Winter 2026 Graduate Courses


(Tentative schedule; subject to change)

Course No. & Name Professor/Lecturer Day/Time Course Description
HIST 200H.U.S.: Race and Ethnicity in the Americas Prof. V. Tejada Mon 2-4:50 Introduction to history and historiography of race in the Americas, including Canada and Latin America. How did the development of racial thinking depend on place and societal context? Consideration of both theory and method. Discussion of various approaches to the history of race, including readings in history and ethnic studies. Weekly themes include Indigeneity, whiteness, science, racial capitalism, slavery, ethnogenesis, and the law. Also open to students in other departments with interest in the history or study of race.
HIST 200J. Advanced Historiography: Near East: Historiography of Modern Middle East II Prof. J. Gelvin Wed 2-4:50 Examination of approaches to writing history of Middle East region. Study also includes critical topics such as environmental history, urban history, colonial encounter, and Ottoman legacy. Part two of two-part study. Study based on topics introduced in part one, but previous enrollment in part one not required. Completion of both parts fulfills Middle East field historiography requirement.
HIST C200K. Topics in Historiography: India: Long History of Capitalism in South Asia Prof. S. Subrahmanyam Wed 2-4:50 The economy and society of the contemporary world is dominated by capitalism. How did this come to be, and how did South Asia participate in this process? This course sets out to expose students to a spectrum of materials and will place the South Asian case within a global and multi-disciplinary context. The purpose is to examine the long history of first commercial and then industrial capitalism, in relation to debates not only among historians, but sociologists, political theorists, and economists. It was long believed that areas like South Asia had been static agrarian-based societies over the centuries. This seminar sets out to re-examine this viewpoint, beginning with classic Marxist and Weberian formulations, and then moving beyond them. In terms of chronology, we will begin in medieval times, and range across the early modern and colonial periods, to conclude with a discussion of the contemporary period. The course requires two short papers (of around 10 pages) and class participation in discussion. The graduate version (200K) will have adjusted requirements.
HIST C200M. Topics in Historiography: Japan: Democracy and Antidemocracy in Postwar Japan Prof. W. Marotti Mon 4-6:50 Thematic explorations of popular sovereignty, sacrifice, nation and state, and the writing of history. Theory and comparability considered in relation to themes. Students should have familiarity with postwar Japanese history. Graduate students can opt for a two-quarter longer paper.
HIST 201E. Topics in History: Modern Europe: Researching History in Museums Prof. G. Penny Thurs 2-4:50 This course is meant to encourage students to think about museums as research institutions, to engage objects as sources for historical research, and to consider all the varied agents that contribute to the production of knowledge in museums today.  The quarter will begin with four weeks of theoretical readings focused on doing history in a variety of museums.  Those will be followed by a succession of meetings with curators and other researchers at LACMA, the Getty, the Hammer, the Fowler, and the Wende museums.  The goal of these excursions is to see/hear/learn how historical knowledge is being produced every day in these public institutions and to think about the relationship between our theoretical readings on the topic and people’s actions and experiences in these five museums.  While we do that, we also will be learning from our interlocutors about how to think about and with the ‘things’ in their institutions.  Attendance is required.  Assignments include presentations and a final paper.
HIST 200I. Topics in History: Latin America: Latin American Cultural History Prof. R. Derby Tues 1-3:50 Cultural history developed out of a dialogue between historians and anthropologists about how to interpret popular culture as well as how to read cultural forms within their historical context. Drawing upon case studies from the US, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, colonial Saint Domingue and Colombia, this course examines recent scholarly approaches to Latin American popular culture and everyday life, including novel topics such as the role of women in the development of Caribbean tourism, culinary nationalism, visual and material culture and environmental history, as well as urban media such as the genre of melodrama within political discourse, film and the lottery from the colonial period to the present. Our goal is to develop a set of critical analytical tools for popular cultural analysis as well as trace the history of Latin American popular cultural forms and their relation to the political field over time.
