HIST 239 001

3 credits, Valentyna Kharkhun, Mondays & Thursdays, 12:55 – 2:10 p.m.

This course presents the history of Ukraine from its earliest to most recent times, with an emphasis on political, religious, social, and intellectual aspects. It covers relations with Russia and other countries, tracing formation and growth of the Ukrainian national identity and previous attempts at state-building. Particular attention is given to the transformation of Ukraine into the modern nation which declared its independence in 1991, endured three revolutions, and is now defending its political and cultural security in the war against Russia. The course consists of lectures and textbook readings from primary sources on the intellectual history of Ukraine as to understand how Ukraine appears on the political and cultural map of Europe, as well as comprehending the historical background of the Ukrainian struggle for its independence and national security.

HIST 289 001

3 credits, Mary R. Habeck, Wednesdays, 2:30 – 5:20 p.m.

This course is a survey of American military history from the end of the wars with Native Americans to the present day. The course looks at the causes, course, and consequences of every major war that the United States has fought in the last 130 years. Battles, tactics, strategies, and the evolution of the U.S. military play important parts in the story, but the course also includes their underlying cultural and social contexts.

HIST 301 001

3 credits, Joseph Roisman, Wednesdays, 2:30 – 5:20 p.m.

 This seminar focuses on major aspects of Alexander the Great's career, impact, and legacy. The course reviews the portrayal of Alexander in ancient sources; his relations with his father, Philip II; his dealings with Greek states; his military conquests; his interaction with the Persians, the Macedonian masses and elite; his divine aspirations; and other related topics.

HIST 305 001

3 credits, Quynh H. Vo, Wednesdays, 2:30 – 5:20 p.m.

This interdisciplinary course explores Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia metro area), and their connections to Asia and the Pacific. It addresses diaspora, colonialism, heritage, gentrification, ethnicity/racial relations, LGBTQIA+, and transcultural identities. Students work together to create a digital project that features images, videos, short films, descriptions, oral history interviews, transcripts, and educational resources for future public viewing. By researching organizations, activists, scholars, and people of AAPI descent, students learn the importance of preserving and documenting their own oral histories.

Crosslist: AMST-340-001 APDS-340-001.

HIST 385 001

3 credits, Elke E. Stockreiter, Tuesdays and Fridays, 9:45 – 11:00 a.m.

Scholars mostly approached Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa through a racially and ethnically informed binary, pitting a syncretistic Africanized Islam against an 'authentic' version practiced by Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa. This course disturbs this dichotomy by probing Orientalist epistemologies and de-essentializing Islam. Subjects explored include concepts of time and space, slavery and race, jihads, colonialism, and Islam in twenty-first century Africa.

Crosslist: AFAM-350-001 AWST-350-001.

HIST 396 001

3 credits, Mary Giandrea, Tuesdays and Fridays, 11:20 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.

In the late eleventh century, thousands of Europeans set out on an 'armed pilgrimage' to recover the Holy Land. The result of the First Crusade was the establishment of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which lasted for almost a century. European popes and kings launched new crusades in the later Middle Ages, but they were largely unsuccessful. This seminar explores the complex phenomenon of crusading in the Middle Ages. The class examines contemporary evidence as well as the rich historiography of the period to better understand the political contexts of Europe and the Near East, the motivations of crusaders, the impact of the movement on Christian-Islamic relations, and the use of crusading against heretics and pagans, among other subjects.

HIST 399 001

3 credits, Andrew Demshuk, Tuesdays, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.

While humans have always sought to change the planet as suits their creative pleasure and often short-sighted greed, the twentieth century (especially its latter half) witnessed our species' initiation of drastic changes to Earth's water, atmosphere, topography, and natural organisms that could imperil the survival of humanity itself. This course examines how scholars have understood human-made changes to the Earth's ecology over time, and examines the legacies of communism and capitalism, nationalism, imperialism, total war, forced migration, new energy regimes, and other human-made practices upon the planetary environment that humans still inhabit. Through exploration of quandaries and questions in environmental history, students combine global analysis with local case examples and are introduced to historical methodologies through critical analysis of primary and secondary sources. Students assess weekly course readings through critical review papers, a review essay, analysis of a particular scholar's publishing trajectory, a short historiographic final essay, and oral presentations. Note: No prior knowledge of environmental history is expected.

AU Core Integrative Requirement: Written Communication and Information Literacy II. Usually Offered: fall and spring. Not repeatable for credit. Grading: A-F only. Prerequisite: completion of Written Communication and Information Literacy I requirement. Restriction: History (BA) or History (Minor).

