Lower-Division

HIS 2A The World to 1500

Surveys the rise of complex societies: the formation of classical civilizations in Afroeurasia and the Americas, post-classical empires and cross-cultural exchange, technology and environmental change, the Mongol Empire, and oceanic voyages and the origins of the modern world.

Credits

5

Instructor

Benjamin Breen

General Education Code

CC

HIS 2B The World Since 1500

Examines major world issues over the past 500 years. Topics include European expansion and colonialism, the Muslim empires, East Asia from Ming to Qing, the Americas, Africa, the scientific-technological revolution, decolonization, and modern environmental problems. Designed primarily for first- and second-year students, it provides a time frame for understanding events within a global framework.

Credits

5

Instructor

Gregory O'Malley, Marc Matera

General Education Code

CC

HIS 4 History of the Present: Investigating the Historical Origins of Contemporary Problems

This course answers big questions about the present state of the world by excavating their historical development. Each year, instructors identify four new contemporary questions to explore through lecture, podcasts, readings, and videos. Students learn historical methodologies, including gathering and evaluating evidence, and developing compelling arguments and narratives. Students use these skills to investigate questions that matter to them through a collaborative research project, learning that everything has a history, including the issues grabbing our attention right now.

Credits

5

Instructor

Jennifer Derr, Catherine Jones

General Education Code

PR-E

HIS 5B Cult, Church, Empire: History of Early Christianity, 0-431 C.E.

Christianity from its origins as a Jewish messianic movement, its expansion in multiple forms in the Greco-Roman world and the East, to its transformation into the major religion of the Roman and Byzantine empires. (Formerly offered as Early Christianity: First to Fourth Century A.D.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Anne Kreps

General Education Code

CC

HIS 5C Introduction to the Bible

The Bible is a sacred text for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is also a cultural artifact of human history, preserving ancient debates about political and religious identity, slavery and immigration, sexual ethics, and environmental stewardship. What can we know about the Bible's origins and interpretations, the relationships between its texts and others, and the people who wrote it? Course introduces the history and literature of the Bible through close readings of famous portions in a manner that introduces literary-critical methodologies for the study of religion.

Credits

5

Instructor

Anne Kreps

General Education Code

TA

HIS 5D Religions of Abraham

The phrase "Religions of Abraham" describes three religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—that claim Abraham as chief patriarch. This course examines the formation of these diverse traditions chiefly through primary source material: literature, letters, and legal documents. The historical period of the ancient Near East from the height of the Babylonian Empire to the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate is covered, while students also learn about the variety of beliefs, texts, and practices that comprise these vibrant world religions.

Credits

5

Instructor

Anne Kreps

General Education Code

CC

HIS 9 Introduction to Native American History

Introduction to the interdisciplinary field of Native American Studies and the Indigenous experience. Topics include: history of United States-Indian relations; colonialism; sovereignty; identity; representation of Native Americans in popular culture; and contemporary efforts toward decolonization in indigenous communities.

Credits

5

Instructor

Amy Lonetree

Offered

Spring

General Education Code

ER

HIS 9C California Indian History

California encompasses the nation's largest Native population and the state's policies create a complex political and legal structure. This course provides a history of early California in the 18th and 19th centuries and a review of the urban Indian experience in the 20th century. The first part sets the historical foundation and traces early California Indian history. The second part shifts to 20th-century urban Indian issues and the contemporary moment for California Indian peoples. Covers topics such as Indian labor exploitation, genocide, termination, relocation, and federal recognition. (Formerly FMST 13.)

Credits

5

Cross Listed Courses

CRES 13

Instructor

Caitlin Keliiaa

General Education Code

ER

HIS 10A United States History to 1877

Focuses on the building of British American colonies and the establishment, disintegration, and reconstruction of the nation with an emphasis on how class, race, ethnicity, and gender impacted colonial development and structured the nation's agenda and the definition of citizenship.

Credits

5

Instructor

Catherine Jones

American History and Institutions

Yes

General Education Code

ER

HIS 10B United States History, 1877 to 1977

Surveys the political, social, and cultural history of the United States from 1877 to 1977. Focuses on national politics with emphasis on how class, race, ethnicity, and gender changed the nation's agenda.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

American History and Institutions

Yes

General Education Code

ER

HIS 11A Latin America: Colonial Period

Introduces the social, cultural, economic, and political history of the New World through a close examination of the process of European conquest in the 16th century and its consequences for both native and settler peoples. Medieval and Renaissance European and African backgrounds; Inca, Maya, Aztec, plains, woodland, and tropical rainforest native American societies; processes of military and cultural conquest; epidemics and ecological changes; native resistance and the establishment of the fundamental institutions of colonial society.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

ER

HIS 11B Latin America: National Period

An introduction to the study of Latin American history from the Independence Wars in the early 19th century to the present. Topics include changing economic models of development, U.S. role, rural and urban life, women, nationalisms, populism, revolution, the military in politics, and the problem of democracy.

