The Department of History

Course Descriptions

FALL 2020

The courses described in the booklet are divided into three categories.
Those numbered in the 100's and 200's are designed as introductions to the
study of the various regions of the world. Although any undergraduates
may take these courses, they are aimed at the freshmen and sophomore
level. The courses numbered in the 300's and 400's are specialized classes
for juniors and seniors. The numbers were given in a haphazard fashion
and there is no difference between the 300- and 400- level courses. The
Department does not have courses specifically for juniors or for seniors.
The courses numbered in the 500's & 600’s are seminars and are usually
limited to graduate students.

The courses are listed in numerical order. However, not all courses offered
by the History Department are in this booklet.

If more than one section of a course is offered, please check the name of
the instructor to make sure you are reading the description of the correct
section.

For further information contact any member of the History Department,

1104 Mesa Vista Hall, telephone 505-277-2451.

History Graduate Director is Professor Jason Smith, Mesa Vista Hall

2098, telephone 505-277-0172. E-Mail jssmith@unm.edu

History Undergraduate Advisor is Professor Fred Gibbs, Mesa Vista Hall

1077, telephone 505-277-1409.
E-Mail fwgibbs@unm.edu

The Department Chair is Professor Judy Bieber, Mesa Vista Hall 1104,
telephone 505-277-2451. E-Mail jbieber@unm.edu

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MAJOR AND MINOR REQUIREMENTS IN HISTORY
Revised 2014
History Major Requirements:

The History Department allows students great latitude in creating a course of study that will
reflect their interests and career objectives. A History major requires a total of thirty-six hours of
study, with twelve at the lower-division (four courses) and twenty-four (eight courses) at the
upper-division level. At the lower-division level, students must complete one survey series, and
may choose any other two courses from the remaining surveys including History of New Mexico
to complete the 12 hours of required lower-division coursework. Students may choose from
History 101-102 (Western Civilization), History 161-162 (U.S.), History 181-182 (Latin
America), History 251-252 (Eastern Civilization), History 260 (History of New Mexico). At the
upper-division level, students may choose any history course at the 300 or 400 level, but all
students are required to include History 491 (Historiography) OR History 492 (Senior Seminar).
Students should take the survey courses that will prepare them for upper-division courses they
wish to take in the areas of study offered by the Department. If students wish to follow the
traditional history major, they will choose three different geographical or chronological areas of
interest and enroll in at least two upper-division courses in each area. This program gives majors
a broad, liberal arts background. Students may also choose to develop an area of concentration
or select courses that will prepare them for graduate or professional school in a particular area. In
consultation with a professor, students may undertake independent study (History 496), which
gives them the opportunity to investigate a subject of their own choice, reading and holding
discussions on an individual basis with the professor. Excellent students (those with an overall
GPA of 3.00 or better) are also encouraged to participate in the History Honors Program, in
which a student works closely with a faculty advisor to research and write a senior thesis. Course
work for the History Honors Program includes History 491 (Historiography), History 492
(Senior Seminar), History 493 (Research) and History 494 (Thesis Preparation).

History Minor Requirements:

The History Minor requires twenty-one hours of study (seven courses). Students may choose
from any two lower-division courses (100-200 level) and any five upper-division courses (300-
400 level). Students are encouraged to establish their own program and to select courses that
contribute to their major field of study and that support their individual interests and career goals.

Dr. Fred Gibbs, Associate Professor

History Undergraduate Advisor
fwgibbs@unm.edu
Mesa Vista Hall 1077
Phone: 277-1409
History Department: 277-2451
History Department Website: history.unm.edu

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History 1110-001: US History to 1877
Instructor: Staff TR 3:30-4:45
CRN:64836

History 1110-002: US History to 1877

Instructor: Spence
2H MW 3:00-5:30
CRN: 64835

This 3-credit course offers a fast-paced, broad, yet in-depth overview of the origins of the United
States in European imperialism and colonialism in North America from the 16th through the 19th
centuries. It tracks how the new nation established itself, transitioned to an expansive democracy,
and then nearly died but instead found a “new birth of freedom” through civil war.  The course
concludes in 1898, with the questions: “What was the nature of the U.S. at the end of the
nineteenth-century? Was it a political formation completely new and different from those that
had come before? Or was it, like its antecedents, a colonial and imperial power in its own right,
different in name only?”

History 1120-001: US History since 1877

Instructor: Prior MWF 1:00-1:50
CRN: 64847

This course focuses on exploring the intricacies of modern American history from 1877 to the
present. The assignments for this course will help you cultivate your skills at critical
interpretation and essay writing and will familiarize you with professional-quality historical
scholarship. We will explore several topics, including the legacies of the Civil War, the Gilded
Age and Progressive Era, American involvement in World War I and World War II, the Great
Depression, the 1950s, the Civil Rights Movement, the Cold War, and the rise of modern
conservatism.

History 1150-001: Western Civilization to 1648

Instructor: Davis-Secord MWF 11:00-11:50
CRN: 64817

This course will trace the development of societies in the West from the first human settlements
in the ancient Near East, through the Greek and Roman worlds and their legacies in the Islamic
and Christian Middle Ages, and up to the Protestant Reformation and the discovery of the
Americas in the early modern period in Europe. We will roughly cover the period from 10,000
B.C.E. to 1648 C.E. Course lectures, readings, and discussions will focus primarily on what we
call “western” civilization, but always with a view to connections and comparisons with the rest
of the world. We will ask what constitutes “civilization” and why make the “western” distinction

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at the same time that we see global inter-connection and mutual influence across the eastern
hemisphere. Major themes of this course will include the development and diffusion of
monotheistic religions, various models for social organization, dominant paradigms of political
and economic power, and the cultural and intellectual heritage of Europe and the Mediterranean
region.

