HISTORY 101: WHAT IS HISTORY?
50:509:101:01
M/W 2:05 pm – 3:25 pm
Professor Kapur
What is the past, and how is it remembered (or forgotten)? How have conceptions of “history” evolved over time? In what ways does history differ from other disciplines or modes of analysis? How have various notions of the past been used (or abused) to support specific policies or course of action? Why should we study the past at all? In pondering these and other questions about the nature of history and the past, we will draw upon examples from American, European, and nonwestern history. This class is designed to be both fun and informative and is open to both majors and non-majors alike.
PERSPECTIVES ON HISTORY
50:509:299:01
T/TH 3:35 pm – 4:55 pm
Professor Golden
This course is for history majors and should be taken in the sophomore year. It is designed to teach skills–critical reading, effective analysis of arguments, research using primary and secondary sources, persuasive writing, and the production of various forms of historical scholarship. The course will focus on the Great Depression. Students will read deeply in the subject, complete a variety of assignments, and take turns leading discussions of the readings and films presented in class.
Gen Education Code: Writing Course (W)
UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIP
50:509:475:01
BY ARRANGEMENT
Professor Demirjian
A supervised internship, usually unpaid, at a museum, historical society, archive, or library.
PUBLIC HISTORY PRACTICE
50:509:300:01
By arrangement
Professor Mires
Interested students please contact Dr. Charlene Mires, cmires@camden.rutgers.edu.
Get your hands on history: This is an individualized opportunity to gain knowledge of local and regional history while contributing to a public history project based at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH) at Rutgers-Camden. The options include historic house research and curatorship for the Cooper Street Historic District and research and digital publishing for The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. In addition to readings in local and regional history, students will be provided with training and ongoing supervision and feedback while working approximately six hours per week on-site on their selected projects. This course is by arrangement, with permission of the instructor, and is open to juniors and seniors with a GPA of 3.0 and above.
WESTERN CIVILIZATION II
50:510:102:01
T/TH 3:35 pm – 4:55 pm
Professor Marker
This course explores the development of modern politics, society, and culture in Europe and beyond from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. With such a vast time span under consideration, this course is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of modern European history. Rather, we will use a combination of lectures and primary texts as points of entry into the major historical events and trends of the era—the Enlightenment, the rise of capitalism, the French Revolution, industrialization, nationalism, imperialism, the World Wars, and decolonization. Coursework includes lecture, discussion, brief homework assignments, short papers, a mid-term and a final exam.
GEN Education Requirements: Civilizations & Heritage (C), Global Communities (GCM), Global Studies (G)
INTRODUCTORY TOPICS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY: A Global History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
50:510:280:01
T/TH 6:00 pm – 7:20 pm
Professor Bonneau
Course Description: This course provides students with a survey of the global developments in science, technology, and medicine from the sixteenth century to the present. We will explore how the interactions between different cultures (especially those that challenged Anglo-American notions of race, religion, and gender) complicated, inspired, or obstructed the innovations we might think of as inevitable today. It is designed as an introduction for students with little or no knowledge in this broad field but leaves ample opportunity for those with some knowledge to deepen their understanding and explore both primary sources and major areas of scholarly debate. Here also, the boundaries of the “west” are porous, the influence of non-European cultures and environment take greater precedence, and the consequence of changes in science, technology, and medicine for the global community our central theme. While we will consider innovations in a wide range of disciplines, particular focus is given to the development of medicine and public health interventions. We will use a wide range of primary sources from academic papers and artwork to the classics of science fiction. This course is suitable for non-majors and accessible to a wide range of backgrounds.
GEN Education Requirements: Global Communities (GC)
ABSOLUTISM AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT
50:510:321:01
M/W 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm
Professor Mokhberi
This course provides a general overview of the dynamic changes in European ideas, politics, and culture during the 17th and 18th centuries. We will examine monarchies, such as France, Prussia, England, and Russia, and the commercial and dynastic competitions that resulted in great wars. France under Louis XIV served as the model of strong kingship but critics of the French state abounded. Enlightenment intellectuals called Philosophes challenged traditional institutions and called for reform, raising issues of religious tolerance and freedom from injustices that resonate today.
