History

Requirements for the History Major (36 semester hours)

9 courses; no more than 2 at the 100-level; at least 4 at the 300-400 level

IDS 322 The Idea of Europe can count toward the major

Distribution Requirements:

1) Geographic Distribution (12 semester hours)*

Students must complete 4 semester hours from at least three of the following categories:

• United States
• Asia
• Europe
• Comparative
• Latin America
• Middle East/North Africa

2) Temporal Distribution (8 semester hours)*

Students must complete at least four semester hours from each of the following categories:

• Pre-modern
• Modern

* Note: A single course can count toward both the Geographic Distribution Requirement and the Temporal Requirement.

Methods Requirement (4 semester hours)

Students must complete at least four semester hours from the following list:

• HIST 221W History Workshop (4)
• HIST 444W Seminar in Historiography and Philosophy of History (4)
• HIST 453W History in the Archives** (4)

Senior Capstone Experience (4 semester hours)

• HIST 453W History in the Archives** (4)
• HIST 499W Senior Tutorial (4)
  

**Note: HIST 453W may count as the capstone experience only when it is taken during the senior year and when the student has already completed HIST 221W or HIST 444W for the methods requirement.

Credit and Concentration Requirements

The major consists of 36 semester hours , including not more than 20 lower-division semester hours of which a maximum of 8 semester hours may be at the 100 level. At least 16 semester hours must be at the 300 and 400 levels. By the end of the sophomore year, students will choose an area of concentration (e.g. a thematic, periodic or geographic focus, an intellectual, social or comparative emphasis) in consultation with and approved by the major advisor. The concentration should consist of a minimum of 12 semester hours at the 200 level and above, plus the Senior Capstone Experience. The department encourages all majors to study a language related to their area of emphasis and to study abroad; credits earned overseas may be approved for credit within the major, subject to the consent of the department chair.

Requirements for the History Minor (20 semester hours)

Students must take 1 course in at least 2 of the following areas:

• United States
• Asia
• Europe
• Comparative
• Latin America
• Middle East/North Africa

No more than 8 semester hours may be at the 100-level. At least two 300/400 level courses must be completed.

IDS 322 The Idea of Europe can count toward the minor

Indicators of Achievement

Student Learning Outcomes for the History Major

1. A working knowledge of several different historical eras and locales
2. The ability to make interpretive sense out of a large body of historical data
3. The ability to articulate a clear and original historical interpretation in both written and oral form
4. The ability to identify multiple positions within a historiographical debate and assess the strengths and weaknesses of those positions
5. The ability to usefully apply their historical understanding to themselves and the time in which they live

Faculty

• Saghar Sadeghian, Associate Professor of History; Department Chair
• Sammy Basu, Professor of History and Public Health, Sabbatical Leave-2024-2025
• Robert Chenault, Associate Professor of History and Classics
• Seth Cotlar, Professor of History, Sabbatical Leave 2023-2024
• Leslie Dunlap, Continuing Professor of History
• Ellen Eisenberg, Dwight & Margaret Lear Professor of American History
• Cecily McCaffrey, Professor of History
• Wendy Petersen Boring, Associate Professor of History,
• William T. Smaldone, E. J. Whipple Professor of History

Course Listings

HIST 113 Topics in United States History: Early Period (4)

Development of American political institutions and the impact of major issues on American society and culture from the Revolutionary era through the Civil War.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Jopp, Cotlar

HIST 114 Topics in United States History: Later Period (4)

Development of the modern American state and the impact of major issues on American society and culture from Reconstruction to the present.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Eisenberg

HIST 116 Europe since 1650 (4)

A survey of the cultural, intellectual, political and socioeconomic developments of modern Western society, including the scientific revolution of the 17th Century, the Enlightenment, the age of democratic revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, the rise of nation-states, totalitarianism, two world wars, the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet system. Among the fundamental aims of the course is to identify the defining characteristics of different phases of Western historical development and to study the factors that precipitate long- and short-term historical change. The course is very broad in scope and seeks to provide students with a sense of how Western ideas, social relations and institutions have changed over time and how these changes are interrelated.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, PDE; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 118 East Asian Civilization Since 1800 (4)

