1. science
2. social science
3. history

COURSE TITLE: Premodern World History
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 1010
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: MW 12:40-2:10PM
INSTRUCTOR: Anthony Perron
CORE AREA/FLAGS: Explorations: Historical Analysis and Perspectives (EHAP)
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS: This is not a survey course in world history. Though we will
touch on major turning points in the history of the Old World before 1500, the intent of HIST 1010 is to examine
specific examples of cultural contact in the ancient and medieval periods. Our aim will be to understand the
dynamics of such “global encounters” in a comparative context and to focus on phenomena of world-historical
importance that are often left out of courses defined by more traditional “civilizational” boundaries. The
principal interpretive framework for this class will be the concept of “barbarian” societies and their interactions
with settled empires and states. We will begin with the deep origins of both civilization and its barbarian
“other” in Eurasia around 3000BC, moving on to study how various empires in world history dealt with
barbarian societies on their frontiers, including the Persian Empire and the Scythians, the relations between
Han China and the Xiongnu and the Roman Empire and the Germanic peoples, the efforts by early-medieval
states such as Tang China, the Abbasid Caliphate, the Byzantine Empire, and the Frankish Kingdom to create
spheres of influence among the peoples across their borders, and the triumphant irruption during the High
Middle Ages of barbarians such as the Vikings/Normans in Europe, the Turks in the lands of Islam, and the
Khitan and Jurchen peoples in China. HIST 1010 will conclude by examining the remarkable steppe empire of
the Mongols. Throughout the semester we will ask questions such as how did the definition and perception of
barbarians change from one society to another across time and space? What efforts did civilizations make to
maintain a separation between themselves and their barbarian others? How successful were they at achieving
this goal? What cultural and social factors served as a bridge between societies of the premodern world? And
how did the contact between civilizations and barbarian peoples change both through a process of adaptation
and hybridization?
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will learn to read primary texts with a sensitivity to change and
context, understand the various mechanisms of cultural exchange and confrontation at work in the premodern
world, and become more proficient at presenting arguments in oral and written form.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: There are no prerequisites for this course.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Penguin Atlas of World History
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS: Regular short write-ups on the assigned reading; midterm and final essays;
term paper based on independent research
COURSE TITLE: Founders of the West
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 1110 01, 02
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: 9:40-11:10; 2:40-4:10 TR
INSTRUCTOR: DR L. TRITLE
Core Area: Historical Analysis and Perspectives (HAP)
FLAGS: NONE
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS: This course offers a critical analysis of the societies
and cultures generally regarded as the “Founders of the West,” namely those of the ancient
near east and the Greeks and Romans. It is a study not only of increasing cultural development
and sophistication, but of cultural diversity and assimilation. Emphasis will be placed on these
developments as they occurred first in the eastern Mediterranean world and between the
Greeks and their eastern neighbors, ranging from the Egyptians to the south and the Persians to
the east (e.g., exploring also Phoenician influences such as the alphabet, the “Orientalizing” style
of art; this followed by the legacy of the conquests of Alexander the Great). Attention will then
turn to the west and the similar intersections of culture in Italy as Italic peoples, Etruscans and
Latins, came into contact with the Greeks and Carthaginians, leading to the emergence of GrecoRoman culture and civilization, the pluralism of the Roman world.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students should come away from the course with an
understanding of the development of the world in which they live, the nature of such historical
concepts as change and continuity, as well as the acquisition of a basic grasp of historiography
and methodology. Student ability to think and write critically should also be enhanced as there
will be significant opportunity to apply writing and thinking skills.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: NONE
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Early Christian Writings. Trans. by M. Staniforth. Rev. Trans. by A. Louth. New York: Penguin
Books, 1968/1987.
Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. by N.K. Sandars. New York: Penguin, 1960.
Euripides. Greek Tragedies, vol.3: Heracles, Helen, Iphigenia in Tauris, Ion. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2013.
Tacitus. Agricola and Germania. Trans. by H. Mattingly. New York: Penguin Books, 1948/2009.
