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College Catalog 2017-2018 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Courses

 

Hispanic Studies
  

  • HISP 427 - Dramatic Words: Hispanic Theater and Poetry

    Explores representative plays and poems from diverse authors and periods of Latin America, Spain, and/or the United States. An important component of this class is an examination of how theatre and poetry can shape individual and national consciousness. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s):  HISP 307  or consent of the instructor. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 433 - Translation: Theory/Practice

    This discussion/writing course explores certain contemporary translation theories that guide the practice of translation of various kinds of texts, including, but not limited to, literature, film, propaganda, advertising, and commerce. The primary goal, however, is to produce high quality translations of a wide variety of texts. Students work in Spanish and/or Portuguese and English. This course satisfies the Area 3 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s): HISP 307  or consent of the instructor. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 435 - History of the Spanish Language

    Cross-Listed as  
    An overview of Modern Spanish as it has developed over time. Course will trace the historical evolution of the most salient phonological, morpho-syntactic and lexical traits of Modern Spanish and will include study of the origins of American Spanish. Students will also be introduced to some of the principal theories of language change. This course satisfies the Area 3 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s): HISP 309  or consent of the instructor. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 436 - Spanish Dialectology

    Cross-Listed as   and LATI 436 
    A survey of modern dialectal variations of Spanish that includes examination of American Spanish dialects as well as those of the Iberian Peninsula. Sociolinguistic issues and historical aspects of dialect variation and study will be addressed, along with other extralinguistic factors. Through this course, students will be provided an introduction to theories of language change, as well as the history of the language, and will gain a broad understanding of the different varieties of Modern Spanish. This course satisfies the Area 3 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s): HISP 309  or consent of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 437 - Applied Linguistics: Spanish Second Language Acquisition

    Cross-Listed as  
    An overview of research projects on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. Students will learn about the theoretical approaches used in these studies as well as the effects of various pedagogical approaches on the development of Spanish interlanguage systems. While the focus of the course is on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language, students will gain a broad and useful understanding of different pedagogical issues directly related to the acquisition/learning process(es) of other second languages. This course satisfies the Area 3 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s):   or   or consent of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 441 - Portugal Meets ‘the Other’, Overseas: Portuguese Navigators from the 15th to 17th Century

    In this course we will read travel accounts, official historiography, and literature from the period in which Portugal became the first European overseas empire. The Portuguese linked continents and cultures as never before traveling by sea; indeed this process can be understood as the first globalization because of the cultural cross-pollination that Portugal’s voyages stirred up. We will focus on analyzing the way in which the Portuguese managed to portray ‘the Other’ by two contrary discourses: Portugal’s providential mission, and the race for economical profit through trade and war in Africa and the Middle and Far East. We will also study the appropriation and resignification of these matters on works of literature and visual arts produced in the contemporary era. The course will be taught in Portuguese. Prerequisite(s): HISP 331   Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 442 - Nation and Identity in the Hispanic World

    An examination of the origins and issues surrounding the formation and the evolution of nation-building in Spain, Latin America, and the United States. Past and current movements and allegiances are seen through the writings of key political, social, and philosophical authors. Such issues as regional autonomy in Spain, indigenous initiatives in Latin America, the Chicano movement in the United States, trade agreements, etc., are considered from early colonization through imperial expansion to present-day globalization. This course satisfies the Area 4 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s):   or   or consent of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 444 - The Family as History: The Stories of US Latinos

    Cross-Listed as  
    Examine and compare the stories of Latinas/os in the United States as told by themselves. Students will read authors of Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Mexican American origin. We will place a special emphasis on practices and values held both here and in the cultures of origin. The course will cover such subjects as family, social and economic struggles, individual aspirations and spiritual needs. The course will highlight language issues and use film to complement the readings. This course satisfies the Area 4 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major. Prerequisite(s):   or   or consent of the instructor. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 445 - Frontera: The U.S./Mexico Border

    Cross-Listed as AMST 445  and LATI 445 
    The border region between the United States and Mexico exists as both a physical space and an ideological construct. This seminar uses literary and filmic narratives to explore issues of identity, opportunity, and violence that arise from this contested space. How does the border shape individual and cultural identities? In what ways does the border create opportunities for both advancement and exploitation? How do these works engage conflicts and tensions of race, nationalism, gender, and power? The course will include writers and filmmakers from both countries, and we will read original texts both in Spanish and English. Prerequisite(s): HISP 308  Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 446 - Constructions of a Female Killer

    Cross-Listed as   and   
    Explorations of the relationship between women and violence typically take place from the perspective of women as victims. However, how does the discourse change when the traditional paradigm is inverted and we explore women as perpetrators of violence? This seminar examines representations of women who kill in Latin American and Latino narratives (including novels, short stories, films, and newspapers). Drawing on feminist theory, media studies, criminology, and literary criticism, we will seek to understand the ways women’s violence has been read and framed in contemporary society as well as how their violence intersects with discussions of nationalism, race, class, and gender. This course satisfies the Area 4 requirement for the Hispanic & Latin American Studies major.  Prerequisite(s):   or   or consent of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 488 - Senior Seminar

