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History

Faculty

  • Associate Professors Chao, Daggar, Onaci (Chair); Assistant Professors Mellis, Prochnow; Instructor Schandler

  • Mission Statement

    The mission of the History Department is to cultivate within our community the lifelong habit of actively engaging and critically questioning the relationship between past, present, and future. We affirm that everyone has a history and that, as global citizens, exploring those histories matters.

    Requirements for Majors

    History majors must take a minimum of eleven courses that fulfill the following requirements:

    1. HIST-101 or 102

    2. HIST-125 or 126

    3. Three electives

    4. HIST-200W

    5. One 300-level U.S. and American history course

    6. One 300-level non-Western history course

    7. One 300-level world and comparative history course

    8. One 300-level European and Mediterranean history course

    9. One 400-level Capstone Seminar (HIST-425W, 426W, 450W, 451W, or 475W)

    The three electives must each come from a different geographic region, including U.S. and American history, European and Mediterranean history, non-Western history, and World and Comparative history. At least two electives must be at the 200-level; the third elective may be at the 100-, 200- or 300-level.

    History majors who are approved to register for HIST/IDS-492W may count HIST/IDS-491W as their third elective. History majors completing two or more majors may count a course outside the History Department as their third elective with approval of their History Department faculty advisor. History majors may petition their faculty advisor in the department to count one Advanced Placement or transfer course as their third elective, pending syllabus review. The History Department welcomes majors transferring to Ursinus College and encourages them to consult the department chair proactively regarding transfer credits and completion of the major.

    HIST-150, HIST-250, and HIST-350 are topics courses that may also be used to fulfill major area distribution requirements relevant to their topics.

    History course numbering:

    • World/comparative history X01-X24
    • U.S. and American history X25-X49
    • Non-Western history X51-X74
    • European and Mediterranean history X75-X79, X86-X99

    The capstone, oral presentation, and writing requirements within the major are fulfilled by completing HIST-200W and HIST-425W, 426W, 450W, 451W, or 475W.

    Concentrations

    History majors who wish to pursue study in an area or topic in greater depth, including students who are considering graduate study in history or a related discipline, may choose to complete a Concentration. Concentrations are not a requirement for history majors.

    A Concentration consists of three courses on the history of a particular area in addition to the requirements of the major, for a total of five courses in the Concentration area.

    Concentrations include:

    African and African-American history. Applicable courses include HIST-228, 260, 326, 332, 360, 426W.

    East Asian history. Applicable courses include HIST-151, 152, 153, 252, 254, 256, 352, 354, 451W.

    European and Mediterranean history. Applicable courses include HIST-286, 375, 376, 475W.

    Non-Western history. Applicable courses include HIST-151, 152, 153, 252, 254, 256, 260, 352, 354, 360, 451W.

    U.S. and American history. Applicable courses include HIST-125, 126, 212, 225, 227, 228, 330, 332, 326, 425W, 426W.

    World and comparative history. Applicable courses include HIST-101, 102, 202, 303, 304, 307.

    Student-Initiated Concentration: Three courses on the history of a particular area or topic in addition to two courses on the area or topic taken to fulfill the requirements of the major, for a total of five courses. Concentration and specific courses to be approved by the Chair of the History Department.

    Note: With departmental permission, a student may substitute one course from outside the History Department (or one Advanced Placement or transfer course) in fulfillment of a Concentration. Also, when appropriate, HIST-150, 250, 350, 381, 382, 400W, 450W, 491W, and/or 492W may be included in a Concentration with departmental permission.

    Requirements for Minors

    Students seeking a minor in history must complete a minimum of five courses in the department, including HIST-200W and at least one course at the 300-level or higher. One Advanced Placement or transfer course may be counted towards a minor in History.

Courses

  • 100-level courses are Historical Introductions. These courses serve to introduce students to the central historical narratives, debates, temporal constructs, habits of mind, and foundational skills within the discipline of history. 100-level courses are most appropriate for first- and second-year students. A number of seats in 100-level courses will be reserved for first- and second-year students.

    200-level courses are Historical Explorations. These courses allow students to practice and refine their historical skills and methods while they continue to expand their content knowledge. In addition, each 200-level course helps students explore one subfield or methodological approach within the discipline of history. 200-level courses are most appropriate for first- and second-year majors and non-majors of any year.

