Columbia University Site Home
DEPARTMENTFACULTYGRADUATEUNDERGRADUATECOURSESCALENDARRESOURCES

Undergraduate
Basic Information
About the Program
Advising
Curriculum
FAQ
Seminars
Thesis
Prizes and Honors
Undergraduate Handbook
History Council
News & Announcements
Events


Seminars
Seminar Application Process
Online Seminar Application
Students Admitted and Waitlisted
Spring 2010 Seminar Descriptions
Spring 2010 Seminar Descriptions

HIST W4020--The Greek Invention of History
Instructor:
Richard Billows
Day/Time:
R 2:10-4
Group(s):

The classical Greeks invented the discipline of rational, analytical history writing. This seminar will study the foundational histories of Herodotos and Thucydides, of Xenophon and Polybios, trying to place these works in their cultural and intellectual contexts.

----

HIST W4051-Madness in Greek and Roman Medicine and Literature
Instructor:
Glenda MacDonald
Day/Time:
W 11-12:50
Group(s):
A

This course will investigate concepts of madness and mental illness in the Ancient Greek and Roman World.  It will focus on descriptions of madness and mad people, as recorded in a variety of literary, historical, and medical sources.  The goal is not to trace the chronological development of these ideas, but rather to acquire an understanding of some of the more prominent and influential concepts.  The class will begin with an examination of Greek and Roman concepts of the ‘mind', as recorded in both literary and medical sources.     Depictions of mad people - both real and fictional - will be examined: source material will include 5th century Greek Tragedy, as well as a variety of historical texts.  Particular attention will also be given to predominant medical concepts of madness, as found in the Hippocratic Corpus and in the works of medical authors such as Aretaeus, Galen, Caelius Aurelianus, and Celsus.  The main focus of this examination will be on concepts of mania, melancholy, and phrenitis, diseases which were most commonly believed to produce madness.

----

HIST W4127-Montaigne and Skepticism
Instructor:
Mark Lilla
Day/Time:
F 11-12:50
Group(s):
A

What makes modern thought modern? There is a history to this question.   The conventional version centers on an alleged break between modern philosophical and scientific "rationalism," on the one hand, and pre-modern religious "dogma," on the other.  In this seminar we will explore an alternative view of our intellectual history, which sees modern skepticism as a fresh alternative to both rationalism and dogmatism, whether in their ancient or modern versions.   Rather than survey a range of modern skeptics we will focus on the pivotal figure in this historical narrative, Montaigne, and those of his Essays dealing with the nature, limits, and uses of knowledge.  (This seminar was preceded by one on "Montaigne and the Self" this fall, but that course is a not a prerequisite for this one.)

----

HIST W4130-Early Modern Globalization: The North Atlantic World and the Dutch Connection
Instructors:
Karel Davids and Marjolein ‘t Hart
Day/Time:
W 11-12:50
Group(s):
A

This course examines the extent and nature of early modern globalization, in particular the transatlantic exchanges between Europe and North America between the late fifteenth and late eighteenth centuries. The focus on the European side will be on England, France and the Netherlands.  After an introduction on the current historical debate on early modern globalization and Atlantic history, the course first gives a survey of the expansion of trade networks and the growth of slavery and the slave trade. The next meetings deal with various constituent forces of globalization on the European side, notably the rise of fiscal-military states and the role of religion in power relations, and with various aspects of exchange in the North Atlantic World, namely the circulation of knowledge and environmental consequences of the ‘biological expansion of Europe'. Finally, we will examine the Atlantic connection in European culture, European economies and political revolutions and discuss its relevance for the Great Divergence between the ‘West' and the ‘Rest'.

----

HIST W4302-From War to Peace: Britain and France in the 1940s
Instructor:
Isser Woloch
Day/Time: T 11-12:50
Group(s):
B

This seminar considers the passage from a devastating war, experienced very differently in Britain and France, to the prospect of postwar transformation in both countries. For Britain topics will include the
home front during the war; the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1945; socialist innovations including the National Health Service. For France topics will include the fall of France, collaboration and resistance movements; liberation under de Gaulle's leadership; the postwar Fourth Republic and its problems.

----

HIST W4322-German History, 1740-1914
Instructor:
Emma Winter
Day/Time:
T 2:10-4
Group(s):
B

The history of the political, cultural, intellectual, social and economic struggle for mastery in Germany from Frederick the Great to the outbreak of the First World War.  Subjects covered will include: the Holy Roman Empire; Enlightened Absolutism; Cultural Pluralism and the Third Germany; The French Revolution and Napoleon in Germany; Romanticism and the emergence of Nationalism; The German Confederation; Vormärz Politics and Culture; Art and Religion; The 1848 Revolutions; The processes of State building; The Austro-Prussian Wars; Bismarck and the Unification of the Second Empire; Richard Wagner and German Music; Wilhelmine Politics and Culture; The Origins of the First World War.

