Course Descriptions

Lectures: Ancient, Medieval, Jewish, and Modern European History

HIST BC 1062
Introduction to Later Middle Ages: 1050–1450
Social environment, political, and religious institutions, and the main intellectual currents of
the Latin West studied through primary sources and modern historical writings.
—J. Kaye
3 points.
 

HIST BC 1101
Introduction to European History: Renaissance to French Revolution
Political, economic, social, religious, and intellectual history of early modern Europe, including
the Renaissance, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, absolutism, Scientific Revolution, and
Enlightenment.
—D. Valenze
3 points.
 

HIST BC 1302
Introduction to European History: French Revolution to the Present
Emergence of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary mass political movements; European
industrialization, nationalism, and imperialism; 20th-century world wars, the Great Depression,
and Fascism.
—L. Tiersten
3 points.

HIST BC 3062
Medieval Intellectual Life
The development over three centuries of a language of the heart, of the intellect, and of the
policy.  Primary readings in devotional and courtly literature, university speculation, and
political thought, discussed in their historical and cultural contexts.
—J. Kaye
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3116
 Filthy Lucre: A History of Money
 Examining the history of money and the history of ways of thinking about money. We investigate how different monetary forms developed and how they have shaped and been shaped by culture, society, and politics. Tracing money from gift-giving societies to the European Monetary Union, the focus is on early modern Europe.  
—C. Wennerlind
3 points.


HIST BC 3180
Merchants, Pirates, and Slaves in the Making of Atlantic Capitalism:  1600-1800
Examines how the Atlantic Ocean and its boundaries were tied together through the flow of people, goods, and ideas.  Studies the cultures of the communities formed by merchants, pirates, and slaves; investigates how their interactions and frictions combined to shape the unique combination of liberty and oppression that characterizes early modern capitalism. 
—C. Wennerlind
3 points.
 

Hist BC 3230
Central Europe: Nations, Cultures, and Ideas                                                                                           The making and re-making of Central Europe as place and myth from the Enlightenment to post-Communism.  Focuses on the cultural, intellectual, and political struggles of the peoples of this region to define themselves.  Themes include modernization and backwardness, rationalism and censorship, nationalism and pluralism, landscape and the spatial imagination. 
—D. Coen                                                                                     
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3305
Bodies and Machines
This course situates key scientific and technological innovations of the
modern era in their cultural context by focusing on the interactions
between bodies and machines. Through our attention to bodily experience
and material culture, we will explore the ways in which science and
technology have shaped and been shaped by the culture of modernity. 
—D. Coen
3 points.

HIST BC 3321
Colonial Encounters
The shaping of European cultural identity through encounters with non-European cultures
from 1500 to the post-colonial era.  Novels, paintings, and films will be among the sources used
to examine such topics as exoticism in the Enlightenment, slavery and European capitalism,
Orientalism in art, ethnographic writings on the primitive, and tourism.
—L. Tiersten
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3323
European Women in the Age of Revolution, 1700–1800
An exploration of the origins of the “modern” European woman:  changing political and legal definitions
of women; new concepts of women’s work and authority during industrialization; women’s
involvement in religion and reform; emergence of socialist and feminist critiques of 19th-century
womanhood.
—D. Valenze
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3329
Crime and Punishment in Modern Europe
The comparative social, political, and cultural history of crime, policing, and punishment in
modern Europe from 1500 to the present day.  Historical literature as well as novels, films, and
works of criminology will be used to explore the institutions, practices, and politics that have
constituted the modern disciplinary system.
—L . Tiersten
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3380
Social and Cultural History of Food in Europe
Course enables students to focus on remote past and its relationship to social context and political and economic structures; students will be asked to evaluate evidence drawn from documents of the past, including tracts on diet, health, and food safety, accounts of food riots, first-hand testimonials about diet and food availability. A variety of perspectives will be explored, including those promoted by science, medicine, business, and government.
—D. Valenze
3 points.

Seminars: Ancient, Medieval, Jewish, and Modern European History
All seminars require permission of the instructor. Enrollment is limited to 15.

