History

Chair: Reiko Hillyer
Administrative Coordinator: Amy Baskin

Historians study the past, yet they never become disconnected from the present. What we are and will be is rooted in what we were. In uncovering the past, historians reveal to us the political, cultural, and economic elements that have shaped our world. This is how we write and teach history at Lewis & Clark. Our curriculum is global in scope, inviting students to compare the traditions of various cultures and countries. We offer sufficient depth in the history of the Americas, Europe, and Asia to allow students to develop a sophisticated knowledge of these regions in the modern and premodern eras. Moreover, our emphasis on research and writing equips our students with skills appropriate to a wide range of pursuits.

A critical understanding of how history is crafted is as important as learning historical details. The development of research and writing skills is one of the main objectives of the department’s program. All majors take a unique methods course called Historical Materials, which focuses on how to find and use historical documents—books, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, maps, photographs—as research tools. In a second required course called Reading Colloquium, students read the best literature in a field selected by the instructor and come to grips with the variety of ways history is written and interpreted. In the history research seminar, majors conduct intensive research on a particular topic and present their findings to their classmates in the form of a thesis. This series of courses prepares students to use research and writing skills in whatever career they choose and equips them to be discerning students of history throughout the course of their lives.

Resources for Nonmajors

All of the department’s course offerings are open to nonmajors. Preference is given to majors and minors for enrollment in HIST 300 Historical Materials, HIST 400 Reading Colloquium, and HIST 450 History Seminar.

The Major Program

The department curriculum focuses on three primary geographical fields: the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Students are strongly encouraged to enroll in the introductory sequences as a foundation for more advanced study in these concentrations. History majors are required to complete some work in each of the three fields in order to obtain a breadth of historical understanding. Most introductory sequences are offered at the 100 level. The entry-level U.S. sequence (HIST 134 and HIST 135) is offered at the 100 level and is open to first-year students.

The department counsels students to take courses in related fields of language, literature, fine arts, social sciences, and international affairs to deepen their understanding of their area of concentration.

Major Requirements

A minimum of 40 semester credits (10 courses), distributed as follows:

  • HIST 300 Historical Materials

  • HIST 400 Reading Colloquium

  • HIST 450 History Seminar

  • Seven other courses from the list of approved electives. At least one must be in Asian history, one in European history, and one in the history of the Americas. At least one of the seven courses must be in premodern Asian, European, or Latin American history, or in religious studies. 

    At least two of the seven courses must be at the 300 level, excluding HIST 300 Historical Materials.

Students may apply a maximum of 4 semester credits from HIST 244/HIST 444 toward the major.

Minor Requirements

A minimum of 24 semester credits (six courses), which must include:

  • HIST 300 Historical Materials
  • HIST 400 Reading Colloquium or HIST 450 History Seminar
  • At least one course at the 300 level, excluding HIST 300.
  • Two additional history courses, each one from a different geographical field: Asian history, European history, or history of the Americas. Courses from other departments do not apply.
  • One history course from any field.

Primary Geographical Fields

The following courses may be used as electives for the major in the primary geographical and premodern areas as specified:

The Americas
United States: Revolution to Empire
United States: Empire to Superpower
Colonial Latin American History
Modern Latin American History
Asian American History in the U.S.
U.S. Women's History, 1600 to 1980
Histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America (Turtle Island)
Constructing the American Landscape
Race and Ethnicity in the United States
Borderlands: U.S.-Mexico Border, 16th Century to Present
African American History Since 1863
From Stumptown to Portlandia: The History of Portland
American Culture and Society: 1880 to 1980
Wilderness and the American West
Crime and Punishment in the United States
Race and Nation in Latin America
Modern Mexico: Culture, Politics, and Economic Crisis
Modern Cuba
Immigration and Asylum Law
Cross-Cultural Law & Justice in Early America
The Industrial Revolution
Prophets, Seekers, and Heretics: U.S. Religious History from 1492 to 1865
Religion in Modern America, 1865 to Present
Gender in American Religious History
Asia
Early East Asian History
Making Modern China
Making Modern Japan
Introduction to Korea: Origins to the 21st Century
Japan at War
Personal Narratives in Chinese History
The Emergence of Modern South Asia
India in the Age of Empire
China in the News: Socio-Anthropological and Historical Perspective on Modern China
China in the World
History of Family, Gender, and Sexuality in China
Religion, Society, and the State in Japanese History
Popular Culture and Everyday Life in Japanese History
Europe
Early European History
Modern European History
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome: From Republic to Empire
Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1485 to 1688
Britain in the Age of Revolution, 1688 to 1815
War and Society in Premodern Europe
The Making of Modern Britain, 1815 to Present
20th-Century Germany
Medieval Europe, 800 to 1400
The Holocaust in Comparative Perspective
Eastern Europe: Borderlands and Bloodlands
Humanism in Renaissance Europe
Modern European Intellectual History
Saints and Bureaucrats
History of Islam in Europe
History of Soviet Russia
The British Empire
Roman Women
Technology, Institutions, and Economic Growth
The Industrial Revolution
The Reformations of the 16th Century
Medieval Christianity
Premodern
Early East Asian History
Introduction to Korea: Origins to the 21st Century
Early European History
Colonial Latin American History
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome: From Republic to Empire
Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1485 to 1688
War and Society in Premodern Europe
Medieval Europe, 800 to 1400
Histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America (Turtle Island)
India in the Age of Empire
Humanism in Renaissance Europe
Saints and Bureaucrats
Roman Women
Medieval Christianity
Cross-Cultural Law & Justice in Early America
The Reformations of the 16th Century

