(For first and second year students)
History is one of several departments offering Foundation-level ESSV courses (Engaging Social Systems and Values). We created courses especially for this requirement: 1601: Difference and Democracy and 1701: Engaging the World. Numerous sections—each taught by a different instructor with a different point of view and expertise in different times and places—are offered each semester. HIST 1601 and HIST 1701 can count as one of the four surveys required of history majors and minors.
History ESSV courses being offered in Spring 2020
TTh 12:30-1:45
Dr. Kristen Foster
The United States is fast approaching the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Huzzah! While this document put natural rights at the front and center of the new nation’s conversations about equality and belonging; the meaning of equality remained uncertain and contested. In this dynamic ESSV classroom (reading, lecture, and lots of conversation), students will engage and interrogate the promises made at the nation’s founding that “all men are created equal” and they are endowed with “unalienable rights” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” We will begin by looking closely at the founders and the world they envisioned in their plans for nationhood. We will explore together the many ways that Americans who were denied equality— workingmen, slaves, immigrants, Native Americans, and women—engaged natural rights ideology and the ideas in the Declaration to reshape the American social and political systems to reflect what they believed the American Revolution and the founding of the United States had promised them.
MWF 9:00-9:50
Dr. Alan Ball
This course examines impressions formed of American life by Russian observers in the decades before and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Their gaze included not just the American political and economic systems but also such topics as religion, racism, popular culture, and sports and their commentaries will provide us an opportunity to compare conclusions about American ways expressed by Russian and Soviet visitors with widely differing points of view.
MWF 12:00-12:50
Dr. Daniel Meissner
In many ways, China today is a mirror image of the United States. Both nations have hyper-advanced societies, globally-dominant economics, powerful militaries, and international prominence. In other critical respects, however, they are reverse images of each other. Since its inception, the United States has championed participatory democracy, rule of law, inalienable rights, freedom of speech/press, and a free market economy, while the current Chinese government advocates One Party leadership, rule by law, statutory rights, controlled speech/press, and a planned economy. Differences of opinion on such fundamental issues as ideology, religion, justice, and human rights has bred misunderstanding and mistrust between the governments and citizens of the two nations.
MWF 11:00-11:50
Dr. Alan Ball
This course examines impressions formed of American life by Russian observers in the decades before and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Their gaze included not just the American political and economic systems but also such topics as religion, racism, popular culture, and sports—and their commentaries will provide us an opportunity to compare conclusions about American ways expressed by Russian and Soviet visitors with widely differing points of view.
TTh 12:00-12:50
Dr. Bryan Rindfleisch
In this class, we will examine American history using the lesser-told stories, peoples, and communities to explore what is a contested narrative of the United States, and to also understand how the concepts or identities as “American” has differed, evolved, and challenged over time. In particular, the narratives of Native American, African American, and Immigrant American experiences will be privileged in this course. In addition, this class is meant to be as experiential as it is set in the classroom, meaning students will engage with – and be immersed – in the histories, cultures, and narratives of those on the margins of American history. The ultimate goal of this class is best summed up by the university’s mission statement: that “A Marquette education won’t teach you what to think. It will teach you how to think.” To accomplish such a noble goal in this course, students will actively engage with the American past by analyzing and interpreting the many sources at their disposal, and then link – or communicate – the themes and trends in the past to the present. By semester’s end – students will have, for all intents and purposes, become historians themselves.
MW 2:00-3:15
Dr. Daniel Meissner
In many ways, China today is a mirror image of the United States. Both nations have hyper-advanced societies, globally-dominant economics, powerful militaries, and international prominence. In other critical respects, however, they are reverse images of each other. Since its inception, the United States has championed participatory democracy, rule of law, inalienable rights, freedom of speech/press, and a free market economy, while the current Chinese government advocates One Party leadership, rule by law, statutory rights, controlled speech/press, and a planned economy. Differences of opinion on such fundamental issues as ideology, religion, justice, and human rights has bred misunderstanding and mistrust between the governments and citizens of the two nations.
TTh 11:00-12:15
Dr. Chima Korieh
This course offers students a global perspective on the diversity of human history: the many ways that different peoples, societies, and cultures encountered one another in the making of the modern world. It examines selected topics with emphasis on the ways peoples and select societies have encountered each other, and how these encounters created and integrated diverse kinds of knowledge about the “other”. By examining these interactions and encounters between Africa and distinctive communities in specific times and places, we will become familiar with parts of the past that are seemingly foreign and remote and explore how they have shaped our knowledge and world today. Overall, the course will push students to think about their place in the larger world in which they live and helps them to develop skills—in critical thinking and effective problem-solving—for engaging the world beyond their own immediate environment.
Dr. Lezlie Knox
This class takes advantage of the collections of the nearby Milwaukee Public Museum to explore how narrative displays represent the histories of diverse cultures and their social values. Our investigation will begin with a case study of the Japanese exhibit before branching out to other global case studies. We will consider what these displays have to say not only about diverse cultures but also ourselves. All enrolled students will need to purchase MPM's annual student membership ($25).
(For sophomores, juniors, and seniors)
Each student take at least four courses in one Discovery Level theme; at least one of those courses must be a Humanities course, although students can choose to take two Humanities courses if they so choose. Students can apply up to two Discovery Tier courses to their majors and minors!
