For information on registration, preregistration, and days and times, please refer to the Registrar's Schedule of Courses.
History 190: Freshman Seminar: Transnational Black Experience--Historical & Contemporary Film (Same as AAS 190)
Davis; MAX:6
Content: This course begins with a working definition of "black transnationalism," and then proceeds to comparatively examine black experiences through historical and contemporary national cinemas in the "Black Atlantic World." We closely scrutinize several movies and documentaries, and contrast cinema productions with historical and contemporary "realities." Using cinema as an analytical tool, we specifically look at themes of identity formation (national and transnational), the role of popular culture, constructions of race and class and the intersections of gender, religion and other variables.
Texts: To be announced in class.
Particulars: Requirements include mandatory class attendance, weekly response papers, and a final paper. Final grades will also reflect informed and detailed class discussions. There are no examinations.
History 190: Freshman Seminar: Constructing Gender in American Popular Culture (Same as WS 190)
Odem; MAX:6
CANCELLED
History 190: Freshman Seminar: The World We Have Lost?
Amdur; MAX:12
Content: Nostalgia is a potent force for both individuals and groups, who often look back on their past as "the good old days." Yet seeing the past through "rose-colored glasses" may yield a distorted, even mythic, view. This course will look at a selection of such portraits of the past--real and fictional, serious and comic--in an attempt to understand the roots and the power of such yearnings in a world in which change can be a mixed blessing. Our landscape will include both Europe and America, and our timeframe will extend roughly from the late 19th century to the present day.
Texts: Prospective readings include selections from the following books: Irving Howe, The World of Our Fathers (selections); Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front; Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes; Philip Roth, The Plot Against America; Irene Nemirovsky, Suite Française; Alexander Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch; Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood; Peter Schneider, The German Comedy: Scenes of Life after the Wall. Films: "Hester Street," "Good-Bye Lenin"
Particulars: Writing assignments include short essays on class readings or films plus an "oral history" project based on an interview with one of the student's older family members or friends. There will be no final exam.
History 190: Freshman Seminar: American Slavery, American Freedom (Same as AAS 190/ENG 190/IDS 190)
Desrochers; MAX:6
Content: From the seventeenth century through the founding era and down to the Civil War, the rise of liberty and equality in America occurred alongside the rise of slavery, in a symbiotic relationship that the historian Edmund S. Morgan called the "central paradox of American history." How are we to understand this peculiar marriage of freedom and slavery? In Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study, sociologist Orlando Patterson suggested that because freedom, "an ideal cherished in the West beyond all others," emerged as a necessary consequence of slavery, we must either "esteem slavery for what it has wrought," or else "challenge our conception of freedom and the value we place on it." Taking its intellectual cues from Morgan's paradox and Patterson's enigma, this seminar encourages students to think about the relationship between freedom and slavery in American history, and explores some of the ways in which contested commitments to both shaped the development of democracy in America.
Particulars: Course materials will include books, articles, short articles, first-person narratives, and films. Requirements include seminar participation and weekly response papers.
History 190: Freshman Seminar: The World of Jane Austen
Miller; MAX:12
Content: The recent television and film versions of Jane Austen's novels have generated great--and well deserved--interest in her works. Along with reading some of her novels, our class will place them into a rich historical context. How do her novels interpret changing views of love and family? How do they reflect rising consumer capitalism and new styles of fashion? What do they say about women's rights to property? About gardens, manners and aristocratic estates? About the Napoleonic war and the British slave trade? About women who read too much? Austen wrote during one of the most turbulent periods of British (and European) history. Our readings and discussions will deepen our understanding of what one perceptive and forthright woman had to say about British society and culture.
Texts: Possible readings include: Jane Austen, Selected Letters, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Emma. Selections from scholarly books and articles on the period. Selected film versions of her works.
History 190: Freshman Seminar: The 2005 Hurricane Season & the Gulf Coast (Same as AAS 190)
Harris; MAX
Content: This course explores the issues of race, class, history, and environment that were highlighted by the 2005 Hurricane Season. Using New Orleans as a case study, students will read about the history of the city preceding 2005, and then explore how individuals and groups have tried to understand what happened during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the New Orleans area and the Gulf Coast. Students will also develop their own individual and group histories of the storms and their aftermath. There may also be an opportunity for travel to New Orleans during fall break. Research developed during this class may become part of a permanent website on the 2005 Hurricane Season being developed by Professor Leslie Harris; Carmelita Pickett, African American Studies Subject Liaison; and Jana Lonberger, U.S. History Subject Liaison, Woodruff Library.
Texts: May include: Arnold Hirsch and Joseph Logsdon, Creole New Orleans; Peirce Lewis, New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape; J. Mark Souther, New Orleans on Parade; Craig Colten, ed., Transforming New Orleans and Its Environs: Centuries of Change; Ivor van Heerden, The Storm: What went Wrong and Why; Michael Eric Dyson, Come Hell or High Water; David Dante Troutt, After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina; Betsy Reed, Unnatural Disaster: The Nation on Hurricane Katrina.
Particulars: Participation and attendance required; oral presentations; two short writing assignments; one research paper, either traditional format or web format.
