginning during his own lifetime with the accounts of ancient writers–historians and others–down to novels and films of the present day. Ancient authors and documents are read in translation.
History 30250 (CRN: 23300)
The World of the Middle Ages
NOBLE
MW 1:55, with co-requisite tutorial on Friday
MI 22001 01 (CRN: 23170) F 12:50
MI 22001 02 (CRN: 23171) F 1:55
MI 22001 03 (CRN: 23299) F 1:55
MI 22001 04 (CRN: 28728) F 12:50
The Middle Ages have been praised and reviled, romanticized, and fantasized. Books, movies, and games like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Prince of Persia, Assassin’s Creed, and Game of Thrones continue to spark our interest in and curiosity about the Middle Ages. Because of these, most of us have some kind of imaginative vision of the Middle Ages. But what were these ten centuries between Rome and the Renaissance really like? What do we mean when we talk about a “Medieval World”? This course will consider major themes and creations of the medieval civilization(s) that grew up in Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, and the Islamic world after the fall of Rome, exploring continuities and changes, war and peace, contacts and separations. We will constantly ask how can we know about the Middle Ages, and what kinds of things can we know, as we examine many types of medieval sources, including literary works, historical texts, religious and philosophical writings, and works of art. We will especially focus on certain kinds of people in medieval history and literature across cultures: rulers, lovers, warriors, traders, and believers. This course will constitute an extended introduction to the dynamic and fascinating world of the Middle Ages.
History 30302 (CRN: 29128)
Reading the Book of Nature: The Natural World in the Middle Ages
WILKY
TR 9:30
Medieval thinkers believed that God created two books—the Book of Scripture and the Book of Nature—capable of teaching moral and spiritual truths. In this course we will examine how medieval men and women “read” the Book of Nature as a source of knowledge about themselves and the divine. We will also reflect on the impact their views have had in shaping modern conceptions of nature and humanity. Some of the issues we will address include: What role did the natural world play in salvation history? How did medieval thinkers reconcile the biblical commands to dominate and to care for the natural world? What intrinsic value did animals, plants, and stones have? What power did nature exercise over human life? What separated the human from the nonhuman and the marvelous from the quotidian? To answer these questions we will examine a variety of primary texts including theological, literary, legal, artistic, and cartographic sources. The course will begin with a survey of biblical and classical attitudes towards nature and end with a discussion of the European commodification of the natural resources of the New World. The majority of the course, however, will focus on the Middle Ages. In addition to sharpening critical thinking and writing skills, students will develop a conceptual vocabulary that will enable them to discuss in a variety of contexts fundamental questions about the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
History 30500 (CRN: 28681)
Italian Renaissance
MESERVE
MW 10:40, with co-requisite Friday tutorial
History 32500 01 (CRN: 28693) F 9:35
History 32500 02 (CRN: 28692) F 10:40
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.
History 40230 (CRN: 29498)
Topography of Ancient Rome
HERNANDEZ
MW 3:00
The course examines in detail the buildings and monuments of ancient Rome from the Archaic Period to the beginning of Late Antiquity (8th century B.C. to 4th century A.D.). The primary aim of the course is to consider the problems related to the identification, reconstruction, chronology, and scholarly interpretation(s) of Rome's ancient structures. Students will investigate the history of excavations in Rome, analyze ancient literary sources, evaluate ancient art and architecture, and examine epigraphic, numismatic, and other material evidence related to Rome's ancient physical makeup. This close examination of the city of ancient Rome in its historical context also explores how urban organization, civic infrastructure, public monuments, and domestic buildings reflect the social, political, and religious outlook of Roman society.
