Expanded Course Descriptions
The Department of History scheduled these undergraduate courses for SPRING QUARTER 2024. This list and descriptions are subject to change, so please check back often.
Registration appointment times available on Schedule Builder and myucdavis.
- Lower Division
- HIS 4B: History of Western Civilization (Europe) - Professor Stuart
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). History of western civilization from the Renaissance to the 18th century.
Description: We study European history from the late Middle Ages to the French Revolution. We begin with the “Black Death,” an outbreak of the bubonic plague that killed about one third of the European populace within three years. The plague inspired collective religious rites, pogroms against Jews and lepers who were blamed for the disease, as well as new art forms such as the “dance of death.” The mass mortality caused an acute labor shortage, inaugurating what has been called “the golden age of the wage earner,” and a new era of economic growth during the early Renaissance. We’ll spend some time in Renaissance Florence, the place to be in Europe, ca. 1400-1450. We study the information revolution brought about by the new technology of the printing press. Martin Luther, the religious reformer, described the printing press as a gift from God. When Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation by protesting what he saw as abuses by the Medieval Catholic Church, he brought about a religious revolution that he could not control, leading to social upheavals and the breakup of Christendom and the development of distinct religious cultures in Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist Europe. The early modern centuries are a time of paradox. At the same time that scientists were making cutting-edge discoveries in astronomy, anatomy and physics (in a movement commonly known as the “scientific revolution”); merchant capitalists, explorers and monarchs were staking out new colonial and commercial empires, enslaving indigenous peoples and developing the slave trade; learned jurists trained in Roman law were putting old women on trial as witches and burning them at the stake by the thousands. By the later seventeenth century, after a century of religious war, a new idea emerged: the idea of religious toleration. We’ll study how this, and other radical ideas developed in the eighteenth century, the era of the Enlightenment, and contributed to the emergence of the modern world.Readings:
HIS 4C: History of Western Civilization (Europe) - Professor Zientek
- Voltaire, Candide
- Brucker, Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence
- Brown, Immodest Acts
- Wunderli, Peasant Fires
- Machiavelli, The Prince
- McKay, A History of Western Society: From Renaissance to 1815
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Development of Western Civilization from the 18th century to the present.
Description: This course is a survey of modern western history from the 1776 to the present. It is designed around a series of ten case studies: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Peterloo Massacre, the unification of Germany, the Belgian Congo, women’s suffrage in New Zealand, the First World War, the Holocaust, the Convention for the Prevention of Genocide, and the Srebrenica genocide. Themes include: theories of representative government; political mass violence; industrialization, capitalism, and socialism; nationalism; imperialism; the spread of human rights; fascism and communism; and the creation of the post-war liberal world system. While the focus is on Europe, some course content will examine North America, Oceania, and the British and French empires.
Readings:
- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
- Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
- Slavenka Draculic, S.: A Novel of the Balkans
HIS 7C: History of Latin America 1900-present (Latin America) - STAFF
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Latin America since the beginning of the 20th century. Themes include export economies, oligarchic rule, crises of depression and war, corporatism, populism, revolution and reform movements, cultural and ethnic issues, U.S.-Latin American relations, neo-liberal restructuring.
HIS 10A: World History to 1350 (World) – Professor Anooshahr
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Historical examination of the changing relationship of human societies to one another and to their natural settings through the year 1350, with particular attention to long-term trends and to periodic crises that reshaped the links of culture and nature on a global scale.
Description: This is a survey of the world from pre-history to the “Middle Ages”. The goal is to be acquainted with common global themes in the past, and especially to be aware of connections across various regions and continents. But also, it is to learn how to think historically and analytically. The most important thing to be aware of is how societies change over time, and to be mindful of continuities and differences across human societies. We will concentrate on broad themes as opposed to detail narrative of thousands of years. To do well in this class, complete each week’s reading before the first meeting of that week, don’t try to memorize every detail but look for big patterns, ask questions and participate in class, write well.