An introduction to the histories of China, Korea and Japan from the early 19th century to the present. This course will examine the experience of East Asian civilizations in their encounters with the West and the problems of modernization which followed. Despite their geographic proximity, China, Korea and Japan followed different patterns during much of their history and this course will seek to examine those patterns, with an explicitly comparative approach, in the intellectual, socioeconomic and institutional realms. Readings emphasize literature and historical documents in translation.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, PDE, World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 131W Culture, Power, Society (4)

This course focuses on the interrelationships between the exercise of power and social and cultural formations in discrete historical contexts. Through the exploration of a specifically defined topic, students will examine primary source documents, historical arguments, and theory to critically assess the ways in which structures of power construct categories of difference in cultural and social terms as well as the evolution of these categories over time. Attention will be given to the ways that individual experiences are conditioned by these categories of difference in particular historical moments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE; World Engagement: CV (topic dependent for WE requirement)
• Prerequisite: First and second-year students only. May be repeated for credit one time if the topic is different.
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 169 Diversifying Oregon Histories (2)

Throughout the twentieth century, local histories and historical sites conveyed dominant, settler colonial narratives, centering "heroic" white pioneers and elite, "leading" families. Yet over the last several decades, these interpretations have been challenged, as new generations of historians have exposed land theft, racism, and exclusion as key themes in local and state histories. This course provides students the opportunity to get out into the community to engage with local historical sites and institutions, to learn about the work they are doing to confront these histories, and to explore ways of bringing to light the experiences of more diverse communities and individuals, who have previously been overlooked or marginalized.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: First and second-year students only. 
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Eisenberg

HIST 171 History of the Modern Middle East (4)

This course is an introduction to the history of the modern Middle East. It explores the history of two major empires – the Ottoman and the Iranian – from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. The course studies the Ottoman Empire’s expansion, its engagement with the world economy, and the changing relationship between the state and its subjects.  It includes the histories of the lands liberated following the Ottoman collapse, the European mandates, and the establishment of new countries in the region. The course also examines the economy, politics, and culture of Iran from the Safavid period to that of the Islamic Republic. The majority of the course pays particular attention to critical themes such as modernization, westernization, secularization, and colonization.  It examines the emergence of nationalism, sectarianism, and constitutionalism, as well as the impact of the military, oil, and political religion on the region.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, World Engagement: CV, PDE 
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Sadeghian

HIST 199 Topics in History (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in History. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

HIST 202 Public History Practicum: History in the News (2)

This course involves students in the practice of public history. Students will plan three public history panels for the popular “History in the News” Series at the Willamette Heritage Center, which puts the news in historical and local perspective. Students select a topic of immediate interest and newsworthiness, identify and invite experts to a panel discussion, research scholarship on the subject, publicize the event, and write questions for the panel (moderated by Professor Dunlap and broadcast on WKMUZ). Previous panels have considered renaming historical monuments and Native mascots, the #MeToo movement, and reaction to the 2016 Presidential election.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Dunlap

HIST 215 History of the Present (2)

This course will teach students how to identify and analyze reliable historical sources that can help make them make sense of this particularly turbulent moment in political and social history. Every week we will seek to more deeply understand a topic that has risen to prominence in our national conversation by reading historical evidence and contemporary works of history that help us put current events in an appropriate historical context.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Cotlar

HIST 221W History Workshop (4)

This course introduces the student to the methodologies employed in the discipline of history. Particular attention is given to historical research process, the use of evidence, and the skills in historical writing. Designed to focus on discrete historical topics, the course also functions to introduce students to historical discourse and the ethical concerns of the historian.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: One HIST course or consent; no seniors
• Offering: Annually
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 231 Greek History From Homer to Alexander (4)

This course provides an introduction to the history of ancient Greece, spanning a thousand years from the Bronze Age down to the time of Alexander the Great. Topics to be discussed include the interactions between Greece and other ancient civilizations, the origins and development of Greek city-states (especially Athens and Sparta), and the development of local and panhellenic identities. Within this historical framework, close attention will be given not only to political institutions but also to the social and cultural values that shaped them. Students will read a variety of ancient texts in translation, along with some modern scholarship; the emphasis will be on learning how to make critical use of sources to discuss and debate historical questions.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Chenault

HIST 233 Asian Empires on the Silk Road (4)

