Southwestern University
2000-2001 Catalog

Professor Jan C. Dawson, PhD, Chair, Brown Distinguished Teaching Professor
Associate Professor Steven C. Davidson, PhD
Assistant Professor Daniel Castro, Jr., PhD
Assistant Professor Lisa Moses Leff, PhD
Assistant Professor Thomas V. McClendon, PhD
Assistant Professor Elizabeth Green Musselman, PhD
Assistant Professor Martha K. Norkunas, PhD (part-time)
Instructor Manuel Callahan, MA (part-time)

The study of History promotes individual and collective self-understanding by examining the record of the past. It develops a way of thinking that enables students to identify trends and relations of human existence and to appreciate both the limits and the possibilities of our own age.

The History program provides students with a global perspective and a solid grounding in the methods and fields of history, while also encouraging interdisciplinary connections. The History major provides students not with a random collection of courses, but with a program that is concerned with finding patterns and connections. Beginning with introductory courses, our major prepares students for advanced courses on topics, themes, and methods of history, and for research experience. With their understanding of the past and their historical mindedness, History students go on to careers in all levels of education and government, in law, social service, communications, museum and archival work, and business.

To receive a BA in History, a student must take two World History courses (see below), Historiography in the junior year, two courses designated as Research Seminars, and five other courses from the general departmental offerings chosen in consultation with the academic adviser according to the guidelines below. In the final regular semester of classes, the student must participate in a group senior oral final. Taken in sequence, Historiography, the Research Seminars, and the oral final constitute the History major’s capstone experience.

The following courses are foundation courses for the study of History. Each seeks to provide students with basic historical literacy. Each also seeks to develop appreciation for large-scale regional and global patterns as well as regional and global connections, including exchanges of ideas, labor, trade, technology, etc. Finally, each of these World History courses seeks to combat ethnocentricity by examining the internal development of the cultural and institutional heritages of each people involved in these patterns and exchanges. History majors and minors must take two introductory Topics in World History courses, one from Group A and one from Group B.

Group A–Pre- and Early Modern: 16-013 World Civilizations to 1500

16-033 Women in World History

16-043 World History: Exploration,

Discovery, and Colonization

Group B–Modern: 16-023 World Civilizations Since 1500

16-053 Ecological History of the World

16-063 World History: Colonial and
Post-Colonial Worlds

16-073 The "Nation" in World History

History majors are required to take at least one upper-level course (200 or above) from at least three of the following geographical areas: Africa, East Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America (16-453 Slavery in the Atlantic World can count for Africa, Latin America, or North America; 16-483 Race and Rights in the United States and South Africa can count for Africa or North America).

Either as part of their geographical distribution or as one of their five non-designated courses (i.e., not World History and not Capstone), history majors also must take at least one upper-level course from the following list of courses having a substantial pre- or early modern component: 16-203 Early Modern Europe, 16-233 Latin American Civilization, 16-253 Chinese Civilization, 16-263 African History, 16-273 Japanese Civilization, 16-283 History of Science, 16-313 Greek Civilization, 16-323 Roman Civilization, and 16-343 History of Peru.

All majors are encouraged to have proficiency in at least one classical or modern language and a study abroad experience. Students preparing for graduate work in history should check graduate catalogs to see if additional language work is expected.

It is also possible to do a 54-hour paired major in History and Women’s Studies by double-counting two courses cross-listed in History and Women’s Studies. Currently those courses are 16-033 Women in World History, 16-243 Women and Colonial Latin America, and 16-393 European Women, 16-763 Gender and Sexuality in U.S. History, although other cross-listed courses, such as the Research Seminar on Gender and the Politics of History, may be substituted by permission of the Chair of the Women’s Studies Committee and new courses may be added.

To minor in History, a student must take two World History courses as described above, and any four additional courses numbered 200 or above, preferably from different time periods and geographical areas.

Majoring or minoring in History for secondary teacher certification requires the following eight courses: one course from World History Group A and one course from World History Group B; Borderlands and Texas History; Historiography; two U.S. courses from 233, 713, 723, 763, 773 or 783; and two additional courses numbered 200 or above. In addition, students seeking secondary certification with a History major must take two additional courses and fulfill the capstone experience and other graduation requirements for the regular 30 semester hour History major.

The 48-hour Social Studies Composite secondary teaching field for teacher certification requires the same 24 semester hours of History listed above for the secondary History major and minor, plus American Government, State and Local Government, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Geography, World Geography, and two additional courses from among History, Political Science, Economics, and Geography (see Education, p. 71). Students with the Social Studies Composite teaching field are treated as History majors for purposes of academic advising and must participate in the senior oral final in their final regular semester of class.