HIS 15B: Africa Today (Africa)- STAFF
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Survey of major themes in colonial and postcolonial sub-Saharan African history, including colonialism, decolonization, nationalism and politics, economic history and labor, urbanization, popular culture, gender, marriage, and family life.
HIS 17A: History of the United States (United States)- Professor Downs
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). The experience of the American people from the Colonial Era to the Civil War.
Description: This course explores the United States from its earliest settlement to the Civil War, with special emphasis upon the development of indigenous and settler societies in the region that became the United States, the formation of a new nation through a multi-sided war, and the expansion and eventual overthrow of plantation slavery.
HIS 17B: History of the United States (US) - STAFF
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). The experience of the American people from the Civil War to the end of the Cold War. Not open for credit to students who have completed HIS 017C.
HIS 72B: Women & Gender in America, to 1865 (US) - Professor Materson
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). History of women and gender in America through 1865, emphasizing intersections of gender, race, class, and sexuality. Topics include interracial marriage, slavery, witchcraft, meanings of motherhood, war, domestic labor, moral reform, women’s rights, migrations, the effects of commercialization and industrialization.
Description: This course examines the ways that diverse groups of women have forged and experienced American culture and democracy. Readings emphasize women's engagement in organized struggles for economic, political and social justice during the twentieth century. These include the suffrage, anti-lynching, racial uplift, labor, and modern civil rights and feminist movements. The course also explores American women's migration and immigration across regions and borders. Students consider the meaning of migration and immigration to the women who undertook these journeys, as well as the influence of these women's decisions to relocate on American political, economic, and social
institutions.
- Undergraduate Seminars
- HIS 102M: United States Since 1896 (US) - Professor Materson
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Limited enrollment. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. United States since 1896. May be repeated for credit.
Topic: Women, Gender, and Revolution
Description: Students in this course will explore contemporary questions and issues about women’s involvement in revolutions in North America and the Caribbean. Readings and discussion will focus on three case studies: the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Cuban Revolution.
HIS 102N: Japan (Asia) - Professor Kim
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Limited enrollment. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Japan. May be repeated for credit. GE credit: WE. Effective: 1997 Winter Quarter.
Topic: Japanese Colonialism in Late 19th and 20th Century
Description: This course examines Japanese colonialism in late 19th and 20th century. Japan was the only non-Euro-American nation-state to build a modern colonial empire, subjugating other Asian peoples and attempting to integrate them into the larger framework of a multicultural, multiethnic imperial regime. In its heyday, the Japanese empire stretched from Manchuria to the Philippines; half of what is today called the Pacific Rim Regions was under its domination. No Asian and Southeast Asian country/region today, and neither Russia nor the United States, has been free from the significant impact of the rise and fall of the Japanese empire. Students will explore the rise and fall of the Japanese colonial empire, its global and regional economic impact and political/administrative structures, cultural clashes and patterns of assimilation operating between Japan and the colonized nations, as well as literary expressions and intellectual discourses produced by the colonization process. The course is mainly focused on the Japanese colonization of Taiwan and Korea, its two formal colonies, but will also discuss the informal colonies in Manchuria (Northeast Asia) and Southeast Asia. You will be trained to approach documents and scholarly works critically and cautiously, and also not to trust blindly what webpages and journalistic accounts tell of this complicated subject.
You are forewarned that History 102N is a very reading- and writing-heavy and competitive course. You are required to write short papers every other week at the very least, and a longer term paper. There is no examination. If you are not interested in the history of East Asia, I recommend you not to register for this course. Although it is intended for History majors, non-majors are welcome. If you have any questions regarding these issues, consult the instructor individually. No language other than English is used for the class. However, those who can read any non-English language including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, Vietnamese, Dutch or others are highly recommended to write their research papers or explore supplementary materials using the source materials in these languages.
Readings:- Ming Cheng Lo. Doctors within Borders.
- Theodore Jun Yoo. Politics of Gender in the Colonial Korea.
- Prasenjit Duara. Sovereignty and Authenticity.
- Michele Mason, Helen Lee, eds. Reading Colonial Text. (main textbook).
