University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Courses
HIST
437 courses with the subject HIST, 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.
HIST 101A History of Lies, Conspiracies, and Misinformation3
This course, geared towards undergraduate students at the beginning of their college careers, will give students the tools needed to critically evaluate information. Texts from different historical periods, newsreels and propaganda movies, and a variety of different websites will be examined and deconstructed to understand how content can be presented or manipulated.
HIST 102Introduction to Major Problems in U.S History3
This course explores major events and trends in U.S. history from the pre-colonial period to the 21st century. It offers students an introduction to some of the most important developments in the nation's past and the tools to understand them. We will examine the evolution of political participation and discourse, fundamental changes and continuities in economic life, and the rise and fall of numerous social movements.
HIST 103Introduction to Major Problems in Modern World History3
This survey course explores major events and trends in global history from 1200 to the present. We will examine societies across six continents while focusing on several key themes and developments, including social and economic diversity and transformation; exchange, conflict, and evolution within and between societies; the rise and fall of imperial projects; and the parameters and consequences of global interconnectedness across time.
HIST 104Introduction to Major Problems in European History3
This course explores major events and themes in European history from the Early Modern period through the present. We will focus our attention on several key religious, social, and political developments, including the growth of the modern state and economy, the history and legacy of European imperialism, the rise and fall of various intellectual and social movements and their effects on society, and the making and unmaking of identities based on culture, nation, and region.
This course explores and compares premodern and/or modern empires on a global scale, inquiring into rulers' strategies and subject peoples' experiences. Empires studied will depend on instructor's area of expertise, but may include Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Incas, West Africans, Mughals, and Ottomans, among others. Previously offered as HIST 345.
HIST 108Introduction to Early Medieval History 500-10503
An introductory-level survey of early medieval political, cultural, religious and social history between ca.500 and ca.1050 with a geographical focus on Europe. This course also considers eastern Christianity and Islam, as well as parts of Asia, for comparison. Throughout the course students will closely analyze the evidence for the period.
HIST 110Introduction to the Cultures and Histories of Native North America3
An interdisciplinary introduction to Native American history and studies. The course uses history, literature, art, and cultural studies to study the Native American experience.
This course is designed to be a thematic introduction to the study of global food history, from ancient times to the present, with particular emphasis on the food-ways of non-Western regions, such as Afro-Caribbean, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, and Mexican.
A survey of American sport history, from the colonial era to the present. Course will explore how sports have reflected larger trends in American life and analyze the different ways sports have influenced American history and shaped the world we occupy today.
Surveys religious thought and practice in the United States and Canada from the colonial era to the present day. Themes include continuities and changes in expressing ancient faiths; the relationship between religion and politics; the intersection of theology with everyday life; and evolving notions of religious truth and toleration.
Explores the history of the United States through films made about various historical eras. For each film, the instructor will lecture on the time period(s), the class will read relevant primary and secondary sources, and then the class will watch and discuss the film.
HIST 125The Social History of Popular Music in 20th-Century America3
Explores the relationship between popular music and major developments in 20th-century America. The course's overarching focus is how popular music has simultaneously unified and divided the nation.
HIST 126Early American History and the Foundations of American Democracy3
A survey of various aspects of American development during the colonial, revolutionary, and national periods, with stress upon the foundations of American democracy. Students may not receive credit for both HIST 126 and HIST 127.
A survey of various aspects of American development during the colonial, revolutionary, and national periods, with stress upon major themes and interpretations. Students may not receive credit for both HIST 126 and HIST 127.
A survey of various aspects of American development during a century of rapid industrial, social, political, and international change, with stress upon major themes and interpretations.
This course explores the history of the United States in the very recent past. Through a sustained analysis of key political, cultural, economic, and social developments, students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex issues and problems that shape American life today.
An overview of major developments in sub-Saharan African history since the late 19th century, focusing on colonialism, nationalism and decolonization, social change, and current issues, and drawing upon fiction, film, and primary sources.
HIST 131Southeast Asia before 1800 through Digital History3
This course will cover the history of the territories and peoples of Southeast Asia (comprising the modern-day countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Singapore and Vietnam), from earliest times to 1800. The course will also delve into debates about the past, who is engaged in such debates, and how to navigate these debates to find reliable historical sources and communicate analysis of those sources for a wide audience.
The history of Southeast Asia from the 19th century to the present. Long-term political, economic, social, and intellectual questions, including the impact of imperialism, the rise of nationalism, the transformation of the economy, the Cold War, and the coherence of Southeast Asia as a region.
Comparative and interdisciplinary introduction to China, Korea, and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on impact of the West, nation building, industrialization, and evolution of mass society.
HIST 135History of the Indian Subcontinent to 17503
An introduction to major political, religious, social, and cultural events from 3500 BCE to 1750 CE with a focus on Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist groups before British colonial rule.
HIST 136History of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh: South Asia since 17503
This course is an introduction to modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. We will investigate major political, social, economic, and cultural issues from 1750 to the present.
HIST 137Muhammad to Malcolm X: Islam, Politics, Race, and Gender3
This course provides an introduction to the history of the Islamic world from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day. It seeks to expose students to key themes, individuals, and movements that have represented Islamic thought and practice, and enable students to engage directly with intra-Islamic debates.
A broad, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary introduction to the traditional civilization of the Muslim world. Students may not receive credit for both HIST 138/ASIA 138 and ASIA 180/RELI 180.
A broad interdisciplinary survey of the later Islamic empires since the 15th century and their successor societies in the modern Muslim world. Students may not receive credit for both ASIA 139/HIST 139 and ASIA 181/RELI 181.
This introduction to the contemporary world examines the Cold War and its international aftermath, decolonization, national development across a variety of cases, and trends in the global economy.
Course explores how commodities have connected people and places around the world since 1500. Lectures, readings, and recitations focus on tracing the histories of specific commodities (e.g., sugar, opium, and uranium) across different contexts. Significant sub-themes include the history of business, international human rights, and science and technology.
A general introduction to Latin American society, culture, politics, and economics from a historical perspective. Focus will be on the events of the past two centuries.
This course will survey the history of women, gender relations, and notions of sex difference in the United States from the colonial era to present times, with a special emphasis on women's varied experiences and expectations across divisions of class, race, and region. Key themes will include work, politics, citizenship, reproduction, sociability, and sexuality.
This course surveys the history of Latin American indigenous peoples from the conquest to the present. Focus is on indigenous struggles and survival strategies. Previously offered as HIST 527.
HIST 153From the Bible to Broadway: Jewish History to Modern Times3
This class surveys the history of the Jews from ancient to modern times. It focuses on the development of Jewish religion, culture identity, and politics in Jewish communities in the Western, Atlantic and Middle Eastern Worlds. It also explores the development of antisemitism and anti-Jewish violence.
This course explores the modern empire from slavery and abolition, through Independence and the Cold War. Focusing on parts of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the British Isles, we will consider issues of race, gender, religion, wealth inequality, war, and anti-colonialism. Honors version available.
Intellectual and social structures, dynamics of social and political change, principles of authority, and bases of revolution from the Reformation to the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period.
An overview of modern European history from the First World War to the present, covering major themes such as imperialism and decolonization; competing political ideologies; "hot" and "cold" wars; the Holocaust and Holocaust memory; gender and sexuality; migration and labor; race and religion; the European Union; local community-building; and efforts to redefine Europe and its place in the wider world.
Between 862 and 1861 Russia expanded from agrarian settlements into Europe's most formidable empire. Subjugated by Mongols in 1240, it recovered and absorbed territories from Poland to Alaska. Conquest came on the backs of an enserfed peasantry, whose emancipation began the next chapter in Russia's history.
HIST 162Russia under the Last Tsars and Soviet Commissars3
This course surveys fundamental issues affecting the Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet multinational empire in the last century and a half, emphasizing regime failures, revolutions, wars, and ethnic challenges.
This course offers an introduction to the political, religious, cultural, and social history of ''Russia'' Central Asia (which you may have heard of as ''the five 'stans'') from the eighteenth century to the present day. We will conceptualize the Eurasian space across modern political boundaries by charting the evolution of several themes in different parts of the region. These themes include Islam, the state, ideology, gender, and the environment. Honors version available.
HIST 164Victorian Britain: From Slavery to South African War3
This course explores political, social, and cultural history from the Napoleonic Wars through the South African War. Surveys the history of the United Kingdom in the context of Britain's imperial expansion, including slavery, reform, women's suffrage, social movements, and Victorian wealth and poverty.
HIST 16520th Century Britain: from the Great War to Brexit3
This course explores political, social, and cultural history from 1900 to the present: the two world wars, the declining empire, the extension of parliamentary democracy, the new welfare state, and a deeply diverse racial, ethnic, and religious society where social and economic differences remain. Who is British?
The American occupation of Afghanistan after 9/11/2001, the longest war in United States history, continues a long pattern of great empires attempting to control the country. This course asks why it has been challenging for Afghanistan's rulers, both foreign and domestic, to build a centralized state in an historically decentralized society.
This course examines the history of Asian Americans, focusing on how key events, conflicts, and continuities have shaped their experiences within the broader American context. By engaging with primary sources, such as historical documents and personal narratives, students will learn to evaluate, synthesize, and communicate evidence about the human past. This course encourages students to apply historical insights to contemporary issues, fostering an understanding of how the material and historical past influences our perception of both the past and present.
HIST 174HHonors Seminar in African, Asian, and Middle Eastern History3
Examines selected themes in the history of Africa, Asia, and/or the Middle East. Theme(s) chosen by the instructor. Possible subjects: colonialism, resistance movements, religion, gender, economic transformations.
HIST 175HHonors Seminar in Latin American History3
Examines selected themes in the history of Latin America. Theme(s) chosen by the instructor. Possible subjects: indigenous societies, colonialism, religion, the family, economic transformations.
HIST 176HHonors Seminar in Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European History3
Examines selected themes in the history of Russia, Eurasia, and/or Eastern Europe. Theme(s) chosen by the instructor. Possible subjects: imperialism, revolution, the Soviet Union, war and society.