GEN Education Requirements: Global Studies (G), Heritages and Civilizations (HAC)
DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES II: CISS SESSION
50:512:102:L1 /Auto Register 50:512:202:02
T 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Instructor: TBD
The Course Initiative for Student Success (or CISS) program provides students with an extra one-credit class in addition to their regularly scheduled, 3-credit Development of US II survey class. Students enrolled in the CISS session will meet for one hour, once a week in addition to their regular attendance in the larger USII course. CISS is a small group review session led by the USII graduate student/teaching assistant that provides students with individualized attention, extra review and guidance, and skills to improve their critical reading and writing skills in college.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES II
50:512:202:02
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Demirjian
This course examines the political, economic, social, and military history of the United States from the 1860s through the 1970s. The course will also examine the roles played by ethnicity, race, gender, class, the development of a national market economy, and the emergence of a powerful national state in shaping ideas about American identity and its place in the world.
GEN Education Requirements: US in the World (USW)
DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES I
50:512:201:01
M/W 8:00 am – 9:20 am
Kim Martin
This course traces the path of American history from before European colonization through the colonial period, the Imperial Crisis, Revolution, Civil War, and Reconstruction. We will examine the most important political, economic, social, and cultural developments of the 17th – 19th centuries, and observe how different groups of people shaped and were affected by such developments. Learning about the past involves a careful effort to understand the ideas and beliefs that motivated people to act in certain specific ways, within particular historical circumstances. Development of the U.S. I is an introductory course, intended to acquaint students with various ideas, events, and people from this particular segment of America’s past, and to introduce students to some of the questions and debates that animate the study of early American history.
GEN Education Requirements: US in the World (USW)
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY I
50:512:203:01
M/W 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm
Professor Glasker
African American History I explores the history of black people from the time of ancient African origins up to the Civil War-Reconstruction period. It examines the cultural, economic and epidemiological factors that contributed to the rise of the Atlantic slave system and the use of Africans as slaves in the United States and the Atlantic world. The course will also examine the impact of slavery on gender roles and the black family, and resistance to slavery and the rise of the abolitionist movement. Finally, the course will look at the role of black activists such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, and the slave revolts and conspiracies.
GEN Education Requirements: Diversity (D), Multicultural Diversity in the US (DIV), United States in the World (USW)
EDUCATION IN AMERICA
50:512:230:01
T/TH 6:00 pm – 7:20 pm
Professor Dignazio
This course examines the history of American education with particular emphasis on schooling and the teaching profession. The development of the educational system along with contemporary issues are critically examined for what we can learn about access and equity. The course examines the role of race, religion, regionality, gender and class in education. This course satisfies the requirement for a course in diversity.
INTRODUCTORY TOPICS IN AMERICAN HISTORY: RACE, ETHINICITY, AND IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES
50:512:280:01
T/TH 11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Professor Thomas
The U.S. has long defined itself as a “nation of immigrants.” What does that definition mean in the 21st century? During the first half of this course, we will look at how racial and ethnic identities have been historically constructed over four centuries. We will analyze a variety of ideas about race and ethnicity – including “whiteness,” “blackness,” “foreignness,” and various forms of “otherness” – and discuss how those ideas have changed over time as a result of shifting economic, political, and social contexts.
During the second half of the course, we will focus on debates over immigration, race, and ethnicity in the last 50 years. Students will collaborate on compiling sources on various topics related to immigration in recent decades, with the end goal of creating a “resource book” on the political and historical impact of immigration in the U.S. This course is supported by a grant from the Open and Affordable Textbooks program of the Rutgers University Libraries, and all of the assigned readings for the course will be available digitally and at no cost to students.
POPULAR CULTURE
50:512:302:01
T/TH 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Woloson
What can animal performances, popular music, leisure activities, fashion, and mass media teach us about the past?
By exploring the origins and meanings of such diverse things as circuses, magazines, television, denim, the theater, and hip hop, students will come away with a better understanding of how American mass culture was shaped over time. What does it mean to be American, and how has our popular culture over the centuries influenced how we think of ourselves as individuals, as members of groups, and as Americans?