Grading: There will be weekly reflection papers or graded oral presentations and a long research paper. All students are required to participate in the class discussions. Grade distribution is not based on a curve. All participants may receive A grades or, conversely, D grades, depending on how well they do. Discussion participation: 160 points, Oral presentations/Weekly reflection papers: 160 points Preparation for final paper/Final paper: 180 points. Total: 500 points.
HIS 102X: Comparative History - Professor Walker
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Limited enrollment. Designed primarily for history majors. Intensive reading, discussion, research, and writing in selected topics in the various fields of history. Japan. May be repeated for credit. GE credit: WE. Effective: 1997 Winter Quarter.
Topic: Comics & Graphic Histories (Honors Program)
Description: This course will examine comics and graphic novels or histories as a way to write and read about history. The seminar is divided into three parts.1. We will begin by reviewing a few historical graphic novels, including Spiegelman's Maus; Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis; Rebecca Hall, Wake, and a couple from the Oxford University Press's Graphic History Series https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/g/graphic-history-series-ghs/?cc=us&lang=en& (including, yikes, mine on Juan Bautista Túpac Amaru).
2. In weeks 5-7, students will then select a graphic history to present, commenting on style, content, illustrations, limitations and more. You might consider working in groups for these.
3. For their final project, students will script a comic (no art skills required!). You will essentially outline a graphic history, the narrative and what you have in mind in terms of illustrations. This will be a story you would like to tell, historical or contemporary. Perhaps Maus will inspire you and you could focus on an oral history of a relative or acquaintance. You won't have time for deep research so personal & contemporary topics are fine. The more artistically gifted might include some drawings or color schemes but those like me who struggle drawing a stick figure should take images from the internet or elsewhere. I will share my experiences in creating Witness to the Age of Revolution: The Odyssey of Juan Bautista Tupac Amaru.
This is a seminar so active participation is expected.
- Upper Division
- HIS 100: Selected Topics in History (World) - STAFF
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Selected Topics in History may be organized around a particular geography (e.g., the Balkans), a chronological framework (e.g., the 1960s around the world) or a thematic approach (e.g., the rise of ethnic or racial identities in a particular region). May be repeated when topic differs.
Topic: The Mediterranean World
Description: This course offers a general historical overview of the Mediterranean World from the Bronze Age until the Modern era. It presents the Mediterranean region as a singular geographical unit and as a global center of influence. The underlying aim is to untangle the historical and diverse forms of “Mediterranean culture” from the modern idea of “Western culture.” This way the course seeks to understand whether the Mediterranean historical foundations upon which “Western culture” ideologically had partially been imagined – such as ancient Greek democracy, Roman legality, international connectivity and free-market capitalism – were accurately observed or beneficially appropriated.Each week we will focus on a particular era in Mediterranean history and observe the major culture in the Mediterranean sphere of that period. Each lecture will introduce a Mediterranean micro-region, through important archeological and historical sites, to provide a sense of the Mediterranean’s geographic and demographic diversity as well as its inter-connectedness. In addition to history, our topics will relate to a variety of major fields of study, including maritime studies, geography, climate science, food and plant sciences, study of religion, archeology, art history and literature.
Representative Texts:
- Braudel, Fernand. The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 1995.
- Ginzburg, Carlo. The Cheese and the Worms : the Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 1982.
HIS 110: Themes in World History (World) - Professor Smolenski
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Topics will emphasize the interaction of diverse regions of the world as well as common patterns of historical change. May be repeated when instructor and/or topic differs.
Topic: History of the Colonial Atlantic World
Description: Early American historians have in recent years worked to broaden their perspective geographically and thematically, looking at the British American colonies in an Atlantic context. In this class, we will look at the varieties of ways in which colonial cultures evolved around the Atlantic rim. We will make stops in west Africa, Mexico, English America, and Europe and cover the period from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. We will also explore the experiences of a wide range of peoples, looking at Spanish conquistadores, Catholic Kongolese saints, Puritan missionaries, and English factory workers. At every step we will look how the process of colonialism caused individuals and groups throughout the Atlantic world to see themselves in new ways.
