This page allows you to search a particular semester's course offerings in History and filter them by Major/Minor requirement. We also invite you to explore Penn History courses on the Pathways App. This fun, game-like platform allows you to see connections between History courses, so that you can better sequence them. It also encourages you to ask “how can History help us answer big questions?” Give it a try!

Title Instructors Location Time Description Cross listings Fulfills Registration notes Major Concentrations Major/Minor Requirements Fulfilled
HIST 011-001 Deciphering America Walter Licht
Kathleen M Brown
COLL 200 MW 12:00 PM-01:00 PM This course examines American history from the first contacts of the indigenous peoples of North America with European settlers to our own times by focusing on a few telling moments in this history. The course treats twelve of these moments. Each unit begins with a specific primary document, historical figure, image, location, year, or cultural artifact to commence the delving into the American past. Some of these icons are familiar, but the ensuing deciphering will render them as more complicated; some are unfamiliar, but they will emerge as absolutely telling. The course meets each week for two 50-minute team-taught lectures and once recitation session. Course requirements include: in-class midterm and final exams; three short paper assignments; and punctual attendance and participation in recitations. History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
American pre-1800, US
HIST 012-401 Globalization and Its Historical Significance Brian J Spooner
Mauro Federico Guillen
LLAB 10 M 02:00 PM-04:00 PM Topics vary each semester. ANTH012401, SOCI012401 Cross Cultural Analysis Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Humanities & Social Science Sector
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
World
HIST 024-401 Intro To Anc Near East Grant Frame WILL 421 MW 10:00 AM-11:00 AM See primary department (NELC) for a complete course description. ANCH025401, NELC101401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST024401 World Africa/Middle East, pre-1800
HIST 026-401 Ancient Greece Jeremy James Mcinerney ARCH 208 MW 12:00 PM-01:00 PM See primary department (ANCH) for a complete course description. ANCH026401, CLST026401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 036-401 Medicine in History Meghan L Crnic COHN 402 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM STSC002401, HSOC002401 History & Tradition Sector Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST036401
HIST 040-001 Early Mod Eur 1450-1750 Thomas M. Safley TR 03:00 PM-04:30 PM This course examines those European developments which contributed to the world we understand as modern. Special emphasis will be placed on the transformation of Europe through the advent of new technologies, the creation of a global economy, the consolidation of territorial states, the rise of effective, central governments, the dissolution of religious unity, and the dialect between modern and traditional world views. History & Tradition Sector Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST040001 European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 070-401 Colonial Latin America Marcia Susan Norton MCNB 286-7 MW 11:00 AM-12:00 PM The year 1492 was pivotal in the history of the world. It precipitated huge population movements within the Americas and across the Atlantic - a majority of them involuntary as in the case of indigenous and African people who were kidnapped and enslaved. It led to cataclysmic cultural upheavals, including the formation of new cultures in spaces inhabited by people of African, European and indigenous descent. This course explores the processes of destruction and creation in the region known today as Latin America in the period 1400 - 1800. Class readings are primary sources and provide opportunities to learn methods of source analysis in contexts marked by radically asymmetrical power relationships. LALS070401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800
HIST 072-401 Intro Lat Am & Latino St Ann C. Farnsworth-Alvear COLL 318 MW 02:00 PM-03:30 PM Designed to introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of Latin American and Latino Studies, this is a seminar oriented toward first and second year students. Readings will range widely, from scholarly work on the colonial world that followed from and pushed back against the "conquest"; to literary and artistic explorations of Latin American identities; to social scientists' explorations of how Latinos are changing the United States in the current generation. LALS072401 Cross Cultural Analysis https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST072401 American, World Latin America/Caribbean, US
HIST 076-401 Africa Since 1800 Lee V Cassanelli BENN 401 MW 12:00 PM-01:00 PM Survey of major themes, events, and personalities in African history from the early nineteenth century through the 1960s. Topics include abolition of the slave trade, European imperialism, impact of colonial rule, African resistance, religious and cultural movements, rise of naturalism and pan-Africanism, issues of ethnicity and "tribalism" in modern Africa. AFRC076401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
World Africa/Middle East
HIST 081-401 History of the Middle East Since 1800 Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet COHN 402 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM A survey of the modern Middle East with special emphasis on the experiences of ordinary men and women as articulated in biographies, novels, and regional case studies. Issues covered include the collapse of empires and the rise of a new state system following WWI, and the roots and consequences of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iranian revolution and the U.S.-Iraq War. Themes include: the colonial encounter with Europe and the emergence of nationalist movements, the relationship between state and society, economic development and international relations, and religion and cultural identity. NELC031401 History & Tradition Sector Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST081401 World Africa/Middle East
HIST 085-401 India: Culture & Society Terenjit Sevea TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM What makes India INDIA? Religion and Philosophy? Architechural splendor? Kingdoms? Caste? The position of women? This course will introduce students to India by studying a range of social and cultural institutions that have historically assumed to be definitive India. Through primary texts, novels and historical sociological analysis, we will ask how these institutions have been reproduced and transformed, and assess their significance for contemporary Indian society. SAST008401, RELS068401 Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Humanities & Social Science Sector
World East/South Asia
HIST 089-401 Intro To Modern India Terenjit Sevea STIT B6 TR 06:00 PM-07:30 PM SAST001401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. World East/South Asia
HIST 096-401 Late Imperial China Si-Yen Fei TR 01:30 PM-03:00 PM This lecture course -- the first of a two-part sequence -- examines the history of late imperial China through the early 19th century. We begin with the Song dynasty transformation: the rise of gentry society and imperial absolutism, the institution of Confucian orthodoxy, the shift of the population and the economic center of gravity to the south, the commercialization of the economy, and change in the relative status of women and men. We then trace China's subsequent political and social history, including the following themes: inner vs. outer court politics; law, government, and society; intellectuals and political dissent; gender, family, and kinship practices; patterns of peasant life and rebellion; traditional foreign relations and first contacts with the West; internal sources of the decline of imperial order. EALC041401 Cross Cultural Analysis
HIST 104-301 Why College? Jonathan L Zimmerman BENN 25 MW 03:30 PM-05:00 PM Course is available to Freshmen.
Freshman Seminar
American US
HIST 106-301 Africa in World History Lee V Cassanelli BENN 222 MW 03:30 PM-05:00 PM Cross Cultural Analysis Course is available to Freshmen.