    The senior seminar is a capstone course that explores in depth a shifting field of topics. It helps students relate the subjects they have studied in their major field and assists students in demonstrating their familiarity with Hispanic cultures and in methods of analysis and presentation, culminating in the preparation and presentation of a major research project. It is primarily a discussion course that relies heavily on individual as well as collective effort. Required for Hispanic Studies majors. Category varies. Prerequisite(s): HISP 307  or   plus at least two literature courses offered in the Department of Hispanic Studies, or consent of the instructor. Every spring. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 494 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 601 - Tutorial

    Category varies. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (1 Credits)
  

  • HISP 602 - Tutorial

    Category varies. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (2 Credits)
  

  • HISP 603 - Tutorial

    Category varies. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (3 Credits)
  

  • HISP 604 - Tutorial

    Category varies. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 611 - Independent Project

    Category varies. Not available to substitute regularly offered courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (1 Credits)
  

  • HISP 612 - Independent Project

    Category varies. Not available to substitute regularly offered courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (2 Credits)
  

  • HISP 613 - Independent Project

    Category varies. Not available to substitute regularly offered courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (3 Credits)
  

  • HISP 614 - Independent Project

    Category varies. Not available to substitute regularly offered courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 621 - Internship

    Category 3. Prerequisite(s): Four courses in Hispanic Studies numbered 204 or above and permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. (1 Credits)
  

  • HISP 622 - Internship

    Category 3. Prerequisite(s): Four courses in Hispanic Studies numbered 204 or above and permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. (2 Credits)
  

  • HISP 623 - Internship

    Category 3. Prerequisite(s): Four courses in Hispanic Studies numbered 204 or above and permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. (3 Credits)
  

  • HISP 624 - Internship

    Category 3. Prerequisite(s): Four courses in Hispanic Studies numbered 204 or above and permission of instructor. Work with Internship Office. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 631 - Preceptorship

    Preceptorships give students the opportunity to observe and practice teaching skills. Available to highly accomplished students. Prerequisite(s): Some background reading and training in foreign language teaching and permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (1 Credits)
  

  • HISP 632 - Preceptorship

    Preceptorships give students the opportunity to observe and practice teaching skills. Available to highly accomplished students. Prerequisite(s): Some background reading and training in foreign language teaching and permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (2 Credits)
  

  • HISP 633 - Preceptorship

    Preceptorships give students the opportunity to observe and practice teaching skills. Available to highly accomplished students. Prerequisite(s): Some background reading and training in foreign language teaching and permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (3 Credits)
  

  • HISP 634 - Preceptorship

    Preceptorships give students the opportunity to observe and practice teaching skills. Available to highly accomplished students. Prerequisite(s): Some background reading and training in foreign language teaching and permission of instructor. Work with Academic Programs. (4 Credits)
  

  • HISP 641 - Honors Independent

    Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • HISP 642 - Honors Independent

    Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • HISP 643 - Honors Independent

    Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • HISP 644 - Honors Independent

    Every semester. (4 Credits)

History
  

  • HIST 110 - Introduction to European History

    A one semester introduction to the study of European history focusing on a selected period; designed primarily for lower division students who have no previous college-level background in this general field. Occasionally (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 112 - The Global in the Local

    This introductory level course uses historical frameworks and methodologies to explore that bumpersticker motto: “Think Globally. Act Locally.” Through readings, films, lectures, and discussion, this course explores central trends in world history; economic change, from industrialization and commercialization to globalization and the information economy; political activism, inside and outside electoral politics; the construction of gender, race, and class, and their impact on everyday lives; urbanization and the development of neighborhoods; immigration and the transformation of communities. We will use similar resources plus site visits, tours, guest lectures, and hands-on activities to explore how these trends have shaped the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. There will be key points where we will explore how local developments have shaped national patterns. Throughout, students will be positioned as historians to analyze the changing relationships between “the global” and “the local.” In the end, they will understand not only our local community better, but they will be better prepared to analyze any community in which they find themselves. Meets the global and/or comparative history requirement. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 114 - History of Africa to 1800

    A study of the history of Africa before 1800, this course covers the major themes relating to the development of African societies and cultures from the earliest times. Students will engage with themes of state-building, trade and religion as catalysts for change and learn how historians have reconstructed the history of early Africa. This course will provide students with knowledge of specific case studies from North, South, East, West, and Central Africa. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 115 - Africa Since 1800

    This course is designed to introduce students to the history of Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It examines major themes relating to change in the colonial period such as European conquest and imperialism, the development of the colonial economy, African responses to colonialism and the rise of nationalist movements that stimulated the movement towards independence. Students will examine these themes by applying them to case studies of specific geographic regions of the continent. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 121 - The Greek World

    Cross-Listed as CLAS 121 
    This course surveys the political, economic, and cultural development of the peoples of the ancient Greek world from the late Bronze Age through the Hellenistic era. Students will hone their critical thinking skills while working with translations of ancient literature, archaeological remains and works of art. The basic structure of the course is chronological, but we will examine major themes across time and space, which may include the interaction between physical landscape and historical change; rule by the one, the few and the many; the nature and development of literary and artistic genres; the economic, military, and/or cultural dimensions of empire; or the intersections of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, slave/free status and civic identity in the Greek world. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 122 - The Roman World