HIST 399 002

3 credits, Mary Giandrea, Wednesdays, 11:20 a.m. – 2:10 p.m.

Over the course of the Middle Ages, Christians, Jews, and Muslims interacted in a variety of ways and in a variety of places. This course traces the historiography related to these cultural, intellectual, commercial, and military interactions but also considers attitudes towards heretical groups within these traditions. Although the focus is on the age of the Crusades, some consideration is given to the formation of attitudes towards religious differences before the High Middle Ages and how historians have understood them.

AU Core Integrative Requirement: Written Communication and Information Literacy II. Usually Offered: fall and spring. Not repeatable for credit. Grading: A-F only. Prerequisite: completion of Written Communication and Information Literacy I requirement. Restriction: History (BA) or History (Minor).

HIST 437 001

3 credits, Laura Beers, Tuesdays and Fridays, 2:30 – 3:45 p.m.

Between Winston Churchill's birth in 1874 and his death more than 90 years later, Britain and the British Empire changed dramatically. Many of these changes were direct consequences of events in which Churchill himself played a key role. This course covers the history of Britain from the heyday of the country's industrial, economic and imperial strength in the Victorian era through the First and Second World Wars, the advent of mass democracy, the birth of the welfare state, Irish independence, the postwar independence of India and the Palestinian mandate, and the impact of Commonwealth immigration on a changing Britain. The course illuminates how the idea of British exceptionalism (in which Churchill was a firm believer) helped to fuel the Brexit movement of the late-twentieth century and inform the Special Relationship between Britain and the USA. The course combines scholarly readings with extensive exploration of primary sources including Churchill speeches, letters, journalism, and books, along with those of his contemporaries.

Crosslist: HIST-637-001.

HIST-445-001

3 credits, Anita A. Kondoyanidi, Mondays and Thursdays, 9:45 – 11:00 a.m.

This course discusses the cultural aspect of the Cold War defined by intellectual exchanges, exhibitions, jazz, rock music, and films. Throughout the geopolitical standoff, U.S.-Soviet cultural engagements, full of contradictions and distortions, remained powerful. The course explores the role of politicians and cultural ambassadors in shaping Soviet and American cultural perceptions and stereotypes of each other. Topics include the political use of culture, the role of ideology in culture formation and everyday life, the export of cultural images, reflections of the Cold War in culture, and lasting Cold War stereotypes, which affect Russian-American relationships even today. At the center of the course is exploration of cultural diplomacy as an effective tool for establishing relations between two competitors on the international scene. Readings include recent academic studies about the Cold War, biographies, autobiographies, and a spy novel.

Crosslist: HIST-645-001.

HIST-445-002

3 credits, Anton Fedyashin, Mondays and Thursdays, 11:20 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.

This course explores the history of the Cold War, introducing students not only to relevant historical documents, but also to spy novels and films to analyze the relationship between history, ideology, literature, and film. The course deconstructs the Cold War's most important ingredients--smokescreens and stereotypes.

Crosslist: HIST-645-002.

HIST-449-001

3 credits, Leonard K. Steinhorn, Wednesdays, 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Students dive into the culture, media, politics, and controversies of America in the 1960s, which was among the most turbulent decades in American history. To understand the Sixties and better understand America today, they journey through an era of intense cultural change, one defined by civil rights, black power, Vietnam, campus unrest, the generation gap, rock and roll, the sexual revolution, feminism, assassinations, and backlash.

Crosslist: COMM-420-002 COMM-620-002 HIST-649-001.

HIST-496-002

3 credits, Kirstie Dorr, Mondays and Thursdays, 12:55 – 2:10 p.m.

As the southern border and borderland regions of the United States are geographies where global south and global north collide, this course centers border zones as productive sites for examining the relations and contradictions of empire, racial capitalism, white nationalism, cultural politics, and environmentalism. The course explores themes including eugenics, immigration policy, militarization, free trade economics, maquiladoras, culture wars, and environmental justice.

Crosslist: AMST-450-002 LIT-481-001 LIT-681-001 LTST-496-001 WGSS-496-001.

HIST-496-002

3 credits, Lisa Leff, Thursdays, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.

This course covers major themes in European History from 1789 through 1900. Readings cover a variety of topics, including political, social, cultural, intellectual, diplomatic, and military subjects and their historiography.

Restriction: History (BA) or History (Minor). Crosslist: HIST-696-002.