History 1150- 001: Western Civilization to 1648

Instructor: Monahan ONLINE
CRN:
2H

This course explores the creation and transformation of “Western Civilization” from the
emergence of Near Eastern river valley civilizations until the Reformation in the sixteenth-
century. Given the extended time period under consideration, this course is not a comprehensive
survey, but explores how religion, “the state”, and commerce have contributed to the creation of
“the West.” There are two primary objectives in this course.  The first concerns content:  to
familiarize students with major events and developments of Ancient, Medieval, and Early
modern history of “Western” civilizations.  The second objective pertains to skills:  to improve
as analysts and writers, as well as to gain an appreciation for the historian’s skills by interpreting
primary sources and formulating historical questions.  Students must consistently attend
meetings and submit high-quality written work for successful completion of the course.

History 1150- 001: Western Civilization to 1648

Instructor: Steen ONLINE
CRN:
2H
The lectures and reading in the course will explore the formation of social and political
institutions in Europe from 1648 to the present.  Intellectual, religious, and economic matters
will receive considerable attention also, but the basic organization of the course will be
concerned with describing the general characteristics of European civilization in the modern
period.  Most of the required readings will be from the literature of the time itself and students
will be expected to make use of that material in preparing essay assignments.  There will be two
out of class essay assignments, one mid-term exam and a final.  Students who wish to earn
additional credit may prepare an optional paper.  All students will have the opportunity to
participate in review sessions, which will be held at a time to be arranged with the class.

History 1160-001: Western Civilization post 1648

Instructor: Richardson MWF 12:00-12:50
CRN: 64830

These student centered and directed linked courses offer participants opportunities to explore
historical characters and events using theatrical techniques. Students will examine various

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components that comprise theatre, such as acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, scenic and
costume design, stagecraft, spectatorship, history, theory, and criticism. Students will also
participate in a series of historical role-playing games, in which they will “re-play” history
through the eyes of those who lived through it.

HIST 1160-603: Western Civilization post 1648: Playing the Past

Instructor: Richardson TR 2:00-3:15
CRN: 64831

Why study history when you can live it? In this First-Year Learning Community, students will
learn about turning points in modern history by playing a series of in-depth role-playing games.
In addition, they will hone their acting skills in a linked course in Beginning Acting.

Please note: this course is restricted to students in their first year and first semester at UNM.

History 1170-001: Survey of Early Latin America

Instructor: Gauderman MWF 10:00-10:50
CRN: 64853

History 1190-001: The Medieval World TR 9:30-10:45

Instructor: Graham
CRN: 68696

This course offers a broad orientation to Western culture during the Middle Ages by surveying
the history, literature, art, and spirituality of the West during the thousand-year period from the
fall of the Roman Empire to the eve of the Renaissance. This was an especially fertile epoch
during which there evolved ideas, institutions, and forms of cultural expression of enduring
importance, many of them still influential today. Far from being a long interlude of darkness and
stagnation separating Antiquity from the Renaissance, the Middle Ages were a time of vibrant
transformation, of innovative developments in many areas of human endeavor. Yet, while
medieval men and women sowed the seeds for changes whose impact can still be detected today,
medieval habits of thought and action differed in fundamental ways from those of our
contemporary world. This course will highlight, investigate, and seek to explain what is most
typical and most significant in the culture of the Middle Ages through a multi-faceted approach
focusing on a broad range of texts and artifacts. The course will introduce students to several of
the great vernacular works of the Middle Ages, including Beowulf, The Song of Roland, Dante’s
Divine Comedy, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales; will cover such key topics as the evolution of
rulership and the beginnings of parliamentary democracy; and will provide an orientation to
major cultural breakthroughs, including the evolution of the manuscript book, the origins of the
university system of education, and the development of the architecture of Gothic cathedrals.
The overall aim of the course is to provide a well-rounded assessment and evaluation of the most
significant developments during this rich historical period.

History 2110-001: History of New Mexico

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Instructor: Garcia y Griego TR 2:00-3:15
CRN: 64856

History 2256-001: East Asian History

Instructor: Ray, Shatam MWF 9:00-9:50
CRN:

History 300-001 T: Great Battles in History

Instructor: Richardson MWF 2:00-2:50
CRN: 559692

Battles matter. These moments of crisis reveal the best and the worst elements of human nature.
They serve as case studies of strategic and tactical thinking. And they can open a window onto
social and cultural issues that reach far beyond the limits of the field of conflict. In this course,
we will study a series of battles—ranging across space and time, from Salamis to the Somme,
Tenochtitlán to the Tet Offensive—that changed history.

History 300/500-002: T: Intro to Digital Archives and Storytelling

Instructor: Gibbs  
CRN:55945/62404
                                                MWF 9:00-9:50
New digital recording technologies, sophisticated web publishing platforms, and ubiquitous
internet access are fundamentally altering the nature of the archive. Far from the typical
perception of an archive as shelves of dusty boxes full of administrative records, modern digital
archives present everything from vanishing folk wisdom to the experience of everyday life in the
form of oral histories, historic photos, soundscapes, and personal videos. By preserving the
mundane as much as the extraordinary, they are creating a historical record of unprecedented
diversity that enables new kinds of historical perspectives and narratives. Embracing the values
of postcolonial, post-custodial, community-based archives, we’ll cover both established and
emergent processes and technologies to collect and organize digital cultural heritage materials.
We’ll also explore various strategies for using these new archives to shape national, global, and
regional narratives, histories, and memories. 

