Tag Archives: New Courses
Spring 2019 Course Offerings!
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Announcing History Graduate Courses for Spring 2018
Following on from last week’s listing of the graduate courses in History for Fall 2017, we now proudly announce the courses for Spring 2018.
Global History
HIST 6256 The History of Torture and Western Culture (Thursday 5:30-8PM)
What does the history of torture look like, when placed in a global perspective? Professor W. David Myers describes his course as follows:
From Greek slaves to deaths by a thousand cuts in China; from Jesuit missionaries in Japan or New France to anti-American insurgents in the Philippines; from anti-French insurgents in Algeria to anti-communists in Argentina; from Rodney King in Los Angeles to Afghanistan, ISIL and home again to Chicago, torture has been a ubiquitous and continuous feature of human culture around the globe. Today, roundly condemned by UN treaty and almost all nations, subject to international oversight, torture still persists on all continents and in all political systems. This course will examine that sad global history, with special attention to the human body as an object of state power, despite the legacy of the European Enlightenment, which proclaimed the autonomy of the individual as a highest good.
Medieval History
HIST 8150 Seminar: Medieval England (Tuesday 2:30-5PM)
The continuation of Professor Maryanne Kowaleski‘s year-long medieval Proseminar/Seminar course. For the first part, which this very blog may have described as “legendary” see here. From the description:
Students continue to work on the research project they defined in the Proseminar to this course. They also learn to design and use a computer database that includes data gathered in the course of research on the final paper, participate in seminars to improve their academic writing and public speaking skills, and familiarize themselves with professional standards for writing a scholarly article, giving a talk at an academic conference, and writing an academic curriculum vitae. They complete the seminar by giving a 20-minute conference paper on their research project and writing a thesis-length original research paper that could be published as a scholarly article.
MVST 5300- Occitania: Language and Power (Friday 2-5PM)
A brand new team-taught Medieval Studies course, a collaboration between Professors Nicholas Paul (History) and Thomas O’Donnell (English). From the description.
This team-taught interdisciplinary course introduces students to the cultural world of a medieval south: Occitania, a region defined by language stretching from the foothills of the Alps to the pathways across the Pyrenees and from the Mediterranean almost to the Loire. Students will study the Old Occitan language and its manifestations in documentary writing, historical narrative, and the poetry of the troubadours from the eleventh until the thirteenth centuries. In order to best understand the context for this literature, course topics will include urban and rural communities, gender and power, the Albigensian crusade and its aftermath, and the the rise of vernacular book production.
European History
HIST 5561 Nationalisms and Racisms in Modern Europe (Tuesday 5:30-8PM)
We’ve done a blog post about this course by Professor Silvana Patriarca before, where we described it as follows:
The seminar will focus on the history and historiography on the construction of “race” and nation in modern Europe (from the Enlightenment onwards) and in particular on the multiple connections and intersections between nationalism(s) and racism(s). As issues of cultural identity and questions of immigration and national belonging have become hotly contested in today’s European societies, the historiography on these subjects has been steadily growing. We will discuss different historical approaches, theories, and methodologies that emerge from the growing body of works addressing these issues and pay particular attention to socio-cultural histories and to transnational and comparative perspectives.
US History
HIST 5575- The United States and the World (Wednesday 2:30-5PM)
Professor Christopher Dietrich is a historian of US Foreign Relations, and in this course he brings that expertise fully to bear. “With an emphasis on the myriad ways in which peoples, cultures, economies, national governments, non-state institutions, and international institutions interact” the course will explore several themes, including “capitalism and economic policy” as well as “cultural relations, domestic politics, and perceptions of the world.” The focus on capitalism and global economy is especially important, as the course is intended to tie-in with the department’s Spring 2018 conference “The United States and Global Capitalism in the Twentieth Century.” Students in the course will get front-row seats, and can expect to be involved, in the planning and execution of a major international academic conference.
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Announcing History Graduate Courses for Fall 2017
We’ve reached that exciting time of year when we can take the wraps off the courses that the History department is planning to offer in 2017-2018.We’ll start this week with our Fall offerings.