Winks, R.W. and S. P. Mattern-Parkes. The Ancient Mediterranean World. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS
Short Papers on sources (4-6 pp)
Midterm & Final Examination
COURSE TITLE: Founders of the West
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 1110 01, 02
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: 9:40-11:10; 2:40-4:10 TR
INSTRUCTOR: DR L. TRITLE
Core Area: Historical Analysis and Perspectives (HAP)
FLAGS: NONE
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS: This course offers a critical analysis of the societies
and cultures generally regarded as the “Founders of the West,” namely those of the ancient
near east and the Greeks and Romans. It is a study not only of increasing cultural development
and sophistication, but of cultural diversity and assimilation. Emphasis will be placed on these
developments as they occurred first in the eastern Mediterranean world and between the
Greeks and their eastern neighbors, ranging from the Egyptians to the south and the Persians to
the east (e.g., exploring also Phoenician influences such as the alphabet, the “Orientalizing” style
of art; this followed by the legacy of the conquests of Alexander the Great). Attention will then
turn to the west and the similar intersections of culture in Italy as Italic peoples, Etruscans and
Latins, came into contact with the Greeks and Carthaginians, leading to the emergence of GrecoRoman culture and civilization, the pluralism of the Roman world.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students should come away from the course with an
understanding of the development of the world in which they live, the nature of such historical
concepts as change and continuity, as well as the acquisition of a basic grasp of historiography
and methodology. Student ability to think and write critically should also be enhanced as there
will be significant opportunity to apply writing and thinking skills.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: NONE
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Early Christian Writings. Trans. by M. Staniforth. Rev. Trans. by A. Louth. New York: Penguin
Books, 1968/1987.
Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. by N.K. Sandars. New York: Penguin, 1960.
Euripides. Greek Tragedies, vol.3: Heracles, Helen, Iphigenia in Tauris, Ion. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2013.
Tacitus. Agricola and Germania. Trans. by H. Mattingly. New York: Penguin Books, 1948/2009.
Winks, R.W. and S. P. Mattern-Parkes. The Ancient Mediterranean World. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS
Short Papers on sources (4-6 pp)
Midterm & Final Examination
COURSE TITLE: Revolutions in the Making of the West
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 1204.01 and HIST 1204.02
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: MW 8:00-9:30 and MW 9:40-11:10
INSTRUCTOR: Courtney Spikes
CORE AREA: EHAP
FLAGGED:
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS: This course will explore political, social, economic, intellectual, and
cultural currents in the development of “the West” from circa 1500 to the present. More specifically, we will
use the notion of “revolution” as the prism through which we examine the political, religious, economic, social,
and cultural transformations of the last five hundred years. Topics will include the Reformation, the Glorious
Revolution in England, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, the American, French and Haitian
revolutions, the agricultural and industrial revolutions, the Russian Revolution, the Nazi Revolution, the
postwar decolonization and civil rights movements, the youth rebellions and the sexual revolution of the
1960s, among other topics. Special emphasis will be on the question of change and continuity in Western
history – in the Western worldview, in power relationships between people and groups of people (defined by
confession, class, gender, nation, race, etc.) and in the ways that ordinary Europeans experienced the forces
around them. This course combines instructor lectures with close discussion of texts (including images) and
relevant historical debates, thereby creating a dynamic and interactive learning environment. The course
emphasizes the development of critical thinking, analytical, and writing skills.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will be able to identify and explain the key issues, events and
people appropriate to the subject matter of the course. Students will explore the structure of societies across
eras and regions. Students will learn how to analyze the criteria by which we interpret the past. Students will
improve their analytical skills through reading and interpreting primary and secondary sources. Students will
learn how to construct arguments about the past based on evidence and utilizing critical language reflective of
the subject matter and the discipline of history.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: None.
REQUIRED TEXTS: TBD
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS: At minimum, students will take two examinations and write at least eight
pages of finished historical analysis (in one or more formal papers). The course emphasizes reading
assignments based on primary sources to encourage students to interpret the voices of the past.
TERM: Fall 2015
COURSE TITLE: Becoming America
COURSE NUMBER: EHAP/History 1300
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: MWF 11:30-12:30, 12:40-1:40
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Cara Anzilotti
COURSE DESCRIPTION (PRINCIPAL TOPICS COVERED):
This course serves as an introductory survey of American history from the fifteenth century to the mid nineteenth
century, from the pre-Columbian period to the eve of the Civil War. It focuses on the experiences of individuals
and groups, and examines their relationships to the broader structures of American society. Though broad in
scope this course will explore in depth various facets of American history, examining changes to society over
time by exploring their causes and analyzing their consequences. Topics include indigenous societies before
contact with Europeans, the colonization of North America, the shaping of colonial society, race and slavery, the
American Revolution and its aftermath, life in the early republic, political developments in the new nation,
expansionism and westward migration, the creation of a market economy, the growth of sectionalism and its
consequences. This course will help students understand American history as a series of cross-cultural
interactions, internal migrations and new immigrations, and historical experiences shaped by race, class, gender
and region. Students will trace the development of an American cultural identity and the transformation of
America’s place in the world.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will learn to think and write about early American history with an emphasis on analyzing cause and
effect. They will develop a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped the American experience over
time.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND:
None.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Roark, Johnson, Cohen, The American Promise
Johnson, Reading the American Past
Breen and Innes, Myne Owne Ground
Seaver, A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison
MacLeod, Slavery, Race and the American Revolution
Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS:
Attendance at lectures and participation in class discussions; two analytical essays on the assigned readings, 4-5
pages each; a midterm and a final exam.
