FALL 2023

 

Daniel Schwartz

HIST280-900: Christianity along the Silk Road

The Silk Road was a series of trade routes that facilitated economic and cultural connections between the Mediterranean World and East Asia. These routes provided an infrastructure for the spread of Christianity in the pre-modern period from its point of origin in Roman Palestine, through Central Asia, and into China. This course will introduce the variety of Christian traditions that existed along these trade routes and study aspects of how these different traditions spread. This is a writing-intensive (W) course for which students will develop an original research paper.

Albert Broussard

HIST280-901: The Slaves’ World

Slavery in the United States and the western world has widely been regarded as a profound moral problem and one that Americans are still coming to terms with today. This course will examine the institution of slavery from the slave’s point of view by reading original sources such as slave narratives and autobiographies that were written by enslaved American Americans over the course of two centuries. How enslaved people interpreted their enslavement will be the central focus of this course. Students will develop an original research paper in this is  writing-intensive (W) course.

 

David Hudson

HIST280-902: Northern Ireland – Past, Present & Future Troubles

This course will focus on Northern Ireland during and after the “Troubles” of the late 20th century. Using a variety of sources, we will attempt to understand the causes and the course of inter-communal tensions and violence, and why it has proved so very difficult post-1998 to build bridges of trust and mutual respect into the future. Students will develop an original research paper. This is a writing-intensive (W) course.

 

Andrew Kirkendall

HIST280-903: Latin America during World War II

In this course we will discuss what historians do and how they do it. We will immerse ourselves in readings about the neglected subject of the experience of Latin America during World War II. And you will research and write a paper about this topic based on primary sources and demonstrating a knowledge of the secondary literature. Students will develop an original research paper supported by primary and secondary sources for this writing intensive (W) course.

 

Verity McInnis

HIST280-904: Women and The American West

The U.S. West of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a complex historical space, and mythology of the West focuses, almost exclusively, on the male experience.  Yet, women played central roles.  This course will examine relationships, and intersectionality, of gender, class, race, and ethnicity.  Thus, allow a better understanding of the why and how many women challenged the traditional distribution, and accessed avenues, of power to construct new social realities, identities, and status.  In studying this female empowerment, a greater understanding emerges that helps to more accurately explain the American past.  During the course of this seminar students will construct and revise a unique research paper based on primary and secondary sources.

 

Jessica Herzogenrath

HIST280-999 (ONLINE): Popular Culture in Early 20th Century America

Over the course of the semester, we will explore the ways in which popular culture informed American life from 1890 through 1940. Historical study of popular culture allows us the opportunity to see the complex ways in which people have negotiated their identities through elements such as class, race, religion, political allegiance, ethnicity, and gender expression. Popular culture manifests in many ways, including in sports, books, dance, magazines, cartoons, music, theater, toys, food, and language. Through analysis of primary and secondary materials, we will examine how the patterns of popular culture show us both the stability of everyday traditions and the potential for change in the actions of “ordinary” people. Students will develop original research papers supported by primary and secondary sources for this writing intensive (W) course.