History
Courses
HIST 121: Intro to U.S. History to 1865
Credits 3An introduction to important trends and topics in U.S. history from the colonial period to 1865. Includes political, economic, social, cultural and diplomatic subjects with attention to questions of gender and race.
HIST 122: Intro to U.S. History since 1865
Credits 4An introduction to important trends and topics in U.S. history from the end of the Civil War (1865) to the present. Includes political, economic, social, cultural and diplomatic subjects, with particular attention to matters of race and gender.
HIST 123: Prohibition: Alcohol Politics in U.S. History
Credits 3Between 1920 and 1933, the United States banned drinking or selling alcohol. This class explores the ideas about family, religion, sex, immigration, and race that led to Prohibition. It examines the nightclubs and organized crime networks that sold illegal liquor, and it shows why prohibition failed so quickly.
HIST 124: Strike: Labor and Capitalism in U.S. History
Credits 3We live in an era of labor conflict when strikes make headlines. This U.S. history class explains how anarchists,
communists, reactionaries, Black nationalists, radical feminists, and other dissidents have built a movement to
challenge the capitalist system.
HIST 128: Jewish/Christian Encounters
Credits 3How does Christianity understand itself in relation to Judaism? How do Jews think about Christians? Has there alwaysbeen conflict? Has there been mutual influence? An introduction to these traditions through themes of religious andcultural encounters. Themes include: sexuality and gender, race and violence, conversion, theology and politics.
HIST 141: History of California
Credits 3This course is an introduction to the study of U.S. history that focuses on California's past and present. The course examines California both as an ideal – one defined by beautiful weather, booming economies, and open minds – and as a physical space produced amid urbanization, industrialization, immigration, racist violence and environmental crisis. Students engage with cultural, economic and political events in California's past, from native people's survival strategies in Spanish missions in the 1770s to the Silicon Valley tech industry in the 21st century. Students will build the critical reading, academic writing and discussion skills that are necessary for success in a liberal arts environment. In addition to reading academic books from history and related scholarly disciplines, students will discuss visual art, watch and write about Hollywood films, and analyze popular literature. Appropriate for first-year students.
HIST 204: The New Promised Land
Credits 3The first Jews set foot on American soil in 1584, and Jewish understanding of the United States and its non-Jewish majority have been complicated ever since. This course explores the history, sociology and theology of American Judaism from the colonial period to the present day with a particular focus on the Jewish minority experience and the evolution of Jewish-Christian relationship. Students also will consider themes of Jewish activism, the rise of the congregational denominations, the appeal of nostalgia, and the development of a particularly Jewish-American culture and cuisine.
HIST 205: Intro to Quaker History
Credits 3An introduction to the history of the Religious Society of Friends from the 1640s to the present. Particular attention will be given to Quakers as activists and reformers and the role of Earlham in Quaker history.
HIST 215: Holocaust: Historical, Religious & Ethical Issues
Credits 3This course is an inquiry into the victims, perpetrators, rescuers, and bystanders around the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews. Utilizing film, history, memoir and scholarship we examine aspects of the Holocaust from the perspective of ethics, theology and religious studies. Topics also include race/anti-racism, Zionism, interfaith reconciliation and American memory.
HIST 221: Peace & Reconciliation in East Asia
Credits 3A survey of peacebuilding and reconciliation in East Asia with global comparisons to conflict resolution studies and transitional justice. Students will seek a formula for sustainable peace for conflicts between Japan and China, Japan and Korea, and North and South Korea. Topics include imperialism and colonialism, war crimes and atrocities, territorial disputes, colonial and forced migration, and international relations.
HIST 223: From Anarchism to Xenophobia: Europe's Long 19th Century
Credits 3Explores the tensions between the forces of stability and the forces of upheaval from the French Revolution through the outbreak of World War I. Investigates the traditional, hierarchical nature of European society, then tracks how many Europeans sought to overturn the existing political, social, and gender order. Themes include revolution, nationalism, socialism, colonialism, white supremacy, antisemitism, feminism, and utopianism.