Honors

Each year the department invites meritorious students with an overall GPA of at least 3.500 to participate in the honors program. Students choose a faculty member with whom they want to work on a research project and register in HIST 490 History Honors Thesis. The thesis course may involve a major paper based on primary source materials or an extensive review and evaluation of the secondary literature in a particular subject area. Students present the project to the department. Following an oral examination, the department determines whether to grant honors upon graduation.

Practicum Program

Because history is useful in a variety of careers, the department encourages students in their junior or senior year to participate in a practicum. History practica have placed students in a variety of settings, including the museum and library of the Oregon Historical Society, publishing companies, land-use-planning agencies, historic preservation organizations, and other enterprises needing the skills of a person knowledgeable in the liberal arts and trained in history.

The practicum is usually an off-campus experience designed by the student in conjunction with an off-campus supervisor and a faculty supervisor according to departmental guidelines. Arrangements on and off campus must be made with the appropriate supervising persons in the semester prior to enrollment.

Faculty

Andrew Bernstein. Associate professor of history. Japanese history. PhD 1999, MPhil 1996, MA 1994 Columbia University. BA 1990 Amherst College.

David A. Campion. Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. Associate Professor of History, director of Academic Awards and Fellowships. British and South Asian history. PhD 2002, MA 1997 University of Virginia. BA 1991 Georgetown University.

Nancy O. Gallman. Assistant professor of history, pre-law advisor. Spanish borderlands, legal pluralism, early Native history and African American history, comparative history of empire. PhD 2017, MA 2012 University of California at Davis. JD 1994 New York University School of Law. BA 1989 Yale College.

Susan Glosser. Associate professor of history. Chinese history. PhD 1995 University of California at Berkeley. MA 1985, BA 1983 State University of New York at Binghamton.

Maureen Healy. Associate professor of history. European history, women's and gender history, war and genocide. PhD 2000, MA 1994 University of Chicago. BA 1990 Tufts University.

Reiko Hillyer. Associate professor of history, chair of the department of history, director of the Ethnic Studies program. U.S. South, African American history, history of the built. PhD 2006, MPhil 2001, MA 1999 Columbia University. BA 1991 Yale University.

Benjamin W. Westervelt. Associate professor of history. Medieval and early modern European history. PhD 1993 Harvard University. MTS 1985 Harvard Divinity School. BA 1982 Brandeis University.

Elliott Young. Professor of history, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies program (spring). Latin American and U.S.-Mexico Borderlands history. PhD 1997, MA 1993 University of Texas at Austin. BA 1989 Princeton University.

