2022-2023 University Catalog 
    
    May 17, 2024  
2022-2023 University Catalog archived

Course Descriptions


 

History

  
  • HIST 257 - History of Women in America, 1609-1870


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    An examination of women’s social, political, cultural and economic positions in America through the immediate post-Civil War. Changes in women’s education, legal status, position in the family, and participation in the work force with emphasis on the diversity of women’s experience, especially the manner in which class and race influenced women’s lives. The growth of organized women’s rights.
  
  • HIST 258 - History of Women in America, 1870 to the Present


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    A survey of some of the major topics and themes in American women’s lives from the mid-19th century to the present, including domestic and family roles, economic contributions, reproductive experience, education, suffrage, and the emergence of the contemporary feminist movement. The influence on women’s roles, behavior, and consciousness by the social and economic changes accompanying industrialization and urbanization and by variations in women’s experience caused by differences in race, class, and region.
  
  • HIST 259 - The History of the African-American People to 1877


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    This course is an introduction to African American history from the end of Reconstruction to the present day. Drawing on primary and secondary sources including, speeches, newspaper articles, legal cases, and more, students will learn how to engage in historical analysis. Key topics for consideration include Jim Crow, lynching, Black political participation, The Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and more. Of particular significance will be Black people’s ongoing efforts to critique the limits of American democracy, claim their freedom, and exercise the rights of citizenship.
  
  • HIST 260 - The History of the African-American People since 1877


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    An intensive study of the African-American experience from 1877 to the present. Special emphasis is given to the development of black intellectual and cultural traditions, development of urban communities, emergence of the black middle class, black nationalism, the civil rights era, and the persistence of racism in American society.
  
  • HIST 261 - Women and Slavery in the Black Atlantic


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    From the 16th century to the 19th century, over 12 million Africans were shipped to the New World. Of those who survived the Middle Passage, fewer than 500,000 arrived in the United States; the vast majority were dispersed throughout the Caribbean and South America. The experiences of enslaved women, as well as the relationships between free and enslaved women, are as diverse as the African diaspora. Given the broad geographical scope of Africans’ arrivals in the New World, this course offers a comparative examination of women and slavery in the Black Atlantic. Topics for consideration include black women’s gendered experiences of slavery, white women’s roles in slave societies, and women abolitionists. Students also examine how African and European conceptions of gender shaped the institution of slavery in the New World. Particular attention is devoted to slavery in West Africa, Barbados, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States.
  
  • HIST 262 - The Old South to 1860


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    A study of the making of the Old South. Slavery. Antebellum political, economic, social, and cultural developments. The origins and growth of sectionalism.
  
  • HIST 264 - Morning in America? Society, Culture and Politics in The Age of Reagan


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 4

    This course provides students with an in-depth analysis of the United States during the Reagan presidency. While the bulk of the course focuses on the 1980s, it also provides an overview of the 1960s and 1970s as well as the legacy of the decade for contemporary America. Rather than studying a single theme across a long period of time, this class provides students with a variety of thematic approaches within a more confined time-period. Accordingly, while the focus is on national politics, we explore the impact of the decade on economic, social, cultural, diplomatic, and political history.
  
  • HIST 265 - The U.S. in the Era of World War II


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    This course studies the history of the Second World War, with particular attention to its consequences for the United States. Major topics include the political and economic origins of the war, the American debate over intervention, American military and diplomatic strategy, the effect of the war on the U.S. economy, the consequences for mobilization for American society, and the myth and reality of the Greatest Generation.
  
  • HIST 266 - The American Century: U.S. History from 1945


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    This course surveys the social, political, cultural, and economic history of the United States in the post-1945 period. Topics include the atomic bomb and the cold war, the growth of the state, liberalism, conservatism and radicalism, race and civil rights, feminism and anti-feminism, and foreign policy.
  
  • HIST 268 - Building a Suburban Nation: Race, Class, and Politics in Postwar America


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Together, the overdevelopment of the suburbs and the underdevelopment of urban centers have profoundly shaped American culture, politics and society in the post-WWII period. This course examines the origins and consequences of suburbanization after 1945. Topics include the growth of the national state, the origins and consequences of suburbanization, the making of the white middle class, the War on Poverty, welfare and taxpayers rights” movements, “black power,” and how popular culture has engaged with questions about race and class. In the process of understanding the historical roots of contemporary racial and class advantage and disadvantage, this course will shed new light on contemporary public policy dilemmas.
  
  • HIST 269 - Topics in United States, Latin American or Canadian History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3-4

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. A course offered from time to time, depending on student interest and staff availability, on a selected topic or problem in United States, Latin American or Canadian history.
  
  • HIST 271 - Islam in America: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness


    REL 271 FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Same as REL 271. From the discourse on the War on Terror, to debates about Muslim women’s dress, Islam in America has attracted the attention of journalists, activists, government officials, and scholars of religion. This course takes a critical-historical approach to the topic by examining key themes in the history of Islam in America: the lives of enslaved African Muslims in the Antebellum period and the Founding Fathers’ visions of Islam; the immigrant experience of Arab Muslims at the turn of the 20th century; the role of Muslim organizations in the Civil Rights movement; and, the changing representations of American Muslims after the Gulf War and post-9/11. In interrogating the history of Islam in America, we specifically pay attention to the ways in which religion, gender, class, race, and citizenship continue to inform representations of Muslims in the U.S.
  