    Cross-Listed as CLAS 122 
    This course introduces students to the Roman world, which at its height stretched from Britain to Iran, from Germany to Africa, and lasted well over a thousand years. Students will develop critical thinking skills while working with Roman literature in translation, art, architecture and other archaeological remains. The structure of the course is chronological, but we will examine major themes across time and space, which may include the development of Roman literature out of and in response to Greek culture; the effects of the civil wars and the resulting political change from a republic to a monarchy; the cultural, religious and/or military aspects of the Roman empire and its immediate aftermath; Roman conceptions of gender, sexuality, slave and free status, citizenship and/or ethnicity, and how these social categories were used to legitimize or exercise power. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 137 - From Confederation to Confederacy: US History from Independence to the Civil War

    In the Plan of Union prepared during the 1754 “Albany Convention,” Anglo-American colonists met to consider uniting as a loose confederation for their common defense and to ally with the Iroquois confederacy. That plan failed, but a later experiment in unity succeeded when the united colonies declared independence. Nevertheless, social, cultural, and ideological differences persisted, and the union formed in 1776 was tried and tested before finally fracturing with the secession of South Carolina, precipitating the Civil War. In the intervening years, Americans grappled with how they should govern themselves, who should be included in the polity, and how society should be organized. Reformers considered the controversial issues of women’s rights, the role of Native Americans within the US, and the place of slavery in a nation founded on the precept that “All men are created equal.” This course covers the periods of the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the early national and antebellum periods, before concluding with the Civil War. It also considers the global causes and consequences of the war and the rise of the new United States. We will also analyze the construction of the myth and historical memory of Alexander Hamilton, the founding father who has captured the imagination of people in the modern U.S.  Through a study of the recent biography of Hamilton along with the music and stage production of Hamilton, we will consider both the biographical and mythical Alexander Hamilton in order to understand his era and our own. Spring semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 140 - Introduction to East Asian Civilization

    Cross-Listed as ASIA 140 
    This course introduces the cultures and societies of China, Japan and Korea from the earliest times to the present day. Primarily an introductory course for beginners in East Asian civilization, this course considers a variety of significant themes in religious, political, economic, social and cultural developments in the region. Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Every fall. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 154 - African Life Histories

    In this course we will learn about African history through the stories that Africans themselves have told about their own lives. We will use oral history, songs of West Africa’s griots; slave narratives; political autobiographies; theatre and film to explore the personal narration of lived experience. To guide our class discussions we will also consult scholarly essays about life history as a genre, to help us understand the methodology behind the production of these important texts. Class activities will include seminar discussions, writing workshops, a field trip and intermittent background lectures. Each student will carry out an individual research project on their topic of choice. Offered annually. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 180 - Going Global: The Experiment of World History

    What broad patterns do we see repeated across human cultures and eras? How do current international concerns shape the way we perceive these patterns, and retell the past? This course is an introduction to the youngest and boldest experimenters in the discipline of history: global historians. We follow these trail-blazers to every corner of the planet and across the grandest expanses of time, all the way from the emergence of Homo sapiens to present day. Such a sweeping survey of human history invites us to look beyond chronological, national, cultural and geographic boundaries. It also forces us to sharply rethink the methodology of traditional historians. Throughout our critical survey of world history we will assess the usefulness (and potential outdatedness) of the concepts of civilization, empire, revolution, and global networks. This course fulfills the global/comparative requirement for the major. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 181 - Introduction to Latin America and the Caribbean

    Cross-Listed as LATI 181 
    This course offers a general survey of the complex and heterogeneous region we somewhat reductively term Latin America. It follows a roughly chronological approach, beginning with the eve of encounter and continuing through the contemporary era. Discussions will consider themes such as the institution and legacy of colonialism, the search for new national identities, and the onset of modern racial and political strife. The course will emphasize the import of global economic, political, and cultural trends on the formation of the region. Meets the global and/or comparative history requirement. Offered every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 190 - Topics in US History

    A topical analysis of United States history stressing the historical antecedents of selected contemporary issues; designed primarily for underclassmen who have no previous college-level background in this general field. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 194 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 201 - History of U.S. Feminisms

    Cross-Listed as WGSS 201 
    This is an introductory course about the history of U.S. feminism as it was articulated and experienced in the United States from roughly 1800-1970. We will focus on not only on the experience of those who worked for the cause of women’s rights but also the ideologies at home and abroad that influenced feminist thought. In so doing, we will interrogate the myths about feminism and the backlash against it that are central to the history, culture, and politics of the United States. This course is especially concerned with the multiple and contradictory strains within feminism. Topics that the class will consider include: the roots of feminism as it took shape in the anti-slavery movement, the overlap of women’s rights and the civil rights movement of the twentieth century, and the women’s health movement, among others. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 209 - Civil Rights in the United States

    Cross-Listed as AMST 209  
    The course examines the post-World War II Civil Rights Movement led by African Americans in the United States.  In the class, students will analyze key people, issues, events, and debates within movement history, including, but not limited to, gender and leadership; struggles for civil rights in the south, west, and urban north; the impact of the Cold War on race relations; student activism; movement strategies; and the emergence of Black Power.  Throughout the semester, students will read a wide variety of primary and secondary texts to illuminate the activities and life stories of individual participants as well as the broad historical forces that characterized this long era of insurgency.    Every year (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 213 - Women in African History