History 40297 (CRN: 28696)
Knighthood and Chivalry in Medieval Europe
BOULTON
TR 3:30
The principal object of this course is to introduce students to the history, historical sources, and modern historiography of the status that by 1050 conveyed on its occupants the title chevalier in French and from 1066 the title cniht or knyght in English, and that from 1160 was increasingly regarded as embodying both the social function and the ideals of the nobilities of Latin Christendom. It will follow this history from the emergence of the first caballarii or ‘horsemen’ in the Frankish empire around 800, when they were simple heavy-cavalrymen with no distinctive social status, through the expansion of their numbers and perfection of their classic equipment and tactics and the emergence of their distinctive sports after about 1050, the adoption of their title and status by their noble lords and employers after about 1100, the fusion of the surviving ignoble professional knightage with the noble knightage after 1200 to produce the classic noble knight, and the gradual decline in the number of knights and the distinctiveness of their military rôle between about 1200 and about 1450. It will first examine knighthood from a strictly military perspective — for knights remained heroic warriors at least to 1430, and their armour and arms underwent considerable evolution down to and even beyond that date. It will then go on to examine the more important of the Arthurian romances and treatises of various sorts that provided the increasingly noble knights with a distinctive ideology related to pseudo-historical origins in Graeco-Roman Antiquity and golden age in the time of the legendary British king Arthur. It will conclude with a review of the history of our modern understanding of knighthood as a military, social, and cultural phenomenon in the works composed by historians between 1759 (when the tradition began) and the present, which will among other things reveal the fact that historians misled themselves from the beginning by inventing and centring their attention on the concept of ‘chivalry’, which in the form usually understood existed as a real social force only between about 1815 and 1939. The course will be conducted as a seminar, so that students will be responsible in rotation for introducing the readings of the day, and playing an active part in the discussions of it. Written work will consist either of two research papers of about nine pages or one paper of about eighteen on one of the themes of the course. History majors may use this course to satisfy the Department Seminar requirement if they arrange with the instructor to write a longer research paper.
Modern Europe
All majors must take one course from four of the department’s six breadth categories. The following courses satisfy major breadth category #3 (Modern Europe). See individual descriptions for courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major breadth categories.
History 30415 (CRN: 25003)
England since 1789
SULLIVAN
MW 1:30 – 2:45
The course involves, besides lectures, reading, thinking about, and discussing both the history and the interpretation of major aspects of the development of modern English politics, society, and culture. Requirements include regular class attendance and participation, midterm and final examinations, and 20 to 25 pages of writing associated with the small reading seminars into which the class will divide a few times during the semester.
History 30451 (CRN: 28680)
Modern France
KSELMAN
MW 9:35, with co-requisite Friday tutorial
History 32451 (CRN: 29497) F 10:40
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.
History 30465 (CRN: 24569)
Modern Germany since 1871
MORGAN
TR 12:30
This course examines modern Germany from national unification in 1871 to the recent unification of the two Germanies and beyond. We will investigate cultural, political, and social dimensions of Germany's dynamic role in Europe and in the world. Topics include Bismarck and the founding of the Second Reich, World War I and the legacy of defeat, challenge and authority in the Weimar Republic, the National Socialist revolution, war and Holocaust, collapse of the Third Reich, conflict and accommodation in East and West Germany, and unification and its aftermath. Class format will combine lectures with discussion of readings from political, social, literary, and diplomatic sources.
History 30474 (CRN: 25794)
Russian History since WWII
LYANDRES
TR 2:00
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, participate in class discussions, and attend on-campus educational and cultural events related to the content of the course.
History 30553 (CRN: 28682)
History & Cinema in East-Central Europe
KUNICKI
MW 3:00
Co-req with lab History 31553 (CRN 29514) Tuesday 7:00 – 9:30 PM
This course examines the legacy of World War II, Stalinism, and politics of memory in communist and contemporary East Central Europe through the comparison of historical sources with feature and documentary films. We will address the following questions: What was the status of film vis-à-vis communist regimes? How did the making of historical films constitute the making of history?
United States
All majors must take one course from four of the department’s six breadth categories. The following courses satisfy major breadth category #5 (United States). See individual descriptions for courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major breadth categories.
