(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 Fall 2020
MWF 12:00-12:50
Dr. Patrick Mullins
In this course, we will engage with social systems and values by examining what happened when people from the diverse cultures of the Atlantic World came into contact with one another in the early modern era (1450-1820). This course considers the complex ways in which Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans met and clashed with one another on the Atlantic periphery, struggling over time to achieve peaceful coexistence despite social, ethnic, cultural, religious and political differences. Focusing on Eastern North America, students will use primary source documents and museum artifacts in discussion and research to explore how settlers, planters, natives, slaves, and imperial officials negotiated power through cultural adaptation, diplomacy, trade, captivity, intermarriage, conquest, enslavement, and empire. We will conclude this history of intercultural conflict with the fall of European empires and the Atlantic World's experiment with liberal democracy and human rights as a basis for managing human difference.
MW 3:30-4:45
Dr. Jenn Finn
This course will focus on the rise and development of the ancient Athenian democratic system. We will study the structures of the Athenian democracy in the context of warfare, charismatic individuals, and social institutions. We will also investigate the weaknesses of the system, and who was disenfranchised within the context of the democracy. The course will be a mixture of lecture and discussion, with three weeks dedicated to a role-playing game to introduce students first-hand to the experience of Athenian democracy.
TTh 2:00-3:15
Dr. David McDaniel
Beginning in the wake of the nation’s glorious Centennial Celebration, History 1601--Conflict and Capitalism, traces the development of large scale and often violent challenges to what many among the ranks of American farmers, immigrants, industrial laborers, women and racial minorities, perceived as the inequities, excesses, and basic inhumanity of industrial capitalism. Spanning sixty years, during which American industrial productivity expanded, along with its cities, at a mind-boggling pace, this course will consider the promise and especially the pitfalls of such untrammeled expansion and the resulting circumstances that led many to reconsider long held assumptions regarding a fabled land of equality and opportunity.
TTh 3:30-4:45
Dr. David McDaniel
Beginning in the wake of the nation’s glorious Centennial Celebration, History 1601--Conflict and Capitalism, traces the development of large scale and often violent challenges to what many among the ranks of American farmers, immigrants, industrial laborers, women and racial minorities, perceived as the inequities, excesses, and basic inhumanity of industrial capitalism. Spanning sixty years, during which American industrial productivity expanded, along with its cities, at a mind-boggling pace, this course will consider the promise and especially the pitfalls of such untrammeled expansion and the resulting circumstances that led many to reconsider long held assumptions regarding a fabled land of equality and opportunity.
MWF 11:00-11:50
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, the two nations are the antithesis of each other. Since its inception, the United States has championed participatory democracy, rule of law, inalienable rights, free 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 two governments and their citizens. This course will examine historical and current issues that have shaped these opposing world views in order to gain a deeper understanding of their relevance and legitimacy for the peoples of both nations.
MW 3:30-4:45
Dr. Peter Staudenmaier
This course offers a global perspective on the history of equality and inequality over the past five centuries. Equality has long been a central principle in many of the world's value systems. Yet in practice, modern societies are consistently marked by conspicuous forms of inequality. Our aim is to understand how this tension between ideals and realities arose historically. We will examine institutions and ideologies that have reinforced economic inequality, gender inequality, and racial inequality, as well as a range of counter-movements that have aspired toward greater social equality. Through a critical look at the past, we will try to gain a better sense of the contradictory forces that have shaped our turbulent world today.
TTh 11:00-12:15
Dr. Lezlie Knox
From the 2nd-14th centuries, the so-called ‘silk road’ supported cultural exchanges between societies across medieval Eurasia. This class will examine written and material evidence to learn more about their values and worldviews, including case studies of Samarkand and Sogdiana, the Dunhuang caves, and European travelers like Marco Polo. We will conclude our semester looking at the role of the silk roads in the transmission of the Black Death.
TTh 12:30-1:45
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.
(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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