    The objective of this course is to explore the role that women have played in the development of African history and to understand the major issues that define their experience as women from this region of the world. This course introduces students to the ways in which gender is studied in African history and to the major “break-through” works on women in African history. An important component of this course is the study of life histories of women from various geographical regions of the continent. Alternate years (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 219 - In Motion: African Americans in the United States

    Cross-Listed as AMST 219  
    In Motion is an introduction to modern African American History from slavery to contemporary times. In Motion emphasizes the idea that both African Americans and the stories of their lives in the United States are fluid, varied and continually being reinterpreted. Rather than a strict chronological survey, this course is organized thematically. Some of the important themes include movement/mobility/migration; work/labor; resistance to systems of oppression; gender/sexuality/culture/performance; politics/citizenship; and sites of (re)memory. While the course is geographically situated in the United States, we will also consider African American life, culture, thought and resistance in global perspectives. In this course, students will read important historical texts, both primary and secondary, engage in discussino, and write essays that ask them to critically engage the history of African Americans in the US. Cross-listed with History 219. 4 credits. Every year (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 222 - Imagining the American West

    Cross-Listed as   
    The American West is central to the construction of America’s identity and popular culture.  The mythology of the American West, built on a narrow foundation of Euro-American settlement and conquest, is critical to understanding the role of the West in the national narrative of American history. Using a variety of materials, including films, art and photography, literature, and historical sources, this course will examine how writers, artists, actors, settlers, and government officials, among others, shaped the creation of the mythic West.  This course will investigate what - and who - is and is not considered part of this mythology, as well as the ways in which these constructs attempted to make sense of the diverse populations converging in the West. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 224 - African American History: Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction

    Cross-Listed as AMST 224 
    This course explores the Afro-American experience from the villages of West Africa to the cotton plantations of the antebellum South. Considers West African social structure and culture, the international slave trade, the development of racism, the development of American slavery, the transformation of Afro-American culture over more than two centuries, the struggle, the possibilities of reconstruction, and the ultimate rise of share-cropping and segregation. Occasionally (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 225 - American Indian History to 1871

    Cross-Listed as AMST 225  
    The history of American Indians is wonderfully complex, but this history is simultaneously fraught with misconceptions and misinterpretations. European (and, later, Euro-Americans) alternated among fascination, fear, and frustration toward American Indians, while American Indians sought to maintain tribal sovereignty and control over their lands, cultures, religions, politics, and lifestyles amidst continuing encroachment and settlement. This course examines American Indian history to 1871 - the year that Congress stopped making treaties with Native nations - by considering the complicated and multifaceted history of the nation’s indigenous people. By looking at American Indian interactions with Spanish, French, British, and American explorers, settlers, missionaries, militaries, and government officials, this courses argues that the history of American Indians is essential to understanding past as well as present issues. Furthermore, this course looks to move beyond the notion that American Indian history is one of inevitable decline by creating a more nuanced understanding of the American Indian experience from pre-contact toward the twentieth century. Occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 226 - American Indian History since 1871

    Cross-Listed as AMST 226  
    This course examines Native American history since 1871. We begin with an introduction to indigenous history before 1871, characterized by centuries of Euro-American attempts to colonize and Christianize, to assimilate Native bodies and allot Native lands. We will then analyze the ways in which Native Americans have continually fought to sustain their cultures, languages, and religions, as well as their political and socio-economic structures, throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries. Focusing on themes such as Native resistance to the development of U.S. federal policies and the proliferation of Native culture, we will also consider the shifting nature of Native American sovereignty and the importance of indigenous identity in regards to the experiences of Native Americans. Offered spring semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 228 - Gender and Sexuality in Colonial America and the Early Republic

    Cross-Listed as WGSS 228 
    Since the 1960s historians have revisited early American history to identify populations on the margins and historical actors whose stories and experiences were neglected in the traditional canon of history. Historians of women made some of the first forays into this important work of recovery. Building up the foundations produced by women’s historians, the field of gender and sexuality studies have flourished and enriched the narratives of American history. This course examines American peoples and cultures from the 16th through early 19th centuries to uncover the ways in which gender and sexuality shaped the formation of an early American society. Particular attention will be given to the way that ideologies of gender and sexuality shaped early concepts of race and the development of North American political institutions. Occasionally (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 229 - Narrating Black Women’s Resistance

    Cross-Listed as AMST 229  and WGSS 229  
    This course examines traditions of 20th century African American women’s activism and the ways in which they have changed over time.  Too often, the narrative of the “strong black woman” infuses stories of African American women’s resistance which, coupled with a culture of dissemblance, makes the inner workings of their lives difficult to imagine. This course, at its heart, seeks to uncover the motivations, both personal and political, behind African American women’s activism. It also aims to address the ways in which African American women have responded to the pressing social, economic, and political needs of their diverse communities. The course also asks students to consider narrative, voice and audience in historical writing, paying particular attention to the ways in which black women’s history has been written over the course of the twentieth century. Every year (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 232 - Immigration and Ethnicity in US History

    Cross-Listed as AMST 232 
    An overview of U.S. history as seen through the experiences of newly arriving and adjusting immigrant groups. This course is designed primarily for students who have no previous college-level background in U.S. history. Occasionally (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 234 - U.S. Environmental History

