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A critical survey of the main social, political, and economic developments in this place now called Canada, with an emphasis on Indigenous histories and the emergence of liberal capitalism as a history of our present. The course comprises weekly lectures, small seminars/workshops, and a major historical research project.
Beginning with the post-Confederation period, this course is a critical survey of the main social, political, and economic developments in the history of modern Canada. There are weekly lectures by the course instructor, small seminar discussions run by teaching fellows, and self-directed historical research projects.
This course charts the processes, events, and ideologies that created modern Europe and key parts of the modern world order from ca. 1650 to ca. 1950, notably political revolution and changing notions of citizenship; the emergence of global capitalism and consumerism; colonialism; fascism and communism; and world war.
This course will focus on early globalization. We begin with the river valley civilizations, such as Mesopotamia and Egypt, and stop around the mid-1700s. The course is divided thematically into different processes of globalization. Some of the themes include Mongol conquests, the Silk Road, Black Death, and Crusades.
Changes in the world order and in the day-to-day lives of many ordinary people have followed wars and revolutions, from the Industrial Revolution to the ongoing militarized policing and the Black Lives Movement. This course is a survey of these transformative forces in World History.
Europe has shaped the intellectual, social, and cultural patterns of modern times. This course explores the history of Europe from antiquity through early modernity. Subjects include: the ancient world; the creation of Christendom; medieval scholastic culture; the modern state; religious war; Renaissance; Reformation; and the Scientific Revolution.
This course looks at the history of modern Europe as the interaction between politics, culture, and ideas. Narratives of the major events of modern European history, including the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the two world wars will be intertwined with an in-depth look at modern philosophy, literature, and art.
An introduction to European intellectual history from the ancient world to the present. Concentration is on the analysis of primary sources and ideas in their historical contexts. The course offers weekly introductory lectures followed by discussion of source material in small tutorial groups where the objective is maximum student participation.
A thematic introduction to world history from prehistoric times to the present, with particular emphasis on the changing balance of power between regions of the globe and the contributions of the peoples of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas to modernity.
An historical survey of the liberal, capitalist, and multicultural democracy we now call Canada. Through lectures, seminars, and the analysis of historical texts and heritage sites, the course explores the social-political struggles over Indigeneity and race, class and colonialism, gender and sexuality, which continue to shape contemporary Canada.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
A survey of European history from the 18th through the 21st century. The focus is on the revolutions and conflicts which produced modern Europe, notably political revolutions (1789, 1848, and 1917), industrialization, urbanization, population growth, secularization, the rise of new classes, nationalism, and imperialism, changes in ideologies and popular attitudes, rise and fall of authoritarian regimes, world wars, and European integration.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
This course examines the history of India as a series of contacts with the rest of the world. Topics include Roman trade in ancient India, the Portuguese, Turkish, and Mughal empires, Gandhi in South Africa, and South Asian diasporas in Europe and North America. Course materials include histories, travel accounts, court chronicles, medical treatises, literature, and film.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
A survey of the social, cultural, economic, political and intellectual life of Europe from the French Wars of Religion to the Age of Napoleon. Topics will include religious warfare, the Scientific Revolution, state building, economic transformation, family life, popular culture, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars.
An introduction to the history of the United States during the turbulent period from 1868 until 1920. Topics may include industrialization, reform movements, mass consumption, corporations, imperialism, immigration, urbanization, the rise of segregation, agricultural transformation, art, and literature.
This course will grapple with the idea of indigeneity and explore the conflicts and consequences that have occurred whenever Indigenous peoples have encountered colonizing invaders. Cases outside of the conventional narrative of European expansion will be examined, including the Han occupation of Taiwan.
NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
An overview of the sexual past in this place we now call Canada, from Indigenous gender/sexual practices to queer and trans identities and movements. Attentive to race, class, and gender, the course employs sexuality to analyze power in Canadian history while emphasizing the connections between past and present-day sexual politics.
This course will explore the origins of the struggle between the postwar superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union; the changing nature of their rivalry, and the way other nations were drawn into the conflict. It considers the Cold War from Western, Soviet, and various global perspectives.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
Offers credit for experiential learning opportunities. Examples of internships secured by the department include, but are not limited to, experience-based learning opportunities in museums, archives, historic sites, NGOs, etc. Student-initiated placements will also be considered.
NOTE This course may be taken only once during a student's degree program. Students must submit an application to the Department at least one month prior to registration.
Examines the rise of the welfare state since 1945 in North America and Western Europe. Topics include broad trends like deindustrialization, globalization, the rise of inequality, and social mobility. Specific policies discussed concern health care, pensions, unemployment, families, taxation, immigration, higher education, and public housing.
This online course will attempt to study aspects of global history using food as a central theme. We begin from the reflection that food has successfully transcended political and cultural boundaries in the global past, and it provides a promising path for interrogating socio-economic and cultural issues in transnational contexts.
NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
Sports and spectacles of violence, from Ancient Greek athletic contests and Roman gladiatorial combat to jousts, hunts, executions, and mock battles of Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Exploring ruins of buildings, texts, and images illuminate such issues as gender roles, social and political functions of violence, eroticism, and animal cruelty.
This course explores the political, social and intellectual origins of the U.S. Civil War, experiences of soldiers and civilians, and major issues of Reconstruction. Major topics include slavery, the anti-slavery movement, the roots of secession, the Civil War and memory.
This course examines the history of Indigenous peoples and French colonists in North America from the 16th to early 19th century. This class places the French colonial experience and its legacy in context and sets a foundation for understanding the English-French divide in contemporary Canada, Québec nationalism, and the rise of the Métis.
An introduction to the fabled world of Byzantium. The course surveys key aspects of Byzantine political history, society and culture. It traces the transformation of the empire from its origins in third century Rome into the 'other' middle ages of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans ending with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
A course exploring the many meanings of "Canada", "Canadian", and "Canadien" from the 1300s to today. Asking "What is Canada?" The course is a historical overview giving particular attention to the political, demographic, ethnological and colonial changes that altered these definitions over time and what/who the name refers to.
A history of the film industry from a Jewish perspective. Has Hollywood's Jewish roots had a discernible impact on content? Why did Hollywood hesitate to make Holocaust movies until the 1960s? How has anti-Semitism affected the way in which Jews were represented on screen? Topics include LGBTQ2, African-Americas, Latinx, and Asians in film.
An examination of continuity and change in Judaism and Jewish history from ancient times to the beginning of the modern era: Biblical Judaism; interactions between the Jews and other ancient and medieval civilizations and religions - Babylon, Greece, Rome, Christianity, and Islam; rabbinic Judaism and communal life in Diaspora.
An examination of continuity and change in Judaism and Jewish history from the beginning of the modern era to post World War II: emancipation, assimilation, and the Jewish question; modernization of Judaism; antisemitism; Holocaust; Zionism and the Jewish state; overall impact of modernity on Jewish life.
This course will examine how toxins have played an important role in health, forensic research, standards of beauty and intercultural associations through an interrogation of the larger socio-political context in which poisons hold meaning.
This online course introduces students to the social, cultural, economic, and political realities of French speaking communities outside Quebec, from the 19th century to today. It offers an overview of the questions of immigration, assimilation, education, religion, and linguistic rights in their development and continued existence.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
An introduction to Medieval Europe from the fall of Rome to the 11th century including the history of the Church, monasticism, the conversion of Europe and Carolingian Empire. The course will cover the disintegration of the Roman Empire and the subsequent emergence of new kingdoms and social structures.
An introduction to late medieval Europe from the year 1000CE to 1500CE. During this time, major political, religious, social, and environmental changes transformed Europe, and relationships - between church and state, the "three estates" of the clergy, nobility, and peasantry, and Europe and the wider world - were evaluated and re-defined.
The course analyzes how consumerism has shaped the global order, ecosystems, and culture, from its origins in imperialism and industrialization. It examines how consumer societies' transform nature, by exploiting animals and resources and discarding goods and industrial by-products.
Choosing from the case studies of the bubonic plague, smallpox, influenza, cholera, tuberculosis, and AIDS, this course will help us understand how the history of pandemics is crucial to understanding the major turning points in global history, and how diseases can serve as a useful lens to understand the major currents of sociocultural history.
The world today is what it is in large part because of World War II. The course will help students develop an in-depth knowledge of this seminal conflict. It will focus on key battles and patterns of combat, but equally important, it will build on a variety of personal wartime experiences and examine the war's global impact on societies and cultures.
NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
Lecture course on a selected historical issue. Subject changes from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
Lecture course on a selected historical issue. Subject changes from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
A general introduction to the history of the Crusades and holy war in the medieval period. Western and non-Western perspectives will be considered.
Lecture course on a selected historical issue. Subject changes from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
A survey of Russian history from the 9th century to the collapse of the old regime in 1917. Themes include cultural exchange and conquest, Russian orthodoxy and the secularization of the Russian state, traditions of rebellion and dissent, the customs and beliefs of Tsars, nobles, peasants and merchants, and the challenges of political and legal reform.
An introduction to the history of the Soviet Union from its origins in the Revolution of 1917 to its collapse in 1991. This course examines and assesses the Bolshevik attempt to found a new social, economic and political order and to create a new man and woman in the process. Particular attention will be devoted to the policies and practices of the state as well as to the experiences of individual Soviet citizens.
An examination of Africa's involvement in modern world history. Course covers material from the slave trade to the crumbling of European empires. Major topics include: Pre-colonial African states, slavery, imperialism, the colonial state, African protest and resistance, and women's issues, among other topics.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
An introduction to the history of social welfare and public policy in Western Europe and North America. Topics include health care and public assistance; employment, pension and education policy; economic and urban planning. A major theme of the course is the emergence and development of civil, political, economic and social 'rights'.