Courses

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HIST 110 Early East Asian History

Content: Early histories of China and Japan from earliest origins to the 13th century. Prehistory; early cultural foundations; development of social, political, and economic institutions; art and literature. Readings from Asian texts in translation. The two cultures, covered as independent entities, compared to each other and to European patterns of development.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 111 Making Modern China

Content: The history of China from the Song to the end of the 20th century through primary sources (art, material culture of daily life, short stories, memoirs, political propaganda and government documents, and music). Course will examine family, gender roles, sexuality, political and social structures, urbanization, resistance to Western imperialism, popular rebellions, World War II, revolution, nationalism, modernization, and the role of historical memory in contemporary China.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 112 Making Modern Japan

Content: History of Japan from the start of the Tokugawa shogunate to the end of the 20th century. Tokugawa ideology, political economy, urban culture; intellectual and social upheavals leading to the Meiji Restoration; the Japanese response to the West; rapid industrialization and its social consequences; problems of modernity and the emperor system; Japanese colonialism and militarism; the Pacific war; postwar developments in economy, culture, politics.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 113 Introduction to Korea: Origins to the 21st Century

Content: Exploration of key moments in Korean history through philosophy, poetry, religion, art, trade, family, government, and material culture. Focus on four periods: Korea's interactions with China in the early years of its development and its influence, the Choson dynasty's cultural and political developments during its six-century reign, Japan's annexation, and the country's national and international history in the 20th and 21st centuries. Aside from the textbook, reading will be in primary sources: documents, objects, poems, legal statues, etc., produced by elite Koreans (and ordinary people when possible).
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 120 Early European History

Content: Social, intellectual, political, and economic elements of European history, 800 to 1648. Role of Christianity in the formation of a dominant culture; feudalism and the development of conflicts between secular and religious life. Contacts with the non-European world, the Crusades, minority groups, popular and elite cultural expressions. Intellectual and cultural life of the High Middle Ages, secular challenges of the Renaissance, divisions of European culture owing to the rise of national monarchies and religious reformations.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 121 Modern European History

Content: Social, intellectual, political, and economic elements of European history, 1648 to the present. The scientific revolution, the Enlightenment, national political revolutions, capitalism, industrial development, overseas imperial expansion. The formation of mass political and social institutions, avant-garde and popular culture, the Thirty Years' War of the 20th century, bolshevism, fascism, the Cold War, and the revolutions of 1989.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 134 United States: Revolution to Empire

Content: This survey course focuses on the shifting political, cultural, economic, and social developments of the United States from the Revolutionary period through the Spanish-American War. The themes underpinning the course will be the contested nature of freedom and the relationship between freedom and slavery; settler colonialism; ideologies about manhood and womanhood; the growth of capitalism; and the expansion of the nation-state and the origins of American empire. Along with attending to these themes, the course will provide you with an introduction to the discipline of history itself. History is not a series of names and dates, but an interpretive act in which we develop conclusions based on various types of historical evidence.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 135 United States: Empire to Superpower

Content: The power of the United States in the world, from the Spanish-American War to Iraq. Central themes are freedom, the state, and empire. Overall, our topics include the rise of imperialism; the demise of Reconstruction and the development of industrial capitalism; Progressivism; the World Wars; urbanization; consumer culture; the Great Migration; the depression and New Deal; the Cold War; the rights revolutions of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s; Vietnam; and the rise of the Right.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 141 Colonial Latin American History

Content: History of Latin America from Native American contact cultures through the onset of independence movements in the early 19th century. Cultural confrontations, change, and Native American accommodation and strategies of evasion in dealing with the Hispanic colonial empire.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 142 Modern Latin American History

Content: Confrontation with the complexity of modern Latin America through historical analysis of the roots of contemporary society, politics, and culture. Through traditional texts, novels, films, and lectures, exploration of the historical construction of modern Latin America. Themes of unity and diversity, continuity and change as framework for analyzing case studies of selected countries.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 208 Asian American History in the U.S.

Content: "Asian American" is a catchall term that refers to a variety of people whose ethnic and cultural origins span a third of the globe. In this class, we will examine some of the distinct populations that make up this group, including those who trace their origins to China, Japan, Continental India, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Hawaii, and several other Pacific Islands. (Students may focus their independent research project on another group of their choice.) We will use memoirs, literature, government documents, history, film, and material culture to answer these questions: Why did they immigrate to the U.S.? What were their experiences after they arrived? How were their experiences shaped by global and internal politics, as well as their cultural repertoires? What do their experiences reveal about American history and contemporary politics and views? Why have such diverse populations been grouped under one label and viewed as a single "race"?
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 209 Japan at War

Content: In-depth study of the causes, dynamics, and outcomes of the wars fought by Japan in Asia and the Pacific from the late 19th century through World War II. The trajectories of Japanese imperialism, sequence of events leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor, social impact of total war. Japan's wartime culture as seen through diaries, newspaper articles, propaganda films, short stories, government documents. Short- and long-term effects of the atomic bomb and the American occupation of Japan.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 213 Personal Narratives in Chinese History

