History
Curriculum
Below you will find a list of our current or recent offerings. See the course catalog for descriptions and updated information.
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16-001 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-002 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-003 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-004 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-014 WORLD CIVILIZATIONS TO 1500The origins, development and character of the major world civilizations and their relationships to one another to 1500. (Annually) (H) (IP) (WA)
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16-024 WORLD CIVILIZATIONS SINCE 1500The changing nature of the world’s civilizations and their increasing interrelations after 1500. (Annually) (H) (IP) (WA)
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16-064 COLONIAL AND POSTCOLONIAL WORLDSThis course introduces students to a historical understanding of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, framed by colonial and postcolonial relationships between the West and areas colonized by it after 1750, especially Africa and South Asia. Several themes will be pursued, including contradictor...
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16-074 NATIONS AND NATIONALISM IN WORLD HISTORYThis course aims to discover the roots of nations around the world and the nationalisms that define or defend them. The class explores how nations are defined, whether nations are natural expressions of human community, why nationalism has often led to violence, and what the future may be for the na...
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16-094 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN WORLD HISTORYThis course surveys how humans worldwide have understood and manipulated nature from prehistory to the present. The class investigates whether science is a uniquely European invention; what standards should be used to evaluate natural knowledge systems that bear little resemblance to modern science;...
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16-204 EARLY MODERN EUROPESurvey 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 Enlightenmen...
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16-214 MODERN EUROPEThis course aims to deepen students’ understanding of the major developments in modern Western civilization, from the revolutions of the 18th century, through the creation and expansion of the European Union. The course explores social, political, intellectual, and cultural developments, as well a...
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16-224 US. HISTORY BEFORE 1865. This course explores major social, political, economic and diplomatic developments in the U.S. before 1865. It examines the profound and numerous transformations in American society through the end of the Civil War. It exposes students to a wide range of historical actors and...
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16-234 US. HISTORY SINCE 1865. This course explores major social, political, economic and diplomatic developments in the U.S. since the Civil War. It examines the experiences and the conflicts that made up the history of modern American society. Students engage with a wide range of historical actors and dia...
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16-244 ANCIENT CHINAAn examination of ancient China from the rise of the earliest state through the “classical” era and the early empires of the Qin and the Han. This course will focus on intellectual, cultural and social history, including such topics as ancestor reverence, universal kingship, the mandate of Heave...
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16-254 IMPERIAL CHINA 589-1911A survey of the intellectual, cultural and social history of China from the reunification of the Chinese empire in 589 A.D. through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties until the demise of the dynastic system in 1911. The nature of Neo-Confucianism, the Chinese scholar-official class, the e...
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16-264 AFRICAN HISTORYThis survey is an introduction to African cultures and history from pre-colonial times to the present, emphasizing Africa’s variety and its connections to other parts of the world. Topics include: pre-colonial social and political organization; the spread of Islam and Christianity; the impact of t...
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16-274 JAPANESE CIVILIZATIONThis course is a survey of the history and culture of Japan from the rise of the Yamato state in the sixth century A.D. to the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The course will examine indigenous institutional and cultural developments and the nature of stimuli and influences from the East Asian continenta...
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16-294 TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINEThese courses investigate how people in the past have understood nature. Each course topic emphasizes a different geographical area, chronological period and/or specific area of scientific or medical interest, but every version of the course will emphasize how broader historical contexts have shaped...
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16-301 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-302 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-303 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-304 SELECTED TOPICSMay be repeated with change in topic.
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16-314 GREEK CIVILIZATIONSee Classics 07-314. (Biennially) (H) (IP) (WA)
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16-324 ROMAN CIVILIZATIONSee Classics 07-324. (Biennially) (H) (IP) (WA)
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16-334 GUERRILLA MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICAN HISTORYThe objective of this course 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 in contemporary times. (Biennially) (H)
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16-364 COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAThis course provides an overview of the most significant historical themes, events and personages that contributed to the formation, evolution and development of Indoamerica. The class will examine the period encompassed between the apogee of pre-Columbian high civilizations and the Creole wars of i...
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16-374 MODERN LATIN AMERICAThis is a survey of the cultural, social, economic and political themes that contributed to the creation of modern Latin America. The course will examine the period between the beginnings of the Wars of Independence, in the early 19th century, to the present. (Biennially) (H) (IP)
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16-384 HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTSThis course places contemporary human rights debates within a long historical context, from Classical and religious traditions, through the Enlightenment, the abolition of slavery, and the growth of socialism, to the signing of the Universal Declaration in 1948. The course emphasizes questions of mi...
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16-394 GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN THE BRITISH EMPIREThis course investigates the gender and sexual politics of the British empire, ca. 1600-1960. The class examines the empire as a theater for Britons to become men and escape confining ideals of femininity, and as a space where different sexual norms proved liberating for some and life-threatening to...
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16-404 MODERN FRANCEThis course investigates French history from 1789 to the present: charting political, social, and cultural developments within France and determining the extent to which these altered, or were influenced by, events outside the borders of the “hexagon”—in the Empire or in foreign relations. The...
