History in the Digital Age
HIST-H585 with Professor Craig
How are history and computing related? How does computing support or change the theory, methodology, pedagogy and publication that historians employ? How does history inform computing practices? This class is a graduate-level introduction to the debates, historiographic challenges, and practical undertakings that arise when these two worlds combine.
Roman Money and Coinage
HIST-H605/705 with Professor Elliott
The invention of coinage brought changes that redirected the course of the ancient Mediterranean societies; changes that still echo in modern society. Our course explores how money and coinage transformed the Roman world, but also how Roman culture transformed money and coinage. We examine the way in which coinage reflected Roman culture, religion, society and politics as well as the way in which coinage itself made history by influencing individuals and institutions. Understanding the ways Romans used money--as media for exchange, status and ideas--offers unique insights into Roman society and culture.
Vast Early America: A thematic introduction
HIST-H650 with Professor Irvin
In the late twentieth century, scholars abandoned the thirteen original colonies as an organizing principle for the study of colonial history. After experimenting with a succession of alternative frameworks—including British North America, the early American borderlands, and the Atlantic World, to name only a few—the subfield has settled, not entirely comfortably, on #VastEarlyAmerica. In this graduate colloquium, students will read intensively in the history of #VastEarlyAmerica. The chief objective of this course will be to expose graduate students broadly to the history and historiography of the subfield for the benefit of their future research and/or teaching. Our primary concern shall be the process of colonization, from the late fifteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. Our texts, however, as well as our written assignments, will emphasize themes of relevance to the Indiana University Department of History’s graduate recruitment clusters, including Slavery, Freedom, and Unfreedom, and Gender and Biopolitics. Topics for discussion will include race, slavery and servitude, labor, indigeneity, sexuality and gender, the body, and disability, among others.
Colloquium in Comparative History: HIST-H699
Selected topics that cut across conventional geographic and chronological periods.
History in the Digital Age
HIST-H699 with Professor Craig
How are history and computing related? How does computing support or change the theory, methodology, pedagogy and publication that historians employ? How does history inform computing practices? This class is a graduate-level introduction to the debates, historiographic challenges, and practical undertakings that arise when these two worlds combine.
Slavery, Patriarchy, and Citizenship from Colony to Nation in Latin America and the Caribbean
HIST-H699 with Professor Diaz
Since the late 15th century, societies in Latin America and the Caribbean have been organized based on a dominant racial, class, and gendered European-Christian logic that facilitated the reproduction of European imperial power in this hemisphere. Although the colonial framework may have formally disappeared in the first half of the 19th century with the independence of most Latin American and Caribbean nations, the Western colonial logic that anchored elites to power survived in practice. But it did not go uncontested–the enslaved population fought in myriad ways for their freedom, marginalized groups of different races advocated for equality and inclusion in the polity, and women challenged the patriarchal order. The people of Latin America and the Caribbean expressed varying perspectives on their connections to each other and to the state, demonstrating they understood, interpreted, and structured their world in ways that didn't necessarily align with the dominant Western framework.
In this colloquium, we will discuss works that explore the histories of slavery, emancipation, patriarchy, and citizenship as they intersect with gender and race during the transition from colony to nation in the 19th and 20th centuries. To guide our exploration, we will commence the semester by studying a selection of theoretical works on decoloniality, race, and gender. Throughout, we will examine studies that use a variety of research methodologies, including English-translated or produced scholarship. By the end of the semester, students should have a better understanding of the historical origins of current political debates, including critiques of "gender ideology" and anti-racist policies. They should also gain insight into the emergence of different forms of subaltern political-epistemic movements in the region.
As part of this colloquium, graduate students will write concise weekly responses, lead one class discussion per semester, and submit two writing assignments and a final project.
Fascism and Anti-Fascism
HIST-H699 with Professor Nieto-Phillips
This graduate-level readings course will explore a range of political movements in Europe and the Americas since the 1920s, with particular emphasis on ideologies and cultures inspired by fascism and various entities opposed to it. We will engage debates and definitions that have informed the study of fascism in the past 20 years. Geographically, we will examine movements in Latin America and the United States and explore their relation to one another and to fascist and antifascist movements in Spain, Italy, and Germany. Students will be expected to participate in weekly discussions and presentations, and to produce weekly response papers and analyses culminating in a final paper. For their final papers, those who wish to identify and draw on readings in languages other than English, to be used in tandem with assigned English-language texts, are invited to do so; however, all submitted work and discussions will be in English. Students of Spanish may petition to submit a final paper in Spanish. During the semester, we will be treated to guest visits by at least four specialists of fascism and antifascism.
The Study of Emotions In History
HIST-H699 with Professor Schneider
What part have people’s emotions played in the course of human events? To ask that question might seem to imply the obvious. For it seems only common sensical to assume that human beings are always at least in part motivated by their feelings. But for too long we have been under the sway of the “mind-body” split which assumes not only that emotions have nothing to do with thinking but that they ought not to. We now know otherwise. But this still doesn’t make the task of understanding the role of emotions in motivating people, especially in the past. This course will explore the methods of the history of emotions across a wide swath of historical, social scientific and literary fields, as well as a broad range of periods and cultures.
Histories and Historigraphies of Modern East Asia: Major Debates
HIST-H775/H675 with Professor Wang
In this seminar on modern East Asian history, students will advance their histographical knowledge and research skills. We will discuss the exciting new works in the field, examine various primary sources, and explore different research methods. Students will write a full-length article based on original research. The instructor will decide the topics and readings for this seminar based on the class’s research needs and interests.
The College of Arts + Sciences