----

HIST BC4327-Consumer Culture in Modern Europe
Instructor:
Lisa Tiersten
Day/Time:
W 9-10:50
Group(s):
B

This seminar explores the development of consumer capitalism in modern Europe from the eighteenth century through the late twentieth century, primarily in Britain and France. Topics to be covered include the rise of a market economy and culture, urbanization and the commercial metropolis, changing attitudes toward shopping and spending, the construction of modern gender and class identities through consumption, credit and social trust, and the relationship between consumption and democratic citizenship. Historical studies will be complemented with readings from social theory, cultural studies, and fiction.

----

HIST W4345-John Stuart Mill: Life, Work, Legacies
Instructor:
Susan Pedersen
Day/Time:
T 9-10:50
Group(s):
B

This course is designed for undergraduates who, having had some introduction to Mill in CC or elsewhere, would like to spend a semester exploring his life, thought, and impact.  This task is particularly interesting today, for Mill, revered by progressives in his own time for his support for intellectual liberties, a wider democratic franchise, and women's suffrage, and for his fierce criticism of military repression in Jamaica, is now often seen as one of the architects of Victorian imperialism.  After spending two weeks learning about Mill's life, we will turn to Mill's thought, examining his writings in the context of political debates at the time and exploring his involvement in controversies over economic policy, the nature of the Victorian state, political reform and imperial governance.  Together, we will try to understand not only what Mill thought and did, but why he has acted as a lightning-rod for political controversy in his time and in our own.

----

HIST BC4368-History of the Senses in England and France
Instructor:
Deborah Valenze
Day/Time:
R 9-10:50
Group(s):
B

Examination of European understandings of human senses through the production and reception of art, literature, music, food, and sensual enjoyments in Britain and France. Readings include changing theories concerning the five senses; efforts to master the passions; the rise of sensibility and feeling for others; concerts and the patronage of art; the professionalization of the senses.

----

 

HIST W4376-History of Commercial Revolutions: From the China Shop in Europe to Wal-Mart in China
Instructor:
Victoria De Grazia
Day/Time:
T 4:10-6
Group(s):
B, C, D

This seminar examines commercial revolutions in historical perspective. It starts with the huge growth of Wal-Mart in the U.S. since the 1970s  and its spread to China over the last decade,  and it goes back to the 17th Century with the arrival of Asian, specially Chinese, goods in Western Europe, By commercial revolutions we mean big upheavals in long-distance market relations and big changes in local consumer outlooks and standards of living upon  by the arrival of new goods and new kinds of distribution. These ruptures have always been a big, if not fully understood, element of globalization and asymmetrical and imperial  relations. Students, in addition to reading some fascinating recent historical studies, (N. Lichtenstein, Wal-Mart World, M. Berg, Luxury and Pleasure in Eighteenth-Century Britain, S. Mintz, Sugar and Power,G. Hamilton, Commerce and Capitalism in Chinese Societies) will become familiar with Marxist, classical liberal and other explanations of these changes. Along with weekly discussion, students will write a research paper and present it at a mini-conference organized by the students at the end of the term.  

----

HIST W4404-Native American History
Instructor:
Evan Haefeli
Day/Time:
T 11-12:50
Group(s):
A, D

This course introduces students to the forces that transformed the aboriginal inhabitants of the Americas into "Indians."  The class takes a very broad approach, moving chronologically and thematically from the dawn of time to the present.  The course aims to expose students to the diversity of the Native American experience by including all the inhabitants of the Americas, from Greenland to Tierra del Fuego, within its purview.

----

HIST BC4411-Race and the Making of the United States
Instructor:
Elizabeth Esch
Day/Time:
W 2:10-4
Group(s):
D

This seminar will consider what role race and racism plays in U.S. culture, politics, economics and foreign policy. Beginning with the origins of racial slavery, we will examine how, when and whether the subsequent development of racial systems - and challenges to them - shaped historical developments in the United States. African American history will be at the core of our discussion, though we will examine works that consider Latino, Asian and American Indian history as well. Through a survey of theories about "race relations" and discussions about affirmative action, immigration, empire and rights, this seminar will ponder the question of what a "colorblind" society might mean and how it could come about.

----

AMHS W4435-American Culture and Politics in the 1930s
Instructor:
Casey Blake
Day/Time:
T 11-12:50
Group(s):
D

A seminar on cultural and political responses to the Great Depression in the United States. Students will read works by historians of the period, as well as examine novels, photographs, films, music, advertisements, and other works of the period. Topics to be considered include: the achievements and limitations of the New Deal; the leftward shift of artists and intellectuals; documentary, social-realist literature, folk music, public art, and theater; the politics of federal arts programs; and the left-liberal "little magazines" of the period.