HIST 225: Consuming the U.S. City
Credits 3The introductory course on twentieth-century United States cities, their diverse residents, and their complicated relationships to a burgeoning culture of consumption. Topics include amusement parks, Hollywood films, coal electricity, and hip-hop music. Familiarizes students with the fundamentals of U.S. history, urban history, and cultural studies.
HIST 228: Modern East Asia
Credits 3A survey of East Asia since about 1800, with emphasis on Japan, China and Korea, and on East Asia as an international system. Special attention to the historical development of politics, economics, society and social institutions, literature, thought and international relations. Appropriate for first-years.
HIST 231: African History to 1880
Credits 3Introduces students to Africa's long and varied past. Surveys the development of the continent from the Nile Valley civilization to the loss of independence in the 1880s. Topics include Africa as the site of the earliest human development, ancient Egypt's relationship to the rest of Africa, the influence of Islam, the origins and nature of African states and empires, the organization and consequences of the Atlantic slave trade, the impact of European traders and missionaries, and the scramble for Africa in the 1880s. Prerequisite: An Earlham Seminar or consent of the instructor.
HIST 232: African History since 1880
Credits 3Surveys the African loss of sovereignty and the establishment of European colonial dominance in Africa. Focuses on economic, political and social distortions resulting from foreign domination. Considers the impact of African reactions to these developments. Special attention to the struggle for independence and the re-emergence of independent African states. Prerequisite: An Earlham Seminar or consent of the instructor.
HIST 233: Research Methods in History
Credits 3This course focuses on the process of developing, researching and writing a substantial historical research paper. It will be centered on a broad theme such as empire, power or technology. Prerequisite: Earlham Seminar or Sophomore Standing.
HIST 239: Care & Use of Material Culture
Credits 4While studying, interpreting, and displaying collections is the cornerstone of an institution's mission these essential acts put the resources at risk. Via hands on collections projects students learn the basics of collections care and management. Drawing from experiences in history, anthropology, archaeology, art, and human ecology, the second half of the course explores ways museums interpret human mediated objects. We practice techniques of material cultural analysis with a focus on creating object-centered teaching and learning environments in museums.
HIST 241: Ancient Mediterranean History
Credits 3In antiquity, the Mediterranean Sea united rather than divided cultures. This course surveys ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean basin, paying particular attention to the cultural interactions that shaped and transformed the earliest history of this region. The course focuses upon four key centers of civilization: the kingdoms of the Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Among the topics we will consider: Hittite and Mycenaean relationships during the Bronze Age, Greek colonization and interaction with Egyptians, Phoenicians, Italians, and Near Eastern cultures during the 7th and 6th centuries B.C., the Persian empire and its clash with the Greeks in the 5th century, and Roman expansionism during the Roman Republic. Reading includes primary texts in English.
HIST 246: European Women's & Gender History
Credits 4An examination of women's and gender history in the 19th and 20th centuries across a range of European countries with particular focus on politics, gender roles, sexuality, and culture. Allows students to question narrow (national, disciplinary, epistemological) boundaries, think critically about the gendered constructions of European society, and reflect upon the distinctive contributions of women's history.
HIST 253: Citizenship & Minority Issues in East Asia
Credits 3A survey of citizenship and minority issues in East Asia from the 19th century to the present within the global contexts of refuge and citizenship rights, legacy of colonialism, assimilation and cultural identity, ethnicity, and gender and disabilities. Emphasis on Japan, China, and North and South Korea.
HIST 290: Cuban History
Credits 3The historical experience of Cuba is unique in the western hemisphere, and indeed in the world, for only Cuba underwent transformation from being a colony of Spain to being a neocolonial U.S. protectorate, then an independent republic, and finally a socialist country, all within less than a century. This course will neither praise or condemn Cuban socialism or U.S. imperialism, but instead help students appreciate and understand the complexities of the historical dynamics that gave rise to the current contours of the Cuban Revolution.