    300-level courses are Historical Innovations. These courses challenge students to evaluate the relationship between historical theory and practice, and they emphasize independent research and original knowledge creation. 300-level courses are designed for majors in their second year or beyond. To ensure that students are prepared for advanced work, each 300-level course will have as prerequisite sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor.

    HIST-425W, 426W, 450W, 451W, and 475W are Capstone Seminars for history majors. In these courses, students demonstrate their ability to complete collaborative and independent intellectual work of the highest caliber. The prerequisite for these courses is HIST-200W and at least one 300-level history course, or permission of the instructor.

    HIST/GWSS-101. Empire, Patriarchy, and Race: People and Power in Premodern World History

    Why did patriarchy emerge in human societies? What different ideas of gender, sexuality, and family shaped people’s lives? How and why did empires form, and what social inequalities and cultural trends supported imperial power? What connected different regions of the globe and how did global and local environmental trends affect those connections? How have modern ideas of imperialism, gender, and race influenced our historical knowledge? Using these questions as a driving force, we will explore the history of the premodern world by examining the ever-changing relations between the powerful and seemingly-powerless. We will prioritize the perspectives of non-Western peoples in their cross-cultural encounters and exchanges, and we will analyze socio-political power structures, race and ethnicity, and patriarchy. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST/GWSS-102. Empire, Patriarchy, and Race: People and Power in Modern World History

    How have modern individuals’ lives been shaped by people in power throughout history? How did Westerners use the tools of empire, patriarchy, and race to dominate colonized groups? In what ways did colonized and non-hegemonic peoples attempt to assert agency over these tools and their lives? What are the environmental legacies of these processes? How have ideas of imperialism, gender, and race influenced our historical knowledge of the modern world? Using these questions as a driving force, we will explore the history of the modern world by examining the ever-changing relations between the powerful and seemingly-powerless. We will prioritize the perspectives of non-Western peoples in their cross-cultural encounters and exchanges and we will analyze socio-political power structures, race and ethnicity, and patriarchy. Three hours per week.Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST-103. GOAL! Sport in World History

    As fans, gym-goers, parents, and athletes, millions of people across the globe spend a significant part of their life involved in sports and other kinds of physical activity. According to Western, Christian ideology, participating in sports teaches us the values of hard work and healthy patriotism. Yet non-Western people and minoritized societies have always influenced sport, from pre-invasion West Africa swimming communities to athlete-activists who have shown that participating in modern sports can never be apolitical. In this course, students will explore and reflect critically on how and why people have used and/or engaged in sporting practices to achieve political aims. We will focus special attention on how minoritized communities across the world have been discriminated against in sport, and also how they shaped sporting practices in order to fight back. In addition, we will explore how sporting ideas and practices circulated globally and were adapted by communities to fit their local conditions. Lastly, we will consider our obligations towards one another as citizens of the sporting world informed by sport-based inequities. Three hours per week.Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H, O.)

    HIST-125. Defining America: Early American History in its Global Contexts

    What does “America” mean? Who is “American”? How did inhabitants of the United States and the world come to define these terms and ideas? How have their meanings changed over time? By analyzing a series of defining moments in early American history—from Turtle Island and earliest times through the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction—we will discuss, interrogate, and analyze varied and often competing perspectives on these questions. Struggles over land, citizenship, religion, freedom, rights, and power will be at the heart of our discussions. Three hours per week.Four semester hours. (DN, H, O.)

    HIST/GWSS-126. Defining America: Modern U.S. History in its Global Contexts

    What makes the United States of America unique, and what does it mean to be American? This course explores the stories of working people, economic elites, the descendants of the enslaved, government officials, cultural icons, and innovators of all races, genders, and physical abilities. Such stories offer us multiple perspectives on the past, and by understanding and questioning them, we will study the country’s relationship to slavery, suffrage, civil and human rights, and accessibility, as well as its political, technological, economic, and ideological contributions, obligations, and shortcomings. Ultimately, we will gain an appreciation of what it means to be American and what America means to the world, beginning in the aftermath of the American Civil War and extending to the present. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H, O.)

    HIST-150. Introductory Special Topics in History

    A 100-level course dealing with special subject areas and periods that are not regularly taught. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, or H, if so designated, contingent upon the topic.)