----

HIST W4458-Public History in America
Instructor:
Eric Wakin
Day/Time:
R 11-12:50
Group(s):
D

In this seminar we will explore some of the ways historical subjects can be, and have been, engaged outside of the traditional channels of scholarship. Among the many forms in which history and the historical memory are presented, we will examine exhibits, film and television productions, websites, reenactments, memorials and monuments, historical sites, the spoken word, and institutions. The class will include visits to public history sites as well as guest speakers and will include critical readings in history and other fields.

----

HIST W4518-Slavery and Emancipation in the United States
Instructor:
Eric Foner
Day/Time:
T 4:10-6
Group(s):
D

This seminar will consist of weekly readings and discussion of works dealing with the history of slavery in the United States, the anti-slavery movement, the coming of emancipation during the Civil War, and how Americans tried to deal with the consequences of emancipation.  There will also be one 20-page paper for the semester.

----

HIST W4535-20th Century New York City History
Instructor:
Kenneth Jackson
Day/Time:
W 4:10-6
Group(s):
D

This course explores critical areas of New York's economic development in the 20th century, with a view to understanding the rise, fall and resurgence of this world capital. Discussions also focus on the social and political significance of these shifts. Assignments include primary sources, secondary readings, film viewings, trips, and archival research. Students use original sources as part of their investigation of New York City industries for a 20-page research paper. An annotated bibliography is also required. Students are asked to give a weekly update on research progress, and share information regarding useful archives and websites.

----

HIST BC4543-Higher Learning in America
Instructor:
Robert McCaughey
Day/Time:
T 4:10-6
Group(s):
D

An examination of the history of American colleges and universities from the colonies to the present; special emphasis on the evolving relationship between academic institutions and the political and social orders.

----

HIST W4577-A "Civilization and Its Discontents," U.S. Cultural History, 1890-1945
Instructor:
Hilary Hallett
Day/Time:
R 4:10-6
Group(s):
D

This class begins during the fabled "Gilded Age," when the nation's capitalist expansion created the world's largest economy but splintered Americans' ideals.  From the fin-de-siècle through the cataclysms of World War II, we will explore how Americans defined, contested, and performed different meanings of American civilization through social reform movements, artistic expressions, and the everyday habits and customs of individuals and groups. The class will pay particular attention to how gender, race, and location--regional, international, and along the class ladder--shaped perspectives about what constituted American civilization and the national discourse about what it should become.

----

HIST W4659-Crime in Latin America
Instructor:
Pablo Piccato
Day/Time: M 11-12:50
Group(s):
D

This seminar will focus on studies that take a historical look at crime in the Latin American context and will bring the discussion to the present. Transnational connections and comparisons will be encouraged, particularly as we explore the history and contemporary phenomenon of drug trafficking, incorporating the United States as a factor and a scene for Latin American crime. Readings, discussions and reports will try to identify commonalities across Latin American and dig deeper on some specific places and moments. In order to do this, we will devote part of the semester to the analysis of primary sources, and will require a research component in the final paper.

----

HIST W4803-Subaltern Studies and Beyond
Instructor:
Janaki Bakhle
Day/Time:
T 2:10-4
Group(s):
A, C

This is an advanced undergraduate seminar course that will retrace the history of the making of the Subaltern Studies problematic, considered a major intervention in both Indian nationalist history and the wider discipline of history itself, with a focus on the relationship between method, archives, and the craft of history writing.

----

HIST W4807-Revolutionary Nationalism in India and Ireland: Is Fundamentalism Inevitable?
Instructor:
Janaki Bakhle
Day/Time: M 2:10-4
Group(s):
B, C

This course will survey some of the primary writings of Indian revolutionary thinkers and Irish revolutionary thinkers in the early 20th century, as well as secondary sources on the subject of international revolutionary movements to explore the international connections between the two (Irish and Indian) anti-colonial nationalist struggles but also to examine the common intellectual resources they drew from.  Both sets of revolutionaries were considered "terrorists" by the colonial government and this course will examine the politics, the ideology, and the historical trajectory of revolutionary nationalist thought.

----

HIST BC4870-Gender and Migration:  A Global Perspective
Instructor:
Jose Moya
Day/Time:
T 2:10-4
Group(s):
B, C, D

Explores reasons, from labor-markets and family structure to gender ideologies and religion, for different participation of women and men in migration, both internal and international, during the last two centuries and throughout the world. Also examines gender differences in socio-economic integration in host societies and the impact of migration on the gender systems of countries of origins and reception.

----

HIST BC4901-Reacting to the Past II
Instructor:
Mark Carnes
Day/Time:
MW 2:40-3:55
Group(s):
B, C

The collision of ideas in two modern Rousseau, Burke and Revolution in France, 1791; Gandhi, and the making of a nation on the eve of independence in India, 1945.

 

DEPARTMENT HOMESITE MAPCOLUMBIA HOME
Web Services Link Web Services Image