HIST 306: History of Union Organizing
Credits 4This course prepares students for work as labor and community organizing through a combined practice of historical case studies and hands on fieldwork. Each course meeting examines a dispute over work, ranging from political mobilization among enslaved people in the 18th century to resistance movements among factory workers in the 19th century to contemporary activism among undocumented workers in the food service and technology industries. Students will apply this knowledge to their own grassroots labor organizing project that will be carried out throughout the semester. Every student will come out of the class with grassroots labor organizing skills and a thorough, interdisciplinary knowledge of the history of workplace mobilization.
HIST 307: Poxes & Plagues: History of Medicine & Epidemics
Credits 3This course examines the history of medicine alongside major epidemic diseases in human history. Starting with the Black Death and progressing to our present day pandemic we will examine medical history. This is done through a range of primary and secondary documents which are used to introduce or more closely examine major themes, time periods, and individuals.
HIST 315: Pompeii: Life & Death in a Roman Town
Credits 4On August 24, AD 79, Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying several Roman towns in the region of Campania, Italy, with a thick layer of volcanic ash and pumice. This event was a great tragedy for the people who lived in the area, causing vast destruction and considerable loss of life. For modern scholars, though, the event has proved an unusual blessing. Encapsulated within the volcanic debris is an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of the ancient inhabitants. In this course, we will explore the archaeological remains of Pompeii in order to learn about Roman life and culture in the early part of the Roman Empire.
HIST 320: East Asian Migration & Diasporas
Credits 3Introduces migration in East Asia within the global context of imperialism and colonialism, forced labor, refuge, and gender, from the 19th century to present. Topics include colonial migration, settler migration, forced migration, repatriation movements, and identity formation, domestically and internationally. Emphasis on Japan, China, and North and South Korea.
HIST 332: Pan Africanism
Credits 4In the context of the philosophical paradigm of Afrocentricity, this course traces and interrogates the trans-National solidarity activism of Africans and their descendants in the diaspora (North America, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Asia) towards their political, economic, social and psychological freedom and/or unity from the 19th century to present. Some of its major themes include: Black Nationalism, Black Power, Ethiopianism, Negritude, Rastafarianism and Black Consciousness. The primary instructional methodology is the interpretation and critical analysis of Pan-African literature and films.
HIST 339: History of the British Empire
Credits 3The British Empire was the most extensive the world has ever known. A little over a century ago, it embraced roughly a quarter of the world's population. It has thus been a major force in the creation of the modern world. The British model of imperialism was arguably the most influential of the past three centuries. This course is an introduction to its history.
HIST 343: Renaissance & Baroque Europe
Credits 4Did the years between 1300 and 1715 represent the "autumn of the Middle Ages" or did they usher in the modern age? How do we make sense of an era that saw both the brilliant discoveries of the Scientific Revolution and the seemingly irrational witch trials? The persistence of small peasant communities and the expansion of vast trade networks across the globe? Topics include the Renaissance, the Reformation, the "discovery of the New World," the Scientific Revolution, absolutism, and the escalation of global trade.
HIST 346: Europe in the 19th Century
Credits 4Explores the tensions between the forces of stability and the forces of upheaval from the French Revolution through the outbreak of World War I. Investigates the traditional, hierarchical nature of European society, then tracks how many Europeans sought to overturn the existing political, social, and gender order. Themes include revolution, nationalism, socialism, imperialism, feminism, anarchism, terrorism, artistic experimentation, and urban life.
HIST 349: World War II in China
Credits 3The Second World War loomed over the lives of Europeans long after the violence ceased. The course starts with the investigation of the history of postwar Europe amid the rubble of devastated landscapes, displaced populations and shattered psyches. The war left legacies of division that surfaced in fierce debates — and festered beneath deafening silences — about wartime deeds. These fractures spread and deepened with conflicts such as the Cold War and clashes over the future of European empires. Yet the war also prompted a search for new consensus, at the national level through the restructuring of postwar societies into more egalitarian states, and at the European level through the creation of new supranational organizations such as NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and the European Union. This course will examine the push-pull of conflict and consensus in the postwar period. Topics will include the politics of occupation, decolonization, the challenges of developing a European community, the welfare state, war in the Balkans, a rise of new activist movements (feminist, anti-nuclear, environmental, immigrants' rights), terrorism and political violence, multiculturalism, and resurgent nationalism.