This course explores the history of Asian empires on the Silk Road such as the Tang dynasty and the Mongol empire. It focuses in particular on intercultural communication and exchange, considering the interactions between societies ranging from the Japanese islands to the steppes of Central Asia. Attention will be paid to significant religious and cultural developments shaping the history of the region, such as the expansion of Buddhism and the spread of a character-based writing system, as well as the evolution of relations between Asia kingdoms and their neighbors.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 235 The First Empires: History of the Ancient Near East from 6000 to 600 BCE (4)

Covers ancient Near Eastern civilization from the Sumerian Ubaid culture ca. 6000 to the fall of the Neo-Assyrian empire ca. 600 BCE, encompassing Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia. We look at how the progressive discovery of the various civilizations of the ancient Near East through archeological excavation starting in the 1800s changed western scholars’ understanding of the past, and we examine critically the modern reception of the ancient Near East. Special attention is paid to the indigenous senses of history, both in scribal culture and in action, using, e.g., annals, dynastic lists, city laments, year names, monumental and artifact inscriptions (both genuine and ancient fakes), autobiographies (genuine and fake), treaties, diplomatic correspondence, stone reliefs and other monumental art and architecture.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Bachvarova

HIST 237 History of Modern Iran (4)

This course is an introduction to the history of the Modern Iran from the 17th century to the present. Primary documents and secondary readings will give students a broad understanding of some of the principle forces that have shaped the contemporary society of Iran and its relationship with other countries, providing a framework for further study.

The main themes and problems that this course engages with include the power structure in different dynasties such as the Safavids, the Qajars, and the Pahlavis; the power and role of religion, especially Shi'a Islam, in Iranian society and politics; first contacts with the West; revolutions and constitutionalism; strategic geography of the Persian Gulf; and oil as the motor engine of economy and foreign affairs of the country.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Sadeghian

HIST 239 The Social History of Health (4)

This seminar investigates select approaches, themes, cases, episodes, movements and controversies within the past and current social history of public health. These include movements around race and reproductive justice, vaccination, disability, and LBGTQI+ health and rights. Utilizing both primary documents (such as personal accounts, prescriptive literature, and novels) and secondary scholarly sources, students will consider how an historical approach might shape current and future public health perspectives and efforts. Geographical, temporal, and topical focus will vary.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Spring semester
• Instructor: Dunlap

HIST 240 Ancient to Early-Medieval European Ideas (4)

This lecture course surveys Ancient to Early-Medieval European Intellectual Thought by focusing on four major figures each of whom advances a distinctive way of being in the world: Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Augustine—seek, balance, retreat, and love, respectively. These figures and forms of life will be understood in relation to their immediate and unfolding aesthetic, cultural, social and political historical contexts, as well as in terms of their subsequent influences and contemporary relevance.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Basu

HIST 241 Late-Medieval to Renaissance European Ideas (4)

This lecture course surveys Late-Medieval to Renaissance European Intellectual Thought by focusing on four major figures each of whom advances a distinctive way of being in the world: Aquinas, Machiavelli, More and Montaigne—obey, force, share, and essay, respectively. These figures and forms of life will be understood in relation to their immediate and unfolding aesthetic, cultural, social and political historical contexts, as well as in terms of their subsequent influences and contemporary relevance.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Basu

HIST 242 Early-Modern to Modern European Ideas (4)

This lecture course surveys Early-Modern to Modern European Intellectual Thought by focusing on four major figures each of whom advances a distinctive way of being in the world: Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Hume—fear, appropriate, feel and doubt, respectively. These figures and forms of life will be understood in relation to their immediate and unfolding aesthetic, cultural, social and political historical contexts, as well as in terms of their subsequent influences and contemporary relevance.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Basu

HIST 251 Rome: From Republic to Empire (4)

This course provides an introduction to the history of ancient Rome, spanning the more than one thousand years from the founding of the city through the late imperial period. The class is structured around a series of problems and questions that will require you to formulate and evaluate historical arguments based on the close reading of ancient sources. Topics to be covered include the origins of Rome, it's growth from a small city-state to a world empire, and the relationship between this expansion and the development of both the Republic and the empire as political systems. We will also consider the impact of Roman rule on the populations of Rome and its provinces as well as selected aspects of Roman society and culture, including the household, the role of public entertainment, and the varieties of religious experience found within the Empire.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Chenault

HIST 254 20th-Century Europe (4)

This course surveys the history of Europe in the 20th century. Focusing on social and political developments, it examines the phenomenon of nationalism, total war, the Russian Revolution, the Depression, the rise of fascism and bureaucratic collectivism, and the Holocaust. In the post-WWII period, the course will focus on the division of Europe and of Europe in the Cold War, the decline of the European empires and on the contradictory forces that are pushing Europe toward economic and political unity on the one hand (most markedly in the West) and toward dissolution and conflict (especially in the East).

