The History Department has an array of fascinating courses coming up in Spring 2021. Let’s shine a spotlight on them:
Dr. Gigova’s HIST 350 – Special Topics in Comparative Nationalism:
Nationalism is as strong and viable today as when it burst on the global scene in the early 1800s. In this course we will try to understand the persistence and ubiquity of nationalism in the modern world. Through theory and case studies, we will examine the origins of nationalism, its manifestations across geographical and temporal borders, and the models scholars have developed to explain its appeal and contemplate its future.”
Dr. Covert’s HIST 361 course – Mexico’s Recent Past.
Are you interested in the history of Mexican immigration or the war on drugs? Are you curious to learn about how an indigenous woman brought the Mexican government to the negotiating table? Have you ever wondered about the politics behind your favorite taco truck? Learn about all of this and more in HIST 361.
Dr. Shannon Eaves’ HIST 217 – African American History since 1865:
This course is designed to introduce students to the key people and movements that shaped the Black Experience from the end of the Civil War to the twentieth century and beyond.
HIST 217 will explore the following themes: African Americans’ efforts to negotiate citizenship after the Civil War; the construction of a Jim Crow America; African Americans’ negotiations for civil rights and economic equality in the twenty-first century; and African American expressions of culture from the Harlem Renaissance to Black Power to Hip Hop.
The exploration of these themes will allow us to understand how African Americans carved out a place for themselves in a modernizing America and contributed to the fabric of American politics, economics, and culture.”
Dr. Piccione’s HIST 270 – Special Topics in Ancient Egypt: Land, History, and Society:
Using Egyptian texts and archaeology as a basis, this course explores issues related to the land, environment, political and social history of Ancient Egypt. By placing Egypt on the nexus of ancient African and Near Eastern civilizations, we will consider its connections to both, i.e., Egypt as Africa, Egypt as Near East.
Topics include: anthropological origins and ethnicities, conceptions of self-identity, historical development, geography and environment, social institutions, status of women, religion and magic, daily life, language, writing, and more.
The class will also consider how the modern West interprets Egypt as a major contributor to the development of western civilization, viewing itself in many ways as a legitimate heir of Egyptian culture, and yet at the same time, it categorizes much of it as culturally alien and otherly.
History 270 can also be applied to credit in African Studies and Archaeology with the permission of the directors of those programs.”