HIST 177HHonors Seminar in Early European History3
Examines selected themes in the history of Europe from ancient to early modern times. Theme(s) chosen by the instructor. Possible subjects: legacies of antiquity, philosophy and religion, feudal society, gender, and power.
HIST 178HHonors Seminar in Modern European History3
Examines selected themes in the history of modern Europe. Theme(s) chosen by the instructor. Possible subjects: effects of industrialism, nationalism, history of ideas, consumer society, modern revolutions, imperialism.
Examines selected themes in American history. Theme(s) chosen by the instructor. Possible subjects: colonial diversity, emerging nation, intellectual traditions, labor and capitalism, slavery and race relations, markets and political power, war and society.
HIST 189The Global World Order from World War II to the Present3
This course deals with the establishment of the rules-based global order toward the end of the Second World War and analyzes the development of that order throughout the Cold War years and the post-Cold War era up to the present. Honors version available.
Subject matter will vary with instructor but will focus on some particular topic or historical approach. Course description available from the departmental office. Closed to graduate students.
This course will examine the relationship between Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and the making of the modern world in the 20th century.
HIST 204Global Environmental Histories: People, Climate, and Landscapes3
Global warming? Hurricanes, floods, fires, food security: focusing on critical issues of human rights and changing forces in our natural world, this course prepares students to explore different sources on a variety of topics for present-day environmental issues and the entangled relations between nature and society on our planet.
HIST 205War, Diplomacy, and Statecraft, 1618-18153
The history of European international politics from the outbreak of the Thirty Years War to the Congress of Vienna. Considers the sources of national power, the reasons for war, and the changing nature of diplomacy.
HIST 206War, Diplomacy, and Statecraft, 1815-19453
The history of international politics from the fall of Napoleon to the end of the Second World War, with special attention to European nationalism, imperialism, the emergence of non-European great powers, the reasons for war, and the search for peace.
A survey of the Cold War from its origins in the aftermath of the Second World War to its conclusion in the late 1980s. Focuses on the geopolitical, military, ideological, and economic aspects of the global superpower conflict.
The class begins with colonial contexts before moving to the late Ottoman Empire. After consideration of genocides in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, the focus shifts to the violence of decolonization and postcolonial conflict. The class also asks whether genocide is a useful category of analysis. Previously offered as HIST 180.
Survey of international social, political, and cultural patterns in selected societies of Africa, Asia, America, and Europe, stressing comparative analysis of conflicts and change in different historical contexts. LAC recitation sections offered in French, German, and Spanish.
The influence of sea power on international affairs will be surveyed from ancient times to the present. Emphasis on United States naval history and its interaction with diplomacy, economics, and technology.
Examines air power theory and practice from 1914 to the present. Focuses on the application of air power as an instrument of war and the effectiveness of that application.
HIST 215Peoples, Cultures, and Landscapes of Latin America3
Peoples, Cultures, and Landscapes of Latin America explores the peopling of the Americas by Amerindian, African and Afro descendant peoples, and Europeans. It will consider the inequalities of power, wealth, and autonomy across gender, ethnicity, and class in Latin America to understand more fully their deep historical roots and their persistence into our own time. We will learn how Latin America takes on greater meaning, when we consider this subcontinent in different phases of globalization.
HIST 216History of Mapping: From Sea Monsters to Google Earth3
This course examines the history of maps and mapmaking as a way to understand how societies have defined, interpreted, and represented geographic knowledge over time. We will focus especially on early modern cartography and the Age of Discovery, while also examining how contemporary technologies like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Google Earth continue these traditions of spatial representation.
This interdisciplinary examination of 'Asian America' takes a rigorous approach via both primary and secondary texts to study the different groups most often identified as Asian American, their histories, legalities, sociology, and culture, and how they have developed within and in relation to the United States.
Course uses the history of the modern Olympic Games (1896-present) to explore both global sport and the history of international relations. Topics include sport and the Cold War; terrorism; human rights; the anti-apartheid movement; and issues of race, class, gender, disability; and the question of who is a "real" athlete. Honors version available.
HIST 221Under Crescent and Cross: Jews in the Medieval World3
This course examines the history of Jewish communities in the medieval world. Particular attention will focus on relations between Jews, Muslims, and Christians in diverse historical contexts--from the Indian Ocean and the Middle East to the Mediterranean and western Europe.
The decline and transformation of the Roman Empire, from its apogee in the second century until the rise of Islam in the seventh century. Covers topics like the Christianization of Rome, the barbarian invasions, the role of climate and pandemic disease, and the end of the ancient Mediterranean world system.
This course explores forms of scientific thinking before the modern era, focusing mainly on the intellectual tradition in medieval Europe ca. 500-1500. Special attention will be devoted to the intersections of scientific concepts and Christian religious ideas.
This course traces the first three-quarters of London's rich two-thousand-year history, from the Romans to the Great Fire. Students examine how London evolved as an urban environment. They also study London's many and varied relationships with the wider world, including, in the latter part of the course, North America. Honors version available.
HIST 233American Indian and Indigenous History: The West3
This course is designed to introduce students to the histories of American Indians living west of the Mississippi. We will examine the historical processes and issues that have shaped the lives of Indigenous Americans over the past five centuries from creation stories to the late 20th century. Given the expansive chronology we will examine the broad themes of each era while spending time diving into the histories and cultures of a select few Indigenous communities.
This course introduces students to a tribally specific body of knowledge. The tribal focus of the course and the instructor change from term to term. Honors version available.
This course deals with the political, economic, social, and cultural issues important to 20th-century Native Americans as they attempt to preserve tribalism in the modern world.
Does sex have a history? This course argues that it does. Exploring American history from the earliest encounters of Indians, Europeans, and Africans through the aftermath of the sexual revolution, we will consider diverse perspectives, important dynamics of change, and surprising ways in which the past informs our present--and our selves.
An in-depth history of colonial North America. Topics include: interactions among Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans and the founding and development of English, French, and Spanish colonies in the lands that eventually became the United States.
An in-depth history of the American Revolution. Topics include: causes of the split between Britain and 13 of its colonies, the fighting of the Revolutionary War, and the creation of the United States.
A survey of modern religion in the United States and Canada. Themes include religious pluralism; new religious movements, immigrant faiths; the relationship between religion and urban life, industrialization, and new science; religion and foreign affairs; questions of church and state; and the conflict between secular modernity and religious fundamentalism.
HIST 240Introduction to Mexico: A Nation in Four Revolutions3
History of Mexico seen through four moments of change: conquest, independence, 19th-century reforms, and 20th-century revolution. This course is an introductory survey for students who want to know more about Mexico, its place in Latin America, and its relations with the United States.
A comparative examination of the historical experiences of Latinos in the United States, from the 19th century to the present, drawing on experiences of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Central Americans. Special emphasis on the events, people, and ideas that have made distinctive contributions.
This course examines the history of United States involvement in Latin America and the Caribbean. Lectures will cover two centuries of United States intervention, from the wars of the 19th century to the covert CIA operations of the Cold War and the more recent wars on drugs and terror.
This course traces changing relationships between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa from the 17th century to the present. Topics include the trans-Atlantic slave trade, back-to-Africa movements and the colonization of Liberia by African Americans, United States policies toward decolonizing and postcolonial African countries, and contemporary links between Africa and America. Honors version available.
This course examines the historical evolution of the United States presidency and its role in government and society. The class is especially concerned with the ways that the office and its occupants have been shaped by the aspirations of the American people and the global challenges of the modern era.
HIST 245The United States and the Cold War: Origins, Development, Legacy3
This is both a wide-ranging and detailed course that looks at the origins, the evolution, and the termination of the Cold War from 1945 to 1989/90. It also considers the "New Cold War" with Russia that developed in 2014. The course is based on an international and multinational perspective.
HIST 246Great Power Conflicts - the US, Germany/EU, Russia, China: from Hitler & the Cold War to the Present3
This course considers global politics from World War II to the present. It covers many events, wars & peace deals you always wanted to learn more about. We begin with Hitler's aggressive wars and explore the great power rivalries of the Cold War. We also explore the geopolitical conflicts from the 1990s, including NATO expansion, to the present. We consider US-Europe-Russia-China relations. We analyze the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the never-ending turmoil in the Middle East, and the Taiwan and Indo-Pacific questions as well as many other global security, economic, trade and energy issues.
HIST 247Early Modern Japanese History and Culture3
From the 1603 establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa family in an unusual early modern federation, with a balance of power between the warrior government in Edo and the domanial governments spread across the archipelago. This resemblance of this system to the U.S. balance between federal and state power frames our examination of the early modern period.
HIST 248Guerrillas and Counterinsurgencies in Latin America3
This course examines the leftist guerrilla movements that swept Latin America and the Caribbean during the latter half of the 20th century. Students will analyze the origins, trajectories, and legacies of these insurgencies, paying particular attention to the roles of race, class, and gender. Previously offered as HIST/PWAD 528.
An intermediate survey of global Christianity from the late Middle Ages to the present day that traces evolving theology and worship; the role of religion in the politics of empire; modern challenges to traditional religion; and the international expansion of the faith.
This course provides an introduction to the long history of Central Europe before the modern era. This region--between the Baltic and the Alps and between the Rhine and the Bug--was inhabited by a variety of people speaking Germanic, Slavic, Baltic, and Magyar languages. Moving swiftly through the chronology of major events that continually transformed the political landscape of these territories, we ask: how did premodern legacies shape the modern history of Central Europe?
HIST 251The Thirty Years War (1618-1648): Europe in an Age of Crisis3
A critical examination of the significance of the Thirty Years' War for 17th-century Europe's social, religious, military, and geopolitical history. The representation of the conflict in art and literature also receives attention.
HIST 252Politics, Society, and Culture in Modern Germany3
This course explores the history of Modern Germany, by focusing on Imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. We will study continuities and changes in politics, society, and culture and examine the lasting impact of World War I, World War II and the Holocaust.
A critical examination, from the Renaissance to the Napoleonic period, of the changes in European land and naval warfare and their impact on society and government.