This course explores the diverse experiences of women in Canada, as well as how the social construction of gender shaped 20th century Canadian history. It will challenge the idea of a homogeneous "women's history" in Canada, and examine how women's experiences varied by class, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and other kinds of difference.
A survey of the social, cultural, political and intellectual life of Europe in the Renaissance and Reformation. Topics to be discussed include: humanism, secularism, printing, and exploration; war and the early modern state; prophecy, heresy, and dissent; popular culture; sex, marriage, and family life; witch hunts, panics, and magic; and the impact of the Reformation and the Counter Reformation.
A global survey of the effects of human activity on our physical surroundings and vice versa, in pre-agricultural, agricultural and industrial/agricultural societies. The course will be organized topically and themes will include the relevant problems of historical method, and the history of human attitudes to nature.
This course examines the history of slavery from the colonial era to the mid-nineteenth century. Maintaining the focus on North America, this course will situate the history of transatlantic slavery within a longer global context. Themes include comparative history of slavery, anti-slavery and abolition, race and racialization, gender, violence, and global capitalism.
A historical survey of anti-Muslim prejudice and its relationship to patterns of persecution. It traces Islamophobia from the forced conversions and mass expulsions of Muslims in Medieval Christendom to the anti-Muslim campaigns and policies pursued in contemporary in North America and Asia.
An introduction to major themes in the history of the territory now known as Canada to the end of the 20th century. We consider social, cultural, and political approaches to French and English imperialism, settler colonialism, Canadian federalism, and governance, and those at the margins of the Canadian state.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
A blended online/classroom course that will introduce students to armed forces in modern history, and how they relate to the societies they function within and against.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
Over the past century, the Middle East has experienced rapid social, cultural, and political change. Employing historical documents, films, and music this course introduces the global and local forces that radically transformed the Middle East over the 20th century.
How political power was conceived, exercised, and contested in Indigenous, French, and British colonial, and early national formations of what is now Canada. The origins and nature of liberal democracy and changing forms of popular political participation, schooling, and the criminal law receive particular attention.
Contemporary China aims to place the dynamics of recent social and economic change in historical perspective. Rather than proceeding both thematically and chronologically, it familiarizes students with the deep continuities with the phenomena such as urbanization, environmental challenges, cultural expectations, and gender norms.
NOTE Only offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online.
A survey of the 'New Imperialism' of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The course examines the origins and course of European expansion in Africa and Asia, justifications for and theories of empire, and the 20th century decolonization process. It will conclude with reflection on the New Imperialism from the vantage point of 'globalization'.
This course explores the post-emancipation history of African Americans in the United States. It studies the modern civil rights movement and its long roots in ongoing resistance to racial subjugation by positioning the African American perspective at the centre of its investigation.
A study of the major economic, social and political themes. The emphasis is upon the interaction between political events and change in the economy and society.
A survey of the history of gender in North America. Examines topics such as patriarchy and the unequal status of women, masculinity, racial and ethnic relations, and sexuality. Also considers the impact of gender on historical events and phenomena such as industrialization, class conflict, World War II and the Cold War.
NOTE Also offered online. Consult Arts and Science Online. Learning Hours may vary.
A survey of gender inequalities as a consequence of industrialization. Examines topics on the impact on gender on phenomena such as industrialization. Topics include: the Right Revolution, Class conflict, World War II, and the Cold War.
A survey of Latin American history from the pre-conquest era to the mid-19th century. Examines the complexities of Spanish and Portuguese colonialism, the Independence movements, and the ensuing struggle to build a viable post-colonial order.
A survey of Latin American history from 1850 to the recent past. Major events of the 20th century will be examined in historical context, with special attention to issues of development, nation building, and political and social conflict.
A survey of English history during the early modern period (16th- and 17th-centuries), with a thematic focus on the formative political, social, religious, and intellectual changes during these two centuries.
This course surveys the emergence and development of the first British Empire, from the age of exploration through the loss of the American colonies. Topics will include: the conceptual impact of the new world; patterns of migration; slavery; the economic and political impact of colonization; and ideologies of empire.
A survey of the modern global history of Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. The course investigates how Britain both shaped and was shaped by the world.
Promises made by the British and French during WWI kindled the nationalist dreams of the Arabs of the Ottoman Empire and the Jews of Europe. While the Zionists realized their state, the Palestinians did not. This course follows the wars, resistance, and diplomacy of a century-long conflict.
The historical background of the Holocaust, its perpetrators, and the processes that led to the destruction of European Jews (1933-1945). Topics include: the movement from anti-Judaism to anti-Semitism, Nazi racial policies, concentration camps, collaborators and bystanders, and questions of compliance, resistance, and remembrance.