Readings: will include selected primary sources, scholarly articles, and selected chapters from scholarly monographs.HIS 113: History of Modern Palestine/Israel (World) - Professor Fahrenthold
HIS 142A: The Memory of the Holocaust (Europe) - STAFF
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Cultural, social, and political histories of Palestine and Israel from the Ottoman Empire to the present. Topics include Zionist and Palestinian national movements; colonialism and the British Mandate; immigration, settlement, and refugees; the development of modern Israeli cultures; questions of statehood and multiculturalism; conflict and regional minority populations.
Description:
HIS 120: World War II (World) - Professor Rauchway and Professor Kelman
Lecture—3 hour(s); Extensive Writing. The Second World War from 1931 to 1945 in all of its theaters. Causes, conduct, and consequences of the war including military, political, economic, social, and cultural factors, with special emphasis on battlefield strategy and mobilization of the home front.
Description:
HIS 125: Topics in Early Modern European History (Europe) - Professor Stuart
Discussion/Laboratory—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Social and cultural history, 1300-1800.
Topics such as medieval and Renaissance Italy, early modern Italy, Ancient Regime France, family and
sexuality, and material culture and daily life. May be repeated for credit.
Topic: Witchcraft and Witch Hunting in Early Modern Society
Description: About 50,000 people perished in the European witch-hunt, mostly in the century between 1560 and 1660. We explore the particular set of circumstances that encouraged these “burning times” in the era of the baroque. We study earlier prosecutions of heretics and Jews as a kind of model for the witch trials that followed. Prosecutions of Jews focused mostly on men, but most victims of the witch-hunt were older women. What were the gender stereotypes that led to this particular construction of the witch? About 15 % of accused witches were men, however. What made these men vulnerable to witchcraft accusations? Did warlocks practice a different, masculine magic? At the same time as thousands of witches were dying at the stake, more and more Europeans believed themselves to be victims of demonic possession. We compare the roles of witches and demoniacs and study rituals of
exorcism. Children played a problematic role in the witch-hunts. Witchcraft often served as an explanation for high infant mortality, and children featured prominently among the accusers of witches. But after 1680, children took on a new role: as perpetrators of witchcraft. We will explore the paradox
that on the eve of the Enlightenment, the so-called “Age of the Child” that recognized childhood as a
special stage of life that needed to be protected and nurtured, children were accused of—and
executed—for witchcraft more than ever before. Finally, we ask when, how, and why the witch-hunts
ended. People didn’t stop believing in witchcraft—why did they stop burning witches?
For more images, go here: https://www.facebook.com/UCDDepartmentOfHistory/posts/10157585027645806
Books for purchase:
• R. Po-chia Hsia, Trent 1475: Stories of a Ritual Murder Trial
• Lyndal Roper, Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany
HIS 126Y: The History of Human Rights in Europe (Europe) - Professor Zientek
Lecture—3 hour(s); Web Electronic Discussion—1 hour(s). History of the origins, development, and state of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) in Europe. Emphasis on Enlightenment-era and modern theories of the source, utility, and limits of human rights.
Description:
HIS 136 (cross-listed with STS 136): Scientific Revolution (Europe) - Professor Stolzenberg
Lecture/Discussion—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Rise of modern science in Europe, 1500–1750. Transformation of ideas about nature, knowledge, medicine, and technology in the age of Copernicus, Vesalius, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton.
Description: What does it mean to understand nature in modern—and pre-modern—ways? Today we take for granted that science involves mathematical laws, experimentation, discovering new phenomena, and the creation of technologies that provide power over nature. None of these was true about European natural science in 1500. All had become widely accepted by 1700. This class treats the transformation of European ideas about nature, knowledge, and technology during the age of Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton. We will explore the intellectual culture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to examine issues such as scientific methods, instruments and experimentation, science and religion, and the control of nature. Topics include astronomy, physics, chemistry/alchemy, natural magic, medicine, and natural history. Evaluation is based on short writing assignments, quizzes, and essays. This course satisfies GE requirements for AH, SS, and WC. There are no prerequisites, and no prior knowledge is necessary.