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 255 Cities and the Making of Modern Europe: 1750 to Present (4)

This course surveys the transformation of Europe from a primarily rural to an overwhelmingly urban society. Why have cities come to dominate the European landscape? How have the functions of cities changed over time? How has the growth of cities impacted people's quality of life and how have cities managed the environmental, social, economic, and cultural challenges that expansion brought? What kinds of struggles played out in cities? To what extent are cities engines of change in shaping modern European society? The course will grapple with such questions by studying the histories of a selection of cities across Europe from the onset of the industrial revolution to the present.

• General Education Requirement: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 256 Colonial Latin America (4)

A study of the history of Latin America from the pre-colonial period to independence. Emphasis will be placed on the development of Latin America's economy, culture and political life. Special attention will be given to the encounter between the Spanish conquistadors and indigenous peoples, as well as to the background of the movements for independence.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years in fall
• Instructor: Jopp

HIST 258 Modern Latin America (4)

This course examines the significant social, political, economic and cultural developments in Latin America from the 19th century movements for independence through the 20th century. Special emphasis will be given to Mexico, Cuba, and Central America as well as selected South American states including Brazil. The role of the United States in the region will also receive much attention.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 259 American Jewish History (4)

Since 1654, Jews have been a minority presence in America. This course surveys the Jewish experience from the colonial period through the late 20th century and places that experience in the larger context of American ethnic history. The various forms of Jewish identity--ethnic, cultural, religious, etc.--will be examined as they changed over time in response to experiences in America and in the larger Jewish world. Attention will be given to the impact of the successive waves of Jewish immigration on the American Jewish community, to regional variations in American Jewish experiences, and to the relationships between American Jewish communities and other ethnic/religious/racial minority communities, including recent debates over the evolving place of Jews in the American ethnic/racial hierarchy, often cast as the relationship of Jews to "whiteness."

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Eisenberg

HIST 262 Gender and Women's History in the United States (4)

This course introduces students to key sources, methods, and questions in U.S. women's and gender history.  The course considers who and what defined what sex and gender should and could be, and the relationship of sex and gender to other systems of belief, belonging, labor, property, and power.  How did gender shape people’s bodies, ambitions, and possibilities?  How did gender systems affect historical processes such as colonization, enslavement, war, industrialization, emancipation, U.S. empire, and the social movements.  How do historians research and narrate the past in ways that connect to the present, but also attend to the distinctions and alternatives of the past?

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Dunlap

HIST 265 Late Imperial China (4)

This course examines the social and cultural history of China during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Topics include the political structures of imperial rule; the social and cultural institutions that organized local society; the economic trends that produced the pre-modern world's largest and most advanced civilization; and the ways in which all of the above were transformed by China's 19th-century encounter with Western imperialism. This period provides an excellent case study of nationalism and modernization in a non-Western context.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 270 Cinema in the Middle East (4)

This course briefly reviews the arrival of cinematography to Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt. Students will study the impact of Western films on Middle Eastern societies, the socio-political role of the film industry in Middle Eastern countries, and how films portray, interpret, and, at times, impact historical events such as revolutions and wars. Students will watch films, and read theoretical and historical texts for this course.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV, PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Sadeghian

HIST 271 Race, Religion, and Ethnicity in the Modern Middle East (4)

The Middle East is a diverse region. While enriching the culture, this diversity has become a cause of conflicts as well. This course examines the history of racial, religious, and ethnic minorities in the Middle East from the nineteenth century to the present. Its principlal focus will be the Ottoman Empire and Persia in pre-mandate period and Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan in the modern time. The course examines the history of slavery, non-Muslim communities, and the nomadic life of some ethnic groups. In addition, it introduces students to such theoretical concepts as national identity, imagined communities, othering, and the relationship between the center and the periphery. Supporting materials for the course will include an array of primary and secondary sources, as well as some films.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: PDE; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Sadeghian

