History courses

HIST 515 Historiography and Methods
Introduction to perspectives taken by historians in the discipline; research methods.

HIST 523 Latin America
Comparative analysis of structural continuities and revolutions in Latin America since the pre-Columbian era. Pre-contact Indian religion and economics, colonizing by cross and sword, comparative ethnohistory of family and history, patterns of land use, slavery and serfdom, Enlightenment revolutions after 1810, indigenous radicalism after 1870, World War and Cold War, questions of Third World identity.

HIST 529 Africa
African history from the peopling of the continent to the present. Emphasis on socioeconomic and cultural change within the context of regional structure, intellectual history, and world politics.

HIST 530 Colonial and Revolutionary America
Events and ideas involved in the long colonial era, especially in Virginia, and the seminal intellectual and cultural conceptions of the American Revolution.

HIST 531 Middle Period America
Events and ideas involved in the critical formative period of nation-building in the early and middle nineteenth century, with special emphasis on cultural patterns in religion and ideology, economic aspects of developing trade, commerce and slavery, and emerging regional tensions between North and South.

HIST 534 Civil War and Reconstruction
Origins and consequences of the American Civil War. Regionalism, sectionalism, and nationalism; economic interdependencies and conflicts; abolitionist saints and pro-slavery divines, and other cultural counterpoints; modern war and ancient traditions; battlefield tactics and broader social strategies; compromise and the deferred commitments to equality and social justice during the post-bellum Reconstruction period.

HIST 535 Industrialization and Economic Development
Industrialization and rise of managerial bourgeoisie, petite bourgeoisie, proletariat, and laboring class from the early post-bellum era to the present; organizational capitalism and imperialism, radical protests, the “take-off” phase of industrial development and high mass consumption in the post-industrial era.

HIST 536 World Wars
The two World Wars in imperialist context and with cross-cultural perspective. Economic causes and consequences, and ideological currents. Battlefield tactics and broader social strategies.

HIST 537 Modern American Studies
An American Studies approach to cultural development and ideological growth in modern American society, with special emphasis on regional patterns.

HIST 538 Pragmatism and Modern American Ideas
Philosophical and intellectual currents in the U. S. states since 1911, with special emphasis on pragmatic ideas and reformism in late liberal rationalism.

HIST 550 European Ideas
Foundational ideas from Europe that are involved in American historical development.

HIST 600 Seminar
Capstone course involving original research and investigation of important secondary sources, leading to a major research paper concerning developments in American history, with emphasis on educational problems and classroom challenges.