History 201: Formation of European Society
Bouldin; MAX:40
Content: This course looks at the formation of European society from the height of the Roman Empire to the early modern era (roughly 100-1600 CE). In covering these 1500 years of history, we will focus on the key political, social, religious, and economic events that shaped European society. We will also consider the individual narratives of a number of historical figures, ranging from peasants to princes, to examine the relationship of individuals to social forms and society at large. While the course is by definition centered on Europe, it attempts to place pre-modern European society within the context of the larger global community.
History 201: Formation of European Society
Staff
CANCELLED
History 202: The Making of Modern Europe
Vick; MAX:40
Content: Through lectures and discussion, and with particular attention to original sources, this course examines the main social, cultural, economic, and political trends of European history from the seventeenth century to the present. Themes covered include: religious conflict and the rise of scientific and secular worldviews; the role of war, total war, and revolution; the formation of political ideologies (liberal, conservative, socialist, nationalist); the growth of industry and urban life; the rise of mass politics, leisure, and culture; the development of cultural trends such as Enlightenment, romanticism, and modernism; changing conceptions of gender and family; and the experience of imperialism, colonialism, and globalization. Ultimately you will gain familiarity with interpreting a variety of different kinds of sources, and be able to trace the emergence of the ways of life and ways of looking at the world that continue to shape our existence today.
Particulars: Assignments will include active discussion and participation, two short essays, responses to primary source readings, a midterm, and a final exam.
History 202: The Making of Modern Europe
Kronenbitter; MAX:40
Content: This course is a survey of the political, social and cultural history of Europe during the modern era, roughly from the seventeenth century to the present. The goal of the course is to develop an understanding of the major forces for historical change and to analyze the way in which these forces shaped European societies. Topics will include the role of violence in European history, the impact of economic change on societies, and the significance of intellectual trends in the context of culture and politics.
Texts: To be announced.
Particulars: Class assignments will include short essays, reading quizzes, discussion responses to primary source readings, a midterm exam and a final exam. Class participation is mandatory.
History 203: The West in World Context
Staff; MAX:40
CANCELLED
History 221: The Making of Modern Africa (Same as AFS 221)
Fidler; MAX:30
Content: This course traces the incorporation of Africa into an expanded world economy from the middle of the 19th century to the present and examines the impact of this incorporation on the history of African cultures and modern nation states. It is designed to provide an understanding of the economic, social, and political forces that have shaped Africa in recent times and continue to affect the lives of people throughout the continent.
History 231: The Foundations of American Society
Carter; MAX:40
Content: This course will follow the evolution of American society from European contact to the end of Reconstruction in 1877. While providing a general, overall narrative of these three centuries, the class will focus specifically on several key developments and issues, such as the Jamestown and New England settlements (including the story of Pocahontas), the life and times of Benjamin Franklin, the American Revolution and creation of the new Republic, movement west and sectionalism, and the Civil War and its aftermath. Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to the ways that race, class, gender, and region shaped experience, and highlight the stories of “regular” Americans as well as the famous ones. Both analyses by historians and primary sources will be examined.
Texts: The text book is Roark, et al, The American Promise, Vol. I, compact edition, 3 rd ed., and its companion, Reading the American Past by Johnson. Other books will probably include The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and For Cause and Comrades. There also will be online readings.
Particulars: The class will consist of lecture and discussion. Grades will be based on class participation, quizzes and response essays, two exams, and one 5-8 page paper, which includes a “final draft” and a “final finished paper.”
History 231: The Foundations of American Society
Staff
CANCELLED
History 232: The Making of Modern America
Crespino; MAX:40
Content: This course provides a broad, introductory overview of key historical developments and issues in the making of modern America, from the end of Reconstruction to the present. By examining the transformation of economic, social, cultural, and political life in the United States since the late nineteenth century, students will gain a rich historical context for understanding important issues of public concern in modern American society.
History 232: The Making of Modern America
Staff
CANCELLED
History 241: History & Text: Ancient Greek Medicine
Patterson; MAX:20
Content: In this course we will study key texts from 1) the Hippocratic corpus, the body of medical writing attributed to, but not necessarily authored by, Hippocrates the classical Greek "father of medicine," and 2) the works of Galen, physician to gladiators and the Emperor, who more than any other writer established the principles of physiology that dominated western medicine until the 17th century. In reading and discussing ancient medical writing, we will focus on the ways in which these medical texts illuminate the society in which their authors lived and worked, and on the relation between that society (and those physicians) and our own.
Texts: Hippocratic Writings; Galen, to be announced; Vivian Nutton, Ancient Medicine; Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science.
Particulars: Weekly short response essays and/or presentations; final paper with presentation.
History 241: History & Text: Medieval Iceland
White; MAX:20
CANCELLED
History 241: History & Text: Masterpieces of Louvre Atlanta
Miller; MAX:20
Content: We will explore the cultural history of modern Europe, and in particular, the works from the High Museum Louvre Atlanta exhibition. The 2008-2009 theme is “The Masterpiece.” Using that theme as a starting point, we will examine masterpieces—both high and popular culture—from literature, film and music and we will attend a few campus cultural events. We will investigate the vibrant contexts in which these works were produced, as well as how they came to be seen as “masterpieces.” Students will be required to attend some of the High Museum lectures, in particular, the Thursday evening talks. (Dr. Miller will try to secure subsidized museum memberships for the students. Further information will be posted on the class Learnlink conference in early August 2008.)
