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 0012-301 First-Year Seminar: Why College? Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Jonathan L Zimmerman BENN 139 MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM This course will explore controversies and dilemmas surrounding American colleges, from their birth into the present. What is the purpose of “college”? How have these goals and objectives changed, across time and space? What should college do, and for whom? And how can colleges be reformed to meet their diverse purposes and constituencies? Topics of discussion will include affirmative action, “political correctness,” fraternities and sororities, sexual assault and safety, online education, and the recent trend towards “college for all.” For first-year students only. History & Tradition Sector
HIST 0013-001 First-Year Seminar: American Pasts in American Places Emma Hart VANP 627 M 10:15 AM-1:14 PM All around you are traces of America’s past. Some of them, like Independence Hall, are easy to see. Others are more obscure. The long-disappeared Philadelphia house where Cyrus Bustill, a free Black baker of the Revolutionary era, opened his school for Black children is visible only because of a recently erected historic marker. This course introduces you to the skills and techniques necessary to read America’s past in the landscape around you. Even a place like Independence Hall has had many meanings and uses since it was built in 1732 as each generation has projected their understanding of its significance onto its bricks and mortar. We will explore a variety of places – extant and long gone, local and farther afield – to uncover what they can tell us about the American past and its connections to the American present. Meetings will include field trips to places discussed in the course. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST0013001
HIST 0020-301 First-Year Seminar: Reading the Classics Antonio Feros VANP 627 TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM In this seminar we will study the early roots of Western culture -the Biblical, Greek and Roman traditions- as well as how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europeans reproduced, rethought and reshaped these early traditions. Instead of reading and discussing the required texts according to the date when they were written (first the early traditions and then the Renaissance views), we will focus our attention on a few themes that were central concerns to those living in Classic and Renaissance times and that continue to influence modern ways of thinking and acting in Western societies: conceptions of God and place of religion in society; nature of power and authority, and individuals’ rights and duties; good and evil; views on women, their nature and roles in society; ethnography and the perception of other cultures and societies. In addition to reading and discussing several biblical books — Genesis, Exodus, The Book of Revelation — we will work with other seminal classical works — Sophocles' Antigone, Aristotle's Politicsand Ethics, Herodotus' The Histories, Plato's Apology — and works by Michel de Montaigne, Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor, Marie de Gournay, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Blaise Pascal, and several others. We will also work with books published in the last decades, analyzing the impact of these works in various periods of history, but also books that analyze the impact of these books and ideas today — Dreyfus and Kelly's All Things Shinning: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age, Anthony Grafton's Bring Out Your Dead: The Past as Revelation, James Miller's Examined Lives, from Socrates to Nietzsche, and Sarah Bakewell's How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer. History & Tradition Sector
HIST 0023-301 First-Year: Russia in the Age of Anna Karenina Peter I Holquist COLL 315A MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is an epic tale of passion, intrigue, tragedy and redemption. It is also a penetrating portrayal of Russian life and society in the period following the Great Reforms of the 1860s. This period, the third quarter of the nineteenth century, was both the time of the flowering of the Russian novel as well as the age of Russia 's imperial glory. In this course we will use Anna Karenina as the starting point for a multifaceted exploration of nineteenth century Russian history and culture. Among the topics we will discuss are family life, social relations, modernization and industrialization, gender and sexuality, revolutionary movements, imperialism, and political power. We will enhance our reading of the novel with a wide range of supplementary materials including memoirs, travel accounts, historical analysis, and art. This course will be organized in a seminar format. No prior knowledge of Russian history or literature is required. All readings are in English. Cross Cultural Analysis
Humanties & Social Science Sector
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST0023301
HIST 0030-401 First-Year Seminar: Africa in World History Lee V Cassanelli TOWN 307 MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM This seminar examines Africa's connections--economic, political, intellectual and cultural--with the wider world from ancient times to the 21st century, drawing on a diverse sample of historical sources. It also explores Africa's place in the imaginations of outsiders, from ancient Greeks to modern-day development "experts." Whether you know a lot or almost nothing about the continent, the course will get you to rethink your stereotypes and to question your assumptions about the importance of Africa in world history. First-year students only. AFRC0030401, AFRC0030401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
HIST 0031-401 Gender, Sexuality, and Social Change in the Middle East Secil Yilmaz CANCELED This first year seminar introduces basic concepts, debates, and narratives pertaining to the histories of gender and sexuality in the Middle East by covering the period from the late eighteenth century until the present day. In an engagement with global historical contexts, the course aims to engage students with the history of women, gender, and sexuality as they informed and shaped political and social change in the Middle East and vice versa. This course will concentrate on selected themes such as modernity, nationalism, and colonization to encourage students to challenge preconceived assumptions about Middle Eastern women, discuss some of the many roles they have played in social change, and think comparatively and transnationally about gender, history, and social life. In doing so, the class provides a historical context pertaining to the region’s history by presenting a chronologically and thematically organized analysis to scrutinize the decline of the Ottomans, the rise of nationalisms, the implications of Islamist reformism, colonial rules before and after World War I and their impact on shaping women’s lives, gender dynamics and sexual politics, the age of decolonization and rise of state feminisms under colonial and authoritarian regimes, an historical inquiry of same-sex desire and the political activism organized around LGBTQI+ movements, and finally contemporary political movements such as the Iranian Revolution and Arab Uprisings in shaping present discourses and practices informing individual and collective social and political status along with gendered and sexual politics in contemporary Middle Eastern societies.