This course explores the political and social history of twentieth century Mexico, from the
turmoil of the 1910 revolution to the era of neoliberalism and the “drug war.” We pay particular
attention to roots of social discontent and the questions of equality and democracy, framed by the
winding process of consolidation and decline of the post-revolutionary state, and the
mobilization of workers, peasants, students, guerrilla organizations, intellectuals, women,
indigenous peoples, and the urban middle class. By examining these histories of dissent, protest,
and rebellion, the course provides a critical take on the creation, exertion, and contestation of
power in Mexico and a historical perspective on the lasting legacies and contradictions of its
seemingly “unfinished” revolution

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History 300 LAS 360/-001: Latin America Culture and Society
Instructor: Herŕan Ȧvila TR 2:00-3:15
CRN:

History 300-00: T: Global Environmentalism

Instructor: Ray, Shatam                                                         MWF 1:00-1:50
CRN:

History 300-00: T: Global India

Instructor: Ray, Shatam                                                         MW 3:00-4:15
CRN:

History 300/500 : Food Ways Across the U.S. Mexico Border

Instructor: Massoth MWF 2:00-
250
CRN:

Tortillas, Chile, and Chocolate are not only delicious but are vital ingredients for many people’s
national and ethnic identities. Ethnic foods have remained at the heart of cultural customs, social
interactions, and political tensions. At the same time, our beliefs about food have changed over
time.
This course explores the transnational history of the foodways and foodstuffs that connect
Mexico and much of the United States. This course offers a broad overview of the many themes
in Indigenous, Latinx and Chicanx food studies spanning from the pre-Columbian era to the
present. We will examine how various food cultures have enriched the nation of Mexico and the
cuisine and people of the United States, while also presenting tensions and differences. Using
both historical and cultural studies approaches, we will discuss the bodily, societal, cultural,
political, and territorial transformations that occur as people produce, prepare, and consume
foodstuffs on a daily basis. Students will explore the history, as well as contemporary issues, of
Native American, Mexican, Mexican American, and borderlands foodways in both the United
States and Mexico. The discussion will focus on issues of authenticity, appropriation, gender
roles, regional variations, and the politics of eating or eating politics.

                                                       

History 326-001: History of Christianity to 1517

Instructor: Ray, D. ONLINE
CRN:

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This course covers the history of Christianity from its beginnings in Palestine to the eve of the
Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. This was a period of major growth and
development for Christianity, but also a time in which the Church faced significant crises and
underwent fundamental changes. We will see Christianity emerge from early challenges to
become the official religion of the Roman Empire and then define many aspects of life during the
Middle Ages. Primary focus will be on the rich variety of forms—doctrinal, liturgical, artistic,
intellectual, and institutional—that Christianity assumed throughout this period.

Following an orientation and introduction, this course is divided into three units of five weeks
each. Each unit covers roughly 500 years. There is an exam at the end of each unit. Each week
you will have a variety of tasks to complete, including reading assignments, lecture slideshows,
videos, quizzes, and assignments that will develop your reading, comprehension, integration,
discussion, and writing skills.

History 328-001 : Early History of Science

Instructor: Campos MWF 1:00-1:50
CRN: 68697

From the earliest astronomical and medical practices of the ancients at the dawn of history to the
remarkable early modern moment known as the “Scientific Revolution,” this course surveys the
history of science from the oldest surviving texts in the world to the supreme place granted to
science and reason in the European Enlightenment. We will begin with the earliest Egyptian and
Mesopotamian inscriptions, and explore the remarkable flourishing of ancient Greek science and
philosophy. We will investigate the further development of ancient knowledge in medieval
Arabic lands, follow the appropriation of ancient and Arabic knowledge by medieval Europeans,
trace the emergence of the early modern sciences (especially those of the heavens and the
discovery that the earth is not the center of the universe), and conclude by analyzing the place of
science in the aftermath of Newton’s theory of universal gravitation, the symbolic keystone of
the Enlightenment. By studying key moments, figures, texts, and events in the history of
humanity’s study of the natural world, we will come to better understand the nature of scientific
knowledge and scientific practice, the development of science over time and across cultures, and
the relationship of science to other forms of knowledge. No scientific background is necessary.

History 337/-001: US Military History to 1900

Instructor: Jefferson TR 8:00-9:15
CRN:68698

Adopting a thematic and topical approach, this course examines the recent events from the end of
World War II to the present with an emphasis on Atomic Age; Cold War politics and culture;
reform movements and the politics of change (Civil Rights, the War on Poverty and the Great
Society, the New Left, Feminism, Environmentalism, and Neo-Conservatism); War and Society;
and the era of globalization and the emerging neo-isolationism of the late twentieth century.
Through a close examination of a wide range of texts including graphic histories, films, music,
novels, and primary material, the course seeks to help students develop analytical skills that will

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allow them to engage American history as a way of gaining a greater sense of how and why we
are the way we are and what we have become today.