Freshman Seminar
World Africa/Middle East
HIST 106-302 Of Horses, Bows, & Fermented Milk: the Turkish Empires in 15 Objects Oscar Aguirre Mandujano COLL 217 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM Course is available to Freshmen.
Freshman Seminar
World Africa/Middle East
HIST 107-301 Comp Capitalist Systems Jerry I. Drew BENN 138 MW 02:00 PM-03:30 PM The course follows the evolution of industrial capitalism since the beginning of the English industrial revolution in the late 18th century. It ranges from the problems of the industrial revolution in England to problems of building a market economy in eastern Europe today. In particular, it examines industrialization and explores the sources of sustained economic growth from a comparative perspective. Most of the world, especially in so-called emerging economies, is still confronted with the challenge, and often pain, of creating a modern industrial capitalist society. The course attempts to build a conceptual apparatus for understanding models of industrialization and is built around issues such as law, anti-trust, corporate forms, banking institutions, industrial relations, etc. By definition, the course tends to concentrate on successful industrializers around the world, but questions regarding continuing underdevelopment will be addressed. Contact Dept Or Instructor For Classrm Info
For Huntsman Students Only
Humanities & Social Science Sector
HIST 107-302 Comp Capitalist Systems Jerry I. Drew LERN 101 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM The course follows the evolution of industrial capitalism since the beginning of the English industrial revolution in the late 18th century. It ranges from the problems of the industrial revolution in England to problems of building a market economy in eastern Europe today. In particular, it examines industrialization and explores the sources of sustained economic growth from a comparative perspective. Most of the world, especially in so-called emerging economies, is still confronted with the challenge, and often pain, of creating a modern industrial capitalist society. The course attempts to build a conceptual apparatus for understanding models of industrialization and is built around issues such as law, anti-trust, corporate forms, banking institutions, industrial relations, etc. By definition, the course tends to concentrate on successful industrializers around the world, but questions regarding continuing underdevelopment will be addressed. Contact Dept Or Instructor For Classrm Info
For Huntsman Students Only
Humanities & Social Science Sector
HIST 118-401 Witchcraft & Possession Robert St.George COLL 314 MW 01:00 PM-02:00 PM This course explores world witchcraft and possession from the persecutions of the early seventeenth century through the rise of Wicca in the twentieth century. The mere mention of these terms, or of such close cousins as demonology, sorcery, exorcism, magic, and the witches Sabbath, raises clear ethnographic and historical challenges. How can the analysis of witchcraft-- including beliefs, patterns of accusation, the general social position of victims, the intensity and timing of witch hunts, and its relation to religious practice, law, language, gender, social marginalization, and property--lead us to a more humane understanding of belief and action? Films such as The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project, The Crucible, and Three Sovereigns for Sarah will focus discussion. ANTH118401, GSWS119401, RELS109401 Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Humanities & Social Science Sector
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
American, European Europe, pre-1800, US
HIST 126-001 Europe: French Rev-Wwii Alex Chase-Levenson COHN 402 TR 01:30 PM-03:00 PM It's old, it's new. It's unfamiliar, it's recognizable. This course investigates the collapse of the "old regime" and the birth of something like the Europe we recognize. The long nineteenth century witnessed the development of political, economic, and cultural phenomena we often see as characteristic of modern society. Topics considered include political revolution, industrialization, liberalism, imperialism, and new ideologies of gender, race, and class. Our focus will be consistently transnational. Where did Europe begin and end? How did borders and boundaries operate at the edge of nations, but also within societies? We will investigate these questions as we follow European history from the violence and optimism of the French Revolution to the chaos of the First World War. Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST126001 European Europe
HIST 131-401 Financial Meltdown, Past and Present Marc R Flandreau STIT B26 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM Economic history is increasingly recognized as a crucial source of policy advice and is invoked with growing frequency in public debates. In particular, the subprime crisis in 2008 and after has generated a demand for "historical perspective" that would improve the understanding of the causes of financial turmoil and facilitate the prevention of comparable catastrophes. This course begins with a review of the principal features of the subprime crisis of 2008 and asks, so to speak, "how did we get there?" It answers by providing historical insights that shed light on crucial aspects of financial disasters. This is a history course, engaging with topics pertaining to economics, law and politics (national and international). Students with diverse backgrounds are expected to benefit from this course through acquiring a concrete knowledge of the historical evolution of fundamental institutions of financial capitalism. Ultimately, students enrolling in this course are expected to achieve proficiency in historically informed discussion of the mechanisms that were played out in the subprime crisis and beyond. ECON028401 Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Humanities & Social Science Sector
https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST131401 Economic, European Europe
HIST 134-401 Origins of Nazism: From Democracy To Race War and Genocide Anne K Berg PCPE 200 MW 01:00 PM-02:00 PM Where did the Nazis come from? Was the Weimar Republic bound to fail? Did the Treaty of Versailles or the Great Depression catapult the Nazis into power? What was the role of racism, of Anti-Semitism? How did the regime consolidate itself? What was the role of ordinary people? How do we explain the Holocaust and what kind of a war was the Second World War? Grappling with these and more questions, the first half of the course focuses on Germany's first democracy, the Weimar Republic and its vibrant political culture. In the second half, we study on the Nazi regime, how it consolidated its power and remade society based on the concepts of race and struggle. Discussions of race and race-making are crucial throughout the course. In the name of the "racial purity," the Nazi state moved ruthlessly against Germany's Jewish population and cleansed German society of all "undesirable" elements. These ideas and practices didn't originate with the Nazis and they didn't operate in a geopolitical vacuum. Thinking about Nazi racism and genocide in both its particular specifics and in a larger global historical context is the main goal of this course. GRMN134401 Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST134401 European Europe
HIST 135-401 Cold War: Global History Kelsey Liane Norris STIT B21 TR 04:30 PM-06:00 PM The Cold War was more than simply a military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union; it was the frame within which the entire world developed (for better or worse) for nearly five decades. This course will examine the cold War as a global phenomenon, covering not only the military and diplomatic history of the period, but also examining the social and cultural impact of the superpower confrontation. We will cover the origins of the conflict, the interplay between periods of tension and detente, the relative significance of disagreements within the opposing blocs, and the relationship between the "center" of the conflict in the North Atlantic/European area and the global "periphery". RUSS135401, EEUR135401 Cross Cultural Analysis Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
Humanities & Social Science Sector
American, Diplomatic, European, World Europe, US