GSWS0031401, GSWS0031401
HIST 0061-401 First-Year Seminar: Of Horses, Bows and Fermented Milk: the Turkish Empire in 15 Objects Oscar Aguirre Mandujano COLL 315A MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM The empires of the Turkic and Turkish peoples have stretched across much of Eurasia since before the Common Era until the twentieth century. We first hear of them in Chinese chroniclers’ tales of a powerful people in the wilderness. Greek historians, Byzantine writers, and Arab polymaths write about the empires of the steppes. Centuries later, the heirs of the heroes of these empires move south and west, establishing empires and tribal confederations beyond the steppe, in Central Asia, Anatolia, and the Middle East. The Turkic empires seem to appear in the periphery of many civilizations, challenging, and, one could say, enriching their borders. But looking at a map, is really more than a half of Eurasia a periphery? If we flip the map, could we say these historians were writing from the margins of the Turkish empires? This course introduces the student to the history of empire by following the various histories of Turkic and Turkish people through 15 objects. It discusses the questions of periphery, borders, and the divide between agrarian, pastoral, and nomadic societies. The student will learn to derive historical questions and hypothesis through the intensive study of material culture, literature, and historical writing tracing the long and diverse history of the bow, the saddle, dumplings, and fermented milk (among others) across Eurasia. NELC0460401, NELC0460401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
HIST 0108-601 American Origins Anna L Todd COLL 318 TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM The United States was not inevitable. With that assumption as its starting point, this course surveys North American history from about 1500 to about 1850, with the continent's many peoples and cultures in view. The unpredictable emergence of the U.S. as a nation is a focus, but always in the context of wider developments: global struggles among European empires; conflicts between indigenous peoples and settler-colonists; exploitation of enslaved African labor; evolution of distinctive colonial societies; and, finally, independence movements inspired by a transatlantic revolutionary age. Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
History & Tradition Sector
Global Issues
HIST 0240-401 The Rise and Fall of the Russian Empire, 1552-1917 Peter I Holquist MCNB 286-7 MW 10:15 AM-11:14 AM How and why did Russia become the center of the world's largest empire, a single state encompassing eleven time zones and over a hundred ethnic groups? To answer this question, we will explore the rise of a distinct political culture beginning in medieval Muscovy, its transformation under the impact of a prolonged encounter with European civilization, and the various attempts to re-form Russia from above and below prior to the Revolution of 1917. Main themes include the facade vs. the reality of central authority, the intersection of foreign and domestic issues, the development of a radical intelligentsia, and the tension between empire and nation. HIST5240401, HIST5240401, REES0310401, REES0310401, REES5310401, REES5310401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST0240401 Diplomatic, European Europe, pre-1800
HIST 0310-401 Warriors, Concubines & Converts: the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East & Europe Oscar Aguirre Mandujano
Zeinab Eskandari
COLL 314 MW 12:00 PM-1:29 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. NELC0450401, NELC0450401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST0310401 Diplomatic, European, World Africa/Middle East, Europe, pre-1800
HIST 0350-401 Africa Since 1800 Lee V Cassanelli
Taylor Prescott
MEYH B3 MW 12:00 PM-12:59 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. AFRC0350401, AFRC0350401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
World Africa/Middle East
HIST 0360-401 History of the Middle East Since 1800 Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet COLL 314 TR 1:45 PM-2:44 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. NELC0650401, NELC0650401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
World Africa/Middle East
HIST 0400-401 Colonial Latin America Marcia Susan Norton STNH AUD MW 12:00 PM-12:59 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. AFRC0400401, AFRC0400401, LALS0400401, LALS0400401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST0400401 World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800
HIST 0720-401 Ancient Greece Jeremy James Mcinerney ARCH 208 MW 12:00 PM-12:59 PM The Greeks enjoy a special place in the construction of western culture and identity, and yet many of us have only the vaguest notion of what their culture was like. A few Greek myths at bedtime when we are kids, maybe a Greek tragedy like Sophokles' Oidipous when we are at school: these are often the only contact we have with the world of the ancient Mediterranean. The story of the Greeks, however, deserves a wider audience, because so much of what we esteem in our own culture derives from them: democracy, epic poetry, lyric poetry, tragedy, history writing, philosophy, aesthetic taste, all of these and many other features of cultural life enter the West from Greece. The oracle of Apollo at Delphi had inscribed over the temple, "Know Thyself." For us, that also means knowing the Greeks. We will cover the period from the Late Bronze Age, c. 1500 BC, down to the time of Alexander the Great, concentrating on the two hundred year interval from 600-400 BC. ANCH0101401, ANCH0101401, CLST0101401, CLST0101401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=ANCH0101401 European Europe
HIST 0724-401 Portraits of Old Rus: Myth, Icon, Chronicle Julia Verkholantsev WILL 723 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM Three modern-day nation-states – Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus – share and dispute the cultural heritage of Old Rus, and their political relationships revolve around interpretations of the past. Has the medieval Rus state been established by the Vikings or by the local Slavs? Is early Rus a mother state of Russia or of Ukraine, and, therefore, should it be spelled ‘Kyivan Rus,’ or ‘Kievan Rus’ in English? Has the culture of Russian political despotism been inherited from the Mongols, or is it an autochthonous ideology? The constructed past has a continuing importance in modern Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, and it is keenly referenced, often manipulatively, in contemporary social and political discourse. For example, President Putin invaded Ukraine under a pretense that its territory has “always” been an integral part of Russia and its history.