This course examines a formative period of Islamic society: the transformations of the late antique Near East to the Muslim Middle East. The course covers the period of the rise of Islam to the consequences of the Mongol conquests. It surveys the social, political, cultural and religious history of a civilization spanning Spain to Central Asia.
A survey of Chinese history, thought, and material culture from the time of the first establishment of the unified Empire in 221 B.C.E. to the last Emperor's abdication in 1912. A variety of recent reconstructions of parts of China's imperial past will also be discussed.
The course builds historical knowledge as a basis for understanding the domestic and international impacts of rapid change in contemporary China. It introduces interpretive frameworks for topics including the competence of the Qing government, revolutionary movements, war against Japan, Mao Zedong's leadership, and economic expansion.
Selected issues in the political, social and cultural history of Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. Emphasis on scholarly debates and the interpretation of primary sources in translation.
This course will focus on learning to interpret primary and secondary sources, conduct historical analysis, discern a thesis and methodology, and write analytical short essays. Course examines the impacts of invasion and colonialism on the lives of colonial Latin American subjects.
An introduction to Caribbean History from the early 15th century to the present. Topics will include early Spanish contact, plantation systems, slavery and resistance, abolition and emancipation, global labour migration, U.S. intervention, and globalization. Organizing themes include gender, race and ethnicity, cultural memory systems, identity, diasporas, popular culture, and postcolonialism.
Focus on the causes and consequences of the Civil War, slavery, antebellum social and political divisions, secession, the experiences of soldiers and civilians during the war itself, reconstruction, and the place of the Civil War in US culture since 1877.
A study of historical societies in which Muslims have played a predominating role globally. Selected issues in religious, political, social, economic, and cultural history will be examined with an emphasis on the interpretation of primary sources in translation and debated scholarly issues.
Holocaust historiography is often divided into perpetrators, victims, bystanders, and collaborators. We will examine evidence illustrative of each category. Examples: the Wannsee Conference (perpetrators); Anne Frank's Diary (victim); Vatican archival records (bystanders); documentary about the head of a ghetto (victim, collaborator, or both?).
This course will introduce students to the study of historiography. Topics include: the history of the practices of researching and writing history; an introduction to some of the world's past seminal historical writers and thinkers; how present-day issues and concerns affect the writing of history; and key concepts in historical thinking.
The history of the Indian subcontinent from the eighteenth century to the present. Topics include the decline of the Mughal Empire, the nature of British colonial domination, the nationalist movement and the processes by which India came to be defined as a modern nation. Course materials include standard works of history, newspapers, novels and images.
An introduction to the themes and approaches pursued by Canadian social historians, including histories of race, gender, class, colonialism, and sexuality. While specific course frameworks may vary, this core seminar will emphasize the writing, research, communication, and analytical skills necessary for more advanced historical study.
This course will survey the political, social, economic, and cultural development of the British colonies that became Canada from the conquest of Quebec to Confederation. Native-newcomer relations, the maturation of settler societies, and new institutional structures will receive special attention. Different historical approaches and the use of primary sources will be emphasized.
An analysis of significant social and cultural trends in the United States since 1877. Topics include constructions of race and gender; consumer culture; industrialization; the myth of the frontier; popular culture; the civil rights movement.
In first semester, students join with the lecture course 'Latin America 1850-Today'. In second semester, students deepen their exploration of Latin America's modern history in a seminar format, with emphasis on major controversies, critical reading of historical sources and texts, speaking, research, and writing skills.
An introduction to major themes in European history from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Topics include colonialism; nations and nationalism; state practices and mass politics; democracy, fascism, and socialism; violence and warfare; culture and consumption; memory; and decolonization.
The formation of modern China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan in historical and regional contexts. The development of research skills is emphasized, along with structured discussion of readings and research.
This course examines the Indigenous History of North America and explores themes as diverse as Euro-Indigenous relations, sovereignty and possession, warfare and slavery, the fur trade and métissage, religion and spirituality, women and gender, dispossession and destruction, and reclamation and revival.
This course explores the society and culture of Early Modern Europe (ca 1500-1800). Students will read and discuss recent works of social and cultural history concerning peasants, impostors, heretics, missionaries, Asians, Persians, kings, and popes in Europe. Topics will include: Religion, Popular Culture, Carnival, Witchcraft, Marriage and Family Life, Imperialism, Courts, Social Criticism, Enlightenment, and Revolution.
An examination of selected themes in the cultural and intellectual history of Europe from 1750 to the present. Literature, poetry, art, and philosophy will be considered in order to discuss the historical origins of themes relevant in the present day: nationalism, liberty, equality, individualism, class, gender, and race.
Race relations and immigration in North American history, with emphasis on Canada from the 1840s to the 1980s. Covers native-non-native contact, European immigrants, migration of blacks from the U.S. south, ethnic radicalism, Asian immigration, Japanese internment, immigration policy, 'multiculturalism,' and changing definitions of 'race'.
