Fall 2018
Level-I
Introductory Seminars
Introductory Seminars are open only to first-year students. They introduce students to the study of History by focusing on a “slice” of history or a specific event or theme rather than, as in a survey, focusing on a broad sweep of time and space. Each seminar has a different topic, but all explore the fundamental problems of history and the process and practices of “doing history.” Special emphasis is on the analysis of primary sources and critical assessment of historical interpretations. The class size of each Introductory Seminar is small in order to provide ample opportunity for class discussion and attention to writing.
121 The Making of Modern Russia
This course explores the origins of the modern Russian empire. Using primary sources including chronicles, folktales, legal codes, letters, and religious icons, students consider Russia’s development from a loose collection of princedoms into a powerful, multi-ethnic empire spanning 11 time zones. Topics include the impact of geography and climate, the Orthodox religion, Mongol rule, gender roles, the rise of autocracy, and social rebellion.
122 Europe and the Great War
This course looks beyond the traditional diplomatic and military history of World War I to consider the social, cultural, and intellectual contexts that made it the “Great War” to contemporaries. We analyze poems, novels, films, memoirs, official documents, newspapers, posters, and scholarly works to answer the following questions: How did ideas from the late nineteenth century influence the way Europeans thought about the war that began in August 1914? What was life like in the trenches and on the home front, and how did these realities change the way in which Europeans understood modern war? What differences did class and gender make in an individual’s experience of the war? How did these different experiences influence postwar expectations? What is the larger significance of the Great War for modern society?
126 Conquest and Colonization
This seminar examines one of history’s most dramatic episodes: the Spanish conquest and colonization of what is now Latin America. Through reading and discussion, we will examine such topics as European and indigenous perceptions of the Conquest, the role of missionaries the imperial enterprise, the response of native peoples to the imposition of Christianity, indigenous efforts to resist Spanish domination, the ecological/biological consequences of 1492, and subsequent debates over the morality of the conquest.
151 Slavery in African History
This course introduces students to the historical forces leading to, and scholarly debates about slavery in African History. Students examine the nature and development of domestic slavery to the nineteenth century as well as the slave trade systems across the Saharan Desert and the Atlantic Ocean. Students “do history” using primary sources to retrieve the African voices and agency in discussions of the slave trade, and debating themes such as ethnicity, kinship, state formation, and colonialism.
We shall use African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade (2005) as a thread with which to center our discussion of African Agency and the silences inherent in the African slave trade.
182 A & B America Since 1945
This seminar examines American society since 1945, with particular emphasis on the years between 1945 and 1975. The main focus is social history. Topics include the impact of the Cold War, migration to the suburbs, post-industrial society, the culture of the 1950’s, civil rights, the Vietnam War, the student movement, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. Sources include novels, essays, magazine stories, films, and documentaries.
188 Napoleon: Man, Myth, and History
By the end of the twentieth century, the number of books published on Napoleon surpassed the number of days since his death; more films had been made about him than about Lincoln, Lenin, and Joan of Arc combined. Fascination with Napoleon among scholars and the public alike has produced myriad interpretations of the man and his historical significance–some serious, some frivolous. Was genius the source of his accomplishments, as Romantics claim, or did he rather “blunder to glory” as one Napoleonic expert suggests? Was he the savior of the French Revolution or the first modern dictator? Did he re-map the Continent through the eyes of a conqueror or with a vision of the modern Europe we know? Students use speeches, letters, and memoirs (Napoleon’s own and those of his supporters and critics); paintings and caricatures (including those created by his own propaganda machine); literature; state documents; and film to investigate the historical and the mythical Napoleon and explore how later generations (re)invent interpretations of the man and his era.