INSM C3940
Interdepartmental Seminar (INSM) examining the development of scientific thought from antiquity till the time of the European Renaissance, with attention to both the Islamic and Christian world. The purpose of the course is to expose the students to original scientific writings (all available in English translations) from various cultures and from differing historical periods in order to provide examples of the process by which scientific thinking itself has developed. As such, the course will NOT be a survey of scientific thought from ancient times till the Renaissance, but will use specific scientific examples from that time span to illustrate various strategies of scientific thought.
—J. Kaye and G. Saliba


HIST BC 4062
Medieval Economic Life and Thought ca. 1000–1500
Traces the development of economic enterprises and techniques in their cultural context:  agricultural
markets, industry, commercial partnerships, credit, large-scale banking, insurance, and merchant
culture.  Examines usury and just price theory, the scholastic analysis of price and value, and the
recognition of the market as a self-regulating system, centuries before Adam Smith.
—J. Kaye
4 points.


HIST BC 4064
Medieval Science and Society
The evolution of scientific thinking from the 12th to the 16th centuries, considering subjects such as
cosmology, natural history, quantification, experimentation, the physics of motion, and Renaissance
perspective.  At every point we link proto-scientific developments to social and technological developments
in the society beyond the schools.
—J. Kaye
4 points.

HIST BC 4117
Ritual, Revel, and Riot: Popular Culture in Europe, 1400-1800
An examination of the development of popular culture in Europe in the early modern era.  This course will look at the ritual year, carnival, images of the body and food in popular culture as well as the role of charivari, riots, and revolts in policing the community.  Finally, the impact of high culture on low culture will be examined.
—A. Plaa
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4119
Capitalism and Enlightenment 
Traces the lively debates amongst the major European Enlightenment figures about the formation of capitalism.  Was the new market society ushering in an era of wealth and civilization or was it promoting corruption and exploitation?  Particular emphasis on debates about commerce, luxury, greed, poverty, empire, slavery, and liberty. 
—C. Wennerlind
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4323
The City in Europe
A social history of the city in Europe from early modern times; the economic, political, and intellectual
forces influencing the growth of Paris, London, Vienna, and other urban centers.
—D. Valenze
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4324
Vienna and the Birth of the Modern
This course looks as Vienna from the 1860s through the 1930s as the site of intellectual, political, and aesthetic responses to the challenges of modern urban life.  Through readings in politics, literature, science, and philosophy, as well as through art and music, we explore three contested elements of personal identity: nationality, sexuality, and rationality.
—D. Coen
4 points.


HIST BC 4327
Consumer Culture in Modern Europe
The development of the modern culture of consumption, with particular attention to the formation of
the woman consumer.  Topics include commerce and the urban landscape, changing attitudes toward
shopping and spending, feminine fashion and conspicuous consumption, and the birth of advertising.
Examination of novels, fashion magazines, and advertising images.
—L. Tiersten
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4332
The Politics of Leisure in Modern Europe
Transformations in the culture of leisure from the onset of industrialization to the present day.
Relations between elite and popular culture and the changing relationship between the work world
and the world of leisure will be among the topics considered in such settings as the department
store, the pub, the cinema, and the tourist resort.
—L. Tiersten
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4335
Poverty and the Social Order in Europe
Historical study of poverty and social formations from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century.
Topics include institutional responses to vagrancy in the 17th century; religion and the rise of capitalism;
crime and the poor; philanthropy and the state; and motherhood and poverty.
—D. Valenze
4 points.

HIST BC 4360
London: From ‘Great Wen’ to World City
A social and cultural history of London from the Great Fire of 1666 to the 1960s.  An examination
of the changing experience of urban identity through the commercial life, public spaces, and
diverse inhabitants of London.  Topics include 17th-century rebuilding, immigrants and emigrants,
suburbs, literary culture, war, and redevelopment.
—D. Valenze
4 points.