Theory and Methods
HIST 5300- The Historian’s Toolkit (Wednesday 5:30-8PM)
One of the department’s newest faculty members, Professor Samantha Iyer, will offer our new introductory course to historical theories and methods, the “Historian’s Toolkit”. Professor Iyer brings her broad expertise as a historian of international political who has worked on the history of the United States, the Middle East, and South Asia. Students can expect an introduction to a wide range of historical approaches and methodologies grounded in a thoroughly global perspective.
Medieval History
HIST 6078- Crusader States: the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1099-1291 (Friday 2:30-5PM)
While the history of the crusades has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity among students of the Middle Ages, few courses explore in any detail the society of the crusading frontier in the eastern Mediterranean. This is the second outing of Professor Nicholas Paul‘s course dedicated to the society, politics, and culture of the Frankish Levant (1099-1291). For an introduction to the crusader states (via the Crusader States Podcast) and to see the previous course syllabus and materials, visit the course website.
HIST- 7150 Medieval England (Tuesday 2:30-5PM)
Professor Maryanne Kowaleski’s year-long Proseminar/Seminar class is legendary, and with good reason. Students enrolled with Professor Kowaleski receive a rigorous training in social history grounded equally in the archival sources of English history and research methods such as database building.
From the course description:
This is the first half of a year-long course that focuses on the social, economic and administrative history of England from the 11th through 15th centuries. Special emphasis is placed upon: how to identify and exploit a wide variety of primary sources (such as wills, cartularies, court rolls, account rolls, chronicles, among others); how to use major historical collections (such as the Rolls Series, VCH, Record Commissioners, Royal Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Ordnance Survey, Selden Society, and others); and gaining an awareness of the regions and landscape of medieval England, as well as the contributions of historical geography. Besides treating thematic issues such as the church and society, law and the legal system, the growth of government and administration, maritime trade, and industry in town and country, the weekly discussions will also consider society and economy among the peasantry, townspeople and the landowning elite.
European History
HIST 5290 Luther and Reformation (Monday 5:30-8PM)
Marking the 500th anniversary of the publication of Luther’s 95 theses, Professor Susan Wabuda will offer a brand new course Luther and the Reformation in Early Modern Europe.
From the course’s description:
October 31, 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of one of the great cultural moments that shook the History of the world: the release of Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses. Luther disturbed the political, social, and religious structures of Western Europe. Until his death in 1546, he challenged the papacy, the Catholic Church, the Holy Roman Empire, and Henry VIII. The Reformation he began both inspired and outraged. It represented the triumph of technology through the printing press. After Luther, nothing was exactly the same ever again.
HIST 5913- Golden Age Spain and America (Wednesday 2:30-5PM)
Professor S. Elizabeth Penry, whose research concerns the Spanish empires of the Atlantic, offers a course that truly brings early modern Europe into a global perspective. From the course description:
The Spanish Hapsburg Empire was the first of Europe’s globalized empires and the first modern archival state. But even the citizens of Latin American nations came to regard “modernity” as something that needed to be imported from France, England and the United States. Their understanding and ours of the (un)importance of the Spanish colonial project for the modern world was shaped by Spain’s eclipse by England and the creation of an anti-Spanish & anti-Catholic ‘rise of the west’ narrative in the American academy. The recent scholarship we will examine rethinks Spain’s role in world history to challenge this Black Legend perspective. The course begins with the end of the ‘Reconquista’ and the formation of the hybrid socio-cultural order at the end of the 15th century and concludes with the collapse of Spain’s mainland American empire and the rise of nation states there in the early 1800s. Topics may include: the importance of urban life for Spain and its empire; the rise of the inquisition and the promotion of the homogenous Spanish national subject; and the practices of everyday life embodied in concepts of gender, sexuality, honor, popular religiosity, death and the afterlife.
US History
HIST 5645- Readings in Early America (Tuesday 5:30-8PM)
Also new to the History Department is Professor Claire Gherini, who will be offering a readings course in Early American history. Early America, especially with reference to its Atlantic history, is Professor Gherini’s area of research. She writes that the course
will provide students with an introduction to the historiography of early America from contact through the era of revolutions. Major themes include the contesting and connecting of geographical areas across the continent, the everyday experiences of work across lines of race, class, and gender, and the rise and fall of Atlantic empires.
