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Catalogue 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Course Descriptions
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Courses in Greek Language and Literature: III. Advanced |
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GRST 322 - Greek Tragedy
1 unit(s)
A reading of a play by Sophokles or Euripides. Careful study of the text helps us to understand the playwright’s style. We also consider how the play examines and responds to the historical, social and political conditions of Athens in the fifth century BCE.
Prerequisite(s): Two units in 200-level courses in the language or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 323 - Homer
1 unit(s)
Extensive selections from the Iliad, the Odyssey, and/or Homeric Hymns with attention given to oral theory, thematic structure, and social issues raised by the poems.
Prerequisite(s): Two units in 200-level courses in the language or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 324 - Reading Greek, Homer Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
Readings in Greek from Homer’s Odyssey. Rachel Friedman.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 224 or permission of the instructor.
Second six-week course.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: INT
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Courses in Latin Language and Literature: I. Introductory Courses in Latin Language and Literature
Courses numbered X40-X59 require appropriate reading ability in Latin. |
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GRST 145 - Elementary Latin Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Introduction to the language. Curtis Dozier.
Open to all classes. No previous Latin is required.
Yearlong course 145-GRST 146 .
Four 50-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 146 - Elementary Latin Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Introduction to the language.
Open to all classes.
Yearlong course GRST 145 -146.
Four 50-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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Courses in Latin Language and Literature: II. Intermediate |
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GRST 245 - Intermediate Latin I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Selected readings from authors such as Plautus, Cicero, Catullus, Caesar, Sallust, and Virgil. The selection of readings is designed to consolidate knowledge of grammar, provide an introduction to the translation of continuous, unadapted Latin, and highlight interesting features of Roman culture in the last two centuries of the Republic. Gwenda-lin Grewal.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 145 -GRST 146 or permission of the instructor or chair.
Three 50-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 246 - Intermediate Latin II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Authors may include Horace, Livy, Ovid, Seneca, Petronius, Suetonius, and Virgil. Readings are selected to illustrate the diversity of literary forms that flourished in the early Empire and the interaction of literature with society, politics, and private life. Bert Lott.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 245 or permission of the instructor.
Three 50-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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Courses in Latin Language and Literature: III. Advanced |
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GRST 341 - Topics in Latin Literature Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Topic for 2019/20b: Juvenal. The sixteen Satires of the Roman poet Juvenal contain a litany of often vicious attacks on various groups marked as “other” under the Roman empire, including women, homosexuals, and foreigners. They also contain criticism of the social hierarchy of Rome, including the emperor himself. The former make the poetry repulsive to contemporary sensibilities; the latter seem to suggest the possibility of a subversive message. And all the satires are written in a vivid, learned, and allusive style that is sometimes funny, sometimes disgusting. The poetry of Juvenal is thus a fertile ground for considering many issues relevant to both Latin literary studies and Roman social history: how do we evaluate evidence for Roman culture when it is packaged in satire? To what extent does Juvenal’s poetry encode the actual prejudices of Roman elites? And what weight should we give to Juvenal’s perspective when assessing the relevance and significance of Classical literature in the contemporary world? Curtis Dozier.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 246 or permission of the instructor
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 342 - Virgil
1 unit(s)
Selections from the Eclogues, Georgics, or Aeneid. Subjects of study include the artistry of the Virgilian hexameter, the relationship of Virgil’s works to their Greek models, and general topics such as his conception of destiny, religion, and the human relation to nature.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 246 or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 343 - Tacitus Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Close readings from the works of the imperial historian and ethnographer Tacitus. In connection with further developing students’ reading skills, the class focuses on particular literary, cultural, or historical issues. Bert Lott.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 246 or permission of the instructor.
Course Format: CLS
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GRST 344 - Roman Lyric and Elegy
1 unit(s)
Poems of Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, Catullus and Ovid with attention given to poetic form, the influence of poets on each other, and the view they give us of Roman society in the first century BCE.
Prerequisite(s): GRST 246 or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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Haitian Creole: I. Introductory |
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CREO 105 - Beginning Haitian Creole Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Courses offered through SILP do not have individual course descriptions. Haitian Creole can be added to the list of languages offered in the existing description of the Self-Instructional Language Program. Lioba Gerhardi. http://catalog.vassar.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=1079
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Yearlong course CREO 105-106 .
Two 60-minute periods.
Course Format: OTH
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CREO 106 - Beginning Haitian Creole Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Courses offered through SILP do not have individual course descriptions. Haitian Creole can be added to the list of languages offered in the existing description of the Self-Instructional Language Program. Lioba Gerhardi. https://catalog.vassar.edu/content.php?catoid=25&navoid=4949
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Yearlong course CREO 105 -106.
Two 60-minute periods.
Course Format: OTH
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Hebrew: I. Introductory |
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HEBR 105 - Elementary Hebrew Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Introduction to the language. Basic phonics and grammatical structures. Stress on development of reading comprehension, simple composition, and conversational skills. For Hebrew 105, no background in the language is assumed; admission to HEBR 106 is possible with the demonstration of previous work equivalent to Hebrew 105. Sigal Yona.
Open to all students.
Yearlong course 105-HEBR 106 .
Course Format: CLS
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HEBR 106 - Elementary Hebrew Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Introduction to the language. Basic phonics and grammatical structures. Stress on development of reading comprehension, simple composition, and conversational skills. For HEBR 105 , no background in the language is assumed; admission to Hebrew 106 is possible with the demonstration of previous work equivalent to HEBR 105 . Sigal Yona.
Open to all students.
Year long course HEBR 105 -106.
Course Format: CLS
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Hebrew: II. Intermediate |
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HEBR 205 - Intermediate Hebrew I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Formal study of Hebrew language with emphasis on oral practice and writing skills. Sigal Yona.
Prerequisite(s): HEBR 105 -HEBR 106 , or equivalent of two years in high school.
Course Format: CLS
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HEBR 206 - Intermediate Hebrew II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Formal study of Hebrew language with emphasis on oral practice and writing skills. Sigal Yona.
Prerequisite(s): HEBR 205 or equivalent of three years in high school.
Course Format: CLS
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HEBR 290 - Community-Engaged Learning
0.5 or 1 unit(s)
Course Format: INT
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HEBR 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Course Format: OTH
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Hebrew: III. Advanced |
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HEBR 305 - Advanced Readings in Hebrew: Genres and Themes
1 unit(s)
Expansion of language proficiency through intensified study of culture and literary texts and examination of different Israeli media. Readings are arranged according to thematic topics and course may be repeated for credit if topic changes.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HEBR 399 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Note: A self-instructional introductory course in Yiddish language exists. See Self-Instructional Language Program (SILP).