HIST 255Manor to Machine: The Economic Shaping of Europe3
From agriculture to industry, Europe's march to industrialization. Survey from the medieval manor through revival of trade, rise of towns, credit and capitalism, overseas expansion and mercantilism to the Industrial Revolution.
Three events shaped contemporary France: collaboration and resistance in occupied France; the Algerian War; and the political, cultural, and social movements in the late 1960s and 1970s. This class will examine these events, how they are remembered and given meaning, and their role in making the France we know today. Honors version available.
HIST 257Politics, Society, and Culture in Postwar Germany3
The interdisciplinary seminar will explore cultural, historical, and political issues of contemporary Germany and analyze German developments from the postwar period to the present. Readings and discussions in English.
This course focuses on the history of modern Italy and examines changes in political, social, economic structures. Students will engage in the search for an "Italian identity." Topics will include unification, World War I and II, Italian fascism, the postwar Italian Republic, the Mafia, terrorism, popular culture, and Silvio Berlusconi.
HIST 259Towards Emancipation? Women in Modern Europe3
This course examines and compares the situation of women in politics, the work force, society and family from the French Revolution to the new women's movement in the 1970s with a focus on Britain, France and Germany. One major theme is the history of the struggle for women's emancipation.
HIST 260From Kings to Communists: East-Central Europe in the Modern Era3
A study in the emergence of nations of Eastern Europe, their internal development, mutual conflicts, and struggle for independence. Honors version available.
Third Republic France was riven with conflict. This course examines these conflicts, how the men and women of France and its colonies gave them meaning, and how we in turn can interpret these struggles to develop our understanding of the longest-lived republic in French history (1870-1940).
HIST 262History of the Holocaust: The Destruction of the European Jews3
Anti-Semitism; the Jews of Europe; the Hitler dictatorship; evolution of Nazi Jewish policy from persecution to the Final Solution; Jewish response; collaborators, bystanders, and rescuers; aftermath.
This course examines gender in the religious lives of premodern Europeans from 500-1700, both in daily life (marriage, sexuality, devotions) and among the religious elite (clergy, monks and nuns, mystics). Feminist history, masculinity studies, and sexuality studies will all be taught as historical methods, paired with primary source documents from medieval Christians. Honors version available.
Traces the development of sexual identities and changes in masculine and feminine ideals from Tsarist Russia through the post-Soviet period with emphasis on politics, society, and popular culture.
This course explores the culture and society of imperial China (pre-1912) through objects. Six kinds of objects - silk, wooden beams and brackets, precious stones, ships and stirrups, silver, and tea - will each form a module that introduces students first to key historical activities associated with the object and then to the diverse sociocultural, economic, and political spheres that they played important roles in.
The history of warfare from its prehistoric origins to the present. The focus is on interactions between peoples around the world and particularly on the problems of innovation and adaptation. Previously offered as HIST/PWAD 351.
This course approaches Chinese migration to the United States as both a historical subject and a methodological challenge. Rather than limiting this history to events and communities only within the borders of the United States, we ask how law, geopolitics, and gendered experiences shaped the transpacific Chinese communities. At the same time, we take up the questions: How do we know what we know about the past? and How can we read against the bias of the archive to recover marginalized voices? Students will work with diplomatic records, petitions, letters, personal essays, memoirs to grapple with these problems of evidence.
Explores the history, culture, and politics of London from the decade before the First World War, through the "Swinging" 1960s, to the recent Olympics fever. Surveys the architecture, cultural institutions and the arts, against the background of the city's changing racial, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic composition. Honors version available.
In this course we will investigate one of the most well-known of South Asian polities, and the grandest and longest lasting empire in Indian history, the Mughal Empire (1526-1858), whose rulers and elites were responsible for much of the iconic architecture and painting associated with India today.
HIST 271Ancient and Medieval Japanese History and Culture3
This course surveys Japanese history and cultural development from the prehistoric period, rich with archaeological evidence, to the reunification of Japan in the late sixteenth century. One major topic is the mythology or and historical evidence for early state formation, including the role that Japan's long "unbroken" history plays in modern debates about national identity, xenophobia, and relations with regional neighbors. Another focus is the emergence of women's literature.
Provides students with a critical understanding of the political, economic, and social dynamics of contemporary South Asia. Themes explored include the development (or lack of) democratic structures, continuing relevance of caste and religion, emergence of right wing movements, contesting representations of the past, and the prospects and challenges confronting the region.
HIST 273Water, Conflict, and Connection in the Middle East3
Water has played many pivotal roles in the societies and politics of Middle Eastern peoples. This course will survey the history of water in the region, including its uses in agriculture and ritual, transport, and technology. We will explore water's impact on public health and the effects of water pollution on local societies. Finally, we will focus on the effects of the region's water scarcity in cross-border political conflicts.
Approaches the history of the Ottoman Empire from a world historical perspective. Situates the Ottoman imperial experience in relation to Muslim, Mongolian, and Byzantine traditions. Discusses the early modern and modern transformation of the Ottoman Empire and its legacy for contemporary Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Course explores history of the African continent from before agriculture to the era of the Transatlantic slave trade. Particular attention given to themes such as trade, religion, and politics as well as the sources and methods for knowing about the premodern African past.
Explores the conflict over Palestine during the last 100 years. Surveys the development of competing nationalisms, the contest for resources and political control that led to the partition of the region, the war that established a Jewish state, and the subsequent struggles between conflicting groups for land and independence.
Focused on one of the most tragic and horrifying phenomena in world history, this course examines the Atlantic slave trade and its demographic, economic, political, and cultural impact on four continents over three centuries. Through interactive lectures, discussions, and a variety of written assignments, students will learn about this monumental and far-reaching system while sharpening critical thinking and communication skills. Honors version available.
Beginning with the discovery of gold and diamonds in the mid-19th century and reaching to the present, this course considers colonialism, industrialization, social change, and political protest in South Africa, with particular attention to the rise, fall, and legacies of apartheid. Honors version available.
HIST 280Women and Gender in Latin American History3
Examines the experiences of women and gender relations in Latin American societies from pre-Columbian times to the present, providing a new perspective on the region's historical development.
HIST 281The Pacific War, 1937-1945: Its Causes and Legacy3
An examination of the origins of the Pacific War, the course of this bitter and momentous conflict, and its complex legacy for both Asia and the United States.
To put the recent transformation of the People's Republic of China in context, the course examines the different facets of Maoism that governed the country in its early years. It highlights Maoism as a global force that paved the way for China's re-integration into the world order. Honors version available.
This course introduces undergraduates to significant themes of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Topics include family, religion, art, fiscal change, trade networks, conquest, emperorship, Manchu ethnicity, the examination system and book culture, legal codes, gender, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Boxer Uprising, among others. No prior coursework required.
This survey course will introduce students to the major events, people and themes of modern Chinese history. At the end of the nineteenth century, China was an empire on the brink of collapse. Today, China is the next global superpower. What are the significant events, people and themes that impacted this major transformation? How has the trajectory of China's recent past influenced its position and challenges in the present?
This course will explore how Americans in the 1970s responded to crises, challenges, and opportunities, and how they ultimately remade ideas of identity, citizenship, work, family, and culture.
HIST 291Putting Literature and History in Dialogue3
Dialogues between historiographic and fictional treatments of important historical problems. Explores works of history and literature to determine how different genres of writing give meaning to the past. Honors version available.
This class will examine the skills associated with historical thinking and the application of those skills across many contexts. The course will involve guest speakers who use historical thinking in their work and daily lives as well as assignments aimed at applying historical thinking to uses inside and outside of the classroom. The final project will involve the class curating, annotating, and sharing a collection of primary sources with a wider public. We will work together to decide upon the topic, sources, format, and audience.
HIST 300The World of Catherine de'Medici: Gender, Power, and Conflict in Sixteenth-Century France3
This course uses Catherine de'Medici as a point of entry into an exploration of France in the latter half of the sixteenth century. There are three complementary lenses. The first is gender history. The second lens is power. What exactly was power and what did it mean to be powerful in Catherine's world? The third lens is violence. Why was France so unusually violent in this period? The course is deliberately structured so as to interweave these perspectives, as well as to introduce others, including the first French attempts at trans-Atlantic expansion, visual culture, and the insights of microhistory.
HIST 301How Empires Fall: Case Studies from the Past and Lessons for Today3
What are empires, and how do they fall? This course examines the collapse of the three historical empires, explores discussions of modern decolonization, and addresses the question of what empire looks like in the contemporary world.
HIST 302Movies Make History: Films as Primary Sources in Europe and America3
This course explains how and why certain films helped shape the medium even as they reflected broader aspects of historical change. Beginning with the development of narrative film in 1908, the course looks at those nationally specific genres that had repercussions beyond national borders, ending in about 1968. Honors version available.
This course traces Iberian history from the eleventh to fifteenth centuries, focusing specifically on two related developments: frontier conditions that accompanied the progressive conquest of Muslim al-Andalus by the northern Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and the multicultural, multireligious socities that resulted. We will study social relations on the ground within and between communities of Jews, Christians, and Muslims under conditions of constant change over the course of more than four centuries.
HIST 304HConquest and Colonization in the English Atlantic World3
This course explores the history of conquest and the political-military process of establishing control in the British Isles (including Ireland) and how those processes created expectations and policies as the English moved into the New World. We will examine both European precedents and colonial transformations. We will explore how European (especially English) society functioned, and how it was transformed in the New World.
HIST 305Elizabeth I and her World: Gender, Power, and the Beginnings of the Global3
This class explores the world of Elizabeth I of England (1558-1603) through three complementary lenses: the queen as powerful political actor; gender; and emergent globalization. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which Elizabeth fashioned the images that she projected, and how she was perceived by others.
HIST 306Princes and Reformations in Germany, 1400-16003
Examines the major late medieval religious, social, and political developments plus the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Topics include Luther's theology, the German Peasant's War, Jewish-Christian relations, witch-hunting, and family life. Previously offered as HIST 460.