Term: Fall 2015
Course Title: The United States and the World
Course # and Section: HIST 1400-01; HIST 1400-02
Section Times: 01: MWF 9:10am-10:10am; 02: MWF 11:30am-12:30pm
Instructor: Sean Dempsey, S.J.
Core: EXP-Historical Analysis and Perspectives
Course Description:
This course is an introductory survey of the modern history of the United States, roughly from the time of
the Civil War until the present day. It focuses on the experiences of groups and individuals and their
relationships to the broader structures of United States society, by examining changes to American
society over time, exploring their causes, and analyzing their consequences within a transnational (or
global) context. The course also highlights several important themes that will help students better
understand the ways in which the US and its place in the world changed over time, including:
immigration and migration, industrialization and deindustrialization, globalization, race and race
relations, gender and sexuality, and several others.
This course is a combination of lectures and classroom discussion, which will most often be based on the
assigned reading (study questions will be provided ahead of time to help focus the discussion).
Classroom participation is integral to the student’s engagement with historical sources and the debates
that surround them. Assigned readings and study questions emphasize primary sources as well as
historiographical essays. Students will complete a midterm and final exam and write two book reports (35 pages each) and a longer research paper (8-10 pages) on a topic of their choice (in consultation with the
instructor), in addition to the readings and study questions that will be due each time class meets.
Student Learning Outcomes:
There are two major learning outcomes for this course. The first is a deeper understanding of both the
chronology and major themes of U.S. history in the modern period, with a special emphasis on the global
dimensions of this history. The second is a basic understanding of the craft of history, with special
attention to the analysis of primary historical sources, as well as an understanding of how historians use
evidence in order to understand and debate the meaning of the past.
Prerequisites/Recommended Background: None
Required Texts:
DuBois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk, 1903 (1994 reprint ed.).
Terkel, Studs, Hard Times, 2005 reprint.
Friedan, Betty, The Feminine Mystique, 1963 (2013 reprint ed.).
Appy, Christian, Patriots: the Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides, 2004.
Additional readings on electronic reserve.
Course Work/Expectations:
Students are expected to attend the lectures, complete all assignments on-time (including readings, study
questions, and papers), and participate actively in the classroom discussion. Grades will be based on a
combination of two exams, two book reports, one research paper, and class participation.
COURSE TITLE: The United States and the Pacific World
COURSE NUMBER: History 1401/APAM 1118
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: Section 01 Tu & Th 11:20 a.m.-12:50 p.m. &
Section 02 Tu & Th 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Constance Chen
CORE AREA: Satisfies the Historical Analysis and Perspectives (EHAP) Requirement
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS:
Since the eighteenth century, when merchant ships shuttled back and forth between New
York and Canton, the United States has had significant exchanges and encounters with the
Pacific World. Using race, class, and gender as prisms, this lower-division course will explore
the ways in which the development of American histories, cultures, and societies have been
transformed by Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Asian Americans from the earliest contact to the
twenty-first century within transnational and comparative frameworks. Topics to be discussed
will include international politics and the enactment of immigration legislations, nativist
sentiments, the formation of nationalist ideals, labor and work, changing ethnic enclaves, and
racial and gender discourses, among others. Students will analyze these themes and issues in
light of the "opening" of the Pacific markets, the Westward expansion, and American
participation in international conflicts as well as other historical events.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
To acquire an understanding of the political, cultural, and socioeconomic factors that
have shaped the development of the United States in light of exchanges with the Pacific World
from the colonial era to the twentieth-first century; to explore and discuss primary sources and
secondary documents in order to synthesize and critically evaluate the information presented to
develop independent points of view on issues including immigration policies, international
relations, and racial discourses.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND:
None.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Readings will include a variety of primary documents such as institutional records,
newspaper accounts, and personal letters as well as scholarly monographs and articles.
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS:
Students will be evaluated by their attendance and participation, formal writing
assignments, in-class essay exams as well as other exercises designed to delve further into the
class topics and themes.