HIST 143-401 Foundations of European Thought: From Rome To the Renaissance Ann Elizabeth Moyer COLL 314 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM This course offers an introduction to the world of thought and learning at the heart of European culture, from the Romans through the Renaissance. We begin with the ancient Mediterranean and the formation of Christianity and trace its transformation into European society. Along the way we will examine the rise of universities and institutions for learning, and follow the humanist movement in rediscovering and redefining the ancients in the modern world. COML143401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST143401 European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800
HIST 148-401 Warriors,Concubines,And Converts: the Ottoman Empire in the Mid East & Euro Oscar Aguirre Mandujano COLL 314 TR 03:00 PM-04:30 PM For almost six hundred years, the Ottomans ruled most of the Balkans and the Middle East. From their bases in Anatolia, Ottoman armies advanced into the Balkans, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, constantly challenging the borders of neighboring European and Islamicate empires. By the end of the seventeenth century, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Cairo, Baghdad, Sarajevo, Budapest, and nearly Vienna came under Ottoman rule. As the empire expanded into Europe and the Middle East, the balance of imperial power shifted from warriors to converts, concubines, and intellectuals. This course examines the expansion of the Ottoman sultanate from a local principality into a sprawling empire with a sophisticated bureaucracy; it also investigates the social, cultural, and intellectual developments that accompanied the long arc of the empire's rise and fall. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify and discuss major currents of change in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. The student will have a better understanding of the roles of power, ideology, diplomacy, and gender in the construction of empire and a refined appreciation for diverse techniques of historical analysis. NELC148401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. European, World Africa/Middle East, Europe, pre-1800
HIST 153-401 Transformations of Urban America: Making the Unequal Metropolis, 1945-Today Randall B Cebul MCNB 286-7 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM The course traces the economic, social, and political history of American cities after World War II. It focuses on how the economic problems of the industrial city were compounded by the racial conflicts of the 1950s and 1960s and the fiscal crises of the 1970s. The last part of the course examines the forces that have led to the revitalization and stark inequality of cities in recent years. URBS104401 Society Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST153401 American, Economic US
HIST 155-401 Intro To Asian Amer Hist Eiichiro Azuma COHN 402 TR 03:00 PM-04:30 PM This course will provide an introduction to the history of Asian Pacific Americans, focusing on the wide diversity of migrant experiences, as well as the continuing legacies of Orientalism on American-born APA's. Issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality will also be examined. ASAM003401 History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST155401 American, World East/South Asia, US
HIST 168-401 Hist of Amer Law To 1877 Sarah L. H. Gronningsater CHEM B13 TR 01:30 PM-03:00 PM The course surveys the development of law in the U.S. to 1877, including such subjects as: the evolution of the legal profession, the transformation of English law during the American Revolution, the making and implementation of the Constitution, and issues concerning business and economic development, the law of slavery, the status of women, and civil rights. AFRC168401 Cultural Diversity in the US Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. American, Intellectual pre-1800, US
HIST 173-401 Urb Univ-Community Rel: Faculty-Student Collaborative Action Seminar in Urban Univ-Comm Relations Ira Harkavy NETT CONF W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM One of the goals of this seminar is to help students develop their capacity to solve strategic, real-world problems by working collaboratively in the classroom, on campus, and in the West Philadelphia community. Research teams help contribute to the improvement of education on campus and in the community, as well as the improvement of university-community relations. Among other responsibilities, students focus their community service on college and career readiness at West Philadelphia High School and Sayre High School. Students are typically engaged in academically based community service learning at the schools for two hours each week. AFRC078401, URBS178401 Cultural Diversity in the US Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
An Academically Based Community Serv Course
Benjamin Franklin Seminars
American US
HIST 174-401 Capitalism, Socialism, & Crisis in Twentieth-Century Americas Amy C Offner FAGN 116 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM From the crisis of the Great Depression through the 1970s, the United States and Latin America produced remarkable efforts to remake society and political economy. This course analyzes the Cuban and Guatemalan revolutions, as well as social movements that transformed the United States: the black freedom movement, the labor movement, and changing forms of Latino politics. In all three countries, Americans looked for ways to reform capitalism or build socialism; address entrenched patterns of racism; define and realize democracy; and achieve national independence. They conceived of these challenges in dramatically different ways. Together, we'll compare national histories and analyze the relationships between national upheavals. In studying the US and Latin America together, the class allows students to explore central questions in both regions' histories. What did capitalism, socialism, and communism amount to? What did democracy mean? What were the roots of racial inequality and how did Americans address it? Why were Americans so enticed by economic growth, and how did they pursue it? How did the Cold War shape social movements? What purposes did unions serve? How did Christianity inform movements for and against social change? Studying these regions together also allows us to explore international interactions. How did the black freedom movement in the US relate to the Cuban revolution? How did Latin American immigration shape the US labor movement? How did US Cold War policy influence Latin American revolutionary movements? The goal of this class is for you to interpret the readings and decide what you think. What you learn in this class, and the quality of our experience together, depends on your reading closely, coming to class with informed ideas and questions, and being prepared to help your classmates answer theirs. We will read approximately 100 pages per week. No background is required. LALS174401 History & Tradition Sector Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST174401 American, Economic, World Latin America/Caribbean, US
HIST 175-401 History of Brazil Melissa Teixeira COLL 314 TR 01:30 PM-03:00 PM In the past decade, Brazil has emerged a leading global power. As the world's fifth-largest country, by size and population, and the ninth-largest by GDP, Brazil exerts tremendous influence on international politics and the global economy, seen in its position as an emerging BRIC nation and a regional heavyweight in South America. Brazil is often in the news for its strides in social welfare, leading investments in the Global South, as host of the World Cup and Olympics, and, most recently, for its political instability. It is also a nation of deep contradictions, in which myth of racial democracy -- the longstanding creed that Brazilian society has escaped racial discrimination -- functions alongside pervasive social inequality, state violence, political corruption, and an unforgiving penal system. This course examines six centuries of Brazilian history. It highlights the interplay between global events -- colonialism, slavery and emancipation, capitalism, and democratization -- and the local geographies, popular cultures, and social movements that have shaped this multi-ethnic and expansive nation. In particular, the readings will highlight Brazil's place in Latin America and the Lusophone World, as well as the ways in which Brazil stands as a counterpoint to the United States, especially in terms of the legacy of slavery and race relation. In this lecture, we will also follow the current political and economic crises unfolding in Brazil, at a moment when it has become all the more important to evaluate just how South America's largest nation has shaped and been shaped by global events. LALS175401 Cross Cultural Analysis Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST175401 Economic, World Latin America/Caribbean