To be certified to teach with elementary certification and History as an 18-hour specialization requires one course from World History Group A and one course from World History Group B; Borderlands and Texas History; one U.S. History course from 233, 713, 723, 763, 773 or 783; and one additional course numbered 200 or above.

Individual members of the Department work with highly motivated students who design independent study projects. The Department also occasionally has internships in local history. Finally, the Department participates in the Honors Program by inviting exceptional students to do an Honors Project during their senior year.

(Courses marked * are offered annually; all others are offered biennially.)

†16-013 WORLD CIVILIZATIONS TO 1500*. The origins, development, and character of the major world civilizations and their relationships to one another to 1500. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

16-033 WOMEN IN WORLD HISTORY*. Survey of women’s experiences in history, from hunter-gatherer societies to the present. We will especially explore the mixed legacy of "civilization" for women’s status and some of the basic literature on women’s historiography. As we move through history, we will consider topics like the following: the comparative role of women in the major world religions, how women have participated in various economies, the relative merits of the histories of "great women" vs. social histories of the majority of women, whether women’s status has progressively improved or deteriorated or neither, the supposed superiority of women’s positions in Western societies, and the history of women’s rights movements. Also Women’s Studies 04-033. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-043 WORLD HISTORY: EXPLORATION, DISCOVERY, AND COLONIZATION*. From Eric the Red to Lope de Aguirre, innumerable explorers ventured out to discover new worlds. From Asia to the Americas, new and old civilizations collided and merged, irreversibly transforming the world we inherited. This course is intended as an examination of the processes and personages responsible for the dramatic transformation of our world between the 10th and 16th centuries. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-023 WORLD CIVILIZATIONS SINCE 1500*. The changing nature of the world’s civilizations and their increasing inter-relations after 1500. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-053 ECOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE WORLD*. Examines world history from the perspective of interactions between human groups and the ecosystems in which they have lived from prehistory to the present. Focuses particularly on ecological processes such as the development of agriculture and its impacts, first in southwest Asia, China, and Mesoamerica; the role of disease in world history, especially through trade networks such as that of the Mongols; European "ecological imperialism" since 1500; and ecosystem imbalances produced by industrial developments in the North. It also examines religious and secular beliefs that have justified and/or challenged human manipulation of ecosystems, including current efforts to pursue ecological sustainability, especially in South Asia and Latin America. (POK-Social Analysis)

†16-063 WORLD HISTORY: COLONIAL AND POST-COLONIAL WORLDS*. This course will introduce students to a historical understanding of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, framed by colonial and post-colonial relationships betweeen the West and areas colonized by the West after 1750 (especially Africa, the Pacific, South Asia and Southeast Asia). We will pursue several themes, including: (1) imperialism, including contradictory goals and methods of colonizers and varieties of indigenous response; (2) social and cultural effects of colonization on colonizers, as well as colonized peoples; (3) anti-colonial struggles, decolonization, and the Cold War; (4) independence and dependence; and (5) globalization of markets, political structures, and cultures. We will explore these themes through textbooks and primary source accounts, as well as novels and films. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-073 THE "NATION" IN WORLD HISTORY*. A history of the modern world focusing on how "nations" are defined in different historical and geographical contexts. In each context, the course will address the question of who has the legitimate authority to represent the "nation," as well as how national "insiders" are distinguished from "outsiders" by those who have the authority to define the boundaries of the nation. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-263 AFRICAN HISTORY*. This survey is an introduction to African cultures and history from precolonial times to the present, emphasizing Africa’s variety and its connections to other parts of the world. Topics include: precolonial social and political organization; the spread of Islam and Christianity; the impact of the Atlantic slave trade; conquest and resistance; social change under colonial rule; decolonization; neo-colonialism and postcolonial challenges. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-433 MODERN SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY. A survey of the history of southern Africa from the eve of the region’s encounter with European settlers to the present; this course will emphasize the 19th and 20th centuries. Themes will include indigenous social organization; colonization; slavery; the spread of Christianity; labor migrancy; industrialization; segregation and apartheid; African nationalism and resistance; the disintegration of apartheid; and the rise of the "new" South Africa. We will examine these issues with attention to questions of race and ethnicity, class, gender and generation, and the nature of resistance. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

16-443 LAW, POWER, AND THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. This course examines law as an instrument of power in colonial and post-colonial societies. The course is primarily concerned with the development and use of "customary law" to govern relations among the colonized, but we will also examine the use of criminal and labor law for exerting social control. We will explore this issue in the context especially of colonial Africa, but also other colonized regions including India and Latin America.

