64 courses with the subject HI, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
This course explores the origins of Western Civilization in the ancient Near East and North Africa, its development in Greece and Rome, and its adaptations in the Medieval period—with a particular focus on the Catholic and Benedictine contributions to the creation of a Western identity.
This course explores the major developments in Western Civilization from 1450 to the present. In particular, the course focuses on the connections between structural transformations and historical events in the areas of economics, politics, social institutions, and culture—including conceptions and depictions of a meaningful life, particularly from the perspective of the Catholic and Benedictine tradition.
A survey of the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural development of the United States to the end of Reconstruction.
A survey of the political, social, economic, religious, and cultural development of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the present. Offered every other year.
This course introduces students to the Digital Humanities, or the the integration of digital methods to approach history, literature, theology, philosophy, theatre, and art. The purpose of this approach is to study these disciplines in innovative ways, and to reach broad audiences beyond the classroom. In this course students will survey the practices, methods, and philosophies of the Digital Humanities, and participate in designing a Digital Humanities project. Previous coursework in computer science is not required.
This course investigates the discipline of history itself and encourages students to think about their roles as academic historians. In the first part of the course, students will study the philosophy, uses and methods of the discipline. Thereafter, they will discuss the major historiographical schools and styles that have influenced the discipline since the nineteenth century through engaging with the great works that defined them.
This course will introduce students to the study of culture as a lens for understanding the past. Rather than focusing on political events or economic systems, cultural history asks how people from different times and places have expressed meaning and purpose in their lives — through language and social structures; religious and philosophical systems; symbol and ritual; art, music, and literature. Cultural historians attempt to reconstruct the inner lives of the people of the past and try, as much as possible, to see their world through their eyes. We will survey the development of the field of cultural history, explore its theoretical framework, and evaluate some key examples of the genre. Students will use the tools of cultural analysis to investigate and present historical artifacts to the class that broaden our comprehension of and appreciation for the beliefs and values of people from societies and eras very different from our own.
Prehistory generally refers to the time before writing was invented and practiced. This course is an introductory survey of Old World Prehidstory (Africa, Asia, and Europe) that begins with Paleoanthropology (the interdisciplinary study of human origins) and extends from the beginnings of archaeological traces (ca. 2.5 million years ago) to the beginnings of agriculture and pastoralism (last 10,000 years). Students will be presented with material that will allow them to fully understand the context and history of humankind leading to the modern condition.
This course compares how different political cultures have emerged in world history, and the role of philosophy, art, and social structures in shaping these cultures. The two political cultures examined in depth are the Athenian democracy of ancient Greece through Plato’s Republic and the Ming dynasty of 16th century China through The Analects of Confucius. In exploring these texts, students will participate in the Reacting to the Past curriculum which uses debate and competition to increase students’ understanding of historical events.
THis course provides a survey of the book from late antiquity to the present, with an emphasis on the development of the book in the West. The cultural history of the book will be explored a both material object and text. This course involves some practical (hands-on) experience with material from BAC's rare book collectin as well as the instructor's personal collection. Major themes include the techniques of book production, authorship, popular and learned readership, libraries and censorship, and a consideration for how the history of the book as a material object and as an agent of intellectual and social change helps us to understand the digitial revolution. This course will expand your thinking about the essential role of hte book in history.
This course introduces students to the intellectual and methodological foundations of public history. It is designed to show students the variety of ways people interact with history outside of the traditional learning environment. Topics include but are not limited to shared authority, memory and commemoration, historic preservation, oral history, museum studies, and local history. Enrolled students utilize these concepts while completing a group project geared towards the Belmont Abbey community.
History happens at the local level. Focused on Gaston & Mecklenburg Counties, students will learn about the region’s history from its earliest inhabitants to the present. The work of local history begins with the community, so this course will teach the skills required to preserve the past. Topics include oral history, historic preservation, and others as necessary. This course counts towards the minor in Public History.
The course examines the history of the American South from the pre-Columbian period to the end of the American Civil War. Students will examine the structures of Native American societies in the South, the impact of European colonization, the expansion of the United States into the region, the development of slavery, and the causes and course of the Civil War.