Course Format: OTH
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Hindi: I. Introductory |
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HIND 105 - Beginning Hindi Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Yearlong course HIND 105-106 .
Course Format: OTH
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HIND 106 - Beginning Hindi Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Yearlong course HIND 105 -106.
Course Format: OTH
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Hindi: II. Intermediate |
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HIND 210 - Intermediate Hindi Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Year long course 210-HIND 211 .
Course Format: OTH
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HIND 211 - Intermediate Hindi Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Year long course HIND 210 -211.
Course Format: OTH
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Hindi: III. Advanced |
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HIND 310 - Advanced Hindi I Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Course Format: OTH
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HIND 311 - Advanced Hindi II Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Prerequisite(s): Special permission.
Course Format: OTH
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Hispanic Studies: I. Introductory |
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HISP 105 - Elementary Spanish Language Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Fundamentals of the grammar and structure of the Spanish language with emphasis on oral skills and reading.
Open to students with no previous instruction in Spanish.
Yearlong course 105-HISP 106 .
Four 50-minute periods; one hour of drill.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 106 - Elementary Spanish Language Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Fundamentals of the grammar and structure of the Spanish language with emphasis on oral skills and reading.
Open to students with no previous instruction in Spanish.
Yearlong course HISP 105 -106.
Four 50-minute periods; one hour of drill period.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 110 - Latin American and Spanish Literacy and Cultural Topics
1 unit(s)
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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Hispanic Studies: II. Intermediate |
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HISP 205 - Intermediate Spanish Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
Intensive study and review of Spanish grammar at the second-year level with emphasis on oral practice and writing skills. Mario Cesareo (a); Michael Aronna (b).
Prerequisite(s): HISP 105 -HISP 106 or three years of high school Spanish.
Three 50-minute periods and one hour of conversation.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 206 - Reading and Writing about Hispanic Culture Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
Reading, writing and speaking skills are developed through study of cultural and literary texts and audiovisual materials. Augusto Hatchoun and Andrew Bush (a); Augusto Hatchoun, Mihai Grünfeld, and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (b).
Topic for 2019/20a or b: Hyperbole to hype: Cuba: An examination of, and a reflection about, how particular acts, experiences and eventualities are publicly reported, privately memorialized, chronicled in histories, transformed into literature, and revived in films. Readings, written essays, oral discussions and presentations.Taught in Spanish. Augusto Hatchoun.
Topic for 2019/20a: Reading, writing and speaking skills are developed through study of cultural and literary texts and audiovisual materials. Andrew Bush.
Topic for 2019/20b: Latin America: Past and Present. This course is an introduction to Latin American history and culture, while it develops reading, writing and speaking skills in Spanish. Through the study of cultural and literary texts (short stories, poetry and essays) and audiovisual material (music, fine arts and films) we cover the main Latin American historical periods and also discuss the Hispanic presence in the United States. Some of the texts studied are: Popol Vuh, Nicolás Echevarría’s Cabeza de Vaca, María Luisa Bemberg’s Yo la peor de todas and Camila, the murals of Diego Rivera, Nicolás Guillén’s afro-Cuban poetry, Violeta Parra’s protest song, Luisa Valenzuela’s short novel Cambio de armas and Luis Valdes’s Zoot Suit. Mihai Grünfeld.
Topic for 2019/20b: Musical Traditions of Spain and Latin America. The course examines the salient musical traditions of Spain and Latin American through film, literature and art. Organized as a survey of music in Spanish–from flamenco to reggaetón–our readings will include Federico García Lorca, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Julio Cortázar, among others. Lizabeth Paravisini Gebert.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 205 or four years of high school Spanish.
Two 75-minute periods and one hour of conversation.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 216 - Topics in Multidisciplinary Analysis Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
This course develops a set of methodological and theoretical tools for the investigation of cultural practices such as literature, popular and mass culture, social movements and institutions in Spanish-speaking countries.
Topic for 2019/20a: Reading Latin America through its Horror and Fantastic Short Stories. In Latin America, terror stories comprise not only the narration of paranormal and psychological delusions but also a very effective mirroring of specific social and political conditions. This course introduces students to literary analysis through the lens of horror and fantastic fiction. Materials for analysis will include literary texts by Rubén Darío, Leopoldo Lugones, Horacio Quiroga, Mariana Enríquez, and Samanta Schweblin. We will also examine films by Guillermo del Toro, Jorge Michel Grau, and Adrián García Bogliano. Nicolás Vivalda.
Topic for 2019/20b: Reading, Writing and Thinking Fiction. This course explores a set of theoretical concepts (from philosophy, sociology, Marxism, psychoanalysis, phenomenology and semiotics) to develop a set of interpretative tools through which we are reading Latin American short stories while engaging in creative and essay writing exercises in Spanish. Mario Cesareo.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 206 or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
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HISP 219 - Advanced Grammar and Composition Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course offers an in-depth coverage of Spanish grammar with emphasis on reading and writing skills. A more traditional approach in grammar explanations is combined with the study of numerous examples and exercises based on everyday life. The objectives of this course are 1) to provide a thorough review of major topics of Spanish grammar—ser and estar, por and para, the preterit and the imperfect, sequence of tenses, conditional clauses, etc.; 2) to explore in-depth the different mechanics of writing in Spanish (punctuation, written accents, etc.); 3) to work on writing skills in Spanish through the use of various writing techniques and strategies—the art of writing narratives, dialogue, descriptions, letters, and reports; 4) to improve reading skills and knowledge of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions in Spanish; 5) to continue to increase cultural knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world. Through the use of the target language in class, this course also contributes to the general language acquisition process. Some translation work is required as well—contextualized passages in English translated into Spanish are used to illustrate a variety of grammatical principles. Nicolas Vivalda.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 225 - Creative Writing Workshop
1 unit(s)
This year’s workshop provides a space for the development of the student’s ability as a writer of fiction in Spanish. Writing projects could include short stories, drama, poetry and miscellany, depending on the student’s individual interests. Workshop members share, read and critique each other’s writing. We also engage some readings and exercises designed to enrich the student’s ability to give form, texture, and voice to their writing. Mario Cesareo.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or HISP 219 or permission of the instructor.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 226 - Medieval and Early Modern Spain
1 unit(s)
Studies in Spanish literary and cultural production from the time of the Reconquest to the end of the Hapsburg Empire.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 227 - Colonial Latin America Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 227 ) Studies in Latin American literary and cultural production from the European invasion to the crisis of the colonial system.
