Methods:
222 Introduction to Historical Methods
422 Advanced Historical Methods
Perspectives in U. S. History:
These foundational courses examine the full sweep of American history from the perspective of a particular critical lens.
103 American Political History
104 Race and Ethnicity in American History
106 America at War
107 American Labor History
150 Introductory Topics in History
171 Changes in the Land
Perspectives in Global History:
These foundational courses examine the eras in global history from the perspective of a particular critical lens.
161 Pre-modern Roots of Cultural Diversity
162 Human Civilization and the Natural World Since 1500
164 Race and Identity
165 Free and Unfree Labor
Areas of Specialization:
Advanced
440 Historiography
450 Advanced Seminars in History
Senior Seminar and Thesis
490 Senior Seminar/Thesis
103 American Political History: This course examines politics in British North America/United States up to the present day. Topics include: the politics of empire and independence; the emergence of an American political culture; the Confederation era and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution; the origins and workings of the party systems; the changing concept of citizenship especially in regard to race, class, and gender; the rise and fall of the liberal state. [WHS] (3 credits)
104 Race and Ethnicity in American History: This course is a survey of the dynamic of race and ethnicity from the colonial era to the present day. Topics include: Native Americans and the project of colonization; the rise of slavery and the birth of African American culture; race and republican citizenship; the politics of "whiteness," labor and immigration; the operation of a black/white racial binary in a multi-ethnic society; the rise of scientific racism; and strategies of opposition and resistance. [WHS] (3 credits)
106 America at War: This course follows the course of wars from the colonial era through the current period, examining the "declared" and underlying causes of war and the demands for service, sacrifice and patriotism by the American public, with special attention to race, ethnicity, class and gender. Students will analyze pro-war propaganda, as well as anti-war protests and the changing definitions of conscientious objector status. Patterns of change and continuity will be emphasized. While this is not a course in military history and the major focus is on the home front, the impact of major battles and campaigns and the role of the media in reporting the war will be examined. [WHS] (3 credits)
107 American Labor History: This course examines the history of American labor from the colonial era to the present. Although we will discuss the history of labor organizations, our emphasis will be on the lives of working people themselves. Other important topics include labor and empire; the shift from indentured servitude to slavery; the relationship between race, gender, and work; agrarian and artisan republicanism; industrialization and waged labor; socialism and other radical movements; labor and the liberal state; and the post industrial service economy. [WHS] (3 credits)
150 Introductory Topics in History: From time to time the department will offer courses for small groups of students, particularly freshmen. Students may elect HIST 150 more than once, provided they do not repeat the same topic. (3 credits)
161 Pre-modern Roots of Cultural Diversity: This course will introduce students to the diverse cultures of the pre-modern world. The descriptions and analyses of these cultures will highlight their distinct religious and ethical systems and their definitions of political identities. Following a survey of the historical roots of these cultural and political systems, the course will examine their distinct responses to world wide crises in political and social order from the third to tenth centuries C.E. The final section of the class will survey the world in the century prior to the era of European oversees expansion. [NTW] (3 credits)
162 Human Civilization and the Natural World Since 1500: A survey of social, political, cultural and economic developments in world history, focusing on the diversity of cultural perspectives on humanity's relation to the natural world, the use of material resources, and the organization of production. Major themes will include exploration; trade routes and global economy; comparative systems of explaining the place of human beings in the world (science, philosophy, religion); and the relationship between these scientific, philosophical, and religious systems and dominant political and social orders. [NTW] (3 credits)
164 Race and Identity: How do you define "race" in the United States? How do you identify yourself? Are you aware how other people (and society) label you as a member of a certain racial group? Are there any critical conflicts between society's categorization and individual identities? How can the notion of race differ in a specific historical context? Could your individual racial identity change in a different time and space? This course discusses various important issues of race and identity not only in the U.S. but also in other parts of the New World with a comparative historical perspective. [FYS] (3 credits)