    HIST-151. From Genji to Godzilla: Japanese Society and Culture in Historical Perspective

    What makes anime so fascinating to the world? How did Japan become one of the Axis powers during World War II? Why is Godzilla one of the most revered movie characters of all time? Why did the U.S. incarcerate over 120,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese-American citizens during World War II? How did sushi get so global? In this course, we explore these questions from a variety of Japanese perspectives. Particular attention will be placed upon Japan’s historical and modern relations with its neighbors in East Asia as well as with the world more broadly. We will assess scholarly literature, primary source documents, and contemporary digital and social media. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-152. Emperors, Warlords, and “Commies”: China from 1644 to the Present

    Is China a superpower? Who was Mao Zedong? Why were the 2008 Beijing Olympics such a big deal? These are some of the questions we seek to unravel in this course. Special attention will be paid to the formation of China’s modern national borders and the problems inherent in this imperial expansion; China’s experience of Western and Japanese imperialism and the scars these experiences left behind; the collapse of the country’s dynastic structure and the emergence of the Chinese Communist Party; the upheavals of the Mao era; the effects of the post-1980s global economic boom; and international representations of China as simultaneously opaque and yet open, monolithic and yet dynamic. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-153. Governing “All Under Heaven”: The Formation of Early Chinese Empires

    Surveying the earliest two thousand years of China’s history, this course explores the formation of China’s earliest states and empires. From mythologies to theocracies, from clan rulers to hegemons, and from warring polities to a united empire, the course will introduce students to the many forms of social, cultural, and political organization that people in early China developed in the lead-up to its first imperial dynasties. We will also explore questions of kinship, technology, diplomacy, warfare, bureaucracy, and relations between humans and the supernatural as each affected and were affected by unique early Chinese lifeways. Students will also be introduced to some of the core philosophies, policies, and cultural tenets developed during this early era that became the foundation for later imperial history. Finally, students will learn to critically read and analyze different types of early Chinese historical materials, such as ancient inscriptions, art and archaeology, philosophical and religious writings, and early historical records. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-200W. Theories and Methods in History

    What has been, is, and arguably should be “history”? How has the study and knowledge of history been connected to the exercise of power in societies past and present? How can we study and generate historical knowledge—i.e., how can we “do” history? In this course we consider the “history of history” from antiquity onwards and around the globe, analyzing in particular how cultural trends and theoretical approaches have affected the study of history and how power and privilege have influenced historical knowledge. We explore and acquire historical skills such as critical reading and analysis, argument construction, historical synthesis, and research, and we learn how to apply them in digital contexts. This course is open to History, American Studies, and East Asian Studies majors and History minors with second-year standing or higher; and to other students with the permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours.

    HIST-202. History of Stuff: Material Culture and Global History, 1500s–1900s

    Why do we call our dinner plates “China”? Why do we associate silks and tea with East Asia? When did contact between East and West first occur and why? What was the opium war and what have been its consequences for global history? These are the kinds of questions we seek to answer in The History of Stuff. Through discussions of material culture history, we unravel the multitudinous linkages between people, things, and ideas that have always bound East Asia and the rest of the world together. In each unit, we look at a particular type of object (ie: tea, porcelains, silver, antiquities, opium, etc…), using each as a lens into the specific social, cultural, and historical situation(s) of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia vis-à-vis the world in which this material culture played a significant role. Themes of the course include early globalization, transculturation, material engagements, consumption, capitalism, and political economy. Readings will consist of historical monographs; the course will focus on historiographical analysis. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST/ENGL-212. Bears Make History: U.S. Higher Education and Digital Entrepreneurship in the Archive and Online

    Ursinus College has a history, and you’re going to tell it. Using an array of digital media, students in this course will become part of the shaping and recounting of the history of Ursinus College and its community. We will consider Ursinus’s place in a broader history of U.S. colleges and universities and will examine how digital humanities is influencing archival research. Students will learn a variety of digital tools, and will analyze and evaluate existing digital history projects. The final part of the semester will be devoted to the collaborative design, pitch, construction, and public dissemination of digital group project/s based on materials from the Ursinusiana Archive. This course is part of the IMPACT curriculum supported by the U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies. Prerequisite: One Ursinus ENGL or HIST course, or permission of the instructors. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (H, LINQ.)