HIST 281 History of Modern Japan (4)

This course examines the history of modern Japan from the late Tokugawa period (1800) through the era of Imperial Japan (1868-1945). Topics include: imperialism in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, state modernization efforts and popular responses, the Japanese colonial empire, and the Fifteen Years’ War (1931-1945). Course material will focus on the diverse perspectives and experiences of the Japanese people and colonial subjects.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 282 China in Revolution, 1911-1949 (4)

This course focuses on the tumultuous years between 1911-1949, when China developed into a modern nation-state. Topics include: the political struggles behind the formation of the Republic of China; the intellectual and cultural revolutions of the May Fourth period; the development of an industrial economy; the rise of the Chinese Communist Party; the War of Resistance and civil war.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate springs
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 299 Topics in History (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in History. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

HIST 305W Late-Modern European Ideas (4)

This seminar course surveys Late-Modern European Intellectual Thought, reconciling the French Revolutionary legacy of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity,’ by focusing on five major figures each of whom advances a distinctive way of being in the world: Kant, Wollstonecraft, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche—dignify, resist, synthesize, struggle and laugh, respectively. These figures and forms  of life will be discussed in relation to their immediate unfolding aesthetic, cultural, social and political contexts, as well as in terms of their subsequent influences and contemporary relevance: cosmopolitanism, feminism, communitarianism, socialism and post-modernism, respectively.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment:  Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or above
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Basu

HIST 306 History Through Biography (4)

The aim of this course is to study the life of a major historical figure. Through the use of biographical and autobiographical works, students will examine the subject's life, the historical context in which the person lived, and his or her historical significance. In addition to these aims, the course will also survey a range of biographical approaches.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 307 American Immigration History (4)

This course will explore the major themes and debates in American immigration history. Topics will include key migration waves, immigration policy, acculturation and attitudes towards immigrants, with an emphasis on the post-Civil War period. Methodological issues in researching immigrant history will also be explored.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE; World Engagement: Community Engaged Learning
• Offering: Alternate Years
• Instructor: Eisenberg

HIST 308 American Legal History (4)

A study of the history of American law from its origins in the colonial period to its contemporary condition. This course will use the law that we study as a window on the economic, political and social forces that mold law and examine the role of law in American society. The ultimate objective is to come to some conclusions about the relationship between ourselves and our legal system.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Occasionally
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 315 Western Civilization and Sustainability: Beginnings to 1600 (4)

This course is an introduction to the historical roots of sustainability design to examine the thought and practices which have marked interactions between humans and the environment in the West prior to 1600. Focusing on key moments that have contributed significantly to the current context--the transition to agriculture, classical Athens, the later middle ages, and the age of global commerce, colonization, and scientific progress--the course will analyze 'green' versus traditional histories, interpret data about resource use, and analyze primary texts that speak to the human-nature relationship. The course will challenge students to analyze the extent to which our current thought and practices have roots in the historical past, understand humans' relationship to the environment as integral to the narrative of history in the West, analyze traditional historical categories such as periodization, causation, and narrative structure, and use the lens of sustainability to examine how values shape historical narratives.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate falls
• Instructor: Petersen Boring

HIST 319 Medieval Europe, 400-1500 (4)

This course will examine the Barbarian invasions of Europe, the decline of the Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity and its new moral norms, institutions, and hierarchies, the Frankish Empire, and the threats of Byzantine, Moslem and Viking civilizations. Then it will trace, from the 11th through 14th centuries, the revival of economic and urban life, the Investiture Controversy, the 12th century Renaissance, the crusades, the rise of the feudal monarchies, Scholasticism, Gothic Art and Architecture and the increasing secularization of western Europe.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Fall
• Instructor: Petersen Boring

HIST 331 Asian Environmental History (4)

This course explores East Asian history through environmental perspectives, interrogating the relationship between humans and the natural environment as mediated by state and social institutions. It covers both the pre-modern and the modern periods, focusing on discrete case studies relating to different East Asian states. We explore the intersections of ecological history with social and economic development as well as examine the role of the state with respect to both regulating and exploiting natural and human resources. We also consider the philosophical and cultural factors which distinguish the Asian historical experience of environmental management.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 333 Oil Empires (4)

This course explores the history of oil discovery and its impact on the Middle East from the early 1900s to present, including a general review of the mapping of the Middle East and the role of oil in the decisions on creating or dealing with each country since the British and French Mandate. The course employs an array of primary and secondary sources to help students analyze the cases from different angles.