History 345/545: History of Women 1700-1920

Instructor: Massoth MWF 10:00-10:50
CRN

This course offers a broad overview of the history of women in North America from 1700 to the
1920s. As 2020 is the 100-year anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment in the United States,
we are going to use this as an opportunity to do a close reading on the history of women’s
suffrage from the pre-colonial period until the Nineteenth Amendment. While focusing on the
larger history of women in North America, the course will supplement each historical era under
discussion with a microhistory of women’s political clamoring for suffrage during that period. A
special emphasis will be placed on the experience of women in the North American West across
the intersections of class, ethnicity, and race. This course will use the lenses of intersectionality,
citizenship, and feminism to explore the history of women, gender politics, and women’s
activism in the United States. We will focus on how women’s historical experiences challenge
our understanding of the traditional narrative of women’s suffrage, the vote, and citizenship in
the larger narrative of U.S. history.

The course will encourage students to come to terms with the different meanings of women’s
subordination, agency, and resistance across the range and at the intersections of their ethnic,
racial, class, and regional experiences. We will critically analyze the history of how women
understood their place in society, how they defined citizenship, how the nation understood
women’s citizenship and place in society, and how these concepts changed over time and status.
By the end of the semester, students will be able to engage critically with the categories of
gender and race as historical and cultural constructions and will understand how women
grappled with the competing definitions of citizenship, activism, and feminism from ~1700 to
1920.

History 348/500-00: Native America, since 1940

Instructor: Connell -Szasz TR 11:00-12:15
CRN: 68699

Between 1940 and the present, Indian Country has come through incredible change and cultural
persistence. This class will enable students to gain further understanding of the experiences of
American Indians/Alaska Natives/Native Hawaiians in the decades after World War II. We will
look at several major eras: the war itself and its impact on Indian Country; US government
retrenchment of Indian policy, leading to Termination and Relocation; the years of the 1960s and
1970s, often dubbed “Red Power”, and the era of Self-Determination. The course will rely on
readings, discussion, lectures, guest speakers, film. Assignments will include creating a map,
response papers written during class, a mid-term, and a research essay.

History 349/-001: US Military History to 1900

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Instructor: Hutton TR 12:30-1:45
CRN: 68700

This course is a survey of the origins and development of American military institutions,
traditions, and practices. While blood will indeed flow freely as we slog across numerous
battlefields, the development of military technology and administration will also be emphasized.
We will also deal with questions regarding the nature of war and our warlike or non-warlike
character as a nation.

History 371/571/-001: History of Early Mexico

Instructor: Gauderman MWF 2:00-2:50
CRN:68701

History 395/595-001: Pre-Modern Cities

Instructor: Ryan TR 8:00-9:15
CRN:

Cities in the premodern era, much like today, were nodes of concentrated cultural innovation,
economic development, political power, and social dynamism. As such, they were vibrant,
complex, contested spaces, defined and made by those who dwelled within them. Extensive
maritime and terrestrial trade routes connected cities across Europe, Asia, and Africa in the
premodern era, allowing the exchange of ideas, natural and man-made objects, flora and fauna,
and pathogens. In this class, we will analyze cities within these and other contexts and see to
what degree they effected changes of various types in the premodern world. We will read and
analyze primary sources, the eyewitness accounts of the people who lived in—or away from—
cities and who remarked about them. By so doing that, we will understand the fundamental
techniques of the study of history. We will also study a variety of secondary sources that have
studied the city in the premodern world. By encountering the many manifestations of what made
the premodern city, students will come away with a more nuanced understanding of the history
of these urban centers and what that can tell us about cities today.

History 395/595-002: Multiculturalism in Europe

Instructor: Guszmann MWF 9:00-9:50
CRN: 61871

This course primarily focus on the theory and practice of multiculturalism, and diversity. We will
discuss what multicultural societies and diaspora mean, what consequence they have, and how
politics and various segments of the majority society responded to them. Current
multiculturalism struggles mainly with concepts such as ‘cultural identity’, ‘intercultural
citizenship’ and ‘otherness’ as they are becoming more and more politicized. The relationship
between the majority and minority population is remarkably fragile considering the
dissatisfaction of ethnic, national, religious and cultural communities that seeking more
recognition from the nation-states. The democratic states are urged to give immediate attention to
these voices, however, they tend to fail to provide adequate answers. Even when they are,

10
ideally, committed to the principle of equal opportunities for all citizens. The course will
examine the theoretical and practical connotations of multiculturalism, and diversity in
contemporary Europe.
The course will develop 1) critical thinking by adapting theories to analyze current multicultural
issues, 2) research skills by analyzing demographic data, 3) problem-solving competences by
discussing conflict resolution ideas.
Students will be graded based upon class participation (40%), a midterm (20%), and final exam
(40%). Class participation includes attendance and contributions to discussions.
Supplemental readings are available at https://learn.unm.edu and/or through full text providers
like JSTOR or EBSCO. You may print or download the relevant PDF files using Adobe Acrobat
reader (available free on-line) and can print them for free at some computer labs on campus.