History 1600: African States since 1600
TR: Section one: 1-2:30 Office:
TR: Section two: 2:40-4:10
Required Reading:
History of Africa, Kevin Shillington
The Fate of Africa, Martin Meredith
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
A Course Reader
Dr. Jok Madut Jok
UNH 3522. jjok@lmu.edu
Phone: (310) 338-7040 Office Hours:
On Reserve
The White Nile, Alan Moorehead
Oliver and John Fage
A Short History of Africa, 6th ed. Ronald
African History: Robert Collins
This course is a survey of the political, social and cultural history of Africa since 1600. The survey begins
with population migrations as a major factor in the formation of communities, ethnic identities,
influences and counter influences within the sub-Sahara region and beyond. The survey will first lay the
foundation of the historical period under examination by briefly taking the students through the transSaharan trade and the rise of Medieval Sudanic states, trade across the Indian Ocean, the coming of
Islam and the formation of Swahili city states that dotted the full length of the continent’s eastern
Seaboard up until the 16th Century Portuguese assault. The course will then examine the role of global
encounters in the solidification of early states, the role of war in domestic slavery and the emergence of
Atlantic slave trade, followed by the European explorations of the black continent, the advent of
Evangelical Christianity in 19th Century and the movement to abolish the slave trade.
A very important story to emerge from the above will be the relationship between indigenous political
systems, religious practices and cultural identities on the one hand and both Islam and Christianity on
the other, a relationship that has produced both the religious pluralism that is evident in Africa today
and the religious confrontations that have accompanied these encounters. This historical moment is
currently central to the debate about Islamic militancy, if there is indeed a kind of “African Islam” that
fits or does not fit with the radical ideas emerging from the Middle East. The course will also explore the
colonial period, the creation of nation-states, changing systems of governance, shifting borders and
identities, ethnic and cultural diversity, the challenges of post-colonial modern states and the formation
of what may now be termed as “African” identity.
The course proceeds to the present time, to cover the period of the European scramble for the
continent, European Rule in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
Apartheid, White settlers, gain of African independence from European colonial rule, the creation of
independent states, and finally an overview of post independent sub-Saharan Africa, its modern
challenges and opportunities. The course will be in lecture format with the aid of maps, slides, and video
documentaries for further illustration. There will also be quizzes, followed by discussions, midterm
exam, essay paper and a final exam.
Grading and student evaluation: Students are expected and advised to attend all lectures. Lectures will
highlight material from the reading, but will not necessarily cover everything from the textbooks. You
are expected to have completed the assigned reading before lecture, so that you can make sense of
material presented in class. Lectures may include material that is not in the readings, and you are
responsible for all material presented in lecture and covered in the assigned reading.
Expected Learning Outcomes: Students are expected to gain an appreciation for the position of SubSaharan Africa in world affairs. By using various historical methods students will develop an
understanding of the multitude of issues that affect African societies, national economies, social order,
systems of governance, environment and peoples’ lives.
COURSE TITLE: Modern Asia
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 1800
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: T&R 8:00-9:30 (Section 1), 9:40-11:10 (Section 2)
INSTRUCTOR: Sun-Hee Yoon
CORE AREA (IF APPLICABLE): EHAP
FLAGS (IF APPLICABLE): Writing
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS
This course introduces Modern East Asian history through the voices of those who made it. As a broad survey of
East Asian history from 1600to the present, it examines the major developments, institutions, and forces that
shaped the identity of East Asians. While following a basic chronological organization, the course will use names
such as empire-building, economic expansion, nationalism, popular culture, and gender to explore that history.
The course will pay more attention to the conflicts, interactions, and mutually constitutive experiences of the
peoples of China, Japan, Korea and Euro-American powers instead of treating the histories of individual national
in isolation.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will learn how to read critically by studying a variety of primary source materials. They will develop a
basic cultural and historical vocabulary, and improve their understanding of today’s China, Japan, and Korea. In
addition, students will improve their skills in writing essays that use primary source as evidence in support of
argument.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND
None
REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Patricia B. Ebery, et al., Modern East Asia: From 1600: A Cultural, Social and Political History, (Any edition)
Houghton-Mifflin, 2006.
2. Hildi Kang, Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910-1945, Cornell University Press, 2001.
3. Jonathan Spencer, Mao Zedong: A Life, Penguin, 2006.
4. Primary Source Reader
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS
In this course, there are two examinations (a mid-term and a final), two papers, and a map quiz.
COURSE TITLE: What is History
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 2000
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: TW 1-2:30
INSTRUCTOR: Amy Woodson-Boulton
CORE AREA (IF APPLICABLE):
FLAGS (IF APPLICABLE): Writing Skills, Information Literacy
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS:
To address the question “What is History?”, this course engages students in four interrelated questions. 1) What
is the difference between history and fiction? 2) What is the relationship between the modern idea of progress
and the development of history as a discipline? 3) How did racism, nationalism, and imperialism, and critiques
thereof, shape the discipline of history? 4) How have new approaches to knowledge, power, and language
challenged the idea of progress?