The goals of this course are to introduce students to a wide range of primary and secondary sources; to teach them about aspects of the past that often have gone unnoticed and unstudied; to provide them with a better understanding of American history in general, putting chronological events into a cultural context; and to have students improve their critical reading and writing skills.
NOTE: This is a reading- and writing-intensive course. Students will be expected to actively participate in class discussions, write several short research papers throughout the semester, and take a final exam.
AGE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
50:512:305:01
M/W 3:45 pm – 5:05 pm
Professor Shankman
In 1763 the British Empire was the most powerful global force on the planet since the Roman Empire and the thirteen colonies were deeply supportive of it, risked their lives for the empire in war, and were deeply proud to be part of it. Young George Washington dreamed of being an officer in the British Army, and Benjamin Franklin plotted to have the King of England take over the colony of Pennsylvania from the Penn family. American colonists were passionate and proud to assert their British identity and their loyalty and love for their king. Twelve years later those colonies declared independence from the British Empire and overthrew their king, actions nobody could have possibly imagined in 1763.
How could this have happened? Why did everything fall apart in twelve short years? In declaring independence, the colonists also found themselves embarking on a revolution that deeply disrupted the relationships between rich and poor, men and women, slaves and masters, and parents and children. As the violent war for independence and the revolutionary changes proceeded together, the fight to control British North America became a world war involving the American colonists, North American Indians, and the British, the French, and the Spanish. And then of course after winning the war, the new American nation had to figure out what kind of society it would be, what kind of government it would have, and how it would be possible to keep law and order without the power and might of a king and an aristocracy. This course will examine all of these issues and will end with a careful examination of the creation and ratification of the U.S. constitution.
HISTORY OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM: FROM THE BOTTOM UP
50:512:322:01
T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm
Professor Woloson Course has been cancelled as of 9/4/2019
American history is populated with narratives focusing on the rich, famous, and powerful: we like success stories. But thriving capitalists comprised only a fraction of the population. This course focuses on capitalism from the bottom up. How did “ordinary” people make do, get by, sometimes succeed, and often fail during the nineteenth century, a time marked by turbulent social and economic conditions during the transition to capitalism? We will learn about the lives of individuals who are not chronicled in most history textbooks but who in fact created and lived the more common American experience, including criminals and conmen like robbers, pick-pockets, counterfeiters, and drifters. We will also learn about the lives of marginal entrepreneurs such as junk dealers, professional beggars, rag pickers, boardinghouse keepers, and used goods dealers. We will pay special attention to the economic coping strategies of women, children, new immigrants, and African Americans. The class will discuss opportunity and failure in historical context and how people’s ways of eking out a living changed over time, whether experienced in the pawnshop, tenement house, city street, orphan asylum, or bankruptcy court.
The class will draw on primary sources including diaries, budget studies, city directories, census records, police reports, and newspaper exposés. Secondary sources on social and economic history will supplement the primary sources, providing essential historical context. Throughout the semester students will conduct in-depth analyses of primary source documents to demonstrate their understanding of how the lives of individuals not only helped shape but were also subjected to the socio-economic conditions of the time.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
50:512:334:01
M/W 3:45 pm – 5:05 pm
Professor Glasker
African American History since the 1960s (with civic engagement) explores events in the black experience since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
The topics that we will discuss will include the rise of the black middle class, but also the persistence of racism, poverty, unequal education, ghettoization and police brutality. This course is a civic engagement course, which means that it involves a mandatory community service component. Our community partner is the Cathedral Kitchen of Camden, which provides sit-down meals to more than 300 people per day throughout the week. Many of these people are homeless. Our community service involves contributing helpful items such as paper towels, small personal hygiene items such as soap, toothpaste and deodorant, and white socks. This community service helps us to understand how we as a university can contribute to the welfare of the community (Camden) in which we are located, in a mutually beneficial relationship; and how we can be participants in the process of building a better society rather than merely spectators.