History 395/595-003 Nationalisn in Europe

Instructor: Guszmann MWF 12:00-12:50
CRN:  62406    

The main objective of this course is to introduce students to vast range of approaches, policies
and perspectives that explain the emergence of nationalism in both Western and East Central
Europe after 1989. We will analyze selected cases of national identity, ethnicity and xenophobic
nationalist movements in contemporary Europe, both West and East. We will also cover the
theoretical foundations of current nationalism, especially the far-right political movements, and
focus on societal processes affect nationalism and ethnicity.
By the end of this class, students will be able to 1) identify the specifics of nationalist
movements in both Western and East Central Europe, 2) understand the causes of the emergence
of far-right and xenophobia in contemporary Europe, 3) learn the current shifts and turns in
nationalist movements, 4) distinguish among the varieties of ethnic conflicts and politics in
Europe.
The course includes discussion, research and problem-solving activities. We will discuss the
assigned readings, analyze statistical data and work in groups to develop a possible resolution of
a conflict. Regular class participation and attendance are crucial. All of you are required to
complete reading in advance of the day of the discussion. If you cannot come to class due to a
medical or personal reason, please contact me by email as soon as possible to receive an excused
absence for the day.
Your grade will be based upon class participation (40%) and a final 8-10- page research paper
(60%). Class participation includes attendance and contributions to discussions.
Supplemental readings are available at https://learn.unm.edu and/or through full text providers
like JSTOR or EBSCO. You may print or download the relevant PDF files using Adobe Acrobat
reader (available free on-line) and can print them for free at some computer labs on campus.

History 395/595-004: T: Russian Revolution to Putin

Instructor: Monahan  
CRN:     

This course surveys the history of Russia and the Soviet Union from the Russian Revolution to
the present. We will approach this history mostly through literature and journalistic accounts,
and consider them in light of interpretations of professional historians. Topics include:

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intellectual and revolutionary trends in late imperial Russia, Russian Revolution, building
socialism, Stalinism, the Gulag, culture and everyday life in the Soviet Union, the Great
Fatherland War, Cold War, Détente, stagnation, Soviet-Afghan War, end of the Soviet Union,
the Yeltsin years, Putin and the return to Russian authoritarianism, Ukraine-Russia relations,
energy politics, and Russian foreign policy in the 21st century.

History 396-001 History of American Popular Music, Part I: 1830-1940           

Instructor: Ball                                          TR 12:30-1:45
CRN: 68702

History 396-002 Native Women’s History           

Instructor: Guise                                          TR 12:30-1:45
CRN: 68703

Just as you can’t teach United States history without American Indians- you can’t teach
American Indian history without Native women. Indigenous women play a central role in not
only Indigenous history, but also women’s history, and US history. Spanning tribal geographies
and dating from the pre-colonial era to the twenty-first century, students will engage in
scholarship from new Indian history and Indigenous feminist studies. Topical themes over the
course include: a gendered analysis of colonialism, the centrality of Native women during the fur
trade and gold rush eras, an analysis of gender in borderlands studies, Indigenous women and
slavery/captivity, 20th century Native women’s political activism, film and media representations,
Native women’s labor history, the federal government and Indigenous sovereignty, transnational
environmental history, medical history and empire, and envisioning a rematriated future. 

History 396-003 Freedom, Equality and Empire           

Instructor: Prior                                          MWF 11:00-11:50
CRN: 68704

This course will examine the history of the United States from the ending of the Civil War
(1865) up through the decade following the Spanish-American War (1898). It will address topics
such as the process of emancipation in the American South, migration to and across the United
States, the rise of big business across the country, and the growth of American power and
influence on the world stage. The course's key theme will be how struggles over the nature and
meaning of freedom and equality within the United States intersected with and shaped the
country's deepening impact on North America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific World. 

History 396-004 Early American Borderlands           

Instructor: Truett                                          TR 3:30-4:45
CRN: 68705

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In this class, we will approach the broader history of the North American continent from the
perspective of its frontiers and borderlands, from the early colonial era to 1848.  We will begin
on the “borderlands” of European expansion, asking how the Spanish, British, French, and other
colonial powers established new outposts and cultural traditions on a continent claimed by
others.  We will focus on the often-contested relationships between empires and Indians, while
also asking how Europeans fought one another for territorial domination, and how these various
encounters and battles shaped life at the borderlands of both Native communities and European
empires.
 
After tracking Old World cultures onto their expansionist borderlands in North America, we will
examine the complex transition from imperial to national borderlands, from the late eighteenth
century to the mid-nineteenth century, as the United States, Canada, and Mexico began to
assume their current territorial shape as nations.  We will focus not only on the emerging border
regions between these nations, but also the broader Atlantic and Pacific “borderlands” that linked
the continent broader global horizons.  We will end the class in the late 1840s—when the current
borders between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico took shape, opening a new chapter in North
American borderlands history.

History 396-005: Twentieth-Century America, to 1945

Instructor: Smith MWF 12:00-12:50
CRN:

This upper-division course focuses on United States history between 1900 and 1945.  Topics
covered include the emergence of the U.S. as a global power and capitalist hegemon, the Great
Depression and New Deal, the political impact of social movements, political parties and the
growth of the state, the Long Civil Rights movement, along with changes in economic thought
(including some attention to broader developments in culture and the arts) during the period. 
Students are required to demonstrate their grasp of the course through their engagement with the
material covered in our readings, lectures, and discussion.  We will explore how Americans
debated the role of government, the meaning of social justice, and their role in the world as they
forged the New Deal at home and fought fascism abroad. 

History 396-006: Long Civil Rights Movement

Instructor: Jefferson TR 2:00-3:15
CRN:

Using the framework provided by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, this course explores the U.S. Civil
Rights Movement from an extended perspective, both chronologically, thematically, and
ideologically. Employing an expanded analytical lens, we will examine how African Americans
adopted various strategies to realize and affect differing meanings of citizenship from
Reconstruction to the Present. By examining a wide variety of texts, including films, music,
pulp fiction, and a variety of historical perspectives, students will gain a better understanding of
the role of gender and generation as well as the multilayered and multi-dimensional
characteristics of the black struggle for civil rights. The class also permits students to gain a

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greater sense of how the fight for human dignity extended well beyond the boundaries of the
contiguous United States, often connecting with international movements for peace and equality.