189 Topic: Gandhi’s India
The struggle for independence from colonial rule in South Asia involved a wide array of nationalist movements. Most prominent among these was the anti-colonial struggle led by Mohandas K. Gandhi, who helped forge a long-term movement, centered on the practices of non-violence and civil disobedience, to help bring down the mightiest empire in the world. The period of Gandhi’s struggle in the 19th and 20th centuries, however, was also a time when numerous other powerful nationalist currents, including many based on Islamic ideas and symbols, emerged in the Indian subcontinent. In this course we will examine the historical forces and the people which comprised these socio-political movements, in an effort to understand the complex and intriguing ways in which Gandhi’s movement intersected, combined, and conflicted with other nationalist trends. We will thus study the patterns by which nationalist movements variously incorporated economic, political, ethnic and religious elements into their ideologies and practices. The lives of a number of Gandhi’s contemporaries will be studied, and we will also look at the ways in which South Asian nationalist movements developed and changed over time as they interacted with the forces of British colonialism. Topics including the role of political violence and non-violence, conceptions of masculinity and femininity, caste, class, and race will also form part of our material.
Level-I Asian Studies / History
Introductory Seminar
Asian Studies 121
This course is an introduction to the history and culture of modern East Asia from 1894 to the present. We will focus on the Chinese-speaking world, including China and Taiwan; the Japanese archipelago; and North and South Korea. Reading assignments, writing, and digital assignments will focus heavily on primary sources, digital archives, and discussion. The course will be framed around three central themes: gender, the state, and technology.
Foundational Surveys
Foundational surveys provide overviews of a broad chronological period or geographical area. These courses are open to all students, and are appropriate as both an introduction to the study of History and as background for understanding American, European, or Global history.
190 Europe from the Ancients to the Renaissance
This course surveys Western history and culture from its origins in the Ancient Near East to the Italian Renaissance. Topics include the ancient world, the beginnings of Christianity, the emergence and disintegration of Rome as a unifying power, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Through original texts and historical studies, students explore relationships among religions, states, and societies and views of natural environments, family life, and gender roles.
193 Modern Latin America (FLAC component available) *
An overview of the evolution of Latin American societies since 1750, this course examines the consequences of independence, 19th-century economic imperialism, and the 20th-century transitions to more urbanized, industrialized ways of life. Students examine major Latin American nations and compare their revolutionary and counterrevolutionary trajectories toward the establishment of authoritarian states. Applied Foreign Language Component available in Spanish.
195 Global Histories from 1500 to the Present
This course takes a comparative and chronological approach to studying the diverse cultures of the modern world. Through original texts, historical studies, and literary sources, students examine such themes as the rise of American imperialism and its impact on the native peoples of the Americas, Asia, and Africa; the emergence of the nation state and new ideologies; the spread of American influence in the world; human interaction with the environment, challenges to religion and traditional life-styles; and innovation in family and gender structures.
198 A & B American History to 1865
This course examines the development of American culture and society from the Columbian encounter through the Civil War. Topics include the interaction of Europeans, Africans, and indigenous peoples in early America; the social development of the British colonies; the evolution of American slavery; the Revolution and the Constitution; industrialization, expansion and reform in the 19th century; and the Civil War.
*Information about the program in Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC) can be found at stolaf.edu/flac/. The History Department offers FLAC components in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Latin, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish.
Level-II
Major Seminar
Major seminars (M-sems) are courses designed especially for History Majors in their sophomore year, although other students may enroll as space permits. One M-sem is required for the Major. These seminars focus on skills of analysis, interpretation, argumentation, and expression as practiced in the study of history. Topics and offerings vary by semester. However, a course offered as History 201 is always a topic in ancient history; 210 offerings are in European history, 240 in African, Asian, or Latin American history, and 270 in American history.
210 Utopia and Terror: 20th-Century Totalitarian Regimes
How and why did the utopian dreams of nineteenth-century European intellectuals become the justification for twentieth-century totalitarian regimes? How did the goal of liberating workers from continual poverty and alienation lead to authoritarianism and mass terror on a scale never before witnessed? This seminar begins with the intellectual history of socialism, communism and other social theories in the nineteenth century meant to produce human progress. Having mapped this terrain, we will consider the rise of totalitarian regimes that appropriated these ideologies in the twentieth century. Topics will include utopian socialism, Marxism, Stalinism, National Socialism in Germany, fascism in Italy and gender in authoritarian regimes.