    Cross-Listed as   
    People have always had to contend with the natural world, but only recently have historians begun to explore the changing relationships between people and their environment over time. In this course, we will examine the variety of ways that people in North America have shaped the environment, as well as how they have used, labored in, abused, conserved, protected, rearranged, polluted, cleaned, and thought about it. In addition, we will explore how various characteristics of the natural world have affected the broad patterns of human society, sometimes harming or hindering life and other times enabling rapid development and expansion. By bringing nature into the study of human history and the human past into the study of nature, we will begin to see the connections and interdependencies between the two that are often overlooked. Offered yearly. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 235 - Captives, Cannibals, and Capitalists in the Early Modern Atlantic World

    Cross-Listed as AMST 235  and LATI 235  
    This course explores cross-cultural encounters in the Americas that characterized the meetings of Europeans, Africans, and Americans in the early modern world between 1492 and 1763.  During this period, the Atlantic Ocean and its adjacent land masses became critical locations for economic, biological, and cultural exchanges.  This course focuses on the Americas as sites for discovery, mutual incomprehension, and exploitation.  The course explores the ways that conquest, resistance, and strategic cooperation shaped peoples’ “new worlds” on both sides of the Atlantic. It also considers how colonialism framed and was framed by scientific inquiry, religious beliefs, economic thought, and artistic expression.  Students interrogate primary sources-written, visual and aural–that emerged from these encounters and the secondary literatures that have sought to make sense of them. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 236 - Consumer Nation: American Consumer Culture in the 20th Century

    Cross-Listed as ENVI 236  
    “Of all the strange beasts that have com slouching into the 20th century,” writes James Twitchell, “none has been more misunderstood, more criticized, and more important than materialism.” In this course we will trace the various twists and turns of America’s vigorous consumer culture across the twentieth century, examining its growing influence on American life, its implications for the environmental health of the world, and the many debates it has inspired. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 244 - US Since 1945

    This course examines the tumultuous changes that define the postwar era in U.S. society and culture. Themes of the course will vary depending on instructor. Topics may include: cultural tensions of the Cold War era, the civil rights movement and Black Power, the women-s movement, postwar prosperity, suburbanization, the Vietnam War, and the New Right. Occasionally (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 248 - Jim Crow

    Cross-Listed as  
    This course examines the political, cultural, economic, and social ramifications of segregation in the United States from approximately 1865 to the present. While much of the course will focus on the South, we will also consider how racial boundaries were drawn in the West and North. The course will pay special attention to the ways racial boundaries became “fixed”, and how black men and women defied Jim Crow in the streets, courts, and in their homes. Additionally, this class examines how segregation has been forgotten and how and when it is remembered. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 250 - Science, Magic and Belief

    Events of the distant European past continue to shape our modern attitudes towards religion, magic and science. How did people in the sixteenth- and seventeenth- century Atlantic world use these frameworks to make sense of the world around them? In this course we will journey back to the period of the “Scientific Revolution” to investigate how and why people began to distinguish sharply between the three systems. Who lost, and who profited, from this transition? What similarities between religion, magic and science persisted? To understand this turning point, we will compare contemporaneous cases of individuals who practiced magic, science and religion and ran afoul of authorities. Their trials highlight how the three spheres began to diverge. Cases we will consider might include the 1633 trial of Galileo, and the 1663 witchcraft trial of Tempel Anneke in Germany. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 251 - Pirates, Translators, Missionaries: Between Atlantic Empires

    Why are cultural intermediaries often remembered as villains or traitors? This course calls the popular stereotype into question by focusing on four dramatic case studies of notorious but pivotal mediators who moved between the Spanish, Aztec, English, French, Kongolese and Portuguese empires of the early modern period. Among others, we will consider conflicting primary source accounts and current scholarship about the Dona Marina, the Mexica translator for the Army of Cortes; Nathaniel Courthope, and English profiteer who made a fortune peddling nutmeg between India and New York; two competing French pirates who sacked the South American port city of Cartagena de Indias twice in a single month; and Dona Beatriz, an Kongolese convert to Christianity who was burned at the stake for professing that she was possessed by the spirit of Saint Anthony. This diverse group of pirates, missionaries and translators walked a similar tightrope between worlds, both liberated and constrained by their border crossings. We will evaluate how gender, race, religion, and imperial loyalties affected the survival of this small group of interlopers, and how, in spite of this, they came to disproportionately influence events in the Atlantic world. This course fulfills both the global/comparative and pre-1800 requirements for the major. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 252 - Conversion and Inquisition: Religious Change

    What causes people to change their religious beliefs? How have societies handled those who do alter their spiritual attitudes? This course focuses on several dramatic case studies of men and women who self-consciously changed their religion during the turbulent period of imperial encounters between the mid-1500s and the 1700s. Among others, we will examine and interrogate reports of converts to Christianity including Jewish and Muslim prisoners of the Inquisition, captives of Mediterranean pirates, and the nearly canonized Mohawk convert Catherine Tekakwitha. We will consider how violence, national loyalties, gender, charisma, local power dynamics, environmental upheaval, and serendipity affected the choices and fates of these converts. This course fulfills both the global/comparative and pre-1800 requirements for the major. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 256 - Transatlantic Slave Trade

