Summer & Fall 2025
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.
Summer 2025 - Online Course Descriptions
Online courses are fully online and completely asynchronous unless otherwise specified.
HIST 6299 M50
Topics in Global History: Urban Landscapes – A History of Cities in the Global South - Dr. Selina Makana
WEB – Online
This course explores the history and growth of cities in the global South. We will interrogate how urban spaces intersect with histories of religion, the transatlantic slave trade, the colonial and postcolonial political economy. This course will focus on convergent and unique development of cities across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the South Atlantic (Brazil). Tracing these historical trajectories will enable students to examine the broader questions of global urbanism from a transnational perspective. A key question animating this seminar include: How do processes of slavery, colonialism, neoliberalism, globalization, wars, and migration, impact urban spaces? - Back.
HIST 7011 M50
Philosophy and Theory of History - Dr. Andrew Daily
WEB – Online
This course is a graduate level theories and historiography course designed to give students a working knowledge of the major epistemological and methodological issues in historical research and writing. It asks you to critically reflect on how historical discourse is possible, what are its assumptions, what it can accomplish in mediating the relationship between the past and the present, and what it is that we do, exactly, when we research and write history. It is designed, in part, to make you think about things that you don’t usually contemplate in your day-to-day work. It renders historical practice uncanny and is designed to discomfort you. - Back.
Fall 2025 - On Campus Course Descriptions
HIST 6151 001
Habsburg Central Europe 1740-1918 - Dr. Daniel Unowsky
MW 2:20-3:45 pm | MI 209
This course explores the political and cultural history of the Habsburg Monarchy, known from 1867-1918 as Austria-Hungary. Once derided as an anachronistic “prison of the peoples,” the monarchy is now often lauded for the relative stability it once brought to a diverse region that has since experienced the horrors of ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and dictatorship. The course begins with the eighteenth-century efforts by the Habsburg dynasty to centralize its authority and ends with the dismantling of Austria-Hungary at the conclusion of World War I. We will consider the monarchy’s sources of strength, the causes of its ultimate demise, and the legacies it left to the “nation-states” that arose from its ashes. - Back.
HIST 6287 001
Africa and African Diaspora - Dr. Dennis Laumann
MW 12:40 – 2:05 pm | MI 209
This course examines the history of linkages between the African continent and the African Diaspora in the Americas from the fifteenth century to the present. We will consider — in chronological order and within a global context —the major economic, political, social, and cultural themes and topics related to this history, including: the Atlantic Slave Trade; enslavement and resistance in the Americas; diasporic African cultures and religions; imperialism and colonialism; and Pan-Africanism and Black Internationalism. Particular attention will be paid to the Caribbean and Latin America. Our class meetings will consist of lectures, discussions, and occasional viewing of films. - Back.
HIST 6294 001
Modern Japan - Dr. Catherine Phipps
TR 9:40-11:05 am | MI 209
This course is designed to help you learn about the history of modern Japan and its position in the world. We'll cover everything from Japan's early modern era to current events. Rather than treat the past and the present as two static end points, however, we'll explore their connections and consider how history informs the present and how the present shapes what questions we ask of the past. Using primary documents, novels, film, and websites, we'll explore such themes as economic & technological development, foreign relations & imperialism, race & gender, the environment, and intercultural exchange. We'll also develop skills in critical thinking, writing, and source analysis. - Back.
HIST 6853 001
African American Women - Dr. Beverly Bond
TR 11:20-12:45 pm | MI 209
History is a complex and multifaceted subject and the study of people of African descent in the Americas, especially women, is often fraught with myth and misunderstanding. Since their initial arrival in the New World colonies in the 1500s and the 1600s, African American women have existed at intersections of ideas and laws relating to race, class, gender, and sexuality. In this course we will examine what this has meant for individual women as well as for African American womanhood in general. We will focus on the impact of slavery and segregation; economic and political activities; the migrations to the American West and to urban communities in the North and South; the development of African American religious, educational, social, and fraternal institutions; the tradition of female activism from the 19th into the 21st centuries; and the struggles for social, political, and economic rights. These topics will be examined by centering the experiences of African American women from the 17th through the 21st centuries. - Back.
HIST 6861 001
US Parks & Recreation: Policy, People, Animals - Dr. Caroline Peyton
TR 1:00-2:25 pm | MI 319
This course explores the history of parks, public lands, and recreational spaces in American history. What are the roots of America’s national parks and urban green spaces, like Central Park in New York City? What sparked an environmental movement and conservation efforts from wilderness advocates, avid hunters and fishermen, to the fashionable ladies of the Gilded Age? What role have animals played in this history, and how have our views on public policy, environmental conservation, and animals changed over time? This class answers those questions, and seeks to reimagine American history from the ground up. - Back.
HIST 7025/8025 001
Principles and Practices of History Education - Dr. Sarah Potter
M 2:30-5:30 pm | MI 223
This course will introduce students to a variety of research-supported pedagogies for the college history classroom. We will discuss course goals and course design, explore a variety of classroom strategies to engage diverse students in their learning, and consider best practices for assessment in classroom, hybrid, and online environments. Students in this course will produce an original syllabus for a history general education course and design/teach at least one week or unit of their proposed class. This course is required for all graduate assistants who wish to teach their own course sections. - Back.
HIST 7320/8320 001
Studies in Ancient History - Dr. Suzanne Onstine
T 2:30-5:30 pm | MI 223
This class will examine the history of Nubian cultures from prehistory until the advent of Christianity. In the class we will follow the historical development of the area (southern Egypt and Sudan) using archaeological and textual sources. Nubia’s relationships with Pharaonic Egypt had wide-ranging social, economic, religious, and military dimensions so these complex dynamics will also be discussed. While Nubian cultures are often studied primarily in terms of their relationships with Egypt in the Pharaonic era, we will contextualize these cultures on their own terms and within a wider African context. - Back.