    HIST-225. Native North America

    This course examines Native American peoples’ lives, cultures, and politics from earliest times to the present. By considering ethnohistory as a field and method, we will consider Indigenous peoples of North America on their own terms and will ask how they shaped the broader history of the continent and the world. We will discuss migration, disease, slavery, religion, and Native peoples’ politics and encounters with imperial powers and European peoples during the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. We will ask how Native Americans shaped the development of the U.S. in the nineteenth century and will consider the consequences of U.S. empire in North America in the twentieth century and to explore how Native peoples and communities continue to shape North American histories, cultures, and societies in the twenty-first century. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H, O.)

    HIST/GWSS-227. Witches, Drudges, and Good Wives: Gender, Race, and Sex in Early America

    How can we recover the experiences of individuals based upon archival fragments? How did social hierarchies based on the intersections of gender, race, and sex shape individuals’ lives in early America and contribute to their historical erasure? While considering biography as a mode of historical investigation, we will work to define evolving conceptions of gender, race, and sex in early America, and we will uncover the lives of individuals whose experiences were shaped by the communities in which they found themselves and whose stories some sought to appropriate, hide, or silence altogether. In doing so, we will learn much about these individuals and will better understand the forces that sought and perpetuated their erasure. Students will complete a biographical project on a figure of their choosing. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H.)

    HIST-228. Struggle & Triumph: Modern African American History

    This course explores African Americans’ contributions to the cultural, political, economic, and intellectual development of the United States of America and the world. By studying this history, we will learn about the varying perspectives that represent African Americans and gain a greater appreciation of the diversity within their communities. With the help of Africana political theory, this course will complicate our understanding of how the nation’s laws operate in times of calm and crisis, who historically has been entitled to the rights of citizenship and why, and how the nation’s people have viewed difference. We will emphasize African American leadership and participation in social justice activities, and will actively consider the various obligations of individuals, communities, citizens, and governments. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H, O.)

    HIST-250. Special Topics in History

    A 200-level course dealing with special subject areas and periods that are not regularly taught. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (H; DN or GN, if so designated, contingent upon the topic.)

    HIST-252. This Course Ends in a Bloody Uprising: China to 1644

    Culminating in a dramatic role-play of the Wanli Succession Crisis of 1587, this course charts the rise and fall of China’s imperial dynasties beginning with the mythical Xia (ca. 2070-1600 BCE) and ending with the bloody uprising that ushered in the Qing empire (China’s last dynasty) in 1644. In examining this “dynastic cycle,” students will use the historical tools of role-playing, public speaking, and debate to explore important historical themes such as personhood, gender, religion, power, class, race, and ethnicity from a specifically Chinese viewpoint. They will also seek to answer, by taking on semester-long roles in pre-modern Chinese society, broad questions related to humans’ obligations to each other. The course adheres to the Reacting to the Past model of historical learning. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H, O.)

    HIST/ENV-254. Timber, Water, and Toxins: Environment and History in China and Japan

    This course examines the relationship between humans and the natural environment in China and Japan. Beginning with forestry, we examine how Qing China (1644-1912) and Tokugawa Japan (ca. 1603-1868) approached the issue of unsustainable deforestation, examining the interplay between state, society, and individuals in balancing resource extraction with conservation during the early modern period. We then examine the relationship each country has had with its most important bodies of water; for China, this is the Yellow River, which we will examine from a longue-durée perspective, and for Japan, these are its oceanic borderlands, which it has differentially used as resources, as wartime conquests, and as conservation spaces. Finally, we turn to look at industrialization during the mid-1900s, examining how each nation has attempted to extract as much from its environment as possible, and the resultant health and political legacies of these mid-twentieth century choices. Readings will consist of selections from historical monographs; the course will focus on historiographical analysis. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-255. Rulers and Ruled: Authoritarianism in Postcolonial States

    In this course, students will explore how Western colonial rule, foreign intervention, and domestic actors have contributed to authoritarian rule in postcolonial and post-imperial states from the nineteenth century onward. Students will examine the historical factors—colonial, international, and domestic—that can influence states’ development of authoritarian practices. Each semester, course content will compare the histories of two states, including the nations’ past histories with foreign rule. Examples include South Africa and Indonesia, or Fascist Spain and Communist China. Students will therefore gain the skills to be able to analyze holistically and comparatively the resurgence of authoritarianism and challenges to democracy in the twenty-first century. We will consider what contemporary post-colonial and post-imperial states and citizens should do in order to reconcile their complicated pasts and create more equitable societies. Three hours per week.Four semester hours. (GN, H, O.)