HIST 350: Words & Works of Ancient Rome
Credits 3In the last decade or so, scholars of Classical Greece and Rome have begun to recognize the importance of integrating both literary and artistic evidence in order to gain a clearer picture of the ancient past. Drawing upon this understanding, this course focuses on the literary and artistic works from successive periods in the history of ancient Rome in an attempt to discover the character or spirit of each age. Our sources include a wide range of texts (epic and lyric poetry, drama, history) and artifacts (architecture, sculpture, painting, daily objects). As we examine these "words" and "works" we seek to uncover the attitudes, values, and ways of seeing and thinking about the world that make each period of Roman history unique. Knowledge of a classical language not required.
HIST 351: Workplace Justice: Readings in U.S. Labor History
Credits 3Economic inequality in the United States has soared to its highest level since the “Gilded Age” of the 1880s. This course explores the social movement that, for two centuries, has aimed to close the gap between rich and poor: the labor movement. The class has two intellectual goals. First, it examines how historical phenomena like industrialization, urbanization and racialization have shaped the work process. Second, it traces the theories and practices that working people have used to build a movement for economic justice. The class is interdisciplinary, drawing on scholarly works in History, Political Theory, Anthropology and Economics, as well as literature, film and popular culture.
HIST 352: Modern Jewish Hist & Holocaust
Credits 4This class examines the history of United States cities as both physical and ideological spaces. Two methods guide the course's approach to urban history. First, readings and discussions engage the ideas of the intellectuals who have guided urban policy over the last two centuries, examining how the work of Daniel Burnham, Robert Moses, Jane Jacobs and many others have influenced transportation systems, housing construction and neighborhood design. Second, the class explores the mobilization of ordinary people who live in cities, tracing how poor people, immigrants, people of color, single women, LGBT people and other local groups have shaped sanitation systems, public housing projects, freeway construction and urban redevelopment.
HIST 353: Latin America to 1825
Credits 3An examination of the origin and development of Latin American civilization, with particular attention to the European conquest and its effect on Native Americans: the origin and development of colonial institutions and conditions which led finally to the demise of the colonial system.
HIST 354: Latin America since 1825
Credits 3Emphasizes the 20th century, examining patterns of modernization, development and resistance. Sources include literature and works reflecting religion and popular culture.
HIST 357: Reading in African American Women History
Credits 4Explores select topics in the history of African American women from the era of antebellum slavery to the present, using such primary sources as slave narratives, autobiographies, documents and historical monographs. Topics include gender relations in the slave community, the gendered nature of slave resistance and rebellion, the politics of economic emancipation, women's activism in the struggle against racial violence and segregation and the role of women in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.
HIST 358: Tudor-Stuart England
Credits 4The history of England, 1460-1714. A topical inquiry into English society, politics and religion, including the English reformation, Tudor and Stuart kingship, the changing social order, civil war and political revolution, the emergence of Parliament, the constitutional monarchy, the religious settlement and the foundation of oligarchy.
HIST 367: Subjects of Desire
Credits 3Research Credit. A survey of U.S. social history from 1607 to the present, focusing on the historical contours of female/male sex roles. Topics include marriage, the family, child-rearing, work, education, sexuality, and gynecology and reproduction. Analyzes the effects of war, racism, slavery, immigration, industrialization and consumerism along with abolitionism, temperance, feminism, civil rights and other social protest movements.
HIST 368: African American History to Emancipation
Credits 4A survey of African Americans from the era of the Atlantic slave trade to the passage of the 13th amendment. Topics include the paradox of the co-existence of slavery and freedom, the nature of the slave community, the issue of slave resistance and the role of free African Americans in the abolition movement. First-hand accounts and secondary materials give students an appreciation of the African American historical experience in the United States.
HIST 369: African American History since Emancipation
Credits 4Surveys the history of African Americans from the era of Emancipation through the migrations that transformed blacks into a national, urban minority to the political, cultural and economic challenges in the era of conservatism. Topics include the struggle to define race and citizenship after the Civil War, the impact of migrations on black society and national politics, the consequences of the rise of a black industrial working class, campaigns for civil and human rights, and the emergence of the black power movement.