History 397/597- Human Rights in   20th Century Latin America

Instructor: Hutchison                                          TR 11:00-12:15
CRN:

 This course will offer an historical perspective on the violation, defense, and institutionalization
of human rights norms in Latin America in the twentieth century. This history begins not with
the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the systematic state violence that
infamously characterized Cold War Latin America, but rather with the longer history of political
activism, legislative debate, and political conflict over labor, indigenous, and gender rights since
the early twentieth century. Although a considerable part of the course will be devoted to the
Cold War military regimes, civil wars, and drug-related violence that contributed to the massive
violation of civil rights throughout the region, this longer periodization will provide students
with the historical context necessary for understanding both the scale of state violence and the
nature of civilian response. We will also examine human rights in Latin America from a global
perspective, considering how international organizations and agreements, as well as foreign
governments, shape the violation and defense of human rights in Latin America. The course will
therefore be organized around two key themes – the transformation of rights-based discourse
across time and interest groups, and the influence of international actors – which will unify our
examination of a variety of distinct human rights movements and national cases. 
 
Undergraduates enrolled in the course must attend lectures, participate in class discussions and
read approximately 100 pages a week, as well as complete a midterm, final exam, and three
response papers and a semester-long research portfolio. Graduate students will also prepare
additional readings, attend several special seminar meetings, and complete a 15-page research
paper or equivalent work approved by the instructor.

History 401/601- Anglo-Saxon England           

Instructor: Graham                                          TR 2:00-3:15
CRN: 68706

This course will offer an overview of the history and culture of England from the arrival of the
Angles and Saxons in the fifth century until the Battle of Hastings of 1066.  These six centuries
form one of the most vibrant and innovative periods of English history, when the foundations of
England’s greatness were first established.  We will cover such diverse topics as the pagan
culture of the early Anglo-Saxons, the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial, the Irish and Roman missions to
England, the Viking invasions, the military and educational campaigns of King Alfred the Great,
Anglo-Saxon manuscript culture, and the Bayeux Tapestry.  The course will center upon the
interpretive study of such primary source materials as the Beowulf poem, Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History of the English People, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.  There will be two papers, in-
class quizzes, and a final examination.

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History 406/606 Medieval and Modern Apocalypse
Instructor: Ryan                                          TR 11:00-12:15
CRN: 68707

Apocalyptic expectations and apprehensions underpin much of what constitutes “Western

Civilization.” But what is the changing definition of “apocalypse”? Originally from the Greek
term meaning “revelation,” the Apocalypse attributed to John the Evangelist was dependent upon
longer, more historic apocalyptic traditions as well as the political and cultural contexts in which
it was composed in the first century C.E. In the twenty-first century, however, apocalyptic
understandings have manifested themselves in contexts surrounding notions of plague and
contagion, the fear of the alien “other,” and in ecological and environmental catastrophe, among
other themes. In this class, we will analyze the changing nature of the apocalypse as a genre of
historical literature. We will read traditional apocalypses within the Abrahamic faiths, trace the
understanding of apocalyptic expectations and apprehensions throughout the Middle Ages and
early modern eras, and investigate what constitutes an apocalyptic scenario within the modern
era.

History 410 History of Diet and Health           

Instructor: Gibbs                                          MWF 11:00-11:50
CRN: 68708

What constitutes healthy food? A healthy diet? This course explores how various cultural and
medical values have continually shaped our relationship with food, diet, and health over the last
200 years. Some questions we'll explore: How have medical authorities continually redefined
what it means to be healthy and what constitutes a healthy diet? How have politics and industry
influenced dietary guidelines and health policies? Why have so many fad diets come into and
gone out of fashion? What can historical perspectives on topics like fast food, GMOs, organic
food, vitamins, and obesity offer contemporary debates on these issues?

History 414 Women and Health in U.S. History

Instructor: Withycombe TR 2:00-3:15
CRN: 68709

When did women's health become about pink ribbons and baby bumps? How did the
development of modern medicine help and hurt women? This course examines the health issues
women have faced and their responses to them from the eighteenth through the twentieth
centuries in the United States. In particular, it explores the personal experiences and the medical
views of women's life-cycle events, the role of women as health care practitioners and activists,
and the effect of gender on the perception of illness.

History 417 History of Modern Medicine

Instructor: Withycombe TR 11:00-12:15
CRN: 68710

This course will investigate the development of the modern medical profession over the last 300
years. We will examine the clinical encounter between patient and healer and how it has been

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shaped by larger social, economic, and political forces. Covering diverse topics such as the
effects of the French Revolution upon the field of medicine, the links between mass urbanization
and nineteenth-century cholera pandemics, the popularization of the lobotomy, and the power of
modern pharmaceutical companies, students will explore how shifting social and cultural values
have motivated changes in thinking about health and healers. 

History 431-001Political History of the U.S.