HIST 176-401 Afro Amer Hist Mia E Bay COLL 314 MW 05:00 PM-06:30 PM This course will study the history of Afro-Americans from their first encounter with Europeans in the 16th century to emancipation during the Civil War. The course will concentrate on the variety of black responses to capture, enslavement, and forced acculturation in the New World. The difference in the slave experience of various New World countries, and the methods of black resistance and rebellion to varied slave systems will be investigated. The nature and role of the free black communities in antebellum America will also be studied. AFRC176401 History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diversity in the US
Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST176401 American pre-1800, US
HIST 182-052 Social Democracy in Europe in the 20th Century
HIST 187-401 Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Roquinaldo Ferreira COLL 314 TR 06:30 PM-08:00 PM This course focuses on the history of selected African societies from the sixteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries. The primary goal is to study the political, economic, social, and cultural history of a number of peoples who participated in the Atlantic slave trade or were touched by it during the era of their involvement. The course is designed to serve as an introduction to the history and culture of African peoples who entered the diaspora during the era of the slave trade. Its audience is students interested in the history of Africa, the African diaspora, and the Atlantic world, as well as those who want to learn about the history of the slave trade. Case studies will include the Yoruba, Akan, and Fon, as well as Senegambian and West-central African peoples. AFRC186401 Cross Cultural Analysis Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen. World Africa/Middle East, pre-1800
HIST 209-401 Industrial Metropolis Domenic Vitiello T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Although we no longer think of most U.S. cities as industrial cities, metropolitan areas today are all products of industrial economies, technologies, and social systems. This course explores the industrialization and deindustrialization of American cities within their evolving global context from the era of European colonization to the present. It includes weekly readings and discussion, regular response papers and walking tours, in- class exercises, and a research paper using primary sources. Themes include energy and ecology, labor and production, inner city and suburban development, globalization, and economic restructuring. Ultimately, the class aims to give students a broad knowledge of 1) the history of industrial capitalism, 2) its effects on cities and regions over the past three centuries, and 3) analytical tools for understanding the past, present, and future of metropolitan economies, geography, and society. URBS103401 History & Tradition Sector Course is available to Freshmen and Upperclassmen.
HIST 216-301 History of Private Life in China Si-Yen Fei VANP 526 M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Benjamin Franklin Seminars https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST216301 Gender, World East/South Asia, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 216-401 Religion & Colonial Rule in Africa Cheikh Ante MBAcke Babou VANP 305 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM AFRC215401 Benjamin Franklin Seminars Diplomatic, World Africa/Middle East, Research, Seminar
HIST 230-301 History, Memory,And Nostalgia in Modern Europe Alex Chase-Levenson VANP 402 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Karl Marx compared history to a nightmare weighing on the brains of the living, but it can also be a refuge, a source of inspiration, and a constant companion. In this course, we will consider our own relationship to the past as we navigate the boundaries and intersections of history, memory, and nostalgia. Reading will consist of plays, novels, music, film, television, and painting. From the traumas of the Holocaust and of Stalinism to the conflicted memory of empire, from preservation to imagination, we will consider a wide array of methods through which Europeans have engaged their past over the last two hundred and fifty years. How does the academic study of the past relate to individual and collective memories of it? If "living in the past" seems often seems counterproductive, and yearning for it often seems reactionary, in what ways can nostalgia be a force of progress? We will consider these questions as we study topics such as the birth of heritage movements in the nineteenth century, the formation of national museums, representations of war and violence, legacies of imperialism, and the history of memory after the cataclysms of the twentieth century. *Students may opt to write a longer research paper to fulfill the History Major research requirement.* https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST230301 European Seminar
HIST 230-302 War and Conquest in Medieval Europe Ada M Kuskowski BENN 224 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM This course will focus on wars of conquest in the medieval period. The code of chivalry demanded that knights not only display great prowess in battle, but also adhere to Christian virtue. How did these square in practice? What constitutes acceptable violence and military intervention? We will seek to understand the medieval mentality of warfare in order to think about the place of war in society, how war was justified, why war was fought, and how it was fought. War, however, cannot be separated from its goals. We will thus go beyond the battlefield to look at how conquest of territories was cemented with the establishment and enforcement of a new order. Themes will include the rise of knighthood, ideas of just war, crusade, laws of war, territorial control and colonization. The course will also include two fabulous field trips to visit Penn’s manuscript collection and the arms and armor collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800, Research, Seminar
HIST 230-401 Reflections On the Jewish Historical Experience David B. Ruderman DRLB 4C4 W 03:30 PM-06:30 PM Tour the Jewish world from the 15th century to the present with Professor Ruderman, as he teaches his final seminar at Penn after a forty-five-year scholarly career! This course will give students the opportunity to read, think, and debate some of the major themes in Jewish intellectual and cultural history, including: Jewish cultural formation in Renaissance and Baroque Italy; The history of Jewish-Christian interactions in early modern and modern Europe; the Jewish engagement in medicine, science, and the natural world in the age of “scientific revolution”; the periodization of Jewish history in the early modern period; the messianic idea in Judaism; and the dialectical relationship of memory and history in Jewish culture. The seminar will devote time to reading and discussing some of the major historical treatments of these subjects as well as a limited selection of primary sources in English translation that illuminate these larger themes. JWST230401 European, Intellectual, Jewish, World Africa/Middle East, Europe, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 231-301 Life Stories in America, 1730-1830 Robert St.George COLL 311A R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM This seminar explores the social and cultural history of early America by focusing on the lives of specific individuals, ranging from Jesuit priests in early Quebec to Philadelphia politicians to Saramaka slaves to Maine midwives. As we critically examine biography and autobiography as two of history's most powerful narrative frames, we will concentrate on the spaces and places in the social landscape that shaped individual understandings of work, sense of self, gender, beliefs, and political power, and why. Hist 231- Life Stories in Early America, 1730-1830 2.pdf92.23 KB https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST231301 American pre-1800, Seminar, US