270 Masculinity in America
How have the United States and the concept of masculinity developed in tandem? While we might consider the definition of manhood to be stable and “natural,” it is both ever-changing and socially constructed. As such, masculinity has a history: one that is influenced by demographic, societal, cultural, technological, political, and economic change. This seminar, geared toward history majors, is intended to give students the opportunity to examine, consider, and analyze the development of masculinity in America. Our explorations will begin with the colonial era, the majority of the course will focus on the period following Reconstruction. We will pay particular attention to how masculinity interacts with femininity, race, sexuality, citizenship, and physical ability, as well as how masculinity is discussed in politics, the workplace, athletics, the armed forces, and popular culture. Over the course of the semester we will engage with a variety of media, including speeches, news reports, literature, films, music, television episodes, and advertising.
Other level-II courses focus on a variety of national, period, topical, and area histories. For example, students may explore the histories of Latin America, Africa, and China; of France, Germany, Russia, and Britain; of women in Europe and America; of African-Americans, the history of medicine, and the American environment; of ancient and medieval Europe; and of the European Renaissance and Reformation.
Period and National Histories of the Ancient World
203 Ancient: Greece
This course surveys the history of Greece from the earliest days to the death of Alexander the Great. Students will analyze how and why Greek culture developed as it did. The goal of this course is to help the student gain an understanding and appreciation not only for the scope and scale of Greek history, but for the workings of human society in general. Throughout the semester we shall use Ancient Greece as a laboratory in which to acquire the critical skills and experience necessary to evaluate contemporary events and institutions.
211 Topic: Viking and Medieval Scandinavia
This course surveys Nordic history from the time of the Viking expansion to the period of the Kalmar Union. Topics include Viking expansion and conquest, Nordic cultural and religious life, the coming of Christianity, the sagas and other literary sources, and later medieval developments.
Period, National and Thematic Histories of Europe
210 Utopia and Terror: 20th-Century Totalitarian Regimes
For a description of this course, see the ‘Major Seminar’ section above.
220 Modern Britain
Why and how did Great Britain emerge as the first modern “super power”? We will examine British history from the Revolution of 1688 to the present. We will explore the social world of aristocracy, the impact of the Industrial and French Revolutions, liberalism and capitalism, Victorian culture, the working class and political reform, the imperial achievement, the issue of Ireland, the challenge of two World Wars, the creation of a social welfare state, and Britain’s decline and recovery in the age of the Cold War.
Area Courses on Africa, Asia, and Latin America
289 Topic: India: Colonial/Postcolonial/Contemporary
This course examines the history of modern South Asia (including the contemporary countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar) from 1700 CE to the present, focusing on the profound changes that occurred as the region was incorporated into the empires of Britain and other European powers. Students study the impact of colonialism on economic, political, and cultural realms, analyzing the major developments and what these changes looked like in the day-to-day life of both the colonizers and the indigenous populations. The course also explores the role of religions in South Asian societies, including Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and will also look at forms of government, the politics of caste and religion, gender and women’s movements, and art and culture. Special attention is paid to the development of nationalist responses to colonial rule and the roles of violence and non-violence in independence struggles. Students also learn about the major developments in contemporary, post-colonial South Asia, including environmentalist issues, LGBTQ and feminist movements, ethnicity and nationalism, and the impact of modern “globalization” on the region’s economy, culture, and politics.
291 Introduction to African History
The course will introduce students to (a) methods in the reconstruction of the history of Africa, and (b) examine the broader historical context of the contemporary challenges of the continent (c) as we focus on the themes and major historical debates between African and Africanist scholars. We shall rely on selected case studies for a meaningful discussion of these themes.
Through lectures, discussions, and examination of primary sources, films and a varied list of reading, the course offers an overview of the main historical trends that have shaped Africa’s rich past, paying particular attention to material and social change and the ways in which both rulers and ruled, farmers and traders, women and men made their worlds. After an examination of the impact of the slave trade on developments in Africa, and the growth of “legitimate trade,” we turn to the commercial and religious revolutions of the 19th century and the struggles over land and labor in east and southern Africa; explore the justification for and nature of colonial overrule in Africa; emphasis will be placed on how Africans responded to imperialism and colonial overrule but not exactly how these forces acted upon Africans. In the last sections of the course we shall examine the nationalist debates, and the struggle for liberation after the Second World War; African independence, and the post-colonial situation in Africa. No prior knowledge of Africa necessary, just a bit of enthusiasm.
*Information about the program in Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC) can be found at stolaf.edu/flac/. The History Department offers FLAC components in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Latin, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish.
