Spring 2021 Graduate Courses


(Tentative schedule; subject to change)

Course No. & Name Professor/Lecturer Day/Time Course Description
201D – Truth and Truthfulness in Nietzsche, Foucault and Williams Peter Stacey R 3:00P-5:50P This seminar class offers graduates a chance to examine the concepts of truth and truthfulness in the work of three modern philosophers: Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault and Bernard Williams. These thinkers are often grouped together as proponents of a ‘genealogical’ approach to philosophical thinking and historical writing, and for good reason: in 1971, Foucault published an essay on the method at work in Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality of 1887, and subsequently adopted the term ‘genealogy’ to describe some of his own texts; while Bernard Williams’ last great work, Truth and Truthfulness (2002), is dedicated to an overtly neo-Nietzschean exploration of what a genealogical narrative involves, and to exemplifying its power and utility to philosophical inquiry by applying some of Nietzsche’s own insights – and some of Foucault’s, too – to a sustained re-articulation of the idea of truth-telling. One aim of this course is to draw some attention to the historical character of these three thinkers’ attempts to explicate the meaning of truth and truthfulness, and to consider some of the implications of their claims for the historical discipline; but the seminar will be fundamentally interdisciplinary in its approach to the texts, and graduates from all departments are welcome. All the readings will be in English.
201E.1 – Readings in Modern Cultural History, Europe and the World in the Fin-de-Siecle Debora Silverman R 2:00P-4:50P Readings in 19th Century Cultural and Intellectual History: topics include the emergence of mass politics; the challenges of “the irrational”; urbanism; imperialism; the development of the avant-garde and modernism; colonial collections, museums, and the history of violence. Varying methods of cultural analysis and interdisciplinary approaches will be explored; Open with instructor consent to students from any discipline.
201E.2 – Capitalism and Empire: Concepts and New Historiographies Minayo Nasiali R 1:00P-3:50P This course will examine the intersections of Modern European imperialism and global capitalism. We will interrogate key conceptual frameworks about the political economy of empire and race and recent scholarship on colonial and postcolonial history.
C201H/C191D.2 – Topics in History: U.S. Valerie Matsumoto R 1:00P-3:50P Asian American Culture, Cuisine, and Economy, a joint graduate/senior seminar.
201O – Things and Images Soraya de Chadarevian T 3:00P-6:00P Course description: For the most part, historians spend their time in archives and work with written sources. What changes when material artifacts (instruments, models, books, collections, buildings) and visual materials form the sources and objects of historical work? Where do we find such materials? Which methodological and historical questions does the work with objects and images open up and how can we go about studying them? Building on recent scholarship that engages with such questions and provides historical examples, students will develop their own projects around the production, circulation and uses of things and images and their roles in knowledge making. This is also an opportunity for advanced graduate students to develop and workshop a dissertation chapter or another piece of writing. Graduate students from all disciplines are welcome.
201Q – Racism, Capitalism and Settler-Colonialism in the Making of the Modern World Katsuya Hirano F 3:00P-5:50P Course Description: The course serves as a forum where we explore the intersection of racism, capitalism and settler colonialism in the making of the modern world. We will read some theories and scholarly monographs on Australia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, and the US.

Requirement: Students will write a mid-term report (1 page explanation about their final paper) and a 15 pg. final paper. Class consists of a brief presentation and extensive discussion based on questions prepared by the students.
246C – Introduction to U.S. History: 20th Century Robin D. G. Kelley R 12:00P-2:50P Readings in 20th and 21st century U.S. History; introduces key historiographical debates, prepares students for qualifying examinations.
M256C – Political Economy of Race Peter James Hudson T 11:00A-1:50P Examination of historiography of history of capitalism and history of African diaspora, especially in their overlapping concerns with organization of race and racial states in contemporary world, development of modern imperialism–and emergence of global black resistance to both. Themes and topics considered may include capitalism and question of slavery; law, regulations, and legal pluralism in organization of markets and nations; uneven development and nature of black sovereignty; history of regimes of gender and sexuality in social and capital reproduction; modalities of capital accumulation and production of space; racial violence and territorial expansion; emancipation and growth of empire; history of finance capital and its discourses of debt; capitalism and history of anti-blackness; racism, neoliberalism, and governmentality; and emergence and content of black radical tradition and its critiques of racial capitalism.
282B – Gender & Sexuality in Qing and Modern China Andrea Goldman T 1:00P-3:50P This is the second quarter of a two-quarter research and reading seminar in Chinese language source materials related to gender and sexuality in Qing and Modern China. During this second quarter, students will develop a research paper based on their chosen set of primary documents. Knowledge of modern and classical is Chinese required for this course.