Previously HST 249. A survey of the ancien régime. On behalf of the central State, war-making absolutists, Enlightened philosophes and patriotic republicans assailed privileges. The era culminated in the leveling of European societies through the French Revolution and the industrial revolution. Enrollment limited to 40.

The emergence, expansion and maintenance of the Russian Empire to 1929. The dynamics of pan-imperial institutions and processes (imperial dynasty, peasantry, nobility, intelligentsia, revolutionary movement), as well as the development of the multitude of nations and ethnic groups conquered by or included into the empire. Focus on how the multinational Russian empire dealt with pressures of modernization (nationalist challenges in particular), internal instability and external threats. Enrollment limited to 40.

A critical investigation of a thousand years of globalization, centering on China, Persia, and Britain. How did Europe, a mere cape of Asia, come to dominate much of the planet politically and culturally? Ventures by Vikings, Crusaders, conquistadors, missionaries, traders, settlers, revolutionaries, and feminists. How distinctive forms of family, state, religion, and economy participated in and grew out of imperialism. Open to all students. Enrollment limited to 40.

The career and conquests of Alexander the Great (d. 323 B.C.) wrought far-reaching consequences for many in Europe, Asia and Africa. In the ensuing Hellenistic (Greek-oriented) commonwealth that spanned the Mediterranean, Middle East, Central Asia and India, Greco-Macedonians interacted with Egyptians, Babylonians, Jews, Iranians, Indians and Romans in ways that galvanized ideas and institutions such as the classical city as ideal community, cult of divine kings and queens, "fusion" literatures, mythologies and artistic canons and also provoked nativist responses such as the Maccabean revolt.

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. The course examines these as interrelated phenomena that shaped Eurasian encounters to the rise of the world-conquering Mongols and the journey of Marco Polo.

Offered as ENG 207 and HSC 207. An introductory exploration of the physical forms that knowledge and communication have taken in the West, from ancient oral cultures to modern print-literate culture. The main interest is in discovering how what is said and thought in a culture reflects its available kinds of literacy and media of communication.

(Formerly GRK 214.) An exploration of the poetic masterpieces of the Archaic period. Students study some of the songs bards performed to the accompaniment of the lyre, stories of war, exile and homecoming, monsters and divinities, love and lust. Readings are chosen from works such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days, the Homeric Hymns. Prerequisite: GRK 215 or equivalent.

What is the political significance of nature? This course engages this question through a critical analysis of readings in classic and contemporary environmental political thought with special emphasis on the political relationship between human beings and nature. Discussions include wilderness conservation, political ecology, environmental justice and more. The question which emerges through these readings, which is in the background of the entire course, is whether a democratic and just response to the challenges of the climate crisis might be found. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only.

This course aims to understand the political implications of the Big Data era through a focus on how data has corresponded with power throughout history, from ancient times to today. The course considers how new data sources and technologies have driven significant social change, such as through the development of statistics (“science that serves the state”) for taxation and government census, surveillance practices for policing and national security, classification for anti-poverty programs and data security regulations.