HIST 307Religion, Statecraft, and Enlightenment in Germany, 1600-18153
Examines major political, social, and cultural developments. Topics include the growth of absolutist government, Prussia's militarism and rivalry with Austria, German Jewry, Baroque music, the Enlightenment, and the Napoleonic wars. Previously offered as HIST 461.
The Renaissance (1300-1600) is known as a time of great artistic, scientific, and political renewal. But did Jews, the only religious minority in Europe, get an opportunity to benefit from and participate in that progress? This class studies the history of the Jews at a time of great cultural change.
This course focuses on the period in French history between the ascendancy of absolute monarchy in the middle of the 17th century and the collapse of absolutism at the onset of the French Revolution.
The French Revolution was a source of much that the modern world recognizes as its own: nationalism, human rights, class conflict, ideology, communism, conservatism, show trials, citizen armies, terrorism, and the concept of revolution itself. This course probes issues that underlie the continuing relevance of the French Revolution today.
HIST 311Ghettos and Shtetls? Urban Life in East European Jewish History3
The migration of Jewish populations from small towns to large cities in Eastern Europe altered notions of Jewish community, space, cultures, and identities. This course will explore the roles of ghetto and shtetl in both history and memory of the Jewish past, drawing on memoirs, literature, film, and photography. Honors version available.
This course covers France's conquest, rule, and loss of Algeria, and the relationship between French and Algerian people in Algeria and France from 1830 to the present. Topics such as modern French and North African history, colonialism, Islam, immigration, terror/torture, and cross-cultural exchange are all featured in this transnational course.
HIST 313Women and the Law in Africa and the Middle East3
Explores women's and men's engagement with colonial and post-colonial legal systems with a focus on the 19th through 21st centuries. Topics include customary law, Islamic law, women's rights as human rights, disputation and conflict resolution. We will ask the question: "how does gender influence how women and men navigate legal systems?" Course previously offered as WMST 289.
This course considers how a wide variety of groups in Latin America including indigenous people, Afro-descendant communities, women and religious minorities used the law to shape and challenge larger structures of imperial rule.
This course focuses on Mexico, several Caribbean and South America countries, and the U.S. as examples of the major debates that have arisen in the past and in our own time over citizenship and the nation-state in the multi-ethnic and culturally complex societies of the Americas. It explores history and memory around issues of human rights, gender, enslavement and emancipation, Indigenous peoples, religion and secular society, territory, and the nation-state. Previously offered as HIST 529. Honors version available.
Focusing on art, history, and ethnography museums in Europe and North America, this course considers the emergence and development of museums as powerful social and cultural institutions from the mid-18th century to the 21st century. A variety of perspectives on museums showcase their connections to larger political and cultural trends.
Technology's impact on American thought and society and the response it has engendered. Topics will include the factory town, search for utopia, impact of Henry Ford, war, and depersonalization. Previously offered as HIST 625.
An examination of how food, its production, distribution, and consumption have shaped the history of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the world at large. The course will study how these nations and their empires have been intertwined but remained distinctive from colonial times to the present.
This course surveys the long history of computer technology and its social, political, economic, and cultural consequences, with a particular focus on the experience of the United States.
HIST 329An Introduction to the History of Medicine3
This course underscores the ways in which Western medicine has become a global political and cultural phenomenon in history, and discusses evidence of how different social actors have parsed the distinction between sickness and health over time. Honors version available.
HIST 330Jesus and the Jews: From the Bible to the Big Screen3
This class will study the history of the claim that the Jews are responsible for Christ's death. Students will examine the power of this idea to travel through time and space and discuss how it is portrayed differently and with different purposes throughout history. Honors version available.
This course explores the uses of history and historical perspectives for public policy. Students will learn how historical processes have shaped today's public policies and examine how the origins and development of a policy can inform current policy decisions. Previously offered as PLCY 231.
HIST 332Identity and Community in Modern Jewish History: The Case of Durham3
This course explores diverse experiences of modernity among Jewish populations from the mid-18th century to the present under the influence of political, cultural, and socioeconomic changes. Diaries, memoirs, literature, and film challenge students to develop their own analyses while becoming familiar with arguments among scholars of Jewish life.
This course will study the social, political, and cultural history of early India, through a focus on love and desire. It will examine a range of primary sources from the period: erotic manuals, inscriptions, literature, legal and medical textbooks, art and architecture.
The turn of the 20th century was characterized by a highly stylized angst, and nowhere more so than in Russia. This course explores how the political, social, cultural, and economic transformations that vibrated throughout Russia provided a fertile context for the burst of creativity that spawned its modernist artistic movements.
HIST 335Cracking India: Partition and Its Legacy in South Asia3
What happened when the British carved Pakistan out of the predominately Muslim corners of India? Readings and films focus on the causes and consequences of this event, the Partition of India. Honors version available.
HIST 336The Mongol Empire and its Successors in Eurasia, 1100-16003
This course is dedicated to the history of the Mongol Empire and its successor states across Eurasia between 1100-1600. Over the past generation there has been a great renaissance in the study of Mongol-ruled polities from China to Iran and beyond. Historians thus have developed a complex understanding of how Mongol expansion triggered new forms of globalization, whether in terms of long-distance commercial exchange, epidemic disease circulation, state formation, or religious conversion. This course offers an introduction to the study of not just the Mongols, but a host of other Eurasian societies that had to reckon with Mongol power.
HIST 339Asia and the Birth of Global Capitalism, 1400-18503
This course studies the economies of early modern Asia through the perspective of both Asian actors and the European East India Companies (Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, etc.). Early modern Asia was the epicenter of the early modern global economy, with China and India responsible for 50% of world manufacturing output. In order to enter into this world, Europeans developed a number of strategies. Despite their ready use of coercion, Europeans remained marginal actors in early modern Asia. Towards the end this course studies how the North Atlantic replaced Asia as the center of the world economy around 1800.
Explores sub-Saharan Africa both as a historical site of exploitative, extractive labor practices and initiatives to make business more ethical. Starting in the precolonial period, it considers topics such as ending the slave trades, the foundations of colonial economies, development projects postindependence, and the use of conflict minerals. Previously offered as HIST 540. Honors version available.
This course introduces students to the history of empire, the role of race in creating and sustaining it, and the ways that people have resisted the imposition of outsider control. It will also introduce students to the methods historians use to understand the past.
HIST 344The Global World Order from World War II to the Present3
This course deals with the establishment and development of the rules-based global order towards the end of World War II. The course will help us to understand the driving forces, fears, and ideas that have led to the post-war global order and the emergence of new states and international organizations. We will discuss this system as well as the forces of nationalism, imperialism, just war ideas, great power theories, and many related themes.
HIST 345Dictators and Democracy: Autocracy and "the People" from Antiquity to Today3
This course will trace the relationship between individual power and the will of "the people" from European Antiquity to its manifestations around the world today. It will explore how autocrats legitimate their power based on the notion of popular representation.
Dictators are typically viewed as brutal individuals who wield absolute power over their state. But, are these stereotypes true? The aims of this seminar are to dispel the myths that shroud dictators, to give students a more nuanced understanding of dictatorships in the 20th century, and to introduce them to biographies as a genre of historical writing.
The course focus on theories on fascism, national cultures of fascism (e.g. Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary) as well as selected topics which are essential to understand the attraction and functioning of fascist movements and regimes since 1918 in Europe (e.g. racism, war, culture, charismatic leadership).
This course places the act of human migration at the center of modern history. Through case studies of various migrant groups, students will explore important questions at the center of migration history: why some people move and some stay; how the movements of people shape political, economic, social, and cultural life; and how ideas about migration, immigration, nation, and place have developed historically.
This course will examine the history of how empires uses grand claims of civilizational, moral, and religious claims in their foreign policy and grand strategy with a focus on the British, Ottoman, and Japanese imperial strategies. The course will also discuss contemporary legacies of British-Ottoman confrontation in WWI and British-Japanese conflict in WWII.
HIST 350Environmental History and Computer Science: Mapping the Black Sea3
This course uses the digital technology of the 21st century to analyze the interactions of past civilizations by creating a "story map" that will visualize the ebbs and flows of peoples and civilizations throughout a geographical place, the Black Sea.
This course will assess visions for social change during the Great Depression, evaluate New Deal reforms, and address the legacy Depression-era Americans made on institutions and succeeding generations. Honors version available.
After the First World War, culture in Germany became a forum for radical experimentation and a source of deep conflict. Through a consideration of art and literature, and with emphasis on mass cultural forms such as film and newspapers, this course explores the complex relationships between politics and culture and how such relationships were understood and debated in both the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.
The course examines and compares the images of war and gender that movies from different time periods and countries propagate and explores the different factors that influence these images and thereby the perception and recollection of war. Honors version available.
This course will explore women's experiences in America from 1500 to 1865. Topics will include the ways in which women have shaped American politics, economy, society, and culture.
HIST 356American Women's History, 1865 to the Present3
This course will examine the changing lives of women in the United States after 1865: Their contribution to economy, society, cultural change, and political struggles.
Economic, cultural, and social history of the antebellum South. The region's political history will serve as a supporting part of the study. Previously offered as HIST 586.
This course explores the transformation of the South from the time of the Civil War and emancipation to the contemporary rise of the Sunbelt. Previously offered as HIST 587.
The society and politics of the United States during the period dominated by President Andrew Jackson. Topics include economic development, the expansion of slavery, religion and reform, the changing roles of women, and the political movements associated with 'Jacksonian democracy.' Previously offered as HIST 563.
This course surveys questions that have preoccupied leading thinkers and shaped intellectual culture in America since 1870. Themes include the problem of defining American identity, the clash between faith and reason, social injustice, the meaning of "modernity," the power and pitfalls of ideology, conceptions of human nature. Honors version available.
HIST 361Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Histories in the United States3
This course investigates the history of people who might today be defined as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) in the United States. Key themes will include identity formation, culture, politics, medical knowledge, discrimination, and community.
Course explores the historical significance of baseball in American life, using the history of the game to investigate topics such as industrialization, urbanization, and immigration; conflicts between labor and capital; racial prejudice and integration; patriotism and American identity; evolving gender ideals; and the role of myth in American culture.