Readings: Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences, and miscellaneous primary sources.
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Examination of the literary, philosophical, theological and artistic responses to the Holocaust of the European Jews. Exploration of how memory is constructed, by whom and for what purposes.
HIS 145: War & Revolution in Europe, 1789-1918 (Europe) - Professor Campbell
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Survey of revolutionary movements, international crises, and wars in Europe from the French Revolution to World War I.
Description: The long 19th century, from the French Revolution until the outbreak of World War I, witnessed the gradual emergence of a new kind of warfare – the total war, in which states sought to make use of all their natural and human resources. This attempt was closely connected with economic transformations, new political formations, and significant new demands on the populations of
European states. Studying the 19th century in Europe through a military lens is therefore much more than listing battles and dates. It is the study of a continent-wide reformation of society and politics, and, just as important, the study of how European populations responded to the new demands being made of them. In this context, we’ll explore, among other topics, the formation of new social classes and political movements; the consolidation of European nations; and multiple dimensions of European expansion in Africa and Asia. We’ll pay particular attention to the relationship between the way that European states sought to fight wars and their internal political, social, and economic developments. No prior knowledge is assumed; familiarity with modern European history (HIS 4C or similar)
will be helpful. Students will be evaluated on the basis of five short papers and a final exam (NO
MIDTERM).
Readings:
- David Fromkin, Europe’s Last Summer
- P. M. Jones, The French Revolution, 1787-1804 (3rd ed.)
- Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard
- Jakob Walter, Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier
- Additional primary and secondary sources on Canvas
HIS 147C: European Intellectual History: 1910 - 2000 (Europe) - Professor Saler
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. European thought and culture since World War I.
Coverage includes: literature and politics; Communism and Western Marxism; Fascism; Existentialism;
Structuralism; Feminism. Particular attention to Lenin, Brecht, Hitler, Sartre, Camus, Beckett, Marcuse,
Foucault, Woolf and de Beauvoir.
Description: This course is designed to introduce several of the major themes and figures in the intellectual history of Europe between 1910 and 2000. We will examine the general shift in thought from "Modernism" (broadly defined as the search for underlying foundations or essences to reality) to "Postmodernism" (broadly defined as the skepticism that such immutable essences or absolute foundations can be found).Within this overarching framework, we will explore several subsidiary themes. These will include the critique by numerous twentieth-century thinkers of Enlightenment concepts of human rationality, subjectivity, and progress; and the concomitant emphasis by many of these thinkers on language and culture as the constitutional basis of "reality" and of the "self." This focus on language and culture in turn will lead us to examine the efforts by thinkers to define their political role as producers and critics of culture, as well as their attempts to come to terms with modern art and mass culture (especially film) and the new forms of "everyday life" represented by consumer commodities and urban living.
HIS 157: Business, Biomes & Knowledge: Latin American Environmental History ( Latin America) - Professor Perez Melendez
Readings: include works by Ludwig Wittgenstein, André Breton, Aimé Césaire, Virginia Woolf, Bertolt Brecht, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett, Michel Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, Richard Rorty.
Lecture—3 hour(s); Project. Introduction to the geography, political ecology, environmental movements of Latin America and the Caribbean, regional biomes, commodity markets, and the relationships between non-human ecosystems and Latin American societies. Development of extractive processes, land law, agricultural practices, scientific knowledge, and environmental conservation in neotropical forests, Sonoran Desert, the Amazon, Andes and Pampas, among other ecologies.
Description: This course examines the historical development of ideas about harnessing, exploiting, claiming, and preserving natural environments throughout Latin America from colonial times up to the present. Through the innovative work of environmental and social historians, class discussions will survey the business cultures that developed around particular industries including mining, cattle ranching and rubber extraction, and the systems of knowledge that have emerged from an engagement with varied environments in Mexico, the Caribbean, Brazil, and the Andes, among other regions. How have ideas about “nature,” “property,” “development” and science shaped the relationship between different societies and non-human ecologies? In what ways have cultural practices and perceptions, including notions of what constitutes rightful use of the environment, historically informed policy outcomes in the region? Why does the region confront an epidemic of violence against environmental defenders? And how are Latin American and Caribbean peoples contending with the causes and consequences of climate breakdown? Paying special attention to companies as increasingly problematic but central players in conflicts over the environment, this course will also rely on music, documentary films, and literature to explore questions of responsibility, solidarity, and justice in environmental debates.