The course examines the history of the American South from the Reconstruction period to the early 21st century. Students will examine the efforts to restructure the region after the American Civil War, the emergence of Jim Crow, efforts to modernize the region during the Great Depression and World War II, the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement, and the transformation of the region in the late 20th century.
This course examines the central events of 19th century U.S. History, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Students will explore the growing sectionalism during the late antebellum period and the social, political, and economic stresses that fractured the Union. It will examine the establishment of the Confederate States of America, the Civil War conflicts on the battlefield, at the home front, and in politics, and seek to understand the attempts by both Northern and Southern Americans to bind the nation's wounds during Reconstruction. Students will study the time-period stretching from the Compromise of 1850 through the Presidential election of 1876.
Abigail Adams famously wrote her husband, John Adams, to remind him that women desired a voice in the new nation. Although sometimes overlooked, the experiences of women continue to shape the nation. This course explores women’s history in the United States from its origins to the present. Using a broad chronological scope, it will introduce students to how women shaped American society and how society shaped the experience of women.
The political, social, economic, and religious development of Europe from the advent of Napoleon to World War I.
The political, social, economic and religious development of Europe from the advent of Napoleon to World War I. Offered every other year.
This course will examine theories and examples of leadership from the ancient and medieval worlds. Beginning with a dicussion of what the Rule of St. Benedict has to say about the subject, especially in its depiction of the role and duties of the abbot, the course then survey texts from a variety of premodern cultures, including ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europ, and non-Western cultures such as ancient China. The examples to be surveyed will be drawn from the political, religious and cultural realms and will reflect a wide range of attitudes towards leadership, while maintaining a link with the Benedictine ideal outlined in the Rule and other texts. Students will learn about different theories of leadership, about successful leaders and their leadership styles, and about both the qualities of good leadership that have remained constant over time and those that have changed. Finally, they will consider how best they might emody leadership qualities in their own personal and professional lives.
This course will pick up where the other left off, examining leaderes and leadership theory in the modern world. In addition to examples drawn from the worlds of religion, culture and politics, this course will include case studies of leaders and leadership in the business world, looking at figures who have revolutionized individual corporations and the economy at large. In doing so, it will examine the continuing relevance in the twenty-first century of the Benedictine ideal of leadership as outline in the Rule, and will provide students with a foundation upon which they will be able to build their own leadership style.
A study of the key historical developments that shaped the transition from the Roman Republic to the Empire under Augustus Caesar, the establishment of Christianity within the Empire, and the decline of Imperial Roman government in the West. The course will explore the organization and culture of Roman society and the state, and the legacy of Imperial Rome today, through a focus on the reigns of selected emperors and the literature (in translation) and artifacts of the period.
A study of the key historical developments that shaped the form and expansion of the power of Rome from the city's founding to the collapse of the Republic. The course will explore the organization and culture of Roman society and the state, and the legacy of the Roman Republic today, through a focus on selected key figures and the literature (in translation) and artifacts of the period.
This course explores the impact of the World War II on global history, focusing on the political, social, and military dimensions of this conflict in both Europe and the Pacific. The course will examine the war from both the perspectives of the conflict’s notable political and military leaders, as well as the experiences of ordinary soldiers and civilians.
This course surveys the history of France from the French Revolution to the present, and balancing attention to political and social developments with an interest in French culture.
This course explores the history of the Catholic Church from the early Christian community of Jerusalem up through Vatican Council II. A particular emphasis will be given to the Church’s self understanding of its role in the world as presented through documents representative of the early Church (Acts of the Apostles, Eusebius, Augustine, et al.), the Middle Ages (Bede, Urban II, the decretalists, the scholastics, et al.), the Reformation (G. Savonarola, M. Luther, T. More, et al.), and the modern era (Syllabus of Errors, Lumen gentium, Gaudium et spes, et al.). Offered as needed
Over the course of "the long nineteenth century" painters were in the thick of debates over the direction of European society and culture, often attracting controversy and criticism on all sides. To be an artist necessitated a clear vision of what one wanted to achieve in the face of sometimes aggressive confrontation. Regardless of ideological persuasion, artists had to "go hard in the paint." This course will examine and analyze the vaious movements of artistic expression in Europe from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries as a means of exploring shifting ideas about politics and government, economics and social class, family structures and human relationships, and religion and philosphies of human fulfillment.