The main themes and problems that this course engages are the role of oil in the economy, politics, culture, and foreign affairs of the Middle Eastern countries and the conflict related to oil. Examples include imperialism, global economy, wars, and western engagement with the oil empires.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Sadeghian

HIST 334 Gender Trouble in the Middle East (4)

Borrowing Judith Butler’s book title, the course examines concepts of gender and sexuality in the Middle East -emphasizing Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan -from the 19th century to the present. The course analyzes the impacts of imperialism, modernity and industrialization on the role of women in society, economy, culture and politics. At the same time, the students study the history of homosexuality and transsexuality in the Middle East from pre-modern to present time. Topics include revolution and resistance, feminism, women and gender in Islam, hijab and dress codes, gender in art and literature. The course employs theories on sexuality, citizenship, movement/non-movement and religious laws (Shari’a) to analyze the cases historically. The material includes primary and secondary sources, novels and films that represent the unheard population of the Middle East. No language proficiency or prerequisites are needed.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE; World Engagement: CV 
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Sadeghian

HIST 353 Preserving the Past (4)

Archives, commonly only thought of as places of study, have become an object of study as archival authority and supposed “neutrality” have been contested over the past few decades. Archival collecting and practice is influenced by layers of political, social, cultural, and legal mediation. The purpose of the course is to introduce, examine and understand the principles, practices and current debates in the archives and manuscript profession. This course provides students with a critical understanding of how archives are formed and organized, and examines the influence of archival practices and policies on collective memory.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 341 Studies in Latin American History (4)

Topics to be announced. A thematic, general interest course in Latin American history offered when circumstances warrant. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: One History course
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 342 Studies in American History (4)

Topics to be announced. A thematic, general course in American history offered when circumstances warrant. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: One History course
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 343 Studies in European History (4)

A thematic, general interest course in European history offered when circumstances warrant. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 344W Studies in East Asian History (4)

Topic to be announced. A thematic, general interest course in East Asian history offered when circumstances warrant. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 345 Studies in Greek or Roman History (4)

Topic to be announced. A thematic, general interest course in ancient Greek or Roman history. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: One History course
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Chenault

HIST 345 Studies in Greek or Roman History (4)

Topic to be announced. A thematic, general interest course in ancient Greek or Roman history. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities
• Prerequisite: One History course
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Chenault

HIST 361 African American History 1619-1865 (4)

This course examines the experience of African Americans in the United States from 1619 to the end of the Civil War. Course topics will include the Atlantic Slave Trade, the relationship between slavery and racism, the development of free black communities in the North and South, slave religion, patterns of slave resistance and accommodation, the emergence of a shared African-American culture in the 18th century, and the African-American role in both the abolitionist movement and the Civil War.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: On Demand
• Instructor: Cotlar

HIST 362 African American History 1865-Present (4)

This course examines the experience of African Americans in the United States from Reconstruction to the present. Course topics will include Reconstruction, the Jim Crow period, the Great Migration, the urban experience, the Civil Rights Movement, and African American leadership.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Eisenberg

HIST 367 The American Revolution (4)

This course examines the causes and consequences of the American Revolution. Course materials explore the events of 1763 to 1789 from many different perspectives-as a set of diplomatic and military encounters which fractured a long-standing colonial relationship, as a pivotal moment in the history of Anglo-American political thought, as part of the expansion of a market-oriented economy in North America, and as a socially transformative event in the lives of the laboring men, women, African-Americans, and Native Americans who took part in the war. Students will engage with a wide range of primary and secondary sources which will enable them to assess in what ways the American War for Independence was or was not a revolutionary war.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate Years
• Instructor: Cotlar

HIST 369 History of the Pacific Northwest (4)

In this course, students will engage with the environmental, political, social, and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest. We will explore both what makes this region distinctive and what traits we share with other regions. Using both primary and secondary works, as well as theoretical approaches to the study of regions, we will seek to understand both the region in its historical context, as well as its relation to the nation and the world. We will be asking: Where is the "Pacific Northwest?" Who calls this region "home?" What draws people here? Why do we live as we do? How have people shaped and reshaped the environment within which we live? What does learning about this "place" teach us? What does our future portend?