HIST 231-302 The State of the Union Is Not Good: the US in Crisis in the 1970s Randall B Cebul VANP 302 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Vietnam. Watergate. Deindustrialization. Inflation. Disco. These events and forces only begin to scratch the surface of the social, cultural, political, and economic transformations that remade American life in the 1970s and which, by 1975, forced President Gerald Ford to concede “that the state of the union is not good.” Beyond these familiar topics, this reading seminar will explore a range of developments that are crucial for understanding why the 1970s was perhaps the pivotal decade in making modern American politics, economics, and culture. Topics will include the fate of the Civil Rights movement and the war on crime; the rise and impact of second wave feminism; the rise of the modern conservative coalition (e.g., its religious, economic, and white working-class components); the emergence of the finance economy; the reorientation of organized labor and the remaking of the Democratic Party; the explosion of “therapeutic” cultures of self-help, individualism, and entrepreneurialism; and the rise of the Sunbelt as the nation’s dominant cultural, political, and economic region. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST231302 American Seminar, US
HIST 231-303 Melting Pot, Mosaic, Or Wall? Immigration and Diversity in American History Richard Scott Hanson WILL 3 M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM The 2016 presidential election brought a great deal of attention to immigration and immigrants in American society. Much of this debate perpetuated harmful stereotypes, dangerously stoked fears about outsiders, and echoed a nativist rhetoric that many believed had disappeared from public discourse. The debate also ignored how current discussions are deeply rooted in century-long conversations about who is allowed into the country and what it means to be an American. Indeed, anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigrant surveillance, detention, and deportation have been a defining feature of American politics and state and federal policy since the 19th century. This course seeks to provide historical context to current debates over immigration reform, integration, and citizenship. Many Americans have a romanticized idea of the nation’s immigrant past. In fact, America’s immigration history is more contested, more nuanced, and more complicated than many assume. Then, like now, many politicians, public commentators, critics, and media organizations have greatly influenced Americans’ understanding of immigration and the role that immigrants play in U.S. society. The syllabus follows a chronological overview of U.S. immigration history, but it also includes thematic weeks that cover salient issues in political discourse today such as xenophobia, deportation policy, and border policing. The course consists of lecture/discussion, Canvas assignments, quizzes, and one research paper. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST231303 American Seminar, US
HIST 231-304 Fake News and American Democracy Bruce K Lenthall R 03:00 PM-06:00 PM At separate moments, Thomas Jefferson famously declared both that newspapers were crucial to sustain a nation and that a person who never looked at a newspaper was better informed than a regular reader of the press. The ideal of an informed citizenry occupies a central spot in our understanding of the democratic project in the United States, and, consequently, the news and the news media play a vital role. But the news may also be a means to manipulate and distort, not simply inform. As Americans on both the Left and Right wonder today, what happens to our democratic prospects when public information and the media are unreliable? In this class we will consider the history of fake news in the United States and its implications for democracy and citizenship. We will dig into an array of episodes – from the Jefferson-Hamilton debates in the press to battles over what could be printed about slavery; from McCarthyism to the ways in which different racial and ethnic groups often engaged with different accounts of the news. We will examine in depth the moment of a global rise in fascism and America’s best-known news hoax, the “War of the Worlds” radio program. Throughout, we will explore the importance of the different media that conveyed news in the past – and think about what that means for us in the present moment as news travels through new channels. American Seminar, US
HIST 231-401 Amer Expansion-Pacific Eiichiro Azuma BENN 17 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM This class will focus on America's expansion into the Pacific around the turn of the century with the acquisition of Hawaii and the Phillipines. It can deal with various issues, including the meaning of "frontier," colonialism, development of capitalist economies in the region, diplomacy, racism, migration, an American brand of Orientalism in encountering the "natives" and "heathens,"and histories of the West and the Pacific Islands in general. ASAM203401 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST231401 American, Diplomatic, World East/South Asia, Seminar, US
HIST 231-402 Civil Rights Movement Mia E Bay VANP 305 T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM This course traces the history of the Civil Rights Movement from its earliest stirrings in the 1st half of the twentieth-century to the boycotts, sit-ins, school desegregation struggles, freedom rides and marches of the 1950s and 1960s, and beyond. Among the question we will consider are: What inspired the Civil Rights movement, when does it begin and end, and how did it change American life? Readings will include both historical works and first-hand accounts of the movement by participants. AFRC229402 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST231402 American Research, Seminar, US
HIST 232-401 Israel and Iran: Historical Ties, Contemporary Challenges Alon Tam
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet
COLL 217 T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Israel and Iran have longstanding ties and connections that predate the contemporary feuds in which they are currently engaged. Iranian Jews rank as some of the oldest communities of the Middle East, and their history dovetails with the ancient Iranian past. This course will explore the historical roots of Jewish communities in Iran, with a focus on the post-18th century period, and will end with conversations that contributed to the diplomatic impasses faced by both countries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Films, novels, memoirs, and other historical accounts will be incorporated alongside secondary works to give students an opportunity to consider the complexities of this relationship. NELC282401 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST232401 World Africa/Middle East, Seminar
HIST 233-401 Feminism in the Americas Ann C. Farnsworth-Alvear PWH 108 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Students in this seminar will choose their own research topic in the history of feminism. With guidance and support each person will produce a twenty-page paper based on intensive work with primary sources. Readings will range across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. We’ll take a long view, beginning in the sixteenth century, and use an expansive frame. Our purpose will not be to decide who was or wasn’t ‘a feminist’ but instead to try to understand actors within their contexts. Readings include scholarship on Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Sojourner Truth, the struggle for voting rights across national lines, opposition to dictatorship, and organizing against racism and homophobia. *For History Majors and Minors: Geographic requirement fulfilled by this seminar is dependent on research paper topic. AFRC234401, GSWS233401, LALS233401 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST233401 American, Gender, World Latin America/Caribbean, Research, Seminar, US