GEN Education Requirements: Engaged Civic Learning (ECL), Multicultural Diversity in the US (DIV), United States in the World (USW)
UNITED STATED FROM 1945 TO PRESENT
50:512:335:01
T/TH 2:00 pm – 3:20 pm
Professor Golden
The course examines the transformations of American life that followed World War II and focuses social movements, political shifts, war and peace, technological shifts, economic developments and changes in culture. A key component of the course involves analyzing films, television, and music as historical sources.
GEN Education Requirements: United States in the World (USW)
SPECIAL TOPICS IN AMERICAN HISTORY: EPIDEMICS, CRISES, & DISASTERS IN U.S. HISTORY
50:512:380:01
M/W 2:05 pm – 3:25 pm
Professor Lindenmeyer
This course asks students to analyze a range of dramatic events in American history (epidemics, crises, and disasters) to better understand the past. In other words, what role have epidemics, crises, and disasters played in shaping American history and how can better understanding these catastrophes help us devise effective responses today and in the future? Catastrophic events have always been part of the American experience. What does examining historical events, their causes and consequences, teach about the past as well as the future?
Students will use a wide range of materials including images, letters, diaries, memoirs, eyewitness accounts, newspapers, and government documents to uncover the stories of past epidemics, crises, and disasters. We will also examine the differences and similarities among these historical events and the challenges of similar or very different crises that confront the United States today and in the future.
The class will meet in a Discovery Classroom in CNS, so be prepared to work in teams to discover this history. This course is designed as an engaged, hands-on learning experience. There are no pre-requisites for this course and students from all majors are welcome.
GEN Education Requirements: Engaged Civic Learning (ECL)
SPECIAL TOPICS IN AMERICAN HISTORY: INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HISTORY
50:512:381:01
TH 6:00 pm – 8:50 pm
Professor Mires
This seminar-style course provides an opportunity explore the ways that history is studied and communicated in settings such as museums, historic sites, and archives, and in the digital realm. Readings and discussion will include controversies such as the display of the Enola Gay at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the creation of the President’s House site exhibit in Philadelphia. The course also will examine how civic engagement techniques and the interpretation of diverse, multiple narratives of history have come to the forefront of public history practice. (This course meets concurrently with the graduate seminar Issues in Public History. Undergraduates will build familiarity with public history through independent field visits to area historic sites and exhibits. The course also will provide an introduction to public history career options and advice on additional training necessary to enter the field.) Interested students are invited to email the professor at cmires@camden.rutgers.edu to request a draft syllabus. A reading list will be posted during the summer at https://charlenemires.camden.rutgers.edu.
LATIN AMERICA I
50:516:211:01
T/TH 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Lombera
In this course we will trace the history of the vast region of Latin America – consisting of more than twenty separate nations today – over the course of more than 300 years, beginning around the time of Columbus’s first voyage and ending with the era of the “wars of independence” in the early 1800s. We will explore how “Latin America” was born during the violent and confusing period of discovery and conquest; how contact among European settlers, native peoples, and enslaved Africans shaped social and political life in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies; how systems of labor as well as church and political institutions structured the lives of peoples in the region; and how political change and the “revolutionary moment” in the late 1700s resulted in the birth of more than twenty independent nations throughout the region by 1830. We will also explore, at the end of the course, how the colonial legacy continues to haunt Latin America even into the 21st century. By the end of the course, you will have gained an understanding not only of what happened in Latin America, but also an understanding of why that history developed the way it did.
GEN Education Requirements: Global Studies (G), Heritages and Civilizations (HAC)
TOPICS IN WORLD HISTORY: SAMURAI WARFARE & SOCIETY IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN
50:516:380:01
M/W 9:35 am – 10:55 am
Professor Kapur
Who were the samurai and what did they fight for? Were samurai really as loyal and honorable as popular culture portrays? This course examines samurai warriors at the height of their power in the 15th and 16th centuries and considers how they conducted warfare, how their social relations were organized, the role of gender in samurai society, and samurai culture and values. Students will also take part in an active learning exercise by playing a samurai clan in a detailed simulation of samurai warfare and society.
GEN Education Requirements: Global Studies (G)