(Offered as HIST 235, EUST 245 and RUS 235) Joseph Stalin, the infamous Soviet dictator, created a particular type of society in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Stalinism became a phenomenon that influenced the development of the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, and North Korea. The course will begin with the exploration of Stalin’s own life and then focus on what historical forces enabled the emergence of Stalinism.

(Offered as HIST 234 and EUST 234) This class is an introduction to the history of Nazi Germany from 1933-1945. Through readings and class discussion, we will cover topics such as the Holocaust, Nazi ideology and aesthetics, daily life in the Third Reich, women under Nazism, Nazi foreign policy and World War II, and the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial.  In addition, we will discuss themes that range well beyond the Nazi dictatorship: What is the relationship between aesthetics and politics?  How do dictatorships function?  What constitutes political resistance?

(Offered as HIST-233 and BLST-233 [US].) This course explores racial capitalism through the lenses of history and economics. Racial capitalism understands racism, slavery, segregation, and imperialism as key to how the economic system of capitalism enables the creation of profit for some via the racialized exploitation of others.

(Offered as HIST 230 and EUST 230.) Often viewed as one of the defining events in modern history, the French Revolution has been debated and discussed, derided and celebrated by generations of politicians, cultural commentators, and historians. This course enters into this on-going conversation by examining the nature of the revolutionary process as it unfolded in late eighteenth-century France and its empire.

(Offered as HIST-222 and POSC-222) The rise of the Far-Right at home and abroad in the last decade has taken much of the world by surprise, and calls for a reconsideration not only of its future but also of its history. Since WWII most of historical studies of the Far-Right have focused on the history of fascism, from proto-fascism to neo-fascism. in the twenty-first century; however, the Far-Right emerges as a much broader phenomenon, in chronology, in geography, and in attributes.

(Offered as HIST 216, LLAS 216 [LA, Humanities] and ARHA 216 [History of Art: Americans/Europe]) This course examines the art, lives, and times of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, two of Mexico’s most famous artists. Through discussion, lectures, readings, and visual analysis we will consider the historical and artistic roots of their radical aesthetics as well as the ideals and struggles that shaped their lives. During their era, Kahlo was overshadowed by her husband Rivera, but in recent decades her fame has eclipsed his.

This course offers an introduction to law and society in the Islamic world with a focus on the period from around 1500 to the early 1800s. It highlights the importance of Islamic law’s formations within early modern Muslim empires, like those of the Ottomans, Mughals, and Safavids, as well other parts of the globe. Developments in Islamic law and society in this period are crucial not only for better understanding the history of sharia or the Islamic world, but for better understanding law, state, and society writ large.

This course introduces students to the history of the Jews from the 16th century to the present. Jews—a small group, lacking a stable geographical or political center for most of modern history—have played a remarkably central role in world events. Jewish history exemplifies questions of tolerance, intolerance, and diversity in the Modern Age. From Europe to the Americas to the Middle East, Jewish history has witnessed constant interchange between the non-Jewish world and its Jewish subcultures.

(Offered as HIST 181 and BLST 121 [A])  This course focuses on the long twentieth century in Africa, from the onset of colonial rule in the 1880s to the present moment of global engagement. We have three major questions that we will be pursuing throughout the semester. The first concerns various images of Africa and Africans, conceived in the West and then exported back into African societies. Can we distinguish the image from the reality, the myth from the reportage?

(Offered as HIST 172 and ASLC 172.) This survey offers students a deep historical perspective on today’s China and Chinese society. It examines the matrix of the internal and external forces and movements that have shaped modern China from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. During this period, people in China have experienced the most tumultuous and traumatic events in its transformations toward modernity; few countries have gone through as many dramatic changes as China in the last two centuries.