HIST 233-402 Indigenous History of Mexico From the Aztecs To Present Marcia Susan Norton MCES 105 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM This course will explore the history of indigenous peoples of Mexico from roughly 1400 to the present. Mesoamerica – the cultural region that encompassed what is today Mexico and much of Central America – in the fifteenth century saw the ascendance of the Aztec Empire in central Mexico (and beyond) and the continued independence of numerous Mayan communities. We will begin by looking at a diverse range of sources produced by the linguistically diverse people in these areas, particularly focusing on the “codices,” as the painted deer hide books that recorded history and ritual knowledge are known. Reading sources (in translation) by both European and indigenous languages (primarily Spanish, Nahuatl, and Maya), we will look at the divergent ways that Native communities and individuals responded to Spanish wars of conquest and how they responded to colonialism. The final part of the will look at the impact of Mexican independence and Revolution in the nineteenth century through the present, as well as the ongoing indigenous Mesoamerican diaspora to locales throughout the United States. In addition to written primary and secondary sources, we will consider a diverse array of visual sources – taking advantage of the spectacular holdings of the Penn museum – and contemporary cinema. LALS233402 Cultural Diversity in the US World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 233-403 Piracy and the Law in the Atlantic World, 1560-1850 Casey Schmitt MEYH B5 T 03:00 PM-06:00 PM From Jack Sparrow to Captain Morgan, pirates are a celebrated part of American popular culture. But, before Hollywood romanticized peg legs, eye patches, and rum, early modern mariners lived short and often brutal lives struggling against the changing crosswinds of prevailing European power structures. Despite popular conceptions of pirates, defining who constituted a pirate and what acts could be considered piratical was complicated and shifted over time. This course uses piracy as a lens onto the construction of power, the law, and the early modern state from 1450 through 1800. We will explore the concept of piracy as both a complex social function and as a political statement among Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans. Our readings will address topics such as the creation of legal and illegal maritime activity, piracy and the development of international law, the challenges posed by piracy to gender norms, the use of race as a method of inclusion and exclusion among pirate crews, and how public memory of piracy shapes current debates about global economics. LALS233403 Diplomatic, World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Research, Seminar
HIST 234-301 Decades of Extremes: Protectionism, Fascism, Imperialism, 1917-1945 Melissa Teixeira COHN 204 M 05:00 PM-08:00 PM The rise of Fascism in Italy, the Russian Revolution, anti-colonial struggles in India, the New Deal in the United States, the Spanish Civil War, and the emergence of populist Juan Perón in Argentina. These events – as distinct as they are – all responded to the crisis of the global economy following World War I. These were decades of ideological extremes: liberal democracy pitted against fascism, socialism versus capitalism, imperialist expansion in some parts of the world and struggles for self-determination in others. What did the world look like in 1917, and why did it give rise to such revolutionary politics? This course studies the ideological conflicts and economic crises of the interwar decades (1917-1945) through firsthand accounts produced by intellectuals, economists, dictators, and ordinary citizens. We will read from the 1917 Soviet Constitution, George Orwell’s personal account of the Spanish Civil War, and Mussolini’s writings to understand the revolutionary visions at stake. We will debate alongside John M. Keynes and Friedrich Hayek to engage one of the driving questions to arise in these years: what is the role of the state in economic life? We explore the policy experimentation that arose in response to this crippling economic situation, from the New Deal in the United States to the rise of populism in Latin America. Finally, we consider how these interwar struggles explain the outbreak of World War II, an extreme experience of totalitarianism, destruction, and genocide. The key concepts we explore – fascism, imperialism, protectionism, capitalism, socialism, authoritarianism, liberalism – are of enduring relevance. What lessons – if any – can we learn from these interwar decades of extremes? Economic, Intellectual, World Seminar
HIST 237-401 Berlin: Hist Pol Culture Liliane Weissberg TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM What do you know about Berlin's history, architecture, culture, and political life? The present course will offer a survey of the history of Prussia, beginning with the seventeenth century, and the unification of the small towns of Berlin and Koelln to establish a new capital for this country. It will tell the story of Berlin's rising political prominence in the eighteenth century, and its position as a center of the German and Jewish Enlightenment. It will follow Berlin's transformation into an industrial city in the nineteenth century, its rise to metropolis in the early twentieth century, its history during the Third Reich, and the post-war cold war period. The course will conclude its historical survey with a consideration of Berlin's position as a capital in reunified Germany. The historical survey will be supplemented by a study of Berlin's urban structure, its significant architecture from the eighteenth century (i.e. Schinkel) to the nineteenth (new worker's housing, garden suburbs) and twentieth centuries (Bauhaus, Speer designs, postwar rebuilding, GDR housing projects, post-unification building boom). In addition, we will read literary texts about the city, and consider the visual art and music created in and about Berlin, and focus on Berlin's Jewish history. The course will be interdisciplinary with the fields of German Studies, history, history of art, urban studies, and German-Jewish studies. It is also designed as a preparation for undergraduate students who are considering spending a junior semester with the Penn Abroad Program in Berlin. All readings and lectures in English. URBS237401, GRMN237401, COML237401, ARTH237401 Humanities & Social Science Sector
Registration also required for Recitation (see below)
HIST 248-401 Haitian Revolution Yvonne E Fabella DRLB 2C6 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM In August 1791, enslaved Africans on the northern plain of Saint Domingue (colonial Haiti) rose up in a coordinated attack against their French colonial masters, launching the initial revolt in what would come to be known as the Haitian Revolution. In the years that followed, their actions forced the abolition of racial discrimination and slavery throughout the French Empire. When Napoleon Bonaparte threatened to return slavery to Saint Domingue, they waged a war for independence, declaring Haiti the world's first "Black Republic" in 1804. This seminar will examine some of the major themes and debates surrounding Haiti's colonial and revolutionary history. We will begin by considering the colonial paradox: France's leading role in the intellectual movement called the "Enlightenment" coincided with its ascent as a slaveholding colonial power. The seminar will also explore parallels and points of connection between the revolutionary movements in France and Saint Domingue: how did increasingly radical ideas in France shape events in the Caribbean? Likewise, how did west African traditions and political ideologies influence insurgents and their leaders? And how, in turn, did revolution in the Caribbean impact the revolution in France? Finally, we will ask how the Haitian Revolution influenced ideas about liberty, sovereignty and freedom throughout the Atlantic World. We will read a combination of primary and secondary materials each week. A final research paper will be required of all students. AFRC248401, LALS248401 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST248401 Diplomatic, World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 255-401 Thinking About Capitalism Amy C Offner T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Throughout the world today, economists are influential policymakers and public intellectuals, and non-economists understand many aspects of their lives in economic terms. But as recently as 1945 in some regions of the world and as distantly as 1776 in others, the concept of the economy, the field of economics, and economists as a professional community did not exist. This class explores non-economic ways of understanding material life that have preceded, challenged, or undergirded economic thinking; the emergence of the economy and economics as naturalized, globally recognized concepts; the formation of economists as an authoritative professional group; and the rise of economic reasoning in daily life. The class takes a global approach, exploring these developments in societies from eighteenth-century Britain to twentieth-century Egypt in order to understand the local variations, international relationships, and transnational processes at work. It simultaneously takes a social approach to intellectual history, considering how popular and professional ideas developed in relation to one another, and how knowledge related to lived experience. GSWS255401