    HIST/GWSS-256. Wise Widows to Women Revolutionaries: Women in Chinese History

    This course will examine the historical roles that women have played in Chinese civilization. Beginning with the emergence of patriarchy in early China, we will examine how early Chinese philosophical rhetoric created the conditions for the oppression of women. We will then examine historical narratives of powerful women, such as Empress Lu of Western Han Dynasty (ca. 202 BCE-9CE), and both Yang Guifei and Emperor Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty (ca. 618-904 CE), within the context of syncretic Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist early and medieval Chinese culture. We will focus on how these women utilized the political tactics of men to wrest control over imperial affairs. Our next unit will focus on the lives of common women during early modern period from the Song Dynasty (ca. 960-1279 CE) into the Qing period (ca. 1644-1912), examining how centuries of internalized patriarchy created limitations on the women’s lives and how these women nevertheless operated under these conditions to achieve their own advantage in economic gain, individual autonomy, and happiness. Finally, we will examine women revolutionaries during the modern period who fought for such causes as the elimination of foot-binding, women’s suffrage, and economic as well as sexual emancipation. Course readings will consist of scholarly monographs and journal articles and primary source documents. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-260. African Dominion: Histories, Mythologies and Global Connections

    Far too often, “Africa” conjures up very negative images: poverty, disease, environmental disaster, military coups, and civil war. At the same time, the history of Africa tends to be obscured by generalities and dangerous assumptions about static, isolated, and “underdeveloped” societies. What do we know of Africa’s past? Where does Africa fit within world history? And why do we hear so little good news from the continent that is home to some of the world’s oldest civilizations, not to mention the cradle of humankind? This course places Africa’s changes, challenges, and accomplishments in deep historical perspective. Together we will investigate some of the continent’s mighty civilizations and empires, bustling trading centers, diverse belief systems, gender dynamics, and complex political structures, paying particular attention to the lives and experiences of ordinary people. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST-277. Martyrs, Victims, and Perpetrators: Nationalism and Memory in Modern European History

    This course will explore how Europeans purposefully crafted their nations’ histories and memories for political ends from 1789 until the present. In the process of designing official nationalisms and memories to portray certain national characteristics, they also purposefully selected and/or excluded the experiences of groups such as women, Jews, and other minoritized people. Students will examine the relationship between nationalism and memory through specific case studies, such as the French Revolution, the 1848 Revolutions, new imperialism, the Holocaust, Cold War, and decolonization. To apply our understanding of the connections between European nationalist history and memory, for the final project students will propose a meaningful, public commemoration of an under-represented community and its history. We will constantly ask ourselves how European governments and citizens should reconcile their discriminatory pasts through historical and commemorative practices in order to meaningfully create more equitable futures. Furthermore, we will examine Europeans’ political, gendered, and racial beliefs and practices that created harmful injustices for their minoritized communities. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H, O.)

    HIST-286. Rule Britannia: War, Race and Empire in the Colonial World

    Not very long ago, Great Britain – a small island nation with few natural resources of its own – claimed to control much of the world’s land and people. From Jamaica to Canada to Kenya to Australia, British soldiers, merchants, settlers, and administrators installed regimes of extraction and labor exploitation that turned Britain into a global superpower. This course explores the history and enduring legacies of the British empire. Key themes include war, race, slavery, capitalism, colonialism, and decolonization. Throughout the semester we will jump back and forth between the British Isles and a few of Britain’s colonies, comparing localized iterations of British rule and exploring how the empire changed over time. We will ask what Britons wanted to get out of the empire, how Britons governed the empire, and how colonized people reacted to and challenged British control. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST-299. History Tutorial

    Individual study and directed reading on a selected historical topic and completion of an annotated bibliography of works read. Open only to students majoring in history. Offered as requested. Prerequisites: HIST-200W and prior consent of a member of the history department who agrees to serve as tutor. One hour per week. One semester hour.