HIST 200I. Topics in History: Latin America: Research on  Brazil and Latin America Prof. W. Summerhill Mon 11-1:50 Designed for PhD students doing research on Brazil or Latin America, and for students conducting master’s degree research in Latin American studies.
HIST C201K. Topics in History: India: Religion, State and Dissent in Modern India Prof. V. Lal Mon 3-5:50 This seminar is focused on the status of dissent and the role of religion in modern India. We will consider recent developments such as the ban in several states on religious conversion, the controversy around the status of the hijab in the Indian state of Karnataka, and the Shaheen Bagh movement, an extraordinary exercise in nonviolent dissent spearheaded by Muslim women in Delhi. The course will revolve primarily though not exclusively around the public place of religion in modern India and consider both dissenting opinions about the place of religion as well as manifestations of dissent around the question of religion; we will also entertain different views about the “management” of religion in the public sphere.  Readings will be drawn from a wide variety of scholarly works, public commentaries, official documents, committee reports, and so on.
HIST C201N. Topics in History: Africa: Africa and the Indian Ocean Prof. H. Wint Thurs 2-4:50 Fernand Braudel’s claim that the Mediterranean had “no unity but that created by the movement of men, the relationships they imply, and the routes they follow” has often been applied to the Indian Ocean. Yet as useful as thalassological frameworks have been for interrogating the boundaries of national (and nationalist) histories and of Area Studies, Braudel’s claim may have been taken a little too literally; the Indian Ocean has most often been written as a historical space formed by the movement of elite men trading commodities and commodified people. Engaging feminist methodologies and theories of racial capitalism and exploring a wide range of primary sources, this course critically examines both the Indian Ocean as a historical space and oceanic regions as conceptual frameworks.
HIST 201O. Topics in History: Science/ Technology: Things and Images Prof. S.De Chadarevian Tues 4-6:50 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, related to the course topic. Graduate students from all disciplines are welcome.
HIST C201P.Topics in History: History of Religions: Faith, Justice and Purpose of Life in Indo-Muslim Tradition Prof. N. Green Wed 2-4:50 South Asia (which includes what is today India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh) is home to  the largest Muslim population in the world. Despite being far less familiar than the Middle East, South Asia has been home to Muslims since the early centuries of Islamic history. From the medieval period onwards, the region developed a rich written tradition in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu addressing the major themes of human existence, whether social or spiritual, moral or legal. Ranging from the ‘recorded conversations’ of Sufi mystics to histories of Afghan migrants, from critiques and celebrations of urban life to passionate poems on human and divine love, these writings help us understand ‘from the inside’ the core beliefs and ethical values that guided Muslims in the Indian subcontinent from the twelfth to the early twentieth century.
HIST C201Q. Topics in History: Theory of History: Racism, Capitalism and Settler-Colonialism in Making of Modern World Prof. K. Hirano Fri 1-3:50 This course serves as a forum in which we explore the intersection of settler colonialism, capitalism, racism, and sovereignty in the formation of modern worlds. Our ultimate goal is to conceive of a new kind of global history that overcomes the liberal/Hegelian paradigm of articulating the past. We also aim to suggest a way of reconsidering the politics of emancipation and reconciliation.
HIST M210. Topics in Ancient Iranian History Prof. L. Fabian Fri 2-4:50 (Same as Ancient Near East M208 and Iranian M210.) Seminar, three hours. Varying topics on Elamite, Achaemenid, Arsacid, and Sasanian history. May be repeated for credit. S/U or letter grading.
HIST 213B. History of Women, Men, Sexuality Prof. K. Marino Tues 11-1:50 Seminar, three hours. Enforced requisite: course 213A. Research, analysis, drafting, and rewriting of student final papers. S/U or letter grading.
HIST 263A. History of American West: Seminar 1 Prof. B. Madley Weds 2-4:50 Seminar, three hours. Course 263A is requisite to 263B. In Progress grading (credit to be given only on completion of course 263B).
HIST 282A. Seminar: Chinese History: Seminar 1 Prof. A. Goldman Fri 2-4:50 Seminar, three hours. Course 282A is requisite to 282B. In Progress grading (credit to be given only on completion of course 282B).