printer friendly pageHISTORY 239K: Revolutionary Moments in French Thought (FRENCH 128)
French intellectual and political culture has often been associated with revolutionary attempts to break free from the hold of tradition. Indeed, the concept of "revolution" has itself become a French tradition of sorts. Over the last 500 years, these revolutions have taken place in a number of arenas. In philosophy, René Descartes challenged all traditional learning and defined new principles that were central to the so-called ¿Revolution of the Mind.¿ In religion, Enlightenment thinkers not only advocated the toleration of different faiths but also questioned the veracity of Christianity and of all theistic worldviews. In politics, the French Revolution redefined the very concept of a political revolution and set the stage for modern conceptions of sovereignty. French socialist thinkers of the 19th century, in turn, reshaped the ways their contemporaries thought about socio-economic arrangements. Finally, 20th-century existentialists have attempted to rethink the very purpose of human existence. In this course, we will explore these and other seminal revolutionary moments that not only transformed French society, but that also had implications for European and, indeed, global culture. Taught in English, readings in English.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
HISTORY 240: The History of Evolution (BIO 340, HISTORY 340)
This course examines the history of evolutionary biology from its emergence around the middle of the eighteenth century. We will consider the continual engagement of evolutionary theories of life with a larger, transforming context: philosophical, political, social, economic, institutional, aesthetic, artistic, literary. Our goal will be to achieve a historical rich and nuanced understanding of how evolutionary thinking about life has developed to its current form.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
Instructors:
Gordon, D. (PI)
;
Riskin, J. (PI)
HISTORY 241K: Technology in Modern American Culture (AMSTUD 241K, HISTORY 341K)
This class displays the significance of technology in American culture by examining two principal technologies and their implications for politics, business, leisure, and social interaction, as well as for other technological systems. As starting points, we consider how computing systems and atomic weapons emerged at particular moments in history, including how their developments were intimately connected. This contextual approach leads us to the related study of topics within the histories of space travel, nuclear power, amateur electronics, and the Web.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
Instructors:
Haring, K. (PI)
HISTORY 243C: People, Plants, and Medicine: Colonial Science and Medicine (HISTORY 343C)
Explores the global exchange of knowledge, technologies, plants, peoples, disease, and medicines. Considers primarily Africans, Amerindians, and Europeans in the eighteenth-century West but also takes examples from other knowledge traditions. Readings treat science and medicine in relation to voyaging, colonialism, slavery, racism, plants, and environmental exchange. Colonial sciences and medicines were important militarily and strategically for positioning emerging nation states in global struggles for land and resources.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-GlobalCom, WAY-EDP, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Schiebinger, L. (PI)
HISTORY 243G: Tobacco and Health in World History (HISTORY 343G)
Cigarettes are the world's leading cause of death--but how did we come into this world, where 6 trillion cigarettes are smoked every year? Here we explore the political, cultural, and technological origins of the cigarette and cigarette epidemic, using the tobacco industry's 80 million pages of secret documents. Topics include the history of cigarette advertising and cigarette design, the role of the tobacco industry in fomenting climate change denial, and questions raised by the testimony of experts in court.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
Instructors:
Proctor, R. (PI)
HISTORY 243S: Human Origins: History, Evidence, and Controversy (HISTORY 443A)
Research seminar. Debates and controversies include: theories of human origins; interpretations of fossils, early art, and the oldest tools; the origin and fate of the Neanderthals; evolutionary themes in literature and film; visual rhetoric and cliché in anthropological dioramas and phyletic diagrams; the significance of hunting, gathering, and grandmothering; climatological theories and neocatastrophic geologies; molecular anthropology; the impact of racial theories on human origins discourse. Background in human evolution not required.
Last offered: Winter 2006
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
HISTORY 244: Egyptomania! The Allure of Ancient Egypt Over the Past 3,500 Years (AFRICAAM 87, CLASSICS 87)
Why does Egypt fascinate us? From Napoleon's invasion to Katy Perry's latest music video, we have interpreted ancient Egyptian history and mythology for centuries; in fact, this obsession dates back to the Egyptians themselves. This seminar explores Egyptomania from the Pharaonic period to the 20th century. Topics include: ancient Egypt, Greek historians, medieval Arabic scholars, hieroglyphic decipherment, 19th century travel, 20th century pop culture, and how historians have interpreted this past over the centuries.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Austin, A. (PI)
HISTORY 244C: The History of the Body in Science, Medicine, and Culture (HISTORY 444C)
The human body as a natural and cultural object, historicized. The crosscultural history of the body from the 18th century to the present. Topics include: sciences of sex and race; medical discovery of particular body parts; human experimentation, foot binding, veiling, and other bodily coverings; thinness and obesity; notions of the body politic.
Last offered: Spring 2007
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, GER:EC-Gender
HISTORY 245: Violence and Identity in the African Great Lakes Region (HISTORY 345)
Untangles current crises through exploring debates on migration, autochthony, ethnicity and nationalism from the pre-colonial era to the present. While the majority of the course focuses on the region's `center' (Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo), we will also examine continuities and differences within the larger geographic region. Topics include the historical roots and perspectives that inform genocide, gender based violence, mineral exploitation, reconciliation, development and controversies around homosexuality in Uganda and the wider region.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI
Instructors:
Rosenthal, J. (PI)
HISTORY 245G: Law and Colonialism in Africa (HISTORY 348D)
Law in colonial Africa provides an opportunity to examine the meanings of social, cultural, and economic change in the anthropological, legal, and historical approaches. Court cases as a new frontier for the social history of Africa. Topics: meanings of conflicts over marriage, divorce, inheritance, property, and authority.
Last offered: Autumn 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci
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