2024–2025 Fall/Winter
HIS221H5S - Themes in Medieval History: Piety, Pilgrimage & Persecution: Religious History of the Medieval Mediterranean, 400 - 1500 (Instructor: E. Gabe)
This course investigates the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious history of the medieval Mediterranean from the fifth to the early sixteenth centuries, touching on exceptionally holy men and women such as mystics and hermits, people’s everyday religious practices, and the relationship between religious leaders and political power. We will study the development of early Christianity and the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches, the birth and spread of Islam and the religious diversity of the Ottoman Empire. We will explore the relationships between different faiths that sometimes resulted in peaceful co-existence and, at other times, exploded into violence justified in the name of religion, as seen during the Crusades and through the experiences of Jewish communities around the Mediterranean. Throughout the course, students will read primary sources in translation from Christian, Jewish and Muslim perspectives to understand the role of religion in medieval Mediterranean society, culture and politics.
HIS395H5S - Topics in History: Environmental History in East Asia (Instructor: H. Lyu)
This course introduces students to the environmental history in East Asia, a region home to one of the largest populations and rich biological and geographical diversity. Our understanding of East Asia has been shaped by a human-centered approach that focuses on political, economic, and cultural changes. This course offers a new understanding of East Asian history that transcends national boundaries and explores the flows of goods, energy, and people between China, Japan, Korea, and beyond. We will discuss the interplay between humans and non-humans in East Asia from prehistoric to modern periods, examining topics such as agriculture, animals, industrialization, energy consumption, human-water relations, and the current climate crisis.
HIS494H5S - Advanced Topics in the History of the Americas: Biography: Reading and Writing about Dead People (Instructor: K. Coleman)
From biopics to memoirs, biography plays an important role in contemporary culture. This seminar asks why, taking up the age-old question about the relationship between the individual and society. The instructor teaches each step in the process of conducting historical research. Students read outstanding biographies, and write an original biography.
HIS494H5F - Advanced Topics in the History of the Americas: Energy, Culture, Power (Instructor: C. Wellum)
This seminar offers a critical introduction to the history of energy, with particular attention to its cultural, political, and environmental dimensions in North America from the eve of the industrial revolution to the post-industrial present. We will explore how the production and use of different forms of energy (e.g., wind, water, coal, oil, nuclear, renewables) has shaped historical change and the experience of modernity, often with global consequences. In addition to reading and seminar discussions, students will develop an original research project on a topic of their choice.