165 Free and Unfree Labor: This course is a survey of world labor history, focusing on the period 1500-present. The first unit examines the various forms of unfree labor, including serfdom, slavery, servitude, and peonage. The second unit surveys the ways in which laboring people resisted and sought to shape their own worlds. The final unit examines labor during and after the Age of Revolution, focusing on the rise of wage labor and its attendant problems, as well as workers' movements. Special attention will be paid to the connections between class, race, and gender. [NTW] (3 credits)
171 Changes in the Land: This course introduces students to Changes in Land Use in this Central New York and Catskill Mountain region from the late 1700s to the present, through an analysis of forces of change, for example, decline or increase of natural resources, including wildlife, technology, demographics, urban influences and market demands, as well as their socioeconomic impact. For example, there is a unit on Hunting as Economic Development. Besides history texts, the course materials include songs, poems, folk tales, interviews, photographs, and newspaper articles. The first unit analyzes the changes in land use from the 1700s to the present of the area now encompassing Hartwick College's Pine Lake Environmental Campus. The course is usually taught in the Fall semester in a classroom at Pine Lake and includes field trips. [FYS] (3 credits)
201 Colonial Latin America: This course is an overview of the most significant historical processes and themes that contributed to the formation, evolution and development of Colonial Latin America. The course studies the main streams that have contributed to the emergence of Latin America, from pre-Columbian cultures and the first encounter between the Old and New Worlds to the military, religious and bureaucratic conquests of the New World and the formation and evolution of a colonial society that came to an end with the Wars of Independence from Spain in the early 19th century. [NTW] (3 credits)
202 Modern Latin America: This course examines the most significant themes, events and personages that played an important role in shaping contemporary Latin America. The period under examination encompasses the two centuries beginning with the precursors of the Wars of Independence in the 19th century and the events taking place at the close of the 20th century. [NTW] (3 credits)
207 History of Ancient Greece: An introduction to the history of the Greeks from their beginnings up to the death of Alexander. The class examines the values, the ideas of these people, and their literature and art are used in this undertaking as instruments of discovery. [WHS] (3 credits)
208 History of Republican and Imperial Rome: An introduction to the history and culture of the ancient Romans from their origins up to the death of Constantine. The class explores the life, beliefs and institutions of these people through an examination of their cultural and political achievements. [WHS] (3 credits)
209 Medieval Europe: This course traces the emergence of Europe through the synthesis of Greek, Christian, Roman and Germanic cultures. The survey will begin with the collapse of the Pax Romana in the third century and conclude with the crisis of the 14th century and its immediate aftermath. The survey will focus on Western Europe, but the class will discuss Byzantium and Islam as unique civilizations, which profoundly influenced European culture. [WHS] (3 credits)
210 Early Modern Europe: This course first examines the birth of modern Europe in the Italian Renaissance. It then considers the religious and political forces, which shredded the fabric of Christian unity and ushered in an age of religious and dynastic warfare that produced the modern constitutional and absolutist states. The survey will then examine the cultural, economic and political impact of overseas exploration, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment. The survey culminates with a close examination of the French and Industrial Revolutions. [WHS] (3 credits)
212 Europe, 1815-1914: Pivotal events in nineteenth-century European History, including: Industrialization and its consequences; political revolutions and ideologies: nationalism; the labor question; and cultural and intellectual movements such as Romanticism. Attention will also be devoted to the prevailing cultural assumptions about race, class and gender which defined Europeans' sense of identity and their place in the world, as well as scientific and economic theories which were used to justify European imperialism. [WHS] (3 credits)
213 Europe in Twentieth Century: Major events in twentieth-century European history, including the origins and catastrophic nature of World War I; the Russian revolution and Communist and Fascist challenges to strained democratic societies; economic depression; World War II and the Holocaust; the Cold War and the eclipse of Europe by the Superpowers; the loss of colonial empires; reform and revolution in Eastern and Western Europe, and the gradual formation of a more cooperative European community; emerging challenges of globalization in the twenty-first century (economic conflict, immigration, sustainable development. [WHS] (3 credits)