16-453 SLAVERY IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD. Slavery and the slave trade were fundamental to the development of the Americas. Africa and the Americas were linked through the Atlantic slave trade, as well as through the movement to abolish slavery. Slavery was also widespread in Africa, and it grew in importance as a result of the Atlantic slave trade. This course will consider various systems of slavery and the changes in those systems over time, as well as examine the economic and ideological links among slave systems in Africa and the Americas.

16-473 GENDER AND GENERATION IN AFRICA. This course aims to analyze and improve our understanding of African social and cultural history as well as our understanding of gender and generation as important categories of social analysis. We will examine the ways in which historians, anthropologists, and ordinary Africans have constructed these concepts with respect to African historical experience since the 19th century.

16-483 RACE AND RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH AFRICA. Many historians and journalists have been struck by the parallel experiences of the United States and South Africa with respect to race. However, there are important differences of demography, culture, and political tradition that have affected social and political change in the two countries. This course compares these historical experiences, focusing on: the construction of race; racial policies (from segregation and apartheid to the controversies over affirmative action and immigration); resistance and politics; and the role of law and the courts.

†16-253 CHINESE CIVILIZATION*. A survey of the history and culture of China from the rise of the Shang dynasty in the second millennium B.C. to the present. The course will focus on the development of China’s classical culture, the formation of empires, the nature of the traditional state and society, China’s confrontation with the West, and the rise of modern China’s revolutionary movement. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

16-263 20TH CENTURY CHINESE HISTORY. A study of the fall of the Chinese dynastic system, cultural and revolutionary movements, the establishment of the People’s Republic, and the continuing transformations in contemporary China.

†16-273 JAPANESE CIVILIZATION*. A survey of the history and culture of Japan from the rise of the Yamato state in the sixth century A.D. to the present. The course will examine indigenous institutional and cultural developments and the nature of stimuli and influences from the East Asian continental cultures and from the West. Heian aristocratic society, Japanese feudalism, Japan’s late traditional state and society, the Meiji Restoration, and the rise of modern Japan’s state and society will be examined. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

16-583 MODERN JAPANESE HISTORY. A study of the intellectual, social, and institutional origins of modern Japan, its role in World War II in the Pacific, its post-War transformations, and recent trends.

†16-203 EARLY MODERN EUROPE*. Survey of the history of Europe from about 1400 to 1800. Topics will include the Renaissance and Reformation; transitions from feudal to capitalist and colonial economies; health and epidemic disease; women’s experiences, sexuality and family life; magic, the "Scientific Revolution" and Enlightenment; absolutism and the development of modern nation-states. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-213 MODERN EUROPE*. A history of Europe from the French Revolution of 1789 to the present, emphasizing the development of new political traditions and social structures, the establishment of new forms of international organization, the transformation of work, changes in the lived environment, and the evolution of understandings of the self. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-283 HISTORY OF SCIENCE. This course will explore the history of human thought about the natural world from ancient times to the present, concentrating especially on the 17th century forward. We will discuss not only the most celebrated ideas of sciences’ past, but also the approaches that did not last and why, and how social and economic changes have shaped the development of the sciences. While we will primarily discuss European and American science, we will also consider the important contributions of the rest of the world, and explore whether science is really a "Western" phenomenon. Topics will include: ancient cosmologies, the importance of Islamic translations and medieval universities and courts, printing and New World exploration, alchemy as a predecessor to chemistry, the 16th and 17th century "revolution" in astronomy and mechanics, the professionalization and popularization of science, the sciences of power during the industrial revolution, the many faces of Darwinism, and "big science" (the atomic bomb and the Human Genome Project). (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-313 GREEK CIVILIZATION. A study of the rise and development of Greek civilization, with special emphasis on the cultural contributions to Western civilization. May be repeated with change of content. Also Classics 07-313. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-323 ROMAN CIVILIZATION. A study of the rise and development of Roman civilization, with special emphasis on the cultural contributions to Western civilization. May be repeated with change of content. Also Classics 07-323. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-383 THE HOLOCAUST. This course will look at the Holocaust, the destruction of European Jewry, as an event in both European history and Jewish history. We will focus on the development and implementation of Nazi ideology and the "final solution" in Germany and the territories it conquered during World War II, and seek to account for both the actions of perpetrators and the responses of victims and bystanders to the events as they unfolded. We will draw on work scholars have done in the fields of literature, anthropology, philosophy, and religious studies, as well as history. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

16-393 HISTORY OF EUROPEAN WOMEN. Introduction to the experiences of European women from the High Middle Ages through modern feminist movements. The course focuses on the effect of changing political, economic, and intellectual trends on European perspectivs of gender and sexuality–and vice versa. Topics will include religions, peasant life, courts and salons, education and intellectuals, marriage and family life and laws, effects of industrialization, complicity in and rejection of imperialism, and feminist movements. Also Women’s Studies 04-393.