The course covers eight centuries of cultural, political, and social history of the lands that are now within the borders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, from early historical records through the 18th century, a period that laid the foundation for the Russian Empire and the formation of modern nations. Students gain knowledge about formative events and prominent figures, as well as social and cultural developments during this period.
The course takes multidisciplinary approach by combining the study of textual sources, objects of art and architecture, music, ritual, and film in their social and historical contexts. Students learn to analyze and interpret primary sources (historical documents and literary texts), identify their intellectual issues, and understand the historical, cultural, and social contexts in which these sources emerged. While working with these primary sources students learn to pose questions about their value and reliability as historical evidence. By exposing students to the critical examination of “the uses of the past,” the course aims to teach them to appreciate the authoritative nature of historical interpretation and its practical application in contemporary social and political rhetoric. The study of pre-modern cultural and political history through the prism of nationalism theories explains many aspects of modern Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian societies, as well as political aspirations of their leaders. At the end of the course, students should develop understanding of the continuity and change in the history of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, their belief systems, and nationalistic ideologies, and will be able to speak and write about these issues with competence and confidence.
REES0100401, REES0100401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
European, Intellectual Europe
HIST 0730-401 Introduction to the Ancient Near East Joshua A Jeffers MEYH B4 TR 3:30 PM-4:29 PM The great pyramids and mysterious mummies of Egypt, the fabled Tower of Babel, and the laws of the Babylonian king Hammurabi are some of the things that might come to mind when you think of the ancient Near East. Yet these are only a very few of the many fascinating -- and at time perplexing -- aspects of the civilizations that flourished there c. 3300-300 BCE. This is where writing first developed, where people thought that the gods wrote down what would happen in the future on the lungs and livers of sacrificed sheep, and where people knew how to determine the length of hypotenuse a thousand years before the Greek Pythagoras was born. During this course, we will learn more about these other matters and discover their place in the cultures and civilizations of that area. This is an interdisciplinary survey of the history, society and culture of the ancient Near East, in particular Egypt and Mesopotamia, utilizing extensive readings from ancient texts in translation (including the Epic of Gilgamesh, "one of the great masterpieces of world literature"), but also making use of archaeological and art historical materials. The goal of the course is to gain an appreciation of the various societies of the time, to understand some of their great achievements, to become acquainted with some of the fascinating individuals of the time (such as Hatshepsut, "the women pharaoh," and Akhenaten, "the heretic king"), and to appreciate the rich heritage that they have left us. ANCH0100401, ANCH0100401, NELC0001401, NELC0001401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
World Africa/Middle East
HIST 0811-401 Faculty-Student Collaborative Action Seminar in Urban University-Community Rltn Ira Harkavy
Theresa E Simmonds
This seminar helps students develop their capacity to solve strategic, real-world problems by working collaboratively in the classroom, on campus, and in the West Philadelphia community. Students develop proposals that demonstrate how a Penn undergraduate education might better empower students to produce, not simply "consume," societally-useful knowledge, as well as to function as caring, contributing citizens of a democratic society. Their proposals help contribute to the improvement of education on campus and in the community, as well as to the improvement of university-community relations. Additionally, students provide college access support at Paul Robeson High School for one hour each week. AFRC1780401, AFRC1780401, AFRC1780401, URBS1780401, URBS1780401, URBS1780401 Cultural Diviserity in the U.S. American US
HIST 0812-401 Perspectives on Urban Poverty Robert P Fairbanks MCNB 286-7 M 5:15 PM-8:14 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. SOCI2944401, SOCI2944401, URBS4200401, URBS4200401 Cultural Diviserity in the U.S. American, Economic US
HIST 0825-401 Portraits of Soviet Society: Literature, Film, Drama Siarhei Biareishyk WILL 27 MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM How can art and literature open a window on Russian lives lived over the course of the tumultuous twentieth century? This course adopts a unique approach to questions of cultural and social history. Each week-long unit is organized around a medium-length film, text or set of texts by some of the most important cultural figures of the era (novella, play, memoir, film, short stories) which opens up a single scene of social history: work, village, avant-garde, war, Gulag, and so on. Each cultural work is accompanied by a set of supplementary materials: historical readings, paintings, cultural-analytical readings, excerpts from other literary works, etc. We will read social history through culture and culture through history. REES0130401, REES0130401, REES6130401, REES6130401 Humanties & Social Science Sector European, Intellectual Europe
HIST 0850-401 Introduction to Modern India Daud Ali
Anirudh Karnick