This course will explore how two painters redefined the purpose of art and the artist through their quests to discover the primal and the eternal within the personal and the individual, in the process helping to create the culture of modernity.
In this course students will survey the history of Catholic Missions in the modern era. First, we will examine missionary efforts carried out between the 16th and 18th centuries in the Americas and Asia, mostly by traditional religious orders such as the Jesuits and the Franciscans. Then, we will explore initiatives that developed in the context of European colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries, principally carried out by newly founded missionary orders. Finally, we will investigate contemporary Catholic Evangelization in our post-colonial and post-Vatican II globalized era.
Saints provide examples of faith for Catholics, but they also provide a lens to understand the history of American Catholicism. Students will study the Catholic American experience through the nation's saints, candidates for sainthood, and unsuccessful candidates. The course will provide a theoretical foundation for studying the history of religion and the field of memory studies.
This course examines the origins of the Benedictine tradition in late antiquity and its development to the modern period. The primary focus is on the prominence of the Benedictines during the medieval period, the "Benedictine centuries" as they are sometimes known, and on their coming to the United States in the nineteenth century. Throughout, we will place the Benedictine tradition in its social, cultural, political and religious context in order to better understand how it both shaped and was, in turn, shaped by the wider world in which it existed.
Food and drink are essential elements of life, and the experience of eating and drinking is one that we share with all other humans, past and present. But what we eat and drink, how it is produced, and how we consume it have all changed over time. For example, mice in the kithcen today would be considered cause for concern, but to the ancient Romans who stuffed and roasted them they were considered a delicacy. For these reasons, examining the history of eating and drinking provides insight into both the universality and diversity of the human experience. This course will examine the historical development of food production and consumption from the Agricultural Revolution that produced the first sedentary cultures (c. 10,000 BC) to the end of the medieval period (c.1500 AD), focusing on literary, artistic, and archaeological sources. We will discuss what kinds of things people ate and drank, how they acquired them, and the social and cultural rituals associated with eating and drinking.
The Vikings announced their arrival in Western Europe with a series of debilitating raids on Britain, Ireland and the continent in the late eighth and ninth centuries. They struck terror into the hearts of Latin Christendom’s record-keepers, the monks, whose monasteries were so often the Vikings’ primary targets. To this day, the Vikings are remembered as pirates and marauders, as pillagers and plunderers, yet they were so much more than that. As explorers, merchants, colonizers and mercenaries, they represented a complex civilization whose impact can be detected from North America to Baghdad. In this course we will examine the Vikings’ home societies as well as their interactions with foreign peoples through trade and through warfare. We will seek to understand the impact of the Vikings on the regions to which they travelled and how contact with foreign societies changed the culture of the Vikings’ homelands, most especially through their conversion to Christianity. The course will be framed around a series of primary sources that will include the material culture of the Vikings, their sagas and a variety of other documents.
The Crusades were a series of wars that began in the late eleventh century. Kings, nobles and commoners; Christians, Jews and Muslims; all felt the impact of the Crusading movement that lasted in various forms into the early modern period. This course will discuss the history of the Crusades from their origins in the Latin West through the establishment of Crusader states in the Holy Land in the twelfth century to the gradual collapse of the Crusading movement in the later medieval period. We will examine the theories of just and holy war that underlay the idea of the Crusades, the identities of those who participated, their goals, and how the experience of Crusading was played out East and West. Finally, since the Crusading knight is one of the most iconic images of the medieval period, we will draw the semester to a close by looking at modern perceptions of the Crusades in both the Christian and Muslim worlds.
Games are more than entertainment - they are historical artifacts that reflect the values and worldviews of the societies that create them. This course explores how games from antiquity to the digital age both shape and reveal our understanding of history. Students will engage directly with a diverse variety of games, ranging from ancient board games to tabletop strategy classics to contemporary video game narratives, examining each as a historical source that reflects changing ideas about power, conflict, chance, and human agency. Through hands-on play and critical analysis, we will investigate how games shape historical memory, construct narratives about the past, and influence popular understanding of historical events. Students will also learn fundamental principles of game design and apply these skills to create their own historically grounded games, translating historical research into playable experiences. No prior gaming experience required - just curiosity about how play intersects with the past.