Using European imperialism as a case study (with a particular focus on the British Empire), this course will
introduce students to class, race, and gender as categories of analysis, showing students how historians have
used new sources, questions, and methods to understand power relations and cultural and social change.
Reading historical writings from primarily the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as primary sources,
students will investigate Whig history, imperialism, nationalism, and the relationship between historical
methodologies and theories of progress and development, as well as the relationship between historical and
fictional narratives. In their own research work, students will consider their methodologies and the questions that
they are asking, and how these come out of their own particular historical moment.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
This course aims to improve students’ academic performance in upper division history courses by providing
instruction in how to write a research paper, cite primary and secondary sources in the footnotes, and compose a
well-organized bibliography that includes monographs and journal articles. The course also aims to train students
to assess traditional and non-traditional forms of historical evidence and become familiar with a variety of
historical methods and approaches. Students will learn to read histories as both primary and secondary sources,
assessing historical narratives as documents in and of themselves, presenting arguments about the past that are
always formed in a politicized present. See also the Learning Outcomes for the Information Literacy and Writing
Skills flags.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND:
This course is open to History Majors/Minors only. While there are no prerequisites, I do recommend that you
have taken at least one lower-division History course at LMU.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Timothy Parsons, The British Imperial Century, 1815-1914, [e-book through LMU library]
European Imperialism, 1830-1930: Climax and Contradiction, Alice L. Conklin (Editor), Ian Christopher Fletcher
(Editor), Houghton Mifflin College Div, 1998. ISBN-10: 0395903858/ISBN-13: 9780395903858
Selected readings on MyLMUConnect
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS:
Class Participation
Reading responses (x5)
Discussion leader
10.0
10.0
2.5
Identifying a topic assignments
35.0
Prospectus drafts/presentation
32.5
Take-home final
10.0
COURSE TITLE: Intro to African American History
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 2996 01
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: MWF 1:50-2:50pm
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Dexter Blackman
CORE AREA (IF APPLICABLE):FND
FLAGS (IF APPLICABLE):
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS:
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND:
REQUIRED TEXTS:
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS:
Term: Fall 2015
Course Title: United States Environmental History
Course No. & Section: Hist/EVTS 3452
Section Times: Monday evenings, 7:10-10:10pm
Instructor: Dr. Nicolas G. Rosenthal
Course Description (principal topics covered):
This course will introduce students to the field of environmental history by presenting essential
concepts, concerns, and methods in the context of United States history. At its most basic,
environmental history studies the relationships between humans and their physical environments.
Some environmental historians emphasize culture and intellectual themes, exploring the ways
that people have understood and represented the natural world and shaped it in culturally specific
ways. Others stress the economic foundations of environmental relationships, focusing on the
need to procure subsistence, comfort, and wealth from the environment. Still others focus on the
politics and policy of human relationships with their environments. This course will utilize all of
these approaches to environmental history, while examining a variety of topics in North
American history that includes American Indian society, European colonization and settlement,
urbanization and industrialization, conservation and environmentalism, environmental racism
and social justice, and contemporary environmental issues in historical perspective.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Students will gain an understanding of the methods of environmental history, deepen their
understanding of United States history, and improve their abilities to read, write, and think
analytically
Required Readings
Louis S. Warren, ed., American Environmental History (Blackwell, 2003).
Steven Stoll, US Environmentalism since 1945 (Bedford, 2007).
Various readings available through ERes (http://eres.lmu.edu/ , password - “environment”).
Additional reading for research paper assignment.
Prerequisites/Recommended Background:
Lower-division courses in US History are strongly recommended but not required.
Course Work/Expectations:
Students are expected to play an active role in the course, by completing the assigned readings on
time, attending class, participating in discussions, and consulting with the instructor on writing
assignments. Evaluations will be based on a combination of exams, writing assignments, and
class participation.
