This course provides a general, introductory survey of 19th- and early-20th-century West African history, with a particular focus on the contradictions and complexities surrounding the establishment and lived experiences of colonial rule in the region. Key themes in the course include the interactive histories of race, family, religion and gender in the exercise and negotiation of colonial power as well as the resistance to it. This course assumes no prior knowledge or experience with African history. Enrollment limit of 40 students.

This is an advanced community-based research seminar in which students work closely with archival materials from the Sophia Smith Collection and other archives to explore histories of resistance, collective action and grassroots organizing among domestic workers in the United States, from the mid-19th century to the present. This work has historically been done by women of color and been among the lowest paid, most vulnerable and exploited forms of labor.

Survey of women’s and gender history with women of color, working-class women and immigrant women at the center and with a focus on race, class and sexuality. Draws on feminist methodologies to consider how the study of marginalized women’s lives changes our understanding of history, knowledge, culture and the politics of resistance. Topics include labor, racial formation, empire, im/migration, popular culture, citizenship, education, religion, medicine, war, consumerism, feminism, queer cultures, capitalism and neoliberalism.

Topics course.: This course will use gender as an analytical lens to understand key themes and periods of Latin American history, from the pre-Columbian era to present-day neoliberalism. Drawing from a variety of methodological approaches, the course will illuminate how gender has shaped social relationships, institutions, identities, and discourses in the region. It will prioritize the role of women and how their individual and collective actions have impacted Latin America.

Topics course.: This course analyses the development of gender discourses and the lived experiences of women throughout the history of the region. The topics covered include the politics of marriage, divorce and reproduction; women’s political and economic participation; questions of masculinity; sexuality; the impact of Islamist movements; power dynamics within households; and historical questions around the female body. It provides an introduction to the main themes and offers a nuanced historical understanding of approaches to the study of gender in the region.

An introduction to major developments and interactions among people in Europe and Asia before modernity. The Silk Roads, long distance networks that allowed people, goods, technology, religious beliefs and other ideas to travel between China, India and Rome/Mediterranean, and the many points in between, developed against the backdrop of the rise and fall of steppe nomadic empires in Inner Asia. We examine these as interrelated phenomena that shaped Eurasian encounters to the rise of the world-conquering Mongols and the journey of Marco Polo.

Topics Course.: An overview of commercial and financial terminology against the backdrop of contemporary French business culture, using case studies, French television and newspapers, and the internet. Emphasis on essential technical vocabulary, reading and writing business documents, and oral communication in a business setting. Prepares students for the Diplôme de français professionnel (Affaires B2) granted by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry and administered at Smith College.

The course examines literary works where love is used as a narrative and thematic device to explore the meaning and relevance of social difference. Themes to be considered include the institution of marriage; exoticism as escapism; illness and death. Novels by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Stendhal, George Sand, Lamartine, and Alexandre Dumas, fils. Readings in relevant historical and cultural topics.

Topics course.: Required Film Screening section.

Topics course.: The City of Light is often portrayed by filmmakers as the quintessential romantic setting. Starting with the French New Wave, this course examines films that look at Paris differently, as a place where various urban, cosmopolitan, and/or diasporic subcultures live side by side, often unbeknownst to one another. Films by directors such as Truffaut, Godard, Varda, Sautet, Carax, Denis, Assayas, and Klapisch. Readings in film criticism. Papers and weekly screenings required. Course taught in French. Prerequisite: FRN 230, or permission or the instructor.