  • HIST 272 - Victorian Britain and the World


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    An examination of the reign of British monarch Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) on a global scale, paying careful attention to imperialism, gender, sexuality, and violence.
  
  • HIST 275 - African Women in Comparative Perspective


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    In this course, we will widen our appreciation of African Women’s experiences, including history, legal and socio-economic status, religious and political roles, productive and reproductive roles, and the impact of colonialism and post-independence development and representation issues. The course will move across time and space to examine the aforementioned in pre-colonial, colonial and ‘post’-colonial Africa. We will begin with the question: What common beliefs/images about African women did/do Euro-Americans share?
  
  • HIST 276 - History of South Africa


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    This course aims to study the history of the country of South Africa with particular attention to both the uniqueness and the commonalities of its colonial history with other settler societies. Unlike other Anglophone settler colonies, South Africa never reached a demographic majority where white settlers became predominant. Instead, European settlers made fragile alliances against the African and Indian populations in their midst, solidifying a specific form of minority settler rule. This rule was crystallized in the near half-century of apartheid, the legal discrimination of the vast majority of the country for the benefit of a select few. Students emerge from this course as better scholars of a different society and of many of the historic pressures and struggles that are part of the history of the United States.
  
  • HIST 277 - Speaking and Being Zulu in South Africa


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Sanibonani, abangani bami! (Greetings, my friends!) Want to learn more about an African language and culture? We spend the first two weeks intensively learning isiZulu, a language spoken by over 10 million people in South Africa. We also learn about the history of the Zulu people in southern Africa, covering topics from colonialism, racial discrimination, gender and sexuality, and music, and we enjoy Zulu music and film. “Masifunde ngamaZulu!” (“Let’s learn about the Zulus!”)”
  
  • HIST 278 - Great Moments in the History of Medicine


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Significant aspects of medicine’s development through the ages. Great doctors and the plight of patients are considered, along with major breakthroughs in diagnostic practice and clinical treatment, benefits and costs to humanity, failures and ethical dilemmas. We explore medicine as a situated practice by dealing with its institutionalization, hospitals, psychiatric institutions, and biomedical laboratories. Special attention is paid to some of the many points of friction that are evident when looking at the changing place of medicine in society.
  
  • HIST 279 - Africa in the Western Imagination


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    From benefit concerts to AIDS charities to study abroad literature, Africa is everywhere. And yet it is frequently explained only in absence or in suffering. Rather than being a place that is defined by what it is, often Africa is viewed by what it is not, and the term ‘Afro-pessimism’ has been coined by some to criticize such solely negative depictions of a vast and varied continent. What, then, is ‘Africa’: a location on a map, a geographical boundary? Who are ‘Africans’? What does the idea mean and how is it used? This course draws on literature and popular culture to discuss the very idea of ‘Africa’ and how the concept has been created, redefined, re-imagined, and (de)constructed in differing times and spaces.
  
  • HIST 280 - History of the Caucasus and Central Asia


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    The peoples who inhabit the Caucasus Mountains region and Central Asia are extraordinarily diverse in their history, culture, language, and religion. The area has been a crossroads of civilizations for centuries, and comprises present-day southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. Students study how the Caucasus region and Central Asia have developed from early-recorded history to the present, through close reading and discussion of scholarly texts and primary sources. Students also write an analytical essay from a range of assigned topics and a research paper on a topic of their own choosing.
  
  • HIST 282 - Picturing Muhammad? Perceptions of the Prophet from the Hijra to Hip-Hop


    REL 282 FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Same as REL 282. To Muslims, Muhammad is a prophetic figure whose model life is to be emulated; to non-Muslims, a controversial figure that has stirred the imagination for centuries. Through an analysis of the earliest non-Muslim sources on Muhammad, to insider Muslim narratives of the prophet’s miraculous life, to polemical medieval Christian stories about him, to Deepak Chopra and Muhammad in hip-hop, this course explores the various historical, literary, and media representations of Muhammad. We will pay special attention to recent controversies on visual depictions of Muhammad, as well as contemporary ritual practices surrounding the embodiment of Islam’s most important prophet.
  
  • HIST 284 - Visions of Japan’s Empire in East Asia: 19th-Century Origins through World War II


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Japan’s 19th-century imperial system ensured its status as the only major non-western great power in the first half of the 20th century. Within the space of its fifty years of existence (1895-1945), imperial Japan underwent radical political, social and cultural transformations that had equally profound effects on East Asian and world history, culminating in World War II. The course explores these distinctive transformations, which constitute Japan’s theory and practice of political and cultural imperialism, through an analysis of text and image, from which the class constructs a website.
  
  • HIST 285 - Seminar: The Yin and Yang of Gender in Late Imperial China (10th-19th centuries)


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Relations between men and women are the basis of any human society, but the exact nature and interpretation of these relations differ from time to time and from place to place. The concepts of Yin (female) and Yang (male) were integral to the theory and practice of Chinese gender relations during the late imperial period, influencing marriage, medicine and law. This course examines the historical significance of late-imperial gender relations across these, and other, categories from both traditional and modern perspectives.
  