Sport is a universal phenomenon that deserves to be studied from a global perspective. Today more people follow football (soccer) than practice any major religion or belong to any political entity. Sport has been disseminated around the world through imperial conquest and has served as an arena of international contention, but it has also been used to build independent national identities and to promote international cooperation, as with the Olympic movement. The rise of organized sport is closely tied to the growth of mass culture and consumerism which has caused sport to become one of the most significant sectors of the global economy, with an estimated value of over US$1.5 trillion, amounting to as much as 2% of global GDP. Sport contributes to, and reflects, social change including structures of religion, class, race, and gender as seen in the promotion of "muscular Christianity" through institutions such as the YMCA, the racial segregation and desegregation of professional sport, the socioeconomic demographics behind participation in and compensation of athletes in varying international sports, and the growing diversity among athletes. This course will explore issues such as these as we investigate how, over time, sport came to play such a fundamental role in contemporary global society. We will do so through a combination of lecture, discussion, written reflection on reading and viewing assignments, examination, and participation in a Reacting to the Past immersive role-playing game entitled "Changing the Game."
This course explores the religious, historical, and intellectual character of Islam from the time of the prophet Muhammad up through the conquest of Byzantium. This course will begin with an examination of the core beliefs of Islam and proceed through the philosophical and historical context in which the faith developed into the Ottoman period. Special attention will be given to the study of primary sources in translation.
This course will explore teh nature and meaning of the new Atlantic world created by the people of four continents, Africa, Europe, and North and South America, from the 16th-18th centuries. During this period the Atlantic Ocean served to connect Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans in ways that were both dynamic and tragic, leading to the emergence of a new Atlantic community. Topics that will be covered include the origin of European expansion; the development of European colonial societies; the destruction, transformation, and endurance of indigenous societies; the evolution and establishment of Atlantic slavery; the impact of Africa and Africans on Europe; the significance of piracy; and the growth and ultimate success of revolutionary independence movements.
This course examines the consolidation, progression, and disintegration, of the modern European empires of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
This introductory course surveys major movements and historical problems in the development of the civilizations of Africa from pre-colonial times to the twenty-first century. The story of independent African kingdoms and empires will be emphasized and the impact of Islam will receive attention. Changes since 1500 will be considered against the backdrop of challenges from abroad—including European colonialism, westernization, and above all, the Atlantic slave trade—but it is the initiatives and responses of Africans and the evolution of African institutions which will occupy center stage. The course also will attempt to relate recent events in Africa, particularly those affecting economic development and the environment, to the historical past to underscore important problems facing Africa and the world in the twenty-first century. The ultimate objectives are to broaden the understanding of the African continent and its peoples, and, from this, to inculcate an appreciation for the richness of African history and cultures.
This course will explore the history of Africa since 1945 through the viewing of films by African directors such as Ousmane Sembene, Abderrahmane Sissako, Rachid Bouchareb, and Michelle Bello
This course will explore the ideas, practices, interactions, and legacies of African, American, and European movements to end slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
This course explores the origins, evolution, and impact of the Cold War on world history, spanning from 1945 to 1992. In particular, the course focuses on the political, social, cultural, and military dimensions of this global conflict, focusing particularly on the United States and the Soviet Union. The course will examine this period’s notable political and diplomatic controversies, and assess the profound impact of the Cold War on American culture.
Museums collect objects, preserve artifacts, and educate audiences through various formats. This course introduces students to the history and theories of museum studies. Topics covered include material culture, museum education, and community engagement. How do we study objects? What type of work occurs at a museum? What do museums of the future look like?
Special topics; offered as needed.
Special Topics Course
Students will also analyze the effects of these factors upon American ideals, problems, and society, both past and present. Offered upon sufficient demand.
This seminar is designed to prepare history majors for the senior thesis. The seminar will discuss research skills and methodologies essential for completion of the thesis, and explore research resources useful in obtaining access to primary and secondary sources. Students will demonstrate their mastery of these skills by completing the senior thesis and presenting their research findings to the seminar and college community
The political, social, economic and religious development of Europe from the advent of Napoleon to World War I. Offered every other year.