Study of the popular arts and entertainments of the 19th and 20th centuries and the ways in which they illuminate the values, assumptions, aspirations, and fears of American society. Honors version available.
A survey of the rise and development of the major financial, commercial, manufacturing, and transportation enterprises that transformed the United States from an agricultural into a leading industrial nation.
From the experience of colonial artisans to contemporary factory and office workers, organized and unorganized, this course examines the effect of the industrial revolution on the American social and political landscape.
The history of North Carolina from the original Indian cultures to the end of the Civil War. Important topics include colonization, the American Revolution, evangelical religion, slavery, economic and political reform, the rise of sectionalism, and the Civil War.
This course explores the long, unfinished struggle for democracy in North Carolina, from the pre-Civil War era to the modern day. Important topics include Emancipation and Reconstruction, agrarian protests, Black disfranchisement and Jim Crow segregation, industrialization and labor protests, campaigns for civil rights and equal citizenship, Latino immigration, and 20th-century politics.
This class examines the relationship between war, the U.S. military, and the social, cultural, and political history of the United States from the colonial era to the end of World War I. It analyzes the military as a social institution and how war has shaped American history, broadly speaking.
This class examines the relationship between war, the U.S. military, and the social, cultural, and political history of the United States from World War I to the present. It analyzes the military as a social institution and how war has shaped American history in this time span. It focuses primarily on World War II, the Vietnam War, and the War on Terror.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was one of the most controversial and consequential foreign policy decisions of the 21st century. This course will help students understand the origins of the conflict, the basics of modern Iraqi history, the effects of the war in Iraq, the US, and the Middle East, and its legacies today.
Course explores the popularity of football in American history and asks, "Why has the game mattered so much in this country?" We will also use the story of football to explore many of the larger storylines and controversies in this nation's past. We will focus on the class origins of college and professional football; racial prejudice, exclusion, and integration in the game; football and the evolving ideas about masculinity and womanhood; the role of the game in the promotion of a vigorous national identity; and the use of football stadiums as spaces to both legitimize and protest the political order.
HIST 372History of American Politics, 1932-Present3
This course explores the political history of the United States from the New Deal in the 1930s to the present. Topics include the trajectories of liberalism and conservatism and the origins of today's most protracted political debates--from McCarthyism to 9/11, from Watergate to Obamacare. Honors version available.
A survey of the growth and development of the American West from the nineteenth century to the present as a culture, economy, and society. Considers the interactions between Native Americans and other people of different races, national origins and genders as agents and contributors to the forging of the American West.
This course will explore how Americans from 1600 to the present have defined what is masculine and what is feminine and how they have constructed their identities around those definitions.
Survey of African American history to abolition of slavery in North America with some attention to experiences of people of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean.
HIST 377History of African Americans, 1865 to Present3
Survey of African American history since emancipation in North America with some attention to experiences of people of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean. Honors version available.
This course explores the University of North Carolina's early history with relation to racial slavery. It is built around an archival research project that changes from term to term.
This course examines the history of the modern African American civil rights movement, focusing on its development and processes, historical significance, and continuing legacy in the United States of America and abroad. Honors version available.
HIST 383Big-Time College Sports and the Rights of Athletes, 1874 to the Present3
The evolution of college sports since the Harvard-McGill football game of 1874. Key turning points include the football crisis of 1905 and the creation of the NCAA, the reform efforts of the 1930s, the 1984 Supreme Court case on television money, and the emergence of an "athletes' rights" movement.
Through a variety of interconnected themes, this course focuses on the wide-ranging experiences of life in the United States of America during the 1960s to explain major shifts in postwar modern American history and explore the origins of contemporary American society. Honors version available.
The course covers the history of black women in the United States from the 18th century to the present. It deals with such themes as work, family, community, sexuality, politics, religion, and culture. Previously offered as HIST/WGST 569.
HIST 388Chinese Strategic Thought: Antiquity to the Present3
This course will introduce undergraduates to Chinese strategic and military thought through the translated writings of some of China's most significant philosophers, intellectuals, and political leaders, from antiquity to the present. Students will explore historical characteristics of Chinese strategy and consider the influence of these ideas in current international relations.
Subject matter will vary with instructor but will focus on some particular topic or historical approach. Course description available from departmental office. Closed to graduate students. Repeatable for credit. Honors version available.
Subject
HIST
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics; 9 total credits.
HIST 393Practical Introduction to Editing, Reviewing, and Publishing Historical Research: Traces Internship1
In this course, students will work as the assistant editors for Traces: The UNC-Chapel Hill Journal of History, collaborating with the graduate student editorial team and their faculty advisor to produce a peer-reviewed academic journal. Students will be introduced to the full academic publishing process, selecting which papers to accept/reject, working with accepted authors to refine their articles, and assisting in the maintenance of the website and creation of the physical journal.
Subject matter will vary with instructor but will focus on some particular historical methodology, approach, and/or practice. Course description available from the departmental office.
The course is in general limited to 15 students. The subject matter will vary with the instructor. Each course will concern itself with a study in depth of some historical problem. Students will write a substantial research paper. Permission of the department. Honors version available.
HIST 400Beating the Market? A History of Communist Economies3
The goal of this course is both to highlight the varieties of Communist economies in Asia and Europe and the ways that ideology, violence, institution-building and competition have shaped their contours and trajectories. Students will gain a literacy in the methods of economic history, an appreciation for how economic equalities drive state policy, and a knowledge of how ideology and institutions are co-constitutive.
HIST 418Family and Gender in Early Modern China and Korea3
This course explores family and kinship in early modern China and Korea through the lens of gender and sexuality. In particular, it invites students to think beyond the bias that women in premodern East Asia were victims of patriarchy to understand their active participation in their world-making as well as their dynamic imagination and expression through writing, working, learning, loving.
The rise of Macedonia; the careers of Philip II and Alexander (with emphasis on the latter's campaigns); the emerging Hellenistic Age. The course integrates computer (including Web site) and audiovisual materials throughout.
This course deals with the complex topic of ancient sexuality, which includes courtship, marriage, family structure, public and private morality, and law enforcement. In terms of historical method, this course teaches students how to discover evidence for social history in both diverse documentary and literary sources.
The nature and workings of the Western church between roughly 600 and 1300. Emphasis on the church "from within," organization, missionary strategies, liturgy, monasticism, popular religion.
Students in this course will examine Christian attitudes toward holy war, crusading, and other forms of coercive violence from the 11th until the 15th centuries, with a focus on the major crusades to the Holy Land.
A consideration of England's origins, unification, and development as a national monarchy. Primary emphasis is on political, ecclesiastical, and cultural aspects.
The origins and development of the university during the period 1100 to 1400; types of organization, curricula and degrees, intellectual life, town-gown and student-master relationships.
HIST 437Aristocratic Culture in the Central Middle Ages3
This course has as its theme the lives of aristocratic men and women in western Europe between about 850 and 1200 CE. Discusses the nature of aristocratic identity, the trends that shaped the lives of aristocratic men and women, and the different roles of men and women within aristocratic culture.
This course examines the multifaceted constructions of masculinity found in narrative texts produced in medieval western Europe. Focuses on topics such as gender relations, male self-fashioning, homosocial bonding, family structures. Sources studied range from epic and romance to chronicles and visual records. Honors version available.
HIST 439Environmental China: Premodern Political Ecology3
This course explores the history of premodern China from an environmental perspective. Based on mini-lectures and intensive discussions, it investigates diverse modes and sites of human-nature interactions such as agriculture, forestry, marine activities, natural disasters, and landscape cultivation.
An analysis of the roles of women and men in Indian societies from the early to the modern periods. Topics include the cultural construction of gender and sexuality; beauty and bodily practices; gender and religion; gender and politics; race, imperialism, and gender. Previously offered as HIST/ASIA 556.
HIST 441Beauty and the Body in Pre-Colonial Indian History3
This course will discuss theories of beauty and the body in Indian History (c. 3 - 17th centuries) and their relation to differing constructions of gender.
HIST 442Religion, Co-existence, and Conflict in Pre-Colonial India3
This course traces the fascinating history of material, cultural, and theological exchanges and conflicts between individuals belonging to two of the world's major religions: Hinduism and Islam. Throughout the course we will also analyze how modern commentators have selectively used the past to inform their understandings of the present. Previously offered as HIST/ASIA 555.
HIST 443Settler Colonialism in Global Perspective3
This seminar introduces the field of settler colonial studies and history. It investigates how settler colonial polities consolidated during and after the global "settler revolution," how they managed relations with the imperial metropole and dealt with the Indigenous populations, whose resistance, adaptation, survival and agency also feature.
HIST 445Humanitarianism in Historical Perspective3
This seminar examines humanitarianism in global context around 1800, beginning with the formation of humanitarian movements dedicated to alleviating suffering and especially ending slavery. It traces the movement's complicated relationship to empire in the 19th century, and the professionalization of humanitarian aid in the 20th century.
HIST 448Gender and the Law in United States History3
This course will explore how the law in America has defined and regulated gender and sexuality. Significant topics will range from marriage, reproduction and the family to suffrage, work, and social movements. Honors version available.
This course examines the history of women's involvement in the political process in the United States from the founding to the present. Students will examine women's historical role in the political process, the different ways that women have engaged as political actors (even when disenfranchised), and the issues that became defined as women's issues.
HIST 453Mediterranean Societies and Economics in the Renaissance World3
A picture of Mediterranean social and economic life 1300 to 1600, with special focus on rural and urban society, family structure, patronage, work and wages, public and private finance.
Examines a movement of religious reform that shattered Latin Christendom and contributed many of the conditions of early modern Europe. Emphases: religious, political, social.
HIST 456The Holocaust, Genocide and Historical Methodology3
This seminar will familiarize students with foundational works of Holocaust historiography as well as with newer works that challenge old interpretations and methodologies. Throughout the course we will look at the mutual influences of historical writing and memory of the Holocaust as societies have come to terms with the dark past of the Second World War; the course will also examine historical writing as a form of representation and memory. Previously offered as HIST 743.