HIST 7601/8601 001
US Historiography to 1877 - Dr. Bradley Dixon
R 2:30-5:30 pm | MI 223
This course will introduce you to the ongoing debates between historians about Early America (before 1877). We’ll trace the history of Early American history from the early twentieth century up to now, with emphasis on the latest work in the field. We’ll explore historians’ methods, the categories they use to analyze the past, and most importantly how they frame their questions. Framing is everything. In Grant Wood’s painting, Parson Weems’ Fable, George Washington’s first biographer pulls back the curtain just as young George confesses to chopping down the mythical cherry tree. Take another look. Note the enslaved African American man and woman picking cherries in the background. What if we moved them to the foreground? How would the story change if they were the subjects? The painting reminds us of the central lesson of this class: Our understanding of history depends on who’s telling it and how they are telling it. From the background, we’ll see how over the last fifty years enslaved people, women, Native Americans, ordinary laborers, indeed a host of once-unknown actors became the subjects of transformative works of Early American history. - Back.
Fall 2025 - Online Course Descriptions
Online courses are fully online and completely asynchronous unless otherwise specified.
HIST 6260 M50
World Since 1945 - Dr. Eron Ackerman
WEB – Online
This asynchronous online course explores key events and turning points in world history since World War II. The course is organized around three major developments. The first is the Cold War, a 55-year period of tense relations between Western capitalist nations allied with the United States (the so-called “First World”) and the communist nations of the Soviet Eastern Bloc and China (the “Second World”). We will see how the Cold War impacted domestic and international politics through the NATO and Warsaw-Pact alliances, espionage and state surveillance, the arms race, covert operations in foreign countries, and the outbreak of proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. Our second major topic of focus—which was intertwined with Cold War politics—is how the empires of Europe and Japan, including most of Africa and Asia, transitioned from colonies to independent nations (the so-called “Third World”). Lastly, we will examine the emergence of a new world order after the collapse of communism, which included the ascendency of neoliberalism and neoconservatism, the intensification of globalization mediated by international and non-governmental organizations, and the impact of the post-September 11th “War on Terror.” In addition to investigating the course of events and the evidence behind it, we will analyze how politicians, writers, and historians have represented and debated these developments using terms like “freedom,” “totalitarianism,” “containment,” and “clash of civilizations.” Assignments include group discussions, quizzes, a midterm and final exam, and a research paper on a topic in world history since 1945. - Back.
HIST 6277 M50
Ottoman Empire - Dr. Beverly Tsacoyianis
WEB – Online
This online course examines the history of the Ottoman Empire through video lectures and discussion board posts on such topics as the politics and people of the Ottoman Empire from its rise in the 13th century until its demise in 1922 CE. We will consider conceptual problems of dealing with “empire” as a unit of analysis, as well as historical debates about narrative, perspective, and primary sources. In addition to two main textbooks, primary sources in translation, and academic articles in the field of history, there are interdisciplinary components through film, historical fiction, and social science research. The first half of the semester covers aspects of the medieval and early modern periods while the second half of the semester focuses on the period since the 18th century. Themes include politics, literary and artistic creations, war, travel, trade, and modernization. - Back.
HIST 6326 M50
Imperial Egypt - Dr. Peter Brand
WEB – Online
The New Kingdom era (1550-1100 BCE) transformed pharaonic Egypt and its relations with the outside world. During this imperial age, warrior pharaohs forged an empire stretching from Sudan in Africa to Syria and the borders of Turkey. Intensive military, diplomatic, economic, and cultural interactions with other civilizations transformed Egyptian society and culture. With new military technologies like the horse drawn chariot and composite bow, Egypt became a military superpower. An influx of foreign peoples brought religious, cultural, and economic change to the land along the Nile. We will explore the major historical issues and problems of this age, and the methodologies used by Egyptologists to reconstruct the history of this civilization. - Back.
HIST 7060 M50
Women/Gender Historiography - Dr. Cookie Woolner
WEB – Online
This course will introduce graduate students to major developments in the field of women’s and gender history with a transnational perspective. Students will explore the issues, controversies, and paradigms developed in women's and gender history through reading both classic and newly emerging scholarship in the field. Readings will highlight the intersection of gender with race, class, and sexuality, exploring issues ranging from slavery, labor, feminism, colonialism, modernity, and reproduction, among other topics. An emphasis will be placed on an introduction to the historiography, methodology, and theory of the field, and how it can further our knowledge and understanding of the past and present. Students will write weekly reading responses, take part in weekly online discussions, and craft an historiographical essay on a subject of their choice in the field. - Back.
HIST 7160 M50
Studies in Russian History - Dr. Andrei Znamenski
WEB – Online
This course explores major historiography themes in modern Russian/Soviet history from Peter the Great times to the present. Among the major historiographical themes to be explored are autocracy and tsars, serfdom, religions (Orthodox Church, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism) in the Russian Empire, Estates, the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Communism/Stalinism, Soviet nationalities policies, Western intellectuals and Soviet Union, Cold War Soviet espionage, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and current Russian ideology of Eurasianism, War In Ukraine. Format of the course: students shall discuss in writing one to two articles/book chapters per class. - Back.
HIST 7883 M50
Studies in African American History: Historical Studies of Black Radicalism - Dr. Brian Kwoba
WEB – Online
This course focuses on this history of race, class, and gender-based articulations of Black radicalism. We will critically assess the historical work of scholars from a range of traditions: Black Marxism, Black Womanism, Afro-centrism, and Black internationalism. We will also read and engage with informed by Black queer and Afropessimist approaches in order to engage a broad range of radical methodologies and perspectives on the history of African-Americans and the African diaspora. - Back.