    HIST/GWSS-303. Women’s Activist Auto/Biographies

    Women in various geographic and political contexts have been central actors in the processes of history. However, because women have frequently been viewed as secondary to their male counterparts, their lives have not commanded the same amount of attention. This course seeks to broaden our understandings of the politics, cultures, and social justice initiatives of various societies by studying women’s personal lives and political struggles. Through the life writing of women in places like Kenya, South Africa, India, and the United States of America, we will learn how their participation in social movements, state politics, and cultural work helped make women’s and human rights a central topic in the broader march toward the liberation of their people. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor.  Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST/HSOC-304. Mosquitoes, Miasmas & Madness: Disease and Public Health in World History

    How has disease shaped the world we live in? Is sickness a great leveler that renders us all vulnerable, or does it exacerbate social inequities by harming some people more than others? Are some parts of the world naturally “unhealthy”? How have our understandings of illness, immunity, healthcare, and medicine changed over time? This course explores the history of disease and its impact upon human societies around the world. Key topics include “disease environments” and how people understood them; quarantine and reactions to medical detention; social and cultural understandings of illness and death; the rise of international, professional medical research; and the evolving meaning and purpose of public health. Race and colonialism are two central themes that propel this course. As we progress, we’ll discuss how disease and health have influenced ideas about race and how the power dynamics of colonialism have shaped disease response, medical research, and access to health care. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST-307. Revolutions in the Atlantic World

    The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were tumultuous. Revolutionaries in Haiti, France, the United States, and Latin America called and fought for rights and liberty, and worked to define what it meant to be both human and free. They did this work in times of great change: canals, railroads, Indigenous dispossession, and a “transportation revolution” facilitated the growth of markets in the new United States, while industrial revolutions and evolving ideologies of rights, labor, and colonialism competed to cultivate and define a new world order. By examining these moments of struggle and change, we will work to define what we—and historians—mean by “revolution,” and we will ask how these moments both formed a foundation and left lingering consequences for the world we live in today. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-308. A World at War: The Global History of WWI

    This course will de-center Europe in the First World War by focusing primarily on the global, non-Western perspectives that shaped the conflict and its legacies. In 1914, British, French, German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires had brutally colonialized much of the world. They then actively brought imperial soldiers and laborers to the front lines. Importantly, colonized people worldwide used the war as an opportunity to advocate for a myriad of ideals. Some sought more imperial rights, others rejected European violence, and still others spread anticolonial movements. We will primarily focus on the global, non-Western contexts where the impact of ideas about race, gender, and nationalism shaped the inequities in people’s lives, as well as the impact of and responses to colonialism that shaped those ideas. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H.)

    HIST-326. From the Barrel of a Gun: Gender, Race, and Technologies of Violence

    This course analyzes the history of firearms in the United States of America from moments of colonization through the twentieth century. It will provide students with an opportunity to learn about the development of firearms while devoting specific attention to the ways that the evolving U.S. population has used them to guide constructions of race and gender. Also of significance is how those constructs have been governed by legal statute and authoritarian will. Besides developing an understanding of specific technologies and their varied functions in the distinct societies in focus, we will analyze the obligations of states, as well as the rights and responsibilities of subjects and citizens who are bound to them, in relation to notions about freedom and equality, protection, autonomy, and individual and collective empowerment. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Four semester hours. (DN, H, O.)

    HIST-330. Street Scrapers, Seamstresses, and the Enslaved: Work, Labor, and Capitalism in the Early Republic

    Prostitutes, street scrapers, enslaved laborers, textile workers: such diverse individuals contributed to the making of the U.S. economy. Throughout this course, we will work to uncover the lived experiences of these workers and examine the ways in which the early U.S. economy developed as a result of their labor. We will examine how ideas of race, class, and gender contributed to social hierarchies and a gap between the wealthy and impoverished, and we will analyze workers’ and capitalists’ roles in making the social and economic worlds of the early American republic. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor.  Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H.)

    HIST/GWSS-332. Liberated Minds: African American Intellectual History

    People of African descent have occupied a unique sociopolitical position in the United States. The realities of their captivity and enslavement, and their resilience in the face of discrimination and racial terrorism, have given them a distinct place in national and world history. Throughout their time in America, they developed a multitude of ideas about economics, citizenship and nationalism, legislation, U.S. foreign policy, education, health, and art and culture. This course will explore the diverse ideas that have developed from this distinct, yet internally diverse, community. We will read about the major bodies of African American thought and research specific aspects of Black intellectual production since the late nineteenth century, including Black nationalism, feminism, liberalism, conservativism, and radicalism. Special priority will be given to how sex and gender inform intellectual production.  Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H.)

    HIST-350. Advanced Special Topics in History

    A 300-level course dealing with special subject areas and periods that are not regularly taught. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H, or O if so designated, contingent upon the topic.)