Texts: Further information will appear on Learnlink in early August.
Particulars: Short papers, pop quizzes, and a longer research paper.
History 270: Survey of Jewish History (Same as JS 100)
Rustow; MAX:20
Content: This course offers an overview of the history of Jews and Judaism from antiquity to the present, tracing how that history unfolded in different cultural and geographical settings. On the basis of primary sources and the interpretations of modern scholars, we will ask how the Jews have responded to the circumstances in which they lived and how they imagined, constructed and renegotiated the boundaries of identity and community. Special emphasis will be placed on the use of original documents in translation, hands-on historical analysis, and the types of questions historians ask of source material.
Texts: Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (Jewish Publication Society); Biale, ed., Cultures of the Jews: A New History; Barnavi, ed., Historical Atlas of the Jewish People; Scheindlin, Short History of the Jewish People; Yerushalmi, Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory
Particulars: Three exams (two mid-terms and one final) and five 2-3 page writing assignments. This course is appropriate for anyone who wishes to pursue further courses in History or Jewish Studies, and for anyone seeking an overview of the subject.
History 285: Modern East Asian Civilization, 1500-2000
Ravina/Andrade; MAX:40
Content: This course will emphasize transnational aspects of East Asian history, focusing on how the East Asian international system interacted with Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Inner Asia, as well as with Europe and the US. By beginning in 1500 and including Japan and China's maritime empires, as well as the 15th century expeditions of the Chinese explorer Zheng He, we will provide a deep historical context for East Asia's economic impact in the 21st century. We will also examine East Asia's modernizing reforms of the 19th and 20th centuries from a transnational perspective, as reformers in Japan, China and Korea discussed how to implement European models of social and governmental organization during an era when such models were being promoted as universal. Debates about reform continue to this day, and we will again emphasize the historical context of, for example, Chinese cynicism about universal human rights.
Texts: To be announced.
Particulars: Although this is primarily a lecture-format class, students will also be expected to participate in regular class discussion, during which we will discuss certain books. Grades will be based on two examinations (midterm and final) as well as reading response papers and class participation. No prerequisites.
History 285: Plantation to Postcolonial: Comparative Survey of Plantation America (Same as LAS 270/IDS 385)
Goddard; MAX:5
SEE LAS
History 302: History of Rome
Burns; MAX:40
Content: This course is a survey of Roman history from the rise of the Roman Republic (ca. 500 BC) through the creation of a "new" empire (ca. AD 300). Using a wide variety of primary source material in translation, an effort is made to present a balanced picture of Roman civilization by discussing such themes as gender issues, political, social and economic development, intellectual life and religion. Digitized images will be used frequently to reveal the archeological record.
Texts: NOT all are read in their entirety. Additional short readings will be placed on electronic reserve at the Woodruff Library. Mary T. Boatwright, et al., The Romans from Village to Empire; Livy, The Early History of Rome; Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul; Tacitus, The Agricola; Apuleius, The Golden Ass; Suzanne Dixon, The Roman Family.
Particulars: There will be an optional midterm and/or research paper (8-10 pages) and a final examination. Grading: Optional midterm 30% and/or paper 30%, final examination, 40-70%, depending upon options chosen by the individual student. This course is part of a sequence (History 301, 302, 303, 304) which traces the development of ancient civilization through the early medieval period. Any course may be taken individually without regard for the others in the sequence. Students interested in religion, classics, the history of art, law, and government, as well as those in history, will find an introduction to Roman history particularly valuable.
History 306: The Italian Renaissance
Strocchia; MAX:40
Content: The Italian Renaissance stands as both a pinnacle of human achievement and one of the bloodiest periods in history. This course analyzes the politics, society, culture, and religious and intellectual movements of the Italian Renaissance from its beginnings circa 1350 through the achievements of the High Renaissance (c. 1480-1530) to the waning of the Renaissance in the mid-sixteenth century. We will investigate the economic foundations underpinning the creation of new visual styles for which the period is known; political innovations and the paradoxical failure of the Italian state system; urban life, including marriage and gender roles; religious practices and the institutional history of the Catholic Church; and the ways that artists, writers, and a merchant elite used classical antiquity for different purposes. We will integrate discussions and visual materials with lectures on a regular basis.
Texts: Include: Gene Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence; Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier; Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince; various primary sources and other secondary works.
Particulars: Your grade in this course will be based on a combination of class attendance, participation in class discussions, online Blackboard assignments, short quizzes and essay exams.
History 318: Modern Germany (Same as JS 371)
Eckert; MAX:24
Content: This course is a survey of modern German history. Since 1871, the changing territory called Germany has seen Imperial regency, fragile democracy, ironclad dictatorship, foreign occupation, the country's division and an unforeseen, no longer expected unification of the two German states into the Federal Republic of Germany which we find on maps today. Germany has caused and been devastated by two World Wars, going down in history for the most horrific crimes, the Holocaust. For almost 150 years, the so-called German question has occupied the brightest political and scholarly minds. Indeed, comprehending Germany may lay at the core of understanding recent European history. The course will cover key issues that have shaped modern Germany and its impact on Europe and the world. It will combine social, political, and cultural histories. Among scholars and contemporary Germans alike, German history remains highly contested. The course will therefore introduce students to different approaches and interpretations of German history as well.