HIST 457Liberalism, Socialism, and Fascism in Europe3
This seminar examines liberal, socialist, communist, and fascist political systems in Europe during the twentieth century by comparing and contrasting their ideologies and approaches to their citizens' welfare. The seminar compares European and US experiences, and also attends to conservative critiques of the expansion of government activity in the 1940s.
Europe and the experience of total war, with special focus on national conflicts; ideological conflicts among fascism, communism, and liberalism; and the dictatorships of Hitler and Stalin.
This is a survey of evangelical Christianity from 1600 to the present. We will trace the roots of evangelicalism in post-Reformation Europe, its diverse expressions and political influence in modern Western culture, and its recent spread throughout the Global South.
HIST 462Germany, 1806-1918: Politics, Society, and Culture3
This course examines the changes in German politics, culture, and society during the long 19th century, with a focus on the Anti-Napoleonic Wars and the following era of restoration, the Vormärz and the Democratic Revolution of 1848 to 1849, the German Unification of 1871 and the Wilhelmine Empire, and finally World War I. Honors version available.
HIST 463Germany since 1918: Politics, Society, and Culture3
This course examines the changes in German politics, culture, and society during the 20th century, with a focus on the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich and World War II, the reshaping of East and West Germany since the post-war era, and the unification in 1989. Honors version available.
The main developments in European thought from the Enlightenment to the 20th century, with some attention to social context. Readings include Voltaire, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx, Tocqueville, Sand, Flaubert, Nietzsche, Freud. Honors version available.
HIST 468Culture on the Move: Art, Empire, and Restitution since 18003
This discussion-based course examines the systems of value that confer special status on the broad category of cultural property, then explores a number of case studies of art theft and restitution since the early 19th century, with an emphasis on art theft during World War II and that undertaken under the aegis of European colonialism.
The social transformation of Europe from agrarian through postindustrial society, discussing population growth, family history, spread of education, class structure, social conflict, group ideologies, and mass politics, as well as everyday lives and popular lifestyles.
HIST 474Britain in World Affairs: British Foreign Policy since World War II3
The course provides a historical, political, and socio-economic framework for understanding British history and politics in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will assess important turning points in domestic British politics, the main focus will be on Britain's foreign relations during both the Cold War and the post-Cold War years.
This course will examine the unprecedented surge of feminist thought and activism in the postwar United States. Course materials and discussions will trace feminists' varied conceptions of empowered womanhood and their expectations of the state, society at large, and each other. Honors version available.
The history of modern Eastern, East Central, and southeastern Europe has been shaped by the ethnic and religious diversity of the regions. This course examines experiences in the Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman Empires and their successor states from the 19th century to the present day.
A close study of Russia's age of revolution from the reign of the last tsar to the turbulent Stalin Revolution of 1929, with emphasis on the revolutions of 1917.
Spanning the ancient, medieval, and modern West, this course explores normative and non-normative female sexualities, ideas about female bodies, and the regulation of female sexuality by families, religions, and states.
HIST 480Russia's 19th Century: Cultural Splendor, Imperial Decay3
The diplomatic, military, and ideological confrontations with the West; the decline and fall of the Russian autocracy; the evolution of reform thought; and revolutionary opposition.
This course examines the development of the Russian Empire, from the Mongol conquest in the 13th century to the transformation of Imperial Russia in the Soviet Union after 1917.
This course explores the role of nation and religion in shaping political, cultural, and social experience and change in Tsarist and Soviet Russia through the prism of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
This course examines the role that Islam has played in the history of the Russian sphere--interior Russia, Siberia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia--from the 18th century to the present. Topics include methods of rule, social change, Islamic institutions, attempts to bureaucratize religion, and resistance.
HIST 485From Fiddler on the Roof to the Holocaust: East European and Soviet Jewish History3
Eastern Europe was one of the largest centers of Jewish civilization from premodern times to the Second World War, giving rise to important religious, cultural, and political developments in Jewish modernity. This course examines main developments of Jewish society from the late 18th century until the aftermath of the Holocaust.
HIST 486Extremism, Terrorism, and Security in Postwar Europe3
In the debate on how to efficiently combat terrorism without abandoning the rule-of-law, it is often neglected that this is not a new problem. This course will examine European states' reactions to national and international terrorism since the 1960s. Case studies will include Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Honors version available.
This seminar studies the circulation, exchange, translation, reception, and adaptation of political, social, and cultural ideas across time and space. After considering systems of knowledge in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, the seminar explores reactions to European empire. Themes include (de)coloniality, modernity, development, conceptions of nationality, race, and civilizations. Honors version available.
This course explores the 2008 financial crisis as a window into the longer history of global capitalism. We consider the construction of the sub-prime mortgage market, mass securitization, deregulation, and the interconnected nature of global finance, as well as the historical development of crises within financial capitalism. Honors version available.
Subject matter will vary with instructor but will focus on some particular topic or historical approach. Course description available from the departmental office. Honors version available.
Subject
HIST
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics; 9 total credits.
Permission of the director of undergraduate studies. A supervised internship at an organization or institution engaged in the promotion of historical studies or the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts.
Permission of the director of undergraduate studies. Directed reading and relevant writing, supervised by a member of the department, in a selected field of history.
Permission of the director of undergraduate studies. Directed primary source research and production of a research project, supervised by a member of the department. Prior coursework in the selected field is recommended.
HIST 50First-Year Seminar: Time and the Medieval Cosmos3
This course introduces first-year students to the basic motions of the solar system as viewed from the Earth along with the mechanical and mathematical models used to reproduce them, while exploring the history of medieval and early modern education, theology, and natural philosophy.
This course explores the growing body of research on gender, empire, and nation/nationalism in modern European history by focusing on problems of national belongings and citizenship, state and nation building and empire formation, and the gendered discourses and representations of nation and empire.
What separates successful states from failed ones? This course explores grand strategy as the long-term planning and execution of a nation's political, military, and economic goals. This course examines the theory and history of grand strategy in international affairs over the last 2,500 years. By looking at a series of thinkers, practitioners, and case studies, it asks what distinguishes good strategy from bad strategy, how circumstances can empower and constrain individuals, and whether we can identify strategic principles that endure across time.
HIST 507Geopolitical Rivalry, Development, and Global Capitalism, 1900-19503
This course uses geopolitics, empire, and development as prisms to examine the economic history of the globe from the First World War to the dawn of the postcolonial age. We first first trace how states and populations the world over grappled with the economic effects stemming from the First World War itself and the breakdown of the prewar order. From we move into the interwar period and analyze the attempts by various actors in US, Europe and Asia to contest the economic realities of the 1920s/30s. Thereafter, we study total war economies and economic reform in the age of decolonization.
HIST 508Europe and Humanitarian Aid since 1945: Concepts, Actors, Practices3
This seminar offers students an insight into the role of Europe within the global regime of humanitarian aid. After looking at the history and at theoretical definitions of humanitarianism, the course will examine a variety of case studies to assess the changing role of Europe in the post-war era.
This course considers slavery in comparative context, from ancient times to the present and across the world. It offers a chronological narrative and raises themes for comparison, including women in slavery and challenges to slavery. This approach allows for a wide view of this pervasive institution and develops analytical skills.
HIST 51First-Year Seminar: Latin American Revolutions3
This course explores the problem of revolutionary upheaval in Latin American history, from the revolutionary wars of the independence era (1810-1825) to revolutionary episodes of the 20th century.
This course looks at the international history of human rights from the Enlightenment to the present and considers how human rights ideas first emerged, how they evolved, and how they became so influential. Honors version available.
This course focuses on three great decolonization movements-Communism, Nationalism, and Islamism-in the postcolonial Islamic world, in an attempt to understand the impact of the 9/11/2001 terrorists attacks on the social, political, and cultural life of Muslims in predominantly Islamic countries and diasporic communities in the West. Honors version available.
Explores the role of monuments in the formation of cultural memory and identity, both nationally and globally. Topics include the construction of identities in and through public spaces, commemoration of both singular individuals and ordinary citizens, and the appearance of new types of post-traumatic monuments in the 20th century.
This course explores the ways in which Western historians and other students of the past from Adam Ferguson to Stephen Jay Gould have conceptualized and packaged historical time. Honors version available.
This course introduces students to new research on the history of gender, the military, and war in a comparative perspective. It explores the interrelations between changing military systems, types of warfare, the gender order, as well as political, social, and cultural currents in modern history.
HIST 52First-Year Seminar: Conflicts over Israel/Palestine3
This course will familiarize students with the background of this ongoing conflict. It will begin with the growth of political Zionism in Europe, continue through early Zionist settlement, the United Nations partition and resulting war, and the history of the conflict through the present.
This course offers a survey of the history of the Andean region. The primary focus will be either the pre-Inca, Inca, and colonial periods or the 19th and 20th centuries, depending on the instructor.
HIST 53First-Year Seminar: Traveling to European Cities: American Writers/Cultural Identities, 1830-20003
This course examines the experiences of American writers who traveled and lived in European cities during the era between 1830 and 1930 with the goal of developing historical insights into these writers' fascination with famous European cities and the experience of travel.
Thematic approach to the history of the West Indies, with emphasis on the period from European conquest through the 20th century. Topics include colonialism, slavery, monoculture, United States-Caribbean relations, and decolonization.
Thematic approach to Cuban history, from conquest to the revolution. Attention is given to socioeconomic developments, slavery and race relations, the 19th-century independence process, and the 20th-century republic.
A comparative examination of the movements, experiences, and contributions of Africans and people of African descent from the period of the Atlantic slave trade to the present. Honors version available.
Analysis of historical transformations in Africa and their effects on women's lives and gender relations. Particular themes include precolonial societies, colonialism, religious change, urban labor, nationalism, and sexuality. Honors version available.
This course will focus on revolutionary change in the Middle East during the last century, emphasizing internal social, economic, and political conditions as well as international contexts.
This course explores changing interactions between the Middle East and the West, including trade, warfare, scientific exchange, and imperialism, and ends with an analysis of contemporary relations in light of the legacy of the past.