HIST BC 4368
History of the Senses in England and France
An examination of European understandings of human senses through the production and reception
of art, literature, music, food, and sensual enjoyments in Britain and France.  Readings include
changing theories concerning the five senses; efforts to master the passions; the rise of sensibility
and feeling for others; concerts and the patronage of art; the professionalization of the senses.
—D. Valenze
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4375
Boundaries and Belonging: Gender and Citizenship in Modern History
A seminar on the ways gender has constituted citizenship in modern western history.  Topics include suffrage; national belonging; marriage and military service for women and LGBT citizens; social citizenship and the welfare state; "postcolonial citizenship" through economics and consumption; statelessness and migration; cosmopolitan citizenship; and parity, quotas and representation. 
—M. Tambor
4 points.

HIST BC 4391–4392
Senior Research Seminar
Individual guided research and writing in history and the presentation of results in seminar and in the form of the senior essay. See Requirements for the Major for details. 
—Faculty                                                                
4 points.
Prerequisites: Open to Barnard College History Senior Majors. General Education Requirement: Historical Studies (HIS).
Fall 2009-Spring 2010 Syllabus
American History Senior Thesis Sample
European History Senior Thesis Sample
World/Cultural Senior Thesis Sample
Pre-Modern History Senior Thesis Sample
 

HIST BC 4651
Jewish Tales from Four Cities:  The Immigrant Experience in New York, Buenos Aires, Paris and London,
c.1880-1930
Examines Jewish immigrant experience in New York, Buenos Aires, London, and Paris, c.1880-1930.  Focus on the Old World origins of the arrivals, the formation of neighborhoods, ethnic institutions, family, work, cultural expressions, and relations with the rest of society.  Based on readings and primary research (newspapers, letters, songs, photographs, etc.). 
—J. Moya
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4904
Introduction to Historical Theory and Method
A writing-intensive introduction to modern historical theories and methods.  Emphasis on the critical
reading of a wide range of primary and secondary historical sources.
—J. Kaye
Recommended for, but not limited to, new history majors.
4 points.


HIST BC 4907
Edible Conflicts: A History of Food
Conflicts emerging from the production and consumption of food from prehistoric to modern times. Settled agriculture and the significance of geography and social stratification in determining food consumption; ideologies of social status and "taste" in Europe; impact of knowledge about health and hygiene on European dietary habits; drink in diets and social life; dining out in European culture; role of transport and technology in consumer culture; food and the welfare state; mass production and globalization of food.
—D. Valenze
4 points


HIST BC 4909
History of Environmental Thinking
This course will consider how experiences of the natural world and the meaning of "nature" have changed over the past three centuries. We will follow the development of the environmental sciences and the origins of environmentalism. The geographical focus will be Europe, with attention to the global context of imperialism.
—D. Coen
4 points


Lectures: American History

HIST BC 1401
Survey of American Civilization to the Civil War
The major theological and social concerns of 17th-century English colonists; the political and
ideological process of defining an American; the social and economic forces that shaped a distinctive
national identity; the nature of the regional conflicts that culminated in civil war.
—H. Sloan
3 points.


HIST BC 1402
Survey of American Civilization Since the Civil War
The major intellectual and social accommodations made by Americans to industrialization and
urbanization; patterns of political thought from Reconstruction to the New Deal; selected topics
on post–World War II developments.
—E. Esch
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3406
American Intellectual History to the Civil War
3 points.


HIST BC 3413
The US 1940-1975
Emphasis on foreign policies as they pertain to the Second World War, the atomic bomb, containment, the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam. Also considers major social and intellectual trends, including the Civil Rights movement, the counterculture, feminism, Watergate, and the recession of the 1970s.
—M. Carnes
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3414
The United States in the World
This course will examine the meaning of empire in its relationship to the historical development of what we now call the United States of America.  Starting with the thirteen colonies and moving west through time and space, we will examine the relationship of ideas, geography, borders, immigration, culture, economies and the military to the expansion of U.S. power in the world.  Using insights from our current "global" moment, we will investigate questions dealing with the control and use of resources, the structure of society, the meaning of political borders, inequality and power.
—E. Esch
3 Points.