COURSE TITLE: The Crusades
COURSE NUMBER: HIST 4134
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: TR 11:20am-12:50pm
INSTRUCTOR: Anthony Perron
CORE AREA/FLAGS: None
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS: This course will examine the theme of Christian Holy War and its
context within the aristocratic culture of medieval Europe. We will look at the deep intellectual roots of
Christian violence (how an essentially pacifist religion was joined to political regimes based on war from the
fourth century to the ninth) and its sociological roots in the chaotic world of European “feudal” warlords in the
tenth and eleventh c. After studying the culture of “chivalry,” the code of conduct binding Latin Christian
aristocratic society and communicated in courtly literature (epics, romances, and lyric verse) from the late
eleventh through the thirteenth century, we will examine the actual conduct of Holy War or the Crusades in
that same period, seen through sources from all sides involved (European, Muslim, Byzantine). Our
consideration will go beyond the familiar Crusades launched by Europeans against Muslims to include the use
of Holy War against eastern Christians and pagans as well. We will be concerned of course with the dynamics
of crusading itself (how were Crusades waged, what were their outcomes), but we will also devote
considerable attention to questions such as whether chivalry and crusading were fundamentally religious at all,
how European Holy War altered relations between Latin Christians and the Muslim world, and to what extent
might we interpret the Crusades as an example of colonial expansion. We will also explore the uses of the
crusades in more modern contexts such as the First World War, Arab nationalism, and the Global War on
Terror.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will learn to read primary texts with a sensitivity to change and
context, gain an awareness of the long history of Christian violence and its social and cultural context in the
Middle Ages, come to appreciate the complex interactions between Europe and the Greek and Muslim East,
and become more proficient at presenting arguments in oral and written form.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND: There are no prerequisites for this course and all are
welcome, but students will ideally have completed most of their lower-division course work for the major.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A Short History; Norman Housley, Contesting the
Crusades; Allen and Amt, The Crusades: A Reader
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS: Regular short write-ups on the assigned readings; historiographical essay
and term paper based on outside research
COURSE TITLE:
COURSE NUMBER:
SESSION TIMES/DAYS:
LOCATION:
INSTRUCTOR:
FLAGS:
European Imperialism
HIST 4215
Mondays & Wednesdays 2:20 – 3:50 p.m.
St. Robert’s Hall 248
Elizabeth A. Drummond
Writing / Information Literacy
COURSE DESCRIPTION / PRINCIPAL TOPICS
History 4215 explores the history of the “new imperialism” in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the origins and dynamics of European imperialism,
colonial rule, anti-imperialist movements, and decolonization. The first part of the course will focus
on the causes of the “new imperialism,” its structures, and how it affected the colonized. We will
also go “behind the scenes” to look at the various types of individuals involved in imperialist
activities—families who went abroad to recreate European life, ethnographers, blunt racists, and so
on—as well as their interactions with colonial subjects and the images of the colonial “Other” they
transmitted back to their European homelands. The second part of the course will focus on
resistance to imperialism, both violent and non-violent, the development of nationalistindependence movements in the colonies, and the process of decolonization. Finally, we will end
with a discussion of the legacies of imperialism in the contemporary world.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
History 4215 aims to familiarize students with the main themes and issues as well as the main
historiographical debates in the history of imperialism and decolonization in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries. In addition, it aims to teach students to think historically – that is, to understand
the process of historical reasoning and analysis. The emphasis, therefore, will be on raising and
discussing important questions, as well as on developing the skills necessary for practicing the craft
of history – how to read myriad types of sources analytically and critically, how to find and use
sources of information, and how to develop and present, in both writing and speech, well-developed
arguments on the issues in question.
PREREQUISITES / RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND
None. 100-level course in European or world history recommend.
REQUIRED TEXTS (tentative)
H.L. Wesseling, The European Colonial Empires, 1815–1919
Alice Conklin & Ian C. Fletcher, eds., European Imperialism 1830–1930: Climax and Contradiction
Trevor R. Getz & Liz Clarke, Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History
Raymond F. Betts, Decolonization
Novel chosen from list of possibilities
Additional primary and secondary sources on MyLMU Connect
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS (tentative)
Regular attendance and active participation in class discussions
Eight source analyses (of primary and secondary sources)
Two take-home essay examinations
Semester-long research project (including formal proposal, annotated bibliography, draft research
paper, 15-page final research paper, and research presentation)
Course Title: The City in European History
Course Number: HIST4230, Section 1
Section Times/Days: M/W/F, 10:20-11:20
Instructor: Nigel Raab
Course Description/Principal Topics:
London… Paris… Moscow… Berlin… We all know the names of these great European
cities but we are much less familiar with their histories. This course explores the
urbanization of Europe from the early Italian city-states to the cultural explosion of West
Berlin in the twentieth century. We will look at specific cities to answer a variety of
questions about urbanization – in London, how did capitalist growth live side by side
with the poverty of the working classes? Why did Paris become such a hotbed of
revolutionary activity? Why did Sigmund Freud’s Vienna become the cultural capital of
Europe at the end of the nineteenth century? How did the Soviet city of Magnitogorsk
reflect the values of a communist utopia? Each week we will investigate the history of a
specific city and slowly come to terms with the complex process of urbanization.
