2019-2020 Academic Catalog [Archived Catalog]
Courses
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| Undergraduate Prerequisites |
Course Numbering |
| A “C-” or higher is required in all prerequisite courses |
100-299 - Lower division undergraduate |
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300-499 - Upper division undergraduate |
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500-699 - Graduate |
| Search Tip |
700-799 - Doctoral |
| Use the asterisk (*) key as a wild card. |
| Example: Select “Prefix” NURS and enter 6* in the “Code or Number” field to return all Nursing courses at the 600 level. |
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HIST 103 - U.S. and the Contemporary World
Credits: Three (3)
This class investigates the controversies and questions at the heart of modern American diplomacy. World War II made the United States a global hegemonic power, and its decades-long cold war with the USSR prompted new debates and challenges about the use of legitimacy of that power, both at home and abroad. Students will examine U.S. diplomatic decisions from WWII to the present, asking such questions as: what was the legacy of FDR’s conduct in the war, and how have the doctrines of subsequent presidents, from Truman through Trump, shaped U.S intervention abroad? How much power does the president really have in dictatingforeign policy? Was the Cold War avoidable, and how has the threat of nuclearannihilation transformed diplomacy? What grounds, if any, has the U.S. had to intervene in the self-determination of other nations, from Vietnam to Iraq? What moral and ethical considerations shape diplomatic decisions? Students will investigate these and other questions in order to gauge the impact of the U.S. on global diplomacy through the twenty-first century.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 110 - Women in American History
Credits: Three (3)
This course explores the impact of historical events on the lives of American women and, in turn, the many roles women played in shaping American history. Topics include native American women’s lives; gender and family life under slavery; the impact of industrialization on women of different classes; the ideology of separate spheres; women’s political activities including the anti-slavery movement, the suffrage movement, the 19th Amendment, and the resurgence of feminism in the 1960s; and transformations in the lives of modern women including work, politics, sexuality, consumption patterns, and leisure activities.Fulfills Social Science Requirement.
Note: Fulfills state requirements.
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: WGS-110
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HIST 115 - History of American Indians
Credits: Three (3)
This course explores topics in American Indian History.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 121 - American History to 1877
Credits: Three (3)
“Lincoln once said that America was founded on a proposition that was written by Jefferson in 1776. We are really founded on an argument about what that proposition means.” Joseph Ellis’ quotes encapsulates the driving questions of this course: what are the many meanings of America, and how can we understand the historical development of the United States? This course investigates the “creation” of America, and the development of American identities, from the pre-colonial period to the end of Reconstruction in 1877. Topics will include: the peoples and cultures of North America circa 1491; encounters between indigenous peoples and early European colonizers; the political and religious tenor of the early British colonies; American independence and westward expansion; slavery and the Atlantic world; and the legacies of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 122 - American History Since 1877
Credits: Three (3)
In this course students continue to investigate the many meanings of America from the end of Reconstruction to the present day. Using diverse primary sources materials from newspapers articles, to private diaries, to film, students will explore key controversies and debates in American history. Topics and themes include, but are not limited to: Reconstruction, lynching, and the Jim Crow era; Native American persecution and resistance in the face of Manifest Destiny; successive waves of immigration from Europe and Asia; the Gilded Age, the roaring 20s and Great Depression, the world wars, Cold War, and culture wars; recent American wars from Vietnam to Iraq; and current debates about American identity in an age of global immigration.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 131 - World History to 1500
Credits: Three (3)
This course explores significant people, movements, events, and ideas in the major civilizations of the world to about 1500. Our class will permit students to compare civilizations, empires, religions, epistemologies, and cultures on a planetary scale. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Machiavelli’s The Prince, students will analyze primary sources to better understand human societies in their own words and works. This class will also incorporate the use of games, the sampling of global cuisines, and the analysis of art and music to achieve an in-depth, yet broad survey of human history to the Early Modern period
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: HIST-331
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HIST 132 - World History since 1500
Credits: Three (3)
What does it means to live in a truly “globalized” world? How have human societies, and the identities of their members, changed in response to human migration on a planetary scale? This course investigates these and other questions about human cultural and civilizational encounters following the Colombian Exchange. Students will explore the most recent five hundred years of human history, interrogating the global impact of such phenomena as the Atlantic slave trade; the Reformation; the emergence of nation-states and European empires; the industrialization of nations and the embrace of capitalism; political revolutions and the unraveling of empires; the two world wars and the Cold War; climate change, and extremist terrorism.