Credits

5

Instructor

Matthew O'Hara, Aims McGuinness

General Education Code

ER

HIS 12 Introduction to Latino American History

Introduces students to the history of U.S. Latinos drawing on the experience of Central Americans, people of Mexican descent, Puerto Ricans, Dominican Americans, and Cuban Americans. Emphasizes international processes that fundamentally shape U.S. Latino communities.

Credits

5

Instructor

Grace Delgado

American History and Institutions

Yes

General Education Code

ER

HIS 13 Introduction to American Religious Culture

Introduction to the many communities found within the American religious landscape, balancing extraordinary diversity characterizing American pluralism against the dominant religious culture. Proceeds historically, engaging major problems and developments including utopianism, the rise of evangelicalism, religion and reform, manifest destiny, secularization and modernity, and the intersection of politics and religion.

Credits

5

Instructor

Marilyn Westerkamp

General Education Code

TA

HIS 15 The United States of America from its Founding through Our Time

Takes students through five critical moments in United States history: the American Revolution, the Civil War, the New Deal, the Civil Rights era, and the years following the attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Designed for non-majors.

Credits

5

Instructor

Matthew Lasar

American History and Institutions

Yes

General Education Code

ER

HIS 20 U.S. Popular Music Movements

Focuses on the development of popular music genres in the United States and the social contexts that have produced them, from the 19th Century to the present. Promotes an understanding of how music influences and reflects our political lives.

Credits

5

Instructor

Eric Porter

General Education Code

IM

HIS 30 The Making of Modern Africa

Examines the loss and reassumption of local and state autonomy in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries. Delineates the modalities of the colonial state and society, modes of resistance to alien occupation, and the deformation of social, class, and gender relations.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

ER

HIS 31A African History to 1900

Introduces students to African History, from the very beginning of Homo sapiens to the dawn of European colonialism across the continent. In this long journey, we are guided by the contributions brought by Africanist historiography to history as a field of knowledge and to the public debate. Course considers the way we think of history, how it impacts non-Western societies, and how learning about the African past enables us to better understand the historical roots of our time. To achieve this, course looks attentively at African societies from within.

Credits

5

Instructor

Thiago Mota

General Education Code

CC

HIS 32A Islam in Africa and the African Diaspora

Introduces the History of Islam, its spread over Africa, and the role of the African diaspora in making Islam a global religion. Course delves into the role of African and African diasporic communities in globalizing Islam, and considers the relationship between Islam and local cultures to understand how religious unity and cultural diversity within Islam interact. It also aims to develop tools to interpret how race and ethnicity have been used by and applied to African Muslims within the global Muslim community.

Credits

5

Instructor

Thiago Mota

General Education Code

ER

HIS 39D Floods, Epidemics, and Famine: Environmental History of the Early Modern Atlantic World

Familiarizes undergraduates with environmental history as a discipline, as well as introduce them to the early modern period and the Atlantic World as a region of study by focusing on themes such as climate shifts and crises, the spread of epidemic disease, and the relationship between the environment and colonialism. Course does not assume previous experience with history courses and is intended to be a broad survey encompassing several regions of study. It is arranged both thematically and geographically and emphasizes environmental change throughout the early modern period to give a broad geographical overview of major environmental topics during the 15th through 18th centuries.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

PE-E

HIS 39E Monsters, Media, and the History of the Supernatural in Modern Japan

Study of modern Japanese history from the late Edo period to the present day. Examines the cultural lives of monsters and transformations in meaning through major events in Japanese history. Examines the intellectual, cultural, and social histories of monsters and their entanglement with the emergence of science and folklore; the formation of the nation-state; racism, politics, and war; urbanization and kinship structures; and capitalism and virtual worlds.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

IM

HIS 39F Expansion, Power, and Change: Christian World Missions and Missionaries

Course stretches students' reflections on the nature of Christian mission and the work of missionaries, their imbroglio with and involvement in state and society, and how historical sourcing may impact the way we see things, lives, and our past. Begins in the 1st century BCE where Christianity emerged in West Asia and is organized chronologically through the 21st century. Course examines Christianity's expansion and external power and the competing views of it as rebellious, revolutionary and justice-oriented momentum versus a repressive conversion institution working politically, militarily, and economically. Also examines how the perception and strategy of Christian mission changed in time, region, groups, and individual missionaries, and how Christian mission, as a power, contributed to the regional and global changes.