HIST BC 3423
The Constitution in Historical Perspective
The development of constitutional doctrine, 1787 to the present.  The Constitution as an experiment
in Republicanism; states’ rights and the Civil War amendments; freedom of contract and
its opponents; the emergence of civil liberties; New Deal intervention and the crisis of the Court;
and the challenge of civil rights.
—H. Sloan
3 points.


HIST BC 3424
Approached by Sea: Early American Maritime Culture
Thematically and chronologically ordered narrative of the impact of the Atlantic Ocean and its tidal tributaries upon the beginnings and subsequent development of the American colonies and of the Early American Republic. Special stress will be placed upon the physical givens and cultural implications of the coastal environment in which early Americans went about their lives. 
—R. McCaughey
3 points.

HIST BC3454
Sexuality in America: a History
Description forthcoming
--R. Rosenberg
3 points.

HIST BC 3457
A Social History of Columbia University
Traces the University’s history from 1754 to the present; will focus on institutional interaction
with NYC, governance and finance, faculty composition and the undergraduate extra-curriculum;
attention also to Columbia professional schools and Barnard College.
—R. McCaughey
3 points.

 
HIST BC 3466
American Intellectual History Since 1865
An examination of the major ideas engaging American intellectuals from Appomattox to the
present, with special attention to their institutional settings.  Topics include Darwinism, the rise
of the professoriate, intellectual progressivism, inter-war revisionism, Cold War liberalism, and neoconservatism.
—R. McCaughey
3 points.


HIST BC 3494
The Era of Independence in the Americas (U.S., Haiti, Mexico)
Comparative examination of colonial independence struggles in the New World, c. 1760-1830.  The transition from the monarchical ancient regime to a more or less "republican" order.  State formation and the invention of nationality.  Special attention to the cases of the United States, Haiti, and Mexico.
—H. Sloan
3 points.


HIST BC 3496
History of American Cities
The physical, political, social, and economic changes in cities across the United States, from settlement
to the present.  Topics will include economic development, immigration, industrialization,
suburbanization, segregation, urban decline, and urban revitalization.
—O. Gutfreund
3 points.


HIST BC 3520
The U.S., 1918–1945: Prosperity, Depression, and War
American society from the end of the First World War to the end of the second.  Topics include the
labor movement, consumerism, jazz and the erotic, the women’s movement, prohibition, nativism,
the “New Negro,” the Great Depression, the New Deal, radical movements, and the home front during
World War II.
—T. Russell
3 points.
Fall 2004 Syllabus

HIST BC 3525
20th Century Urbanization in Comparative Perspective
An examination of metropolitan growth and development in large cities around the world, placing particular emphasis on cities that have grown rapidly in the 20th century.  Examples from South America, Australia, and Asia will be considered as well as cities from the United States and Canada.
—O. Gutfreund
3 points.
Spring 2007 Syllabus
 

HIST BC 3567
American Women in the 20th Century
A consideration of women’s changing place in modern America; the “family claim”; women in the
workplace; educational expansion; the battle for suffrage; social reformers; the sexual revolution;
women in the professions; the crisis of depression and war; the feminine mystique; and the new
feminism.
—R. Rosenberg
3 points.
Spring 2005 Syllabus

HIST BC 3570
Alma Mater:  A Social History of American Universities and Colleges 
The role of colleges and universities in American life; their changing social and intellectual impact; issues of access, equity, legitimacy and solvency. 
—R. McCaughey
3 points.


Seminars: American History

AMST BC 3401
Colloquium in American Studies: Cultural Approaches to the American Past
An introduction to theoretical approaches of American Studies, as well as methods and materials used in the interdisciplinary study of American society.  Permission of the instructor required. 
—E. Esch
4 points.


AMST BC 3703
Senior Research Seminar
Individual research on topic related to major thematic concentration and preparation of senior thesis.
Enrollment is limited to senior majors. 
—Faculty
4 points.
Fall 2006-Spring 2007 Syllabus
American Studies Senior Thesis Sample

HIST BC 3999
Independent Study in History. 
—N. Gill
4 points.


