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Department of History
Daniel Schafer (chair), Douglas Bisson, Cynthia Bisson*, Jeffrey Coker, Brenda Jackson.
*Part-time.

Vision:

Through the study of history, our students gain a deeper understanding of the human condition and an enlarged capacity to engage in critical thinking and to make informed and ethical judgments. The study of history prepares graduates who, through a variety of professional careers, can participate as effective leaders in the interdependent world in which we live.

Purpose:

History is the study of human change over time. Recognizing that human experience is continuous, historians seek to understand how people lived in the past and how their actions, institutions, and leadership shaped their world and our own. As an intellectual discipline, history fosters students’ abilities to read critically, think analytically, communicate ideas effectively, and to examine human problems in light of ethical values and religious traditions. As part of the university’s general education program, historical reflection strengthens students’ understanding of the variety of human ideas, cultural perspectives and conceptual frameworks which make up the interdependent world in which we live.

Goals:

General Education (HIS)

HIS 1010. World History to 1500 (3). A survey of world history from antiquity to the Age of Discovery (c. 1500), focusing on the chief political, social, and religious foundations of the world’s major civilizations (East Asia, India, Middle East, Europe, and pre-Columbian America). Special attention will be given to patterns of cross-cultural interchange and the dynamics of historical change.

HIS 1020. World History Since 1500 (3). A survey of world history from the Age of Discovery (c. 1500) to the present, focusing on increasing global interaction since the 16th century, the emergence of the modern world-view, European political and economic expansion, and non-Western responses to the challenges of the modern world.

History Core

HIS 2050. The Craft of History (3). An introductory course for history majors and minors which focuses on the nature of the discipline, historiography, and problems and controversies in history.

HIS 2010. The American Experience from the Colonial Era to the Civil War (3). This course is a survey of the political, social, and economic history of America from early European settlement through the Civil War. Themes include colonial America and national identity, the nature of the American Revolution, the development of the early nation, slavery and sectionalism, and the impacts of the Civil War.

HIS 2020. The American Experience from Reconstruction to the Cold War (3). This course is a survey of the political, social, and economic history of the United States since the Reconstruction Era. Themes include industrialization and its impacts, the changing role of the federal government, the rise of America as a world power, cultural changes in the modern era, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War's impact on American state and society.

HIS 2100. Foundations of United States History (3). This course surveys major themes and issues in the history of the United States from the colonial era to the present day. Students will examine developments in American politics, diplomacy, economics, culture, thought, and society. The course will focus primarily on important trends and locate pivotal events and periods.

HIS 3050. Junior Research Seminar (3). This third year course will emphasize research, writing and historical methodology. Students in their junior year will develop a research project under the direction of a member of the History faculty. The seminar will enable students to implement their research design and present their work for review by peers and professors.

HIS 4050. Senior Seminar in History (3). Prerequisite: Senior standing or permission of department chair. A reading and discussion course focusing on outstanding examples of historical research and writing.

United States History

HIS 3100. The United States and the World Since 1945 (3). This course examines the history of the United States since World War II, with a special focus on the Cold War. The course will examine American foreign policy, but also will consider cultural, social, political, and intellectual developments as they relate to the international scene. Students will explore the ways in which Americans have influenced, and have been influenced by, global developments in the recent past.

HIS 3150. American Social Thought to 1865 (3). This course examines American intellectuals and American thought from the colonial period through the Civil War. By focusing on the lives and works of individual thinkers, students will consider the various ways in which intellectuals responded to the challenges of their times. Themes of the course will include European images of the New World, Puritan thought, the Great Awakening, revolutionary ideology, sources of romanticism and nationalism in the early 19th century, and the impact of the Civil War on American thought.

HIS 3350. American Baseball History (3). This course traces the evolution of baseball from marginal urban sport in the 19th century to the Progressive era, when the game emerged as the "national pastime," and examines the origins of baseball's current distempers and disabilities. This course is offered during the summer term on a Pass/Fail basis only.

HIS 4250. Seminar in American Historical Biography (3). Biography probably is the most popular form of historical writing in the United States. This seminar will allow students to examine the unique methodological and interpretive challenges that confront a biographer. Students will gain an understanding of how biographers can differ significantly in approach and method by reading and discussing a variety of styles of biography. Students will also write their own works of historical biography and critique the work of their peers in a seminar setting.

