Course Descriptions

“Defining Modern”: World Cultures and the Pursuit of “Progress”

The word “modern” can refer to so many things. How can an era of European history including the 1500s be labeled “Early Modern” when the Museum of Modern Art mainly showcases paintings from the twentieth century? Who is the “Modern Woman” and what are her characteristics? These are some of the questions we will pose in this class, and they only begin to illustrate our range. 

This class will delve into intellectual history, as well as the histories of art and music, gender, and politics, only to name a few. Students will not merely focus on Europe and America, which we traditionally associate with what is modern, but they will also examine how other parts of the globe experienced the meaning of “modern” and we will tackle the growth of globalization. Students who have experience with time machines are especially encouraged to take this class.

20th Century American Radicals

This course will study radicalism in twentieth-century American history. We will begin with defining what it means to be radical and what distinguishes radicals from other reformers. Over the weeks, we will examine different movements such as labor, feminism, Black Power, and conservatism. Students will examine a combination of primary and secondary sources to learn how a diverse set of Americans have challenged the social norms and economic structure of the United States. 

Our goal is to understand the historical context for these radicals and what circumstances led them to adopt these positions, and we will pose the question of what these radicals have contributed to American life in terms of their impact. (Fair warning: this course is not out to celebrate any individuals or groups as heroes or paint them as villains as tempting as either may be.)

Atlantic Revolutions

In this course, students will take a comparative approach to the revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that took place in United States, France, Haiti, and Latin America. While students will review each revolution’s origins and main events, the focus of this class will be on introducing them to how historians have interpreted these events and considered them in the context of other developments in the Atlantic world. We will move from national perspectives to explore the growth in transnational historical scholarship. 

Students will assess what these revolutions had in common, evaluate how revolutionary these revolutions were in terms of creating change, and examine their impacts on a diverse array of participants and observers. We will explore conflicts among revolutionaries, and the class will address the extent to which ideals and ideologies drove these revolutions throughout their development. In the end, students will confront the questions of what makes a revolution successful and whether grouping these events together as the Atlantic Revolutions provides a helpful lens for understanding these histories.

A Global history of Capitalism

Proponents of capitalism like to claim it is the natural economic order, but these ideas about capitalism are not without a historical origin and context. Therefore this course will take a historical approach to understanding capitalism rather than an economic one. We will seek to explain how global commerce and industrialization contributed to the emergence of this economic ideology while encouraging students to develop their own historical interpretations. Throughout the term, students will be introduced to theories of capitalism as intellectual history and examine how the arguments of both defenders and critics have evolved over time.

This class will approach capitalism as not only an economic system, but also a social and cultural one in light of the human impact of capitalism, the global slave trade, consumerism, and effects of globalization. Taking a global approach, this class will get students to explore how regions of the world have been interconnected through capitalism and also how those connections have impacted these regions for better and worse. Finally, this class will also consider why the history of capitalism has been such a hot and growing field over the last decade and wrestle with why certain topics seem to capture the attention of scholars at particular times.

History of American Education

Having spent the majority of your life in school, you are already familiar with some of the major historical developments in American education: separate grades, compulsory education, racially-integrated classrooms, and the existence of high schools. This course will explore how these developments and others in American schooling came to be. What you know as “school” is the product of different reforms at particular turning points in United States history. We will examine and debate the arguments of different historians as to why those turning points produced the school system we are familiar with today. 

Not only will we look at changing teaching methods, but we will also look at the hopes of parents and students who view education as an important step in achieving the American Dream. Issues of access to education for immigrants and racial minorities will be discussed, and special emphasis will be placed on education in California, which led the way in many changes to education during the second half of the twentieth century, for better or worse. Students in the course will conduct their own research on topics that may range from education reforms and legal cases to student life. This course aims to have students critically examine and reflect on their own educational experiences and their continuing education.

Imperialism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

“The sun never sets on the British Empire” is a phrase commonly used to describe the expanse of the British Empire in the early twentieth century, but by the end of that century, that phrase has also been used to refer to an American empire. In this comparative course on imperialism, students will consider three historical case studies: Great Britain, the United States, and Japan. We will look at the rise of these empires and their continuing legacies. 

This course will address the roles of nationalism and industrialization in developing imperialism as well as concepts of racial superiority. British imperialism in India will receive particular attention, and students will discuss America’s Westward expansion in the context of other nations’ seizure of overseas possessions. The course will also examine the world wars through the lens of imperialism, and we will discuss how an understanding of the Japanese Empire reframes the history of World War II. We will close this class with a look at decolonization, and students will reflect on recent discussions about anxiety over America’s eventual decline in influence.

The American Presidency

While the Founding Fathers designed the Constitution to limit the power of the president to avoid creating a monarchy, the power of the president – as well as that of the federal government – has increased substantially during the twentieth century especially. This course will examine the evolution of the office and provide students with the opportunity to conduct original research on a topic related to presidents or the presidency. We will begin the term by discussing the growth of executive power, how historians evaluate a presidency, and tactics of campaigns for presidential elections. Students will be guided through the wealth of available primary sources and secondary sources before they focus on their research topic.

Youth in American History Since 1865

Even though youth make up a significant portion of the American population at any given time, history books tend to ignore them and focus primarily on the actions and lives of adults. This seminar seeks to remedy that imbalance by exploring the experiences of youth over the course of American history. We will examine the concepts of childhood and adolescence in contrast with adulthood from a number of different viewpoints including sociological, psychological, and political perspectives, and we will address how these ideas arose at particular times in American history. 

In this class, students will not only use a cultural history lens to consider products designed for young people by adults, including toys and children’s literature, but they will also look at the culture created by youth themselves, such as dating customs and the prom. Particular attention will be paid to the 1920s and the post-World War II period, and students will critically examine why these two periods receive the most attention from historians in discussions of youth culture. In reading about the varied experiences of diverse youth growing up in different regions of the United States, students will reflect on their own experience of youth in a historical context … and maybe learn a dance step or two.