    Cross-Listed as AMST 256 
    This class examines the Atlantic commerce in African slaves that took place roughly between 1500 and 1800. We will explore, among other topics, transatlantic commerce, the process of turning captives into commodities, the gendered dimensions of the slave trade, resistance to the trade, the world the slaves made, and the abolitionist movement on both sides of the Atlantic. Students will read a range of primary and secondary sources in order to gain a more complex understanding of the slave trade and how it changed over time. Meets the global and/or comparative history requirement. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 257 - Empires

    This course will survey the evolution of modern European empires from their inception in the mid-nineteenth century to their aftermath in the 1980s and 1990s. The course will be organized topically, separate modules being devoted to theory, imperial administration, race and segregation in the colonies, cultural and economic exploitation of colonies, European culture and imperialism, indigenous anti-colonial movements and decolonialization, and the issue of colonialism’s role in globalization. Materials will be drawn from the experiences of the British, French, German, Dutch and Russian empires. Lectures, class discussions and films. Essay exams prepared outside of class and quizzes.  Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 258 - Europe Since 1945

    A survey of European history from the end of World War II to the present, emphasizing social and economic history and including both western Europe and the former socialist republics of eastern Europe. The course tests the hypothesis that Europe constitutes a social and political entity as well as a geographic one. Among the topics the course will cover are a comparison of European post-World War II reconstruction (East and West), Europe’s power decline in a global context, Europe as a tool and a participant in the Cold War, political trends and their roots in social and economic change, and the origins and European-wide implications of the collapse of the socialist states of eastern Europe. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 260 - Rise/Fall of Tsarist Russia

    A survey of the development of Russian social and political institutions from Peter the Great (1682-1724) to 1917. The course will explain the growth of the tsar’s authority, the origins and outlooks of Russia’s major social/gender groups (nobility, peasants, merchants, clergy, women, minorities, Cossacks) and the relations which grew up between the tsar and his society. The course will conclude with an appraisal of the breakdown of the relationship in 1917, and the tsarist legacy for Russia’s social and political institutions in the Soviet Union and beyond. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 261 - Making History: Russian Cinema as Testimony, Propaganda, and Art

    Cross-Listed as RUSS 261  
    Through the study of Russian films starting from the silent era up to the present day, the course will explore how storytelling in cinema differs from that in history and fiction, as well as how power relations, technology, and aesthetics shaped cinematic depictions of major historical events in Russia and the Soviet Union, from medieval times to post-Soviet era. Students will view and analyze films that are among the essential Russian contributions to world cinema, by directors including Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Mikhalkov, and Sokurov. Course readings will draw upon film theory, history, fiction, and memoirs. We will use our readings to create a conceptual framework for examining the films as narratives about real events, as vehicles of propaganda, and as imaginative works of art. In addition to attending weekly film screenings and discussing the films and readings in class, students will give presentations on topics of their choice arranged in consultation with the instructor. Alternate spring semesters. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 262 - Soviet Union and Successors

    A survey of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet history from the Russian Revolution to the present. Topics include the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Bolshevik rule and its tsarist heritage, Soviet “monocratic” society under Lenin and Stalin, dissent in the USSR, the “command economy” in the collapse of Communist political power, and national consciousness as an operative idea in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 263 - Global Encounters in History: China and Africa

    Is China a “new colonial power” that threatens to gobble up Africa’s natural resources? Or does China offer an alternative development model that results in a “win-win” relationship for Africa and nations starting to “look East?” Both sides in this heated current debate about China and Africa have overlooked the critical historical dimensions of China-Africa engagement. In this course we will begin by exploring the long history of interaction between Africa and East Asia, from the time of early sailing ships in the Indian Ocean through the Afro-Asian solidarities of the Cold War. We will focus specifically on the relationship between the People’s Republic of China and African nations, from the 1960s through to the present day. We will place these relations in context, not only historically but also in terms of global processes of economic, social and cultural interaction. We will use written texts, film and visual media, poetry, life stories and other resources to understand China-Africa relations from the perspective of everyday, lived experience. Each student will also carry out a research project on an individual topic. Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 274 - The Great Tradition in China before 1840

    Cross-Listed as  
    A study of the culture and society of China from earliest times to the eighteenth century, when the impact of the West was strongly felt. The course will feature themes in Chinese history, including the birth of the Great Philosophers, the story of the Great Wall, the making and sustaining of the imperial system, the Silk Road and international trade and cultural exchange, the emergence of Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism, Genghis Kahn and his Eurasian Empire, the splendid literary and artistic achievements, the Opium War and its impact on modern China. Lecture/discussion format. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 275 - The Rise of Modern China

    Cross-Listed as  
    A study of leading institutions and movements of nineteenth- and twentieth-century China. Major emphases include the impact of Western imperialism, intellectual and cultural changes, the transformation of peasant society through revolution, the rise of Mao Tse-Tung, and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and the rise of China as a world power. Special attention will be given to China’s international relations. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 276 - The Great Tradition in Japan before 1853

    Cross-Listed as  
    A survey of the major political, social, religious, intellectual, economic and artistic developments in Japan from earliest times to the opening of Japan in the 1850s. The course will revisit Japan’s emperor system, Shintoism, feudalism, Samurai as a class, selective borrowing from China, Korea, and the West, and the background of Japan’s rapid modernization after the Meiji Restoration. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 277 - The Rise of Modern Japan