215 Tudor-Stuart History: A survey of Tudor-Stuart English history (ca. 1485-1688), one of the most important periods of Western European history as it shaped much of English society into the present even as it served as a baseline for much of what would be reinforced, continued, or altered as the English confronted the complexities of the "New World." (3 credits)
222 Introduction to Historical Methods: This course introduces the students to the fundamental skills of historical research. The Students work with primary and secondary source materials in the archives, on-line, and in print. They learn to distinguish primary from secondary sources, to understand the problems that various sources pose to interpretation, and to identify the types of questions particular sources can answer. They learn to read these sources critically and to think historically. They learn how to quote properly, to summarize, and to annotate sources. Finally they apply their skills in a series of writing assignments including review essays, interpretive source critiques, précis, and short research papers. From the skills acquired in this course, the student should have the methodological foundation needed to conduct research in any course that involves historical analysis. [SBA] (4 credits)
225 History of Brazil: Through lecturers, readings, and discussions, together with films and slides, this course examines changes and continuities in Brazilian history from independence (1822) to the present. Special emphasis is placed on race, class, gender, and ethnicity. We will discuss how colonial heritages determined the "fate" of Brazil as a modern nation-state; and how various forms of power relationship emerged, evolved, disappeared, and/or transformed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. [NTW] (3 credits)
226 History of Mexico: This course analyzes the evolution of some of the most significant strands conforming the complex tapestry of Mexican history. It begins with an examination of the High cultures of Ancient Mexico, the Iberian conquest and the emergence of a colonial society; it continues with a study of the Wars of Independence and concludes with an evaluation of the Mexican Revolution and its impact on present-day Mexican society. [NTW] (3 credits)
240 American Environmental History: An exploration of American attitudes toward the natural environment, the course will examine the roots of nature appreciation and the genesis of the conservation movement in its utilitarian, ecological and aesthetic camps, and will trace the environmental movement to the present. [WHS] or [SBA] (3 credits)
241 African-American History: A survey of African Americans' experience from 1619 to the Civil War. Topics covered include: African culture and society before European contact, the Atlantic slave trade, the rise of African slavery in the United States, black-white relations under slavery, enslaved blacks responses to forced servitude and the rise and impact of the Abolition Movement. [WHS] (3 credits)
242 Women in American History: A survey of women's collective experience in America from the colonial period to the present. Emphasis will be upon the relationship of defined sex roles to the broader society in a given historical context. Topics include women and family life, women on the frontier, Black and ethnic women, the impact of industrialization upon women's roles and feminism as a historical movement. [WHS] (3 credits)
244 Baseball in American History: This course is not a history of baseball; rather, it uses baseball to examine important issues in American history. Among these themes are industrialization and the rise of leisure time, race and segregation, immigration and ethnicity, gender, labor, and national identity. (3 credits)
245 World War II on the Home Front: When students enroll in this course, they enlist "for the duration," in order to "reconstruct" the Home Front from Pearl Harbor to "V-J" Day. This course is normally taught in January Term with its daily classes in only one subject, giving students the opportunity to solely and totally concentrate their attention on this goal, making it easier to reconstruct the home front. Daily exercises in recreating the home front include music of the period, letters, diary entries, columns by war correspondent Ernie Pyle, excerpts from oral histories, and incorporation of WWII home front artifacts. Besides this "hands-on" approach to history, students critically analyze WWII as "The Good War" and examine the historiography, especially the debate over WWII as a "watershed" in the 20th Century, addressing the question, "was WWII's impact on society an example of continuity or change?" (3 credits)
261 Indian Ocean World, 1300-1800: An introduction to the history of the peoples and societies of India, Arabia, and East Africa, with an emphasis on the role of trade, religion, and cultural exchange in shaping the civilizations of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, cities of the East African Swahili Coast and the Ottoman Empire. The course will examine the thriving
indigenous shipping and other exchange networks before the arrival of Europeans in 1498, with a primary focus on the Indian Ocean as a hub of human exchanges between India, Arabia, and Africa in the era of the classical Islamic world. [NTW] (3 credits)