Period and Topical Courses in American History
270 Masculinity in America
For a description of this course, see the ‘Major Seminar’ section above.
Level-III
Level-III seminars are advanced seminars; they offer a narrower topical focus and deeper emphasis on historical practices and methodologies than courses at level II. Advanced seminars typically provide students with the opportunity for sustained research that draws upon the skills they’ve developed in primary source analysis and historiographical argumentation. These courses are designed for junior and senior History Majors who have completed their required M-sem, although they’re also open, space permitting, to students from related fields who have appropriately developed interests and skills.
European History
303 Seminar: Julio-Claudian Rome
This advanced research seminar explores the heady early years of the Roman Empire (Octavius – Nero, 44BCE – 69 CE). Often called the “Silver Age” of Latin literature, the Early Empire seems to have brought out the best and the worst of the Romans, which they were eager to share through their private letters, historical commentaries, and speeches. Thus, since the rule of the Julio-Claudians has produced more primary sources—and spawned more secondary and tertiary sources—than other period of the Roman Empire, it poses a unique problem for the ancient historian—too much evidence. Throughout the semester students will examine this ancient evidence in an attempt to understand the major players, their motivations, and the governmental system they helped shape. In the process, students will analyze how the various sources have treated these issues, and how modern scholars have explained them.
320 Seminar: World War I: 100 Years Later
Immediately after the war, historians focused on explaining its origins and assigning responsibility for its outbreak. Then came the military histories and debates about the Generals’ strategies and leadership, followed eventually by histories of the high politics within each belligerent nation during wartime. After a brief nod to classic examples of these earlier interpretations of the war, this seminar explores more recent historical treatments of World War I that have emerged in the last two decades, informed by social and cultural history (e.g., the phenomenon of “industrial killing,” the soldiers’ experience of trench warfare, war and masculinity, relations between civilians and soldiers, women’s experiences of the war, war and gender anxieties). The Great War that emerges from the historical scholarship marking its Centenary (1914-18/2014-18) is a more complex and poignant phenomenon than previously appreciated, and reminds us that the study of the past is shaped through the lens of present concerns as well as by consideration of evidence from a bygone era.
Note: This course focuses on Europe; it does not include the experience of, or scholarly literature on, the US.
INTERIM 2019
Level-I
Introductory Seminars
Introductory Seminars are open only to first-year students. They introduce students to the study of History by focusing on a “slice” of history or a specific event or theme rather than, as in a survey, focusing on a broad sweep of time and space. Each seminar focuses on a different topic, but all explore the fundamental problems of history and the process and practices of “doing history.” Special emphasis is on the analysis of primary sources and critical assessment of historical interpretations. The class size of each Introductory Seminar is small in order to provide ample opportunity for class discussion and attention to writing.
No Level-I courses offered.
Level-II
Level-II courses focus on a variety of national, period, topical, and area histories. For example, students may explore the histories of Latin America, Africa, and China; of France, Germany, Russia, and Britain; of women in Europe and America, of African-Americans, the history of medicine, and the American environment; of ancient and medieval Europe; and of the European Renaissance and Reformation.
European History
299 Arthur’s Britain
Few characters from the medieval world have enjoyed the lasting notoriety of Arthur, the “King of the Britons.” Traceable to the historically obscure fifth and sixth centuries CE, Arthur has been portrayed as a Roman general, a Celtic warlord, an English King, and a Christ-like redeemer, and the Arthur myth has influenced cultures world-wide. Using film, literature, and historical evidence this course will explore the many Arthurs, and encourage students to engage with the societies that produced them.
Area Courses on Africa, Asia, and Latin America
253 Modern Japan
This survey of modern Japan from about 1800 to the present examines the political transformation of the Meiji Restoration, the industrial revolution and social and cultural change, the rise and fall of party government, militarism and Japanese expansionism in World War II, the American occupation, and postwar social, political, economic, and cultural developments.
256 Slavery in West Africa (Ghana)
Students explore the history and culture of Ghana and examine how people recall slavery and the implications of a constructed concept of slavery. Through primary sources and visits to historic sites, students examine how Africans view slavery; why descendants of slavers and the enslaved rarely discuss slavery; how to transform slave artifacts into storehouses of memory, silences, and fragmentations in history; and how descendants of slaves respond to the burden of such knowledge. Offered during Interim. Counts toward Africa and the Americas and race and ethnic studies concentrations.