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: HIST-332
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HIST 200 - Historical Methods & Digital Humanities
Credits: Three (3)
This course introduces history majors and minors to the many skills sets required to pursue their careers in history and related fields. Students will develop an individual research project in their stated career trajectory (post-graduate study, public history, or alternative academic) which will be the first step in building their job market portfolio. The course will introduce students to traditional archival and digital research methods; reading and writing like an historian; academic publishing; and networking in academia. In this class, students will also begin to develop their public, professional personas as they build personal websites, craft their social media presence, and professionalize their CVs
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 220 - Rebel Girls: Women and Gender in the West and the World
Credits: Three (3)
This course prompts students to explore an intersectional range of women who profoundly transformed American and Western societies, from indigenous women’s lives to the Suffragettes to the Riot Grrls of Third Wave Feminism. The class takes a comparative approach, pairing American women and gender histories with the lives, achievements and struggles of women more globally. By the end of the course, students will have a firm grasp on the evolution of women’s history as a historical field and will have explored complex and dynamic notions of sex, gender, and race within that field. [M; W; S]
Note: CANNOT HAVE CREDIT FOR HIST 110/310
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: WGS-210
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HIST 225H - Pirates, Princes, Popes: The Medici and Early Modern Europe
Credits: Four (4)
This course explores the history of Florence, “the most turbulent city between Ghent in the 14th century and Paris in the 19th” and the dynasty which struggled to govern it over the course of four hundred years. Florentine history witnessed great revolutions in science and state building, in international commerce and overseas exploration. Between the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1492 and the end of their line in 1737, the Medici transformed Florence from a weak city-republic to a state powerful enough to hold its own against the major continental monarchies. As one of the most politically cunning dynasties in Europe, the Medici indelibly shaped the course of western history. With humble beginnings as bankers and merchants, the Medici family rose to command the papacy in the sixteenth century, and a great pirate fleet in the seventeenth. By the end of the early modern era, they had intermarried with the most powerful royalty in Europe, and their patronage of artists like Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Vasari ensured that their influence on the religious, political, and cultural evolution of Europe would carry through to the present day.
Class participants will learn about the Medici and their world through secondary readings and such contemporary works as Machiavelli’s Il Principe or Pietro Aretino’s bawdy letters. By the semester’s end, students will have a firm grasp of key Renaissance and early modern developments in art and patronage; gender, sexuality, and power; epistemology and the history of science; and the emergence of nation-states and national identities in early modern Europe. [M; W; I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Prerequisite: Membership in Bascom Honors Program
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HIST 227H - Social Misfits and Empires
Credits: Four (4)
This class explores histories of class, gender, race, religion, and systems of thought from the perspective of social outsiders in early modern empires. We will explore why and how certain kinds of people were pushed to the boundaries of their societies, and what their view looked like from the edge. In these centuries, humans redefined how and why people belonged to certain societies, and redefined what would happen to those who didn’t conform. Pirates of the Caribbean; colonies of escaped slaves; men and women who dared attempt their own interpretations of Christianity; Muslim travelers who admired Italian culture; women and children who confessed to being witches; madmen who murdered kings: all of these outsiders provide unique perspectives on the imperial powers which reshaped the early modern world. This period witnessed the emergence of nation-states and the development of modern science, but it also produced biological theories of race, new global pandemics, and genocide. Our class will seek to better understand the importance of the early modern period and its expanding empires through the eyes of those who were told they didn’t belong, and to learn what the experiences of outsiders can teach us about “otherness” and prejudice today. [M; W; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Prerequisite: Membership in Bascom Honors Program
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HIST 296 - Independent Study
Credits: One (1) to Four (4)
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 297 - Special Studies
Credits: 1-4
These courses are offered periodically based on the interests of our students and faculty.