LLAB 109 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This introductory course will provide an outline of major events and themes in Indian history, from the Mughal Empire in the 16th century to the re-emergence of India as a global player in the 21st century. The course will discuss the following themes: society and economy in Mughal India; global trade between India and the West in the 17th century; the rise of the English East India Company's control over Indian subcontinent in the 18th century; its emergence and transformation of India into a colonial economy; social and religious reform movements in the 19th century; the emergence of elite and popular anti-colonial nationalisms; independence and the partition of the subcontinent; the emergence of the world's largest democracy; the making of an Indian middle class; and the nuclearization of South Asia. SAST0001401, SAST0001401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
World East/South Asia
HIST 0851-001 India: Culture and Society Anannya Bohidar
Ayesha Sheth
MEYH B5 MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM What makes India INDIA? Religion and Philosophy? Architectural 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. RELS0008001, RELS0008001, SAST0008001, SAST0008001 Humanties & Social Science Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
World East/South Asia
HIST 0870-401 Introduction to Digital Humanities Cassandra Hradil
Whitney A Trettien
BENN 231 MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This course provides an introduction to foundational skills common in digital humanities (DH). It covers a range of new technologies and methods and will empower scholars in literary studies and across humanities disciplines to take advantage of established and emerging digital research tools. Students will learn basic coding techniques that will enable them to work with a range data including literary texts and utilize techniques such as text mining, network analysis, and other computational approaches. See the English Department's website at www.english.upenn.edu for a description of the current offerings. COML1650401, COML1650401, ENGL1650401, ENGL1650401
HIST 0876-401 Medicine in History Amy S Lutz COHN 402 TR 1:45 PM-2:44 PM This course surveys the history of medical knowledge and practice from antiquity to the present. No prior background in the history of science or medicine is required. The course has two principal goals: (1)to give students a practical introduction to the fundamental questions and methods of the history of medicine, and (2)to foster a nuanced, critical understanding of medicine's complex role in contemporary society. The couse takes a broadly chronological approach, blending the perspectives of the patient,the physician,and society as a whole--recognizing that medicine has always aspired to "treat" healthy people as well as the sick and infirm. Rather than history "from the top down"or "from the bottom up,"this course sets its sights on history from the inside out. This means, first, that medical knowledge and practice is understood through the personal experiences of patients and caregivers. It also means that lectures and discussions will take the long-discredited knowledge and treatments of the past seriously,on their own terms, rather than judging them by todays's standards. Required readings consist largely of primary sources, from elite medical texts to patient diaries. Short research assignments will encourge students to adopt the perspectives of a range of actors in various historical eras. HSOC0400401, HSOC0400401, STSC0400401, STSC0400401 History & Tradition Sector World
HIST 1110-001 Hamilton's America: US History 1776-1804 Vanjessica Gladney
Sarah L H Gronningsater
Jennifer Whitney Reiss
LLAB 10 TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM In this course, students will learn about the political, constitutional, and social history of the United States from 1776 (the year the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain) to 1800 (the year Thomas Jefferson won the presidency in a heated partisan election for the presidency). Alexander Hamilton, an influential American statesman during this time, will be our guide to the many events and transformations that occurred during these years. The course is not, however, a biographical course about Hamilton. Topics covered include: the politics of independence, the Revolutionary War, the development of state and national republics, the creation of the U.S. Constitution, the role of ordinary people in the politics of the time period, the problem of slavery in the new nation, Native American power and loss, diplomatic affairs, and the rise of partisan politics. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1110001 American pre-1800, US
HIST 1121-401 The American South Maria Hammack
Ana Paula Nadalini Mendes
MCNB 150 MW 5:15 PM-6:44 PM Southern culture and history from 1607-1860, from Jamestown to seccession. Traces the rise of slavery and plantation society, the growth of Southern sectionalism and its explosion into Civil War. AFRC1121401, AFRC1121401 Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
History & Tradition Sector
American pre-1800, US
HIST 1127-401 Afro-American History 1550-1876 Mia E Bay
Alexandra Sanchez Rolon
Niiaja Wright
FAGN 116 TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM This course examines the experiences of Africans and African Americans in colonial America and in the United States to 1865. We will explore a variety of themes through the use of primary and secondary sources. Topics include: the development of racial slavery, labor, identity, gender, religion, education, law, protest, resistance, and abolition. AFRC1176401, AFRC1176401 Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
History & Tradition Sector
American pre-1800, US
HIST 1153-401 Transformations of Urban America: Making the Unequal Metropolis, 1945 to Today Randall B Cebul
Dominique Wilkerson
COLL 314 MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM 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. URBS1153401, URBS1153401 Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
Society Sector
American, Economic US
HIST 1155-401 Introduction to Asian American History Eiichiro Azuma
Zhaoyuan Yu
COHN 402 MW 3:30 PM-4:59 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. ASAM0102401, ASAM0102401 History & Tradition Sector
Cultural Diviserity in the U.S.