Content: Political, economic, and cultural history of China, traced through the lives of individual Chinese, including the mighty and the low: venerable philosophers and historians, powerful women, mighty emperors, conscientious officials, laboring women and men, evangelizing missionaries, zealots of all political persuasions. Sixth century B.C.E. to late 20th century, with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Lectures cover the historical milieu in which the various subjects lived. Through class discussion and essay assignments, students unite their knowledge of particular individuals and the broad sweep of events to form a rich and lively familiarity with Chinese history.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 216 Ancient Greece

Content: An introduction to the history and civilization of Ancient Greece, from the early Archaic era in mid-eighth-century B.C. to the death of Socrates in 399 B.C. Topics include constitutional changes from monarchy through oligarchy and tyranny to democracy, the development of the Greek polis, contacts with Near Eastern civilizations, hegemony and imperialism, social structure, trade, and colonization. Readings will focus on ancient historical writings in translation and will highlight the challenges in interpreting evidence from antiquity.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 217 The Emergence of Modern South Asia

Content: The social, economic, and political history of the Indian subcontinent from the 18th century to the present. The cultural foundations of Indian Society; the East India Company and the expansion of British power; the experience of Indians under the British Raj; Gandhi and the rise of Indian nationalism; independence and partition; postcolonial South Asian developments in politics, economy, and culture. Thematic emphasis on the causes and consequences of Western imperialism, religious and cultural identities, and competing historical interpretations.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 219 Ancient Rome: From Republic to Empire

Content: A history of Rome from the foundation of the Roman Republic in the late 6th century B.C. to the end of the Severan dynasty in 235 A.D. Special emphasis on Rome's political transformation from a republic to an empire and the effect of this transition on Roman civilization. Topics include Roman conquest and imperialism, religion, contact with other Mediterranean cultures, class conflict, law and governance, slavery, and family structure. The interpretation of primary-source materials (especially ancient historical writings) and the problems of reconstructing the history of a civilization that flourished 2,000 years ago.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 221 Tudor and Stuart Britain, 1485 to 1688

Content: The development of the British Isles from the late medieval period to the Glorious Revolution. The church and state in late medieval Britain; the English and Scottish reformations; Elizabeth and her realm; the evolution of monarchical and aristocratic power under the Tudors and Stuarts; Shakespeare, Milton, and the English literary renaissance; the conquest and settlement of Ireland; Cromwell, the Puritans, and the English Civil War; life in the villages and the growth of the mercantile economy; the Glorious Revolution and the shaping of constitutional monarchy.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Every third year, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 222 Britain in the Age of Revolution, 1688 to 1815

Content: A history of Britain and its people from the Glorious Revolution to the end of the Napoleonic War. The end of absolutism and the rise of the constitutional monarchy; the Augustan Age: arts, letters, and religion; the Atlantic world and British overseas expansion; the Enlightenment and scientific revolution; the American Revolution and its aftermath; union with Scotland and Ireland and the creation of the British national identity; the revolution in France and the wars against Napoleon; the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Every third year, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 223 War and Society in Premodern Europe

Content: Social transformations in premodern Europe caused by organization for and conduct of war. Topics include the hoplite revolution, military professionalization in the Roman Empire, the monopoly on violence in the Middle Ages, technology and "total war" during the Hundred Years' War, and the military revolution of the 16th century.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 224 The Making of Modern Britain, 1815 to Present

Content: The history of Britain from the Industrial Revolution to the present. Industrialization and its social consequences; the shaping of Victorian society; the rise and fall of the British Empire; the Irish question and the emancipation of women; political reform and the rise of mass politics; Britain in the age of total war; popular culture, immigration, and the making of multicultural Britain. Themes include the growth of the social and economic class structure, the shaping of national and regional identities, cultural exchanges with the empire. Extensive use of primary sources, literature, music.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Every third year, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 226 20th-Century Germany

Content: Origins and consequences of World War I; attempts to develop a republican government; Nazism; evolution of the two Germanies after 1945 and their reunification. Readings on relationship between individual and state, pressures for conformity, possibility of dissent.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 227 Medieval Europe, 800 to 1400

Content: Social, intellectual, political, and cultural elements of European life during the period from about 800 to 1400. Emphasis on Christianity as a dominant aspect of public life; feudalism and other forms of economic and social life; developing conflicts between secular and ecclesiastical institutions; emergence of European nation-states; contacts with the non-European world; high medieval culture.
Prerequisites: None. HIST 120 recommended.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 229 The Holocaust in Comparative Perspective