HIST 273-401 Penn Slavery Project Res Alexis Neumann
Kathleen M Brown
MCES 105 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM This research seminar provides students with instruction in basic historical methods and an opportunity to conduct collaborative primary source research into the University of Pennsylvania's historic connections to slavery. After an initial orientation to archival research, students will plunge in to doing actual research at the Kislak Center, the University Archives, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, the Library Company, and various online sources. During the final month of the semester, students will begin drafting research reports and preparing for a public presentation of the work. During the semester, there will be opportunities to collaborate with a certified genealogist, a data management and website expert, a consultant on public programming, and a Penn graduate whose research has been integral to the Penn Slavery Project. AFRC277401 American Research, Seminar, US
HIST 275-401 Faces of Jihad in African Islam Cheikh Ante MBAcke Babou VANP 305 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM This course is designed to provide the students with a broad understanding of the history of Islam in Africa. The focus will be mostly on West Africa, but we will also look at developments in other regions of the continent. We will explore Islam not only as religious practice but also as ideology and an instrument of social change. We will examine the process of islamization in Africa and the different uses of Jihad. Topics include prophetic jihad, jihad of the pen and the different varieties of jihad of the sword throughout the history in Islam in sub-Saharan Africa. AFRC274401 Cross Cultural Analysis Intellectual, World Africa/Middle East
HIST 287-401 African Religious History David K. Amponsah BENN 141 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM In recent decades, many African countries have perennially ranked very high among the most religious. This course serves as an introduction to major forms of religiosity in sub-Saharan Africa. Emphasis will be devoted to the indigenous religious traditions, Christianity and Islam, as they are practiced on the continent. We will examine how these religious traditions intersect with various aspects of life on the continent. The aim of this class is to help students to better understand various aspects of African cultures by dismantling stereotypes and assumptions that have long characterized the study of religions in Africa. The readings and lectures are will be drawn from historical and a few anthropological, and literary sources. AFRC287401, RELS288401 World Africa/Middle East
HIST 303-401 The Vikings Ada M Kuskowski WILL 202 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM The Vikings were the terror of Europe from the late eight to the eleventh century. Norwegians, Danes and Swedes left their homeland to trade, raid and pillage; leaving survivors praying "Oh Lord, deliver us from the fury of the Norsemen!" While commonly associated with violent barbarism, the Norse were also farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. As their dragon ships sailed the waterways of Europe and beyond, they also transformed from raiders to explorers, discoverers and settlers of found and conquered lands. This course will introduce students to various facets of the culture and society of the Viking world ranging from honor culture, gender roles, political culture, mythology, and burial practices. We will also explore the range of Viking activity abroad from Kiev and Constantinople to Greenland and Vineland, the Viking settlement in North America. We will use material and archeological sources as well as literary and historical ones in order to think about how we know history and what questions we can ask from different sorts of sources. Notably, we will be reading Icelandic sagas that relate oral histories of heroes, outlaws, raiders and sailors that will lead us to question the lines between fact and fiction, and myth and history. GRMN145401 Cross Cultural Analysis European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 331-001 Am Diplo Hist Since 1776 Walter A Mcdougall ANNS 111 TR 10:30 AM-12:00 PM Survey course tracing the origins and evolution of the great traditions of U.S. foreign policy, including Exceptionalism, Unilateralism, Manifest Destiny, Wilsonianism, etc., by which Americans have tried to define their place in the world. Three hours of lecture per week, extensive reading, no recitations. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST331001 American, Diplomatic US
HIST 360-401 The Enlightenment Joan Elizabeth Dejean VANP 605 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Topics vary. For current course description, please see the department's webpage: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/french/pc Prerequisite: Two 200-level French courses taken at Penn or equivalent. FREN360401 Cross Cultural Analysis Benjamin Franklin Seminars European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800
HIST 380-401 Mod Jew Intel & Cult His David B. Ruderman BENN 222 MW 02:00 PM-03:30 PM An overview of Jewish intellectual and cultural history from the late 18th century until the present. The course considers the Jewish enlightenment Reform, Conservative and Neo-Orthodox Judaism, Zionist and Jewish Socialist thought, and Jewish thought in the 20th century, particularly in the context of the Holocaust. Readings of primary sources including Mendelsohn, Geiger, Hirsch, Herzl, Achad-ha-Am, Baeck, Buber, Kaplan, and others. No previous background is required. RELS320401, JWST380401 Cross Cultural Analysis https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST380401 European, Intellectual, Jewish, World Africa/Middle East, Europe
HIST 387-401 Black Feminist Approaches To History and Memory Grace Louise B Sanders Johnson MEYH B6 M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM A comparative social history seeking to explain today's nutritional deficits among third world peoples. Based on an eco-system approach, it considers contending theories, traces the rise of the world food system, and compares detailed case studies covering the period 1800-1980. AFRC387401, LALS387401, GSWS387401 American, Gender US
HIST 393-401 20th Century China: Ideas, Politics, States Arthur Waldron STIT B21 TR 12:00 PM-01:30 PM Since 1900 four types of states have ruled China: dynastic, elective parliamentary, authoritarian nationalist, and communist. We will trace each from its intellectual origins to conclusion. By doing so we will present a solid and wide-ranging narrative of China's past century, introducing newly discovered material, some controversial. Above all we will dig into the issues raised by the century's mixture of regimes. Right now China is a dictatorship but once it was an imperfect democracy. Does this prove that Chinese are somehow incapable of creating democracy? That sadly it is just not in their DNA? Or only that the task is very difficult in a country nearly forty times the size of England and developing rapidly? That without dictatorship the Chinese almost inevitably collapse into chaos? Or only that blood and iron have been used regularly with harsh effectiveness? You will be given a solid grounding in events, and also in how they are interpreted, right up to the present. Readings will be mostly by Chinese authors (translated), everything from primary sources to narrative to fiction. We will also use wartime documentary films. Two lectures per week, regular mid-term and final exams, and a paper on a topic of your own choice. No prerequisites. EALC145401 https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST393401 World East/South Asia