History 20430 (CRN: 28675)
The Irish in US
GRIFFIN, O’CONCHUBHAIR, KUIJT
TR 2:00, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 22430 01 (CRN: 29125) F 9:35
History 22430 02 (CRN: 29124) F 10:40
History 22430 03 (CRN: 29123) F 11:45
History 22430 04 (CRN: 29122) F 12:50
History 22430 05 (CRN: 29490) F 9:30
History 22430 06 (CRN 26489) F 11:45
History 22430 07 (CRN: 29487) F 12:50
History 22430 08 (CRN: 29488) F 10:40
This class provides an educational and entertaining reflection on the deep historical and cultural intertwining of America and Ireland, and the extent to which our world shaped by Irish people, culture and heritage. Drawing upon the skills of three Notre Dame professors, each from different disciplines, the instructors explore comparative perspectives of the cultural, economic, and political context of being Irish and Irish-American. This class seeks to provide new perspectives on the interconnections between Ireland and America, in the past, present and future. Through lectures and presentations, and projects, the class explores some fundamental historical questions. This includes how were the Irish Famine, emigration, and economic developments of the 18-20th centuries interconnected, and how did the Irish Diaspora shape the historical and cultural trajectory of America. Similarly, what does it mean to be Irish and Irish-American, be it through family history, or growing up watching Notre Dame football. What are the interconnections between regional Irish identities, language, and history? Finally the instructors explore how American, let alone global, culture is being actively shaped by Irish culture (such as literature, theater, film, music), and the extent to which this a dynamic process. Looking at it from a different perspective, how has the reintroduction of such an idealized form of Irishness, impacted the country? Drawing upon literature, history, archaeology and folklore, this class highlights the different ways we can explore and conceive of the past and present world of Ireland and Irish-America. Seeking answers to these questions offers students a fascinating opportunity to learn more about Ireland, America, and the connections between these culture and people. This course also satisfies the History major Modern Europe requirement.
History 30622 (CRN: 25799)
MCKENNA
American Consumer Culture in the 20th-Century
TR 3:30
This course is an introduction to the history of American consumer culture. We will study the rise of mass consumption in the early part of the century through the ascendance of niche consumption by the twentieth century’s end. Along the way we will explore the impact of consumption practices on how Americans have experienced gender, race, ethnic, and class identities and the consequences of consumption for family life, faith, and politics. Primary and secondary sources will allow us to study the architects and architecture of a consumer society—from “Mad Men” to shopping malls and suburbs. Among other topics we will examine are the construction of a middle class American “standard of living” and the marketing of race and ethnicity. We will also consider the merits and limits of a “consumers’ republic”—a consumer model of citizenship—and critical assessments of consumer culture and society from Sinclair Lewis to Naomi Klein.
History 30632 (CRN: 28684)
U.S. Environmental History
COLEMAN
TR 9:30
This course is an introduction to the new field of environmental history. While many people think "The Environment" suddenly became important with the first "Earth Day" in 1970 (or a few years earlier), environmental issues have in fact long been of central importance. In recent decades historians have been actively exploring the past sensibilities of various groups toward their surroundings and fellow creatures. They have also increasingly paid attention to the ways environmental factors have affected history. This course will range widely, from world history to the story of a single river, from arguments about climate change to the significance of pink flamingos, and it will survey a number of types of history including cultural, demographic, religious, and animal.
History 30654 (CRN: 26425)
Fashioning American Identities
WHITE
MW 11:45
This course will focus on dress and material/visual culture in Colonial North America. It will introduce methodology, and offer an overview of key themes in the history of dress and consumerism within the framework of gender studies. In our focus on the colonial period (especially the 18th century), we will analyze the economics of dress (the production, marketing, and acquisition of cloth and clothing) and will assess the importance of fashion to commerce and politics. We will evaluate the role of dress in the construction of colonial identities, and we will examine the ways that dress operated as a visual locus for racial, class, and ethnic encounters.
History 30805 (CRN: 24578)
U.S. Foreign Policy and the Cold War
MISCAMBLE
MW 1:30
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.