HIST BC 4401
Reinventing American Cities:  New Deal to the Present 
Discussion, readings, and research focused on the transformation of American Cities in the last half of the twentieth century.  Topics will include "white flight," urban renewal and public housing, downtown revitalization efforts, the new urbanism movement, the urbanization of the suburbs, and regional economic development initiatives. 
—O. Gutfreund
4 points.
Fall 2005 Syllabus

HIST BC 4402
Selected Topics in American Women's History 
A critical examination of recent trends in modern U.S. women's history, with particular attention to the intersection of gender, sexuality, class, and race.  Topics will include:  state regulation of marriage and sexuality, roots of modern feminism, altered meanings of motherhood and work, and changing views of the body. 
—R. Rosenberg
4 points. 
Professor Rosenberg's Home Page

HIST BC 4410
Approached by Sea: Early American Maritime Culture
The Atlantic Ocean in the sighting, settling, and formation of three American colonial cultures; the
early U.S. as an international maritime presence; and the decline of the Atlantic in the material and
imaginative development of mid–19th-century America.  Approach will be interdisciplinary and will
use the Internet.
—R. McCaughey
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4411
Race and the Making of the US
Considers what role "race" plays in U.S. culture, politics, economics and foreign policy. Beginning with the origins of racial slavery, examines how, when and whether the subsequent development of racial
systems - and challenges to them - shaped historical developments. Through a survey of theories about "race relations" and contemporary discussions about affirmative action, immigration, empire and rights,
ponders the possibilities for a "colorblind" society in the United States.
—E. Esch
4 points. 


HIST BC 4423
Origins of the Constitution
An examination of the creation of the Constitution; consequences of independence; ideological
foundations; the Articles of Confederation and the Critical Period; the nationalist movement and
the Convention; anti-federalism and ratification; and the Bill of Rights.  Readings from selected secondary
and primary sources, including The Federalist.
—H. Sloan
4 points.

HIST BC 4466
Progressive Women: 1890–1920
An exploration of women’s activism in public life and social reform.  Topics include separatism,
institution-founding, the college experience, women’s professions, the settlement movement, trade
unionism, suffragism, pre-war radicalism, social feminism, and utopian feminism.
—N. Woloch
4 points.


HIST BC 4468
American Women in the 1920s
An exploration of women’s lives from World War I to the Great Crash.  Topics include women’s
politics, domestic roles, the female work force, collegiate life, the new morality, flaming youth,
women in the Harlem Renaissance, women’s literature, and the paradox of modern feminism.
—N. Woloch
4 points.


HIST BC 4542
Education in American History
A consideration of the place educational institutions, educational ideas, and educators have
played in American life.  Emphasis will be on the connection between education and social
mobility.
—N. Woloch
4 points.
Fall 2009 Syllabus
Suggested Reading List


HIST BC 4543
Higher Learning in America
An examination of the history of American colleges and universities from the colonies to the
present; special emphasis on the evolving relationship between academic institutions and the
political and social orders.
—R. McCaughey
4 points.


HIST BC 4546
The Fourteenth Amendment and Its Uses
The role of the 14th Amendment in shaping the modern American Constitution; theories of
judicial review; the rise and fall of economic due process; the creation of civil liberties; the
civil rights revolution; and the end of states’ rights.
—R. Rosenberg
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4586
Civil Rights and Black-Power Movements
An examination of the history of the American Civil Rights and black power movements of
the 1950s and 1960s.  Examines a wide variety of activities that took place within and around the
movements, including political protests and cultural expressions.
—T. Russell
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4592
From Sea to Shining Sea:  American Maritime History Since the 1850s
A critical consideration of the maritime aspects of American life and culture since the Civil War:  rise of American sea power; peaking of American maritime commerce and labor; historic seaports and coastal areas as recreational resources; marine science and environmentalist concerns in shaping recent American maritime policies.  Seminar will make extensive use of the web for resources and communication. 
—R. McCaughey
Prerequisite:  Permission of instructor and prior course in 19th - 20th century European/American History. 
4 points.