Period and Topical Courses in American History
297 Topic: Race, Gender, and Sports in America
How have American sports made visible discourses about race and gender? How do Americans who engage with sports—both as spectators and participants—imagine athletics when viewed through raced and gendered lenses? How do sports reflect assumptions about race and gender? By examining moments in the history of American athletics—both from the distant and more recent pasts—students in this course will explore those interactions while training a precise, critical eye on American culture and society. Key discussions will likely surround questions of the athletic body, integration, privilege and inequality, protest, power, and commercialism. Please note that this course is not a comprehensive look at the history of sports in America, nor does it promise to be a comprehensive look at how questions of race and gender interact with contemporary American sports culture. Rather, our goal is to undertake deep, meaningful investigations into specific moments in the history of American sports that can speak to the development of race and gender in the United States. In short, our objective is to use sports as a lens for interrogating historical and contemporary issues related to race and gender. This course conveys MCD and HWC general education credits.
Spring 2019
Level-I
Introductory Seminars
Introductory Seminars are open only to first-year students. They introduce students to the study of History by focusing on a “slice” of history or a specific event or theme rather than, as in a survey, focusing on a broad sweep of time and space. Each seminar has a different topic, but all explore the fundamental problems of history and the process and practices of “doing history.” Special emphasis is on the analysis of primary sources and critical assessment of historical interpretations. The class size of each Introductory Seminar is small in order to provide ample opportunity for class discussion and attention to writing.
122 Europe and the Great War
This course looks beyond the traditional diplomatic and military history of World War I to consider the social, cultural, and intellectual contexts that made it the “Great War” to contemporaries. We analyze poems, novels, films, memoirs, official documents, newspapers, posters, and scholarly works to answer the following questions: How did ideas from the late nineteenth century influence the way Europeans thought about the war that began in August 1914? What was life like in the trenches and on the home front, and how did these realities change the way in which Europeans understood modern war? What differences did class and gender make in an individual’s experience of the war? How did these different experiences influence postwar expectations? What is the larger significance of the Great War for modern society?
142 Hamilton
You know the musical, now learn the history! This course investigates the origins of the early U.S. republic through the life of its first Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. In addition to the key events in Hamilton’s life (i.e. the duel with Aaron Burr), it explores a wide range of topics, such as life in the British Caribbean, the American Revolution, and, importantly, the partisan politics of the 1790s catalyzed by Hamilton’s controversial initiatives as Treasury Secretary. Utilizing sources such as contemporary newspapers and pamphlets, Hamilton’s writings, as well as those of his critics, students gain a first-hand look at the political, social, and economic issues that defined the era. The course culminates with reflections upon Lin-Manuel Miranda’s re-imagining of Hamilton in his hit Broadway musical. For first-year students only. Don’t throw away your shot!
188 A Topic: Perils of Prosperity, U.S. 1920-1940
This first-year seminar explores the history of prosperity and privation that the U.S. experienced from 1920 to 1940. Americans dealt with economic expansion, widening inequality, and the Great Depression. Using primary sources that range from photographs and film to oral histories and government statistics, students investigate controversies over immigration, gender roles, youth, Prohibition, labor, the New Deal, and race. Student focus on how historians use and interpret different types of primary sources to create and complicate narratives about this period, asking also how histories of the 1920s and 1930s shape our understanding of recent swings of prosperity and peril.
188 B Topic: Vietnam in American Memory
This first-year seminar examines the legacy of the Vietnam War through novels, memoirs, journalism, poetry, music, and film in an effort to understand the debates surrounding and continuing national fascination with America’s 1945-75 incursion into Southeast Asia. Topics and themes to be covered include Vietnam as “the first war America lost,” the “crazy” Vietnam veteran, the “forgotten” Vietnam veteran, drug use, war crimes, masculinity, race/racism, the experience of Vietnamese refugees, the war’s impact on cultural aesthetics, the “Vietnam Syndrome” in American politics, and the war’s influence on American foreign policy. As a part of the course, students will discover and practice how to critically analyze cultural productions in their historical, artistic, and political contexts. This course conveys a HWC general education credit.