HIST 54First-Year Seminar: Movies and the Medieval Past3
Movies set in the past can have a compelling and sometimes misleading influence on how people visualize and understand history. In this seminar, we will analyze a number of movies set in the era of the Middle Ages, considering their merits and drawbacks not only as entertainment, but as a form of historical memory.
HIST 55First-Year Seminar: Preventing Broken Hearts in North Carolina: History and Health Care in the South3
How do scientists and humanists approach complex problems and work together to solve them? Team-taught by a doctor and a historian, this class explores how our state's health care system changed over the last fifty years, how those changes have affected people, and how history shapes both doctors and patients.
This course is designed to introduce undergraduates to recent historical scholarship in the field of Chinese gender studies. Topics include family and kinship, the body and bodily practices, social space, writing, sexuality, work, and law, covering both the premodern and modern periods. No prior coursework required.
This course examines the histories, representations, and cultural perceptions surrounding bandits and rebels in modern India. The representations of bandits and rebels are studied in the light of the emergence of nationalism, shifting notions of gender and masculinity, race relations, and emergence of capitalist structures.
HIST 56First-Year Seminar: Movies and the Medieval Past3
In this class, students explore representations of the European Middle Ages in modern films, examining how cinema has represented and distorted memories of the medieval era. Students will also consider how such cinematic visions of the medieval world might reflect the politics, culture, and social values that characterized the period of the film's production.
This course combines readings and field work in oral history with the study of performance as a means of interpreting and conveying oral history texts. Honors version available.
HIST 564Religion, Race, and Inquisition in the Spanish Empire3
This course on the "Atlantic World" studies Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the medieval Iberian kingdoms, then the religious "other" in the colonial expansion to Latin America, by deploying theories concerning race, gender, sexuality, and postcoloniality.
HIST 57First-Year Seminar: Dogs, Past and Present3
As workers and companions, dogs have shared human history from its origins. Human society constitutes their natural habitat. Understanding dogs therefore requires analyzing their relationships to and meaning for people: What problems result from the daily close proximity of people and dogs--and how have societies coped with them? How and why have people projected onto dogs their assumptions about humanity? How have the answers to these questions changed as human societies have changed?
A wide-ranging exploration of America's longest war, from 19th-century origins to 1990s legacies, from village battlegrounds to the Cold War context, from national leadership to popular participation and impact.
Explores the history of music in the American South from its roots to 20th-century musical forms, revealing how music serves as a window on the region's history and culture.
HIST 577United States Foreign Relations in the 20th Century3
How the United States came to occupy a leading role in world affairs as a diplomatic, military, economic, and cultural power and what that role has meant to Americans and to other peoples, especially during the Cold War.
HIST 578Transatlantic Relations and Contemporary Geo-Politics from the Cold War to the Present3
This course considers transatlantic relations in its security, political, and economic dimensions. The course also analyzes U.S. attempts to construct a more united European continent. It is the main aim of this course to give students a structured overview of transatlantic relations and geo-political developments from 1945 to the present.
HIST 58First-Year Seminar: History and the Meaning of Life3
How do we find meaning in our lives? How should we think about our families, ambitions, and fears? How do individual lives fit into the grand sweep of human history? In this seminar, students will learn to read deeply and apply the tools of historical analysis in order to tackle the biggest possible questions.
HIST 580International Relations and Public History3
The course combines an academic and practical approach to policy formulation, implementation, and critical evaluation at the global level and based on a solid historical foundation. This course is tightly integrated with the UNC Krasno Global Events Series. Many of the talks in the series as well as the reading material in preparation deal with issues of 20th history, such as the Cold War years, US foreign policy, America's relations with the wider world.
In a classroom environment characterized by discussion, simulation, and interaction, the antecedents, formation, and interpretation of the Constitution are confronted in a broad historical matrix.
HIST 582American Constitutional History since 18763
Using a classroom environment similar to HIST 581, constitutional adjustments and change are related to psychological, political, social, and economic factors, and to Supreme Court members.
This course explores how Americans have used basketball for integration, economic mobility, and political protest. Particular focus is on how black Americans have used the game for individual expression and political and economic advancement; and the ways the game has influenced ideas about race, "whiteness," and "blackness" in our society.
HIST 589Race, Racism, and America: (United States) Law in Historical Perspective3
This course will historically and critically examine the changing legal status of people of color in the United States. Within a broad historical matrix from the colonial era to the present, it will focus on African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latina/os, and United States law.
HIST 59First-Year Seminar: Rebuilding the American South: Work and Identity in Modern History3
This course examines how class experiences and debates over the meaning of work have shaped the postbellum Southern United States. Students will analyze how the South's technological innovation, politics, urban planning, consumer economy, and social movements have impacted the racial, gender, and sexual identities of its people.
HIST 593Exploring the U.S. South Hands On and Ears Open: Internship at the Southern Oral History Program3
The Southern Oral History Program offers experiential education in the intellectual, organizational, and practical work of oral history. You will learn to do oral history interviews, contribute to a collaborative research project, and help this esteemed research center with programming, processing interviews, communications, and digital projects. You must apply through the Southern Oral History Program. This course is application-only.
HIST 62First-Year Seminar: Nations, Borders, and Identities3
This seminar will explore the ways people have identified themselves in relation to specific places, nation-states, and foreign "others." Examples may include the Kurdish nationalists, Islamist political parties, the Eritrean independence movement, and the Basque separatists.
HIST 63First-Year Seminar: Water, Conflict, and Connection: the Middle East and Ottoman Lands3
Water has played pivotal roles in the histories, societies, and politics of Middle Eastern peoples. This course will survey the role of water in religious and cultural practices, technological innovations that facilitate agriculture, public health issues arising from water-borne diseases, and the contribution of water scarcity to cross-border political conflicts. Honors version available.
HIST 64First-Year Seminar: Gorbachev: The Collapse of the Soviet Empire and the Rise of the New Russia3
Examines Mikhail Gorbachev and the astonishing transformations that occurred while he governed the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1991. Students will explore post-Soviet Russia's efforts at negotiating a new set of relations with the rest of the world and how Russia continues to shape our own destiny.
HIST 66First-Year Seminar: Film and History in Europe and the United States, 1908-19683
This course will examine major films in Europe and America from 1908 to 1968 in terms of how they shaped the medium and reflected important social trends.
HIST 67First-Year Seminar: Maid in America, Made in China: Laboring Women in Global Perspective3
Public figures ranging from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof have suggested women's increased entry into the labor market as a cure for the problems that face their families and their societies. But scholars have demonstrated that paid work has offered women new freedoms while subjecting them to new forms of control. This course will explore that paradox by examining women's diverse experiences as workers historically and today.
Introduces students to the uses of interviews in historical research. Questions of ethics, interpretation, and the construction of memory will be explored, and interviewing skills will be developed through field work.
Introduces the theory, politics, and practice of historical work conducted in public venues (museums, historic sites, national parks, government agencies, archives), directed at public audiences, or addressed to public issues.
A seminar on the art of translating academic expertise for a general audience. Students read model works ranging from philosophy to biology, workshop story ideas, and learn how to publish in print and online media. Open to all disciplines.
HIST 70First-Year Seminar: Seeing History in Everyday Places: Chapel Hill as a Case Study3
Our homes, our workplaces, our towns, our natural areas-all are products of history, shaped by people, rich with meaning and full of surprises. Using Chapel Hill as our living laboratory, we will explore new ways of understanding the past and how it shapes the world we live in now.
Introduces students to the intellectual currents and schools of thought that have characterized the historical profession over time. By examining such diverse conceptual frameworks, students will prepare themselves to tackle more confidently the research projects they will design and execute in HIST 900 and 901.
Provides an introduction to teaching history. Topics include the history of historical education, planning a course, the role of the teacher, goals and methods, using new technologies, and evaluating students.
In this course, students explore the many identities of professional historians. Through readings and assignments, students learn about the state and future of the historical profession, develop skills that will serve them in their careers, and identify their own goals as professional historians and/or public intellectuals.
What does it mean to study food history, and how do we approach it from a global perspective? The world of food (and the food of the world) is a huge subject, and the focus in this class will be on historical texts and topics (as opposed to contemporary food issues), and on global examples (with an emphasis on non-Western regions, particularly Asia). Class topics will center on three major themes: Food as Nation; Food as Gender; Food as Systems.
An introduction to the methods, issues, and literature of military history, including classic works and scholarship representative of a variety of approaches from history and other disciplines.
HIST 72First-Year Seminar: Women's Voices: 20th-Century European History in Female Memory3
The course examines 20th-century European history through the lenses of women's autobiographical writings. It explores women's voices from different generational, social, and national backgrounds and asks what formed their memories. Honors version available.
Examines the changing economic, political, and cultural dynamics between and across Europe, Africa, and the Americas with special attention to colonization and slavery. The course is intended to familiarize students with major works in the field and the latest scholarship.
A historiographical overview of the Cold War in a global context, 1945-1991. The course familiarizes students with major works in the field and the latest scholarship.
This graduate seminar assumes basic knowledge of U.S. immigration history, allowing us to delve into the legal and administrative history of immigration restriction. Centered on the history of state power, this course examines the development of laws, policies, and institutions that, while often separate from voluntary migration, are deeply interconnected with it. Special emphasis will be placed on the intersections between structural nativism and American racism, particularly as they relate to the evolving forms of White supremacy. Throughout the seminar, we will explore works that uncover these intersections in unexpected arenas.
HIST 730Feminist and Gender Theory for Historians3
Readings in contemporary feminist and gender theory, focused especially on theories that address the construction, writing, and general practice of history.
HIST 738Women, Gender and Sexuality: Historiography and Method3
This course will examine the origins, growth, and maturation of a field whose initial explorations sought simply to identify women's contributions to history, then began to conceptualize gender as a system that organized social relations, and most recently, has interrogated sexuality as practice and identity.