Student Learning Outcomes:
This course will prepare students to understand how the urban environments in which we
live have changed over time. The variety of readings will prepare students to hone their
analytic skills by balancing the reading of primary with secondary texts. With an
emphasis on critical thinking, the student will also learn to understand the needs of
diverse social and ethnic groups and comprehend the source of conflicts between these
groups. This course can also be considered ideal preparation for study abroad.
Prerequisites/Recommended Background: None
Required Texts:
Andrew Lees and Lynn Hollen Lees, Cities and the Making of Modern Europe, 1750-1914 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Course Work/Expectations: This course meets the new requirements for a 4-unit course
thus there are added work expectations: 1 midterm, 1 final, reading responses, 12-page
research paper, engaged learning activity.
Term: Fall 2015
Course Title: History of California
Course No. & Section: Hist 4412
Section Times: MWF, 9:10-10:10
Instructor: Dr. Nicolas G. Rosenthal
Course Description (principal topics covered):
This course surveys the history of California from the sixteenth century to the end of the
twentieth century. Thematically, it highlights 1) migration and immigration; 2) the
transformations of the state’s economy; 3) how race, class, and gender mitigate historical
experiences; 4) California’s unique culture and the perception of that culture; 5) and the shifting
relationships between California, the American West, the United States, and the world.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Students will gain an understanding of the social, cultural, political, and economic trends that
have defined California; learn to see present-day California as the product of ongoing historical
processes; and improve their abilities to read, write, and think analytically.
Prerequisites/Recommended Background:
Survey courses in United States history are recommended but not required.
Required Texts:
Nathanael West, Day of the Locust.
Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Abiding Courage: African American Migrant Women and the East
Bay Community.
Nina Revoyr, Southland (the LMU Common Book for 2015).
Additional readings posted to ERes.
Additional reading for the paper assignment.
Course Work/Expectations:
Students are expected to play an active role in the course, by completing the assigned readings on
time, attending lectures, participating in classroom discussions, and consulting with the instructor
on writing assignments. Evaluations will be based on a combination of exams, writing
assignments, and class participation.
Furthermore, students will be expected to attend events related to the 2015 LMU Common
Book, which are scheduled outside of regular class time.
Term: Fall 2015
Course No. & Section
History 4433
Course Title:
Health and Disease in American Culture
Section Time:
Tuesdays, 4:20-7:20pm
Instructor:
Dr. Carla Bittel
Course Description:
This course explores the history of medicine in the United States to understand how concepts and
experiences of health and illness have changed over time. We will study how health and disease
are not only biologically determined, but shaped by society and culture. We will pay special
attention to how notions of race, class, and gender impacted healing practices and experiences of
illness in a variety of contexts. We will also place concepts of health and disease at the center of
American history to illuminate broader changes in American values.
Learning Outcomes:
To acquire an understanding of the history of medicine in the United States within social,
cultural, political, and economic context; to gain knowledge of the diverse experiences of illness
in the past; to learn about the multiple historical meanings of health and illness; to analyze and
interpret primary source materials; to think critically about images and texts; to write analytical
essays.
Prerequisites/Recommended Background:
Some background in history recommended.
Required Texts/References (subject to change):
Judith Walzer Leavitt and Ronald L. Numbers, Sickness and Health in America: Readings in the
History of Medicine and Public Health.
Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Fasting Girls: A History of Anorexia Nervosa.
Alan M. Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the Immigrant Menace.
Susan K. Kent, The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919, A Brief History with Documents.
Barron H. Lerner, Breast Cancer Wars: Hope, Fear, and the Pursuit of a Cure in the Twentieth
Century.
Susan Reverby, Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis Study and its Legacy.
*Additional primary source readings and secondary articles/excerpts posted on MYLMU
Connect.
Course Work/Expectations:
Students will be evaluated through a combination of exams, writing assignments, class
participation, and presentations.