Credits

5

Instructor

Manning Chan

General Education Code

TA

HIS 39G History in Action: Oral History in Practice

Introduces the methodology of oral history as well as its varying applications for the public humanities. Students learn about the ethical, practical, and methodological strategies for creating an oral history project, as well as initiate at least their first interview by the end of the course.

Credits

5

Instructor

David Duncan

General Education Code

PE-H

HIS 39H U.S. Bases in Asia Pacific: Power, Pollution, and Protest

Survey of U.S. military bases and influence in the Asia Pacific Region since the end of the Second World War. Using the geographic scope of PACOM (Pacific Command), the course covers an area including Japan, Guam, Hawai’i, and Korea. Despite the failure of President Obama’s “Pivot to the Pacific” campaign, there remains a long history of U.S. presence in and across the Pacific Ocean; sometimes this presence is in the form of U.S. soldiers stationed on bases abroad, sometimes this presence is landscape altering in the form of nuclear testing. Students are introduced to key themes in the creation of “America’s Lake,” as well as movements of resistance against the U.S. empire.

Credits

5

Instructor

Alexyss McClellan-Ufugusuku

General Education Code

PR-E

HIS 40A Early Modern East Asia

Surveys the history of East Asia from 1500 to 1894. Covers political, social, economic, and cultural histories of China, Japan, and Korea with the goal of perceiving a regional history that encompassed each society.

Credits

5

Instructor

Minghui Hu

General Education Code

CC

HIS 40B The Making of Modern East Asia

A broad introductory survey of the political, social, economic, philosophical, and religious heritage of modern China, Japan, and Korea. Emphasis on the historical foundations of modern nationalism, the colonial experience, and revolutionary movements.

Credits

5

Instructor

Noriko Aso, Alan Christy

General Education Code

CC

HIS 41 The Making of the Modern Middle East

History of the modern Middle East from 1800 to the present, with special reference to the 20th century and forces which have shaped the area. The impact of imperialism, nationalism, and revolution in the area, with particular attention to the history of four countries: Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Israel.

Credits

5

Instructor

Jennifer Derr, Muriam Davis

General Education Code

CC

HIS 44 Modern South Asia, 1500 to Present

Provides an introductory survey of South Asian history and society from the beginning of the 16th Century until the dawn of the 21st Century. Students gain an understanding of major events and long transformations in society, economy, culture, and politics.

Credits

5

Instructor

Juned Shaikh

General Education Code

ER

HIS 50 When Pharaohs Reigned: The History of Ancient Egypt

Introduces the political and social history of ancient Egyptian civilization from the Predynasitic through the end of the Pharaonic period. (Formerly Pyramids and Papyrus: the History of Ancient Egypt.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Elaine Sullivan

General Education Code

IM

HIS 51 Pyramids of Earth: Religion and Symbol in the Ancient World

Investigates the use of the pyramid architectural form in ancient societies across the globe, including Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Americas, and Southeast Asia. The social, political, and religious motivation for building pyramids is explored.

Credits

5

Instructor

Elaine Sullivan

General Education Code

IM

HIS 58 From Pirates to Refugees: The History of the Modern Mediterranean

Covers the history of the Mediterranean from the end of the Ottoman Empire to the present. It focuses on the role of empire in shaping patterns of economic and cultural exchange.

Credits

5

Instructor

Muriam Davis

General Education Code

ER

HIS 59 The History of the English Language

Students acquire an understanding of the history of the development of the English language, from its origins to present, and engage critically with the quantitative evidence for that history, using accessible online databases and digital texts.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

SR

HIS 60 Medical and Scientific Terminology

Trains students in the principals that will help them make sense of Greco-Latin scientific and technical vocabulary. Introduces Greco-Roman natural philosophy and its general cultural context, and explains the historical relationship of that tradition to the emergence of modern European experimental science and technology. (Formerly Scientific Vocabulary and the Roots of the European Scientific Tradition.)