HIST 74First-Year Seminar: Emperors, Courts, and Consumption: The Mughals of India3
Through a study of autobiographical texts, contemporary accounts, objects, architecture and later representations in scholarly works, films and novels, we will undertake a thematic investigation of the Mughal Empire (1526-1858), focusing on the period of the first six Mughal rulers of India.
HIST 740Graduate Readings in History of Law and Society3
Introduces students to the study of law and society across world regions and time periods. Students will explore historical meaning of legal institutions and processes in social, political, and cultural contexts. Explores terms and concepts of legal history such as rule of law, legal pluralism, sovereignty, consent, and justice.
HIST 742History and Memory: An Introduction into Theory, Methodology, and Research3
This graduate seminar explores the theory, methodology, and scholarship on history and memory, and examines some broad questions about the importance of studying collective memory. We will seek to understand both, different theoretical and methodological approaches, and their practical use in historical research and writing.
HIST 744Politics of Human Rights in Global Perspective3
This seminar explores the politics of human rights by examining practices of rights-claiming since the early modern period. Taking a global perspective, it examines varying and contested modalities of agency in articulating rights in the name imagined group identities (nation, religion, or civilization), sex, the individual, and the human.
In this introduction to the problem of the archive in theory and practice, we will consider basic challenges historians have confronted over the past half-century, examples of the resulting research strategies, and their advantages and limitations. What constitutes rigorous, ethical historical practice? How can we interpret fragmentary, partial, or misleading sources? What stories can - and should - we try to tell? We will draw on notable works in the historiographies of Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas.
Permission of the instructor. This course introduces graduate students to problems in the use of literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources for a range of issues, including religion, law, and warfare.
This seminar will examine one of the most challenging topics in American and Latin American history: how to understand the conquest (la conquista) of Latin America by the Spaniards after the arrival of Columbus after 1492.
HIST 77First-Year Seminar: United States and the Caribbean3
This seminar provides a thematic examination of US-Caribbean relations spanning the ''Spanish-American War'' in the late nineteenth century to US-Central America relations - with attention to the ''root causes'' of Central American migration to the United States - in the early twenty-first century. Students will study US-Caribbean relations as a process within the logic of competing national interests and conflicting national aspirations.
This graduate readings course discusses classic works as well as recent landmark books about the development of European society in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Open to graduate students from all departments. This course examines one period or one set of problems within French history since the Renaissance. Topics determined by instructor.
HIST 777Colonialism and European Visual Culture, 1800-19903
Considers the role of visual representation in the construction of European empire and its associated knowledges from the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt to debates over primitivism in the 1980s.
A historiographical reading colloquium covering Soviet and post-Soviet Russian history, 1917-present. The course familiarizes students with Western, Soviet, and post-Soviet literature on the most important issues in Soviet history.
The peoples of Islamic Central Eurasia are united by linguistic, cultural, and religious ties. Their history is divided between study fields: Soviet/Russian, Chinese, and Islamic Studies. Course takes historiographical diversity as a point of departure, interrogating the major debates that have animated the study of Islamic Central Asia across disciplines.
HIST 79First-Year Seminar: Coming of Age in 20th Century America3
We will employ coming of age autobiographies to explore developments in the US during the 20th century. In these autobiographies the authors focus primarily on the periods of childhood and adolescence into young adulthood. We will consider many issues including: race, racism, immigration, religion, social class, and gender.
HIST 80First-Year Seminar: African American Music as History3
This course uses music to explore African-American life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Students will investigate how African Americans, across time and space and in search of opportunity, created, used and marketed music. The course will examine three core groups-artists, music entrepreneurs and audiences.
HIST 81First-Year Seminar: Diaries, Memoirs, and Testimonies of the Holocaust3
In ghettos and hiding places during the Holocaust, European Jews and other victims of Nazism recorded their experiences in diaries and other chronicles. Students will read diaries and memoirs as well as listen to testimonies to understand Holocaust history through life narratives, exploring tensions between history and memory.
This course introduces students to a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of colonialism. It encourages them to examine critically the ways in which scholars apply and use the concepts of "coloniality" and "postcoloniality," and to assess the avenues through which those concepts might prove to be productive in informing their own research.
HIST 812History of Muslim Societies in Asia and Africa3
This graduate course will examine the intellectual, political and cultural history of Muslim societies since 1492 through the methodology and approaches of global history.
HIST 83First-Year Seminar: African History through Popular Music3
Examines popular music as a way of understanding African history from the 1930s to the present. We will read background materials on African historical developments and musical styles, do a lot of listening, and try to learn what African musicians tell us about their societies.
HIST 833The United States in the Federal Period, 1789-18203
Readings, discussion, and book lists designed to give familiarity with the historiographical problems, research opportunities, and bibliography of the period.
A review of traditional and modern literature on the pre-Civil War South, focusing on the interrelationships of its economy, society, culture, and politics.
HIST 84First-Year Seminar: Monsters, Murders, and Mayhem in Microhistorical Analysis: French Case Studies3
Explores the distinctive features of microhistorical approaches to the past and the attractions of microhistory for the practicing historian. Students will read a rich sampling of recent work (much of it featuring monsters, murder, and mayhem) and try their hand at writing their own microhistories. Honors version available.
An intensive readings course on key works comprising the core historiography for Civil War-Reconstruction America. Discussions, short papers, and a 20-page historiographical paper comprise the bulk of the assignments.
HIST 842Political and Social History of Modern America3
A course of readings for advanced students that relate social history to the history of the state in America in the period from the Great Depression and the New Deal to the present.
A graduate reading seminar on the history of America's workers from the 20th century to the present. The struggle of American workers to achieve a measure of dignity and security is examined from social, economic, and political perspectives. The course critically evaluates recent scholarship in the field of labor history.
HIST 85First-Year Seminar: What Concentration Camp Survivors Tell Us3
This is a seminar about reading so as to learn as much as we can from individuals expressing the inexpressible. It asks what (if anything) only camp survivors can tell us about the experience and what we can learn by exploring the effects of this experience on survivors. Honors version available.
HIST 86419th and 20th Century American Labor History3
Graduate reading seminar in American labor history intended for students doing research as well as those writing M.A. and doctoral theses. Graduate students from fields other than United States history welcome. Students will read texts and articles by scholars in a wide variety of fields of American labor history.
HIST 86HFirst-Year Seminar: Witchcraft and Magic in the Early Modern Atlantic World3
This seminar explores early modern witchcraft and magic to introduce students to the ways in which historians think about questions of gender, power, and belief in historical perspective. The seminar will focus on how historians pose problems, collect evidence, and evaluate knowledge about how witchcraft and magic reveal broader tensions in the early modern world.
HIST 87First-Year Seminar: The Environment in American History3
In this course, students will analyze the ways in which Americans have both shaped and been shaped by their natural environment. Together, we will trace a selected history of interactions between humans and nature in America, focusing on the often-fraught intersection between political, economic, social, and religious understandings of nature. This is a dynamic course that requires students to connect the lessons of history to the world they inhabit today by engaging with popular journalism, literature, podcasts, and more, and through class visits around campus to explore how the environmental history we study has shaped even their most immediate surroundings.
Graduate students compile bibliographies and read important contributions to various aspects of African American history, stressing shifts in African American historiography and including very recent works.
HIST 88First Year Seminar: America's Founding Documents3
This first-year seminar introduces students to the foundations of U.S. democracy through its most significant speeches, declarations, letters, proclamations, and other writings. We will identify and analyze the political, historical, and cultural impact of founding documents on governance and democracy in America, identify and analyze the political, historical, and cultural impact of key milestones in American history on the evolution of democratic republicanism, evaluate key concepts, principles, arguments and contexts in founding documents of the American republic, and evaluate key milestones in progress and challenges in the effort to form ''a more perfect Union.''
HIST 880Readings in the Global History of Capitalism3
This course exposes graduate students to the classical and burgeoning debates among historians over the history of global capitalism around the world from its antecedents in the medieval and early modern period until the present.
Instructors use this course to focus on particular topics or historical approaches. Specific course descriptions are available each semester on the departmental Web site (www.unc.edu/depts/history).
Permission of the instructor. Independent reading programs for graduate students whose needs are covered by no course immediately available. For students resident in Chapel Hill or vicinity.
Subject
HIST
Credits (min)
3
Credits (max)
3
Credit unit
Credits
Type
course
Repeatable
May be repeated for credit; may be repeated in the same term for different topics.
Intended to help students develop a plan of research and writing, select a bibliography, develop an understanding of the literature available for their topic, and articulate a problem or facet of the topic to which they can contribute original research in their M.A. thesis.
HIST 902Writing for Historians: A Seminar on the Craft of Historical Writing3
Doctoral students focus intensively on the writing process to produce an article-length piece of work suitable for publication. Topics include quotation, translation, narrative technique, structuring argument, and addressing a wide audience.
Required of all doctoral candidates in the last semester of course work, this practicum helps students refine a dissertation topic and produce a prospectus.
This course complements HIST 905, focusing on specific skills, sources, and methods for designing a dissertation prospectus in the field of medieval European history.
HIST 912Historiography and Narrative: Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern3
This course involves the close study of narrative historiographical texts before 1700. It introduces students to narratological approaches to textual analysis as well as to scholarly work, in a variety of disciplines, on the question of memory. The course is interdisciplinary in its orientation.
Intended to accommodate students at various stages in their graduate careers, this multipurpose seminar will focus on problems in modern African history.
This writing seminar explores the process of working with primary sources, creating a narrative, and shaping an interpretation based on examples from the last two centuries of European history.
HIST 925Seminar in Russian and East European History3
A multi-purpose writing seminar on Russian and Soviet history in which students may write a seminar paper, M.A. thesis, dissertation prospectus, or dissertation chapter.
This course introduces graduate students to research methods in Native American history, including the methodology of ethnohistory and the techniques of compiling a source base, taking notes, and outlining.
Introduction to research that should result in a major research product. Students will alternate reading classic texts in military history with discussions of project conceptualization and research strategies.
All students will be required to complete an original research paper based on use of primary sources on a Latin American topic corresponding to the theme of the seminar to be announced in advance.
