Spring 2026
The History Department will offer the following 6000 and 7000/8000-level courses. The attached descriptions are designed to provide a clear conception of course content. It should be noted that while 6000 courses also include undergraduate students (4000 level), a distinct set of reading, writing, and grading expectations is maintained for graduate students.
Spring 2026 - On Campus Course Descriptions
HIST 4102/6102
Modern Britain
Dr. Andrew Daily
MW 14:20-15:45
A history of modern Britain from the Act of Union (1707) to the present. Topics include: the British constitution; the Industrial Revolution; the British Empire; the formation of British identity; decolonization; the welfare state; devolution; immigration; and the postwar period. Particular attention will be placed on Britain’s imperial past and postcolonial present. - Back.
HIST 4325*/6325
Bronze Age Aegean
Dr. Amanda Gaggioli
TR 9:40-11:05 MI 305
This course spans the eastern Mediterranean from roughly 3000 to 800 BCE, focusing on interactions among the Aegean (Greece), Anatolia (Turkey), and Egypt. It traces the development and transformation of societies from the Early Bronze Age through the rise and fall of the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces to the Early Iron Age. Drawing on archaeology, art, and documentary evidence, the course explores the political, economic, and cultural interconnections among these communities.- Back.
HIST 4630*/6630
North American Revolutions
Dr. Bradley Dixon
TR 9:40-11:05 MI 209
“This course introduces the political, economic, and social causes and outcomes of
conflicts in North America from 1754-1815, learning what was revolutionary about the
age of revolutions. Students will examine what it meant to be an American and a British
subject and consider the motivations of a wide range of participants, including Native
Americans, enslaved and free African Americans, and the fifth of the population who
remained with Britain as Loyalists. The other great movements of the Age of Revolutions,
notably the French, Haitian, and Latin American Revolutions will place the American
Revolution in larger context.
Throughout this course, students will read relevant primary and secondary sources,
think about what these sources tell us about life in the 18th and early 19th centuries,
write critical evaluations of the material presented, and discuss their assumptions,
conclusions, and concerns about this era of revolution and republicanism as a topic
of historical inquiry. As students complete this course, they will develop an awareness
of the wide range of experiences and the diversity of viewpoints represented. ” -
Back.
HIST 7210/8210
Slave Societies in the Americas
Dr. Eron Ackerman
W 14:30-17:30 MI 223
This graduate seminar investigates the history of slavery and emancipation in Spanish America, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the U.S. South from a comparative and transnational perspective. Topics include Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade, the plantation-slavery complex, resistance and revolutions, race, religion and transculturation, the abolition movement, and emancipation. Using a variety of sources, from historical monographs and slave narratives to court transcripts and abolitionist texts, we will examine how slavery developed across the Americas, especially the brutal export-oriented plantation system, and we will consider how enslaved people adapted, resisted, and fought to liberate themselves with or without the help of white abolitionists. Since this is a graduate-level course, it requires a heavy reading load. Most weeks we will read a book or multiple articles and primary source excerpts related to the weekly topic. Class discussions will focus not only on the history of slavery but also how the historiography has changed over time. - Back.
HIST 7310/ 8310
Historiography of Ancient Egypt and Egyptology
Dr. Peter Brand
T 2:30-5:30pm MI 223
In the first part of this course we will examine the Ancient Egyptian’s understanding
and use of the past. Over more than 3000 years of its existence, this civilization
produced wide variety of archival documents, literary works and royal and private
texts referring to historical. They built and inscribed monuments with texts and with
pictorial scenes representing events both real and idealized. As these records accumulated
over many centuries, the Egyptians became acutely cognizant of just how old their
culture was. Yet until the Hellenized Egyptian priest Manetho created his famous account
of Egypt’s dynastic past for the benefit of the country’s new Macedonian ruler, no
Egyptian had ever produced a work of literature that we would recognize as a “history.”
Yet the Egyptians carefully accumulated records of past events and used their own
understanding of bygone days to legitimate their present actions.
In the second part of this course, we will examine how modern scholars have reconstructed
and written about Ancient Egyptian history since the 19th Century. Despite advanced training in language, art history and archaeology, however,
few Egyptologists are grounded in sound historical methodology in their published
works. The results are too often bizarre and outlandish theories that could fit the
fragmentary evidence, but which probably do not. Moreover, “historical” debate in
Egyptology is often framed– even held hostage– by earlier, long since outmoded theories
that have taken on a life of their own through constant reiteration. We will examine
works of Egyptian history from the perspective of historiography, dissecting a number
of historical problems in Egyptology and the solutions offered by various scholars
in order to determine how they dealt with the evidence. Having critiqued our predecessors
and contemporary scholars, we will work towards a more sound historical methodology
for reconstructing the history of Egyptian civilization. - Back.