Most of these courses are offered every three or four semesters. This list is updated every semester, so check back before registering:
Dr. James Marten
The history of children and childhood in the United States from colonial times to the present, with an emphasis on child rearing, race, gender, class, and popular culture.
Dr. Bryan Rindfleisch
A survey of Native American history from 1491 (before Columbus’s “Discovery”) to the present.Explores the diverse cultures and histories of indigenous peoples in the present-day United States and focuses on particular themes such as colonization and decolonization, settler colonialism,intimacy and violence, removal and “survivance,” assimilation and allotment, along withsovereignty and self-determination. Grapples with contemporary issues related to Native mascots, treaties, casinos, cultural representation and more.
Dr. Alan Ball
Pre-revolutionary Russia from 1861, the Revolution of 1917, Soviet economic growth and totalitarianism, and the emergence of the USSR as a world power and its subsequent collapse.
Dr. Alan Ball
The origins, nature and consequences of the Cold War, with emphasis on the 1945-1970 period. Topics will include the continuing effects of the Cold War, prospects for new international rivalries, and the domestic consequences of the Cold War.
Dr. Bryan Rindfleisch
The origins, structures and major themes in Early America. Focuses on the intersections of European, African and Native American worlds. Themes include colonization and decolonization, empire and revolution, slavery and resistance, religion and witchcraft, cross- cultural negotiation and conflict.
Dr. Philip Naylor
History of Byzantine Empire bridging from late antiquity to early modernity and stretching over three continents. Surveys imperial political, economic, social and cultural policies and developments and especially the empire's encounters and interactions with Slavs, Western Europeans, Persians, Berbers, Arabs, and Turks.
Dr. Philip Naylor
A survey of the Arab, Turkish and Iranian peoples since 1500 emphasizing the Islamic backgrounds and the Middle East in world affairs, especially during the 20th century.
Dr. Alison Clark Efford
A survey of migration to the United States (and Britain's North American colonies) that explores how immigrants have built communities, sought economic security and experienced cultural change. Addresses anti-immigrant sentiment, race construction and notions of cultural pluralism. Contextualizes immigration--an issue central to American identity--within a transnational framework of global labor markets, American incursions overseas and the worldwide movement of peoples.
Dr. Timothy McMahon
Survey of the creation, expansion and dismantling of the world's largest empire from the 16th century to the present. Exploration of political, social, economic and cultural factors. Emphasis on contrasting the views and experiences of Britons and of natives of various colonized areas.
Dr. Philip Naylor
North Africa from the 7th century to the present, emphasizing Islamic and European influences.
Dr. Kristen Foster
Survey of the history of women and the variety of women's experiences in America from pre- European contact to the present. The historical construction of gender and the ways that diverse women have shaped and contested their various experiences as mothers, daughters, wives, and partners; as farmers and workers; as slaves and conquered peoples; as reformers and political activists; and as immigrants and citizens are analyzed.
Dr. Carla Hay
Survey of women's experiences in western civilization from prehistory to the present. Focusing primarily on Europe, the course analyzes the changing roles and responsibilities of women in the family, in the work force, and in the community, and highlights the impact of phenomena such as religion, science, technology, and democracy on the shifting perceptions and definitions of gender in western civilization.
Dr. Michael Wert
Major events, people and debates in Japanese history from 1800 to the present. Includes examinations of the "margins" of Japanese history: the countryside, the common people, ethnic minorities, marginal identities, etc., in order to understand how individuals dealt with changes in Japan from its early modernity to the present day.
(For sophomores, juniors, and seniors)
Although most History classes include quite a bit of writing, a select few have been named “writing intensive,” meaning they feature writing instruction and give students a chance to revise and improve their writing.
History and the Writing Intensive Requirement courses
This list is updated every semester, so check back before registering. If so designated, writing intensive courses can count toward your major, toward Disco Tier requirements, and toward ESSV requirements.
Dr. Lezlie Knox
Examines the 14th century global pandemic as a case study for examining its social, political and cultural impact on medieval societies. Investigates the relationship between the spread of plague and the physical environment, as well as assesses how modern scientific knowledge impacts our understanding of the event.
The department offers several seminar sections each year; all are approved as writing intensive courses.
(For sophomores, juniors, and seniors)
Students can fulfill the second ESSV requirement in a number of ways, including courses taken in their majors.
History and the Second Level Engaging Social Systems and Values Requirement courses
A survey of migration to the United States (and Britain's North American colonies) that explores how immigrants have built communities, sought economic security and experienced cultural change. Addresses anti-immigration sentiment, race construction and notion of cultural pluralism. Contextualizes immigration–an issue central to American identity–within a transnational framework of global markets, American incursions overseas and the worldwide movement of peoples.
The role and response of African-Americans in American society. Emphasis on the problems of slavery, exclusion, accommodation, migration, urbanization, and currents of protest.
A survey of Native American history from 1491 (before Columbus's "Discovery") to the present. Explores the diverse cultures and histories of indigenous people in the present-day United States and focuses on particular themes such as colonization and decolonization, settler colonialism, intimacy and violence, removal and "survivance," assimilation and allotment, along with sovereignty and self-determination. Grapples with contemporary issues related to Native mascots, treaties, ccasinos, cultural representation and more.
Department of History
Sensenbrenner Hall, 202A
1103 W. Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53233
(414) 288-7217
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