Content: The Nazi genocide of European Jews during World War II in comparison to other cases of 20th-century mass violence in countries such as Armenia, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. Nazi Germany serves as the principal case study for discussion of the broader question: What has made possible the organization and execution of mass violence against specific ethnic and religious groups in a wide variety of societies around the world over the past century? Includes examination of strategies for the prevention of future incidents of mass ethnic violence.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 230 Eastern Europe: Borderlands and Bloodlands

Content: Examines Eastern European history from the 18th through 20th centuries: the "nationalities question" that emerged from within the Habsburg and Russian empires; multinational zones; wars; successor states of the interwar period; the Balkans and the Yugoslav dissolution of the 1990s; consideration of East Europeans' membership in the EU. Students will learn to do primary and secondary source research and will conduct an original research project over the course of the semester.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 231A U.S. Women's History, 1600 to 1980

Content: The history of women and gender in the United States from the colonial period to the present, with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries as influenced by class, race, and region. Topics include the transformation of a household economy to an industrial economy; the influence of slavery and emancipation on the experience of women, bound and free; women's movement into low-paid "women's work" and their designation as the primary consumers in a consumer society; women's involvement in social reform; changing notions of women's (and men's) sexuality; the conflicted history of women's suffrage; the relationship between ideologies of gender and imperialism; suburbanization and the "feminine mystique"; and the rights revolutions of the 20th century.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 232 Histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America (Turtle Island)

Content: Introduction to the study of the histories of Indigenous peoples in North America. Through a combination of critical reading, writing, collaboration, and discussion, we will analyze primary and secondary sources to explore the many communities, places, experiences, events, and ideas that have shaped the lives of diverse Indigenous peoples and societies and their encounters with one another, Europeans, and people of African descent, from the precontact periods to the present day.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 239 Constructing the American Landscape

Content: Political, social, economic, and aesthetic forces that have helped shape ordinary built environments: farms, fast-food restaurants, theme parks, sports stadiums, highways, prisons, public housing. Patterns of economic growth and decline, technological innovation, segregation, gentrification, capital migration and globalization, historic preservation, and changing ideologies about nature and the city.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 240 Race and Ethnicity in the United States

Content: Investigation of the history of categories of race and ethnicity in the United States, primarily focused on the historical production of conceptions of racial and ethnic difference. Examines the origins, uses, and mutations of ideologies of race and ethnicity, as well as how these ideologies intersect with empire and nationalism, sexuality and gender, capitalism and labor relations, and scientific knowledge. Considers both chronological and thematic approaches. Examines scholarly work, visual culture, and memoir. Open to all students.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 242 Borderlands: U.S.-Mexico Border, 16th Century to Present

Content: The concept and region known as the Borderlands from when it was part of northern New Spain to its present incarnation as the U.S.-Mexico border. Thematic focus on the roles of imperialism and capitalism in the formation of borderlands race, class, gender, and national identities. The transformation of this region from a frontier between European empires to a borderline between nations.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 243 African American History Since 1863

Content: A survey of African American history from emancipation to the present: the process of emancipation, Reconstruction, the rise of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Depression and the transformation of the rural South, the civil rights movement, Black power and white backlash, the rise of the prison-industrial complex, and the development of hip-hop culture. An examination of art, film, and theatre will supplement written primary and secondary sources.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 244 Practicum

Content: Experience in historical research, writing, interpreting, or planning. Specifics vary depending on placement with sponsoring agency. Eight credits may be applied to graduation requirements, but only 4 may be applied to major.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

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HIST 259 India in the Age of Empire

Content: The political, cross-cultural, and social development of the Indian subcontinent from the classical civilizations of late antiquity to the beginnings of colonial rule in the 18th century. The artistic and architectural achievements of Indo-Islamic civilization; the Mughal Empire and regional polities; religious and cultural syncretism; the influence of contact with the West. Special emphasis on the historical antecedents of contemporary debates about regional identities, state formation and fragmentation, and the origins of colonial rule.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 261 Global Environmental History