Texts: Readings will most likely include Mary Fulbrook, History of Germany 1918-2000. The Divided Nation; Fulbrook, 20th Century Germany. Politics, Culture and Society, 1918-1990; Martin Kitchen, A History of Modern Germany 1800-2000; Sybille Steinbacher, Auschwitz: A History; Daphne Berdahl, Where the World Ended.
Particulars: Course evaluation will be based on active class participation, exams and essays. One of the essays will be a book review.
History 335: Diplomatic History of the U.S. since 1914
Harbutt; MAX:40
Content: It will be the working principle of this course that the substance and character of American foreign relations -- a compelling but still mysterious subject -- can only be properly understood from historical and international perspectives. Our field (1914-2008) will take in what many in this country and around the world have often called "the American Century" -- a term that is not generally meant to suggest any moral or other distinction but simply reflects the extraordinary presence and the often decisive role of the United States in world affairs during those years. The subject takes in the multiple dramas of the Wilsonian era, the confrontations with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and the challenges posed by the Soviet/communist eruptions and post-colonial revolutionary impulses embraced in the "Cold War" and "Third World" concepts, as well as the problems presented by terrorism and globalization over the last two decades.
Texts: Readings may include Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914-1999; T. Paterson and D. Merrill, Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Vol. II, Since 1914; Niall Ferguson, Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire; Jeffrey Frieden, Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century; Walter LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War, 1945-2002; and Lawrence Freedman, The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy
Particulars: Mid-term exam (1/3), final exam (2/3).
History 338: African American History to 1865 (Same as AAS 338)
Harris; MAX:40
Content: This course covers the development of the group of people known as African Americans. The development of this group of people is rooted in the cultures of Africa, Europe and the "New World:" the experience of the African slave trade; and the founding of the United States as a nation distinct from the rest of the Americas. Moving from the broader African Diaspora to focus on African descendants in the United States, the course ends with the abolition of slavery in the United States.
Texts: To be announced.
Particulars: Take-home midterm; take-home final; one 5-7 page History on Trial paper and presentation; class attendance and participation required.
History 342: The Old South
Roark; MAX:40
Content: This course will examine the South from the American Revolution through the Civil War, with emphasis on the social, cultural, political, and economic development of a slave society in the nineteenth century.
Texts: Readings will consist of six or seven books, including a textbook, secondary sources, and primary documents.
Particulars: There will be a midterm and a final examination. Each student will also write a ten- to twelve-page critical essay analyzing a primary document. The final grade will be determined by the midterm (approximately 20%), the critical essay (approximately 30%) and the final examination (approximately 40%), and class participation (approximately 10%).
History 344: American Environmental History (Same as ENVS 344)
Allitt; MAX:20
Content: The history of the relationship between people, plants, animals, wind, microbes, and chemicals in North America, from the time of the conquistadores to the present. The second half of the course will be a close study of American environmentalism and its critics in recent decades.
Texts: To be announced.
Particulars: Four short papers, a midterm and a final. No prerequisites except an interest in the topic and a willingness to study maps and to read 150 pages every week.
History 351: Re-peopling of the Americas from 1000 to 1900 (Same as Econ 351)
Eltis; MAX:30
CANCELLED
History 355WR: Political Economy of the American South (Same as Econ 355WR)
Carlson; MAX:15
SEE ECONOMICS
History 360: Colonial Latin American History
Socolow; MAX:30
Content: Introduction to colonial Latin American history with special attention paid to Iberian, Indian and African backgrounds; the impact of conquest; the structure of society (including race and gender); trade and the economy; the administration of empire; the importance of cities and reform and revolution.
History 376: European Intellectual History
Adamson; MAX:40
Content: The principal aim of this course is to introduce students to nineteenth century European intellectual life by reading and discussing those primary texts that had the greatest contemporary influence as well as those that have become canonical even though they may have been unknown in their own day. In addition to reflecting upon the general theme of modernity after the French Revolution, the course will focus on three interrelated questions: 1) how do writers in this period conceive of human community (e.g., how democratically) and what do they see as its prospects? 2) how do they conceive the human individual and "individuality"; and 3) how do they think about relationships among art, morality, and religion?
Texts: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Government of Poland; Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France; Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men and A Vindication on the Rights of Woman; Heinrich von Kleist, The Prince of Homburg; Honoré de Balzac, Eugénie Grandet; G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of the Right; Soren Kierkegaard, Anthology; John Stuart Mill, On Liberty; Robert Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader; Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms; Friedrich Nietzsche, Nietzsche and the Death of God.
Particulars: Course evaluation will be based on two short "reflection" papers (20%), two take-home exams at mid-semester and end-of-term (20% each), a term essay (20%), and class participation (20%). Reflection papers should be 3-4 pages double-spaced. Term essays (8-12 pages double spaced) may deal with a European author, intellectual group or theme, or may consider the way a European author or idea has been received elsewhere.
History 385: Special Topics in History: Comparative Frontiers, Roman and American
Juricek/Burns; MAX:40
Content: Frontier situations are ubiquitous in human history, forming wherever two dissimilar populations settle in adjacent areas. This course will deal with two of the most famous and significant of these: the Roman frontier with the Germanic barbarians in the early centuries of the Christian era, and the Anglo-American frontier with the North American Indians more than a thousand years later. The approach will be comparative. We will attempt to determine what these (and other) frontier situations had in common and, on the other hand, how they differed. Attention will be given to various kinds of interaction between the peoples involved in these frontier confrontations and interactions. These will include military, technological, economic, ideological, and demographic interaction.
