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CONTACT
Department of History
Sensenbrenner Hall, 202A
1103 W. Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53233
(414) 288-7217
History and the Marquette Core Curriculum
History and the Foundation-level Engaging Social Systems and Values Course
(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 2019
HIST 1601-101: Difference and Democracy: Liberty and Power in Early America
MWF 11:00-11:50
Dr. J. Patrick Mullins
This course addresses early American history as an episode in the great human struggle between liberty and power. We will see how peoples from around the Atlantic World tried to find a peaceful basis for mutual understanding, trade, and coexistence, despite differences in cultural values, social systems, and world-views. We will consider how American colonists entered into contests and negotiations for authority and consent among themselves and with Britain. And we will see how conflict and compromise ultimately gave rise to the new vision of a society based on the ideal of liberty for all.
HIST 1601-102: Difference and Democracy: North and South American Political and Racial Conceptions
MWF 1:00-11:50
Dr. Michael Donoghue
This course will compare and contrast differing constructions of race and democracy in North and South America from the colonial period to the present day. We will analyze how varying concepts of self-governance, republicanism, and democracy evolved over time and application simultaneous to changing notions of race and racial identities in these distinct regions throughout several centuries of historical development.
HIST 1601-103: Difference and Democracy: The Athenian Experiment
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.
HIST 1601-104: Difference and Democracy: Conflict and Capitalism, 1876-1929
TTh 9:30-10:45
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 more than half of a century 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.
HIST 1601-105: Difference and Democracy: Conflict and Capitalism,1876-1929
TTh 11:00-12:15
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 more than half of a century 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.
HIST 1601-106: Difference and Democracy: Conflict and Capitalism, 1876-1929
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 more than half of a century 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.
HIST 1701-101: Engaging the World: Russian and Soviet Images of America
MWF 10:00-10:50
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.
HIST 1701-102: Engaging the World: Understanding China in the 21st Century
MWF 12:00-12:50
Dr. Daniel Meissner
In terms of its advanced society, economy and military, China today is a mirror image of the United States. In other critical respects, however, the two nations are reverse images of each other. Differences of opinion on such fundamental issues as ideology, religion, freedom, justice, and human rights has bred misunderstanding and mistrust between Americans and Chinese. This course will examine historical and contemporary issues that have shaped these opposing worldviews in order to develop a deeper understanding of their relevance and legitimacy for peoples of both nations.
HIST 1701-103: Engaging the World: Equality and Inequality in Global Society, 1492 to Today
MW 2:00-3:15
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.
HIST 1701-104: Engaging the World: Africa and the West
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.
HIST 1701-105: Engaging the World: Mesoamericans, Mexicans, Americans
TTh 12:30-1:45
Dr. Laura Matthew
This class examines the entangled pasts of Mexico, Central America, and the United States that inform current debates over immigration, from Native America to NAFTA.
HIST 1701-106: Engaging the World:
TTh 3:30-4:45
Fr. Michael Maher, SJ
Title and description to follow.
HIST 1701-107: Engaging the World: Engaging the City: Creating Community in Midwestern Urban America
MWF 9:00-9:50
Dr. Sergio Gonzalez
This course will explore the history of community formation in U.S. Midwestern urban spaces across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on topics such as labor, immigration, education, housing, religion, criminal justice, and more. Along with primary source analysis, secondary source readings, and writing opportunities, students will engage and apply the courses guiding themes through community-based experiences and conversations with local organizations in the Milwaukee area.
HIST 1701-108: Engaging the World: Milwaukee and the Urban Crisis
MWF 12:00-12:50
Mr. Sam Harshner
The City of Milwaukee faces a number of the challenges endemic to urban life in America. Racial segregation, economic stagnation, criminal justice inequity and deteriorating infrastructure have undermined people's faith in our institutions. Sadly our political system seems increasingly incapable of addressing this crisis. This course will look at the origins and nature of this urban crisis through a multidisciplinary lens. We will examine the historical development of the crisis, the cultural tensions that divide the city's people, the nature of the urban economic decline, and the reasons why our city's political system struggles to meet the demands of the moment. Finally, we will consider how other cities throughout the nation are responding to similar conditions. Our city possesses vast potential, together we will attempt to chart a way to ensure that it realizes this promise.
HIST 1701-109: Engaging the World: Milwaukee and the Urban Crisis
MW 2:00-3:15
Mr. Sam Harshner
The City of Milwaukee faces a number of the challenges endemic to urban life in America. Racial segregation, economic stagnation, criminal justice inequity and deteriorating infrastructure have undermined people's faith in our institutions. Sadly our political system seems increasingly incapable of addressing this crisis. This course will look at the origins and nature of this urban crisis through a multidisciplinary lens. We will examine the historical development of the crisis, the cultural tensions that divide the city's people, the nature of the urban economic decline, and the reasons why our city's political system struggles to meet the demands of the moment. Finally, we will consider how other cities throughout the nation are responding to similar conditions. Our city possesses vast potential, together we will attempt to chart a way to ensure that it realizes this promise.
HIST 1701-110: Engaging the World: Engaging the City: Race & Law in Contemporary Urban America
TTh 12:30-1:45
Dr. Robert S. Smith
This course will explore the intersections of race and law in American cities, considering policy arenas included, but not limited to: education, employment, housing, criminal justice and voting. Students will engage the course's themes and topics through community-informed experiences with local organizations engaging and shaping these policy agendas for the city of Milwaukee.
History and the Discovery Tier
(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:
- Basic Needs and Justice:
HIST 4150: Childhood in America
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.
HIST 4155: A History of Native America
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.
HIST 4271: Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union
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.
HIST 4298: The Cold War
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.
- Crossing Boundaries: The Movement of People, Goods, and Ideas:
HIST 3101: Early American History
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.
HIST 3205: Byzantine Empire
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.
HIST 3455: Modern Middle East from 1500
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.
HIST 4120: American Immigration
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.
HIST 4255: History of the British Empire
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.
HIST 4450: North Africa
Dr. Philip Naylor
North Africa from the 7th century to the present, emphasizing Islamic and European influences.
- Individuals and Communities:
HIST 4145: History of Women in America
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.
HIST 4245: Women in Western Civilization
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.
HIST 4500: Modern Japan
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.
History and the Writing Intensive Requirement
(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.
HIST 4210: Black Death
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.
HIST 4955: Undergraduate Seminar in History
The department offers several seminar sections each year; all are approved as writing intensive courses.
History and the Second Level Engaging Social Systems and Values Requirement
(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
HIST 4120. American Immigration. 3 cr. hrs.
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.
HIST 4135. African-American History. 3 cr. hrs.
The role and response of African-Americans in American society. Emphasis on the problems of slavery, exclusion, accommodation, migration, urbanization, and currents of protest.
HIST 4155. A History of Native America. 3 cr. hrs.
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.