HIST 395-401 East Asian Diplomacy Alexander Thomas Martin COHN 402 MW 12:00 PM-01:00 PM Home to four of the five most populous states and four of the five largest economies, the Asia/Pacific is arguably the most dynamic region in the twenty-first century. At the same time, Cold War remnants (a divided Korea and China) and major geopolitical shifts (the rise of China and India, decline of the US and Japan) contribute significantly to the volatility of our world. This course will examine the political, economic, and geopolitical dynamism of the region through a survey of relations among the great powers in Asia from the sixteenth century to the present. Special emphasis will be given to regional and global developments from the perspective of the three principal East Asian states--China, Japan and Korea. We will explore the many informal, as well as formal, means of intercourse that have made East Asia what it is today. Graduate students (EALC 505) should consult graduate syllabus for graduate reading list, special recitation time and graduate requirements. EALC105401, EALC505401 Registration also required for Recitation (see below) Diplomatic, World East/South Asia
HIST 400-301 Senior Honors Antonio Feros COLL 315A M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Open to senior honors candidates in history who will begin writing their honors thesis during this seminar. Permission Needed From Department Research, Seminar
HIST 436-401 Love, Anger, Madness: History and Silences in Modern Haiti Grace Louise B Sanders Johnson BENN 201 M 09:00 AM-12:00 PM On the stage of modern world history, Haiti plays the unique role as both the exceptionally victorious and tragic character. This course interrogates archival documents, oral histories, historical texts, and prose created within the nation and her diaspora in order to establish a nuanced image of the projection of Haiti's modern history. Using two classic Haitian texts, Marie Vieux-Chauvet's Love, Anger, Madness (1968) and Michel-Rolph Trouillot's Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995),this course examines how, why,and to what end Haiti's history and popular narratives about the country have served to construct and dismantle global movements, popular culture, and meanings of race, gender, and citizenship in the Americas. In our historical examination, we will question some of the iconic representations of Haiti through literature that deepen the affective historical profile of Haiti with interrogations of culture, sexuality, political, and media performance. Students will become familiar with the post -colonial history of Haiti and the region, meanings of race, and the production of history. The course is a research and historical methods seminar. Students will conduct archival research and write narratives from primary source material. This course qualifies as a "methods" course for AFRC436401, LALS437401, GSWS436401 Gender, World Latin America/Caribbean
HIST 440-401 Perspectives On Urban Poverty Robert P Fairbanks MCNB 285 W 05:30 PM-08:30 PM This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to 20th century urban poverty, and 20th century urban poverty knowledge. In addition to providing an historical overview of American poverty, the course is primarily concerned with the ways in which historical, cultural, political, racial, social, spatial/geographical, and economic forces have either shaped or been left out of contemporary debates on urban poverty. Of great importance, the course will evaluate competing analytic trends in the social sciences and their respective implications in terms of the question of what can be known about urban poverty in the contexts of social policy and practice, academic research, and the broader social imaginary. We will critically analyze a wide body of literature that theorizes and explains urban poverty. Course readings span the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, urban studies, history, and social welfare. Primacy will be granted to critical analysis and deconstruction of course texts, particularly with regard to the ways in which poverty knowledge creates, sustains, and constricts meaningful channels of action in urban poverty policy and practice interventions. SOCI420401, URBS420401 College Quantitative Data Analysis Req.
Cultural Diversity in the US
https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST440401 American, Economic US
HIST 479-401 Muslims,Christns,Jews Heather Sharkey MCNB 582 T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM NELC335401, NELC535401, JWST335401, RELS311401 Cross Cultural Analysis Jewish, World Africa/Middle East
HIST 560-640 People and Power in Modern Mexico Juan Manuel Lombera W 05:30 PM-08:10 PM https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST560640
HIST 575-401 Politics and Societies in the Early Modern World Hans Cools WILL 741 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM In this seminar, we will discuss how early modern globalization affected societies and the ways their members and rulers made politics. Following a historiographical introduction, it is divided in three sections. In the first, we will concentrate on empires and kings in order to detect common features of dynastic power across the globe and to explore how such characteristics influenced each other. Second, we will shift our attention to citizens and the ways they made politics in their city-states. For a long time, research on citizenship has been confined to the post-revolutionary nation states. However, recent research suggests that urban citizenship has far deeper roots in medieval and early modern cities. Up to now most research has focused on urban centers in Western Europe and more precisely on the so-called urban belt stretching from Central and North-Italy, over Switzerland and Southern Germany to the Rhineland and the Low Countries. Comparisons with urban centers in Asia and the colonial Americas will be needed to test that view. In the third section, we will study the people who provided information to societies and decision makers. Often, they held multiple identities or they acted as religious or ethnic outsiders. Therefore, we call them, with a term borrowed from anthropology 'brokers'. Taken together, the analysis of these aspects will deepen our understanding of politics and societies in the globalizing early modern world. Thus, the seminar will contribute to a more comprehensive, less Europe-centered view on that period. DTCH574401, GRMN574401
HIST 610-301 Topics in American Hist: the Long 19th Century Sarah L. H. Gronningsater VANP 305 W 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in American history.
HIST 620-301 Topics in European Hist: Universities, Academies, Letters, and Learning Before 1700 Ann Elizabeth Moyer MCES 105 M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Reading and Discussion course on selected topics in European History. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST620301
HIST 620-302 Topics in European Hist: Imperial Russian Hist Peter I. Holquist MCES 105 T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Reading and Discussion course on selected topics in European History.
HIST 620-303 Readings in Med & Early Mod Euro Hist Ada M Kuskowski Reading and Discussion course on selected topics in European History. Undergraduates Need Permission
HIST 630-301 Topics in Asian History: Chinese Democracy and Parliamentary Institutions Arthur Waldron COLL 311C R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Asian History. https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST630301
HIST 660-301 Topis in Lat Am/Carrib: Colonial Latin America Marcia Susan Norton WILL 741 T 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Latin American and Caribbean history
HIST 670-301 Topics:Transregional His: Debats & Method Econ His Marc R Flandreau MCNB 409 R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST670301
HIST 670-302 Topics:Transregional His: Interrogating Col Archiv Roquinaldo Ferreira BENN 19 M 02:00 PM-05:00 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History
HIST 670-303 Topics:Transregional His: State Formatn & Pol Econ Amy C Offner LRSM 112B R 01:30 PM-04:30 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History https://pennintouchdaemon.apps.upenn.edu/pennInTouchProdDaemon/jsp/fast.do?webService=syllabus&term=2019C&course=HIST670303
HIST 700-301 Prosem in History: the Study of History Daniel K Richter MCES 105 R 10:00 AM-01:00 PM Weekly readings, discussions, and writing assignments to develop a global perspective within which to study human events in various regional/cultural milieus, c. 1400 to the present. Permission Needed From Department