  • HIST 286 - History of Kyrgyzstan from the Silk Road to the Present: Crossroads of Empire, Culture, and Religion


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 4

    Prerequisite: instructor consent. An analysis of the history of empire, culture, and religion in the Central Asia nation of Kyrgyzstan. Together with the course instructor, students travel to Bishkek, attend courses taught by faculty of the American University of Central Asia, and visit important sites and landmarks within the city. The program includes an excursion of several days to the northern and southern shores of Lake lssyk-Kul, where students experience rural, nomadic life, hike in the mountains, and stay in yurts. Students keep a daily log and write a research paper on a topic of their choice with the instructor’s approval.
  
  • HIST 288 - Key Thinkers on the Environment


    ENV 288 FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Same as ENV 288. Key thinkers on the environment are central to this course, ranging from ancient greats such as Aristotle to modern writers such as David Suzuki and E.O. Wilson about the ecosystem crises of the Anthropocene. We highlight certain 19th-century icons of environmentalist awareness and nature preservation, such as Alexander von Humboldt in Europe and Humboldtians in America, including Frederic Edwin Church and Henry David Thoreau.
  
  • HIST 289 - Topics in Asian, African, or Islamic History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3-4

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. A course offered from time to time depending on student interest and staff availability, on a selected topic or problem in Asian or African history.
  
  • HIST 295 - Seminar: Topics in History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3-4

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. A seminar offered from time to time depending on student interest and staff availability, in a selected topic or problem in history.
  
  • HIST 304 - Seminar on Medieval Heresy and Inquisition


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    The advent of heresy in the medieval west spurred major developments in law and legal procedure, many of which found their way to the practice of Western law today. But its most memorable practice, inquisition, is better remembered as a blood-thirsty and irrational institution that preyed upon free-thinking. What was heresy? Who defined it and why, after a hiatus of almost 500 years, did it all of a sudden seem to appear on the horizon in the 11th century? This course explores this turbulent but arguably creative moment in the history of Western culture and consider techniques of power, the creation of in-groups and out-groups, gender, literacy, politics, reform and revolt, and the nature of religious practice.
  
  • HIST 305 - Seminar: Religion and the Church in Medieval and Renaissance Politics and Society


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Using texts and documents from the period itself, this seminar surveys the history of the Christian church in Western Europe and its relations with its neighbors from its emergence in Late Antiquity to the eve of the Protestant Reformation. Topics include the evolution of religious orders, relations with secular powers, scholastic theology, mysticism, humanism, lay religious movements, gender, heresy, and the recurring problem of reform.
  
  • HIST 306 - Seminar: Politics and Providence: Medieval and Renaissance Political Thought


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3


    How did religion shape politics and the development of political institutions in the Middle Ages? This seminar surveys the evolution of political thought from St. Augustine to Machiavelli. We examine Christianity’s providential view of history, church-state relations, scholasticism, the revivals of Greek and Roman philosophy, humanism, and the origins of the modern state. Readings include St. Augustine, John of Salisbury, St. Thomas Aquinas, Marsilius of Padua, Leonardo Bruni, and Niccolò Machiavelli.

     

  
  • HIST 307 - Seminar in Politics and History: The Machiavellian Moment


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3


    Is it better to be loved or feared? How much of our destiny do we control? When are societies fit for self-rule? Can people be forced to be good? Niccolò Machiavelli, arguably the first and most controversial modern political theorist, raises issues of universal human and political concern. Yet he did so in a very specific context–the Florence of the Medici, Michelangelo, and Savonarola–at a time when Renaissance Italy stood at the summit of artistic brilliance and on the threshold of political collapse. We draw on Machiavelli’s personal, political, historical, and literary writings, and readings in history and art, as a point of entry for exploring Machiavelli’s republican vision of history and politics as he developed it in the Italian Renaissance and how it addresses such perennial issues as the corruption and regeneration of societies.

     

  
  • HIST 309 - Seminar: The French Revolution


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Sophomore, junior, or senior standing. The French Revolution is one of the most fascinating and momentous events in European history. At once “the best of times” and “the worst of times,” the Revolution was both the origin of modern democracy and a period of tremendous political violence - indeed, some say it is the origins of totalitarianism. In this seminar, we study the following questions: What are the origins of the Revolution? How did a revolution that began with proclamations of human rights turn into one of mass bloodshed in just a few short years? How did a desire for democracy lead to political violence? What was the nature of the Terror, and how can we understand it? We also examine how various schools of history have interpreted the Revolution, as well as the legacy of the Revolution.
  
  • HIST 310 - Seminar: Speech and Censorship in the Middle Ages


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    What is censorship, where does it happen, and why? To most U.S. Americans, the Middle Ages is an era known for Inquisition, book burning, and the brutal silencing of political and religious dissent. Yet, compared to more modern censoring institutions, the institutions of medieval Europe held much weaker powers of enforcement, different motives for censoring, and ambiguous technologies to do so. What and who could censor (or be censored) in a society without the printing press? Among other topics, we cover the public vs. private spheres; artistic liberty; religious vs. political concerns; gender; and the role of and limitations upon the modern historian investigating a censored past.
  
  • HIST 312 - Seminar on Nazism and the Third Reich


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: HIST 102, 214, 215, or 224 or equivalent, or instructor consent. Common readings introduce students to some of the most lively debates among scholars about the causes of the failure of democracy in the Weimar Republic, the mentality of Nazi leaders and followers, the nature of the regime created by the Nazis in 1933, the impact of the Third Reich on the position of women in German society, and the degree to which the German people supported this regime’s policies of war and racial persecution. Students develop a research topic related to one of these debates for analysis in a substantial research paper utilizing both primary and secondary sources.
  
