Historians rely in their research on published and unpublished ego-documents such as journals, correspondence, scrapbooks and memoir—even scraps of paper and marginalia. Through examination of the writing of historians who have centered ego documents in their work, students are introduced to and grapple with questions of method and practice. Students learn how to generate a substantial literature review and perform original archival research. Enrollment limited to 12. Juniors and seniors only. Instructor permission required.

How is historical memory made—and lost? Students in this Calderwood seminar will reflect upon and intervene in this process as they consider how the major wars of the mid-twentieth century have been remembered or forgotten in the public sphere. The focus is on wars in Asia, most notably the Asia-Pacific theater of World War II followed by the supposedly “forgotten” war in Korea. Yet public knowledge about these wars is extremely limited in the United States. At the same time, war memories, particularly those surrounding World War II, are more contentious than ever across East Asia today.

Students learn about the evolving meaning of ‘Indigeneity’ and the centrality of Indigenous peoples in the history of the United States. The course moves through the 19th century roughly chronologically, beginning in 1800 and concluding in the early 1900s. Lectures focus on different places, themes and Indigenous peoples’ histories, though topics may at times overlap and extend beyond defined time periods. Enrollment limited to 40. (E)

Analysis of the historical realities, social movements, cultural expression and political debates that shaped U.S. citizenship from the Declaration of Independence to the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. From the hope of liberty and equality to the exclusion of marginalized groups that made whiteness, maleness and native birth synonymous with Americanness. How African Americans, Native Americans, immigrants and women harnessed the Declaration of Independence and its ideology to define themselves as citizens of the United States. Enrollment limited to 40.

Cultural and social interpretations of the fundamental event in modern history. The staging of politics from the tribune to the guillotine. History as a literary art in prose, poetry, drama and film. Focus on Paris 1787-95. Enrollment limited to 18.

How much can historians learn about the daily lives of the mass of the population in the past? Can a people’s history recapture the thoughts and deeds of subjects as well as rulers? Critical examination of attempts at total history from below for selected English and French locales. The class re-creates families, congregations, guilds and factions in a German town amid the religious controversy and political revolution of the 1840s. Enrollment limited to 18.

Focuses on the history of the Soviet Union during the "greater Cold War," that is, between World War II and the disintegration of the USSR. Touches on foreign policy developments, but the main focus is on the social, political and economic processes, and cultural developments inside the USSR itself. Explores Soviet history in the second half of the 20th century through historical works and a range of primary sources. Topics include the post-war reconstruction, rise of the military-industrial complex, education, popular culture and dissent. Enrollment limited to 40.

The course uses magic as a case study for exploring cultural transmission in the Middle Ages. The course examines Germanic and Greco-Roman occult traditions, and the way in which the medieval synthesis of these cultures effects understandings of the occult. The course follows the influence of the Arabic and Hebrew influences on western occultism of the High Middle Ages, and flowering of the Renaissance magical tradition. The course challenges and reshapes some of our basic understandings about Medieval society.

This survey course examines Europe, the Mediterranean world, from the late 10th century to the 14th, considered the height of the medieval world. Students study the interactions between peoples and societies in the medieval world - from the emergence of new conceptions of sovereignty, popular religion and the Crusades, the university, and Arthurian literature, to the restructuring of society in the calamitous century of the Mortalitas Magnas.