    Cross-Listed as  
    Japan’s rapid industrialization in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and its phenomenal rise as the number two economic power in the world after the devastation wrought by World War II, have led many scholars to declare Japan a model worthy of emulation by all “developing” nations. After an examination of feudal Japan, this course probes the nature and course of Japan’s “amazing transformation” and analyzes the consequences of its strengths as a nation-state. Considerable study of Japanese art, literature, and religion will be undertaken and American attitudes toward the Japanese and their history will also be examined. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 281 - The Andes: Race, Region, Nation

    Cross-Listed as LATI 281 
    This course provides a survey of Andean history with an emphasis upon the formation of collective identities. Class discussion will treat continuities and divergences between the Andean colonial and post-colonial experiences, especially the intersection between racial and regional tensions and their impact upon the emergence and construction of nation-states. Recent topics explored have included the role of landscape in Andean culture, Incan and neo-Incan cultural mythologies, the conflation of racial and class identities in the twentieth century, violence and guerrilla movements, urbanization, and the various shades of indigenismo. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 282 - Latin America: Art and Nation

    Cross-Listed as LATI 282 
    This course presents an historical overview of the interaction between artists, the state, and national identity in Latin America. After an introduction to the import of images to crafting collective identities during the colonial era and the 19th century, we will focus on the 20th century. Topics to be discussed include the depiction of race, allegorical landscapes and architectures, the art of revolution, and countercultures. Multiple genres will be explored with an emphasis on the visual arts, architecture, and popular music. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 283 - Amazon: A Cultural History

    Cross-Listed as LATI 283  
    This course traces depictions of the Amazon rainforest from the 16th century to the present with an emphasis on three central allegories - the Amazon as cultural crossroads; the Amazon as untapped economic resource; and the Amazon as a-historical paradise (or hell). Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 284 - Imaging the Modern City

    Cross-Listed as INTL 284  
    From c.1850-1950 the world’s cities transformed as never before. Across the globe, these burgeoning metropolises were reconstituted as massive stages for the economic and cultural transformations of the day - the sites of industrialization, centralized planning, mass transport, and the locus of global migration. This course will trace the broader history of global urbanization during this period with an emphasis on how these processes were represented and imaged by nineteenth and twentieth-century urbanites. How was the modern city conceived as it transformed beyond all recognition? How did the global scope of the modern city impact these images? How were new technologies incorporated into this radical re-imagining of the modern city? And how did these images travel across the globe, themselves spurring further urbanization as they went? Geographically, the class introduces the radical transformation of urban morphology that began in mid-19th century European cities such as Manchester, London, Paris, Vienna and engages the transfer and reinterpretation of such processes on global cities from Kolkata to Moscow to Mexico City to Rio de Janeiro to Chicago and back, often to Paris. The class also engages classic and contemporary urban theory, artistic representations, and other narratives of the modern city. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 285 - Cold War Latin America

    Cross-Listed as LATI 285  
    During the Cold War, Latin America was a decidedly “hot zone.” This course considers this phenomenon as a result of internal and external pressures, including political and socioeconomic instability, a deep tradition of revolutionary and socialist activism, and the region’s conflictive relationship with the United States. The class examines dramatic moments of the Latin American Cold War, such as the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala, the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions, and the Dirty Wars in Chile and Argentina. It also examines less heralded aspects of the Latin American Cold War, such as its important role in fostering transhemispheric solidarities, the creative possibilities of Cold War cultural production, the emergence of a youth counterculture, and the many attempts by Latin Americans across the political spectrum to reject the premise of the Cold War altogether. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 294 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 315 - U.S. Imperialism from the Philippines to Viet Nam

    Cross-Listed as AMST 315  and ASIA 315  
    In this discussion-based seminar, we will examine U.S. Global presence through the lenses of empire, diaspora, and transnationalism. We will look specifically at U.S. involvement in the Philippines and Viet Nam from 1898 to 1975 as moments of military occupation and cultural domination, as well as turning points for U.S. nation-building. What is “imperialism” and how is it different from “hegemony”? How did U.S. imperial adventures in Asia help to recreate a Western geographic imaginary of the “East”? How did they reshape or reconfigure “American” positions and identities? Under what circumstances were former imperial subjects allowed to generate racialized communities? To what extent are memories of U.S. conflicts in Asia cultivated, proliferated, twisted, or suppressed? What lessons can be garnered for the contemporary historical moment? Other topics for exploration include: internment, transracial adoption, commemorations of war, and anti-imperialist/anti-war movements. Spring semester. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 340 - US Urban Environmental History

    Cross-Listed as ENVI 340 
    In the minds of many Americans, cities are places where nature is absent-places where nature exists only in the crevices and on the margins of spaces dominated by technology, concrete, and human artifice. This course confronts this assumption directly, drawing on the scholarship from the relatively young field of urban environmental history to uncover the deep interconnections between urban America and the natural world. Among the other things, we will examine how society has drawn upon nature to build and sustain urban growth, the implications that urban growth has for transforming ecosystems both local and distant, and how social values have guided urbanites as they have built and rearranged the world around them. Using the Twin Cities has a backdrop and constant reference point, we will attempt to understand the constantly changing ways that people, cities, and nature have shaped and reshaped one another throughout American history. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 343 - Imperial Nature: The United States and the Global Environment