HIST 5563- Readings in North American Environmental History (Thursday 5:30-8PM)
Perhaps no element of the human story is receiving as much attention right now as our impact on the environment and the planet. Renowned historian of US environmental history Professor Steven Stoll will introduce students to the scholarship on the history of this relationship between human society and the environment. If you want to learn more about Stoll, his work, and the work of an environmental historian more generally, you can read the profile we did about him on this blog last Spring.
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Graduate Courses in History, Fall 2016
The History Department is excited to announce our lineup of Fall Courses for 2016. As always, the courses reflect the depth of expertise of our faculty and the rich variety of themes and perspectives on offer in our program. The full complement of six courses in Medieval, Early Modern, Modern European, and US history (with one course offering a global perspective on US history) is designed to provide all of our students with opportunities to pursue periods, areas, and subjects of interest to them. Medievalists can begin their year-long proseminar/seminar sequence, while other students identify topics and mentors for their final research papers.
Students should remember to contact the director of graduate studies before making their selections.
HIST 5411 Gender and Sexuality in Early America (Mondays, 5:30-7:20)
From Professor Doron Ben-Atar, author of the recent book, Taming Lust: Crimes Against Nature in the Early Republic, comes this new course offering, encompassing “readings in the history of gender and sexuality discourse in Early America and the British Atlantic world of the 17th and 18th centuries.” Students of US History and the history of gender and sexuality
HIST 5506 European Nationalisms and Early Modern (Jewish) History (Mondays, 3:30-5:20)
One of our newest faculty members, and the department’s first Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and director of Jewish Studies at Fordham, Magda Teter presents her first graduate course at Fodham in Fall 2016.
From the course description:
Modern historiography, including Jewish historiography, and history as an academic discipline are products of modern national movements. The narratives they produced provide tools for shaping national and ethnic identities in the modern era, and had long lasting ramifications not only for the study of history but also for the inclusion or exclusion of specific groups in modern European societies. This course will explore how the writing of history has been linked to the larger questions of national identity, and nationalism, and to questions of political inclusion and exclusions. We will read the early Jewish historians of Germany, Poland, and Palestine/Israel and explore how their visions of premodern Jewish history were shaped by larger questions that were also occupying other European historians and intellectuals.
HIST 5915 US and Latin American Borderlands (Wednesdays 3:30-7:20)
Professor Salvador Acosta is another history faculty member with a new book out: Sanctioning Marriage: Interethnic Marriage in the Arizona Borderlands. As the title implies, Professor Acosta is a leading authority on the history of the US and its borders, especially with Latin America. As the description of his course explains,
This course explores the concept of the borderlands, i.e., the political and geographic spaces where groups of people meet and interact. Individuals enter these areas with acquired cultural and ideological backgrounds that undergo transformations as they encounter different customs and worldviews. The course focuses on United States and Latin American history, in particular, on the roles of nation building and its concomitant identity construction. It uses various categories of analysis, such as race, gender, and hegemony, to discuss the interaction among groups of people as they meet along political and geographic borders.
HIST 6530 The European City 1700-2000 (Thursdays 5:30-7:20)
Professor Rosemary Wakeman is the director of Urban Studies at Fordham, who has published on the history of French cities, including books on the cities of Toulouse and Paris and is currently working on the history of the New Town Movement.
From the course description:
This course concentrates on theoretical and interpretive approaches to the study of the city and urban life. It considers the transformation of urban space and culture from the eighteenth century to the present during which commercial capitalism, industrialization, and massive human migration remade basic social and cultural relationships. Among the key factors of investigation are class and mass culture, gender, production and consumption, accumulation and cultural display, architecture and planning, and the evolution of urban space and topography.
HIST 6152 Medieval Women and the Family (Tuesdays, 3;30-5:20)
Professor Maryanne Kowaleski is the former director of Medieval Studies at Fordham and former President of the Medieval Academy of America. Fresh from a year’s research leave at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Professor Kowaleski will offer the medieval elective course covering the critical areas of social, economic, and gender history.