HIST BC 4901
Reacting to the Past II
Collision of ideas in two of the following three contexts:  "Rousseau, Burke and Revolution in France, 1791;" "The Struggle for Palestine: The British, Zionists, and Palestinians in the 1930s," or "India on the Eve of Independence, 1945," Reacting I, a First-Year seminar, is recommended.
—M. Carnes
4 points.


HIST BC 4903
Reacting to the Past III: Science and Society
Course description forthcoming. 
—M. Carnes
4 points.


HIST BC 8509
Politics, Society and Cultures in 18th Century America
Course Description Forthcoming. 
—H. Sloan

Lectures: Asian, Latin American, and African History

HIST BC 1760
Introduction to African History: 1700-Present
This course is a survey of African History from the 18th century to the contemporary period.  This is a reading, discussion and writing intensive course.  In this course, we will explore six major themes in African History: Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World / Colonialism in Africa / The 1940s / Nationalism and Independence Movements / Post-Colonialism in Africa / Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa. 
—A. George
3 points.


HIST BC 1801
Colonialism and Nationalism in South Asia
Introduction to South Asian history (17-20 c.) that explores the colonial economy and state formation; constitution of religious and cultural identities; ideologies of nationalism and communalism, caste and gender politics; visual culture; and the South Asian diaspora. 
—A. Rao
3 points.
 

HIST BC 1803
Gender and Empire 
This course examines how women experience empire and asks how their actions and activities produced critical shifts in the workings of colonial societies worldwide. Topics include sexuality, the colonial family, reproduction, race, and political activism.
—A. Rao
3 points.

HIST BC1815
Decolonization: Studies in Political Thought and Political History
This course will take the historical fact of decolonization in Asia and Africa as a framework for understanding the thought of anticolonial nationalism and the political struggles that preceded it, and the trajectories of postcolonial developmentalism and the contemporary new world order. 
--A. Rao
3 points. 
 

HIST BC 3661
Latin American Civilization II
This course will explore major themes in Latin American history from the  independence period to the present.  It will trace economic, political, intellectual, and cultural trends. Particular attention will be given to
the enduring issue of social and racial inequality and the ways that the interactions of dominant and subordinate groups have helped shape the course of Latin American history.
—N. Milanich
3 Points.
 

HIST BC 3662
Latin America in the Nineteenth Century 
Overview of Latin American political and economic history from the late colonial period (1770-1810) to the Mexican Revolution (1910).  Covers the Wars of Independence and their aftermath, African slavery and abolition, European immigration, and upsurge of capitalism and globalization after 1870s.  Emphasis on Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Cuba. 
—J. Moya
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3681
Women and Gender in Latin America
This class examines the gendered roles of women and men in Latin American society from the colonial period to the present.  We will explore a number of themes, including the intersection of social class, race, ethnicity, and gender; the nature of patriarchy; masculinity; gender and the state; and the gendered nature of political mobilization.
—N. Milanich
3 points.


HIST BC 3682
Modern Latin American History
Explores major themes in Latin American history from independence to the present, with a special focus on the evolution of socio-racial inequality, political systems, and U.S.-Latin America relations. We will discuss not only "what happened" in Latin America's past, but how historians know what they know, the sources and methods they use to write history, and the theoretical frameworks they employ to interpret the past.
—N. Milanich
3 points.
 

HIST BC 3766
Social Difference and Activism in Contemporary African History
Course Description Forthcoming.
—A. George


HIST BC 3774
Islam and Protest in Africa and the African Diaspora
Focuses on Africans' engagement with Islam as a force of political critique and social transformation, from the Arab conquest of North Africa to contemporary resistance to secularist development.  Themes include:  Islamic notions of reform; Muslim/non-Muslim interactions; jihad and pacifism; Muslim Africans in the Americas; women's activism; anti-colonial agitation; youth conversion.
—S. Shankar
3 points.


HIST BC 3802
Modern South Asia
Course Description Forthcoming.
—A. Rao
3 points.