189 Topic: Jihad and Crusade
This course will examine the origins and development of the concepts of Christian and Islamic Holy War in the Middle Ages, focusing on the Central Middle Ages (roughly 1000-1300). During this period, Western Christians attacked and colonized lands formerly under Islamic control (Spain, Sicily, and the eastern Mediterranean) following (and continuously redefining) the precepts of Crusade, the ultimate medieval expression of Christian Holy War. Muslims, in turn, redefined their understanding of the traditions of Jihad during their counter-attack in Spain and the Levant and their ultimate re-conquest of Jerusalem and the Crusader states. We will discuss both the correlations and distinct elements between the two traditions, look at their disparate origins, and then examine the influence each had on the other as the Christian and Muslim worlds came into conflict. Beyond learning the specifics of the subject, we will also work on learning how to do historical research, analyze primary documents, and then write about them in both formal and informal writing.
Note: text, “Although focusing on the defining medieval centuries, the chronology of the course will extend from the origins of Christianity and Islam to the siege of Vienna in 1683.” Should be deleted and not be put on the web.
Foundational Surveys
Foundational surveys provide overviews of a broad chronological period or geographical area. These courses are open to all students, and are appropriate as both an introduction to the study of History and as background for understanding American, European, or Global history.
191 Europe from the Reformation to Modern Times
This course surveys European history and culture since the Renaissance. Topics include the impact of Protestantism, the development of nation-states, the Enlightenment, revolutionary ideas and experiences, the Napoleonic era, imperialism, mass political movements, and global warfare. Through original texts, historical studies, and literature, students explore relations among religions, states, and societies, and understandings of liberty and reason, natural environments, family life, and gender roles.
199 A & B American History After 1865
As they study the development of American institutions and Society from the Civil War to the present, students examine economic, social, and political themes with a special emphasis on changing interpretations. Major topics are Reconstruction, urbanization, populism, progressivism, depression, New Deal, foreign relations, civil rights, social reform, equality for women, and other recent trends.
Level-II
Major Seminar
Major seminars (M-sems) are courses designed especially for History Majors in their sophomore year, although other students may enroll as space permits. One M-sem is required for the Major program. These seminars focus on skills of analysis, interpretation, argumentation, and expression as practiced in the study of history. Topics and offerings vary by semester. However, a course offered as History 201 is always a topic in ancient history; 210 offerings are in European history, 240 in non-Western history, and 270 in American history.
210 Major Seminar: France in World War II: Occupation, Collaboration, Resistance
History 210 examines the experiences of occupation, collaboration, and resistance in France during World War II. The war years remain a personally and nationally painful episode for the French. Defeated and in disarray, a divided France struggled to survive national humiliation at the hands of German occupiers and, sometimes, of other French citizens. Daily life was complicated by harsh material circumstances and repressive measures. Over the course of four years of uncertainty, both the Vichy regime and French resistance groups set out to remake France by developing competing visions of the nation. Yet, upon the Liberation of Paris, a victorious Charles de Gaulle spoke of a nation united in resistance “from the first hour.” The historical record and the contested nature of French national memory, however, make clear that the truth is more complex than de Gaulle’s version suggests.
In this course you’ll use both primary and secondary sources to examine the experiences and perspectives of the French themselves and the interpretations of historians. Since traditional political life was suspended during this period, French culture became an especially important “space” for working out what political positions and national identity meant. For this reason, we’ll along with political and social history the distinctive ways in which literature and film shaped—and continue to shape–an understanding of French experience during the war years. Finally, since this course is a Majors Seminar (M-sem), we’ll pay particular attention to the methodologies and practices historians use to do their work.
Other level-II courses focus on a variety of national, period, topical, and area histories. For example, students may explore the histories of Latin America, Africa, and China; of France, Germany, Russia, and Britain; of women in Europe and America; of African-Americans, the history of medicine, and the American environment; of ancient and medieval Europe; and of the European Renaissance and Reformation.
Period and National Histories of the Ancient World
204 Ancient: Rome
This course examines the history of Rome from the earliest days of the reign of the Severan Dynasty. Using primary and secondary sources the students will gain an understanding and appreciation for the scope and scale of Roman history as constructed by the Romans themselves.
