This course examines the political and cultural power of the New York Times in the American past and present. Students will analyze the NYT today through daily reading, study its evolution as an institution, and research its coverage of critical historical events over the past century.

Exploration of the history of Afro-Latin American populations since Independence within and outside the nation-state. We will question why and how to study those whose governments define them not as peoples of African descent but as part of a mixed-race majority of Hispanic cultural heritage, who themselves may often have supported this policy, and who may have had compelling reasons to avoid official scrutiny.

The United States emerged from the Second World War as the most powerful nation on earth. This course explores American political, cultural, and social life in the postwar era, with an eye toward helping students gain a firmer understanding of contemporary issues and conflicts in our nation and around the world.

This course will examine the cultural, social, political, and economic history of African Americans through the Civil War. Topics covered include the African background to the African American experience, the Atlantic slave trade, introduction and development of slavery, master-slave relationships, the establishment of black communities, slave revolts, the political economy of slavery, women in slavery, the experiences of free blacks, the crisis of the nineteenth century, and the effect of the Civil War.

An introduction to the study of history through law, using a comparative approach to group rights. Case studies, rooted in landmark court decisions and legislation, concern racial segregation in America before the civil rights era ('separate but equal') and in Europe during the Nazi era (the Nuremberg Laws, German 'national groups' in the East), as well as affirmative action in America and attempts at promoting equality among national groups in Austria before the First World War.

Examines the confrontation, assimilation, and transformation of Amerindian, African, and European cultures in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the present. Focuses on the processes in which distinctive self-images emerged in the region and how these images have been challenged and changed over time. Uses films, literature, and folk traditions to complement scholarly analysis of the emergence of a New World mentality.

This course examines the diverse cultures and peoples--Indian, African, and European--that from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, through combat and cooperation, forged North American societies. Topics include the indigenous societies of the Americas; the age of colonialism; slavery; the American Revolution; the creation of the American political system; expansion and industrialization; and the coming of the Civil War.

Surveys the major movements and developments in Europe during the era of European expansion and dominance--from the devastations of the Thirty Years War to the Second World War--and up to the current era of European Union. Topics include: the French Revolution and the birth of nationalism; the scientific and industrial revolutions; the modern history of international relations; imperialism, fascism, the Holocaust, the two World Wars, and the present and potential roles of Europe at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

This course traces the long history of political accountability in Africa. How did Africans wrest good governance from their leaders? How did they understand civic virtue and social responsibility? What principles of political logic did kingdoms share with societies without kings and royal women? How did gender contribute to structures of authority? What sources and methods enable us to productively approach a period of time distant from our own?

A comparative history of China, Japan, and Korea from the early seventeenth century to the present, with strong focus on regional interaction. After an introduction to early modern histories and cultures, we will examine the struggles of these countries to preserve or regain their independence and establish their national identities in a rapidly changing, often violent modern world order. While each of these countries has its own distinctive identity, their overlapping histories (and dilemmas) give the region a coherent shape.