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HIST 297H - Honors Topics in History
Credits: Four (4)
These honors courses are offered periodically based on the interests of our students and faculty.
General Education Area: Social Science
Prerequisite: Membership in Bascom Honors Program
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HIST 300 - Local History Seminar
Credits: Three (3)
Your own backyard has a history, and this class will teach you to uncover it. Whether in St. Louis or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, students will explore the history of their region through local archives, site visits, and original research projects. This class will incorporate an oral history component, in which students will interview members of their community in an attempt to understand how the unique social fabric of their village, town, or city came to be woven together. The on-campus St. Louis version of this course will feature visits to museums and notable sites in St. Louis history, while the online version will encourage students around the country to explore places in their own hometown, either by visiting historical sites, or through an exploration of local newspapers, online archives, or historical websites. In the online version, students will complete a series of short research projects on certain aspects of St. Louis history (Cahokia/Dredd Scott/Ferguson etc.) as well as create a short vlog about their own “local” history, whether they live in north STL or Belleville or NYC. This course will have a discussion forum component, allowing STL natives to compare their history with students from other parts of the region/country.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 301 - Britain and Blood: British History from Brexit to Anne Boyle
Credits: Three (3)
What does it mean to have a national identity? Just as Americans argue over what it means to be American, similar debates over identity rage in Britain - a debate which has endured for centuries. In 1701, the Englishman Daniel Defoe wrote in a scathing satire, “Thus from a mixture of all kinds began /That het’rogeneous thing, an Englishman / In eager rapes, and furious lust begot /Betwixt a painted Britain and a Scot.”
So what does it mean to be a “Briton”? This course examines English, Irish, Scottish & Welsh histories from the reign of the Tudors through the end of the 20th century. How was British identity shaped by historically shifting notions of race, class, gender, and religion? We’ll explore these and other questions in the lives of British slaves, pirates, playwrights, & politicians in an attempt to understand what Britain’s multicultural past can teach us about our own society today. [M; W; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 307 - Humanity’s Darkest Century: The World Wars & Twentieth Century History
Credits: Three (3)
Was the twentieth century humanity’s darkest hour? How have the two world wars continued to effect us today? Empires fell at the outset of the twentieth century and were replaced by nation-states; revolutions - social, cultural, and economics - swept across the globe in the 1960s and 70s; global economic crises brought on by our reliance on fossil fuels provoked new waves of violence in the 80s and 90s; the Cold War ended and a new threat, in the many forms of global extremist terrorism, took it’s place, all in the twentieth century. Yet in these one hundred years we also witnessed women gain the right to vote in many countries, the emergence of the civil rights movement, and innovations in food production which have produced greater food security (for some) in certain countries. So what is the enduring legacy of the twentieth century? Students will use evidence from newspapers, film, music, and an array of other primary and secondary sources to answer these and other persistent questions about humanity’s “darkest” century. {M; W; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 324 - African- American History
Credits: Three (3)
This course will introduce students to the major debates in African-American history from the early modern period to the present. Students will explore African-American identity and history through film, music, and an array of primary source documents. Some of the themes and topics that will be covered are: African life at the time of the arrival of European slavers; African resistance and cultural hybridization under slave conditions in the American colonies; the Civil War and Reconstruction; Jim Crow segregation; the Civil Rights movement; and contemporary African-American and Black culture and political activism. [M; W; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 335 - Jews and Christians in Nazi Germany
Credits: Three (3)