205 Ancient: Near East
The peoples of the Ancient Near East (Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Levant) pioneered many of the institutions and concepts that comprise our modern Western culture and identity. For example, the inhabitants of the Near East were the first known humans to domesticate plants and animals, to develop consumer-protection, writing, metal-production, irrigation, civil engineering, and monumental art and architecture—just to name some of the most prominent. Indeed, much of what we consider great about our modern society derives ultimately from them: monotheism, literacy, the rule of law, governmental responsibility, notions of individual freedom, even architectural and artistic styles and conventions. In contrast, much that we consider evil also was first seen in the Ancient Near East: war, slavery, discrimination towards women and ethnic minorities, and economic exploitation of the poor by the rich–just to name some of the most troubling. This course examines the primary sources of the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Hittites, Hebrews and Persians in order to root out their motivations and perspectives.
Period, National and Thematic Histories of Europe
210 Major Seminar: France/Occupation/Collaboration/Resistance
For a description of this course, see the ‘Major Seminar’ section above.
221 / Ireland and the ‘Irish Question’
The course surveys the political and cultural history of Ireland from the Norman times to the present with focus on Anglo-Irish relations; and examines the major historical events and themes, with emphasis on the development of political and cultural Irish nationalism, the emergence and tension between moral force and physical force traditions from the Reformation through the Protestant ascendancy, Act of Union, Home Rule, Easter Rising, the Treaty, the Irish Republic, the Troubles and Good Friday Agreement.
222 Modern Scandinavia
This course offers a survey of modern Scandinavian history from the period of the Protestant Reformation to the present with special attention to recent developments. Foreign Language Across the Curriculum course available in Norwegian.
226 Modern France (FLAC component available) *
History 226 surveys the history of France since 1815 and considers, across the arc of five republics, two monarchies, two Napoleonic empires, and one authoritarian regime, what it means to be French at various points in this tumultuous history. For example: After centuries of absolute monarchy, what does citizenship mean in modern France? What do industrialization and mass democracy contribute to being French? How does republicanism after 1870 define a distinctive French identity? How does a nation that prides itself on both the secular universalism of its founding principles and the “civilizing mission” of its imperialism define who is French? Is it possible to be both French and Muslim today? Organizing themes helping to shape answers to these questions include: the revolutionary tradition and the notion of republicanism, industrialization’s impact on society, the transformation of France in response to two catastrophic world wars, and contemporary challenges such as austerity and immigration.
231 20th-Century Russia
This course begins with the Communist revolution of 1917 and traces the growth of the Soviet Union under Lenin, Stalin, and their successors. Students analyze the ‘crisis’ of the Soviet system in order to explain why the last of the European empires collapsed in 1991.
299 Topic: The Reel Middle Ages
From the inception of the medium, filmmakers have had a fascination with the medieval world. Students in this course will learn to analyze, criticize, and contextualize medieval films through the process of comparing them to the primary source material behind the stories. Students will take responsibility for leading class discussions on particular films and sources, and as a capstone project will “pitch” a medieval film of their own imagining. Join us for a semester of medieval facts, fantasies, fictions, and films!
*Information about the program in Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC) can be found at stolaf.edu/flac/. The History Department offers FLAC components in the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Latin, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish.
Area Courses on Africa, Asia, and Latin America
250 Chinese Civilization
China Past and Present
This course introduces the history of Ancient and Imperial China beginning with the earliest historical records through the nineteenth century. In this broad sweep of history, students engage with works of literature, philosophy, religion, medicine, the arts, and political statecraft in English translation. Readings include selections from texts such as the Four Books and the Five Classics, the Records of the Grand Historian, the Canon of the Yellow Emperor, Biographies of Exemplary Women, and the Four Classic Novels. Through a critical reading of these central texts, students examine not only the many dynamic and fluid historical processes spanning over several millennia in what is now present-day China, but also the textual acts of remembering and forgetting in the canonization of the written word.