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

PR-E

HIS 61 Classical Mythology

Introduces the philosophy of myth, and surveys classical Greek mythology. Students explore the mythic mode of thinking and its distinguishing characteristics as well as the repertoire of Greek myths and their cultural contexts.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

HIS 62A Classical World: Greece

An overview of Greek history from the beginnings through the Hellenistic period, with emphasis on the Archaic and Classical periods (ca. 800 B.C. through 323 B.C.).

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

CC

HIS 62B Classical World: Rome

A lecture course offering an overview of Roman history and civilization from the legendary founding of Rome in 753 B.C. to the collapse of the Roman Empire's central administration in the West in 476 A.D.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

CC

HIS 65B Plagues, Peasants, and Pirates: Late Medieval Europe, 1000-1500

Reviews major social, political, economic, and cultural developments in Europe from 1000 to 1500 and themes including gender, warfare, ethnicity and religion, through primary sources and secondary readings. Primary focus is Western Europe: England, France, the Iberian Peninsula, the Holy Roman Empire, the Low Countries, and Italy. (Formerly Europe, 1000-1500.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Benjamin Breen

General Education Code

CC

HIS 70A Modern European History, 1500-1815

Surveys the economic, social, cultural, and political history of Europe since the late 15th century: 1500-1815. Course 70A is not a prerequisite to course 70B.

Credits

5

Instructor

Kiva Silver, Bruce Thompson

General Education Code

CC

HIS 70B Modern European History, 1815-present

Surveys the political, social, and cultural history of Europe from the era of the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the second millennium. Course 70A is not prerequisite to 70B.

Credits

5

Instructor

Bruce Thompson, Kiva Silver

General Education Code

CC

HIS 74 Introduction to Jewish History and Cultures

Surveys 3,000 years of Jewish history. Themes include origins of the Jews in the ancient world, formation and persistence of the Jewish diaspora, coherence and diversity of Jewish experience, Jewish narrative and textual traditions, interaction between Jews and other cultures, productive tensions between tradition and modernity in Jewish history and literature.

Credits

5

Instructor

Bruce Thompson, Alma Heckman

General Education Code

ER

HIS 74A Introduction to Middle Eastern and North African Jewish History: Ancient to Early Modern

Popular media present Muslims and Jews as age-old enemies; this is far from the truth. Through primary sources, secondary texts, and films, students examine this fraught and politicized history, challenging conventional narratives of the region and its Jewish population.

Credits

5

Instructor

Alma Heckman

General Education Code

ER

HIS 74B Introduction to Middle Eastern and North African Jewish History, 1500-2000

Surveys modern Jewish history from Morocco to Iran, 1500-2000. Studying these populations through original documents, scholarly works, and literature imparts a unique perspective on both modern Jewish history and that of the region, challenging and complementing standard narratives of each.

Credits

5

Instructor

Alma Heckman

General Education Code

ER

HIS 75 Film and the Holocaust

Examines a series of distinguished documentary and feature films about the destruction of European Jewry. Each film is placed in its historical context, and wherever possible, the readings include the original documents on which films were based. Emphasis is placed on the strategies the filmmakers used to address the problem of representing genocide without succumbing to mere melodrama.

Credits

5

Instructor

Bruce Thompson

General Education Code

IM

HIS 76 The Holocaust: A Global Perspective

Investigates the genocide of the Jews from 1933 to 1945 within its broader historical context, including anti-Semitism, the Great Depression, Nazi-Soviet relations, and World War II. Examines how the Holocaust unfolded in Europe as well as its impact on Jews in North Africa and the Middle East. (Formerly The Holocaust.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Nathaniel Deutsch, Alma Heckman

General Education Code

PE-H

HIS 78 Modern Authoritarianism in Europe and Beyond

Examines modern authoritarianism and mass dictatorship as distinct political forms that promote and draw their strength from popular support and mobilization. Students study how non-democratic leaders are able to attain, exercise, perpetuate, and misuse their power.

Credits

5

Instructor

Edward Kelher

General Education Code

CC

HIS 80C Global China

Introductory and collaborative history course that examines the social dimensions of globalization through a focus on China since 1500. Asking how China shaped and was shaped by interactions with major world regions—Europe, the Americas, and Asia—course discusses how networks of trade, imperialism, revolutions, migration, popular culture, and capitalism created significant global conjunctures and interdependencies with lasting impact. In addition, course offers instruction on how to collaborate with others effectively to achieve common goals. Students apply knowledge and techniques learned to a series of group projects.