“This course deals with the reactions of German Protestants and Catholics to the Nazi regime’s oppression of Germany’s Jewish population and its attempt to annihilate European Jewry as well as the experiences and reflections of German Jews living in such desperate times. To what degree did German Protestants and Catholics, who together represented nearly ninety-five percent of the German populace, support Nazi policies? Did German Protestants and Catholics living in the Third Reich seek “a world without Jews,” as did the Nazi regime, and many fellow Germans? How did their identity as Germans inform their views of Jews? Were German Protestant perspectives on Jews and Judaism uniform, or did shades of antisemitic and anti-Judaic thought co-exist along with pockets of philosemitism or disinterest about the plight of German and European Jews? How did German Jews view their Christian neighbors and Christianity during such grim times? Culture and religion will form the dual points of focus for the course. We will pay significant attention to the ways in which religion and ideology appreciably shaped the lives of people living in Germany during the Third Reich.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 342 - Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
Credits: Three (3)
This seminar provides an introduction to Nazi Germany. We will discuss and analyze the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), the rise of Nazism, the Republic’s collapse and the Nazi “seizure of power”, the importance of Hitler and the “Fhrer principle”, German society under the Nazi regime, popular support and political dissent, Jewish life under the Nazis, the creation and maintenance of a “racial state”, National Socialist ideology, anti-Judaism and antisemitism in Weimar Germany and the Third Reich, the role of religion and the churches, Germany’s role in the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the interconnectedness between war and genocide. We will pay significant attention to the ways in which ideology and religion appreciably shaped the lives of people living in Germany during the Third Reich.[M; W; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 350 - The History of Western Medicine from Plague to Penicillin
Credits: Three (3)
What has it meant to be “sick” throughout history? Who were physicians and nurses, how were they trained, and what roles did they have in western society? When did we as a species turn away from magical understandings of illness, toward a modern scientific understanding of disease and infection?
This class seeks to answer these questions by examining an array of first-hand stories, anatomical designs, medical case studies, and cultural histories of medicine. We will explore such themes as: changes in our understanding of sexual difference from the Greeks to the present, the emergence of the modern hospital, the development of germ theory, and the evolution of the physician’s, the nurse’s, and the midwife’s role in western society from the middle ages to the twentieth century. [P, M; W; I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 362 - Investigating the Mythic Middle Ages
Credits: Three (3)
Did knights in shining armor really exist? What were the real motivations for the Crusades begun in 1095? What roles did women play in medieval society - how much truth is there to the “damsel in distress”? This course investigates these and other common misperceptions about the middle ages (ca. 500-1500 CE) in Europe. Students will employ primary and secondary source evidence to explore questions about race, class, gender, politics and religion, comparing the historical rec-ord to the ways in which the middle ages have been depicted in such modern pop culture as television shows and films. [P; W; I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 363 - Renaissance to Revolution: Early Modern Europe
Credits: Three (3)
“There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it.” Taking inspira-tion from this quote by Stephen Shapin, students in this course will interrogate our accepted knowledge of the Renaissance, Reformation, and the social and scientific revolutions which oc-curred in Europe in the early modern period (1450-1789). While studying the glories of Renais-sance achievement in the innovations of artists and thinkers like Michelangelo and Machiavelli, students will also query the depth and spread of the Renaissance in an attempt to understand how much the rebirth of classical knowledge actually changed life for non-elite people, and women. We will examine the centuries of warfare that attended the Reformation, and the kinds of unexpected social phenomena, such as witch crazes, which attended religiously-motivated violence. As for the scientific revolution: did Galileo invent the telescope? Was this “revolution” the product of great men like Isaac Newton, or a network of scholars working together? What about the female scientists who contributed to the advance of science? Students will investigate these and other questions about our accepted views of the emergence of modern science. Finally, students will examine the Enlightenment roots of Revolution, seeking to understand how notions of a social contract and human rights could develop at the same time that African slavery drove Early Modern Europe and the Atlantic world’s economy. [M; W; I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 370 - Stonewall to the Supreme Court: Queer Histories in America
Credits: Three (3)