  • HIST 319 - Seminar on The Great War in History and Literature


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3


    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: HIST 102, 213, 218, or 223 or equivalent. An advanced seminar in which students analyze different kinds of written accounts of the First World War (memoirs, autobiographical novels, poems, and diaries) by different kinds of participants, including common soldiers, government leaders, and women who worked on the “home front.” In class discussions and two short papers, students evaluate the reliability of these witnesses and what the historian can learn from them about the psychological, cultural, and political consequences of the First World War in Great Britain, France, and Germany. Students choose one question raised in our common meetings for more detailed investigation in a substantial research paper integrating primary and secondary sources.

     

  
  • HIST 322 - Seminar in Russian History


    Credits: 3-4


    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Note: Completion of HIST 102 or 221 is recommended but not required prior to taking HIST 322. Selected topics in Russian history, including but not limited to heroes and villains, Soviet biography, Stalin and Stalinism, the USSR in the Second World War and origins of the Cold War, the KGB, and the decline and fall of the Soviet Union and the re-emergence of Russia. May be repeated for degree and major credit if the topics are different.

     

  
  • HIST 337 - Seminar: Revolutions in Latin America


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Detailed analysis of 20th-century revolutionary movements in Latin America. Examines historical power struggles, social reforms, and major political changes, with in-depth exploration of Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Chile, and Nicaragua. Explores the social movements and ideologies of under-represented historical actors, such as peasants, guerrillas, artists, workers, women, students, and indigenous people.
  
  • HIST 344 - Seminar on The United States, 1840-1860


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Note: Appropriate for juniors and seniors. An intensive examination of the sectional conflict: the Mexican War, Manifest Destiny, slavery and the territories, the abolition movement, the failure of compromise, and secession. Emphasis on the study of primary sources and class discussion of assigned reading.
  
  • HIST 345 - The Myth(s) of the Lost Cause and Civil War History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    This course dives headfirst into the creation, production, and ongoing impact of one of the most important myths of American history, the myth of the Lost Cause. As such, it closely examines the historical scholarship on memory creation about our most divisive conflict, the American Civil War, and its aftermath. In the period following 1865, the ex-Confederates, their descendants and acolytes, created an elaborate explanation of the war, its causes and consequences, and this class will spend its time investigating those arguments from various angles of American social, cultural, and military history. It invites students to read the leading scholarship on different elements of the myth in order to inform their own final research paper on the Lost Cause and its historical impact overtime. It also asks students to investigate the war from diverse perspectives through the historical scholarship of some of our leading experts but also through the literature of some of our most important writers. Ultimately, the goal of the course is to open up new avenues for historical research on the American Civil War era and our national remembrance of the period.
  
  • HIST 346 - Seminar on Reconstruction, 1865-1877


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3


    Prerequisite: Note: Appropriate for juniors and seniors. Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and the restoration of the Union. Congressional Reconstruction and the crusade for black equality. Impeachment of the President. Reconstruction in the South. The politics and violence of military occupation. Collapse of Republican governments and restoration of conservative control. Implications for the future.

     

  
  • HIST 350 - Seminar: Cold War Politics and Culture


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. This seminar offers a topical survey of the popular culture, social changes, and domestic politics of the Cold War United States. Themes covered in this course include the dawn of the atomic age, the social and cultural anxieties produced by the Cold War, the privatization of suburban family life, the problems of historical memory, the boundaries of political dissent, and the relationship between international and domestic politics. This course pays special attention to how popular culture responded to, interpreted, and shaped key episodes in the recent national past.
  
  • HIST 355 - Seminar: America in the 1960s: History and Memory


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Hippies, Flower Power, Panthers, Berkeley, Free Love, Free Speech, Freedom Rides, Dylan, Woodstock, Vietnam, Jimi, Janice, Bobby and Martin. The events and images of the 1960s remain a powerful and often divisive force in America’s recent history and national memory. This course moves beyond these stereotypical images of the “Sixties” to examine the decade’s politics, culture and social movements. Topics include: the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, the Great Society and the War on Poverty, Vietnam, the Anti-War movement and the Counterculture, Massive Resistance, the “Silent Majority” and the Rise of the Conservative Right.
  
  • HIST 359 - African American Intellectual History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Since their earliest arrivals in the New World, African Americans crafted liberatory ideas as they articulated a desire for equality, justice, and self-determination. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, black intellectual thought took shape against the backdrop of processes of enslavement, emancipation, racial violence, and state-sanctioned oppression. Indeed, the discursive spaces that black political thinkers created became major sites of knowledge production and provided momentum for black mobilization. Beginning with David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829), this course will probe landmark texts by and about African American thinkers including Maria Stewart, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X., and Angela Davis. Students will evaluate historical perspectives on topics including racial uplift, feminism, black nationalism, and Pan-Africanism. They will also identify major debates that shaped the development of African American intellectual history.
  
  • HIST 364 - Seminar on the Origins of the Constitution


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Note: Appropriate for juniors and seniors. An examination of the historical origins and development to 1791 of the Federal Constitution, including English and colonial backgrounds, state constitutions, the Articles of Confederation, drafting and ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  
  • HIST 366 - Seminar: Slavery in the Americas


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. An intensive examination of slavery, abolition movements and emancipation in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America. Emphasis is on the use of primary sources and class discussion of assigned readings.
  