History 30806 (CRN: 28685)
Sex, Sexuality and Gender from 1880
BEDERMAN
TR 2:00
This course explores the history of sex, sexuality, and gender in the United States since 1880. Topics may include representations of sexuality in movies and advertising; new courtship practices among unmarried heterosexuals (from courting to dating to hooking up); changing concepts of same-sex love (from inversion to homosexuality to gay liberation to LGBTQ); the demographic shift to smaller families; the twentieth-century movements for and against birth control and legal abortion; and the late-twentieth-century politicization of sexual issues.
History 30807 (CRN: 28686)
U.S. Intellectual History since 1870
TURNER
MW 11:45
This lecture course will survey major developments in American thought from the later nineteenth century to the late twentieth 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 toward understanding the roots of our present ways of thinking. Students will write a midterm and a final exam, as well as a ten-page research paper.
History 40600 (CRN: 29499)
Religion in the Chicano Movement
MATOVINA
MW 1:30
Renowned leader César Chávez famously asserted to his fellow Chicano activists in a 1968 speech that “there are hundreds of thousands of our people who desperately need some help from that powerful institution, the church, and we are foolish not to help them get it.” His admonition underscores a longstanding debate about the role church leaders and institutions have played – or have failed to play – in the struggles of Chicanas and Chicanos for civil rights. This seminar will begin with an introduction to religion in Latino history and then focus on analyses of religion in the Chicano movement, in the ways the activism of the movement effected churches, and in ongoing scholarly explorations of the movement’s history and significance. NOTE: This course does not fulfill the University History Requirement.
History 40630 (CRN: 24585)
Crime, Heredity, and Insanity in the U.S.
PRZYBYSZEWSKI
TR 5:00
The 19th century witnessed a transformation in the understanding of the origins of criminal behavior in the United States. For many, a religious emphasis on humankind as sinful gave way to a belief in its inherent goodness. But if humans were naturally good, how could their evil actions be explained? Drawing on studies done here and abroad, American doctors, preachers, and lawyers debated whether environment, heredity, or free will determined the actions of the criminal. By the early 20th century, lawyers and doctors had largely succeeded in medicalizing criminality. Psychiatrists treated criminals as patients; judges invoked hereditary eugenics in sentencing criminals. Science, not sin, had apparently become the preferred mode of explanation for the origins of crime. But was this a better explanation than what had come before?
Latin America
All majors must take one course from four of the department’s six breadth categories. The following courses satisfy major breadth category #4 (Latin America). See individual descriptions for courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major breadth categories.
History 30901 (CRN: 28687)
Colonial Latin America
GRAUBART
MW 3:00, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 32901 01 F 10:40 (CRN: 28694)
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 deaths 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, using documents 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.
History 30902 (CRN: 29495)
Central America in the Cold War: Mobilization and Response
CLOS
TR 9:30
There are many approaches to understanding what took place in Central America from 1920 to 1990, when the region was plunged into a series of violent episodes that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. For this course, we will examine the history of Central America as a series of actions taken by the common people and the reactions against them from the governments of Central America and United States. As such, there are two related questions at the heart of our exploration of Central American history: Why do people rebel at the moment and in the form that they do? and Why do states kill their own citizens? This dialectic of rebellion and state violence is the primary organizational logic of the course, and these two central inquiries will guide our reading and discussion.
