Fall 2024 Graduate Courses

(Tentative schedule; subject to change)

Course No. & Name	Professor/Lecturer	Day/Time	Course Description
HIST 200C: Advanced Historiography: Medieval: Premodern Ecologies	Prof. J. Kreiner	M, 3pm-5:50pm	Survey of methods and debates for reconstructing premodern ecological systems (climate, water, soil and topography, and biotic communities) while highlighting human engagement in those ecologies. Shared readings mostly zero in on Middle East, Mediterranean, and Europe in antiquity and Middle Ages (with some theoretical interventions from science and technology studies that lean toward modernity). Students also have opportunity to range further depending on their expertise and interest. Students gain familiarity with sources and analytical challenges in technical literature; while refining their sense of premodern perspectives on lived environments, including issues that were uncertain or debated. Study shifts between vantages of longue durée, global history, and microhistory, with students coming to appreciate productive tension between these approaches.
HIST C200F: Topics in Historiography: World History: Getting Rich in Modern Africa and South Asia	Prof. H. Wint (schedule lists as H. Frederick)	Thrs, 2pm-4:50pm	Financial crisis of 2008 renewed scholarly and popular interest in structures, ideologies, histories, and practices that constitute phenomenon of global capitalism. Yet these new histories of capitalism often neglect perspectives of those living in and writing about Global South. Scholars of Africa and South Asia, however, have long been concerned with economic transformations of modern and early modern eras. Historians, anthropologists, and political activists emphasize innovative ways that people living on African continent and subcontinent get rich through their participation in and resistance to global markets. Everyday actions that shape life of global capital are starting point for examination of history and historiography of wealth, capital, and globalization. Rather than testing applicability of Western concepts, study explores analytical frameworks that emerge from historical, ethnographic, and comparative study of African and South Asian societies.
HIST 200L: Advanced Historiography: China: Vernacular Chinese Religion Readings	Prof. R. Von Glahn	M, 2pm-4:50pm	Class devoted to problems and methods of studying Chinese religion in late imperial times (Song to Qing dynasties, circa 1000-1800) through examination of primary genres of vernacular research materials. Vernacular historical documents are those other than scriptural and related writings derived from organized religious movements such as Buddhism and Daoism, though there will be occasion to make comparisons between vernacular and clerical sources. Reading assignments include primary sources in wide range of genres including popular hagiographies, folklore anthologies, novels, literary miscellanies, temple inscriptions, local gazetteers, sutra recitation texts, and precious scroll didactic writings. Students read selection of items from weekly reading list depending on their interests. Secondary materials are suggested for further reading. Designed for students with knowledge of classical Chinese.
HIST 200R: Advanced Historiography: Jewish History: Narratives, Negotiation and Mediation in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Past Lessons and Future Opportunities	Prof. D.N. Myers	T, 9am-11:50am	Examination of how history of Israel and Palestine has been narrated, with particular emphasis on dual lenses through which Israelis and Palestinians have observed their relationship and resulting conflict. Analysis of largely unsuccessful efforts to achieve negotiated solution to this conflict; understanding causes of these repeated failures; and investigation of new ways of thinking about this conflict and its future, based on new approaches that have been advanced in recent years. Students examine their own ideas with experts on this topic, and with people who have participated in negotiations in various rounds of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
HIST 201B: Topics in History: Ancient Rome: Roman Republican Religion	Prof. G. Woolf	Thrs, 1pm-3:50pm	Study looks at religious life of Rome and Roman Italy in Republican period, with special focus on materiality and ritual. Conventional starting point has been model of public cults and institutions largely reconstructed from antiquarian texts and dominated by political model of ancient religion. Recent studies, by contrast, draw on materiality, lived ancient religion, actor-network theory, and cognitive studies; and situate ancient texts as responses to practice, rather than as disinterested and authoritative accounts of it. Consideration of votives, images, and other artifacts alongside temples, inscriptions, and texts. Students write research paper and present critical appraisal of one methodological position represented by recent publications. Preliminary reading is first three chapters of Religions of Rome by Beard, North, and Price.
HIST 201E: Topics in History: Modern Europe: Europe: A History of the Present	Prof. S. Ghervas	W, 2pm-4:50pm	Study takes reverse approach to history by focusing on current issues in Europe and tracing their origins. The past is not over but is omnipresent. And history is not dead: it is a living, ongoing investigation. War, pandemics, populism, and climate change all have histories. Understanding their origins is crucial in today’s complex world. Interactive sessions model debate and disagreement, helping students gain context for contemporary issues and apply historical thinking in making sense of past, present, and future of Europe. Because study touches on ideas in many disciplines beyond history–including politics, law, and economics–I welcome a range of students who can bring unique perspectives and expertise to class discussion.
HIST 201J: Topics in History: Near East: Law and Society in Middle East	Prof. C. Koh	M, 12pm-2:50pm	Introduction to sources used by historians to reconstruct history of Ottoman empire. For nearly 600 years, sprawling empire connected Europe, Asia, and Africa. Today, it has fractured into more than 35 nation-states, each with its own fraught relationship with Ottoman past. Examination of sharia court records, imperial decrees, travelogs, captivity narratives, advice literature, jokes, and more (all available in English translation). Students also read historiographical commentary, and evaluate how professional historians have used these sources. Students work on short research paper with instructor guidance.
HIST C201M: Research in Japanese History	Prof. K. Hirano	W, 3pm-5:50pm	Each student writes research paper about any topic in Japanese history. Graduate students may use topic to write prospectus draft or to explore topics for dissertation thesis. Students share their writings, discuss their progress, and receive instructor feedback.
*HIST 204A: Departmental Seminar: Approaches, Methods, Debates, Practices (*required for first year students)	Prof. K. Terraciano	T, 2pm-4:50pm	Required of all first-year departmental graduate students. Introduction to range of important methodological approaches and theoretical debates about writing of history that are influential across fields, geographical contexts, and temporal periods to stimulate conversation and connection across fields, inviting students to think collectively and expansively about study and praxis of history. Introduction to sampling of scholarship produced by department faculty members with whom students may work.
HIST 246A: Introduction to U.S. History: Colonial Period	Prof. C. Pestana	M, 2pm-4:50pm	Graduate survey of significant literature dealing with U.S. history from the Colonial period to the present. Each course may be taken independently for credit.