  • HIST 367 - Seminar: 9/11 and Modern Terrorism


    (SOAN 367) FDR: HU
    Credits: 3


    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Terrorism is a form of collective violence famously illustrated in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington on September 11, 2001. This course provides an intensive interdisciplinary examination of the origins of the 9/11 attacks and the terrorist organization that launched them. The course also addresses the impact of the attacks and the future prospects of mass violence against civilians, as well as the role of the media in covering (and dramatizing) terrorism. Much of the course focuses on the social divisions and conflicts that lead to terrorism and its increasingly lethal nature over time. Topics include “old terrorism” (as seen in Northern Ireland and Algeria), “new terrorism” (such as that associated with Al Qaeda), the logic of terrorist recruitment, and the nature of and spread of weapons of mass destruction.

     

  
  • HIST 377 - Terrorism in Contemporary Africa


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Examines how this seemingly remote region became the inspiration for the first modern human rights campaign, the source of the uranium used to build the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, a hot spot in the Cold War, and the setting for a genocide that spilled over into an African World War fueled by intricate links between African resources and the global economy.
  
  • HIST 386 - Seminar: Managing Mongols, Manchus, and Muslims: China’s Frontier History (16th-20th Centuries)


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    The unprecedented expansionism of China’s last dynasty, the Qing (1644-1911), produced an ethnically and geographically diverse empire whose legacy is the current map and multiethnic society of today’s People’s Republic of China. The Qing Empire’s establishment, extension and consolidation were inextricably bound up with the ethnic identity of its Manchu progenitors. The Manchu attempt to unify diversity resulted in a unique imperial project linking East, Inner and Southeast Asia. This course explores the multiethnic nature and limits of this unification, as well as its 20th-century transformations.
  
  • HIST 387 - Seminar: The Struggle Over China’s Environment


    FDR: HU
    Credits: 3

    The course covers the more recent periods of China’s so-called “3,000 years of unsustainable growth” from about A.D. 618 into the present. Themes focus on China’s historical experience with sedentary agriculture, fossil fuel and nuclear energy, wildlife and forest management, disease, water control, and major construction projects like the Great Wall.
  
  • HIST 388 - The Devil in The Western World


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: at least sophomore class standing. The devil is one of the most recognizable figures in Europe and America, appearing in religion, art, popular culture, and even political rhetoric. This course explores how (primarily Christian) understandings of the devil and his role in the cosmos have changed from late antiquity to the present. Together, we ask why the devil became (and remains) such an influential part of Western culture. We examine when and why the devil was invoked, what the devil meant across time and space, and why certain groups have been demonized throughout history. Topics covered include the biblical origins of Satan, medieval demonology, the impact of the Reformation and Enlightenment, cases of possession and witchcraft, gender and the demonic, depictions of the devil in literature and film, and modern discussions about the nature of evil.
  
  • HIST 395 - Advanced Seminar


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Prerequisite: 15 credits in History courses or at least junior class standing. A seminar offered from time to time depending on student interest and staff availability, in a selected topic or problem in history.
  
  • HIST 397 - Seminar: Spring-Term Topics in History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 4

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Prerequisite: 15 credits in History courses or at least junior class standing. A seminar in a selected topic or problem in history.
  
  • HIST 401 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 1

    May be repeated for degree credit with permission. Prerequisite: instructor consent. A course which permits the student to follow a program of directed reading or research in an area not covered by other courses.
  
  • HIST 402 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 2

    May be repeated for degree credit with permission. Prerequisite: instructor consent. A course which permits the student to follow a program of directed reading or research in an area not covered by other courses.
  
  • HIST 403 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 3

    May be repeated for degree credit each term of the junior and senior year. Prerequisite: instructor consent. A course which permits the student to follow a program of directed reading or research in an area not covered in other courses.
  
  • HIST 421 - Directed Individual Research


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 1

    Graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only. Prerequisite: Prerequisites: 15 credits in history or in related disciplines (with the department head’s approval), cumulative GPA of at least 3.000, or consent of the department. Graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only. Students design and carry out at least 50 hours of research (archival, digital, historiographical) in areas related to History Department faculty’s research projects. Students complete at least two graded assignments (e.g., literature review, annotated bibliography, digital document archive) developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor. Because of staff limitations, the department may give preference to history majors. See department head for details. May be repeated with permission for degree credit up to a total of six credits. May be carried out during the summer. 
  
  • HIST 422 - Directed Individual Research


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 2

    Because of staff limitations, the department may give preference to history majors. See department head for details. May be repeated with permission for degree credit up to a total of six credits. May be carried out during the summer. Prerequisite: 15 credits from History courses and a cumulative grade point average of 3.000 or greater. Students design and carry out at least 100 hours of research (archival, digital, historiographical) in areas related to History Department faculty’s research projects. Students complete at least two graded assignments (e.g., literature review, annotated bibliography, digital document archive) developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor.
  
  • HIST 423 - Directed Individual Research


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 3

    Graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only. Prerequisite: Prerequisites: 15 credits in history or in related disciplines (with the department head’s approval), cumulative GPA of at least 3.000, or consent of the department. Graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory only. Students design and carry out at least 150 hours of research (archival, digital, historiographical) in areas related to History Department faculty’s research projects. Students complete at least two graded assignments (e.g., literature review, annotated bibliography, digital document archive) developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor. Because of staff limitations, the department may give preference to history majors. See department head for details. May be repeated with permission for degree credit up to a total of six credits. May be carried out during the summer. 
  