Topic for 2019/20b: Screening the Past: Filmic Adaptations of Latin American Colonial Society. This course considers how the Latin American, European and American film industries have imagined, represented, and revised crucial moments and issues from Latin America’s colonial past with a special focus on the contemporary agendas of the filmmakers in their depiction of colonial society, culture, and politics. We study the many original colonial texts and sources which inspired these films and examine the cinematic techniques for the adaptation and revision of colonial perspectives, beliefs, and practices which seek to make them accessible and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Michael Aronna.
Prerequisite(s): One course above HISP 206 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 228 - Modern Spain Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Studies in Spanish literary and cultural production from the beginning of the Bourbon monarchy to the present.
Topic for 2019/20a: Fighting Fascism: Gender, Race, Media. (Same as WMST 228 ) Spain, Argentina and Chile continue to struggle with fascism, both in terms of the politics of memory and the enduring consequences of its violence. What did fascism mean for women, either on the frontlines, as victims or as allies, such as Vassar graduate Nancy Macdonald (‘32), founder of a relief organization for Spanish Civil War refugees? What did it mean for LGBTQ+ or historically racialized groups? Through analysis and close reading of a range of media content—novel, essay, poetry, songs, posters, magazines, photography, films, art and digital archives—this course explores fascism in three trans-Atlantic case studies and their intersection with gender and race. The course ends with attention to more recent debates on historical memory and the current emboldening of fascism throughout the Americas and Spain. Coursework emphasizes writing, speaking, reading and listening in Spanish. Digital projects welcome. Eva Woods.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 229 - Postcolonial Latin America Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 229 ) Studies in Latin American literary and cultural production from the emergence of the nation states to the present. Thematically structured, the course delves into the social, political, and institutional processes undergone by Latin America as a result of its uneven incorporation into world capitalist development.
Topic for 2019/20a: An infinite venture. An inquiry on the idea, history and politics of Latin America through the poetry and prose of Pablo Neruda, poet, politician, diplomat (Chile 1904-1973, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1971). Readings, written essays, oral discussions and presentations. Augusto Hatchoun.
Topic for 2019/20b: Latin America Literature & the Environment. The course explores the links between history, the environment, and literature in Latin America. It follows the environmental history of the continent from pre-Columbian societies to the present through its representation in salient works of Latin American literature, from Amerindian texts to 21st –century literature, art, and film. Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or HISP 219 .
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 252 - Building Inclusive Communities in Latino-a-x Poughkeepsie Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 252 ) This course is intended for students who wish to learn from and support that process, notably connecting with local Latino-a-x high school students with the goal of helping empower them to be leaders in the process.
The course offers students a chance to engage with and learn more about the local Latino-a-x community, meet local community leaders, and learn about the most pressing issues impacting the community at the local, state, and national levels. This course also allows students to experience best practices when it comes to developing and sustaining an inclusive community – developing intimacy, exploring social identity and power, using effective communication and conflict resolution skills, and attending to the well-being of the individual members of the community – specifically in the context of Latino-a-x community.
Spanish-speaking and Latino-a-x students are encouraged to enroll, but all students are most welcome! Both English and Spanish are used, but always in a way that is inclusive and accessible to non-Spanish speakers. Eva Woods.
First six-week course.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 274 - Writing Workshop Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 274 ) It admits of three modes, according to each student’s preference. The course includes periodic meetings where the texts are collectively discussed (Previous Requisite: one course at the 220 level or special permission by me.). A) Chronicle: the course hinges around an ongoing event (political, historical, etc.) chosen by each student. Such event will be researched as it develops during the semester, in depth and thoroughly. The end result will be an annotated dossier of primary and secondary sources and the writing of a chronicle based upon some of the models studied (García Márquez, Rodolfo Walsh, Germán Castro Caycedo, Alma Guillermo Prieto, etc.) B) Fiction: the course is geared toward completion of a piece of writing previously agreed upon between each student and me (collection of poems or short stories, novelistic fragment, journal, short film and so on). Writing models and problematics will be discussed and serve as a springboard for each student’s project. C) Testimonial Writing: the course will allow for crafting a piece of testimonial writing (of one’s own or someone else’s experience). Writing strategies will be derived from an understanding of the genre’s logic and its problematization. In all modalities, the final text can take the form of an audiovisual product (the student’s technical knowledge for carrying on such a project is presupposed). Mario Cesareo.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or HISP 219 or permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 275 - The Oviedo Project Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The Oviedo Project at Vassar College aims at translating the 50 books of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo’s Natural History of the Indies–the first comprehensive description of the New World, written between 1524 and 1548—in time for the 500th anniversary of the publication of an abridged version of the first book in 1526. The collaborative project has been developed as part of Vassar’s new curriculum to work with student translators to produce the first complete English-language translation of the celebrated text. Students study and put into practice translation theory and editing skills as they complete their section of the project, under the guidance of profs. Michael Aronna, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or HISP 219 or permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 276 - Close Watching of Latin American Cinema Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course focuses on one relevant Latin American or Spanish film director dealing with Latin American topics, and involves concentrated readings, research, and small group discussions on themes like race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, poverty, nationalism, liberalism, development, and modernity(ies). Student learn to identify and analyze the intersection between form and content in a select number of relevant Latin American films by situating them in contexts that are simultaneously national, regional, and global. Proposed directors: Luis Buñuel, Arturo Ripstein, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Leonardo Favio, Pablo Larraín, Patricio Guzmán. Nicolas Vivalda.
Prerequisite(s): One course above HISP 206 .
Course Format: INT
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HISP 277 - Study Abroad Follow-up Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
Through frequent conversations and writing opportunities, this course offers students the opportunity to analyze and gain a deeper understanding of their study abroad experience in a Spanish-speaking country. Through storytelling, memoirs and the creation of a final project, students reflect critically on tourism, knowledge production, global citizenship and their plans to integrate their study away experience into current learning opportunities or professional aspirations. Taught in Spanish. Eva Woods.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 206 or permission of the instructor.
Second six-week course.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 290 - Community-Engaged Learning Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Individual projects or internships. The department.
Prerequisite(s): One unit of HISP 205 or above.
Special permission.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1.5 unit(s)
The department.
Prerequisite(s): Two units of HISP 226 or above, and permission of the instructor.
Does not fulfill the requirement for 200-level work in the major or the correlate sequence.