Instructor: Garcia y Griego TR 9:30-10:45
CRN: 68711

History 433-001: US Environmental History

Instructor: Campos MWF 2:00-3:15
CRN: 68712
This course explores the central place of science in efforts to understand, to use, and to preserve
the natural environment from the eighteenth century to today. We will begin by exploring the
emergence of Western scientific understandings of the environment through natural history,
geology, and biogeography, and the intersection of these sciences with imperialism, colonialism,
and other larger efforts to remake the world. We will relate advances in ecology to novel
practices of exploration, conservation, preservation, and national identity. We will explore
“classic” moments in American environmental history (such as the extinction of the passenger
pigeon) as well as trace the history of the environmental movement itself (from the creation of
National Parks to the publication of Silent Spring to today). We will explore the environmental
legacies of the twentieth century following the rise of the atom, efforts at weather control, insect
eradication (DDT), genetic engineering, and the ongoing challenges of biodiversity conservation.
We will conclude with a historical take on the many varied prospects for our engineered
environmental futures: the challenges of climate change, proposals for planetary geoengineering,
and biotechnological dreams of gene drives and even de-extinction, offering synthetic
environmental futures at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

History 441-001: Religion in American History

Instructor: Ray, D. ONLINE
CRN:

. The United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world, and religion is an integral
part of American social, cultural, and political discourse. In this course, we will look at the
various ways Americans have understood and expressed this important aspect of their identity,
how American culture as a whole has been shaped by religion, and how Americans have dealt
with religious differences historically. The class will cover the rise and development of
American religious movements, from Native American traditions and European colonization to
revivalism and revolution (Unit 1); nineteenth-century religious disestablishment and ferment,
westward expansion, and the emergence of new religious groups (Unit 2); world war and

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ideological upheaval in the twentieth century; and modern challenges vis à vis religion in
communities, schools, and public institutions (Unit 3).

Following an orientation and introduction, this course is divided into the three units above, at
about five weeks each. There is an exam at the end of each unit. Each week you will have a
variety of tasks to complete, including reading assignments, lecture slideshows, videos, quizzes,
and assignments that will develop your reading, comprehension, integration, discussion, and
writing skills.

History 490-001 Modern Europe through Film

Instructor: Florvil TR 3:00-5:30
2H
CRN: 65777

 
In this film course, we will screen a variety of European films that explore multiple concepts
such as identity, colonialism, decolonization, class, immigration, activism, gender, race, and
ethnicity. We will observe how modern European history, its people, institutions, ideas, and
practices have changed by watching films that cover diverse countries and time periods—from
the 1700s to the present. In particular, we will consider and examine a number of themes such as
nationalism, nation building, postwar rebuilding, emotional expression, war, sexual violence,
migration, political activism, and post-socialism. This film course will push students to analyze
the cinematic, aesthetic, and national representations of class, gender, race, and ethnicity,
reflecting on the differences and similarities across time and space from nation to
nation. Through these film screenings and discussions, students will develop critical analytical
and interpretative skills and discover how film can also serve as an important historical and
cultural text. 

History 491-00: Historiography

Instructor: Sanabria MW 10:00-11:15
CRN: 65721

This course is a capstone seminar designed for History majors that will explore the theory of
history and how history is “done” (i.e. historical methodologies) through a careful reading and
discussion of historical documents and texts from classical times to the present. In this seminar
we will not only just look at the “history of History”, but also explore different and influential
approaches to history as well as the philosophical underpinnings that inform our assumptions in
understanding the past, and thereby emerge with a critical understanding of the discipline and
profession of being an historian. By its very nature, a historiography course can never be
“complete,” but we will read widely across geographical and temporal borders, sample a range of

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perspectives on the writing of history, and consider a number of theoretical approaches that have
been especially influential in the field.

Capstone Student Learning Outcomes for History 491 (Historiography)1. By the senior
year, each major will demonstrate ethical use of sources and provide accurate and properly
formatted citations in all formal papers for either capstone course (491 or 492).

2. Each major will demonstrate in their research project(s) for either capstone course (491 or
492) or the Honors research semester (493) the abilities: to distinguish between primary and
secondary sources; to identify and evaluate evidence.

3. Each major will demonstrate, in either capstone course and/or in writing the Honors thesis
(494), the ability to formulate a clear argument, support the argument with appropriate and
thorough evidence, and reach a convincing conclusion.

4. Each major will demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast different processes, modes of
thought, and modes of expression from different historical time periods and in different
geographic areas.

5. Each major will demonstrate in research topic choices and resulting papers the ability to
recognize and articulate the diversity of human experience, including ethnicity, race, language,
sex, gender, as well as political, economic, social, and cultural structures over time and space.

History 492- Sem: Women’s Rights are Human Rights

Instructor: Florvil TR 12:30-1:45
CRN: 60517

When then First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton delivered a speech, entitled “Women’s Rights are
Human Rights,” at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in
1995, she drew on a long tradition of recognizing the dignity and humanity of women. She also
explained how women’s efforts to secure civil, political, economic, and social rights predated
that significant moment. This course focuses on those previous efforts to achieve women’s rights
along with other human rights goals and movements. While this is particularly important given
the centennial of U.S. women’s suffrage, the course will pursue other geographic contexts to
offer a more critical perspective of these efforts to push for citizenship and rights by examining
women across the globe. It explores women’s and their allies’ efforts to secure, maintain,
transform, and contest their treatment and agitate for equitable legislation that acknowledged
their personhood and agency. Exploring multiple international, imperial, national, and local
contexts and spaces and using a range of sources, the course will chart the emergence and
evolution of women’s rights, including the actors, discourses, practices, and movements. The
course will also unpack the relationship between rights and citizenship, belonging,
identity/subjectivity, and politics and how rights impact particular groups (sexes, genders,
classes, races/ethnicities, etc.). Students will grasp an understanding of the utility of women’s

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rights in international campaigns for justice, equality, and dignity and acknowledge continuities
and discontinuities with the past and present.