COURSE TITLE: The Ottoman Empire
COURSE NUMBER: History 4520 (01)
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: MW 2:20-3:50
INSTRUCTOR: Najwa al-Qattan
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS
This course examines the history of the Ottoman Empire from its beginnings in 1299 to the
end of the Great War in 1918. In addition to acquainting students with the empire’s major
challenges and transformations over time (and in the context of the changes taking place in the
world around it), the course focuses on several issues and debates: the structures and dynamics
of imperial rule; the role of Islam and Islamic Law in Ottoman politics and society; the status
of Jews, Christians, heterodox groups, and women; the institution of the slave-soldier; the
politics of conversion; sectarianism, Islamism, and nationalism in the modern period; the
Ottoman Empire and Europe.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course aims at achieving three outcomes: (1) to familiarize students with the history of
the Ottoman Empire with an emphasis on its wider (and world-historical) contexts;
(2) to acquaint students with the socio-economic and cultural fabric of Ottoman society;
(3) to introduce students to a number of historiographic issues intended to sharpen their skills
as historians.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND
None
REQUIRED TEXTS
Daniel Goffman, The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe
Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922
COURSE EXPECTATIONS
Students will be expected to attend all class meetings, do all the assigned readings, and
participate in (and occasionally lead) class discussions. In addition, the following will be
required: (1) a total of six two-page essays; (2) a term paper; (3) a class presentation; (4)
a final exam.
COURSE TITLE: PACIFISM AND PEACE MOVEMENTS
COURSE NUMBER: 4998
SECTION TIMES/DAYS: 01 Tues/Thurs, 2.40-3.10 p.m.
CLASSROOM: St. Robert’s Hall, Room 022
INSTRUCTOR: Thomas E. Buckley, S.J.
COURSE DESCRIPTION/PRINCIPAL TOPICS:
Opposition to war and violence is a persistent Christian tradition. This lecture/discussion course will first
survey the development of pacifist thought and action from the early Christian writers and the medieval
just war theorists to the radical Christian alternative exemplified by the Anabaptists during the
Reformation and later by the Quakers. The major emphasis will be on 19th and 20th century pacifist
thought from Garrison to Tolstoy to Gandhi to Martin Luther King; and the development of non-violent
direct action protest, particularly in the American civil rights and Vietnam anti-war movements. We will
also examine pacifist influence on the armaments races, U.S. foreign policy, and racial, ethnic, and
religious injustice.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this course, students should be able to
• identify major pacifist figures in world history and their respective contributions to the
development of pacifist thought and action,
• critically analyze the positions and arguments of both pacifists and their opponents, and
• explain the varied relationships of civil governments to pacifist belief, expression, and politics
within selected instances of anti-war activity.
PREREQUISITES/RECOMMENDED BACKGROUND
None.
REQUIRED TEXTS
All the assigned readings will be available on Blackboard. Mainly primary source materials, they include
books (excerpts), essays, pamphlets, and speeches of pacifists and peace advocates.
COURSE WORK/EXPECTATIONS:
Each student will write a research paper (12-15 pages) on a pacifist figure or a peace/justice movement
since 1914. Generally speaking, the paper should focus on a person or topic not covered in the assigned
readings. The topic will be selected after consultation with the instructor.
Quizzes and Exams: Reading quizzes will be given regularly throughout the semester. The midterm will
be a twenty minute oral during the week following Fall break. It is best described as a friendly
conversation. A final essay exam will be given at the end of the semester.
Assessment: Each segment of the course (the quizzes, the midterm, the paper, and the final exam) is
worth 25% of the final grade. Vigorous participation will enhance that grade. Repeated absence from
class will lower it.
Term: Fall 2015
Section Time: M 4:20-7:20
Course No. & Section: HIST 5400
Course Title: Manhood in America
Instructor: Dr. Cara Anzilotti
Flag: Oral/Writing
Course Description (principle topics covered):
This seminar will explore the meanings of manhood and masculinity and constructions of
masculine identity in American culture and society from the colonial period to the present. We
will read and discuss a variety of works in order to better understand changing attitudes about
masculinity over time. We will consider the ways Americans have visualized and defined
themselves through the lenses of gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexuality. We will examine
how men experienced masculinity and how their lives like those of women, were defined and
circumscribed by gender. In the process we will discuss such diverse topics as family, sexuality,
work and leisure, politics, war and violence, race relations, popular culture and the media.
Prerequisites/Recommended Background:
A basic understanding of American history.
Required Texts/References:
Foster, New Men. Manliness in Early America
Rotundo, American Manhood. Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern
Era.
Friend and Glover, Southern Manhood. Perspectives on Masculinity in the Old South
Basso, McCall and Garceau, Across the Great Divide. Cultures of Manhood in the American West
Murdoch, The American West. Invention of a Myth
Kimmel, Manhood in America. A Cultural History
Estes, I Am a Man! Race, Manhood, and the Civil Rights Movement
Fraterrigo, Playboy and the Making of the Good Life in Modern America
Course Work/Expectations:
Each student will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss the day’s reading assignment.
Regular short summaries of the assigned readings will be required. In addition, each student will
make two formal presentations of material designed to illustrate key themes from the readings,
and will write a formal research paper on a topic of the student’s choosing related to the overall
themes of the course.