Topics include political, social, and cultural transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the world wars, imperialism and empire, decolonization, the Cold War, and the 1960s. Emphasis on critical interpretation of primary source material and historical debates.
Seminar on a selected topic in history. Topics change from year to year. Consult department website for details.
Combining history and archaeology, this course explores the key developments of Medieval England from the formation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to the late 15th century Wars of the Roses. A significant proportion of this course will be devoted to the study of material culture, the practice of archaeology and the excavation of medieval sites.
NOTE Offered only at Bader College, Herstmonceux.
LEARNING HOURS 119 (22.5L;7.5S;8Lb;16T;35G;30P)
An examination of Americans' struggles with the conflicting ideals of republicanism and liberalism in the first half of the 19th century. Topics include the presidency of Andrew Jackson, political party formation, Native Americans, African-Americans, women, labour, the expansion of slavery, and the rise of sectional conflict.
For half a millennium, the Ottoman sultans ruled diverse communities in Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. Focusing on relations between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, the course explores interfaith relations through the writings of scholars, foreign observers, and the sultan's subjects.
An introduction to European schools of ethnohistory which examine First World minority cultures, groups, and social classes within the Occidental hegemony, by focussing on the intersections of oral history, folklore, anthropology and sociology at the convergence of ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, class, sexuality and imperialism.
This course explores Jewish engagement with ideologies, such as anarchism, socialism, communism, and nationalism (Jewish Zionism/ anti-Zionism). Key historical figures, such as Emma Goldman and Joseph Salsberg will be examined, including historical events that inspired or disillusioned Jewish activists, such as Stalin's murder of Jewish poets.
This course offers a balanced introduction to the Reformation. The seminar takes a critical approach to a broad range of subjects including late medieval religion, Christian humanism, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Radical Reformation, Reformation beyond German lands, social and cultural impact of the Reformation, and Catholic Reformation.
An examination of the path that led from the state-sanctioned racial profiling of immigrants in the late nineteenth century to current multicultural ideas and policies in Canada and the United States, with an emphasis on the role Jewish intellectuals, politicians, and community leaders played in developing and, sometimes, resisting such changes.
This course explores the core intellectual movements of Europe's early modern era, and the printing revolution that reshaped the context for intellectual exchange. The course covers the period from the Scientific Revolution to the Enlightenment. Students will learn the methods of intellectual history, and the material history of book production.
Our seminar will examine political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of the history of Russia from 1700 to the present. We will focus on the most pivotal moments of Russian history - major wars, reforms, and revolutions and study the ways they changed Russia as well as resistance to these changes.
This course examines Northeast African social, political and economic history since the mid-19th century. Topics include: birth of modern nation states in the region, onset of European colonialism, regional and international rivalry due to the region's global geostrategic significance, independence, post-independence challenges and opportunities.
Research seminar on revolutions, civil wars, and political violence in twentieth-century Latin America. Includes case studies of Mexican and Cuban revolutions, Central American civil wars, and other insurgencies. Explores theories of revolution, patterns of unrest, and attempts to bring about revolutionary change.
This course examines the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional nature of the lands of the former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, focusing on the borderlands. Topics include nationality policies, the status of Muslims and Jews, definitions of Empire, and the treatment of linguistic minorities.
Examination of historical research methods using primarily non-printed sources, with emphasis on material culture and its application to community history. Students will examine the use of photographs, ephemera, artifacts, oral history, popular music, movies, magazines and posters to consider how these sources can augment written documentation.
Seminar on a selected topic in history. Topics change from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
Seminar on a selected topic in Canadian history. Topics change from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
Seminar on a selected historical topic. Topics change from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
Seminar on a selected historical topic. Topics change from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by visiting faculty. Consult department office or website for details.
Seminar on a selected topic in history. Topics change from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by a visiting faculty member. Consult the History Department's website for course titles and course descriptions being offered each year.
Seminar on a selected topic in Canadian history. Topics change from year to year; course is either being offered for the first time or is being taught by a visiting faculty member. Consult the History Department's website for course titles and course descriptions being offered each year.
Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of diaspora, and the social and cultural history of diasporic communities in the early modern and modern world. Labour, trade and migration; race, religion and identity; tensions between national, imperial and diasporic formations are explored with a focus on a specific historical example.
Key trends and issues in U.S. economy, society and politics such as rising inequality and falling social mobility levels; changes in family structures; racial diversions; globalization, de-industrialization, and the plight of the middle class. Health, education, housing, social security, welfare and tax policy examined.
This course probes the nature and meaning of hunger in Modern European History. Students will critically examine the causes of hunger in the modern era and explore how Europeans conceived of and sought to manage hunger. Topics include colonial and Soviet famines, the World Wars, humanitarianism, poverty and the welfare state, and the cold war.
