HIST 180 - FS: First-Year Seminar

FDR: HU
Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Offered occasionally. Each first-year seminar topic is approved by the Dean of The College and the Committee on Courses and Degrees. Applicability to FDRs and other requirements varies.

HIST 180-01: FY: Popular Culture and Everyday Life in Modern China (3). First-Year Seminar. Prerequisite: First-year class standing only. This course surveys the development of Chinese popular culture during the modern era. Popular culture is the key to understanding the economy, politics, and people of a society. It sheds light on art in the everyday and renders the mundane with sensual textures. The course examines different forms of Chinese popular culture, including popular literature, material culture, rituals and religions, fashion, film, etc., from the perspective of their social, political, ideological, and cultural functions. We focus on the 20th century, the formative historical period for contemporary China, though attention is also given to the early modern era. (HU) Di Luo. Fall 2014

HIST 180-02: FY: Fashion in Global History (3). First-Year Seminar. Prerequisite: First-year class standing only. This course uses fashion as a way to explore economic, social, and political changes throughout the globe from antiquity to the French Revolution. By placing clothing and ornamentation within its historic context, we explore how different peoples have used adornment as a marker of status, conformity, and resistance. Topics include: the historic demand for luxury, the role of ornamentation in empire and colonialism, and the way fashion contributed to modern globalization. This course also offers students the opportunity to engage sources about fashion in global history through digital humanities projects. (HU) Stillo. Fall 2014