HIST BC 3804
Tools of Trade: Maps and Society in Asia
This course examines how trade in objects and human beings evolved alongside mapping technologies in Asia.  We will trace these inter-related developments through local narratives from Siam, Burma, Japan, and China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as through visual material from the region. 
—C. Postma
3 points.


HIST BC 3805
Law and Society in South Asia.
Examines law as a critical site from which to explore changing conceptions of self and community from the pre-colonial to the post-colonial periods. Addresses key issues concerning the cultural
construction of the body, the relationship of law and modernity, and of competing (and subaltern) legalities over the past three centuries. Located within recent departures in anthropology and history, cultural
and legal studies, addresses wider questions of the relationship between law, culture, and social order.
—A. Rao
3 points.


HIST BC 3840
Topics in South Asian History
This course examines caste and gender as an important lens for understanding the transformations of intimate life and political culture in colonial and post-colonial India.  Topics include: conjugality; popular culture; violence; sex and the state; and the politics of untouchability.
—A. Rao
3 points.

HIST BC 3861
Chinese Cultural History
An introduction to visual and material cultures of China, including architecture, food, fashion,
printing, painting, and the theatre.  Using these as building blocks, new terms of analyzing Chinese
history are explored, posing such key questions as the meaning of being Chinese and the meaning
of being modern.
—D. Ko
An introductory Asian history course preferred but not required.
3 points.
 

Seminars: Asian, Latin American, and African History

WMST W 4300
Feminisms in China
Course Description Forthcoming.
—D. Ko
4 points.


HIST BC 4669
Inequalities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Latin American History and Society
Latin America has long been characterized by extreme and enduring inequalities - of class, income, race, and ethnicity.  This seminar examines patterns of inequality from different disciplinary perspectives, both historically and in the present.  We examine not only causes and solutions but how scholars have approached inequality as an intellectual problem.
—N. Milanich


HIST BC 4671
History of the Family in Global Perspective, 1500 to Present
In recent years politicians and pundits in the U.S. and elsewhere have decried the decline of the family.  What exactly has changed?  What has stayed the same?  And what contribution can historians make to this debate?  Drawing on cross-cultural examples, primarily from Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, this seminar explores varieties of domestic forms from the early modern period to the present.
—N. Milanich
4 points.


HIST BC 4672
Perspectives on Power in 20th Century Latin America
Explores theories of power as applied in Latin American context.  Topics include the relationship between popular culture and the state; structure and agency; the role of the law; hegemony and resistance; the power of words and symbols; and the intersections of gender and power.
—N. Milanich
Prerequisite:  Sophomore standing; at least one prior course in Latin American topics.
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4763
Children and Childhood in African History
This course will focus on the history of childhood in African societies and how children as historical agents have impacted the social history of their communities.  Themes covered in the course will include labor, sexuality, violence, and the history of the family in Africa.
—A. George
4 points.   
 

HIST BC 4771
Critical Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in African History
This course will critically examine the relationship between social difference and narratives and practices of power in historical and contemporary African publics. Race and Ethnicity are the key axes of social difference that will be examined.  Other axes of difference such as gender, class, caste, and nationality will also be examined through points of intersection with race and ethnicity.  In the course, we will examine the ways in which social differences have historically been constructed and activated in actual and virtual African publics.  In conjunction with periodic guest speakers, we will also explore the ways in which social difference discourse has been strategically re-imagined and retooled by African activists in various places and at various points in time.
—A. George
4 points.


HIST BC 4776
Gender, Health, and Healing in Africa
Focuses on health and healing as sites of social, cultural, and political change in Africa, to contextualize today's health crisis.  Centering gender and indigenous knowledge, we will explore conceptions of the body and well-being; "traditional medicine;" intersections with Islamic, Indian, and biomedical forms; epidemics and migration; colonial medicine; HIV/AIDS pandemic.
—S. Shankar
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4791
Lagos: From Pepper Farm to Megacity
Examines the many Lagoses that have existed over time, in space, and in the imagination from its origins to the 21st century. This is a reading, writing, viewing, and listening intensive course. We read scholarly, policy-oriented, and popular sources on Lagos as well as screening films and audio recordings that feature Lagos in order to learn about the social, cultural, and intellectual history of this West African mega-city.
— A. George
4 points.