  • HIST 451 - Internship in History


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 1

    Graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Because of staff limitations, the department may give preference to history majors. See department head for details. May be repeated with permission for degree credit for a total of six credits, if the topics are sufficiently different. May be carried out during the summer. Prerequisite: 15 credits from History courses and a cumulative grade point average of 3.000 or greater. An internship in history at a public or private agency or institution. Students must complete at least 45 hours of on-site work hours, including verification of the number of hours worked. In addition to the internship supervisor evaluation, and any organized classroom activities, students will complete at least one graded assignments (e.g., journal, research report, public presentation, blog) developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor.
  
  • HIST 453 - Internship in History


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 3

    Graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Because of staff limitations, the department may give preference to history majors. See department head for details. May be repeated with permission for a total of six credits toward the university limit of nine credits, if the topics are sufficiently different. May be carried out during the summer. Prerequisite: 15 credits from History courses and a cumulative grade point average of 3.000 or greater. An internship in history at a public or private agency or institution. Students must complete at least 135 verified hours of on-site work. In addition to the internship supervisor evaluation, and any organized classroom activities, students complete at least two graded assignments (e.g., journal, research report, public presentation, blog) developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor.
  
  • HIST 456 - Internship in History


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 6

    Graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Because of staff limitations, the department may give preference to history majors. See department head for details. May be carried out during the summer. Prerequisite: 15 credits from History courses and a cumulative grade point average of 3.000 or greater. An internship in history at a public or private agency or institution. Students must complete at least 270 verified hours of on-site work. In addition to the internship supervisor evaluation, and any organized classroom activities, students complete at least two graded assignments (e.g., journal, research report, public presentation, blog) developed in consultation with a faculty supervisor.
  
  • HIST 473 - Senior Thesis


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: Program of Study grade point average of 3.500 or greater and senior class standing. This course serves as an alternative for HIST 493. Please consult the department head for more details.
  
  • HIST 493 - Honors Thesis


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: instructor consent. Honors Thesis. Additional information is available at www.wlu.edu/history-department/about-the-program/honors-in-history .

Interdepartmental

  
  • INTR 119 - Perspectives on a Pandemic: An Interdisciplinary Approach


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 2

    There are no prerequisites for this class and no assumption of prior knowledge relating to any of the topics covered. This course will offer students a critical, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a series of guest lectures and discussion sections, Washington and Lee faculty, alumni and experts from the field will provide students with a number of different perspectives on the pandemic that has gripped the world. This course will empower students and members of the W&L community to separate fact from fiction, putting the COVID-19 crisis into perspective. Faculty and experts from a broad list of disciplines will analyze issues related to the pandemic from different perspectives including: epidemiology, biology, psychology, sociology, economics, business, politics, and law. The final project for the course will require students to share a new-found perspective or lesson from class with the W&L community via digital storytelling.
  
  • INTR 153 - Preparation for London Internship Program


    Credits: 1

    This course is a prerequisite for INTR 453, which takes place during the following summer. Prerequisite: instructor consent. An exploration of British culture, literature, and history, focusing on areas and topics that students enrolled in the London Internship Program will encounter.
  
  • INTR 180 - FS: First-Year Seminar


    Credits: 3

    Topics vary by term and instructor. Prerequisite: first-year student class standing. First-year seminar.
  
  • INTR 200 - Research Preparation in the Sciences


    Credits: 4

    Laboratory course. Prerequisite: instructor consent. This course is composed of seminar and workshop modules on such topics as: critical reading of research papers; use of relevant primary literature in experimental design; integrative approaches to research questions; use of quantitative methods and modeling; data acquisition, record-keeping, and analysis; research ethics; introduction to specific lab techniques used in research; scientific writing and data presentation. In addition, students develop and present a research plan for their research project that is discussed and critiqued by the whole group.
  
  • INTR 202 - Applied Statistics


    Credits: 3

    Not open to students with credit for DCI 202 or ECON 202. An examination of the principal applications of statistics in accounting, business, economics, and politics. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis.
  
  • INTR 238 - The Irish World in Music, Literature, and History


    Credits: 1

    Orientation and preparation for the ensuing spring term course in Ireland, MUS 238/ENGL 238. Prerequisite: instructor consent. This seminar immerses students in the literature, music, religious traditions, history, and culture of Ireland through a range of media and methods. The primary focus is on Irish musical traditions and literary expressions, from the pre-historic period to the modern day, with a particular emphasis on how place impacts the creation of literature and music and the related folklore traditions. Through literary readings (both primary and secondary), texts of cultural history, memoir, and folklore, through film (an increasingly potent form of expression in Ireland), and works of traditional and modern music, we seek to understand the major movements in Ireland that led to its great cultural achievements in the 20th century as well as the religious and spiritual issues and tensions that run throughout Irish literature and culture.
  
  • INTR 275 - The Science and Practice of Medicine


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 4

    Prerequisite: Prerequisite: BIOL 111, CHEM 110, or PHYS 111. This course is for students with a strong interest in medical careers. It combines observation and experience in a variety of medical specialties with a study of the science and ethics behind medical practice. It is faculty-supervised, off-campus, and will take place in Richmond, VA. Site visits, grand rounds, seminars, case studies, and shadowing will provide opportunities for students to think critically about science and medicine, as well as reflect deeply on their interests and expectations. 
  