    Cross-Listed as ENVI 343  
    Although the United States accounts for just five percent of the world’s population, it consumes roughly twenty-five percent of the world’s total energy, has the world’s largest economy, and is the world’s largest consumer and generator of waste. Relative to its size, its policies and actions have had a significantly disproportionate impact on global economic development and environmental health. Mixing broad themes and detailed case studies, this course will focus on the complex historical relationship between American actions and changes to the global environment. Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 350 - Race, Gender, and Medicine

    This seminar-style class examines the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality in the history of medicine and health in the U.S. Our diverse topics for study include eugenics, sexuality, midwifery, cultural/spiritual healing methods, pandemics, race- and gender-based ailments and medical experiments (such as the science and politics of the birth control pill and the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment), gender reassignment surgery, and sex-testing in the Olympics. This wide range of topics will prepare students to explore a research topic of their own choosing for a final paper. Offered alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 353 - Oceans in World History

    Between 1450 and 1850, people started to venture farther outward into oceans that had previously been understood as dangerous and hostile environments. This course takes the Age of Sail as a starting point to track changes in human approaches to boundless waters. We will consider two questions in particular: How have oceans functioned as a means of global integration rather than division? How are historians using oceans to further the study of world (versus regional) history? Readings will cover and compare the Atlantic, pacific, and Indian Oceans, and address themes of diaspora, port cities, banditry, trade, and imperial encounters. Every other year. This course fulfills the global/comparative requirement for the history major. Every other year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 364 - Germany from 1871 to Present

    A survey of the history of German society and politics from the Bismarckian unification to the present with emphasis on the origins of the German and world catastrophe of 1933-45. Among the major issues covered will be Bismarck and his legacy for German politics, the army and German political life, the Weimar Republic and German political culture, the origins and development of the Nazi party, Germany between the United States and the USSR, and Germany’s significance in post-Cold War Europe. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 366 - Europe in the Age of Upheaval and Revolution

    A study of European politics, culture and society during the years (1780-1850) in which Europe experienced the most profound social and political transformations in its history. Among the topics to be considered are the French Revolution, urbanization, industrialization, new concepts of the family, Darwin, and the growth of new ideologies. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 376 - Public History

    This course introduces students to the ways history is being practiced in the public sphere. We will examine a wide array of topics that fall under the rubric of public history including the study of archives, museums, and oral histories. The course may also consider historical reenactment, commemoration, digital history, and the preservation of historical sites. As we explore these topics we will be asking larger questions about who practices history, the role of audience, and the relationship between history and memory. Offered infrequently. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 378 - War Crimes and Memory in East Asia

    Cross-Listed as ASIA 378 
    This course’s main goal is to introduce evidence of the major crimes and atrocities during World War II in East Asia such as the Nanjing Massacre, biochemical warfare (Unit 731), the military sexual slavery (“comfort women”) system, the forced labor system, and inhumane treatment of POWs. The course will also help students understand the contemporary geo-political and socio-economic forces that affect how East Asians and Westerners collectively remember and reconstruct World War II. Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Offered occasionally. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 379 - The Study of History

    This advanced course is required for majors. It examines the various forms of analysis used by historians through a study of different kinds of historical texts and sources. It provides an opportunity for students to develop the skills and habits of thinking essential to practicing the discipline of history. This course invites students to address some of the myriad questions and controversies that surround such historical concepts as “objectivity,” “subjectivity,” “truth,” “epistemology,” and thereby to develop a “philosophy” of history. At the same time, it stresses the acquisition of such historical tools as the use of written, oral, computer and media sources and the development of analytical writing skills. The subject matter for study changes each year. Recent themes of the course have been memory, empires, and class formation. Every year. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 381 - Transnational Latin Americas

    Cross-Listed as INTL 381  and LATI 381 
    This course examines critical and primary literatures concerning the transnational, hemispheric, Atlantic, and Pacific cultures that have intersected in Latin America since the early colonial era, with a particular focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Alternate years. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 382 - Remembering the Modern City

    This class interrogates the role that memory and history have played in the formation of modern urban landscapes and identities during the 19th and 20th centuries. Besides introducing theoretical and global case studies, the course considers the layering of metahistorical significance upon sites in the Twin Cities and includes an archival research component. Meets global and/or comparative history requirement. Offered infrequently. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 394 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 490 - Special Advanced Topics

    The senior seminar is taught every fall on themes that cross chronological and geographic lines. Past themes have included Memory, Migration, Gender and Micro-History.
     Every fall. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 494 - Topics Course

    Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing. (4 Credits)
  

  • HIST 601 - Tutorial

    A student or a small group of students may get together with a department member to examine a theme in which the latter has considerable expertise but which is not normally covered in his or her regular courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (1 Credits)
  

  • HIST 602 - Tutorial

    A student or a small group of students may get together with a department member to examine a theme in which the latter has considerable expertise but which is not normally covered in his or her regular courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (2 Credits)
  

  • HIST 603 - Tutorial

    A student or a small group of students may get together with a department member to examine a theme in which the latter has considerable expertise but which is not normally covered in his or her regular courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (3 Credits)
  

  • HIST 604 - Tutorial

    A student or a small group of students may get together with a department member to examine a theme in which the latter has considerable expertise but which is not normally covered in his or her regular courses. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor and department chair. Every semester. (4 Credits)
 

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