Course Format: OTH
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Hispanic Studies: III. Advanced |
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HISP 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The department.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 374 - Writing Workshop Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 374 ) It admits of three modes, according to each student’s preference. The course includes periodic meetings where the texts are collectively discussed (Previous Requisite: one course at the 220 level or special permission by me.). A) Chronicle: the course hinges around an ongoing event (political, historical, etc.) chosen by each student. Such event is researched as it develops during the semester, in depth and thoroughly. The end result is an annotated dossier of primary and secondary sources and the writing of a chronicle based upon some of the models studied (García Márquez, Rodolfo Walsh, Germán Castro Caycedo, Alma Guillermo Prieto, etc.) B) Fiction: the course is geared toward completion of a piece of writing previously agreed upon between each student and me (collection of poems or short stories, novelistic fragment, journal, short film and so on). Writing models and problematics will be discussed and serve as a springboard for each student’s project. C) Testimonial Writing: the course allows for crafting a piece of testimonial writing (of one’s own or someone else’s experience). Writing strategies are derived from an understanding of the genre’s logic and its problematization. In all modalities, the final text can take the form of an audiovisual product (the student’s technical knowledge for carrying on such a project is presupposed). Mario Cesareo.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or HISP 219 or permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 375 - The Oviedo Project Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The Oviedo Project at Vassar College aims at translating the 50 books of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo’s Natural History of the Indies–the first comprehensive description of the New World, written between 1524 and 1548—in time for the 500th anniversary of the publication of an abridged version of the first book in 1526. The collaborative project has been developed as part of Vassar’s new curriculum to work with student translators to produce the first complete English-language translation of the celebrated text. Students study and put into practice translation theory and editing skills as they complete their section of the project, under the guidance of profs. Michael Aronna, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 or HISP 219 or permission of the instructor.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 376 - Close Watching of Latin American Cinema Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course focuses on one relevant Latin American or Spanish film director dealing with Latin American topics, and involves concentrated readings, research, and small group discussions on themes like race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, poverty, nationalism, liberalism, development, and modernity(ies). Student learn to identify and analyze the intersection between form and content in a select number of relevant Latin American films by situating them in contexts that are simultaneously national, regional, and global. Proposed directors: Luis Buñuel, Arturo Ripstein, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Leonardo Favio, Pablo Larraín, Patricio Guzmán. Nicolas Vivalda.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 and one course above 216.
Course Format: INT
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HISP 387 - Latin American Seminar Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 387 ) A seminar offering in-depth study of topics related to the literary and cultural history of Latin America. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic changes.
Topic for 2019/20b: The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. In this seminar we examine the works of the man Gabriel García Márquez once called “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” In addition to studying selections from most of Neruda’s poetry, we read his autobiography Confieso que he vivido, his play Fulgor y muerte de Joaquín Murieta, his manifestos and essays, discuss the movie Il postino and study several documentaries about the poet’s life. By examining the different styles of Neruda’s poetry, we define the major poetic movements of twentieth century Latin America. Mihai Grünfeld.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 and one course above 216.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 388 - Peninsular Seminar Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
A seminar offering in-depth study of topics related to the literary and cultural history of Spain and the Hispanic Transatlantic. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic changes.
Topic for 2019/20a: An infinite venture. An inquiry on the idea, history and politics of Latin America through the poetry and prose of Pablo Neruda, poet, politician, diplomat (Chile 1904-1973, Nobel Prize for Literature, 1971). Readings, written essays, oral discussions and presentations. Augusto Hatchoun.
Prerequisite(s): HISP 216 and one course above 216.
One 2-hour period.
Course Format: CLS
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HISP 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Special permission. Does not fulfill the requirement for 300-level work in the major or correlate sequence.
Course Format: OTH
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History: I. Introductory |
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HIST 102 - Humanitarian Intervention
1 unit(s)
The principle that troops should sometimes be sent to prevent the slaughter of innocent foreigners is anything but new. With deep roots in the 19th century, humanitarian intervention has been a relatively familiar practice in international affairs. This seminar examines the history of that practice and principle to the present day. We explore the transnational activists who campaigned against bloodshed abroad, the debates over the efficacy of military intervention in the name of human rights, the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of humanitarianism, specific case studies (Greece, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Libya, and Syria to name a few), and the U.N. Responsibility to Protect doctrine. Robert Brigham.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 116 - The Dark Ages
1 unit(s)
(Same as MRST 116 ) Was early medieval Europe really Dark? In reality, this was a period of tremendous vitality and ferment, witnessing the transformation of late classical society, the growth of Germanic kingdoms, the high point of Byzantium, the rise of the papacy and monasticism, and the birth of Islam. This course examines a rich variety of sources that illuminate the first centuries of Christianity, the fall of the Roman Empire, and early medieval culture showing moments of both conflict and synthesis that redefined Europe and the Mediterranean. Nancy Bisaha.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 117 - High Middle Ages, 950-1300 Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as MRST 117 This course examines medieval Europe at both its cultural and political height. Topics of study include: the first universities; government from feudal lordships to national monarchies; courtly and popular culture; manorial life and town life; the rise of papal monarchy; new religious orders and spirituality among the laity. Relations with religious outsiders are explored in topics on European Jewry, heretics, and the Crusades. Nancy Bisaha.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 122 - Encounters in Modern East Asia Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 122 ) This course introduces the modern history of East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) through various “encounters,” not only with each other but also with the world beyond. Employing regional and global perspectives, we explore how East Asia entered a historical phase generally known as “modern” by examining topics such as inter-state relations, trade network, the Jesuit missionary, philosophical inquiries, science and technology, colonialism, imperialism and nationalism. The course begins in the seventeenth-century with challenges against the dynastic regime of each country, traces how modern East Asia emerges through war, commerce, cultural exchange, and imperial expansion and considers some global issues facing the region today. Wayne Soon.
Two 75-minute periods.