HIS 4320. History of the American West, 1800-Present (3). This course will examine the history of the American trans-Mississippi West from early exploration, to the closing of the American frontier, to modern day cultural and historical images of the West. Themes of the course include early exploration, Manifest Destiny and wars against Mexico and Native Americans, settlement on the Great Plains, and environmental and ecological concerns in the modern West. The course will also examine cultural images of the West and survey competing historical images of the region.

HIS 4380. History of the American Sports (3). This course will examine how American sports have evolved from the folk games of colonial America to the highly organized sports of the age of television. Themes will include how American sports became entrenched in American life; how sports became part of the larger consumer culture; the way in which a generation of participants and exercise experts developed a sporting ideology; the quest for racial equality in sports; the advent of television and the ways in which the medium has determined the contours of modern organized sports.

HIS 4390. Advanced Studies in United States History (3). Topics not covered in regular course listings, such as economic history, American popular culture, American religious history, the Civil War, and civil rights.

European History

HIS 3400. History of Medieval Europe (3). Prerequisite: HIS 1010 or permission of instructor. A survey which examines the origins of medieval civilization in the late Roman Empire and traces its development to the zenith in the High Middle Ages (1050-1300).

HIS 3450. European Ideas and Society, 1600-1800 (3). An examination of the social and intellectual context of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment and how these movements influenced both existing institutions and elite and popular discourse.

HIS 3460. European Ideas and Society Since 1800 (3). An examination of the social and intellectual context of the intellectual and cultural movements prevailing in Europe since 1800 and how these movements influenced both existing institutions and elite and popular discourse. The movements considered will include Romanticism, Positivism, Socialism, Realism, Marxism, Modernism, and Nationalism.

HIS 3500. History of the Russian Empire (3). A history of the Russian Empire from the era of Peter the Great (1682-1715) to the early twentieth century. After a brief survey of medieval and early modern Russian history, the course will focus on the impact of Peter's reforms, the social history of Russia in this period, Russian imperial expansion, efforts to reform and modernize the country, the rise of civil society, and the decline of the Romanov dynasty in the face of revolutionary movements and social crisis.

HIS 3510. Russia and the Soviet Union Since 1900 (3). A history of Russia and the Soviet Union from the early twentieth century to the present. Important topics include the rise of revolutionary movements in the Russian Empire, the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the evolution of Soviet communism, Stalinist repression and terror, Gorbachev's reforms, the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of new post-Soviet states.

HIS 3550. French Revolution/Napoleonic Era (3). Prerequisite: HIS 1010 or permission of instructor. A study of the social and cultural history of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era which focuses on an in-depth analysis of the ideas, institutions, people, and events of an era that left a lasting imprint on contemporary western society.

HIS 3560. France Since 1870 (3). This course is a survey of the development of France between 1870 and 1991 including its three republics, World Wars I and II, decolonization, and its role during the Cold War. It will also cover social and cultural changes, such as the emancipation of women and the effects of the modernization of agriculture and industry on the French people.

HIS 3610. History of Modern Germany (3). This course is a study of the development of Germany from 1806-1945, including the rise of Prussia, German unification, the Wilhelmine era, the German labor movement, World War I, the Weimar Republic, Nazism and World War II.

HIS 3650. The Making Of England, 400-1500 (3). This course is designed to help students explore and understand the shaping of the English national character by examining the historical events and literacy / artistic achievements that led to the founding of the nation called England and the establishment of English as its language. In the thousand-year time period the course surveys the contributions of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans, as well as the tangential but important influences of the British, the Romans, and the Vikings. Students are expected to engage with a variety of literary and historical texts and critical works, as well as conduct and present research on an assigned report topic and a paper topic on a subject of their choice.

HIS 3660. History of England II (3). Prerequisite: HIS 1020 or permission of instructor. A survey of the development of Britain from 1688 to the Thatcher era.

HIS 3690. Ireland Since 1798: From Colony to National State (3). This class examines the course of Irish history from the 1798 rebellion to the present. Particular attention is paid to the varieties of Irish political experience, the torturous development of nationalism and Unionism, the role of the Church, the consequences of the Famine, the Irish Diaspora, the struggle for independence, and demographic and economic change. The impact of the Partition and the continuing problem of Northern Ireland will also be considered.

HIS 4400. Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (3). A study of the Holocaust, the annihilation of European Jewry by the government of Germany during World War II. The course emphasizes the history of European Jews since the Middle Ages, the origin and forms of anti-Semitism, the factors contributing to the rise of the National Socialist state, the racist policies and practices of Nazism in power, the stages of persecution and murder of the Jews, and the nature of human choice under conditions of extreme terror. This course is cross-listed with HIS 6400.