Credits

5

Instructor

Shelly Chan

General Education Code

PR-E

HIS 80D Visualizing Modern East Asia

Introduction to modern East Asian history, with a specific focus on the nations of China, Japan, and Korea. Students investigate major historical questions about modernity, imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, gender, and labor from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. This course is also designed to explore contemporary media, looking at how visual reproductions become instruments to remember the past. Through the exercise of visualizing East Asian history, the course aims to help students make critical assessments of mass media information on East Asia available to the American public.

Credits

5

Instructor

The Staff

General Education Code

IM

HIS 80X Civil Rights Movement: Grassroots Change and American Society

The civil rights movement of the 1950s-60s was one of the most important grassroots social movements in American history. Course examines this movement and its effects on American society, focusing especially on the experiences of rank-and-file participants.

Credits

5

Instructor

Quin'Nita Cobbins-Modica

General Education Code

ER

HIS 80Y World War II Memories in the U.S. and Japan

Examines how the meaning of such issues as war origins, war responsibility, the atomic bomb, reparations, and racism have been subjects of contention in postwar U.S. and Japan. Students explore the relations between history, memory, and contemporary politics.

Credits

5

Instructor

Alice Yang, Alan Christy

General Education Code

PR-E

HIS 81 Science in the Colonial World

Introduces students to the history of science in colonized lands. Covers topics such as natural history collecting, medicine, bodily experimentation, botanical gardens, healing plants, and agriculture. Students learn about local colonial scientific production and anti-colonial resistance by focusing on case studies from Southeast Asia, with supplemental readings on colonial Caribbean, Latin American, and North African sites, as well as present-day North American indigenous territories. Students also investigate the possibilities for decolonizing science itself.

Credits

5

Instructor

Kathleen Gutierrez

General Education Code

SI

HIS 82 California Gold Rush in Global History

Course seeks to reframe a paradigmatic event in the history of California and the United States as an event in global history. Rather than assume the spatial and temporal boundaries of the Gold Rush, students explore different possible answers to the questions of where and when the Gold Rush happened, why it matters, and for whom. Students retrace connections and make comparisons between events in California and other places that often fall beyond the purview of "California History" as conventionally understood. (Formerly Global History of the California Gold Rush.)

Credits

5

Instructor

Aims McGuinness

American History and Institutions

Yes

General Education Code

PE-E

HIS 90A Nuclear Pacific

Examines the history of nuclear weapons development, nuclear weapons use, nuclear testing, and nuclear power in the Pacific region from 1942 to the present. Students do research on nuclear science, medicine, energy, and weapons testing and their social, political, demographic, and environmental impacts.

Credits

5

Instructor

Alice Yang

American History and Institutions

Yes

General Education Code

PE-T

HIS 99 Tutorial

Students submit petition to sponsoring agency.

Credits

5

Repeatable for credit

Yes

Quarter offered

Fall, Winter, Spring

Cross-listed courses that are managed by another department are listed at the bottom.

Cross-listed Courses

ANTH 110O Postcolonial Britain and France

Transdisciplinary examination of the politics and culture of postcolonial Britain and France. Topics include: immigration from South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean; racism and antiracism; minority difference and citizenship practices; and the emergence of Islam as a major category of identity and difference.

Credits

5

Cross Listed Courses

HIS 181A

General Education Code

CC

LIT 141B Classical Chinese Culture and Literature, 10th Century B.C.E. through Sixth Century C.E

Survey of writing and culture from the 10th century B.C.E. through the sixth century C.E., focusing on poetry, philosophical and historical writing, supernatural fiction, Buddhist/Taoist texts in contexts of fragmentation, empire building, dynastic collapse, rebellion, eremitism, and courtly society. Critical approach designations: Geographies, Histories. Distribution requirements: Global, Poetry, Pre-1750.

Credits

5

Cross Listed Courses

HIS 141A

Instructor

Christopher Connery

General Education Code

CC

LIT 141C Classical Chinese Culture and Literature, Sixth Century through 16th Century

Survey of writing and culture from the Tang through early Ming dynasties (sixth century C.E. through 16th century C.E.). Themes include literary, religious, and philosophical innovation; courtly life; cultural contacts with non-Chinese people; and transformations of state and society. Critical approach designations: Geographies, Histories. Distribution requirements: Global, Poetry, Pre-1750.

Credits

5

Cross Listed Courses

HIS 141B

Instructor

Christopher Connery

General Education Code

CC