Spring 2010 Featured Courses
The history department would like to recommend the following courses for the spring semester 2010
Islam in Asia. MW 1-2:15pm: Islam’s interaction with Asian societies and cultures is increasingly becoming a critical field of study, forcing us to confront the limitations of thinking about Islam being centered in the Middle East or Arab world. Taking a broad survey of historical processes led by Asian Muslims, this new 3000-level course asks the following questions: Why did some regions of Asia convert to Islam in large measure and others not? Why has the nineteenth century been called "Islam's Indian century"? What is the difference between creating a Muslim homeland like Pakistan and an Islamic state like Iran? What are the current patterns of identity construction for Muslim communities in religiously and ethnically plural countries? The course traces patterns of identity construction and compares social, political and cultural practices across regions and through Asia's diverse states and empires. Students will be able to develop essays on their individual interests in Asian environments, from the Caucusus to China, Iran to Indonesia.
HIST 4032/5032: Globalization in World History since 1945. TTh 1-2:15pm.
HIST 4307/5307: History of Sexuality. MW 10-11:15am. Many people think about sexuality as something outside history -- as natural and unchanging. Taking a historical perspective, this course explores the many and various understandings of sexuality from the ancients to the present, and examines the ways that the meanings attached to sexual practices have changed over time. The course uses European and US cases to look at how historians have written about the history of sexuality and how challenging it is to interpret sources relating to sex and sexuality. Bringing the private lives of everyday individual into the historical record, historians of sexuality examine the power politics surrounding sexual behaviors and identities.
HIST 4431/5431. Modern Japan. TTh 11:30-12:45pm. This survey on modern Japan aims to convey a general understanding of Japan's history from the Tokugawa period to the present. It connects the political, socio-economic, and imaginative realms of daily life so as to achieve a varied and complex view of Japanese society from the 18th to the 20th centuries. It does not pretend to comprehensiveness, but offers a foundation for further study. It also explores in the context of Japanese history many processes and tendencies that are evident in other modern societies: e.g., texture of daily life, industrialization, imperialism and colonialism, war and liberalism.
HIST 6931. Graduate Readings: Theories of Nation and State. M 5:30-8:20pm.
This course looks at theories of nation and state across a range of historical and sociological writing. Examples are drawn from medieval Europe to contemporary society. Graduate students with any focus in the humanities and social sciences are welcome.