HIS 4500. Europe in the Age of the World Wars (3). Although Europe dominated global affairs at the beginning of the 20th century, the pace of change within European societies generated economic rivalries and social and political tensions which erupted into world-wide war in 1914. This course, through an examination of these tensions - World War I, its aftermath and World War II and its aftermath - will explore the factors, especially the consequences of the world wars, which moved Europe from the center to the periphery of international affairs.

HIS 4670. The Tudor Monarchy, 1485-1603 (3). This class will examine the birth of Renaissance monarch in England, the personalities and politics of the Tudor age, and the government of the realm. Special attention will be paid to the origins of the empire, the question of the "Tudor frontier," the impact of the Reformation, and the emergence of the market society. This course is cross-listed with HIS 5670.

HIS 4690. Advanced Studies in European History (3). Topics not covered in regular course listings, such as women and the family, the Russian revolution, World War II and the Nuremberg Trials.

World History

HIS 3700. History of Central Asia (3). A survey of central Asian history from antiquity to the present, focusing on patterns of sedentary-nomadic relations and the rise and fall of the great nomadic steppe empires, including the Scythians, Huns, and Mongols. Other topics include Tibetan history and the impact of Russian and Chinese partition of the region in recent centuries.

HIS 3800. Modern Latin America (3). This course surveys the history of Latin America from the early 19th century to the present day. Themes of the course include the wars for independence, political, economic, and cultural developments in the 19th century, the relationship between Latin America and the West, the impact of the Cold War, and recent developments in the region.

HIS 3850. Africa Since 1890 (3). This course surveys the history of sub-Saharan Africa from the beginning of the colonial era to the present day. The course will offer historical background to the period to indicate the cultural, economic, social, and political impacts of colonization, emergence of nationalism, the move towards independence in the 20th century, and recent political, economic, and cultural developments.

HIS 4700. Colonialism and Empire Since 1500 (3). A study of European overseas expansion since the 15th century, focusing on the reasons for Europe's imperial success, the impact on non-European peoples, and struggles for independence and development in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

HIS 4710. Ecology, Technology, and Geography in World History (3). This course explores some of the broadest patterns in world history, specifically the impact of geographical constraints and opportunities, ecological and environmental considerations, technological developments, and cross-cultural interactions on the development of human societies. This course is cross-listed with HIS 6710.

HIS 4720. Disease and Plagues in World History (3). This course explores the role of epidemic disease in world history from antiquity to the present. Topics will include the evolution and habits of parasitic microbes and their hosts; the vectors of disease transmission, the social, economic, political, and cultural effects of epidemics such as the Black Death; and the continuing struggle of medical and political communities against epidemic disease. This course is cross-listed with HIS 6720.

HIS 4750. Nationalism and Ethnic Identity (3). A seminar focusing on the historical origins of national identity and the dynamics of inter-ethnic relations. Specific case studies will be drawn from various world regions such as Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, etc.

HIS 4800. The Vietnam War (3). An examination of the history of international conflict in Vietnam from 1944-1975. After an introduction to Vietnam's colonial history, the course surveys the Vietnamese attempts to throw off French colonial rule from 1944-1954, Chinese and United States efforts to preserve spheres of influence in Vietnam from the 1950's until 1975, and the efforts by the Vietnamese to resist and co opt these efforts in their own interests. This course may fulfill the history major requirement in either United States or World History, but not both.

HIS 4890. Advanced Studies in World History (3). Topics not covered in regular course listings, such as environmental history, epidemic disease in history, technology in history.

Special Topics

HIS 1950-4950. Studies Abroad (3-18). Study in a foreign country. Individual course titles and locations are assigned for each course taken. See Studies Abroad program for details.

HIS 1990-4990. Special Studies (1-3).

HIS 4010. Capital Internship in History (6). Permission of the Capital Internship liaison and enrollment in PSC 2010. Students who have been admitted to an approved internship program will complete a full-term internship in a government agency or office. Credit earned will be counted toward a history major or minor.

HIS 4020. History Internship (1-3). Prerequisite: Approval of department chairman. Interns will be assigned for practical training and experience to one or more of the following historical agencies – Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Historic Belmont Association (Belmont Mansion), or the Tennessee State Museum. (A minimum of 20 hours per semester hour credit is required.)