From the course description:
This course surveys recent historiography on the roles and status of women in medieval society, as well as the structures and dynamics of medieval families. Among the debates to be explored are the effect on medieval society of the Christian Church’s teachings on virginity, sex, and marriage, and the influence of geography (northern vs Mediterranean Europe), environment (village, town, and convent), and status (noble, bourgeois, or peasant) on the work, family role, and authority of women. Chronologically the course will range from the early Christian period to the Renaissance. Recent scholarly work on nuns, mystics, and beguines will be examined, and readings will also cover different approaches to the study of women and family, including the methodologies of literary scholars, demographers, feminists, and legal historians.
HIST 7056 Proseminar: Medieval Political Cultures (Wednesdays 5-7:20PM)
When he is not wearing the hat of Director of Graduate Studies in the History Department, Professor Nicholas Paul is a historian of the medieval aristocracy, the crusades, and medieval political culture. In 2016-7 he will offer the Proseminar/Seminar sequence, a year long course that allows medievalists a full semester to master the historiography on a given topic. With the topic and extensive background reading in hand, students will spend the Spring semester conducting research and writing their final papers. The course description explains:
This course, the first part of a two-semester proseminar/seminar sequence will introduce students to recent debates and different approaches to cultures of power and political processes in western Europe in the central middle ages. Among the many topics we might consider are: lordship, status and the sources of political authority; the origins and significance of consultative assemblies; the rituals and rhetoric of courtliness and persuasion; the relationship between rulership and sanctity; and the rise of accountability. Through in-class presentations and discussions, students will become familiar with a wide range of source material, from diplomatic and documentary collections to historical narratives and courtly literature.
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New Course: HIST 5410 Race and Gender in Modern America
Right now, all over the country, college campuses are the sites of debate and protest over questions of history, identity, privilege, and inclusion. The timing could not be better for a graduate course in the History department which addresses these questions head-on. That is why we are particularly excited to announce that this coming Spring semester Professor Kirsten Swinth will be teaching a new course entitled “Race and Gender in Modern America,” Professor Swinth sat down with us and talked about her ideas for the course, including the book that will be the starting point for the conversation, and her “student-led” approach to the development of the course themes and readings. You can watch her comments below. We found it incredibly inspiring to hear someone speak so passionately and eloquently about the role that history can play in confronting some of the greatest challenges to our society. We bet you will too.
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Fall Courses: Writing Early America (Crane)
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Fall Courses: The City and the Country in America (Stoll)
Another new course on offer in Fall 2015 will be HIST 5733 The City and the County in America. Offered by Professor Steven Stoll, this course explores the history of the country and the city as natural environments and symbolic landscapes through the works of historians, artists, and poets. It covers the period from the Revolution through the twentieth century, with special attention to the nineteenth century. Topics include Appalachia, slavery, and sharecropping; Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs; romantic landscape painting and Central Park.
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Fall Courses: Nationalisms and Racisms in Modern Europe (Patriarca)
As registration for Fall graduate courses is upon us, we will be profiling the courses offered in the department in Fall 2015. Professor Silvana Patriarca will be offering a new course, HIST 5561 Nationalisms and Racisms in Modern Europe. The course deals with an exciting area of research currently being explored by Professor Patriarca and some of her students. Read on for a description of the course and what can be expected for those who enroll. Continue reading
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New Course to Explore Material Culture in Early America
Perforated cooking spoon: eighteenth century
This Fall, Professor Elaine Crane will offer a new course, HIST 4658 Home Sweet Home: the Material Culture of Early America. The course will meet on Tuesdays 3:30-5:30 at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan.
Professor Crane writes:
Home Sweet Home will explore early America through objects in daily use. We will look at candle molds to see how hot wax and string turned darkness into light. We will handle utensils and cooking ware to learn how people produced the food they ate and the beverages they drank without the help of microwave ovens and processors. Wooden plates and porcelain cups will distinguish rich from poor as will the furniture and textiles people passed from one generation to another. Room by room and article by article early Americans will reveal how they lived their lives.
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