†16-403 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND MODERN FRANCE. A history of France from 1789 to the present. We will study the development of new political ideologies and institutions during the Revolution, the modernization of state, culture and society in the 19th and 20th centuries, workers’ struggles, and questions of religious, political and ethnic diversity. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-523 BRITISH HISTORY, 1688 TO THE PRESENT. This course will look at the modern portion of Britain’s unique history. Beginning with the 1688 Glorious Revolution, when England restored its monarchy under a constitution and Protestant church, we will trace not only political developments, but also the key economic, social, and cultural changes that have shaped modern Britain. Topics will include the bitter loss of America and the often violent absorption of Scotland and Ireland; changes in the class system; the Anglican Church’s fight to maintain religious dominance; increasing literacy and popularity of science and literature; rivalries with the French; the wonders and horrors of industrialization; the growth of cities; imperialism’s heyday and decline; the changing status of women; the devestation of the two world wars; the rise of the welfare state; and Thatcherism and Tony Blair’s response: Cool Britannia. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

16-543 GENDER AND SCIENCE. In this course we will look at what the sciences have said historically about women, men, gender, and sexuality. We will also explore the flip-side of that coin: how have preconceived notions about women, men, gender, and sexuality shaped scientific ideas? By using historical examples, we will consider when the sciences have alternately been tools for empowerment and enslavement. Subjects may include: women in the sciences, changing anatomical views of male and female bodies, race as a complicating factor in scientific notions about gender, scientific investigations of homosexuality, the masculinity and femininity of scientists, the gendering of nature itself, and science as a kind of power. Also Women’s Studies 04-543.

16-553 EXPLORATION AND IMPERIALISM. For about four centuries, Western European countries (and later the United States) launched massive campaigns to discover new worlds for the purposes of trade, plunder, knowledge, Christian conversion, and colonization. This course will consider the first stage of imperialism, namely exploration. We will concentrate on the 17th to the 19th centuries, when more than ever before voyages of exploration turned to scientific aims. These scientific aims were various, and not unrelated to political and economic ambitions. They included the desire to map and measure the world, to collect new species for medicinal and classificatory purposes, and to understand other races. Looking at various voyages, like Captain Cook’s journeys through the South Pacific, Lewis and Clark’s trans-American march, and Darwin’s famous Beagle expedition, will vividly present us with the intimate historical relationships between science and imperialism.

16-573 END OF IMPERIALISM. An examination of the struggles that led to the end of European imperialism in Asia and Africa in the 20th century. It will cover the rise of nationalism in the colonies, the often bloody struggles for independence, the effect of decolonization on European politics, culture and society, and the new forms of dependency created in the aftermath of imperialism.

†16-223 LATIN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION*. This course examines the most salient characteristics and important interactions of the different ethnic, political, and economic streams that have contributed to the birth and development of Latin America from the late 15th century to the present. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

16-233 HISTORY OF MEXICO, 1519-1920. An examination of the evolution of some of the most significant strands that conform the tapestry of Mexican history. This survey begins with an examination of the subjugation of high native civlizations by European invaders and concludes in the apotheosis of the Mexican Revolution.

16-243 WOMEN IN COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA. The primary objective of this course is to examine the crucial role played by women in the period between the first contact of Spain with mainland America, 1519, to the period of national independence in the early 19th century. In the process of this examination, we will attempt to rid ourselves of existing outmoded perceptions, prejudices, and stereotypes concerning Latin American women. Also Women’s Studies 04-243.

16-333 GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY. The objective of this class is to provide students with a general overview of the evolution of guerrilla warfare in Latin America from the earliest indigenous rebellions in the 16th century to the struggles waged in Peru, Colombia, and Mexico at the end of the 20th century.