    HIST-352. Personhood in Classical East Asian Literary History

    What does it mean to be human? To be good? To be a fully realized person? These and other questions are explored in this course from a specifically East Asian viewpoint. Covering imperial and pre-modern Chinese, Korean, and Japanese history, course readings draw upon religious, poetic, and fictional writings that convey foundational East Asian ideas of how to exist as part of complicated and ever-evolving social networks, to build and maintain social relationships, to love, to die, and to find meaning in life. Students will practice their skills in reading and writing analytically and comparatively about non-Western literature in translation and develop a thorough understanding of East Asian cultural history. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (GN, H.)

    HIST-354. Monsters in East and Southeast Asia

    Monsters represent deep fears and anxieties, and thus offer a space to consider the causes, consequences, and perceptions of social, cultural, political, and economic change. This course explores the history of east and southeast Asia through the lens of monstrosity. We will examine different contexts (including China, Japan, and Vietnam) in which monsters and ideas of monstrosity have been produced, seeking to understand underlying trends that may have shaped collective behavior. We will also endeavor to define and characterize the nature of monsters and monstrosity in east and southeast Asian contexts. Topics include monsters in the imagination, religious monsters, monsters in artistic and literary representation, the monstrous feminine, the monstrous other, human monstrosity and post-humanism, monsters on film, and monsters in popular culture. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (H, GN.)

    HIST/GWSS-360. African Colonialisms

    This course explores the cultural, social, and political dynamics of the so-called “colonial era” of African history, roughly 1870 to 1980. Together, we will aim to answer two key questions: how did African people interact with European colonialism?; and how does Africa’s colonial history help us to understand some of the continent’s current predicaments? The class will progress chronologically and thematically, exploring themes such as resistance to colonial rule, religion, political identity, gender and sexuality, land and environment, decolonization, and post-colonial conditions. In doing so, it will emphasize the diversity of African experiences with colonialism and highlight the myriad ways in which African people negotiated, articulated, and challenged their place in a changing world. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, GN, H, O.)

    HIST/GWSS-377. Cold War in Europe: Immigrants, Labor, and Gender

    How did individuals experience the Cold War? Students will explore this question by studying how Eastern and Western European nations overtly politicized the bodies of every gender, as well as workers and immigrants, in order to fight the Cold War as substitute soldiers. Yet these communities developed individual and cultural agency in activities and behaviors that influenced their government’s policies during this time. We will explore these themes against the backdrop of major moments, and will discuss the root ideas that informed states’ policies that inequitably affected the lives of immigrants and workers of all genders. Furthermore, we will consider how our Cold War biases continue to shape our obligations as historians towards Western versions of this history and as well as to each other. We will lastly reflect on how governments should care for their geopolitical status as well as their citizens’ gender and labor rights, and how citizens should respond to government actions. Prerequisite: sophomore standing and any 200-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (DN, H, O.)

    HIST-381. Internship

    An academic/work experience under the supervision of a faculty internship adviser and an on-site supervisor. Students must document their experience according to the requirements delineated in the College catalogue section on Internships. Open to junior and senior history majors and minors; interested students should consult with a faculty member in the History Department before enrolling. The term during which the internship work is performed will be noted by one of the following letters, to be added immediately after the internship course number: A (fall), B (winter), C (spring), or D (summer). Internships undertaken abroad will be so indicated by the letter I. The intern must complete a minimum of 120 hours of work. Graded S/U. Prerequisites: a declared major or minor in history and approval of a faculty internship adviser. Three semester hours. (XLP.)

    HIST-382. Internship

    An academic/work experience under the supervision of a faculty internship adviser and an on-site supervisor. Students must document their experience according to the requirements delineated in the College catalogue section on Internships. Open to junior and senior history majors and minors; interested students should consult with a faculty member in the History Department before enrolling. The term during which the internship work is performed will be noted by one of the following letters, to be added immediately after the internship course number: A (fall), B (winter), C (spring), or D (summer). Internships undertaken abroad will be so indicated by the letter I. The intern must complete a minimum of 160 hours of work. Graded S/U. Prerequisites: a declared major or minor in history and approval of a faculty internship adviser. Four semester hours. (XLP.)

    HIST/ANTH-385. Historical Archaeology Field School

    A four-week summer archaeology course offered in conjunction with The Speaker’s House, a non-profit that owns and is restoring the Frederick Muhlenberg house and property in Trappe, Pennsylvania. The field school course in Historical Archaeology will combine instruction in archaeological methods and theory with hands-on excavation training and experience at an important historical site. Through assigned readings and classroom discussions, on-site training and experience, and weekly laboratory study, field school students will learn historical archaeology techniques and develop the ability to identify and interpret discovered artifacts and place archaeological information within a cultural/historical framework. Six semester hours (XLP.)