History of Islamic modernities and Muslim lives in South Asia from the sixteenth century to the present. Themes include early modern Islamic culture; the social history of the Mughal world; local Islamic healing cultures and legal traditions; the languages of secularism and political Islam in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Subjects will range from social, cultural, political, economic and military history. The course will acquaint students with a few of the older 'classics' in Western European historiography. In addition, we will look at some of the most innovative recent literature.
A history of the rise of global trade, competition, cultural exchange, warfare, imperialism, and development. An examination of the benefits and pitfalls of globalization, the winners and losers, in both the developing world and the rich Western world. Other issues include the possible link between globalization and income inequality and the welfare state.
Examines the major contours of Western capitalism and the emergence of a more integrated global marketplace since 1945. Topics include: the rise in prosperity followed by the rise in income inequality since the 1970s; technological change; the 'downsizing' phenomenon; related trends in social policy. A balance of pro and con literature on 'globalization' will be examined.
A dialogue seminar on the geographical, historical, and cultural setting of the Land of Israel/Palestine; impact of foreign powers and ideas; its role in religious and political thought; nationalism; construction of narratives, competition for hegemony and territory; attempts to divide the land; the role of dialogue between Palestinians and Jews.
The Enlightenment used reason to make boundaries between Christian Europe and Jews and Muslims, establishing the foundation for racism, orientalism, and colonialism, which led intellectuals to formulate The Jewish Question and The Eastern Question, and societies continue to seek solutions as they struggle with antisemitism and Islamophobia.
An advanced course focused on issues in historical thought and writing and the impact of history on current controversies, including who "owns" the past; moral responsibilities of the historian; judgment of historical figures; the reparation of historical injustice; and the impact of postmodernism and postcolonialism.
Introduction to the basics of material history analysis focussing on the 'stuff' of everyday life in Canada, and how it has shaped Canadian identities and cultures since 1900. The main goal is to show students how artifacts can inform and enrich historical inquiry by integrating methodological frameworks from archaeology, anthropology, etc.
Explores the two watershed crises of England's early modern era: the Tudor Reformation and the Revolution of 1640-1660. Topics will include: religious warfare; early modern state-building; social and economic upheaval; and the evolution of political thought.
This course explores the society and culture of the Italian Renaissance (ca 1100-1520). Students will read and discuss great works of literature (Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio), philosophy (Ficino, Erasmus), political thought (Machiavelli, More), as well as letters, diaries, and trial records. Topics include art, religion, ethics, violence, and gender.
This course explores the impact of the Cold War on the American home front between 1945 and 1991. Topics include reactions to the atomic bomb, the role of civil defense, McCarthyism, the culture of consumption, and the impact of the Cold War on the family, politics, religion, science, the arts, and social movements.
An examination of the French Revolution and the historiographical debates it has engendered. Themes to be explored include revolutionary political culture, art and festivals, democracy and political representation, how the Revolution affected women, the Revolution in the countryside, Counterrevolution, the nature of the Terror, and revolution in the colonies.
Examines the Black experience in Canada from the 16th to 20th centuries. Topics include slavery, the arrival of the Black Loyalists, the migration of fugitive slaves, abolitionism, creation of Black communities and institutions. Twentieth century themes include military and labour participation, social activism, Caribbean migration.
This course explores what it means to be an historian outside the classroom, as well as the controversies involved in the practice of Public History. The types of applications historians will or could encounter will be explored, including corporate history, building history, Heritage work in the community, and oral history.
This course examines the intertwined histories of slavery and the law in North America from the colonial era until the end of the American Civil War. It explores how the law shaped the contours of slave societies (and societies with slaves), and the key institutions that sanctioned and supported slavery in its creation.
Primary emphasis is placed on social and intellectual developments in the 19th century.
An exploration of key topics in the history and interpretation of the Crusades, the society and culture of the Latin Kingdoms, and their impact on the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, Muslim and Christian.
The political, social, cultural and economic development of the Maritimes and Newfoundland from the early 17th century to the present.
This course examines cultural histories of economic life in nineteenth-century America and explores the ways in which culture and the economy shaped each other throughout the century. Topics may include the market revolution, slavery, financial markets, fiction and the market, industrialization, incorporation, and consumer culture.
An advanced survey of how power and authority were understood, exercised, and challenged in Canada before 1896. Topics include political cultures and ideologies, tools of governance such as the law and schools, popular political participation and protest, nationalism, citizenship, and the emergence of the modern, liberal state.
Advanced introduction to the fields of Global, World, and Transnational History. The origins, foundational debates, and major contributions of the field. Study how commodities, people, intellectual trends, and the environment can serve as methodological avenues in uncovering the global shape of our interconnected past.
This seminar explores central issues in and approaches to legal history based on Canadian examples. Topics may include the history of crime and punishment; the legal regulation of gender, sexuality, 'race', and Native-newcomer relations; the law and the evolution of modern capitalism; and the history of the legal profession, and civil rights.