HIS 163B: History of Brazil (Latin America) - Professor Perez Melendez
Lecture—3 hour(s). The history of the Brazilian republic from 1889 to the present.
Description: With the rise of an unapologetically classist, racist and homophobic far-right government in 2018 and the resurgence of extreme poverty, where is Brazil headed? Understanding Brazil’s present challenges calls for deep historical reflection. How did such a geographically and culturally diverse country get to this point of unending crisis? When did inequality originate? How did ideas about a Brazilian “racial democracy” that is nowhere to be found today develop in the first place? And how have conservative elites managed to keep such a tight grip over the state generation after generation? Lectures will survey the most salient features in the political history of Brazil from the arrival of the Portuguese royal household in 1808 to the most recent blunders of the right-wing government in power. By the same token, the course will examine the actions of indigenous peoples, enslaved women and men, radical republicans, and the black and student movements, among others, in their efforts to make Brazil more equal and set the record straight.
HIS 174B: War, Prosperity, & Depression: United States, 1917-1945 (US) – Professor Rauchway
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. America's emergence as a world power, the business
culture of the 1920s, the New Deal and World War II. Emphasis on such issues as
government regulation of the economy, welfare capitalism, and class, racial, ethnic, and
gender conflicts.
Description:
HIS 189: California History (United States) - Professor Tsu
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper. California history from the pre-colonial period to the present including dispossession of California's Indians, political economy of the Spanish and Mexican periods, Gold Rush effects, industrialization, Hollywood, water politics, World War II, Proposition 13, and the emergence of Silicon Valley. Not open for credit to students who have completed two of HIS 189A, HIS 189B, HIS 189C. GE credit: ACGH, AH, DD, SS, WE. Effective: 2016 Fall Quarter.
Description: This course provides a comprehensive overview of California history from pre-European contact to the present, structured around the themes of how diverse individuals, groups, empires, and nations have struggled to control and define the geographic space called California, and the myths and realities that have shaped the lives of Californians. Topics include: experiences of California Indians, the political economy of the Spanish and Mexican period, effects of the Gold Rush, industrialization, race relations, immigration, agricultural development, Progressive-era politics and reform, environmental battles, urbanization and suburban sprawl, and the creation of a distinctive regional culture in the country’s most diverse and populous state today.
HIS 194A: Aristocratic & Feudal Japan (Asia) – Professor Kim
Lecture—3 hour(s); Term Paper; Discussion. Broad survey of the cultural, social,
religious, and political aspects of Japanese history from mythological times through the
16th century emphasizing comparison of the organizations, values, and beliefs
associated with the aristocratic and feudal periods
Description:
HIS 196A: Medieval India (Asia) - Professor Anooshahr
Lecture—3 hour(s); Discussion—1 hour(s). Survey of history of India in the millennium preceding arrival of British in the 18th century, focusing on interaction of the civilizations of Hinduism and Islam and on the changing nature of the state.
Description: This is a survey of history of India from the period of the decline of the imperial Guptas during the sixth century CE to the end of the Mughal Empire and rise of British rule during the eighteenth-century CE. It focuses on the rise and fall of Buddhism, the emergence of regional kingdoms and states, the coming of Turkish rule and early forms of Islam, the successive regimes of the Delhi Sultanate, and the rise and decline of the Mughal Empire.
HIS 198: Alumni Career Seminar - Professor Zientek
Lecture—1 hour(s).