What does it mean, and has it meant, to be queer in America? This course examines the histories of gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and non-binary identifying people in the United States. Students will examine how our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality has changed over the last century, and the impact that capitalism and nationalism have had on these definitions, and on the lives of queer-identifying people. This course takes an intersectional approach, asking how age, class, (dis)ability, gender, ethnicity and race all effect our understandings of queer identity. It places particular emphasis on the struggles of queer people to obtain equal rights, from the Stonewall riots to the landmark 2016 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling, which declared that a ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.[M; W; S]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 371 - The Crescent & The Globe: Histories of Islam & The Middle East
Credits: Three (3)
What do we mean by the “middle east”? How can we understand the history of a region that fostered humanity’s first written laws and urban settlements, yet now according to some is the epicenter of a “clash of civilizations”? This class will explore these and other questions about the history and governments of the Middle East, from Hammurabi to Mehmed the Conqueror to the rise of Daesh (ISIS). The course is divided into three broad chronological units. The first explores the middle east before Islam, the subsequent expansion of Muslim societies under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, and the changes wrought by Mongol invasions in the 13th century. The second unit examines the rise and dominance of the Ottoman Empire, and the kinds of cross-cultural exchanges which occurred between the peoples of the Middle East and other regions during the early modern period. The final section interrogates the legacy of European incursions in the region, beginning with the French and British in Egypt, through both world wars and the present conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Mediterranean.[P,M;N;C,I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: PSCI- 371
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HIST 372 - From Samurai to Siam Qian: East Asian Peoples, Politics, & Cultures
Credits: Three (3)
If you watched the grand scope of human history unfold from a seat on the moon, the enduring contributions, and longevity of the institutions, of East Asia would be strikingly apparent. From China’s “5,000” years of civilization to the rise and fall of Japan’s empires, this course investigates the development of East Asia from approximately 1500 to the modern period. While the course primarily centers on Japan and China, students will spend some time exploring the relationships these regions fostered with Korea, Vietnam, and Central Asia.[M; N; I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: PSCI 372
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HIST 373 - Africa and the World
Credits: Three (3)
This course explores the history of Africa and the continent’s broader economic, social, and political impact on the rest of the globe from 1500 to the present. The course begins with a broad investigation of the pre-colonial Africa, exploring the rich political, linguistic and cultural traditions which characterized the continent before the arrival of Europeans. Students will the assess the impact of western colonization and slavery on African societies, from the early modern period through the beginnings of independence movements at the beginning of the twentieth century. The course then turns to an analysis of African self-determination, assessing the many challenges faced by new African nation states in a post-colonial world. Finally, students will take a critical approach to understanding the role of African societies in our present global age, paying particular attention to the impact capitalism continues to have on Africa and on the identities, politics, and cultures of those who inhabit the world’s second-largest continent.[M; N; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: PSCI-373
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HIST 374 - Conquest, Resistance, Independence: Latin America History, Politics, and Cultures
Credits: Three (3)
This course will introduce students to the central debates about Latin American history, politics and culture from 1491 to the present. Beginning in the pre-colonial period, the course explores the rich social, religious, and political traditions of Latin America before the arrival of Europeans. Students will then assess the impact of European conquistadores and immigrants on native populations and their institutions. Students will investigate indigenous resistance to, or in certain cases hybridization with, Old World peoples and their cultures through the colonial period. The course will then explore attempts at national self-determination and independence among the peoples of Latin America. Finally, students will investigate the legacies of colonialism, capitalism, and immigration in modern Latin America using a diverse array of primary sources such as personal accounts, newsprint and film to gauge the many meanings of Latin America in our increasingly globalized world.[M; N; C, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: PSCI-374
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HIST 380 - In Their Own Words: Laboring in America
Credits: Three (3)
In this course students will learn how the working lives of Americans have been transformed from the industrial revolution through deindustrialization in the United States. A major portion of this course will focus on providing students with the skills they will need to conduct oral history interviews. By the end of the semester students will conduct interviews with individuals who have lived through some of the themes we will read about in class.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 388 - Russia: Proletariat to Putin