HIST 7883/8883
Studies in African American History: Slavery and Freedom in Nineteenth-century American
Society
Dr. Beverly Bond
R 14:30-17:30 MI 223
This course will examine foundational works and recent scholarship on African American slavery and freedom from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. The course will center the experiences of African American as we examine the ways in which enslavement and freedom affected and was affected by the nation’s social, political, and economic development. Topics include how African Americans created and sustained families, life within and relationships between enslaved and free black communities, the interactions and intersections between black, white, and Native American communities, and the multiple meanings of freedom and citizenship in post-emancipation America. We will also examine how and why slavery and freedom are memorialized and commemorated in public history and in public spaces.- Back.
Spring 2026 - Online Course Descriptions
Online courses are fully online and completely asynchronous unless otherwise specified.
HIST 4160/6160 M50
Russia to 1917
Dr. Andrei Znamenski
WEB-Online
“This course explores history of Russia from early medieval times (the period of so-called Kievan Rus) to 1917, when, because of the Bolshevik revolution, a 300 years-old monarchy was toppled down. We are going to examine Russia as a "middle ground" Eurasian country, whose history, national identity, and political culture had been forged during intensive interactions between Eastern European and Asian cultures and civilizations. We will examine the rise of Russian autocratic tradition and serfdom, which heavily affected modern history of that country. We will also discuss the formation of the Russian Empire, attempts to modernize its rural peasant society, and, finally, the rise of nationalities and the development of the Russian revolutionary tradition by the turn of 1900.” - Back.
HIST 4272/6272 M50
Modern Middle East
Dr. Beverly Tsacoyianis
WEB online
This online History course examines the major political, social, and religious developments in the Middle East and North Africa from the late 18th century to the present through weekly video lectures, discussion boards, and student presentations on course readings among other written assignments. Topics include: Orientalism, the Ottoman struggle to resist nationalist movements and Western imperial advances, WWI, the British and French Mandates, WWII, decolonization, the formation and political mobilization of new social classes, changing gender relations, the rise of secularist, socialist, and Islamist movements, and debates about modernity. Students will work with a general history of the region as well as sources on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Lebanese Civil War, the Iranian Revolution, and the Syrian civil war. Interdisciplinary components will include a film and readings in trauma studies and disability studies. - Back.
HIST 4292* / 6292 M50
Modern China
Dr. Yaowen Dong
WEB - Online
The course will explore the history of China from the start of the First Opium War in 1840 to the present day. It will examine political, economic, and intellectual transformations that contributed to the “rise of China” in the 21st century, with close attention to the relationship between wars, revolutions, and everyday life. - Back.
HIST 4330/6330 M50
Topics in Ancient History: A history of crafts in the ancient world
Dr. Suzanne Onstine
WEB online
In this class we will consider many aspects of crafting; the craftspeople, the materials, the technology, and the different contexts affected by crafts. I hope this will foster in you a deeper appreciation for material culture in the past, and will connect you with the human experience of creating things. - Back.
HIST 4831 / 6831 M50
American Family History
Dr. Sarah Potter
WEB online
This course will interrogate the history of American families, paying particular attention to the social structures that shape family life. We will examine how power and authority have changed over time within families and the changing relationship between the family and the state. We will also consider how the emotional meaning ascribed to family relationships has changed over the course of United States history. - Back.
HIST 7070 M50
Research Seminar
Dr. Aram Goudsouzian
WEB online
Students in this course will produce a scholarly article on a specific topic in their area of academic specialty. They will perform a series of scaffolded assignments that include a proposal, a review of the relevant historiography, and a presentation. Throughout the semester, they will perform in-depth primary source research, and their efforts should result in a polished essay suitable for publication in an academic journal. - Back.
HIST 7101 M50
Studies in Global History
Maritime History: Trade, War, and Plunder
Dr. Catherine Phipps
WEB online
In this seminar, we’ll use oceanic and global perspectives to examine everything from pirates to maritime governance, merchants to shipping networks, and navies to imperial expansion. These explorations will touch on technologies, ecosystems, resources, legal battles, and more. Assigned readings and online discussions will cover the historiography of maritime frameworks and methodologies as well as thematic topics and case studies from around the globe. Members of the class will choose the specific places, populations, time frames, and subjects for their independent projects. Finally, we will experiment with some digital tools to enhance how we communicate, learn, and share our thoughts and findings about this dynamic and important field of scholarly inquiry. - Back.
HIST 7602 M50
US Historiography after 1877
Dr. Caroline Peyton
WEB online
This course will examine the major themes, historiographical debates, and developments in American history after 1877. We will consider both foundational texts and recent, innovative publications in US history broadly. Covering a wide range of fields, from American politics to the history of technology, students will analyze how historians have approached critical developments in US history from many different vantage points and methodologies. Thus, we will cover essential historiographical debates about topics such as the atomic bomb and the Vietnam War, in additional to considering significant changes in the American economy, environment, culture, and society post-1877. - Back.