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1155401 American, World US
HIST 1169-401 History of American Law Since 1877 Sarah B Gordon COHN 402 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM This course covers the development of legal rules and principles concerning individual and group conduct in the United States since 1877. Such subjects as regulation and deregulation, legal education and the legal profession, and the legal status of women and minorities will be discussed. AFRC1169401, AFRC1169401 Cultural Diviserity in the U.S. American, Intellectual US
HIST 1200-401 Foundations of European Thought: from Rome to the Renaissance Hannah Phoebe Leclair
Ann Elizabeth Moyer
COLL 318 TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM 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. COML1201401, COML1201401 History & Tradition Sector
Cross Cultural Analysis
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1200401 European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800
HIST 1310-401 Africa and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Roquinaldo Ferreira COLL 314 MW 5:15 PM-6:44 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. AFRC1310401, AFRC1310401, LALS1310401, LALS1310401 Cross Cultural Analysis World Africa/Middle East, pre-1800
HIST 1350-401 Faces of Jihad in African Islam Cheikh Ante Mbacke Babou WILL 421 TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM 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. AFRC1350401, AFRC1350401 Cross Cultural Analysis https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1350401 Intellectual, World Africa/Middle East
HIST 1361-401 Sex Matters: Politics of Sex in the Modern Middle East Secil Yilmaz BENN 345 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM The course concentrates on the history of sexuality as it informed and shaped political and social change in the Middle East, and vice versa, in an engagement with global historical contexts. What does sexuality have to do with power, political rule, and mass movements in the modern Middle East? What can the study of sexuality and body politics teach us about colonialism and state formation over centuries of imperial rules and colonial regimes, as well as in the contemporary context of neoliberal capitalism? What is the relationship between studying LGBTQIA+ movements alongside with feminism and the use of sex and sexuality as an analytical category? This course will investigate selected themes such as modernity, nationalism, and colonization and connect them to harem lives, politics of veiling/unveiling, reproductive rights, race, polygamy, masculinity, and early modern concepts of same-sex desire in connection with modern queer thought and activism to ask questions about the preconceived notions about "Middle Eastern sexualities." The course focuses on discussing on some of the many roles that sex and gender politics have played in social and political change in the Middle East, while thinking about gender, history, and society comparatively and transnationally. GSWS1361401, GSWS1361401 Gender, World Africa/Middle East
HIST 1455-401 Independence and Revolution in Latin America: Crises and Crossroads Juan P Ardila Falla MCNB 582 R 5:15 PM-8:14 PM Was it inevitable that the countries in Latin America would become independent, republican nations? What was the impact of revolutions throughout the region from Mexico to Buenos Aires? This course studies the main social, political, economic, and cultural tensions that shook Spanish and Portuguese America during the first decades of the nineteenth century. Through close readings of primary and secondary sources, we will reflect on the meanings and implications of independence and the rise of new republican nations throughout the region. The course is expansive across time and space as we explore topics including the Tupac Amaru Rebellion in Perú, the Comunero Revolt in New Granada, and how the French and Haitian Revolutions, as well as U.S. independence, were perceived throughout Spanish and Portuguese America. We will also delve deeply into the diversity of independence movements. Why did a monarch hold onto power for years after independence was proclaimed in Brazil? How were societies divided during the struggle and who fought on which side? The course culminates with a study of the impact and legacy of independence and revolutions on the region in the mid-19th century and thereafter. LALS1455401, LALS1455401 Cross Cultural Analysis Diplomatic, World Latin America/Caribbean
HIST 1475-401 History of Brazil: Slavery, Inequality, Development Melissa Teixeira CANCELED 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. AFRC1475401, AFRC1475401, LALS1475401, LALS1475401 Cross Cultural Analysis Economic, World Latin America/Caribbean
HIST 1550-401 East Asian Diplomacy Frederick R Dickinson
Alice Liu
Kimberly St Julian Varnon
BENN 419 MW 12:00 PM-12:59 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 should consult graduate syllabus for graduate reading list, special recitation time and graduate requirements. EALC1711401, EALC1711401, EALC5711401, EALC5711401, HIST5550401, HIST5550401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1550401 Diplomatic, World East/South Asia
HIST 1593-401 20th Century China: Democracy, Constitutions, and States Andrew Starling
Arthur Waldron
COLL 314 TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM 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. EALC1731401, EALC1731401 World East/South Asia
HIST 1610-401 Medieval and Early Modern Jewry Anne O Albert CANCELED Exploration of intellectual, social, and cultural developments in Jewish civilization from the rise of Islam in the seventh century to the assault on established conceptions of faith and religious authority in 17th century Europe, that is, from the age of Mohammed to that of Spinoza. Particular attention will be paid to the interaction of Jewish culture with those of Christianity and Islam. JWST1610401, JWST1610401, JWST1610401, NELC0355401, NELC0355401, NELC0355401, RELS1610401, RELS1610401, RELS1610401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
European, Jewish, World Africa/Middle East, Europe, pre-1800
HIST 1710-401 Jews in the Modern World Beth S Wenger
Alexandra Zborovsky
FAGN 216 TR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM This course offers an intensive survey of the major currents in Jewish culture and society from the late middle ages to the present. Focusing upon the different societies in which Jews have lived, the course explores Jewish responses to the political, socio-economic, and cultural challenges of modernity.Topics to be covered include the political emancipation of Jews, the creation of new religious movements within Judaism, Jewish socialism, Zionism, the Holocaust, and the emergence of new Jewish communities in Israel and the United States. No prior background in Jewish history is expected. JWST1710401, JWST1710401, NELC0360401, NELC0360401, RELS1710401, RELS1710401 Cross Cultural Analysis
History & Tradition Sector
https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1710401 Jewish, World Europe
HIST 1731-401 Financial Meltdown, Past and Present Maylis Avaro
Edward M Chappell
Marc R Flandreau
Ryan D Zalla
ANNS 109 TR 1:45 PM-3:14 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. ECON0620401, ECON0620401 Humanties & Social Science Sector https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST1731401 Economic, European Europe