Content: Introduction to major historical shifts in the relationship(s) between humans and their environment from prehistoric times to the present. Focuses particularly on Asia, Europe, and North America and covers such topics as the invention of agriculture, shifting conceptions and portrayals of nature, the exchange of biota between continents, responses to natural disasters, the ecological impact of the industrial revolution, and the 20th-century environmental movement. Exploration of the social, cultural, and political dimensions of environmental change through the work of environmental historians and a wide range of primary sources, including literature, artwork, philosophical texts, government documents, newspaper articles, and scientific data.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 264 From Stumptown to Portlandia: The History of Portland

Content: An introduction to research in historical methods by examining the history of Portland: How did the city go from rough-and-tumble center of the timber industry to hipster mecca? Examination of Portland's origins as a port city to the gentrification of more recent times, including exploration of various types of historical sources, from fire-insurance maps to police surveillance photographs. Two major research projects are included: 1) construct the "biography" of a city block, and 2) in small groups, write and deliver walking tours of various Portland neighborhoods.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 288 China in the News: Socio-Anthropological and Historical Perspective on Modern China

Content: Rarely a day goes by in the realm of contemporary American news that does not find China center stage. Whether through accolades of its avant-garde architecture, Olympic gold medals, and booming economy or critiques of its environmental practices, China has garnered an important space in the American public imaginary. China is a rapidly rising world power in an international arena witnessing the increasing economic instability and declining economic hegemony of Western nations, and its engagement in the global realm matters. We are interested in looking at China in two different ways: topically about China as news, and theoretically about China in the news. What is happening today in China both domestically and internationally that is worthy of international coverage? How is China represented in American media sources? What are the contours, influences, and ramifications of these representations? How do historical precedent and contemporary culture affect these representations?
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 297 Special Topics in History

Content: Introduction to the practice and research methods of history. Reading and critical analysis of primary sources and scholarship organized around themes or problems in history. Focus varies depending on areas of the instructor's teaching and/or research. Assignments are organized around a substantial final project and/or several smaller projects. May be taken twice with change of topic.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 299 Independent Study

Content: Opportunities for well-prepared students to design and pursue a substantive course of independent learning. Details determined by the student and the supervising instructor. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

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HIST 300 Historical Materials

Content: Materials and craft of historical research. Bibliographic method; documentary editing; use of specialized libraries, manuscripts, maps, government documents, photographs, objects of material culture. Career options in history. Students work with primary sources to develop a major editing project. Topical content varies depending on instructor's teaching field. Enrollment preference given to history majors and minors.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 308 Public History Lab

Content: Introduction to public history as a field of study and as a practice. Focus on public history projects-varies by instructor's area of teaching and research. The final project will be a historically based project that is either disseminated to the general public or serves a community beyond the college. The course will explore various forms of public history, including community-engaged research, museum exhibits, audio podcasts, videos, archival projects, etc. Exploration of the ethics and problematics of doing community-engaged research.
Prerequisites: HIST 300 or similar methodology course recommended.
Restrictions: Consent of instructor required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 310 China in the World

Content: The nature and extent of China's contact with other countries, including the silk roads to Middle Asia in the first millennium B.C.E., Jesuits and the influx of Spanish-American silver in the 16th century, British tea and opium trade, and Chinese intellectual experiments with social Darwinism, anarchism, communism, and the nuclear family ideal. Primary sources showing foreign and Chinese perceptions of the content and significance of these exchanges.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 311 History of Family, Gender, and Sexuality in China

Content: Development of family structure, gender roles, and sexuality in Chinese history, explored through oracle bones, family instructions, tales of exemplary women, poetry, painting, drama, fiction, and calendar posters. Key movements in the transformation of family and gender from 1600 B.C.E. to the 20th century. Close readings of texts to explore how social, economic, religious, and political forces shaped family and gender roles.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 313 Religion, Society, and the State in Japanese History

Content: Japanese religious traditions and their impact on social and political structures from ancient times to the present. Examination of the doctrinal and institutional development of Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto, and Christianity, as well as the creation and suppression of more marginal belief systems. Issues include pilgrimage, spirit possession, death practices, millenarianism, militarism, abortion, eco-spiritualism, and religious terrorism. Sources include canonical scriptures, short stories, diaries, government records, newspaper articles, artwork, films.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 316 Popular Culture and Everyday Life in Japanese History

Content: Popular culture as the site of social change and social control in Japan from the 18th to the 20th century. Religion and folk beliefs, work and gender roles, theatre and music, tourism, consumerism, citizens' movements, fashion, food, sports, sex, drugs, hygiene, and forms of mass media ranging from woodblock prints to modern comic books, film, television. Concepts as well as content of popular and mass culture.
Prerequisites: HIST 112 recommended.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 320 Humanism in Renaissance Europe