    HIST-400W. Research

    Independent research, under the guidance of an adviser, directed toward the production and oral presentation of a historical project or paper. Prerequisite: HIST-200W, approval of a faculty adviser, and permission of the department. Prerequisite or co-requisite: a History Capstone Seminar. Offered as needed; in rare circumstances, a student may take this course more than once. Four semester hours. (XLP.)

    Note: HIST-400W does not fulfill the capstone requirement.

    HIST-425W. Native American Activism and Red Power

    During the 1960s and 1970s, the American Indian Movement exploded onto the U.S. political scene with the occupation of Alcatraz Island and the dramatic standoff at Wounded Knee. Yet American Indian activism possessed a long history, from boarding school defiance to the birth of the National Congress of American Indians and the “Red Progressive” movement. This course will examine the Red Power moment in the context of that longer and ongoing history of activism in order to ask how and why American Indians fought for political rights, sovereignty, and cultural endurance. We will also consider and discuss various forms of activism and how historians have thus far theorized and examined Native peoples’ activist pasts. Prerequisite: HIST-200W and at least one 300-level history course, or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (CCAP.)

    HIST-426W. Out of Place: The Historical Geography of African Americans

    African Americans have often been seen as “out of place” due to the nature of their arrival and conditions of their residency in the U.S. Deeming them variously and simultaneously “criminals” and “enemies,” “carefree” and “cool,” the American mainstream has assigned Black people a multitude of competing and contradictory places. As a result, this marginalized group has had to carefully navigate uneven geographic and sociopolitical terrains. This course provides an in-depth exploration of Black people’s agency and experiences in urban and rural spaces, especially Philadelphia. We will analyze place-based conditions that have shaped people’s lives and contributed to the reasons why they travel to, remain in, or leave a locale, and we will learn how “place” has helped mold self-perception, creativity, and collective actions for social justice. Prerequisite: HIST-200W and at least one 300-level history course, or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (CCAP.)

    HIST-450W. Seminar on Special Topics in History

    A Capstone Seminar dealing with special subject areas and periods that are not regularly taught. The course devotes particular time and attention to the four open questions that frame the Ursinus Quest, in particular What will I do? Prerequisite: HIST-200W and at least one 300-level history course; or permission of the instructor. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (CCAP.)

    HIST-451W. Confucius in Context

    In this capstone course, students will have the opportunity to truly understand one of the most enigmatic texts of CIE, Analects by Confucius. Written during the fourth century BCE, Analects has long been considered one of the foundation texts of Chinese culture, but it was also only the first of many texts that attempted to lay out a philosophical foundation for good governance and a moral life. In this course, students will be introduced to the long-durée historical context of Confucius to understand what Analects was attempting to do and why it was so groundbreaking. They will also critically read his later interpreters, such as Mencius, Mozi, and Han Feizi, among several others, within their own historical contexts of the Spring and Autumn (ca. 770-481 BCE) and Warring States periods (ca. 480-221 BCE). Special attention in our weekly discussions will be placed on putting the texts we read into dialogue with important themes from CIE 100 and 200 (such as the concept of worldviews, the nature of divinity and the supernatural, the importance of interpersonal and familial connections, the role and importance of proper governance and community, the appreciation of art and music, race and ethnicity, gender dynamics and inequalities, etc..), allowing space for students to reflect on the four core questions, especially the question of what will I do?  Finally, students will learn the basic methods of conducting research on historical topics in early China in building towards their final research projects, which will ask them to write a guided research paper on early Chinese ideas concerning a major theme or topic mentioned above. Three hours per week. Four semester hours. (CCAP.)

    HIST-491W. Research/Independent Work

    This course is open to seniors who are candidates for departmental honors. Interested students should consult with their faculty adviser no later than October of their junior year. Prerequisite: HIST-200W, approval of a faculty adviser, and permission of the department. Prerequisite or co-requisite: a History Capstone Seminar. Four semester hours. (XLP.)

    HIST-492W. Research/Independent Work

    A continuation of HIST-491W. Prerequisites: HIST-491W, approval of a faculty adviser, and permission of the department. Four semester hours. (XLP.)