HIST 2151-301 History of Baseball, 1840 to the present Sarah L H Gronningsater VANP 627 R 10:15 AM-1:14 PM This course explores the history of baseball in the United States. It covers, among other topics, the first amateur clubs in the urban North, the professionalization and nationalization of the sport during and after the Civil War era, the rise of fandom, baseball’s relationship to anxieties about manhood and democracy, tensions between labor and management, the Negro Leagues, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, Nisei baseball during World War Two, Jackie Robinson and desegregation, and the Latinization of baseball. The history of baseball is, in many respects, the history of the United States writ large as well as the history of the myths that Americans tell about themselves. American Seminar, US
HIST 2154-301 The State of the Union is not Good: The US in Crisis in the 1970s Randall B Cebul VANP 402 W 1:45 PM-4:44 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. American Seminar, US
HIST 2201-401 The City of Rome: From Constantine to the Borgias Ann Elizabeth Moyer COLL 311A TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM The great city of Rome outlived its empire and its emperors. What happened to the Eternal City after “the fall of the Roman Empire in the West?” In this course, we will follow the story of this great city, its people, its buildings old and new, and its legacy across Italy, Europe, and beyond. Rome rebuilt and reshaped itself through the Middle Ages: home for popes, destination for pilgrims, power broker for Italy. It became a great Renaissance and early modern city, a center of art and architecture, of religion, and of politics. We will be reading a mix of primary sources and modern scholarship. All required texts are in English, though students who take this course for Italian Studies credit may choose to read some works in Italian. ITAL2201401, ITAL2201401 Cross Cultural Analysis https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST2201401 European, Intellectual Europe, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 2351-401 Silencing: Voices of Dissent in the Middle East Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet COLL 311F R 3:30 PM-6:29 PM The Middle East boasts a rich and vibrant literary tradition. At the same time, modern Middle Eastern literature has incorporated innovative techniques to produce unique literary forms that give meaning to the contemporary circumstances of the region. This course will survey this literary history as a window through which to observe and understand Middle Eastern society. We will begin by reading excerpts from classical texts, since these works resonate strongly in contemporary Middle Eastern culture. Next, we will read Middle Eastern novels from various countries and different eras. The last part of the course will focus on memoirs that shed light on wars and conflicts through personal reflections. We will use literary works (epic poetry, novels, memoirs) as historical texts and analyze the social milieux in which these works emerged. NELC2565401, NELC2565401 Cross Cultural Analysis Intellectual, World Africa/Middle East, Seminar
HIST 2401-401 Indians, Pirates, Rebels and Runaways: Unofficial Histories of the Colonial Caribbean Yvonne E Fabella DRLB 4C4 W 1:45 PM-4:44 PM This seminar considers the early history of the colonial Caribbean, not from the perspective of European colonizing powers but rather from “below.” Beginning with European-indigenous contact in the fifteenth century, and ending with the massive slave revolt that became the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), we will focus on the different ways in which indigenous, African, European and creole men and women experienced European colonization in the Caribbean, as agents, victims and resistors of imperial projects. Each week or so, we will examine the experiences of a different social group and their treatment by historians, as well as anthropologists, archaeologists, sociologists, and novelists. Along the way, we will pay special attention to the question of primary sources: how can we recover the perspectives of people who rarely left their own accounts? How can we use documents and material objects—many of which were produced by colonial officials and elites—to access the experiences of the indigenous, the enslaved, and the poor? We will have some help approaching these questions from the knowledgeable staff at the Penn Museum, the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the Van Pelt Library. AFRC2401401, AFRC2401401, GSWS2401401, GSWS2401401, LALS2401401, LALS2401401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST2401401 Diplomatic, World Latin America/Caribbean, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 2605-401 The Jewish Book from Scroll to Screen Joshua Teplitsky VANP 625 MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM Through much of their history, Jews have been known as a “people of the book” and have, often, prided themselves on such an association. The very definition of a book, what books contained, and who might use them are not so easy to define, and their study opens up new ways to think about the Jewish past. Books are perhaps the most important way people share ideas and change minds. But they are also commercial goods, collectors’ items, community memories, and cherished heirlooms.
This course offers a cultural history of communication and knowledge in Jewish experience through an exploration of the history of the book. It will use primary sources, scholarly articles, and hands-on encounters with books in different shapes and sizes to explore the way people of the past engaged with books both texts and material objects. It will also offer examples of new methods in the study of the book drawn from the digital humanities. Tracing changing conceptions and uses of the book from the ancient world until the present, we will consider the way that books have shaped religion, caused upheaval, and changed over time, even to face their possible obsolescence in our own age.
JWST2605401, JWST2605401 European, Intellectual, Jewish, World Europe, pre-1800, Seminar
HIST 2708-301 War and the Arts Arthur Waldron COLL 217 T 1:45 PM-4:44 PM War, it is often forgotten, is powerfully reflected in the arts. This highly flexible student-driven seminar will examine the phenomenon. Each student will choose a topic and materials for us all to examine and then discuss after an interval of 1-2 weeks. With benefit of discussion they will write a paper 10pp maximum, summing up topic and reactions, as we seek broader understanding.
The material is very rich. Goya (1746-1829) Picasso ( 1881-1973) both dealt with war in ways that scholars have examined, as did John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) whose immense canvas “gassed” (1919) not yet received monographic treatment. Of musicians, Shostakovich (1906-1975) is very promising; sculptor and artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) is of an inexpressible profundity that takes us to issues of mourning. Novels of Zola (1840-1902) and Proust (1871-1922) are great literature that deals in places with military issues. Students are of course strongly encouraged to choose their own topics.
We will begin with several weeks on Vietnam, our understanding of which has been completely transformed by the pivotally important work of Lien-Hang Thuy Nguyen, Penn Grad and Professor at Columbia, who may join us. For the first two classes we should read a short play, “The Columnist” by David Auburn, about Joseph Alsop (1910-1989) a highly influential writer of the Vietnam era, and relative of the professor. That should get things started. Then dig into “The Centurions” (1960) by Jean Laterguy (1920-2011) an absorbing novel.