Content: Writings by major figures in the humanist movement from the 14th to the 16th century. Social, political, intellectual contexts of humanism in the university and Italian city-state; ideal of return to sources of classical culture; civic humanism; interplay between Christian and secular ideals; relationship between Italian and northern forms of humanism; relationship between Renaissance humanism and the Protestant Reformation; comparative experience of Renaissance humanists and artists.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 323 Modern European Intellectual History

Content: Approaches to the problem of ethical values in 19th- and 20th-century European thought, including Marxist, social Darwinist, Nietzschean, and Freudian perspectives; existentialism; postmodernism. Readings in philosophical, literary, artistic works.
Prerequisites: HIST 121 recommended.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 324 Saints and Bureaucrats

Content: Charism and bureaucracy in the careers of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, and Teresa of Avila, of the Discalced Carmelites. Ignatius and Teresa as mystics, theologians, founders and/or reformers of religious orders, believers. Impact of national origin, social status, gender on their careers and on early modern Catholicism.
Prerequisites: None. HIST 120 or RELS 373 recommended.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 325 History of Islam in Europe

Content: The history of Islam in Europe from the medieval period to the present, focusing on various encounters between European Christians and Muslims. The crusades, Christian and Muslim presence in Iberia, Ottoman conquest in southeastern Europe, European colonial conquest, the role of Islam in post-1945 decolonization, and questions about Muslim immigration and European identity.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 326 History of Soviet Russia

Content: Examines tensions (political, social, cultural) of the final decades of the Romanov dynasty and traces the collapse of the 300-year-old empire during the First World War. Focus is largely on the 20th century. Topics include the Russian Revolution, "Soviet Man" (Homo Sovieticus), Stalinism, collectivization, terror, the "Great Patriotic War," Cold War culture, the Sovietization of Eastern Europe, the Brezhnev era, reforms of the Gorbachev period, the end of the Soviet Union, and legacies for Russia and the other successor states. Attention throughout to gender, family, nation, and concept of the individual in relation to the collective.
Prerequisites: HIST 121 recommended.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 328 The British Empire

Content: The history of British overseas expansion from the early 17th century to the end of the 20th century. Theories of imperialism; Britain's Atlantic trade network; the Victorian empire in war and peace; collaboration and resistance among colonized people; India under the British Raj; Africa and economic imperialism; the effects of empire on British society; the creation of the British Commonwealth; the rise of nationalism in India, Africa, and the Middle East; decolonization and postcolonial perspectives. Extensive readings from primary sources.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 331 American Culture and Society: 1880 to 1980

Content: Formation of modern culture from the late Victorian era to the "me decade." The influence of consumer culture, popular psychology, mass media, changing definitions of work and leisure in the development of a modern self. Origins and impact of the gender and race revolutions, relationship of "high" and "popular" culture. Readings in primary and secondary sources.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 336 Wilderness and the American West

Content: History of the trans-Mississippi West, including Euro-American perceptions of North America, issues of progress and preservation, and environmental history. Role of the federal government; contributions of minorities, women, and men in shaping the trans-Mississippi West. Voices of those who have sought to develop and conserve the West.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 338 Crime and Punishment in the United States

Content: The rise of the carceral state in the United States, including crime in different historical eras and the ways Americans have sought to deter, punish, and rehabilitate. Sub-topics include the changing role of the police; changing definitions of what constitutes a crime; the evolution of the prison system; the rise of convict labor; the political economy of the recent prison boom; the emergence of the victims' rights and prisoners' rights movements; the privatization of prisons; differences in treatment based on race, gender, and age. Course will take place in a nearby correctional facility.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Interested students must submit a formal application to be considered for the course. For details, please contact the instructor. Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 345 Race and Nation in Latin America

Content: Social thought about race and nation in Latin America. The Iberian concept of pureza de sangre, development of criollo national consciousness, 20th-century indigenista movements. Linkages between national identities and constructions of race, particularly in the wake of revolutionary movements. Freyre (Brazil), Marti (Cuba), Vasconcelos (Mexico), and Sarmiento (Argentina).
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 347 Modern Mexico: Culture, Politics, and Economic Crisis