HIST 371: Herodotus & the Greek
Credits 3The defiant bravery of king Leonidas as he and his famous band of 300 Spartan soldiers held the pass at Thermopylae against the might of the Persian Empire is a familiar one, celebrated in popular memory as an act that transcends history to become legend. Did it really happen that way? Or is this image largely a product of the imagination of Greece's first historian, Herodotus, considered by many to be “the father of history”? This course explores the way that Herodotus immortalized the conflict between the Greeks and Persians during the 5th century B.C. Students trace the forces that shaped this famous clash of cultures, and look at Herodotus' account in conjunction with other archaeological and historical evidence in order to talk about how history is created.
HIST 372: Asian American History through the Media
Credits 3A survey of the history of Asians and Americans of Asian ancestry in the United States from the 18th century to the present, with emphasis on phases of immigrant history and interactions with recipient communities in the context of U.S. historical development and on issues of race, ethnicity, gender, naturalization and citizenship, and racial, ethnic and cultural identity. Prerequisite: An Earlham Seminar, an Interpretive Practices course, or consent of the instructor. Also listed as JPNS 372.
HIST 373: America’s Middle East
A survey of the history of American involvement in and attitudes toward the countries and peoples of the Middle East, with emphasis on diplomacy and policy-making, scholarship and the construction of knowledge, and representations of the Middle East in American popular culture.
HIST 374: America's Wars in Asia
Credits 3A study of Japanese historical and institutional development in the early modern and modern periods, from the 15th century to the present. Topics include the Tokugawa period; Meiji Restoration and modernization; periods of colonialism, imperialism and militarism; postwar recovery and the economic miracle; and the challenges of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Explores economic, political, social, intellectual and international perspectives. Attention to prominent theories of development as applied to Japan.
HIST 378: History of South Africa
Credits 4Surveys the history of southern African society from the earliest times to the post apartheid era. Topics include the nature of early indigenous African societies, the entrenchment of European domination, the subjugation of African chiefdoms, the role of international capital in transforming the economy, African resistance to segregation and apartheid, and dismantling apartheid.
HIST 379: America at Mid-Passage the Civil War
Credits 4Focuses on 19th century issues leading to the Civil War and the multilayered legacy of the war, with particular attention to race and reunification. Examines the war's transformation of politics and the economy and the efforts of various groups to resist, control or reform a society in the throes of rapid change. Prerequisite: An Earlham Seminar or consent of the instructor.
HIST 382: History of Science, Medicine, and Technology in East Asia
This course explores the history of science, technology, modernity, and colonialism in East Asia from the premodern era to the Cold War. This course examines how science, technology, and medicine played an important role in the historical and social transformations in Japan, China, Taiwan, and Korea. Students will explore the historical and social processes in which scientific knowledge and technological artifacts were indispensable to the project of colonialism and in turn, how their infusion with new elements of colonialism led to the growth and proliferation of such knowledge and artifacts.
HIST 410: Philosophy of History
Credits 4Examines the assumptions, conventions and foundations of historical argument, the constitution and character of historical evidence and the nature and scope of philosophical speculation about what history is and about the epistemological and theoretical constraints governing the work of historians. Readings include both primary and secondary materials in history, historiography, and the philosophy and theory of history.
HIST 440: Research Seminar: Cooperation
Credits 3An advanced research seminar on a topic related to the field of European History. Specific topic is selected each semester. Focuses on the process of developing, researching and writing a 25-page historical research paper. Open to any interested student in any discipline.
HIST 482: American Historiography
Credits 4An introduction to the main currents of American historical thought and writing. An opportunity to examine critically the ways leading American historians have interpreted significant problems in national development through vigorous inquiry into principles of selection and causation, use of evidence and fundamental ideas.
HIST 484: Faculty/Student Collaborative Research
Credits 1 3Collaborative research funded by Faculty/Student Research Fund.
HIST 488: Senior Seminar
Credits 4Required of all History majors. Includes common readings, student reports on selected works, and revision and presentation of a major paper from a previous History course.