Period and Topical Courses in American History
272 Women in America
This course focuses on women’s experiences in the United States since the first European contacts. We consider both the experiences that unite women and those that might divide them, including race, class, and sexual identity, across time. Using gender as a lens, we examine American society and institutions, exploring the uneven progress women have made legally, socially, culturally, and politically. We’ll look at women’s activism, the history of childbirth, women’s education, the evolution of family roles, cultural understandings of gender and sexuality, and various feminist movements.
297 Topic: Gossip and the Media in U.S. Politics
Gossip and rumor have helped shape the American political landscape, particularly since the advent of a mass media in the early twentieth century. This course explores the relationship between gossip, the news media, and American politics. How have falsehoods and misinformation influenced American politics? How has gossip journalism impacted political journalism, and vice-versa? What is the relationship between the mass media and the “truth”? How has propaganda circulated in the United States and played a role in public discourse? Just how free and fair is the American press? Our chronological examination will address topics and events such as yellow journalism, the birth of celebrity culture, the rise of gossip magazines, McCarthyism, the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the role of the 24-hour news cycle, the Clinton impeachment, Stephen Colbert’s concept of “truthiness,” and the rise of “fake news.” Though our focus will be on the long twentieth century, we will also look more deeply into the American past to help contextualize recent developments. We will investigate the underbelly of the American news media, trace the circulation of information (especially information that some would prefer to keep secret), and scrutinize the creation of political personas. The course will prioritize classroom discussion and writing assignments. Students will also perform a critical analysis of how current supermarket tabloids and gossip blogs report on American politics. This course conveys MCD and HWC general education credits.
Level-III
Level-III seminars are advanced seminars; they offer a narrower topical focus and deeper emphasis on historical practices and methodologies than courses at level II. Advanced seminars typically provide students with the opportunity for sustained research that draws upon the skills they’ve developed in primary source analysis and historiographical argumentation. These courses are designed for junior and senior History Majors who have completed their required M-sem, although they’re also open, space permitting, to students from related fields who have appropriately developed interests and skills.
European History
320 Modern Europe: History of Russian Culture
This upper level seminar has two objectives. First, we seek to engage critically with the methods and theories of cultural history as a field of inquiry. What constitutes “culture” and how do we as historians access it and talk about it? We will consider a range of approaches, from traditional approaches to intellectual history and the history of the arts to more recent trends in the history of the body and material culture. The second objective of this course is to explore cultural history in the Russian context. From the “high” arts like ballet and film, to the “unofficial” cultures of food and protest samizdat literature, Russia provides us with many rich case studies for exploring cultural history. This course carries a WRI and counts toward the History major and Russian Area Studies major. Depending on research topic, this course may also count toward Women’s and Gender Studies.
396 Archaeological Research
Students will learn the various methods of qualitative and quantitative archaeological research, including data collection, analysis and interpretation, as well as the evolution of archaeological theory in a historical context. Through individual and group projects students will explore context and culture in a collaborative, mentored research environment. Involves on-site, laboratory and library work.
Africa, Asia, and Latin America History
395 Oral History Seminar
The seminar focuses on the theory and practice of oral history. Students learn to conduct, transcribe and incorporate interviews in projects. Students interrogate conceptual issues – the interview as a narrative, memory, identity, connections, motivations, and the silences inherent in oral history – and how these relate to gender, religion, and class in multiple global settings. Students learn such practical techniques as how to probe social masks, evaluate oral evidence, and the legalities of releasing interviews.
Asian Studies / History
Asian Studies 345 / History 345
Engendering Modern East Asia
This course explores gender performance — acts which historical subjects engaged in through bodily markers such as hair, clothing, posture, and voice, but also through relationships, sexuality, labor, and domestic roles — in East Asia during the long twentieth century. This expansive definition of gender includes new formations of gender identity, sexuality, and the body, such as the regional (and global) phenomena such as the New Woman/Modern Girl; East Asian masculinities and the “Sick Man of Asia”; women’s oppression and liberation; changing divisions of labor; and gay, lesbian, and transgender identities. Students read a selection of primary sources in translation and scholarly secondary sources, as well as produce a final research paper which focuses on gender in its many forms — masculinities, femininities, and boundary-transgressing performances. This class takes as a matter of course that gender was a central aspect of human history and identity, but asks further, how was gender a major force that shaped, reoriented, and unsettled the path and futures of modern East Asia?
American History
No courses offered this semester.