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HIST 124 - Europe 1945
1 unit(s)
On May 8, 1945 the Second World War ended in Europe. After six years of fighting, millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. The Nazi genocide had led to the brutal murder of millions of Jews and other minorities. Some of Europe’s most magnificent cities lay in ruins, while some twenty million refugees, expellees, or displaced persons wandered the highways in search of shelter and security. Readings explore the roots of the war, and how European countries dealt with the destruction, the questions of guilt, collaboration and resistance, and the challenge to create a peaceful Europe in the emerging Cold War order. Maria Höhn.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 125 - Infamy on Trial: Famous Trials in Early Modern Europe Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course examines several of the most famous trials of Europe’s early modern period (1500-1700). Each trial allows us to explore how communities and individuals responded to the changing nature of European society during this period of upheaval. Through cases involving all sorts of people—men and women, peasants and kings, we have access to conflicting understandings of authority, family, religion, and gender. The trial of Galileo challenged contemporary understandings of what it meant to be a Christian while the execution of King Charles I raised questions about kingship. By studying criminal cases, we engage with a rich selection of primary sources, such as trial records, contemporary accounts, and private papers. Through these readings, the class investigates how early modern people interpreted crime and justice during moments of crisis. Sumita Choudhury.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 126 - Terrorism in Russia and Eurasia Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
Terror is a tactic as old as warfare, and it creates many dangers in the present. Sectarians and revolutionaries, powerful states and small regimes, guerillas and jihadists all have carried out bloody attacks and assassinations in the name of religion, liberation, politics, identity, and empowerment. This course explores the use and legacies of terror starting in 1789. We investigate nihilism, Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Russia, the anti-Nazi resistance and guerilla movements, anti-Soviet Afghanistan, Shamil Basaev and Chechnya, Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and contemporary global suicide terrorism, taking care to elicit historical connections and breaks between them. We encounter leaders and ordinary people engaged in acts of violence, as well as their victims; we discuss scholarship on the invention of modern terror and state terror, and using their own texts and acts as evidence, we investigate how violent practitioners represent themselves and make claims of transcendence and social transformation. How have they been perceived? What happens when such movements come to power? How do violent campaigns end? Michaela Pohl.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 128 - Europe 1945 - Rethinking History
0.5 unit(s)
On May 8, 1945 the Second World War ended in Europe. After six years of fighting, millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. The Nazi genocide had led to the brutal murder of millions of Jews, and other minorities. Some of Europe’s most magnificent cities lay in ruins, while some twenty million refugees, expellees, or displaced persons wandered the highways in search of shelter and security. Readings for this class explore how European countries dealt with the aftermath of the war, as well as the questions of guilt, collaboration, and resistance. In particular, readings and discussions focus on the tension between history and memory as Europeans tried to come to terms with the war. Maria Höhn.
Second six-week course.
One 2-hour meeting.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 141 - Tradition, History and the African Experience
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 141 ) From ancient stone tools and monuments to oral narratives and colonial documents, the course examines how the African past has been recorded, preserved, and transmitted over the generations. It looks at the challenges faced by the historian in Africa and the multi-disciplinary techniques used to reconstruct and interpret African history. Various texts, artifacts, and oral narratives from ancient times to the present are analyzed to see how conceptions and interpretations of African past have changed over time. Ismail Rashid.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 143 - Russia, Ukraine, and the Steppe
1 unit(s)
This course introduces students to the history of the Russians and their neighbors on the Eurasian Steppe, a vast region that stretches from Ukraine to Kazakhstan. Topics include the relations between Russians and Ukrainians and nomadic and semi-nomadic people (Tatars, Kazakhs, Cossacks), the great steppe empires, the imposition of serfdom, the uprisings of the steppe (1660s and 1916), and the complex mix of violence and development that was unleashed in the Soviet period, including famines, forced cultural change, and industrialization. We will also consider the connections between the cultural and political history of this region and current events, such as the creation of a new Eurasian Union. Course materials include history texts, memoirs, fiction, newspapers, Soviet and post-Soviet films, and maps. Course participants practice writing regularly, with an emphasis on discussing and constructing arguments, finding and using evidence, and comparing perspectives and points of view (American, Russian, Ukrainian, Central Asian). Michaela Pohl.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 150 - Revolution, Evolution, and the Global Nineteenth Century Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as CLCS 150 and VICT 150 ) The world as we know it largely came into being during the nineteenth century. Marked by social, political, cultural, and technological transformations, the nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of modernity out of the instabilities of change. Railways crisscrossed continents; European empires expanded; agricultural laborers flocked into mushrooming urban centers; and the enslaved, the colonized, and the disenfranchised around the world fought for liberty and citizenship. In this course, we consider these and other nineteenth-century transformations in a global context by focusing on the interconnections between North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Our investigations are organized around five core areas: revolutions, emancipations, evolution and progress, popular culture, and the domestic sphere. Students analyze a variety of sources, including novels, plays, short stories, photographs, early films, paintings, periodicals and pamphlets, government documents, letters, music, and scientific works. The course is team taught with occasional guest lectures. Lydia Murdoch and Susan Zlotnick.
Three 50-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 151 - British History: James I (1603) to the Great War
1 unit(s)
This course explores the central developments in Britain from the age of Shakespeare to the age of total war. We study the political and scientific revolutions of the seventeenth century, the eighteenth-century rise of commercial society and the “British” nation, and the effects of industrialization on Britain’s landscape, society, and politics. The course concludes by exploring how the First World War transformed British society. Lydia Murdoch.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 154 - Victorian Women
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 154 ) This course introduces students to college writing and historical methodologies through the study of women in Victorian Britain. We explore how women from various class and social backgrounds responded to debates about “woman’s nature” and the female body in their writings and reform campaigns. Topics include slavery and abolition, industrial labor, women’s suffrage, higher education, domestic violence, sexual assault, and medical treatment for such conditions as hysteria. Students practice writing skills through the close analysis of select texts on the craft of writing along with primary source materials, including memoirs, essays, government documents, and medical records, as well as material culture artifacts: photographs and paintings, crinolines and corsets. We also examine the politics of the historical archive, exploring possible methods for researching Victorian women—especially working-class women, women of color, young women, and “lesbian like” or queer women—who were less likely to record their experiences and have them preserved, or who self-identified in terms that no longer fit our own. In addition to short assignments, students complete an independent research paper on a topic of choice. Lydia Murdoch.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 159 - Blood and Faith: The St. Bartholomew’s Massacre in Context
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as MRST 159 ) On August 24, 1572, Catholic troops slaughtered nearly 3,000 Protestant men and women who had arrived in Paris to attend the marriage between the future Henry IV and Marguerite de Valois, sister of Charles IX. It was the most dramatic episode of the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598) during which 2-4 million Catholics and Protestants died. This course examines the origins of the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre coming out of the Protestant Reformation. Like the larger war, the massacre was not simply initiated by kings and nobles but featured ordinary subjects who sought to defend and define their community. We look at how the war was fought not just with weapons but words, featuring a trip to Special Collections. Throughout the course, we examine the relationship between politics and religion, between faith and community, issues that remain relevant today. Sumita Choudhury.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 160 - American Moments: Rediscovering U.S. History Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)
This is not your parents’—or your high school teacher’s—American history course. No textbook: Instead we read memoirs, novels, newspaper articles, letters, speeches, photographs, and films composed by a colorful, diverse cast of characters—famous and forgotten, slaves and masters, workers and bosses. No survey: Instead we pause to look at several illuminating “moments” from the colonial era through the Civil War to civil rights and the Cold War. Traveling from the Great Awakening to the “awakening” that was the 1960s, from an anticolonial rebellion that Americans won (1776) to another that they lost (Vietnam), the course challenges assumptions about America’s past—and perhaps also a few about America’s present and future. The Department.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 161 - Violent Economies: Rewriting the American West