Texts: Julius Caesar, The Conquest of Gaul; Tactius, Germania; James Axtell, The European and the Indian; Patrick Malone, The Skulking Way of War; John Tanner, Captivity and Adventures; The Vinland Sagas; Karen Kupperman, Indians and English; Thomas Burns, Roman and the Barbarians; Some short readings will be placed in electronic reserve.
Particulars: 1) Two in-class reports leading to short essays (3 to 5 pages each); 2) A comparative essay dealing with both Rome and North America (10-12 pages); 3) Final exam.
History 385: Special Topics in History: War & Society in Europe, 1792-1945
Kronenbitter; MAX:40
Content: From the beginning of the Revolutionary Wars to the end of World War II, European warfare changed profoundly. Small armies of professionals fighting for limited political goals gave way to mass mobilization, technology and industrialization transformed the logistics of war, the strategies and the tactics on the battlefields. In the time of Napoleon and in the first half of the 20th century, the dividing line between the military and civilians, between battlefront and homefront became blurred. On the one hand, wars had a huge impact on the political landscape of Europe, not just because states were founded and destroyed by military conflicts but also because of the militarization of state and society in many European countries. On the other hand, political, social, and economic changes led to a transformation of war. In the early 19th century and during WWI and WWII, the interplay between war and society shaped Europe's history. The course will not only cover periods of "total war" but will study these climactic events in the context of peace and "limited war" after 1815.
Texts: Texts and reserved documents may include David A. Bell, The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as we Know It; Jeremy Black, The Age of Total War, 1860-1945; Peter Browning, The Changing Nature of Warfare: The Development of Land Warfare from 1792 to 1945; Carl von Clausewitz, On War; John Ellis, The Social History of the Machine Gun; Niall Ferguson, The War of the World; David Gates, War in the Nineteenth Century; John Keegan, The Face of Battle; Geoffrey Wawro, Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792-1914.
Particulars: Class assignments will include a research essay, a film essay, discussion responses to primary source readings and two exams. Class participation is mandatory.
History 385: Special Topics in History: Central Asia Under Russian Domination 1863-1991
Payne; MAX:40
Content: This class will examine the transformation of the ancient Silk Road cultures by Russian imperialism and Soviet domination. The very term "Central Asia" is a Soviet invention and the conceptual and social unity that exists in this very diverse region was imposed by an extremely violent modernization at the hands of an alien, European culture. In the process Central Asia's modern nations were forged, its ancient cultural heritage stripped from it, old ways of life shattered and its economy shackled to the Imperial metropole. Central Asia's present reality, lampooned in the ignorance of Borat or feared in the figure of a shadowy political Islam, and seductive in the lure of vast energy deposits, was deeply shaped by this history. This course, through lecture, close reading of primary sources and discussion of scholarly monographs will delve into this history in detail.
Texts: Chingiz Aitmatov, The Days Last Longer than One Hundred Days; Theodore Levin, One Hundred Thousand Fools for God; Musical Travel in Central Asia; Adeeb Khalid, Islam After Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia; Jeff Sahedo, Everyday Life in Central Asia (selections); Jeff Sahedo, Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent, 1863-1923; Robert D. Crews, For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia (selections); Adrienne Edgar, Tribal Nation: The Making of Soviet Turkmenistan; Svat Soucek, A History of Inner Asia; plus e-reserve selections and translated texts.
Particulars: There will be weekly discussion response papers posted via learnlink in advance of the discussion section on Friday. Weekly research assignments will be due on Wednesdays. Grades will be ascertained primarily from a 12-16 page research paper which will be mentored throughout the semester. A final exam will focus on identifications and class themes.
History 385: Special Topics in History: Eastern Europe to America: Jewish Immigration, 1881-1924 (Same as JS 371)
Goldstein
CANCELLED
History 385: Special Topics in History: History of Israeli Politics: Institutions & Society (Same as POLS 385/JS 371/MESAS 370)
Shultziner; MAX:15
Content: This course explores the Israeli political system, its institutional characteristics and components, and its main political dilemmas. The course aims to provide knowledge about Israeli political history and society. Topics included will be the origins and the historical developments of the political system, electoral histories, and government formation. Attention is given to the dynamics between institutional arrangements and social cleavages in Israel and their interrelated effects. The course also discusses some of the main socio-political issues and tensions resulting from the dual definition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, religion and politics, and the effects of armed conflicts on politics and society. The course requires no previous knowledge about Israel.
Texts: Mahler, Gregory S., Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State; Rabinovich, Itamar and Jehuda Reinharz, Israel in the Middle East: documents and readings on society, politics, and foreign relations, pre-1948 to the present.
Particulars: Students will have a mid-term exam (25%), short assignment(s) (15%), and write a final examination (60%). Class participation is encouraged and may count up to an additional 10% bonus of the final grade. Students will also send weekly reflection paragraphs on the subjects and readings discussed in class.