This course focuses on the experiences of Catholics in America and the place of Catholicism in U.S. history. Students will explore topics such as: • The role of Catholicism in the development of colonial America. • How American perceptions of Catholicism influenced debates about citizenship and religious freedom in the early United States. • How the diverse religious traditions of immigrant communities have shaped American Catholicism. • The lives of American saints and how their canonization reflected the nation’s changing religious attitudes. • The implications of the Catholic Church’s growing stature during the 20th century on its influence on American society. • The challenges and opportunities American Catholicism faces in the 21st century. In exploring these topics students will read excerpts from notable texts and study primary sources focused on each topic. Students will also learn how to conduct primary source research for a research project, and apply digital methods in presenting their research. Accompanying this course is an on-campus conference in October bringing together notable scholars of American Catholicism from across the United States to discuss the distinctive place of Catholicism in the history and literature of the American South.
This course explores the social, cultural and political history of Ireland from the time of St Patrick to the dawn of the English invasion in the twelfth century. Through an examination of a series of primary sources, such as annals, saints’ lives and law tracts, we will discuss some of the great themes of early Irish history. These topics will include the conversion of Ireland to Christianity, the Golden Age of Irish monasticism, the impact of the Viking wars on Irish society and the context of the English invasion in the twelfth century. We will try to understand the unique nature of Ireland’s Celtic culture while also acknowledging the place of Ireland within the European context.
A study of some key themes in British political, social and cultural life in the years between 1945 and 2001. The course will focus particularly on: the evolution of Britain's "unwritten" constitution and the role of the monarch in a parliamentary democracy; the emergence of the Welfare State; the Special Relationship with the United States during the Cold War years; growing secularization, and the cultural revolution that took place in the Sixties and Seventies; the impact of immigration on British society; the government of Margaret Thatcher; and Tony Blair's "Cool Britannia."
This course examines the impact of the Civil Rights Movement in American history. In particular, the course explores the origins of this movement, the movement’s leadership and organization, the movement’s successes and shortcomings, and how the movement influenced other aspects of American society. This course will focus on the notable icons of the civil rights era, as well as the experiences of ordinary citizens advocating social change.
In the introduction to his 1855 masterpiece, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman hailed the contributions of immigrants to make America "not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations." This course examines the creation of our "nation of nations" by focusing on the impact of immigration on American history. The course will study the majors waves of immigration that remade America from the colonial period to the present. The course will also explore the varied experiences of the ethnicities that arrived to America's borders and the social, cultural, and political reactions to their arrival. The course will also feature the contributions of immigrants to American society through music, popular culture, and cuisine.
This course will consider the American and French revolutions of hte late eighteenth century from the perspective of contemporary European thinkers such as Edmund Burke, Tom Paine, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. How similar did these revolutions appear to Europeans, in their origins and aims, and what was their longer-term effect on politics, religion, and society in Modern Europe?
The struggle for Vietnam occupies a central place in the history of the twentieth century. This course will put that struggle in its broadest context, looking at the wars that have involved Vietnam, beginning with early conflicts with China, conquest by France, World War II clashes with Japan, decolonization battles with France, war with the United States, the occupation of Cambodia and Laos, and continuing skirmishes with China. In addition to studying the historical narrative of these events, the course will focus on global economic, political, social, and cultural consequences of these Vietnam wars.
Students will also analyze the effects of these factors upon American ideals, problems, and society, both past and present. Offered upon sufficient demand.
This course will examine some of the primary themes of modern European history, consumerism, industrialization, and the philosophies of art, religion, and nationalism, by exploring the life and work of one of the preeminent writers and public figures of nineteenth-century Europe, Emile Zola
This course will survey the history of Ireland from the earliest period to the present. It will engage with major themes, such as religion, identity, and relations between Ireland and her neighbors, particularly Britain. At the heart of the course will be student engagement with a series of primary sources from throughout Ireland's long history.
Applying historical techniques working in museums, archives, libraries and other off-campus institutions. Available every year to seniors.
Applying historical techniques working in museums, archives, libraries and other off-campus institutions. Available every year to seniors.
Internship
This course expands on the theoretical foundations explored in Introduction to Public History. Students will gain a deeper understanding of public history methodology dependent upon the semester’s project. Students will work to produce a public history product under the supervision of the professor and make it available to the local community. Potential projects include walking tours, oral history projects, exhibit development, public programming, and other activities.
Independent Study
Source: Belmont Abbey College's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