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16-414 HISTORY OF RACE RELATIONS IN THE 20TH CENTURY US. By exploring the history of Asian Americans and Latinos as well as African Americans and whites, this class emphasizes the multiracial history of 20th-century America. This course recognizes the historical significance of multiple racial and ethnic groups. The ways in which major events and episo...
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16-434 MODERN SOUTH AFRICAA survey of the history of southern Africa emphasizing the 19th and 20th centuries. Themes will include indigenous social organization, colonization, slavery, the spread of Christianity, labor migrancy, industrialization, apartheid and its aftermath, and African nationalism and resistance. These iss...
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16-444 APARTHEID IN FILM AND LITERATUREThis course explores how South African writers and foreign as well as South African filmmakers have represented apartheid—the legislated system of segregation and white supremacy in South Africa from 1948 to 1994—from Alan Paton’s 1948 earnest liberal novel Cry the Beloved Country, through the...
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16-464 LATIN AMERICAN, ASIAN AND EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION IN US. HISTORY. This course will examine topics in the history of Latin American, Asian and European immigrants in America, especially during the years between 1880 and 1965. A comparative framework will be used to integrate Latin Americans and Asian migrants into a more common understanding of European...
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16-474 GENDER AND GENERATION IN AFRICAThis course enables students to gain a better understanding of historical and contemporary Africa through examination of two important and interlocking features of African social organization that significantly shape community life and structure social conflicts: gender and generation. Changes assoc...
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16-504 THE HISTORY OF THE US. WEST. This course will focus on the development of the 19th- and 20th-century American West. It will explore themes that highlight the intersections of race, gender, class, nationality and the environment rather than providing a chronological overview of the history of the West. Course objectives...
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16-514 MUSLIMS IN EUROPEThis course traces the history of Muslim presence in Europe from the early Islamic empires in Andalusia and Sicily, through European imperial experiences with Muslims in Africa and Asia, to the more recent reception of Muslim migrants on European soil. The course questions the intellectual and polit...
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16-524 BRITISH HISTORY, 1688 TO THE PRESENTThis course explores 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, political developments as well as the key economic, social and cultural changes that have shaped modern B...
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16-534 TOPICS IN BRITISH CULTURECultural history seeks to understand how people have attached meanings to their lives through the expression of ideas, art, science, performance, consumption, sport and other cultural forms. This course examines various aspects of Great Britain’s cultural history to try to understand British ident...
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16-544 GENDER AND SCIENCEThis course examines what the sciences have said historically about gender and sexuality—as well as the flip side of that coin: how preconceived notions about gender and sexuality have shaped scientific ideas. Using historical examples, the course considers when the sciences have alternately b...
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16-564 MODERN CHINESE HISTORYA 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. (Biennially) (H) (IP)
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16-584 MODERN JAPANESE HISTORYA 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. (Biennially) (H) (IP)
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16-654 LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY IN FILM AND LITERATUREIndoamerica is a complex territory and a state of mind suspended between the extremes of despair and unbound hopefulness. Telling its history poses insurmountable challenges to the academic historian, and often the history of the land and its people is better expressed in the work of magicians, arti...
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16-664 THE MEXICAN REVOLUTIONThe Mexican Revolution was one of the momentous events of the 20th century. It transformed Mexican society bringing change and hope for the masses that fought in it. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 21st century, most of the Mexican Revolution’s promises are still unfulfilled. This course is ...
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16-674 COLONIAL INDOAMERICAN INQUISITIONSThe Holy Office of the Inquisition was reintroduced to Spain in 1478 and established in Peru in 1570 and Mexico (New Spain) in 1571. The transfer was intended to maintain the “purity” and “integrity” of the Catholic faith in the face of the unorthodox attacks mounted by moral, political and ...
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16-754 TEXAS HISTORYThis class explores major social, political, economic and cultural developments in Texas, emphasizing the 19th and 20th centuries. A major theme will be the interactions of various immigrant and indigenous groups with each other and with successive political powers, including the Spanish empire, ind...
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16-854 HISTORIOGRAPHYA 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. Prerequisite: 16-014, 16-024, 16-064, 16-074, or 16-094; and must have junior status or permission of instructor. (Every se...
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16-864 RESEARCH SEMINARTopics, which change from semester to semester, include Utopias and Utopianism, Power and Resistance, Microhistories, On Revolution, and Insiders and Outsiders. Prerequisite: History 16-854. (Every semester) (H) (WA)
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16-901 TUTORIAL
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16-902 TUTORIAL
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16-903 TUTORIAL
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16-904 TUTORIAL
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16-941 ACADEMIC INTERNSHIPMust be taken Pass/D/F.
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16-942 ACADEMIC INTERNSHIPMust be taken Pass/D/F.
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16-943 ACADEMIC INTERNSHIPMust be taken Pass/D/F.
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16-944 ACADEMIC INTERNSHIPMust be taken Pass/D/F.
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16-951 INDEPENDENT STUDYMay be repeated with change in content.
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16-952 INDEPENDENT STUDYMay be repeated with change in content.
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16-953 INDEPENDENT STUDYMay be repeated with change in content.
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16-954 INDEPENDENT STUDYMay be repeated with change in content.
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16-984 HONORSBy invitation only.