This course focuses on the individual ingredients - including choosing viable sources, chronological plotlines and framing episodes and events - that historians use to construct historical narratives and ultimately gain a deeper understanding of what constitutes "History".
This seminar explores the history of schooling in Canada in its political, social and cultural contexts. Topics may include the development of the public education system, the feminization of teaching, Native residential schools, the relationship of education to racial, gender, class and sexual hierarchies, and changes in pedagogy and curriculum.
This course will offer a political, social, and intellectual history of the Enlightenment in Britain. The chronological scope of the course will run from the Restoration to the French Revolution. The purpose of the course will be to set Enlightenment ideas within their political, social, and economic context, and introduce students to the methods of contextualism.
An examination of the complex political, social, and cultural history of the region now thought of as Greece, from the emergence of the Byzantine empire to the start of Ottoman domination (4th to 15th centuries CE). Attention will be paid to historiography and its role in imagining the 'orient' and constructing the Modern Greek national identity.
An exploration of how New World societies were born out of the contact between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that followed Columbus' landing in 1492. Topics will include contact, colonization, slavery, trade, race, culture and Creolization.
This course examines the history and interpretation of the medieval Crusades in the Middle East and Western Europe from 11th-13th centuries. Students will study the society of the crusaders in the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Europe and attempt to relate medieval crusading to present-day debates and issues.
This course will explore the crusades' place in the history of the medieval world and consider the long and contentious history of the crusades and their meaning in the world today. Themes include travel, trade, gender and sexuality, warfare, art and architecture, and inter-religious interaction and conflict.
This course explores sex, gender, man, woman, as products of particular cultural and scientific contexts, drawing on South Asian material. Themes include sexuality in Hindu mythology, colonial masculinity, sex and the body in Gandhi's thought, the gendered underpinnings of imperial ideologies, transnational feminism and its post-colonial critics, and the expression of queer identities in South Asia.
An introduction to discussions of sex and gender in the history of medicine. Main themes include: the impact of cultural and social relations on the production of scientific and medical knowledge on sex and gender, and the impact of science and medicine in the creation of social categories.
A seminar exploring the history and politics of archives. State, community-based, and digital archives will be discussed. With an emphasis on experiential learning, students will visit and conduct research in archival settings. They will learn to communicate their research in academic papers and public history venues (exhibits, posters, websites).
Thematic topics in the history of the societies and cultures of the Mediterranean region during the medieval era. These can include comparative and cross-cultural studies of society, economy, religion and political formations across the Latin West, Byzantium, and the Islamic World.
An examination of transformations in the conception, practice and experience of war in 20th century Europe with a focus on the two World Wars. Topics include international law, gender and the home-front, trench warfare, popular violence and genocide, collaboration and resistance, and memory. Students will read primary sources such as diaries, letters and novels as well as scholarly literature.
This course examines contemporary African political and economic history from the euphoric days of independence through the tumultuous decades of famines and pandemics to 'Africa rising' and the 'war on terror'. Topics include European late colonial rule, ascent to independence, structural readjustment programs.
This course considers the Spanish Inquisition and Extirpation of Idolatries campaign Spain and Latin America between 1492 and 1700. We examine how Catholic orthodoxy and heresy, faith, sexuality, healing practices, witchcraft and mysticism served as cultural unifiers and as markers of gender and ethnic differences.
Thematic approach to the history of the Muslim world in a cross-cultural, trans-regional, and global perspective. Topics vary, and may include but are not limited to religion and state, gender, nomadism, migration and refugees, commodities and resources, war, diaspora.
Studies in Canadian society in its pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial aspects, 1900-1975. Topics in labour, immigration, childhood, family, urban and rural history, with emphasis upon both the cultural and technological contexts of social change. Readings from the traditional and 'new' social history literature's. The discussion is national in scope with focus upon distinctive regional developments.
An exploration of approaches to 'community' and 'society' in British thought and culture from the late 18th to the early 20th century.
An introduction to the study of British rule in India. This course examines the impact of the colonial governance of India on Britain from the mid-eighteenth century to Independence.
Examines the history of race relations in Latin America from European contact to the present. Topics include indigenous resistance and adaptation to conquest, African slavery and emancipation, debates about assimilation versus cultural survival, and whether Latin America provides a unique model of race relations.
The history of everyday life in Latin America from 1860 to 1960, a century of global economic and cultural change. Themes include urbanization, the "social question", state and class formation, gender roles, crime, science and technology.
Key debates in the political history of Latin America from Independence (1820s) to the recent past. Themes include the tension between liberalism and authoritarianism; struggles for civil, political, and human rights; populism and charismatic leaders; revolutionary and reactionary ideologies.
This course examines the history of sexuality in a comparative context, using Canada, Britain and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries as a focus.