History 385: Special Topics in History: Making of the U.S.-Israeli Relationship (Same as JS 371/POLS 385)
Tal; MAX:20
Content: The course will deal with the buildup and development of the Israeli-American relationship from the 1940s to the present. The course will describe the historical roots of the American support to the Zionist idea in the 19th century, the transfer of the Jewish diplomatic center from Britain to the US, the ideological roots of the US support of Israel and its extent, beyond the security dimension and the mutuality of those relationship, that is, the Israeli input in the creation of the Israeli-American special relations.
History 385: Special Topics in History: Caste and Social Movements in Modern South Asia
Padikaparampil; MAX:40
History 385: Special Topics in History: South Asian Politics Since 1945 (Same as Pols 385/ASIA 370)
Creekmore; MAX:10
SEE POLITICAL SCIENCE
History 385: Special Topics in History: The Black Freedom Struggle (Same as AAS 345/AMST 385)
Gadsden
CANCELLED
History 385: American Women and the Civil War (Same as WS 385)
Carter; MAX:30
Content: Beyond and behind the Civil War’s battles, generals, presidents, and soldiers were women. What did this cataclysmic conflict mean for them? Reading and analyzing the words of the women themselves, as well as historians’ books and essays, we will explore how women -- North and South, black and white -- supported and thwarted men’s efforts well before conflict broke out until well after the last guns were fired. Importantly, we will focus on how they made their own decisions and contributions in response to the national crisis. Some prominent Civil War historians have speculated that women were so important to their respective sides that, in the case of the South, women were the ultimate reason that the Confederacy lost. Indeed, there were no aspects of the war that did not involve women in some way. They made many of the supplies used by the armies, including weapons, and tended to farms, businesses, and families while men were away. They served as spies, nurses, and sometimes even soldiers, disguised as men, only to be discovered when they were injured, killed, or giving birth! Politically and socially, the Civil War was a major turning point for American women, most obviously for previously enslaved women. Throughout the era, race and slavery united and divided American women. This course will consider all of these issues and more, covering the antebellum era through Reconstruction, North and South, free and enslaved, and various racial and ethnic backgrounds. In conclusion, we will ask what changed and what did not for American women after the war.
Texts: Most of the readings will be on Reserves Direct, but students will likely read in their entirety: Drew Gilpin Faust, Mothers of Invention; Nina Silber, Daughters of the Union; and Catherine Clinton, Harriet Tubman.
Particulars: Class lectures will be supplemented by robust class discussions. Grades will be based on participation, two “response essays,” a take-home mid-term examination and final, and a 5-7 page paper based in primary sources in Woodruff Library.
History 385SWR: Special Topics in History: Tradition in Modern China (Same as CHN 471/ASIA 375/EAS 471)
Kurtz; MAX:3
SEE CHINA
History 385WR: Special Topics in History: What is History & Why Do We Care?
CANCELLED
History 385WR: Special Topics in History: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud (Same as IDS 385WR//CPLT 389WR/PHIL 480RWR)
Goodstein; MAX:15
SEE IDS
History 385WR: Special Topics in History: Byzantine Literature (Same as IDS 385WR/CL 329)
Ekonomou; MAX:6
Content: The world of Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire which was centered at Constantinople, offers a rich variety of writings in prose and verse. In the more than one thousand years of existence the Byzantine Empire drew on its heritage from the classical world of Greece and Rome, blended it with the developing Christian tradition, and produced a unique culture to whose literature this course is an introduction.
The course will begin with a general introduction to the Byzantine Empire outlining the empire’s history from its foundation by Constantine the Great in the fourth century to its conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. We will then turn to a reading, analysis, and discussion of prose and poetry texts that will include a wide range of writings stretching from the Age of Justinian to the fall of Constantinople. These will include histories, saints’ lives, monastic foundation documents, legal documents, religious poems and hymns, theological and canonical texts, secular poetry including medieval Greek romances and epic poetry, the Byzantine novel, fables, bestiaries, praises, laments, and a variety of satire, epigrams, and letters.
Texts: Prose authors will include the historians Procopius, Michael Psellos, Anna Comnena, Niketas Choniates, and George Sphrantzes. Verse to be studied covers a wide range of styles from the hymns of Romanos Melodos and the nun Kassiane to the poems of Theodore Prodromos and Theodore Metochites. Readings on the lives of holy men and women will range from Egyptian ascetics such as St. Mary of Egypt to the pillar saint Daniel the Stylite. Letters will include the correspondence of emperors, princesses, bishops, and scholars from the pagan aesthete Libanius to Manuel II Paleologos.
Texts: Materials will come from published texts, copies of texts provided by the instructor, and from materials available electronically.
History 385: Special Topics in History: Family in South Asia (Same as MESAS 370/Asia 370R)
Lal; MAX:5
History 487SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Germany after 1945: Reconstruction & Memory (Same as JS 490SWR)
Eckert; MAX:8
Content: The class allows students to explore problems of memory, identity, and social reconstruction in postwar Germany. It pays special attention to the emergence of two German states that developed diverging societies and independent policies during the Cold War, yet remained more closely intertwined than both sides cared to admit. The class is concerned with the liabilities and assets both Germanies had to reckon with after 1949. It examines how the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic dealt with the Nazi past and its perpetrators; related to their respective "superpower"; struggled to develop a new and independent national identity; and reconstructed their societies accordingly. Topics include the relationship to the occupying powers; denazification; the territorial division of the country; Jewish life in postwar Germany; migration, immigration, and guest worker programs; popular culture and "Americanization"; revolution & unification 1989/90; and memory in post-unification Germany.