1 unit(s)
This course considers episodes in the history of the United States and its Western frontiers from the California Gold Rush through the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Themes include economic risk-taking and cycles of boom and bust; racial and interpersonal violence; forced removal of native peoples and their responses; frontier myth-making; and the emergence of a wilderness ethos. As students investigate different strategies for telling about the past, readings include eyewitness accounts, historical narratives, and works of fiction. Rebecca Edwards.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Three 50-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 162 - Envisioning Latin America
1 unit(s)
How have people come to see Latin America since it first entered the European consciousness at the end of the fifteenth century? How have the people of Latin America themselves deflected and recast the “imperial eye”? This course explores Latin America ca. 1500-ca. 2010s through the writings of outside observers–explorers, bureaucrats, Enlightenment scientists, traders and investors, ethnographers—to uncover the process of producing an exoticized vision of a region open to economic expansion and empire. We also explore Latin American self-representations, drawing on colonial-era indigenous and creole letters and reports, post-colonial poetry and novels, government-sponsored pavilions at international expositions, and official tourist campaigns. Along the way, we address several central themes in Latin American history—race and ethnicity, gender, nation building (as both a political and a cultural project)—considered within the conceptual frame of transculturation. Leslie Offutt.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 164 - Latin American History ‘through the lens’
0.5 unit(s)
(Same as LALS 164 ) Film can be a source of entertainment, a propaganda tool, a medium of artistic expression, and a shaper and reflector of national identity. This course explores the history of specific moments and themes in twentieth-century Latin America-US perceptions of Latin America; revolution; “Dirty Wars”; the transition from authoritarianism to democracy; and Liberation Theology-that have defined the region’s recent history and been the subject of domestic film production and foreign consumption. Course readings include historical studies of the specific themes and primary materials that illuminate critical aspects of each theme. Leslie Offutt.
First and second six-week course.
Two 75-minute periods plus outside screenings.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 174 - The Emergence of the Modern Middle East
1 unit(s)
An exploration of the Middle East over the past three centuries. Beginning with economic and social transformations in the eighteenth century, we follow the transformation of various Ottoman provinces such as Egypt, Syria/Lebanon, and Algeria into modern states, paying careful attention to how European colonialism shaped their development. We then look at independence movements and the post-colonial societies that have emerged since the middle of the twentieth century, concluding with study of colonialism’s lingering power—and the movements that confront it. Joshua Schreier.
Open only to first-year students; satisfies the college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 175 - Mandela: Race, Resistance and Renaissance in South Africa Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 175 ) This course critically explores the history and politics of South Africa in the twentieth century through the prism of the life, politics, and experiences of one of its most iconic figures, Nelson Mandela. After almost three decades of incarceration for resisting Apartheid, Mandela became the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa in 1994. It was an inspirational moment in the global movement and the internal struggle to dismantle Apartheid and to transform South Africa into a democratic, non-racial, and just society. Using Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, as our point of departure, the course discusses some of the complex ideas, people, and developments that shaped South Africa and Mandela’s life in the twentieth century, including: indigenous culture, religion, and institutions; colonialism, race, and ethnicity; nationalism, mass resistance, and freedom; and human rights, social justice, and post-conflict reconstruction. Ismail Rashid.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 178 - The Global Cold War Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The Cold War was a political, ideological, military, and social conflict that engulfed the major powers—the United States, Soviet Union, and China–from 1945 until 1989. Yet it also involved peoples and states throughout the global south. This course examines the history of the Cold War for the purpose of illuminating powerful military, political, economic, social, and ideological dynamics that continue to shape global power. Robert Brigham.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 179 - Climate Change and International Security Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Climate change presents a serious threat to the security of states and peoples around the globe. This first-year writing seminar explores the global response to potential consequences of climate change—natural and humanitarian disasters, political violence, undermining weak governments—from its origins in the nineteenth century to today’s climate security agreements. Robert Brigham.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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History: II. Intermediate The prerequisite for courses at the 200-level is ordinarily 1 unit in history. |
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HIST 202 - Business and the State in East Asia
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 202 ) This course examines the relationship between business, culture, and society in twentieth-century East Asia, with a focus on the ways in which the state has shaped business practices and ideas. We investigate the varying role of governments in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Manchuria in enabling and restricting the growth of enterprises in the region, mediated by colonialism, imperialism, Western competition, and globalization. We examine how the development of new business practices changed the interaction between labor and employers in the region. Case studies are drawn from the medical, education, electronics, retail sectors, etc. This class uses historical sources such as memoirs, oral histories, case studies, and newspaper reports to understand the nature of contingencies in doing business in the region. In so doing, students gain the tools to critically examine the notions of the “Developmental State,” and “Confucian Capitalism” in explaining the rise and fall of businesses in East Asia.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 208 - Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1945
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 208 ) This course examines U.S. National Security issues through the prism of human rights, weaving humanitarian concerns into the fabric of traditional security studies. We survey the most important literature and debates concerning the concepts of human rights and the U.S. national interest. We also use case studies to explore the intersection of human rights, economic aims, strategic concerns, and peace building. In addition, we test the consistency of U.S. guiding principles, the influence of non-state actors on policy formation, and the strength of the international human rights regime. Robert Brigham.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 214 - The Roots of the Palestine-Israel Conflict Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as JWST 214 ) An examination of the deep historical sources of the Palestine-Israel conflict. The course begins some two centuries ago when changes in the world economy and emerging nationalist ideologies altered the political and economic landscapes of the region. It then traces the development of both Jewish and Arab nationalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before exploring how the Arab and Jewish populations fought—and cooperated—on a variety of economic, political, and ideological fronts. It concludes by considering how this contest led to the development of two separate, hostile national identities. Joshua Schreier.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 216 - History of the Ancient Greeks
1 unit(s)
(Same as GRST 216 ) This course examines the history and culture of the ancient Greeks from the emergence of the city-state in the eighth century BCE to the conquests of Alexander the Great in 335 BCE. In addition to an outline of the political and social history of the Greeks, the course examines several historical, cultural, and methodological topics in depth, including the emergence of writing, Greek colonialism and imperialism, ancient democracy, polytheism, the social structures of Athenian society, and the relationship between Greeks and other Mediterranean cultures. Students both read primary sources (for example, Sappho, Tyrtaios, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato) and examine sites and artifacts recovered through archaeology; the development of students’ critical abilities to evaluate and use these sources for the study of history is a primary goal of the class. Barbara Olsen.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 217 - History of the Ancient Romans Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as GRST 217 ) This course examines the history of the ancient Romans from the foundation of their city around the eighth century BCE to the collapse of their Mediterranean Empire in the fifth century CE. The course offers a broad historical outline of Roman history, but focuses on significant topics and moments in Roman history, including the Republican aristocracy, the civil and slave wars of the Late Republic, the foundation of the Empire by Caesar Augustus, urbanism, the place of public entertainments (gladiatorial combats, Roman hunts, chariot races, and theater) in society, the rise of Christianity, the processes of Romanization, and barbarization, and the political decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Students read primary sources such as Plautus, Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, and Suetonius, and secondary accounts dealing with important issues such as slavery, religious persecution and multiculturalism. Students also examine important archaeological sites and artifacts. The development of students’ critical abilities to evaluate and use these sources for the study of history is a primary goal of the class. J. Bert Lott.