History 30912 (CRN: 28688)
Modern Mexican History: From the Porfiriato & the Revolution to the Present
PENSADO & CÁRDENAS
MW 11:45, with co-requisite tutorial on Fridays
History 32912 01 (CRN: 29131) F 11:45
History 32912 02 (CRN: 29132) F 12:50
This course is designed to introduce students to the modern history of Mexico and its people. Our studies range from contested visions of the nation during the Porfiriato in the late 19th century to the signing of NAFTA in the 1990s; from the violent years of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917) to the gradualemergence of democracy by the dawn of the 21st century; from therise of Cardenismo in the 1930s to the fall of the Institutionalized Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 2000 and to its recent “come back” in 2012; and from the many who have struggled with deep poverty to the few who have wielded great economic and political power.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will have developed an in-depth understanding of:
The origins, outcome, significance, and multiple legacies of the “many” Mexican Revolutions (1910-1940);
The reasons for the longevity of the PRI (1929-2000);
The structures and causes behind the rise and fall of Mexico’s “economic miracle (c.1940-c.1968);”
The logic underlying the various political movements and grassroots responses that flourished during the conflicting periods of the Revolution, the Cold War Era, and the Neoliberal phase that followed, including the muralist movement of the 1920-30s, the working class uprisings of the late 1950s, the student movements of the 1960s, the feminist and countercultural movement of the 1970s, and the neo-Zapatista rebellion of the 1990s;
The structural causes and consequences of the rise of the Narco organization; and
The ambivalent and, at times, problematic relationship between Mexico and the United States.
The course is co-taught by Professor Jaime Pensado and the eminent Mexican politician Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas. Mr. Cárdenas is the son of Lázaro Cárdenas, one of Mexico’s most beloved and respected presidents. Like his father, he began his career as a supporter of the PRI. He served the state of Michoacán as a Federal Senator from 1974 to 1980 and as Governor from 1980 to 1986. Two years later, preoccupied by an increasing turn towards neoliberal policies, he distanced himself from the ruling party and ran for president as representative member of the leftist opposition, the National Democratic Front, ultimately losing to the PRI’s Carlos Salinas. It is generally accepted, however, that Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas actually won the election and lost only due to electoral fraud. In 1989, Cárdenas founded Mexico’s most influential leftist opposition, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). As leader of the PRD, Cárdenas ran for president twice more (in 1994 and 2000), and became the first elected Mayor of Mexico City in 1997. Today Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas continues to fight for a more democratic Mexico, struggle recognized when he was awarded The Notre Dame Prize for Distinguished Public Service in Latin America in 2010.
Special (Global, Comparative, Thematic, etc.)
All majors must take one course from four of the department’s six breadth categories. The following courses satisfy major breadth category #6 (Special). See individual descriptions for courses that also satisfy the major’s pre-1500 requirement or other major breadth categories.
History 20985 (CRN: 29121)
History of Science from Newton
MALONE
TR 2:00
What do we mean by “science”? Our current conceptions of science differ dramatically from 17th-century views, a difference underscored by the fact that the word “scientist” was not coined until the 1830s. In this course we will focus on natural science in the western world, how science was practiced and used from the time of Isaac Newton to the 20th century. We will examine how the physical and the biological sciences became specialized, with in-depth looks at chemical science, science and religion, geology, medicine, and evolution. Primary texts will supplement a course text. Students will be expected to participate in class.
History 30993 (CRN: 28689)
The Global Environment: Capitalism, Socialism, Fascism and Nature
THOMAS
TR 5:00
The question that this course asks is which political formations have been most conducive to environmentally sustainable communities and why. Historians have long been interested in political questions about power, state structures, democracy, and economic development, but only now, with the emergence of the global environmental crisis, is the relationship between politics and ecology becoming clearer. This course has four sections. It begins by examining the contemporary phenomenon of “climate collapse” and the problem of how to conceptualize this global problem historically. We then turn to the issue of which social values and modes of production and consumption have caused this dramatic transformation of our planet, tracing the effects of state formation and industrial development. Using major books, essays, and film, we compare capitalist, socialist, and fascist approaches to the nature. The purpose of the course is to provide students with a firm grasp of environmental problems and their relation to political communities.
History 30995 (CRN: 26894)
War & the Modern World
SOARES
MW 4:30
Warfare has long been a persistent fact of international life; since 1914 it has involved many nations and peoples; triggered numerous diplomatic efforts to prevent, end or gain from it; brought so many political, social and technological transformations; and inspired cultural representations ranging from high art to the most crass commercial exploitation. To make sense of war and its impact on affected peoples and nations, this course will use a variety of readings, films and art to examine selected conflicts in different parts of the world since the outbreak of World War I.