262 Politics of Identity: Globalization, Diaspora, and Cultural Diversity: In our "global" age identity continues to be an extremely fascinating as well as complicated phenomenon. By utilizing journalistic accounts on contemporary issues, narratives, theoretical readings, feature movies, and documentary films, this course seeks to understand who and what we are, both at individual and collective levels, with special emphasis on globalization, Diaspora, and cultural diversity. [SBA] (3 credits)
263 Modern East Asia: Following a brief survey of Imperial Chinese under the Ming dynasty and the relations the Chinese empire and its political neighbors, this course will examine the social and cultural tensions within the region and the disruptive impact of the initial European contact. European imperialism increased the internal tensions in all East Asian states as elites struggled to find an effective balance between modernization and westernization. The difficulties in achieving such a balance led to murderous wars and bloody revolutions of the political left and right in the twentieth century. Throughout centuries old cultural traditions continue to inform aspects of family life, philosophy, aesthetics, gender relations, and cultural identity. [NTW] (3 credits)
273 The American South: Is the South "different" from other parts of the United States? Is there one South, or many Souths? Is the very title of this class an oxymoron? In this course we will examine that part of the United States bounded by the Edwards Plateau, the Red River, the Ohio River, and, of course, the Mason-Dixon Line, and pose these very questions. Our starting assumption is that Southernness is essentially a historical creation. Course themes include: conceptualizing the South; the place of the Southern colonies in the Atlantic World; the place of the Southern states in the early republic and antebellum period; race, class, and gender in Southern life; the question of change and continuity in Southern history; and the New South. (3 credits)
275 American Indian History to 1700: From the peopling of the New World some 20,000 plus years ago to 1700, the rise of civilizations, the differentiation of cultures and the impact of European civilization on Indian America are mapped out and probed. The first third of the course will emphasize Indians' world views and their relationships with each other and their varying environments. The course will examine the social, religious, technological, ecological and political changes that impacted Indian societies between 1492 and 1700. [NTW] or [SBA] (3 credits)
276 American Indian History Since 1700: The interaction between the Native American and the U.S. from 1700 to the present. The topics covered include: wars and alliances, trade patterns, revitalization movements, federal-Indian relations, philanthropic and missionary activities, the reservation period, Red Power, etc. [NTW] or [SBA] (3 credits)
278 History of American Foreign Relations in the 20th Century: Students analyze American Foreign Relations in the 20th Century by utilizing two major concepts: Liberal Commercial World Order (LCWO); and Mission. It also considers the tension between the two. As part of Mission, students discuss continuity and change in our views of ourselves from "City Upon a Hill" to World Policeman" to "New World Order." Our assumptions about Communism are analyzed in relation to The Cold War and the Vietnam War. Students analyze definitions of security, gender issues and racism in policy and practice in the international scene. The emphasis is on patterns, concepts, theories and the historians' changing interpretations of foreign relations, that is, historiography. [SBA] (3 credits)
283 Western Medicine since 1500: The history of Disease and its treatment in Europe and the United States since the reform of the study of anatomy by Andreas Versalius. While the overall theme will be the development of medicine as a science and a profession, attention will also be given to traditional medicine, women as healers, epidemics and the 19th-century public health movement, and the vexed relationship between the State commercialism, and the delivery of health care after 1880. [WHS] (3 credits)
305 The Renaissance: This course will not be a chronological survey. The origins of the idea of the "Renaissance" and how this concept has framed Western perceptions of modernity will be considered. The functional practicality of applying this concept to Italian culture and society between 1350 and 1550 will be investigated. The course has two goals: to provide an understanding of the world of the Italian Renaissance and to critique the values we have associated with that world. Prerequisites: 209, 210 or instructor's permission. [WHS] (3 credits)
306 Reformation Europe 1450-1600: This course examines the dissolution of Medieval European culture as a system of regulated religious beliefs and established political relations between the Roman church and secular powers. It also will consider the economic dislocation and social tensions, which animated the Reformation passions, and examine the reintegration of these dynamic factors into new systems of belief and power during the age of confessional struggles. Prerequisites: HIST 209, 210 or instructor's permission. [WHS] (3 credits)