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate Years
• Instructor: Jopp

HIST 372 History of Modern Russia (4)

The uniqueness of Russian civilization, the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union. The emancipation period, revolutionary thought and action, the constitutional monarchy, the 1917 revolutions and the establishment of the Soviet regime, the development of agriculture and industry and the evolution of the Communist Party.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 374 Love and Reason in the Middle Ages: European Intellectual History 400-1500 (4)

This course introduces students to the intellectual culture of the Middle Ages through engagement with major texts and authors from the period (ca. 400-1500) including Boethius, Abelard, Aquinas, Maimonides, Chretien de Troyes, Marie de France, Mechtild de Magdburg, the Gawain poet, et Meun and de Lorris, Dante, and Christine de Pisan. Drawing on a diversity of genres, including philosophical treaties, poetry, literature, romances, confessions, short stories, and mystical journeys, the course will explore medieval articulations of the ultimate good, the relationship between reason and passion, and the nature of knowledge and love.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV
  
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Petersen Boring

HIST 375 Women and Gender in Medieval Europe (4)

This course will explore the history of women in the European Middle Ages and examine the ways in which European medieval culture represented and constructed gender through its institutions, cultural symbols, and literary texts. The course will focus on primary texts by and about women, including devotional and courtly literature poetry, philosophy, hagiography, and essays. Through these readings we will explore topics such as how medieval people viewed the physical body and constructed the social bodies of women and men; the way in which the realities of women's daily lives shaped cultural representations of the female; how representations of sexuality and desire, new conceptions of reason and nature, and new forms of women's religious life shaped the religious and secular literature of the period; and how court culture, crusades, and inquisition practices contributed to medieval constructions of male and female identities.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; World Engagement: CV
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Petersen Boring

HIST 378 The Rise of Capitalism (4)

This course studies the history of capitalism from its origins in the Middle Ages to the present. Drawing on a wide variety of materials, including recent historical texts, primary sources, film, and fiction, it examines the emergence of the capitalist order in Europe, its expansion into a global system, and its impact on the social hierarchy, intellectual life, politics, and the environment.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Alternate Fall semesters
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 379 Studies in Comparative History (4)

Topics will be announced. A thematic, general interest course in comparative history offered when circumstances warrant. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 380W History of Modern Socialism (4)

This course surveys the history of the European socialist movement from the eighteenth-century to the present, examines the ideas of the utopian socialists, the development of Marxism, and the relationship of Marxism to other schools of socialist and radical leftist thought. The course studies the development of socialist ideas and the socialist movement in the context of the process of industrialization and social change that has transformed society in the last two centuries. While the emphasis of the course is on European socialist history, time will also be devoted to the prospects for socialism in the new century.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences; PDE
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 383 Mao's China 1949-1979 (4)

Examination of the major events which took place during Mao's era, 1949-1976, and political and economic reforms during Deng Xiaoping's era. The issues will be focused on the structure of the CCP, its ideology, its left-oriented policies, its foreign policies and the power struggles within the leadership. Assessment of the role of Mao Zedong will provide a basis for understanding Chinese politics and society.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: McCaffrey

HIST 388W Democracy and Nazism (4)

Why does democracy fail? How does authoritarianism arise? This seminar course explores several competing explanations for the failure of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and for the consolidation of the Nazi Third Reich (1933-1945). To do so, it considers evidence in salient primary source texts, film, art and imagery (all in translation), and engages with relevant secondary scholarship. Ultimately, in exploring the particular historical record, this course seeks insights into the constitutive elements of democracy in general at the political institutional, socio-cultural, and personal cognitive levels, and lessons about what makes democracy alternately vigorous or vulnerable. Students will lead discussion, take exams, and write a research term paper.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or above
• Offering: Alternate years
• Instructor: Basu

HIST 390W Germany from Bismarck to Hitler (4)

This course surveys the making of modern Germany from the creation of the Hohenzollern Empire under Bismarck until the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945. It examines the key social, economic, cultural, and political developments that led to the Empire's collapse at the end of the First World War, the founding of the Weimar Republic, and the rise and fall of Nazism.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 391W Germany in the Cold War (4)