World Seminar
HIST 3173-401 Penn Slavery Project Research Seminar Kathleen M Brown MCES 105 T 1:45 PM-4:44 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. AFRC3173401, AFRC3173401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3173401 American Research, Seminar, US
HIST 3201-301 Capitalism and Charity: The Long, Complicated Connection Thomas M Safley FAGN 110 W 12:00 PM-2:59 PM Capitalism and charity seldom appear in the same sentence, much less the same title. They seem diametrically opposed. While capitalism is commonly understood as “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit”, according to Merriam-Webster, charity refers to “generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering, also aid given to those in need”. The former implies self-interest, while the other breathes common interest. Yet, the two are closely, dynamically connected. As capitalism has emerged and evolved historically, so has charity changed to meet new circumstances and find new legitimations. From simple charity in the form of indiscriminate alms-giving have emerged “poor relief”, “work relief”, “social welfare” and, more recently “effective altruism” to name but a few permutations. Charity as a personal, face-to-face interaction between rich and poor has become cloaked in varieties of impersonal programs and institutions. This research seminar will explore the tensions (and synergies) between capitalism and charity over time. Through readings and discussions of primary sources, students will come to understand something of this historical dynamic. By completing independent research projects, they will contribute to that understanding as well. Cross Cultural Analysis https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3201301 Economic, European, World Europe, pre-1800, Research, Seminar
HIST 3252-401 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud: Masters of Suspicion Warren G Breckman WILL 633 R 12:00 PM-2:59 PM In his influential book Freud & Philosophy, the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur identified three master thinkers whose influence on the twentieth century was inestimable.  What these figures shared was what Ricoeur called a “hermeneutics of suspicion”; that is, in their different ways, each developed a style of interpretation aimed at unmasking, demystifying, and exposing the real from the apparent.  “Three masters, seemingly mutually exclusive, dominate the school of suspicion: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.” Taking its inspiration from Ricoeur, this seminar will explore some of the key writings of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.  We will encounter the hermeneutics of suspicion above all in these authors’ attempts to unmask religion and reveal its true origin and function.  And we shall also pursue the hermeneutics of suspicion in the specific concerns that form the core of each thinker’s work: Marx’s critique of capitalism, Nietzsche’s genealogy of Judaeo-Christian morality, skepticism about ‘truth’, and proto-deconstruction of the human self, and Freud’s theory of the unconscious.  The final weeks of the course will be devoted to independent research and writing of an original essay in intellectual history. COML3252401, COML3252401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3252401 European, Intellectual Europe, Research, Seminar
HIST 3350-401 Religion and Colonial Rule in Africa Cheikh Ante Mbacke Babou VANP 402 R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM This course is designed to introduce students to the religious experiences of Africans and to the politics of culture. We will examine how traditional African religious ideas and practices interacted with Christianity and Islam. We will look specifically at religious expressions among the Yoruba, Southern African independent churches and millenarist movements, and the variety of Muslim organizations that developed during the colonial era. The purpose of this course is threefold. First, to develop in students an awareness of the wide range of meanings of conversion and people's motives in creating and adhering to religious institutions; Second, to examine the political, cultural, and psychological dimensions in the expansion of religious social movements; And third, to investigate the role of religion as counterculture and instrument of resistance to European hegemony. Topics include: Mau Mau and Maji Maji movements in Kenya and Tanzania, Chimurenga in Mozambique, Watchtower churches in Southern Africa, anti-colonial Jihads in Sudan and Somalia and mystical Muslim orders in Senegal. AFRC3350401, AFRC3350401 Cross Cultural Analysis https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3350401 Diplomatic, World Africa/Middle East, Research, Seminar
HIST 3500-401 Women and the Making of Modern South Asia Ramya Sreenivasan COLL 315A MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This course on women in South Asian history has four objectives - 1. To acquaint ourselves with the historiography on South Asian women. 2. To gain an understanding of evolving institutions and practices shaping women's lives, such as the family, law and religious traditions. 3. To understand the impact of historical processes - the formation and breakdown of empire, colonialism, nationalism and decolonization - upon South Asian women between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. 4. To become familiar with some of the significant texts written about and by women in this period. We will read a wide variety of primary sources including a Mughal princess' account, devotional verse authored by women, conduct books, tracts, autobiographies and novels. GSWS2601401, GSWS2601401, SAST2260401, SAST2260401 Gender, World East/South Asia, Research, Seminar
HIST 3700-401 Abolitionism: A Global History Roquinaldo Ferreira VANP 305 T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM This class develops a transnational and global approach to the rise of abolitionism in the nineteenth century. In a comparative framework, the class traces the rise of abolitionism in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia, examining the suppression of the transatlantic slave trade, the rise of colonialism in Africa, and the growth of forced labor in the wake of transatlantic slave trade. We will deal with key debates in the literature of African, Atlantic and Global histories, including the causes and motivations of abolitionism, the relationship between the suppression of the slave trade and the growth of forced labor in Africa, the historical ties between abolitionism and the early stages of colonialism in Africa, the flow of indentured laborers from Asia to the Americas in the wake of the slave trade. This class is primarily geared towards the production of a research paper. *Depending on the research paper topic, History Majors and Minors can use this course to fulfill the US, Europe, Latin America or Africa requirement.* AFRC3700401, AFRC3700401, LALS3700401, LALS3700401 Diplomatic, European, World Europe, Research, Seminar
HIST 3703-401 Taking Off: How Some Economies Get Rich Melissa Teixeira COLL 314 T 3:30 PM-6:29 PM What makes an economy grow? This question has been asked – and answered – many times over in the modern era. From Adam Smith’s classic Wealth of Nations (1776) to today’s political leaders, many have debated the ingredients necessary for a nation to prosper, or policies to promote growth. Some point to the need for fiscal responsibility, others an educated labor force, or to tariffs, natural resources, and the right laws. This seminar explores the deep history of this problem of economic growth. Students will read works by economists, social scientists, and historians that present different theories for why some nations develop faster than others. With case studies from across the globe, we will tackle topics like why Europe industrialized first, or the paradox of why the abundance of natural resources does not necessarily contribute to long-lasting economic development. This course also asks students to think critically about the metrics used to measure “success” and “failure” across nations, as well as how such comparisons between societies have been mobilized to legitimize imperial expansion, human exploitation, environmental destruction, or political repression. By discussing how governments, corporate interests, and individual actors have implemented strategies to increase national wealth, students will also be asked to grapple with some of the consequences of economic growth for the environment, human welfare, and social inequality. *Students may fulfill one geographic requirement for the History major or minor with this course. The specific requirement fulfilled will be determined by the topic of the research paper. LALS3703401, LALS3703401 Economic, World Research, Seminar
HIST 3712-401 From Tablets to Tablets: A Long History of Technology and Communication Andrew Starling VANP 627 T 3:30 PM-6:29 PM The invention of new communications technologies is often accompanied by a swell of hope. Enthusiasts expect people to become more connected, new ideas to become more accessible, and information to be shared more rapidly and in more fixed forms than ever before. While there are always nay-sayers, who warn against the effects of such inventions, the narrative linking new communications technologies and progress is so strong that these detractors are most commonly painted as luddites, and the narrative itself is used to justify and promote yet newer media as well as new configurations of state and media relations.
