2010-2011 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
    Jun 26, 2024  
2010-2011 Undergraduate Catalog [Archived]

Courses


 
  
  
  
  • HIST 422 - The Rise and Fall of the Spanish World Empire


    3 credits

    Description
    This course is designed as an overview of the history of Imperial Spain, one of the most influential cultures of modern times. Combining both lecture and seminar formats, the class will focus on the following topics: the creation of the Spanish Monarchy; the incorporation of Spain into the European Empire of Charles V and the challenge of the Reformation; the clash between the Ottoman and Spanish Empires in the Mediterranean; the development of the Spanish Empire in the Americas; the flowering of a Golden Age culture; the question of imperial decline; and the role played by Spain in the formation of the Atlantic world.

    Note
    No previous knowledge of Spanish history is required. Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.


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  • HIST 442 - War, Religion, and Culture: Christians and Muslims in the Mediterranean World, 1000-1600


    3 credits

    Description
    This cross-cultural course will examine patterns of cooperation and conflict between Christian and Muslim societies in a region subject to a common geography, ecology, and climate. Combining lecture and discussion formats, the class will concentrate upon the following topics: the Mediterranean as a connected structure, the forging of a pluralist culture, and the “grand clash” of destiny between Christians and Muslims in Spain; transmission to Europe of Muslim scientific discoveries and the Greco-Roman legacy; the Crusades as an episode of conflict and peace interchange; the 16th Century “World” War between Hapsburg Spain and the Ottoman Empire; and Malta as the new frontier between East and West. By exposing students to a variety of cultures, this course will facilitate an understanding of human diversity and complexity; promote respect, if not acceptance, for peoples different from ourselves; arouse interest in cross-cultural approaches to historical study; and expose students to an exciting and important world region.

    Note
    Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature. History majors may count History 422, 470, and 471 for Wider World; History 442 for Europe. A student should contact the course instructor during the first two weeks of class if he/she intends to count any of these courses in the category listed above. Otherwise, the course will fall within the category which it is listed in the Catalog.


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  • HIST 478 - History of Islam


    3 credits

    Description
    This survey begins with the examination of the emergence of an Islamic society in Arabia in the seventh century and its rapid conquest of a world empire. It traces the subsequent development of Islam as a religion, legal system, political order, and civilization. Contributions of non-Arab peoples—Persians, Turks, Mongols—will be assessed. The conflict between orthodoxy and sectarianism, Islamic mysticism, the formation of Muslim states and kingdoms, and the spread of Islam to Spain in the west and China in the east will be covered.

    Note
    No previous knowledge of classical Islamic history (seventh through the fifteenth centuries) is required. Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.

    Cross-listed
    (Also listed as African and African American Studies 468.)


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  • HIST 484 - History of the Modern Middle East


    3 credits

    Description
    This course will introduce students to the major themes of the last two centuries of Middle Eastern history and provide a background to current conflicts in this vital world region. Beginning with a study of Islam and the Ottoman Turks, this course examines the forces which disrupted the customary pattern of Middle Eastern political, economic, and social life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and looks at the way in which ruling and other groups attempted to resist or accommodate those forces. Attention is also given to the new circumstances that arose following the breakup of the Ottoman empire after World War I, which include the emergence of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

    Note
    Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.


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  • HIST 489 - Culture and Modernity in Japan: 1868 to Recent Times


    3 credits

    Description
    It is conventional to say that Japan’s success in the modern world arises from successful imitation. It is true that the foundations of Japan’s success were laid at a time (in the late nineteenth century) when imitation of all aspects of Western civilization was almost a craze in Japan. But what tensions are created when a country with an ancient, and distinctive culture suddenly makes wholesale borrowings from the modern West? This course, by exploring the perceived tensions between Japanese tradition and imported Western values from 1868 until recent times, will help students understand the real complexities of Japan’s modern history.

    Note
    No previous knowledge of Japanese history will be assumed. Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.


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  • HIST 492 - History of Ancient China


    3 credits

    Description
    This course will begin with the late Neolithic (at 5000 B.C.) and end with the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The class will focus on the development of imperial politics, China’s great philosophers, social and economic changes, in addition to other significant cultural achievements and contributions to the world outside of the “Middle Kingdom.” Although this course is designed to provide students with a general background in traditional Chinese culture, it is also meant to break down the stereotype of China as a rigid and inflexible civilization that would be more or less self-contained. There was a dynamic interplay between domestic and foreign influences that made China one of the greatest—if not the greatest—civilization in the history of human existence.

    Note
    No previous knowledge of ancient China is required. Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.


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  • HIST 493 - The History of Modern China


    3 credits

    Description
    This course will cover the past 350 years of Chinese history, a period that has been dubbed as “modern” by Western historians. Study begins with the establishment of the “barbarian” Qing dynasty in 1644 and ends with the Tian’ anmen Massacre in 1989. Through the lectures, books, videos, and handouts, the course will focus on three distinct periods in the “modern” era of Chinese civilization: the Qing dynasty 1644-1911; the Republic of China 1911-1949; and the People’s Republic of China 1949. Important themes to be stressed in the curriculum are the resilience of “traditional” Chinese culture; the impact of the West (on ideas, politics, economics, and society); and revolution. The objective of this course is to provide students with a general background of the important people, ideologies, and events that have shaped the China of the present and no doubt the future as well.

    Note
    No previous knowledge of modern China is required. Open to graduate students. Graduate students are required to do additional work of a research nature.


    Click here for the Summer 2024 Class Schedule

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    Click here for the Spring 2025 Class Schedule

    Click here for the Summer 2025 Class Schedule


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 

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