Credits: Three (3)
This course will explore the history of Russia from the early imperial expansion to Putin’s government today. Students will explore such themes and topics as: the modernization of Russia under imperial control & the Great Reforms, the 1917 revolution, Stalin’s “Revolution from Above,” soviet socialism, the experience of minority groups in imperial Russia, the USSR, and modern Russia. Students will consider the long-term, global effects of Russia’s many revolutions, as well as assess it’s power and influence on other governments today.[N; M; I]
General Education Area: Social Science
Cross-listed: PSCI-388
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HIST 389 - Mad Emperors and Philosopher Kings: Topics in Classical and Late Antiquity
Credits: Three (3)
This course explores the littoral civilizations of the Mediterranean, from Classical Greece to Late Antique developments in Europe, Asia, and north Africa. From the heights of Greek philosophical achievement, through the rise and fall of Rome, to the emergence, persecution, and spread of Christianity, students will investigate the key developments that characterized the Mediterranean world through the 7th century CE. Themes and topics may include: Greco-Roman philosophy and medicine; contemporary understandings of sex and gender; religious institutions and popular devotion; cultures of violence and theories of power; cultural and commercial exchange between civilizations, and an investigation of what some have seen as the roots of western political, religious, and social traditions. [P; W; S, I]
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 397 - Special Studies
Credits: Three (3)
The special seminar features a rotating variety of special topics which permit the student and instructor to investigate an historical question, chronological period, event, movement, or group of people to a greater depth than an ordinary history course. The course is taught by the instructor within their field of expertise; as opposed to an introductory or general survey course, these seminars are discussion, not lecture based, and provide opportunities for students to conduct original research in a topic related to the seminar.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 399 - Internship
Credits: One (1) to Four (4)
How do you plan to use your history major? The History Internship will be your first taste of a professional life as an historian, and will help you build your resume and practical expertise in preparation for the job market. The internship will provide with real-world experience in a range of history fields such as the following: museums, archives, libraries, political activism, government/civil offices, non-profit groups, or private businesses.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 490 - History Portfolio Project
Credits: Three (3)
The History Portfolio Project represents the culmination of the student’s undergraduate career, and is the final step in their professionalization before the job market. Students will present a research paper and oral presentation of an individual project which corresponds with their chosen career trajectory (graduate school, public history, or alternative academic). Successful completion of this course will also entail practice interviews and the students’ application to job openings or graduate school, depending on their stated career trajectory.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 496 - Independent Study
Credits: One (1)
Independent study is designed for students who would like to pursue an historical research project or topic which is not covered by an existing history department course. Students must contact the program director of the history department in order to coordinate their individual interests and goals for the course. The independent study may take two forms:
1. Directed Readings in History: The Instructor of Record for the independent study will provide the student will a reading list and coordinate meeting times to discuss the readings. This path will culminate in the student’s production of an historiography paper.
2. Directed Research in History: The Instructor of Record will coordinate with the student to iden-tify an original research project in primary sources; compose a research prospectus, and produce a paper based on their original research. It is recommended for the student to have completed coursework in the field of study prior to selecting this option.
General Education Area: Social Science
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HIST 497 - Special Studies
Credits: Three (3)
This Special Studies course will feature diverse courses on unusual historical topics. These classes are characterized by a high level of instructor-student research and collaboration. The Special Studies course is designed to prepare students for graduate-level work; as such, it is the most intellectually demanding history class and should only be taken by students in the end stages of their undergraduate career.
General Education Area: Social Science
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