History 30996 (CRN: 29496)
History of the Environmental Sciences
HAMLIN
TR 11:00
This course is a survey of the scientific study of the environment. While we begin with ancient representations of how and why nature works as it does, most attention will be given to the period after 1750. The course focuses jointly on synthetic, analytical, and normative aspects: that is, we will be concerned equally with 1) recognition of bio-geo-chemical systems and cycles, including those which circulate energy and various forms of matter; 2) with the emergence of key analytical techniques that allow assessment of environmental quality; and 3) with the application of this knowledge to policy: what changes did it imply, to what institutions, and how were these rationalized? The course will be concerned throughout with the institutions within which these inquiries were conducted and their results applied to public decision-making. Topics include: the ”wisdom of God” literature of the early modern period, the emergence of agricultural chemistry, approaches to the study of population dynamics, recognition and responses to industrial pollution, the impact of Darwinian perspectives, the emergence and development of ecological science, and the relation of environmental science to public health in the local and global commons. Requirements will include exams, a short essay, and presentations.
Special Major Courses (Open only to History Majors)
History Workshop (History 33000)
This course is a requirement for – and open only to – History majors. Designed as a gateway into the major program, it should be taken the semester after the student has declared the major, and it must be taken by the end of the junior year. 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.
History 33000 01 (CRN: 20411)
BEDERMAN
TR 9:30
History 33000 02 (CRN: 20273)
MCKENNA
TR 11:00
History 33000 03 (CRN: 28695)
OCOBOCK
MW 1:30
History 33005 (CRN: 23885)
Exploring History Beyond the Classroom
GRAFF
TR 12:30 PM
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 session, 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; other students may seek permission from the Director of Undergraduate Studies (dgraff@nd.edu).
History 35000 (CRN: 23461)
History Internship
GRAFF
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 25-page paper. Every major (except those undertaking a senior thesis in the History Honors Program) must take at least one of these courses, ideally in the area of concentration.
History 40180 (CRN: 25005)
Gandhi’s India
SENGUPTA
TR 3:30
The dominant figure in India’s nationalist movement for nearly thirty years, Mohandas Karamchand “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? How central to his politics was his critique of "modern civilization?" Films and other media will be used as necessary. Though helpful, a prior knowledge of Indian history is not required for this course. History majors may use this course to satisfy the Department Seminar requirement if they arrange with the instructor to write a longer research paper.
History 40297 (CRN: 28696)
Knighthood and Chivalry in Medieval Europe
BOULTON
TR 3:30
The principal object of this course is to introduce students to the history, historical sources, and modern historiography of the status that by 1050 conveyed on its occupants the title chevalier in French and from 1066 the title cniht or knyght in English, and that from 1160 was increasingly regarded as embodying both the social function and the ideals of the nobilities of Latin Christendom. It will follow this history from the emergence of the first caballarii or ‘horsemen’ in the Frankish empire around 800, when they were simple heavy-cavalrymen with no distinctive social status, through the expansion of their numbers and perfection of their classic equipment and tactics and the emergence of their distinctive sports after about 1050, the adoption of their title and status by their noble lords and employers after about 1100, the fusion of the surviving ignoble professional knightage with the noble knightage after 1200 to produce the classic noble knight, and the gradual decline in the number of knights and the distinctiveness of their military rôle between about 1200 and about 1450. It will first examine knighthood from a strictly military perspective — for knights remained heroic warriors at least to 1430, and their armour and arms underwent considerable evolution down to and even beyond that date. It will then go on to examine the more important of the Arthurian romances and treatises of various sorts that provided the increasingly noble knights with a distinctive ideology related to pseudo-historical origins in Graeco-Roman Antiquity and golden age in the time of the legendary British king Arthur. It will conclude with a review of the history of our modern understanding of knighthood as a military, social, and cultural phenomenon in the works composed by historians between 1759 (when the tradition began) and the present, which will among other things reveal the fact that historians misled themselves from the beginning by inventing and centring their attention on the concept of ‘chivalry’, which in the form usually understood existed as a real social force only between about 1815 and 1939. The course will be conducted as a seminar, so that students will be responsible in rotation for introducing the readings of the day, and playing an active part in the discussions of it. Written work will consist either of two research papers of about nine pages or one paper of about eighteen on one of the themes of the course. History majors may use this course to satisfy the Department Seminar requirement if they arrange with the instructor to write a longer research paper.