This course examines Germany's socioeconomic, political and cultural development during the Cold War.  It examines the division of the country following the collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, the emergence of the capitalist Federal Republic in the West and the communist Democratic Republic in the East, and the factors that led to the collapse of the East and national reunification in 1990.  The course raises questions about the essential features of "democratic capitalism" and "totalitarian-socialism," and it sets the German experience in a broad European context.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities; World Engagement: DV; PDE
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Smaldone

HIST 394 Internship (2 or 4)

The Internship in the Department of History is designed to allow students to have the opportunity to work in a local museum or archive, at a local historical site, or with other organizations engaged in projects of a historical nature. The course allows students the opportunity to explore the kind of work that professionals in the field do, while assisting a local heritage organization in their work.

The Internship is completed under the guidance of the director of the program. Students may take this course for either 2 or 4 semester hours. Students completing the 2 semester hours option complete 3-8 hours a week at the Internship site, remain in regular communication with the Internship director, and complete a report on their experience. Students completing the 4 semester hours option complete at least 10 hours a week at the Internship site, remain in regular communication with the Director, and complete a major project or paper upon completion. The course may not be taken for more than 4 semester hours in History.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Every semester
• Instructor: Jopp

HIST 399 Topics in History (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in History. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

HIST 429 Topics in History (1-4)

A semester-long study of topics in History. Topics and emphases will vary according to the instructor. This course may be repeated for credit with different topics. See the New and Topics Courses page on the Registrar’s webpage for descriptions and applicability to majors/minors in other departments.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Topic dependent
• Prerequisite: Topic dependent
• Offering: Occasionally
• Professor: Staff

HIST 443 Advanced Topics in European History (4)

A special topics course to be offered when circumstances warrant, focusing on a particular problem or issue in modern European history in accordance with the faculty member's special interest and area of expertise. May be repeated if the topic varies.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: One History course
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 444W Seminar in Historiography and Philosophy of History (4)

Major trends, assumptions and problems in the writing of European and American history as related to the changing intellectual milieu from the Enlightenment to the present.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 450 Advanced Topics in American History (4)

Special topics course to be offered when circumstances warrant, focusing on a particular problem, issue or theme in American history in accordance with faculty interest and expertise.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: Two courses in American history
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 452W Topics in Chinese/Japanese History (4)

A special topics course to be offered when circumstances warrant, focusing on a particular problem or issue in either Chinese or Japanese history in accordance with the faculty member's special interest and area of expertise.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: Closed to first-year students.
• Offering: On Demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 453W History in the Archives (4)

This course aims to build students' skills as social historians through the development of archive-based projects focusing on Salem/Oregon. Students will explore issues in the practice of local history, be introduced to key historical themes and resources, and develop individual research questions. Students will form a research community as they explore their topics using archival sources. Each student will produce a paper that features critical analysis of archival sources and places his/her research in the context of existing scholarship. Findings will be shared in written and oral form with local historical institutions, such as the Willamette Heritage center. Although this course is open to other students, senior history majors may use this project to fulfill their senior experience requirement.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: One history course
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Eisenberg

HIST 491 Independent Study in American History (2 or 4)

Directed reading and/or research in some aspect of American history for advanced students. Open only to juniors or seniors who have completed two credits in American history.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Offering: Spring
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 492 Independent Study in European History (2-4)

Directed reading and/or research in some aspect of European history for advanced students. Open only to juniors and seniors who have completed 8 semester hours in European history.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: 8 semester hours in European history and junior or senior standing
• Offering: On Demand
• Instructor: Staff

HIST 499W Senior Tutorial (4)

The History Senior Tutorial consists of a program of directed reading, research and writing in an area or topic of the student's own choice, in consultation with members of the department. As the tutorial is the culmination of the student's History major, it is expected that the tutorial topic will be from the student's area of concentration within the major and will build on course work completed by the student in that area. The tutorial project may be a research project involving the use of primary and secondary source materials, or a project that is a historiographical in nature.

• General Education Requirement Fulfillment: Writing-centered; Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences
• Prerequisite: History major, senior standing
• Offering: On demand
• Instructor: Staff