Texts: Books will most likely include Konrad H. Jarausch, After Hitler. Recivilizing the Germans, 1945-1995; Timothy Garton Ash, The File: A Personal History; Jay Howard Geller, Jews in Post-Holocaust Germany, 1945-1953; Hanna Schissler, (ed.), The Miracle Years: A Cultural History of West Germany, 1949-1968. The course will also draw on primary sources and film.
Particulars: The class is a seminar rather than a lecture course. Strong emphasis is placed on active participation in discussing weekly readings (ca.150-200 pp.) and the interpretation of primary sources. The assignments are designed to practice scholarly debate and writing, and lead to a research paper (16-20 pp.) on a topic agreed upon between the student and instructor. The course is heavy in reading and writing.
History 487SWR-00P: JR/SR Colloquium: Nationalism in Europe
Adamson; MAX:12
PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED
Content: The main objectives of the seminar are (1) to provide an in-depth look at the most important, recent theoretical and historical works on nationalism in order (2) to facilitate student research using primary documents on some aspect of nationalism in Europe or on postcolonial nationalisms reacting to their experience with European power. The seminar also aims to give students a working knowledge of some major books dealing with the foundations of nationalism in some of Europe's more important countries. Historical readings for the seminar thereby stress the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it is understood that many students will want to pursue research topics involving the twentieth century.
Texts: Gellner, Ernest, Nations and Nationalism; Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities; Smith, Anthony, National Identity; Hobsbawm, Eric, Nations and Nationalism since 1780; Colley, Linda, Britons; Bell, David, The Cult of the Nation in France; Riall, Lucy, Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero; Confino, Alon, The Nation as a Local Metaphor: Württemberg, Imperial Germany, and National Memory, 1871-1918; Porter, Brian, When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland; Mosse, George, Nationalism and Sexuality; Appadurai, Arjun, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization
Particulars: Course evaluation will be based on two short "reflection" papers, class participation, and a 20th-page research paper, each weighted at 33% (unless research paper is better than earlier work in which case it is weighted 50%).
History 487SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Facing the French Revolution: Germany & Britain
Vick; MAX:12
Content: Through close analysis of primary sources, this discussion-driven seminar will examine European politics and culture in the years immediately following the French Revolution, as the revolution in France became increasingly radical and spilled over the borders, and as observers elsewhere in Europe struggled to comprehend these events and their implications for their home countries. To this end we will investigate a broad spectrum of British and German textual and visual sources from the multiple perspectives of political, intellectual, and cultural history. The course will delve into such central topics as British and German responses to the revolution and the Terror, the birth of democratic, liberal, and conservative political ideologies, and the relationship between classicism and romanticism in both politics and culture. The seminar will also lead step by step through the process of formulating, researching, and writing the final research paper in which this course culminates.
Particulars: Assignments will include active discussion and participation, short writing assignments involving primary sources and historical literature, and a final research paper of 5,000-6,500 words (approximately 15-20 pages).
History 487SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Medieval Law & Literature (Same as IDS 385SWR)
White; MAX:6
PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED
History 488SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: American Foreign Policy Tradition
Harbutt; MAX:12
Content: No one has satisfactorily defined the American diplomatic tradition. We will attempt to do so here. The focus will be on the ideas, emotions and actions that, from the Revolutionary era to our own time, present themselves as potential constituent elements. These may be variously political, economic, military, cultural and psychological in character. Is it possible to find any significant unity in this story? Can we distil from such complexity -- from the profusion of apparent successes, false starts and unprofitable outcomes that make up more than two centuries of American engagement with the world -- something we can plausibly call a "tradition"? That is the fundamental question we will take up in this semester.
Texts: Readings will include: Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy; Russell Weigley, The American Way of War; Michael Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy; A. Link, Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War and Peace; S. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War; W. McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State; William Appleman Williams, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy.
Particulars: Midterm, comparative book review, and final research paper.
History 488SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Professions in America
Prude; MAX:12
CANCELLED
History 488SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Lincoln and His America
Roark; MAX:12
Content: No American has received more attention from historians than Abraham Lincoln. No event in American history has received more attention than the Civil War. Nevertheless, Lincoln remains an enigma, and we have yet to achieve a consensus about the causes and consequences of the war. In this course, we will explore a fraction of the Lincoln literature in an effort to understand the man and the great and terrible events he engaged.
Texts: Lincoln's own writings will make up the heart of the reading list. (Since his letters and speeches add up to more than a million words, I promise to be selective.) In addition, students will read a biography, several studies of specific aspects of Lincoln's personality and career, and perhaps a novel.
Particulars: Students will be expected to come to the seminar each week prepared to engage in an informed discussion of the week's assigned reading. The principal writing assignment will be an essay of approximately 20 pages that offers a deep reading and analysis of one of Lincoln's letters or speeches. Final grades for the course will reflect class participation and writing, each receiving approximately equal weight.