History 43406 (CRN 29133)
Seminar: The Great War
DEAK
TR 5:00
This departmental seminar will focus on the rich and various historiography of the First World War in several dimensions: Global History, International Politics, Military History, Political Economy, the history of Europe, and the domestic politics of the various combatants. Additionally, we will be reading more recent treatments of the war: its effect on the social state, the home front, literature, poetry, and historical memory. As this is a departmental seminar, the course is geared to the student’s production of a substantial research paper. To this end the first half of the course will consist of seminar meetings to discuss the wide range of historiography; the reading will be greater and more intensive than in a typical course and students will read diligently to throw themselves selflessly into the material. In addition, we will be using class time to explore resources available in the library and online to assist you in your research and writing. After surviving the trenches of historiography, students will go over the top themselves. During the second half of the course, our focus will be the production and successful completion of a substantial research paper totaling approximately twenty-five pages. Class meetings and scheduled small group and one-on-one meetings during the second half of the course will focus on the research, writing, and revision of your work. The strong and the lucky will survive….
History 43604 (CRN: 25816)
Seminar: U.S. Civil War Era
NOLL
MW 1:30
The primary goal of this course is for students to write a substantial research paper on a topic involving some aspect of American history in the era of the Civil War. Roughly the first half of the course will be devoted to intensive readings in major secondary sources, introduction to period newspapers available through the library, and some viewing of Civil War films—but all aimed at student selection of a topic for research. During the second half, students will be coached on bibliography, research strategies, writing, and re-writing, and they will take part in ongoing discussion of the individual projects that class members are researching. Student projects are by no means limited to military subjects, but may deal with social, economic, religious, gender, biographical, literary, or other aspects of U.S. history during the Civil War era.
History 43900 (CRN: 29138)
Seminar: The Sixties in the Americas
PENSADO
MW 3:00
This is a seminar on the sixties in the Americas primarily designed for advanced undergraduate history students. While assignments will attempt to cover most of the hemisphere, the seminar will concentrate the discussion on the “long sixties” (c.1955-c1977) in the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina. In particular, students will be asked to explore a social, cultural, or political movement of the Americas of their choice during the long sixties and write a 25-page research paper based on primary sources. The main goal of the seminar is to provide an opportunity for extensive reading in the historiography of the sixties. Upon completion of the course, students will: Become familiarized with the different approaches and methods that historians have used to interpret this period; Explore the differences between primary and secondary sources to write a strong research paper; and Learn how to effectively present their work in progress and critically comment on the works of others.
History Honors Program
These courses are open only to those History majors participating in the History Honors Program.
History 53001 (CRN 20518)
History Honors Methodology
LYANDRES
T 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
This course is open only to juniors in the Department of History Honors Program. It has two goals: (1) to introduce students to theoretical and practical foundations of historical method; and (2) to help get students started on their honors research. During the first half of the semester, we will discuss and practice key aspects of historical method, providing a structure for students to start their own research. During the second half of the semester, students will work on multiple drafts of their research proposals, develop a bibliography, and begin their research in primary sources. By the end of the semester, students are expected to select theses directors and secure their consent in writing. This course will also try to assist students in planning and budgeting their time toward the goal of minimizing the stress and maximizing the intellectual rewards of participating in the honors program.
History 58004 (CRN: 29134)
Senior Honors Thesis
GRAFF
History Honors Program seniors only. In the fall and spring of the senior year, the history honors student will work on a thesis (40 to 80 pages) under the supervision of a specific faculty member.
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