308 Enlightenment and Revolution: This course examines the efforts of 18th-century intellectuals to rationalize the experiences of the 17th-century crises. It analyzes the political and social culture of the Old Regime and the growing friction among the powerful nation-states in Europe and overseas. Finally it considers the social, economic and political pressures which culminated in the French and Industrial revolutions and traces the trajectories of those revolutions. Prerequisites: HIST 210, 212, or instructor's permission. [WHS] (3 credits)
324 Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean: This course examines how the institution of slavery was transplanted in Latin America and the Caribbean during the sixteenth century, why slavery developed in some parts of Latin America and the Caribbean (and why not in other regions), and how the institution was eventually abolished by the last decades of the nineteenth century. It also examines other important topics, such as the transatlantic slave trade; gender and ethnicity; family and kinship; uprisings and rebellions; and the historical formation of the Black Atlantic. [NTW] (3 credits)
326 Gender and Power in Latin America: This course discusses various topics concerning gender and power in Latin American history from the late colonial period to the present time. By reading articles and monographs written by historians, life histories, women's narratives, as well as by viewing four Latin American films, we will be able to relate our own experiences to women and men in Latin America. We will also compare and contrast the experiences of different groups of women according to such factors as race, ethnicity, and class. [NTW] (3 credits)
327 Revolutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: This course examines four cases of attempts to change fundamentally the social structure and the social basis of political power in Latin America and the Caribbean. They are: Haiti, 1789-1820; Mexico, 1910-1934; Bolivia, 1952-1960; and Cuba, 1959-1995. The four revolutions represented attempts - not always entirely successfully - of altering the fundamental ways the social basis of political power. The course attempts to ascertain the degree of indelible change imposed by the revolutionary experience. [NTW] (3 credits)
330 Slavery and Abolition in the United States: Beginning with a survey of kingdoms of North and West Africa, this course examines their histories and cultures briefly. Analysis of slavery and its trade, within and outside that continent, will follow. The bulk of attention will center upon the institution of slavery as it developed in the British Colonies and will trace the rise of opposition to it until its final elimination from the United States. (3 credits)
332 Colonial America: A writing-based seminar in which students will rely on primary sources to write a major paper on a subject of their choosing within the American colonial experience. Pre-requisite: HIST 222. (3 credits)
333 Revolutionary America: A writing-based seminar in which students will rely on primary sources to write a major paper on an aspect of the American Revolution of their choosing. Pre-requisite: HIST 222. (3 credits)
334 Jacksonian America: This course examines the United States between 1815 and 1848, focusing on the impact of the Market Revolution on Americans of all backgrounds. Important themes include the construction of "democracy" and citizenship, transformations in labor, the rise of evangelical religion, the emergence of reform movements, expansionism, the growth of plantation agriculture, and slave resistance. [WHS] (3 credits)
337 Civil War and Reconstruction: This course examines the United States between 1848 and 1877, focusing on the fall of slavery and the rise of wage labor in the North, South, and West, and related topics, such as African American resistance, the transformation of household and gender relations, and the realignment of the American political system. The course will also draw comparisons with the shift from slave to free labor in other societies, including Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, and Brazil. (3 credits)
341 Civil Rights Seminar: After considering the social, economic, and political conditions of African Americans in the South and North in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, students examine the Civil Right Movement in the mid-Twentieth Century. Besides analyzing roles and changing images of the leaders, for example, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., students seek to learn more about the lives and actions and voices of ordinary people, black and white, swept up in the currents of the Civil Rights Movement, through oral histories and autobiographies. Students also analyze the Black Power Movement and changes in the images of Black men and women in the media and public life. For the major paper, students conduct original, primary research on the history of discrimination in their home communities. (3 credits)