In nineteenth-century Russia, religion, politics, and literature were inextricably intertwined. This course will look at how Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, and other Russian writers grappled with religious questions, revolutionary activism, and the role of the writer in society. In turn, the course will examine how this literature influenced wider society.
Learning Hours 180(36S;144P)
An in-depth examination of intellectual and cultural changes in continental Europe, 1750 to the present, organized around such themes as changing views of selfhood, rationality, emotions, irrationality, and technology. Movements that might be examined include the late Enlightenment, Romanticism, realism, and modernism.
A seminar exploring the influence of Michel Foucault on the study of history, including the fields of madness and medicine, prison and punishment, sexuality and the self. The course also examines how historians have employed and critiqued Foucault's concepts in their own work, particularly in the areas of gender, race, and colonialism.
This upper-year seminar explores the history of black women in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the contemporary era. It situates the history of black women within the broader contexts of U.S. politics, culture and society, while recognizing the ways that this history is distinguishable within it.
Exploration of the historical connection between gender and technology; how gender has influenced the design, production, and consumption of technology, as well as the ways in which medical technologies have altered ideas about sex and gender. Topics include domestic design, cyborg feminism, reproductive technologies, and women in computing.
An exploration of war in a Canadian context, with an emphasis on how war has shaped Canadian society and the relationship between Canada and its armed forces. Topics to be studied, from a Canadian perspective, include the military as a profession, military culture, combat stress, leadership, gender and sexuality in the military, and mutinies.
Recent Research on the role of animals in history have eroded the barriers between human and natural sciences. By reexamining the part played by animals not merely as beasts of burden, or resources, or even as companions, but as agents in historical processes, this course poses a critique of human exceptionalism and the meaning of agency.
This seminar provides an in-depth introduction to the history of the nation-form: narratives of its global origins, its historical development and global dispersal in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, the simultaneous emergence of anticolonialism and ultra-nationalism, its eclipse, and subsequent resurgence and revival in the post 9/11 world.
Students explore the prevalence of pseudohistory in Canadian popular media and apply critical tools to identify these modern myths. From ancient aliens to destroyed civilizations, why does history inspire theories about lost civilizations, dark conspiracies, apocalyptic predictions or mysterious technologies? How do we tell the truth from the bunk?
An exploration of topics in the social, cultural, political and economic history of Ireland from the Rising of 1798 onward.
NOTE It is recommended that students have at least one course in the history of Great Britain or of the British empire as preparation for this seminar.
This course investigates some of Canada's major social questions. Marginalized people were the main groups affected by or seen to be causing them. The solutions were institutions, legislation, or both. Institutions were mainly created in the 19th century, taking the form of asylums, hospitals, prisons, workhouses, and even schools.
After WWI, Canada embarked on a new trajectory and entered the modern age. New issues, particularly those concerning women, the so-called "youth problem", and Indigenous people began to make themselves evident Questions of race, poverty, and work continued to be important, particularly during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
A course on China's nationalist and communist revolutions. Readings explore rival revolutionaries' goals and programs. Seminars examine the internal and international struggles affecting the outcome of the civil war of 1946-1949.
Explores political, economic, and cultural change in the People's Republic of China, while providing an introduction to specialized research methods. Attention will also be devoted to the recent history of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Offers credit for archival work undertaken in conjunction with Queen's University Archives. One month before the beginning of the term during which the work will be undertaken, students must submit an application to the Chair of Undergraduate Studies requesting credit hours commensurate with the project's learning hours.
NOTE This course may be taken only once during a student's degree program.
Offers credit for archival work undertaken in conjunction with Queen's University Archives. One month before the beginning of the term during which the work will be undertaken, students must submit an application to the Chair of Undergraduate Studies requesting credit hours commensurate with the project's learning hours.
NOTE This course may be taken only once during a student's degree program.
This internship course provides a broad understanding of the publishing industry through an embedded learning experience in a leading publishing venue. Placements will focus on publishing workflow, editorial skills, publishing software, review protocols, impact factor metrics, marketing, publicity, and broad principles of editorial management.
NOTE At least one month before the beginning of term during which the work will be undertaken, students must submit an application to the department.
This course is intended to expand upon a research paper written for an upper-level seminar (HIST 333-499) and must include independent research involving the use of primary and secondary sources. A student may also propose a new topic that they have not previously explored.
NOTE Students must obtain the approval of the supervising instructor and of the Undergraduate Committee for any proposal submitted.
The research paper must be based on independent research involving the use of primary and secondary sources. The instructor may assign additional assessments to assist the student in producing the final paper.
The project may be either a research project involving the use of primary and secondary sources, or a more broadly conceived independent reading program. This course is available to students studying on main campus, as well as students participating in an international education program.
NOTE Students must obtain approval of the supervising instructor and of the Undergraduate Committee. If students are completing the project during their term away, two supervising instructors are required. The primary instructor must be from the partnering institution and a secondary supervisor must be from the Department of History, Queen's University.