Two 75-minute periods.
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HIST 225 - Renaissance Italy
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 225 ) This course examines the history of Italy between 1300 and 1565. Italian intellectual, political, and religious history is emphasized, but some attention is also given to cross-cultural, gender, and social history. Looking beyond Italy, we also consider developments in Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire and their impact on Italy and Europe. Topics to be covered include the Black Death, the rise of humanism, the Renaissance papacy, and the Catholic Reformation. Finally, throughout the course, we question the meaning of the term “Renaissance”: is it a distinct period, a cultural movement, or an insufficient label altogether? Nancy Bisaha.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 226 - Northern Europe in the Renaissance, c. 1300-1550 Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
As a famous scholar has argued, the north witnessed a long “autumn of the Middle Ages,” holding tightly to medieval ideals of chivalry, pageantry, and piety – precisely at the same time Italy seemed to be forging ahead into modernity. Yet by the end of the period, Northern states overshadowed Italy politically, economically and, increasingly, culturally. This course examines Northern Europe during this remarkable period of transformation. The Hundred Years War, the Black Death, the Tudors, French and German state building and court life, and urban society in Flanders, are addressed along with the poetry of Chaucer, the humanism of More and Erasmus, and the doctrine of Luther. In turn, we examine the complex meanings of the terms “Renaissance” and “Reformation” and the relationship between them. Nancy Bisaha.
Two 75-minute periods.
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HIST 229 - Paris and London: Society and Culture in the Early Modern City, 1500-1800 Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 229 ) Between 1500-1800 European society experienced upheavals caused by cataclysmic events such as the Reformation and major shifts in economic and political organization. And it was Europeans living in urban areas – Europeans of different social status, faith, and ethnicities – who experienced these changes most intensely. This course investigates how two of the most dynamic cities in early modern Europe, London and Paris, changed from essentially medieval cities to urban metropolises. We look at the changing material, religious, and political conditions of London and Paris over two centuries and explore how the peoples of these two cities articulated and made sense of such changes. The central focus of the class will be examining how the identities of Parisians and Londoners as urban dwellers underwent transformations during this period. Sumita Choudhury.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 230 - From Tyranny to Terror: The Old Regime and the French Revolution
1 unit(s)
Eighteenth-century France was a society in transition, a society in which social and cultural ideals and realities were increasingly at odds. The tensions within society and the state finally erupted into the cataclysmic French Revolution, which paved the way for modern political life. Using primary and secondary sources, this course focuses on topics such as the social structure of the Old Regime, the Enlightenment, and the volatile political climate preceding the revolution. We examine different interpretations of what caused the French Revolution as well as the dynamics of the Revolution itself between 1789 and 1799. Sumita Choudhury.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 231 - Algeria/France:Race, Religion & Citizenship Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as AFRS 231 ) Since the early modern era, slavery, colonialism, commerce, piracy, and migration have woven the Mediterranean together in both peace and in horrifying violence. This broad, multipolar web of conflict and communication has served as the context in which multiple French and Algerian identities have careened into modernity. Constant references to local and cross-Mediterranean “others” have shaped the very meanings of such key terms as “emancipation,” “republic,” “Islam,” “progress,” and “civilization.” Even today, debates on issues ranging from women’s clothing to secularism to immigration to anti-Semitism echo with this long and contested history. Joshua Schreier.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 235 - Ending Deadly Conflict Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as INTL 235 ) This course uses historical case studies to identify practical ways to end conflict and build sustainable peace. It is concerned with the vulnerability of the weak, failed and collapsed states, with post conflict periods that have reignited into violence, and problems of mediating conflicts that are unusually resistant to resolution. Of particular interest will be the role that third party intermediaries and global governance institutions have played in bringing about a negotiated end to violence. Major topics may include: the Paris Peace Accords, South Africa’s truth and reconciliation commissions, the Good Friday Agreement, Israel-Palestine negotiations, the Dayton Peace Accords ending the Balkans wars, and negotiations to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Robert Brigham.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 236 - Germany, 1740-1918
1 unit(s)
This course covers the history of the German lands from 1740 to the end of World War I. Aside from providing a chronological political narrative, assigned readings focus in greater detail on a number of themes to illuminate the specific character of German history. Topics include: the demise of the universalist idea of the Holy Roman Empire; the German Enlightenment and the legacy of enlightened absolutism on state/society relations; the impact of the Napoleonic revolution; the failures of 1848; the Prussian-led unification; the legacy of Bismarck’s domestic policies on German political culture and social life; German imperialism and World War I. Maria Höhn.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 237 - Germany, 1918-1990
1 unit(s)
This course covers German history from the end of World War I to the 1990 unification that ended the post–World War II split of German society into East and West. Aside from familiarizing you with a narrative of German political, social, and cultural history, the readings also explore some of the so-called “peculiarities” of German history. Did Bismarck’s unification from above and the pseudo-constitutional character of the Second Reich create a political culture that set the country on a Sonderweg (special path) of modernization ending in the catastrophe of Auschwitz? Why did Weimar, Germany’s first experiment with democracy, fail, and why is Bonn not Weimar? Finally, what road will the new Germany take within Europe and the world? Maria Höhn.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 242 - The Russian Empire to 1812 Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course introduces major events and issues in the history of the Russians and their neighbors to the South and East. The main themes each week include the formation of Russia’s autocracy and nobility, Eurasian family/clan politics and cultural practices, and the connection between expansion and repression. Topics include the great steppe empires, Russia as part of the Golden Horde (1240-1480), the era of Ivan the Terrible and his conquest of the Tatars of the Volga, the Time of Troubles, the conquest of Siberia, the imposition of serfdom, westernization and globalization of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great, relations with the Ottoman Empire under Russia’s female tsarinas, the conquest of the Caucasus, and the history of the Cossacks. Michaela Pohl.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 243 - Russia and the Soviet Union, 1861-2000 Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course explores how Russians and their neighbors (Ukrainians, Poles, Kazakhs, and others) collectively encountered the age of revolutions and socialism. The beginning and the end of the Soviet Union in 1917 and in 1991 pitted national dreams against socialist ideology and Western-style shock therapy, and both were followed by decades of economic troubles and political chaos. Topics include the emancipation from serfdom, the Bolshevik revolution, Stalinism, the Communist Party and the purges, the victory over the Nazis in World War II, reforms under Khrushchev and Gorbachev, the fall of communism, oligarchic politics, and the rebirth of Russia and the war in Chechnya under Yeltsin and Putin. Michaela Pohl.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 245 - Medicine, Health and Diseases in East Asia