History 492-001 Sem: The Great Depression and World War II: A Global History
Instructor: Smith MW 1:00-2:15
CRN: 59338

How do nations and their citizens respond to economic depression and war?  This senior seminar
investigates this question by focusing on the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II
(1939-1945).  Students will explore how a global crisis in capitalism helped provoke different
kinds of political responses in the 1930s, which in turn led to the outbreak of a global conflict
that caused more deaths than any other war in history.

We will compare Roosevelt’s New Deal in the United States to a range of other cases, including
the rise of Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany, the growth of militarism in Japan, as well as the
impact of modernization and inequality in Brazil and the USSR, among others.  Topics to be
covered include mass unemployment, the political impact of social movements, the role of
women in the workforce, political parties and the rise of the state, race and the labor movement,
changes in ideology (communism, fascism, and capitalism), wartime mobilization and its impact
on the home front, as well as some broader developments in culture and the arts during the
period.  Readings will include a variety of primary sources and a number of monographs (and/or
excerpts, gathered in a course reader).  Short videos that promote a global or comparative
understanding of the history of this period (such as the award-winning “The Fallen of World War
II,” at http://www.fallen.io/ww2/ ) may also be used.  Students will undertake a number of short
assignments and presentations, designed to culminate in a research paper based on primary
sources. 

History 664-001 Advanced Historiography

Instructor: Bieber M 1:00-3:30
CRN: 27712

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History 666-001 Sem: Global First Peoples
Instructor: Connell-Szasz T 4:00-6:30
CRN: 68719

GLOBAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES will be a mixed reading and research seminar focusing on
Native Peoples through an international and comparative lens ranging across the five-plus
centuries since the “Columbian Exchange”. During the early weeks of semester we will read and
analyze pertinent books and articles through discussion and written evaluations. During the final
weeks of term students will complete drafts of a twenty-five page research essay comparing two
Indigenous Peoples (on different continents) through a thematic lens. All who are involved in the
seminar, including Dr. C-S, will evaluate these essay drafts.. The historical time frame for the
research essays remains flexible but the post-1500 era will be encouraged. Regional and
comparative focus will range across the Americas, the Pacific, Eurasia and Africa. The seminar
is open to students from wide-ranging disciplines and, within History, to those engaged in
multiple fields of interest.

History 668-001 Sem: Medieval Mediterranean

Instructor: Davis-Secord M 4:00-6:30
CRN: 57609

During the Middle Ages, the Mediterranean Sea was the meeting point of three major
civilizations: Latin Europe, the Byzantine Greek Empire, and the Islamic world. In this
geographical arena, many of the fundamental aspects of the pre-modern world found their
expression. Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived in the Mediterranean along shifting frontiers, at
times in both conflict and cooperation. Merchants, pilgrims, diplomats, and warriors traveled
across the sea, often bringing with them cultural, intellectual, or economic products that
contributed to a larger framework of commerce and communication. This course will examine
the Mediterranean Sea, both as a geographical concept and as a stage for such complex
relationships, from the ancient to early modern periods. Themes running throughout the course
will include the following: creation, maintenance, and crossing of boundaries; balance between
violence and cooperation in cross-cultural dialogue; commercial and cultural exchanges; and
both micro- and macro-level relations between the three major civilizations of the Mediterranean
world.

History 671-001 Sem: 19th and 20th Century Ideologies

Instructor: Sanabria W 4:00-6:30
CRN: 68720

This seminar will involve deep reading and study of the contemporary political ideologies and
their various manifestations primarily in Europe beyond the “Long 19th Century,” from
conservative responses to the French Revolution to the rise of fascism before World War II.
While not a seminar in intellectual history—or only intellectual history—a point of departure for
the course is that without an understanding of the major ideologies we cannot understand 19 th
and 20th Century political history, which we continue to grapple every day. In addition to
exploring the ideologies themselves (including but not limited to liberalism, conservatism,

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nationalism, socialism, anarchism, feminism, communism, racism, and fascism), we will explore
the source of their appeal, and the practical use or impact on people’s lives. One of the objectives
of this seminar is lay a solid foundation for comprehensive exam preparations. Non-
Europeanists are welcome as this course may count potentially toward the thematic fields
of politics and economy or the major or minor field in Europe since 1815.

History 682-001: Sem: Western Biography

Instructor: Hutton R 4:00-6:30
CRN: 68721

This course will explore biography as a form of western/frontier historiography with an emphasis
on the perceived conflict between writing styles both academic and popular. Biography as a
common form of approaching historical topics will also be discussed, with several readings on
the “art” of biography. Among the authors read will be Hampton Sides, T.J. Stiles, Mari Sandoz,
and S.C. Gwynne. Students will be responsible for conducting at least one class discussion and
for preparing a short historiographical paper on that week’s topic.

History 690-001: Sem: Historiography of Modern Latin America

Instructor: Hutchison M 4:00-6:30
CRN: 68722

This readings seminar will expose students to scholarship on Latin America and the Caribbean in
the national period – both old and new – focusing our attention on the major issues, theoretical
concerns, and themes that have shaped this field of historical inquiry. The course will first be
grounded in some of the approaches that have long dominated the field (marxism, dependency
analysis, political and national histories), and then we will focus on research monographs
published in the last ten years in order to evaluate the impact of newer paradigms (including
environmental, gender/sexuality, and transnational history) on the practice of Latin American
history. Course readings, discussions, and assignments will directly support students’
preparation for graduate research and/or examinations in the field of modern Latin American
History.

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