Description: Have you ever been asked, What are you going to do with a History degree? This Alumni Career Seminar will give you a sense of the answers. This once per week, one-hour, pass/fail course will feature speakers who majored in History at Davis and went on to a variety of different careers, some tied to History, others totally unexpected. You'll have a chance to ask them questions about what they like about their jobs and how you can pursue opportunities, including internships. Course work includes weekly readings and a weekly journal reflection. - Graduate Seminars
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HIS 201Q: Sources & General Literature of History: Cross-Cultural Women's History - Professor Hartigan-O'Connor
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Prerequisite(s): Consent of Instructor. Designed primarily for students preparing for higher degrees in history. Cross-Cultural Women's History. May be repeated for credit when subject differs. Effective: 1997 Winter Quarter.
Topic:
Description:
HIS 201W: Sources & General Literature of History: Advanced Topics in World History - Professor Walker
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Prerequisite(s): Graduate Standing. Designed primarily for students preparing for higher degrees in history. Advanced Topics in World History. May be repeated for credit when subject differs. Valid for Designated Emphasis in Human Rights.
Topic: Memory, Culture, and Human Rights
Description: This seminar examines the long history of violence, memory, and human rights in Latin American and beyond. While the focus will be on repression, resistance, and their aftermath in Latin America, we will also explore theoretical approaches to violence and memory as well as the emergence of the post-World War II concept of human rights.Although “memory” has been a topic for intellectual reflection since classical antiquity, it has experienced an upsurge in academia since the 1980s, particularly due to the rise of Holocaust Studies and the urgent need to reflect on gross human rights violations around the world. Crossing the social sciences and humanities, memory has become a category for critical inquiry as well as a political and ethical imperative that links intellectual reflection to political activism in the aftermath of authoritarian regimes, genocide, and situations of violence. Furthermore, “memory studies” now find spaces of institutional legitimacy in the U.S. and abroad as graduate programs and specialized journals promote scholarship in this area. This seminar will build on the call to "historicize" memory and to understand enduring trends in the use of violence and its understanding.
Readings (preliminary--will expand and perhaps change)
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Michael Lazzara: Civil Obedience: Complicity and Complacency in Chile since Pinochet
José Carlos Agüero, The Surrendered: Reflections by a Son of Shining Path
Kim Theidon, Legacies of War
Bartholomew Dean, The End of the Future: Trauma, Memory, and Reconciliation
Requirements:
- Active participation every week
- Presentation of readings and your own project
- Final paper. These will range from an exploratory research paper to a literature review. I will work with each of you to define your paper.
HIS 202H-1: Major Issues in Historical Interpretation: United States - Professor Parker
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing. Fundamental issues and debates in the study of history. United States. Readings, papers, and class reports. May be repeated for credit when subject differs.
Topic: Gender and sexuality in the Civil Rights Movement
Description: This course will explore gender and sexuality in the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1950s and 1960s, as civil rights activists challenged Jim Crow, a system that was as much gendered as it was raced, they wrestled with historic assumptions about race and gender in American society. This course explores this and seeks to answer several major questions: What was the “gendered geography of Jim Crow”? How did race and gender shape the course of the Civil Rights Movement? What was the interplay between race, gender, and sexuality in this struggle? How did the mid-twentieth century Black Freedom Movement reinforce and challenge traditional notions of womanhood and manhood? While the Civil Rights Movement is the central focus of the course, we also will consider other mid-century liberatory movements (such as Black Power, Women’s Liberation, and Gay Liberation Movements and the Sexual Revolution) that were influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and grappled intensely with race, gender, and sexuality in ways that have had major and lasting implications for Black gender relations and politics.
HIS 202H-2: Major Issues in Historical Interpretation: United States - Professor Smolenski
Seminar—3 hour(s); Term Paper. Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing. Fundamental issues and debates in the study of history. United States. Readings, papers, and class reports. May be repeated for credit when subject differs.
Topic:
Description:
HIS 203C: Research Seminar - Professor Campbell
Seminar 3 hour(s), Tutorial 1 hour(s). Designed for students preparing for higher degrees in History. Individual research and analysis resulting in substantial research paper of publishable quality. Completion required of all Ph.D. candidates. The three courses must be taken in continuous sequence, ordinarily during second year.
Prerequisite(s): HIS 203A.