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 245 and STS 245 ) From the globalization of acupuncture to the proliferation of biobanks to the fight against the deadly SARS virus, the history of East Asian medicine and society has been marked by promises and perils. Through examining the ways in which East Asians conceptualized medicine and the body in their fight against diseases from a myriad of sources, this course critically examines the persistence, transformation, and globalization of both “traditional medicine” and biomedicine in East Asia. Topics covered include the knowledge of nature as embedded in the changing categorization of pharmaceuticals, the contestation over vaccination and the definition of diseases, the construction of gender and sexuality in medicine, the importance of religion in healing, the legacies of colonialism in biopolitics and biotechnology, the development of healthcare systems, and the imaginations of Asian medicine in the West. Wayne Soon.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 246 - World War II in East Asia
1 unit(s)
(Same as ASIA 246 ) The Second World War was transformative for Japan and China. At the height of its conquest, the Japanese Empire ruled over more than 130 million people, even as it struggled to deal with controversies and scarcity. China became one of the Big Four Allied Powers as state building and resistance persisted in unoccupied areas. This class examines how the Second World War shaped the everyday lives of East Asians and foreigners through speeches, memoirs, fiction, oral histories, documents, and films. In addition, this course explores the contexts, contingencies, and legacies of wartime events and issues. This includes the Nanjing massacre, the Chinese, Koreans, and Taiwanese resistance to and collaboration with the Japanese, Japan’s wartime mobilization, the internment of Japanese-Americans in the United States, the role of wartime science and technology, the gendered and racial underpinnings of wartime labor, the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, and the U.S. government’s decision to release atomic bombs in Japan.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 247 - Albert Einstein
1 unit(s)
(Same as STS 247 ) This course explores the complex life and work of the iconic scientist of the 20th century. Using recent biographical studies and a wide range of original sources (in translation), Einstein’s revolutionary contributions to relativity and quantum mechanics, his role in Germany in the opposition to the rise of Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism, and his work as a political and social activist in the United States are examined. Students are encouraged to make use of Vassar’s Bergreen Collection of original Einstein manuscripts. José Perillán.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 251 - A History of American Foreign Relations Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course examines the foreign relations of the United States from the 19th century to the present day emphasizing the motivations, objectives, and tactics of U.S. policy makers. The course will focus on America’s role in the Spanish-American War; its embroilment in two world wars; its Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union; its wars in Korea and Vietnam; its response to human rights abuses and mass atrocities; and its leadership in the global war on terror. Robert Brigham.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 254 - Victorian Britain Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as URBS 254 and VICT 254 ) This course examines some of the key transformations that Victorians experienced, including industrialization, the rise of a class-based society, political reform, and the women’s movement. We explore why people then, and historians since, have characterized the Victorian age as a time of progress and optimism as well as an era of anxiety and doubt. Lydia Murdoch.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 255 - The British Empire
1 unit(s)
This course is an introduction to British imperialism from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, with particular attention to Britain’s involvement in Ireland, the Caribbean, India, and Africa. We examine British motives for imperialism, the transition from trade empires to more formal political control, and the late nineteenth-century “scramble for Africa.” Other main topics include responses to colonialism, the growth of nationalism, decolonization, and the effects of an increasingly multi-cultural domestic population on Britain. Throughout the course we explore the empire as a cultural exchange: the British influenced the lives of colonial subjects, but the empire also shaped British identity at home and abroad. Lydia Murdoch.
Not offered in 2019/20.
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HIST 259 - The History of the Family in Early Modern Europe
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 259 ) This course examines the changing notions of family, marriage, and childhood between 1500 and 1800 and their ties to the larger early modern context. During this period, Europeans came to see the family less as a network of social and political relationships and more as a set of bonds based on intimacy and affection. Major topics include family and politics in the Italian city-state, the Reformation and witchcraft, absolutism, and paternal authority, and the increasing importance of the idea of the nuclear family. Sumita Choudhury.
Two 75-minute periods.
Not offered in 2019/20.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 260 - Sex & Reproduction in 19th Century United States: Before Margaret Sanger Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 260 ) Focusing on the United States from roughly 1800 to 1900, this course explores sex and reproduction and their relationship to broader transformations in society, politics, and women’s rights. Among the issues considered are birth patterns on the frontier and in the slave South; industrialization, urbanization, and falling fertility; the rise of sex radicalism; and the emergence of “heterosexual” and “homosexual” as categories of identity. The course examines public scandals, such as the infamous Beecher-Tilton adultery trial, and the controversy over education and women’s health that was prompted by the opening of Vassar College. The course ends by tracing the complex impact of the Comstock law (1873) and the emergence of a modern movement for birth control. Rebecca Edwards.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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HIST 261 - Women in 20th Century America Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
(Same as WMST 261 ) How did class, race, and ethnicity combine with gender to shape women’s lives in the twentieth century? Beginning in 1890 and ending at the turn of this century, this course looks at changes in female employment patterns, how women from different backgrounds combined work and family responsibilities and women’s leisure lives. We also study women’s activism on behalf of political rights, moral reform, racial and economic equality, and reproductive rights. Readings include memoirs, novels, government documents, and feminist political tracts. Miriam Cohen.
Two 75-minute periods.
Course Format: CLS
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