Content: Origins and development of the modern Mexican nation from independence to the contemporary economic and political crisis. 1811 to 1940: liberal-conservative battles, imperialism, the Pax Porfiriana, the Mexican Revolution, industrialization, and institutionalizing the revolution. 1940 to the present: urbanization, migration to the United States, the student movement, neoliberal economics and politics, disintegration of the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), and the new social rebellions (Zapatistas, Popular Revolutionary Army, Civil Society). Constructing Mexicanidad in music, dance, film, and the cultural poetics of the street and the town plaza.
Prerequisites: HIST 141 or HIST 142 recommended.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 348 Modern Cuba

Content: Development of the modern Cuban nation from the independence movement of the mid-19th century to the contemporary socialist state. Focus on how identity changed under the Spanish colonial, U.S. neocolonial, Cuban republic, and revolutionary states. 1840s to 1898: wars of independence, slavery, transition to free labor. 1898 to 1952: U.S. occupation and neocolonialism, Afrocubanismo, populism. 1952 to the present: Castro revolution, socialism, U.S.-Cuban-Soviet relations.
Prerequisites: HIST 142 recommended.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 388 What's for Dinner

Content: Cross-cultural examination of the history and cultural, political, and economic power of food. Topics include the power and politics exercised through ethnic/racial, gender, and class differences in food consumption; ways in which people express their religious, ethnic, class, gender, and regional identities through food; nostalgia for the food ways of the past and ideas about the food of the future; the history of manners and the cultural value of food etiquette; and "nutritionism," or why we think certain things are good for us. Materials include scholarly and popular books and essays, as well as primary sources.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 390 Immigration and Asylum Law

Content: Introduces students to immigration and asylum law in the United States. Students will work with instructor on several asylum cases for which instructor serves as expert witness for country conditions. Countries we cover include Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Venezuela. Asylum claims cover a variety of topics, including political persecution, drug cartel and gang violence, sexual violence, and gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination. Guest speakers will include immigration lawyers, immigration advocates, and immigration law professors. Students will apply liberal-arts research and writing skills to draft declarations for asylum petitioners, and they will work in teams on several cases during the semester, participating in intake interviews with clients to hearings before an immigration judge.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 394 Cross-Cultural Law & Justice in Early America

Content: Comparative study of law and legal pluralism in the early North American borderlands from the 16th through 19th centuries. Examination of the resolution of intercultural conflicts among Indigenous people, Europeans, and people of African descent; how and why those from different cultures made their understandings of law intelligible to one another in contests over land, property, and freedom; how these plural legal orders changed over time. Determining the nature of legal pluralism and how it shaped the multiple meanings of law, justice, sovereignty, and empire in early America. Consideration of how the legal complexity of the early modern era informs our understanding of the meanings of law and justice today.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Every third year.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 397 Advanced Topics in History

Content: Advanced study in the research and writing of history. Reading and critical analysis of primary sources and scholarship; exposure to major debates and controversies in the field that may include, but are not limited to, comparative study, historiography, or interdisciplinary methodology. Focus varies depending on areas of the instructor's teaching and/or research. Assignments are organized around a substantial final project and/or several smaller projects. May be taken twice with change of topic.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 400 Reading Colloquium

Content: Reading and critical analysis of major interpretive works. Organized around themes or problems; comparative study of historical works exemplifying different points of view, methodologies, subject matter. Focus varies depending on instructor's teaching and research area. May be taken twice for credit. Enrollment preference given to history majors and minors.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Junior standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 444 Practicum

Content: Same as HIST 244 but requiring more advanced work. 8 credits may be applied to graduation requirements, but only 4 may be applied to the major.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

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HIST 450 History Seminar

Content: Work with primary documents to research and write a major paper that interprets history. Topical content varies depending on instructor's teaching field. Recent topics: the Americas; the United States and Asia; European intellectual history since 1945; women in American history; Indian policy on the Pacific slope; World War II, the participants' perspectives; the British Raj; cultural nationalism in East Asia. May be taken twice for credit. Enrollment preference given to history majors and minors.
Prerequisites: HIST 300.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 490 History Honors Thesis

Content: Independent project based upon extensive research in primary source materials and review and evaluation of historical scholarship in a particular subject area leading to the submission and oral defense of an original thesis. Details determined by student in conference with supervising faculty advisor. Successful completion and defense of the thesis required for conferral of departmental honors. Enrollment restricted to history majors.
Prerequisites: HIST 300 and permission of the history faculty.
Restrictions: Senior standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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HIST 499 Independent Study

Content: Same as HIST 299 but requiring more advanced work. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.