HIST BC 4802
History and Human Rights: Capitalism, Colonialism, Culture
—A. Rao
Prerequisite: Prior course in non-Western history and permission of instructor.
4 points.


HIST BC 4804
Political Modernity: Themes in South Asian History
—A. Rao
Prerequisite: Prior course in non-Western history and permission of instructor.
4 points.


HIST BC 4805
Caste, Power, and Inequality
This course draws on the experiences of life and thought of caste subalterns to explore the challenges to caste exploitation and inequality.
—A. Rao
Prerequisite: Prior course in non-Western history and permission of instructor.
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4830
Bombay/Mumbai and Its Urban Imaginaries
Explores the intersections between imagining and materiality in Bombay/Mumbai from its colonial beginnings to the present. Housing, slums, neighborhoods, streets, public culture, contestation, and riots are examined through film, architecture, fiction, history and theory. It is an introduction to the city; and to the imaginative enterprise in history.
—R. Subramaniam
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. Preregistration required.
4 points.
 

HIST BC 4861
Body Histories: Footbinding
The deceptively small subject of footbinding provides a window into the larger family dynamics
and sexual politics in Chinese history and society.  Explores the multiple representations of footbinding
in European travelogues, ethnographic interviews, Chinese erotic novels and prints, and
the polemics of modern and feminist critiques.
—D. Ko
4 points.

HIST BC 4863
Asian Cultures Across Boundaries: 1500-1800
Explores trading connections of the Japanese archipelago, China, and South and Southeast Asia during the earliest period of European commercial interest.  Examining trading relationships through the writings of local and foreign observers, develops an idea of a trans-regional history through material life and culture.  Texts include travel narratives by foreigners (Europeans), the objects used and traded, and official sources.
—C. Postma
4 points.
Fall 2004 Syllabus
 

HIST BC 4870
Gender and Migration: Global Perspective
Explores migration as a gendered process and what factors account for migratory differences by gender across place and time; including labor markets, education demographic and family structure, gender ideologies, religion, government regulations and legal status, and intrinsic aspects of the migratory flow itself.
—J. Moya
4 points.

HIST BC 4879
Feminist Traditions in China
This seminar explores the intellectual, social and cultural grounds for the establishment and transmission of feminist traditions in China before the 19th century.  Topics include pre-modern Chinese views of the body, self, gender, and sex, among others.  Our goal is to rethink such cherished concepts as voice, agency, freedom, and choice that have shaped the modern feminist movement.
—D. Ko
4 points.

HIST BC 4886
Fashion 
Investigates the cultural, material and technological conditions that facilitated the development of "fashion systems" in early modern Europe, Japan and contemporary Asian diasporic communities.  In the global framework, "fashion" serves as a window into the politics of self-presentation, community formation, structure of desires, and struggles over representation. 
—D. Ko
Prerequisite: At least one course in a Non-U.S. Area in History, Literature, Anthropology, Film Studies or Art History.  Limited to 15.
4 points.


HIST BC 4905
Capitalism, Colonialism, and Culture
From Indian Ocean worlds of the seventeenth century, to Atlantic world slavery, to the establishment of colonies in Asia and Africa during the nineteenth century, colonization was critical to the development of metropolitan ideas regarding politics and personhood. This seminar will examine these histories, along with emerging constructions of race and gender, as precursors to debates about human rights and humanitarianism in the twentieth century.
—A. Rao
4 points.
 

Lectures: Research, Historiography, Trans-National

HIST BC3980
World Migration
Overview of human migration from pre-history to the present.  Sessions on classical Rome; Jewish diaspora; Viking, Mongol, and Arab conquests; peopling of New World, European colonization, and African slavery; 19th-century European mass migration; Chinese and Indian diasporas; resurgence of global migration in last three decades, and current debates. 
—J. Moya, A. McKeown
3 points.

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