342 U.S. History after the Bomb: Focuses on three themes: 1) How "we" (US/nation and each of us personally) define security; 2) US as a Global "Superpower" and 3) Bringing Others into the Fold: Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in the Post-Bomb Years. Students analyze these themes through textbook readings, autobiographical accounts, historiography, primary documents, documentaries, and movies. Also, given the course title, "After the Bomb!" -- students discuss how the threat of nuclear war has influenced political, social and economic life in the US. (3 credits)
350 Advanced Topics in History: From time to time the department will offer advanced courses in particular topics in history. Students may elect HIST 350 more than once, provided they do not repeat the same topic. (3 credits)
361 European Imperialism: This advanced seminar will examine the interaction between Europeans, Africans and Asians from 1750 to the present. Issues addressed will include the European use of science and religion to justify their rule over other societies; how the culture of imperialism shaped perceptions of gender and race; how certain Indian and African nationalists argued against imperial rule; and the challenges of the post-colonial era. Because of the scope of the subject, a substantial portion of the course will focus on British and French imperialism in Africa and India from 1850 to 1970. Prerequisites: HIST 212, 213, 261 or 266; or permission of the instructor. [WHS] (3 credits)
362 Becoming National: Students will survey the development of the nation as a modern cultural identity and the foundation for appropriate political association and representation. The course will consider the pre-modern forms of cultural identity and political organization to emphasize the relatively recent historical appearance of the nation in political discourse. The readings will juxtapose this European model on the colonial and post-colonial worlds. Finally, the students will consider the political alternatives for nations as viable political agents in the twenty first world. Prerequisite a global history survey (HIST 160-9). (3 credits)
376 Issues in Indian Country Today: A seminar-format course in which the class will examine a series of selected topics relating to modern Native Americans - examining each topic for its present status, complexity, and historical origins/antecedents. What makes this course a bit different from the standard undergraduate history course (if there is such a thing) is in its approach to the subject, in both a chronological and evidentiary sense. The chronological approach taken will be one that reverses the common 'historical' procedure of starting at the beginning and moving forward to the present. This class will proceed from the present, selecting topics of immediate interest to the students, establishing a reasonable understanding of the issues involved and then seek out the topics antecedents and their relevance to the present. The approaches to the use of evidence will come as no surprise to historians, although students might find the expectation/practice to be a bit muddled. Each student in the course is expected to conduct research on the immediate topic using as many available sources as they can find and to use those materials during class discussions. (3 credits)
383 Disease and the Social Body: This advanced seminar will draw upon contemporary historiography and critical theory to shed light on the use of disease as a metaphor to justify the marginalization, persecution or criminalization of certain groups (women, Jews, homosexuals) in the 19th and 20th centuries. Prerequisites: HIST 212, 213, 283; or permission of the instructor. [SBA] (3 credits)
422 Advanced Historical Methods: This course is designed to prepare advanced majors for the significant and focused research necessary for their thesis. The students develop in depth analyses from archival research projects, extensive studies in primary source collections, and critical reviews of historical interpretation on controversial subjects. In its final unit, the student explores the ethical responsibilities of practicing history. Prerequisite: C grade or better in History 222. [SBA] (4 credits)
440 Historiography: This course will introduce students to the historical literature, which has informed recent debates in American, Latin American, European, and Global history. The students will read and analyze at least six texts that have challenged established views of historical narrative, interpretation, or methodology. The students will write reviews of the texts. Each student will complete a final project through a historiographical essay of a debate in a particular area of interest. Permission of the Instructor. (3 credits)
450 Advanced Seminars in History: A series of special courses to enable students in focused individual and group research, to share work in progress, and practice the discipline. (3 credits)
490 Senior Seminar/Thesis: Required of all majors. This capstone seminar and research essay entails a focused and in-depth research project that demonstrates familiarity with appropriate primary sources and the existing historical literature on the subject. Students share research progress in a regularly scheduled seminar setting, work closely with an individual faculty mentor, and present their completed work in a public defense. Prerequisite: C grade or better in History 422. (4 credits)