†16-343 HISTORY OF PERU. A survey of the history of Peru from pre-Hispanic times to the present. Emphasis is placed on obtaining insights on the historical genesis, evolution, and transformation of the country. Hopefully, this will help us in trying to gain some insights into the elusive, mysterious, and perennially alluring nature of the Andean World. (POK-Other Cultures and Civilizations)

†16-233 U.S. CIVILIZATION*. A one-semester survey of U.S. history from the first North American encounters among Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans to the present. The course will examine how American have negotiated what it means to be American, what Americans have meant by freedom, what roles religious pluralism has played in American life, American expansionism at home and abroad, and how the United States has defined itself in relation to the rest of the world. It will ask questions about the losers as well as the winners in these cultural negotiations and about the costs as well as the benefits of the nation’s achievements. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

†16-423 A JOURNEY THROUGH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. Explores the social, historical, economic, and political underpinnings of the Southern Civil Rights movement, focusing on motivations, strategies, tensions, consequences, and difficulties, both personal and national. Required field trip during Spring Break with additional fee. Also, American Studies 01-423 and Sociology 34-423. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage) (Alternate Springs)

†16-713 AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY. This course surveys African-American history since the end of slavery in the (re)United States, to the present. Some of the themes and topics we will explore will include: the meaning of freedom under Reconstruction; labor; migration; gender; segregation; movements for the attainment of civil rights; art and culture; religious experience and thought; racial and ethnic identity; and the intersection of class and race. There is no prerequisite for this course, though it will be useful to have a general knowledge of U.S. history. (POK-American and Western Cultural Heritage)

16-723 CRUCIAL DECADES IN U.S. HISTORY. Many U.S. history textbooks refer to various periods such as the 1890s, the 1920s and the 1960s as "watersheds," meaning periods marking significant change. In 1956 historian Eric Goldman published a book entitled The Crucial Decade 1945-1955 about the transformation of the post-World War II peace into the globalization of the Cold War. This course will examine U.S. history through the microcosm of a crucial decade in order to focus attention on convergences of longer term trends. The decade studied will vary.

16-753 BORDERLANDS AND TEXAS. The term Borderlands, coined by American historian Herbert Eugene Bolton in 1921, denotes much more than the geographic "region, between Florida and California now belonging to the United States, over which Spain held sway for centuries." This course takes a chronological/thematic approach beginning with the earliest explorations of New Spain in the first quarter of the 16th century and culminating in an analysis of the complex, multi-faceted history of the Borderlands and its people, unfolding before our eyes.

16-763 GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN U.S. HISTORY. The historical construction of gender systems–prescribed relations between men and women, masculinity, and femininity–among different racial, ethnic, and class groups throughout U.S. history, including ways these systems have shaped peoples’ economic, political, social, and cultural experiences. The course will also examine how historical constructions of sexual identity, especially heterosexuality and homosexuality, have intersected with systems of gender. Also Women’s Studies 04-763.

16-773 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY. A history of human adaptations to the variety of ecosystems within the United States from pre-colonial times to the present. Topics will include patterns of land use and their environmental and human consequences, conceptions of the human-nature relationship and their implications for patterns of land use, the increasing importance of "built environments" in people’s lives, the origins of current environmental problems at home and the nation’s contribution to environmental problems abroad, and varieties of activism seeking to address environmental problems over time. Students will study these developments in specific ecological regions.

16-783 SELF AND SOCIETY IN AMERICAN THOUGHT. Examines U.S. intellectual history through the lens of what public intellectuals, social commentators, and cultural critics have thought about the relation of self and society from early modern European colonization through the emergence of the United States as a pluralistic democracy to the present. Involves close reading and discussion of primary texts.

16-443 LAW, POWER, AND THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE. (See under Africa)

16-453 SLAVERY IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD. (See under Africa)

16-483 RACE AND RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTH AFRICA. (See under Africa)

16-853 HISTORIOGRAPHY*. A study of the concept of history, the history of historical writing, the major schools of historical interpretation today, and the relation of history to philosophy of history.

16-863 RESEARCH SEMINAR*. Part of the capstone experience. Topics, which change from semester to semester, include Modernity, Gender and the Politics of History, Old World-New World Encounters, A Green History of the World, and 1968: Global Perspectives. Prerequisite: May be taken concurrently with or after Historiography 16-853.

16-301, 302, 303 SELECTED TOPICS. May be repeated with a change in topic.

16-941, 942, 943 INTERNSHIP IN HISTORY.

16-951, 952, 953 INDEPENDENT STUDY. May be repeated with change in content.

16-983 HONORS HISTORY. By departmental invitation.