  • INTR 280 - Cross-Cultural Theatrical Experiences


    Credits: 1

    Prerequisite: ENGL 386 or THTR 204. Students who have participated in the Spring-term theater courses abroad collaborate to compare and contrast their theatre-going experiences in Great Britain and Sweden, focusing specifically on the cultural diversity of theater traditions across time and place and what theatre can communicate to us in a language we do not know. Students collaborate on a theatrically compelling way to share their knowledge and experiences with the W&L community.
  
  • INTR 298 - Study Abroad Reflections and Assessment


    Credits: 0

    Students on approved study abroad during the academic year. (Not offered for summer study abroad or W&L-taught courses.) Registration in the final term of a students approved study abroad. Prerequisite: instructor consent. Before the end of the last term in which a student is on approved study abroad, the student submits to the Director of International Education a reflective essay, to be designed and assigned for each term abroad by the faculty’s Global Learning Advisory Committee. The committee reviews student reflections, assesses them with regard to Washington and Lee’s learning outcomes for study abroad, and issues a brief report at the end of each academic year.
  
  • INTR 301 - The Irish World in Literature, Religion, and History


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    This course is the orientation to and preparation for the spring-term course English/Religion 387, enabling students to be extremely well prepared when they arrive in Ireland. Acceptance into an approved W&L International Internship Program. Prerequisite: completion of FDR:FW requirement. This seminar seeks to immerse the student in the literature, religious traditions, history, and culture of Ireland through a range of media and methods. The primary focus of the course is on Irish literary expressions and religious beliefs and traditions, from the pre-historic period to the modern day, with a particular emphasis on the ancient Irish world. We seek to understand the major movements in Ireland that led to its great cultural achievements in the 20th century, as well as the religious and spiritual issues and tensions that run throughout Irish literature and culture.
  
  • INTR 451 - SSA Experiential Learning Practicum


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 1

    Prerequisite: instructor consent. Students in this colloquium develop leadership and organizational skills by playing an active role in the designing, managing, and publicizing the biennial SSA conference at Washington and Lee University. SSA showcases student academic projects, scientific pursuits, and the performing and visual arts, as well as providing a forum for small-group colloquia discussions about topics of interest to our community.
  
  • INTR 453 - International Internship


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 3

    Acceptance into an approved W&L International Internship Program required. Prerequisite: INTR 153. Students are placed in an approved internship for six weeks in London, England, Cape Town, South Africa, or other international location during the summer. The course is designed to help the students make sense of working in another country and provide them with a forum in which to discuss and write about their experiences.
  
  • INTR 493 - Interdisciplinary Honors


    Credits: 3

    Open only to students completing interdisciplinary honors work approved by the faculty’s Committee on Courses and Degrees or majoring in a discipline without an honors program. All departments involved must review and approve the final thesis.
  
  • INTR 995 - Spring Option


    Credits: 0

    Registration is entered by University Registrar’s office after completed form is turned into the office and approved. Prerequisite: at least sophomore class standing. The Spring Option allows students to use the spring term of their sophomore, junior and/or senior years to engage in an internship, service program, employment, travel or educational program that will broaden and enhance their collegiate education. The faculty offer this opportunity to encourage students to seek creative outlets not provided in the normal academic setting. Spring option policies and requirements can be found under Academic Regulations .

Italian

  
  • ITAL 113 - Accelerated Elementary Italian


    Credits: 4

    This course meets five days per week. Prerequisite: FREN 112, SPAN 112, or FREN 161, FREN 164, SPAN 161, or SPAN 164 placement An accelerated course in elementary Italian emphasizing grammar and the skills of speaking, writing, reading, and listening comprehension..
  
  • ITAL 163 - Accelerated Intermediate Italian


    FDR: FL World Language Foundation
    Credits: 4

    This course meets five days per week. Prerequisite: ITAL 113 or ITAL 163 placement. This course develops intermediate communicative Italian vocabulary and active intermediate competence in the language. The traditional skills of world-language instruction (structure, listening comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking) are stressed.
  
  • ITAL 261 - Advanced Conversation and Composition


    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: ITAL 163. Further development of conversational skills and beginning work in free composition, with systematic grammar review and word study in various relevant cultural contexts.
  
  • ITAL 295 - Topics in Italian Culture


    FDR: HL Literature Distribution
    Credits: 3

    May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. Prerequisite: ITAL 163. A second-year topics course focusing on issues and texts related to Italian literature and culture. All discussion, writing, and exercises are in Italian.
  
  • ITAL 401 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 1

    May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. Prerequisite: instructor consent. Advanced study in Italian. The nature and content of the course is determined by the students’ needs and by an evaluation of their previous work.
  
  • ITAL 402 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 2

    May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. Prerequisite: instructor consent. Advanced study in Italian. The nature and content of the course is determined by the students’ needs and by an evaluation of their previous work.
  
  • ITAL 403 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 3

    May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different. Prerequisite: instructor consent. Advanced study in Italian. The nature and content of the course is determined by the students’ needs and by an evaluation of their previous work.