In this class, we will examine some of the most significant transformations in the history of communications technology—from orality to writing, from tablet to scroll to codex, manuscript to print, hand-press to steam-press, print to radio, radio to tv, and tv to streaming and other forms of new media. We will ask some basic questions: How were these technologies made? How and by whom were these technologies used? How did contemporaries perceive them and the transformations they did or did not work? We will also ask some bigger questions: why do certain communications technologies emerge and get adopted when and where they do? Conversely, why are some communications technologies resisted at some times and in some places? What impacts do communications technologies have on the societies in which the appear? Do they alter the course of events? Do they change the way in which we think? If so, then how? Is the history of communication substitutive or additive? How is the digital age in which we live similar to or different from those that came before?
History Majors may use this course to fulfill the pre-1800 requirement depending on the topic of their research paper.
COML3712401, COML3712401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3712401
HIST 3920-001 European Diplomatic History 1789-1914 Molly E Leech
Walter A Mcdougall
ANNS 111 TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM This course will examine the international politics of Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, up to the outbreak of World War I. During these centuries, the European great powers experienced significant internal transformations and also a revolution in their relations, both of which reinforced and accelerated each other. In the process, Europe asserted a dominant position in world politics, but also sowed the seed for the terrible catastrophes of the 20th Century. The course will address this transformation of European diplomacy with special attention to the rivalries between the great powers, the impact of nationalism and emerging mass politics, the interplay between military and economic power, and the relationship between the European powers and the rest of the world. https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3920001 Diplomatic, European Europe
HIST 3923-401 Twentieth Century European Intellectual History Warren G Breckman COLL 318 MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM European intellectual and cultural history from 1870 to 1950. Themes to be considered include aesthetic modernism and the avant-garde, the rebellion against rationalism and positivism, Social Darwinism, Second International Socialism, the impact of World War One on European intellectuals, psychoanalysis, existentialism, and the ideological origins of fascism. Figures to be studied include Nietzsche, Freud, Woolf, Sartre, Camus, and Heidegger. COML3923401, COML3923401 https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST3923401 European, Intellectual Europe
HIST 4998-301 Senior Honors in History I Ann C Farnsworth COLL 315A R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM Open to senior honors candidates in history who will write their honors thesis during this seminar. Perm Needed From Department
HIST 5240-401 The Rise and Fall of the Russian Empire, 1552-1917 Peter I Holquist MCNB 286-7 MW 10:15 AM-11:14 AM How and why did Russia become the center of the world's largest empire, a single state encompassing eleven time zones and over a hundred ethnic groups? To answer this question, we will explore the rise of a distinct political culture beginning in medieval Muscovy, its transformation under the impact of a prolonged encounter with European civilization, and the various attempts to re-form Russia from above and below prior to the Revolution of 1917. Main themes include the facade vs. the reality of central authority, the intersection of foreign and domestic issues, the development of a radical intelligentsia, and the tension between empire and nation. HIST0240401, HIST0240401, REES0310401, REES0310401, REES5310401, REES5310401 Perm Needed From Instructor
HIST 5550-401 East Asian Diplomacy Frederick R Dickinson
Alice Liu
Kimberly St Julian Varnon
BENN 419 MW 12:00 PM-12:59 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 should consult graduate syllabus for graduate reading list, special recitation time and graduate requirements. EALC1711401, EALC1711401, EALC5711401, EALC5711401, HIST1550401, HIST1550401
HIST 6100-301 Topics in US Hist: African American History Mia E Bay VANP 305 W 3:30 PM-6:29 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in US history.
HIST 6700-301 Transnational Asia Si-Yen Fei MCES 105 M 1:00 PM-4:00 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST6700301
HIST 6700-302 Comparative Gender/Sexuality Kathleen M Brown MCES 105 R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST6700302
HIST 6700-303 Environmental History Marcia Susan Norton WILL 321 W 3:30 PM-6:29 PM Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202230&c=HIST6700303
HIST 7000-301 Proseminar in History Eve M Troutt Powell COLL 315A T 3:30 PM-6:29 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. This course is required for all PhD students, and is taken in the first year of study.