History 488SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Lawyers, Judges & Jurisprudence in America
Zainaldin; MAX:12
Content: This course will survey critical legal opinions, commentaries, and disputes that have occurred in the American legal system from the colonial era to the present. We will learn how to read and understand a law case, the difference between "civil" and "common law," the role of the attorney and the role of the judge, and the meaning to be given to judicial opinions and legislation. The course assumes that there is a tension among American values--values of liberty, community, democracy, the public good, the private good, and public policy. We will attempt to understand how these tensions arise in the context of law, and are resolved (or not) in American history.
Texts: Stephen B. Presser and Jamil S. Zainaldin, Law and Jurisprudence in American History: Cases and Materials.
History 489SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: History of Western Medicine in China
Bullock; MAX:12
Content: This course reviews the history of Western medicine in China from the Jesuits to the SARS epidemic with particular focus on the late l9th and 20 th centuries. Themes to be explored include the modern evolution of Western medicine and public health, the pattern of its introduction to China, the changing relationship between traditional Chinese and Western medicine, the Western model of hospitals, medical education and public health, and the politics of medicine and public health in both the Nationalist and Communist eras. Critiques of Western medicine in China over time will be explored as well as China’s current health care challenges. The course will conclude with a discussion of the nature of China’s modern system of medicine and public health and its importance in the global health system.
Texts: Two books are assigned and are available for purchase in the bookstore: Roy Porter, Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine and Arthur Kleinman and James L. Watson, SARS in China: Prelude to Pandemic? The majority of the readings will comprise articles and chapters of books which are available on e-reserve. Some additional readings will be assigned. Readings are designed to introduce the student to a variety of perspectives on the history of Western medicine in China.
Particulars: Writing: This is a writing intensive course. Students will keep a writing journal that reflects analytically on the weekly reading assignment and class discussion. They will also write a major 20 page research paper. With an emphasis on the process of writing, students will prepare preliminary thesis statements, an outline and a full (graded) draft before the final paper is submitted. Details on the research paper will be provided. Oral presentations: The articulation of good questions and the exchange of ideas is central to the writing process. Each week two students will be asked to lead a discussion on the reading assignments, preparing questions for the class to address. All students will
History 489SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Empires past and Present (Same as AFS 389SWR)
Crais; MAX:8
Content: We are, we are told, living in an age of empire. A steadily increasing number of learned scholars, columnists and essayists have drawn parallels between the contemporary moment and the late nineteenth century pax Britannica. The conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote recently that "People are coming out of the closet on the word 'empire'." According to an editorialist for the Wall Street Journal, the September 11 attacks were "a result of insufficient American involvement and ambition; the solution is to be more expansive in our goals and more assertive in their implementation." He continued: "
History 489SWR: JR/SR Colloquium: Issues in Israeli National Security (JS 490SWR/POLS 490RSWR)
Tal; MAX:6
Content: National security is a prime issue in Israel, and it was so since it existence. Being established in war, leaving in hostile environment, Israel had to deal with issues pertaining to its national security with the highest priority. The course will focus on several issues pertaining to Israel’s national security, bringing together military, diplomatic and social issues. We’ll study the ideas that provided the basis for the development of Israel’s national security policy, build up of the IDF and the development of military strategy that were aimed to accomplish the goals of Israel’s national security policy; the role of diplomacy in the shaping and conduct of Israel’s national security policy; the pursuit of peace and the conduct of wars; military–civic relations in Israel; Israel and the non-conventional threats, nuclear and low-intensity conflicts.
History 494-00P: Internship
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED
Patterson
Content: The internship program provides history majors with the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge to practical experience. This will involve placing students in actual work situations with various government agencies or other institutions which deal with historical questions and materials. These may include the Georgia Department of Archives and History, the Historical Preservations Section of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Atlanta Historical Society and the Carter Center. The student is responsible for identifying and securing acceptance to an internship position. All projects must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies who can supply suggestions and information on possible internships.
Particulars: PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR (Director of Undergraduate Studies) REQUIRED: To be eligible for a history internship a student must be a junior or senior history major with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Applications available in the History Dept. office must be submitted to the instructor. Four credit hours are earned for ten to twelve hours of work per week for 14 weeks of the semester and a fifteen-page research paper. Course grade is based on the project supervisor's written evaluation of the intern's performance (50%), and on the quality of the research paper (50%) as evaluated by the instructor.
History 495-00P; Introduction to Historical Interpretation
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED. HISTORY HONORS AND BA/MA STUDENTS ONLY
Desrochers; MAX: 12
Content: The course guides students accepted into the history honors program towards a research proposal for their honors thesis. The class consists of discussion of historiographical and methodological issues as well as practical guidance in the application of research techniques and the design of a thesis.
Particulars: In addition to some smaller assignments, the main focus lies on the gathering of research material (annotated bibliography) and the writing of a thesis proposal (3-5pp.; multiple drafts).
History 495WR-00P : Introduction to Historical Interpretation
Faculty; MAX:20
Content: Open only to students selected to participate in the department's Honor Program, this course is the written component of History 495, the department's seminar for honor students. It consists of intensive tutoring with a faculty Honors advisee in historical research and writing with the final requirement of producing an Honors thesis. This course is required for completion of the department's Honors program.
Particulars: PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR REQUIRED. Students must complete a thesis to receive credit for this class.