Japanese

  
  • JAPN 100 - Supervised Study Abroad: Beginning Japanese


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 4

    Spring Term Abroad course. Prerequisite: instructor consent. This course is designed to introduce the Japanese language and culture to students with little or no previous language background. Classes are held at the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange, a prestigious Japanese institution in Kanazawa. Students live with a host family and can experience typical Japanese daily life. The program includes field trips to points of historical interest and many cultural activities.
  
  • JAPN 111 - First-Year Japanese I


    Credits: 4

    An introduction to spoken and written Japanese. Classroom drills, written and audio materials emphasize basic sentence patterns. Daily practice in reading and writing.
  
  • JAPN 112 - First-Year Japanese II


    Credits: 4

    Prerequisite: JAPN 111. A continuation of JAPN 111. Further work on modern spoken and written Japanese.
  
  • JAPN 115 - Supervised Study Abroad: First-Year Japanese


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 4

    Spring Term Abroad course. Prerequisite: JAPN 112. This course is designed to improve active oral proficiency in Japanese, to introduce the culture and society of Japan, and to prepare students for second-year Japanese study. Classes are held at the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange, a prestigious Japanese institution in Kanazawa. Students live with a host family and can experience typical Japanese daily life. The program includes field trips to points of historical interest and many cultural activities.
  
  • JAPN 261 - Second-Year Japanese I


    Credits: 4

    Prerequisite: JAPN 112 or JAPN 261 placement. A continuation of JAPN 112 with emphasis on the spoken language and written texts using audiovisual materials.
  
  • JAPN 262 - Second-Year Japanese II


    FDR: FL World Language Foundation
    Credits: 4

    Prerequisite: JAPN 261. A continuation of JAPN 261 with intensive drills in spoken Japanese and the close reading of texts.
  
  • JAPN 265 - Supervised Study Abroad: Second-Year Japanese


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 4

    Spring Term Abroad course. Prerequisite: JAPN 261. This course is designed to introduce the Japanese language and culture to students, to introduce the culture and society of Japan, and to prepare students for third-year Japanese study. Classes are held at the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange, a prestigious Japanese institution in Kanazawa. Students live with a host family and can experience typical Japanese daily life. The program includes field trips to points of historical interest and many cultural activities.
  
  • JAPN 301 - Third-Year Japanese I


    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: JAPN 262 or JAPN 301 placement. A continuation of JAPN 262 designed to further develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Advanced classroom drills, reading texts, and taped materials provide systematic practice in increasingly complex discourses and acquaint students with key aspects of Japanese customs, culture, and society.
  
  • JAPN 302 - Third-Year Japanese II


    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: JAPN 301. A continuation of JAPN 301.
  
  • JAPN 311 - Advanced Japanese I


    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: JAPN 302 or JAPN 311 placement. Advanced readings, discussion in Japanese and written responses to a variety of literary materials, including relevant journal and newspaper articles. Whenever available, video materials will supplement readings.
  
  • JAPN 312 - Advanced Japanese II


    FDR: HL Literature Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: JAPN 311. A continuation of JAPN 311 with an emphasis on reading and discussing literary works. Advanced readings in Japanese modern prose, poetry, and drama and discussion in Japanese of literature and literary criticism.
  
  • JAPN 365 - Supervised Study Abroad: Third-Year Japanese


    Experiential Learning (EXP): Yes
    Credits: 4

    Spring Term Abroad course. Prerequisite: JAPN 302. This course is designed to introduce the Japanese language and culture to students, to introduce the culture and society of Japan, and to prepare students for fourth-year Japanese study. Classes are held at the Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange, a prestigious Japanese institution in Kanazawa. Students live with a host family and can experience typical Japanese daily life. The program includes field trips to points of historical interest and many cultural activities.
  
  • JAPN 401 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 1

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Prerequisite: instructor consent. A course that allows students to follow a program of directed reading with a more intensive exposure to written texts than is possible in courses oriented toward grammar and conversation.
  
  • JAPN 402 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 2

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Prerequisite: instructor consent. A course that allows students to follow a program of directed reading with a more intensive exposure to written texts than is possible in courses oriented toward grammar and conversation.
  
  • JAPN 403 - Directed Individual Study


    Credits: 3

    May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different. Prerequisite: instructor consent. A course that allows students to follow a program of directed reading with a more intensive exposure to written texts than is possible in courses oriented toward grammar and conversation.

Journalism and Mass Communications

  
  • JOUR 101 - Introduction to Mass Communications


    Credits: 3

    This course serves as a gateway for both majors and non-majors to examine the role that the mass media play in society. The course examines the pervasiveness of mass media in our lives, and the history and roles of different media and their societal functions, processes, and effects. Students learn to tell the difference between fact and opinion and examine the links among theory, research and professional experience, while analyzing the ethics, methods, and motivations of the media and the expectations of their audiences. We discuss how media cover diversity issues and evaluate the policies and freedoms that guide and shape the mass media and the news media in the United States. Students complete the course as better informed consumers and interpreters of mass media and their messages.
  
  • JOUR 150 - Introduction to the Politics and Policies of Global Communication


    FDR: HU Humanities Distribution
    Credits: 3

    Prerequisite: first-year or sophomore class standing. An introduction to a series of debates centered on the media, power, and globalization, locating these in their historical and cultural perspective and exploring ways in which media power is contested. Topics include the theories and problems related to international function of the news media, the entertainment industry, and the telecommunications sector; the creation of the global media marketplace; the evolution of international communication in the Internet age; and international governance structures.
 

Page: 1 <- 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 -> 19