History (HIST-GA)

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

Introduction to the theoretical and methodological issues involving archives, historical documentation, and historical resources. Focuses on the history of records and record keeping, development of archival theory, appraisal, arrangement and description, reference, legal and ethical issues, and current trends in the profession.

The Digital Archives course addresses the role of archivists across the life-cycle of digital archives and articulates challenges, best practices, and standards associated with the appraisal, acquisition, storage, and provision of access to digital archives. Students design basic workflows for the accession and ingest of digital archives and identify risks and threats to the successful preservation of digital archives in various file formats. The course also enumerates important considerations in institutional policies and plans related to collection development, intellectual property rights, preservation, and overall sustainability.

This graduate course introduces students to classic and cutting-edge works in environmental history. If environmental history first emerged from the study of the American West and parks, its practitioners now work across the globe to study the relationship between race and geography; how gender and class shape the production of environmental knowledge; and how colonialism and enslavement transformed landscapes and the exploitation of the earth and its diverse inhabitants. We will explore these among other themes through articles and books centered on the history of rivers, parks, plantations, farms, ecological movements, and cities in Africa, the Americas, Oceania, and Asia. This course provides the necessary groundwork for students pursuing an examination in the field of environmental history. It will also appeal to graduate students working on a variety of topics who are interested in methods for studying the historic engagements of people—living in villages, cities, states, and empires—with the natural world.

History and anthropology became separate disciplines in the mid-nineteenth century when the emergence of a consciousness of progress caused history to become the study of developed societies liable to rapid transformations, as distinct from the investigation of so-called primitive societies. After a divorce of two centuries the two disciplines are converging once again. The purpose of this colloquium is to identify, analyze and assess the role of anthropological concepts and methods in examining the cultures and societies of the medieval west.

Capitalism is once more a keyword of scholarly and popular contention. The course introduces students to dominant approaches to capitalism across distinct conjunctures of the twentieth century. Course readings and class discussion explore the major frameworks (Marxist, Gramscian, World-systemic, economic anthropological, Feminist, and Eco-socialist), that have animated efforts to comprehend capitalism as a dynamic historical phenomenon. This broad-gaged survey aims to elucidate the shifting methods and concepts (from “creative destruction” and “imperialism” to “uneven development” and “racial capitalism”) that have gained prominence at different junctures. The course concludes with a focus on the renewal of feminist theories of capitalism and the emergence of political ecological critiques of contemporary capitalism.

Surveys major literature and historiographical issues in the early modern field.

This Lit of the Field course will compare the approaches that scholars of the modern and early modern periods take to similar material. The course is organized around themes, and each week will pair an early modern and a modern history that take up a common theme.

Considers both the political and intellectual history of Europe?s division between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, from the 18th century to the present. Course material includes travel Considers both the political and intellectual history of Europe?s division between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, from the 18th century to the present. Course material includes travel writing, mental mapping, the Iron Curtain, and the history of the European Union.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

Surveys major literature and historiographical issues in the colonial Latin American field

Surveys major literature and historiographical issues in the Colonial Latin American and Caribbean field.

This course explores the literature of field for various topics throughout history; the specific field and topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

Explores the transformation of France from the Old Regime monarchy of the late eighteenth century to the early Third Republic of the 1870s. We will focus first on the French Revolution, its origins, dynamics and consequences. We will then study the political, social, and cultural conflicts that help explain why the French went through three more revolutions--in 1830, 1848, and 1871--before establishing a stable form of republican government. We will also devote time to social and cultural history, and especially to recent literature on working-class formation, gender relations, and the peasantry.

This course has two main purposes. First, it seeks to familiarize students with the methods and arguments central to the writing of the recent urban, suburban, and metropolitan history. Second, it aims to examine the various ways that critics, architects, planners, social scientists and others that we can lump into the category of “urbanists” have sought to know, change, and improve the urban built environment and urban social life over the course of the twentieth century, as well as the effects of their ideas as they have played out in the spaces of metropolitan America.

This course will investigate the history of Soviet Eurasia from the First World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Themes include the tensions of Soviet empire and nation-building; global geopolitics; ideology, dictatorship, and state-building; and the pursuit of non-capitalist modernity—social, economic, cultural, political—in a capitalist world.

This course explores the Russian Empire in comparative perspectives.

This course explores topics in Irish history.

Analyzes events and conditions leading to the Act of Union: Tudor conquest and colonization; Gaelic pushback; Ireland under the Stuarts; the Williamite War and formation of the Protestant Ascendancy; emergence of Irish nationalism; Ireland and the Enlightenment; 18th-century political, economic and societal transformations; Ireland in the age of revolutions.

From the Tudor Age and the English conquest of Ireland to the last meeting of the Irish Parliament. Themes: plantation of Ireland with settlers from England, Scotland, and Wales; decline of the Gaelic political order and culture; religious Reformation and Counter-Reformation; Ireland as a site of English and European wars; and the attempt to rebel against British rule in the late 18th century, resulting in the Act of Union.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores topics in French cultural history.

This course explores various topics throughout medieval history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course introduces students to classic as well as cutting-edge works in the field of African history, using them as portals into the historiographic and methodological issues that historians of Africa encounter. Students will acquire an understanding of the ways in which the literature has developed across time, while examining those means by which histories of the continent have been researched and written. The course will help prepare students for the comprehensive exam in African history and will provide a critical introduction to African history for students in allied disciplines, such as African studies, anthropology, political science, and art history.

This course examines the ways in which those of African descent have either envisioned or enacted ways of transnational cooperation. The focus is admittedly political and limited in that it does not explore aesthetics, sports, etc. As a seminar, the idea is to consider several examples before students with time and opportunity pursue their own research.

20th-Century course surveys major literature and historiographical issues in the American field in the 20th century.

Investigates the historiography of the United States in the long 19th century, providing a foundation from which to research and teach in the field.

This course explores various topics throughout American history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores the history of science and technology.

This course provides an introductory overview to the public history field in its diverse venues and manifestations. Through intensive reading, discussion, and writing, students consider how the field of public history came into being and how it has evolved; where and how history is made and consumed; and the intersections and collisions of academic history with commemoration and popular history-making.

Explores changing definitions of "local" and "community" in light of contemporary historical interpretations. Focuses especially on differing historical methodologies and their impact on collecting and public history projects, considering such topics as unconventional evidence, material culture, museum interpretation, historical sites, and historical societies.

Public historians build bridges between the work of academic historians and the interests of diverse public audiences. Through readings, media analysis, visits by working public historians, and project work, students explore intellectual, political, and pragmatic issues in public history. A semester-long project requires students to work collaboratively to conceptualize a public history project and write a complete funding proposal for it.

Using readings, media examples, and peer and instructor feedback on project work, this course is designed to teach master's and doctoral students in history the skills of writing and speaking for a variety of non-scholarly audiences. Students will read relevant texts about each format and closely examine examples of each format, and they will develop their own oral and written projects based on their research interests, using a format of their choosing.

Historians are used to working with textual sources. How can images complement and deepen the process of historical inquiry? And which challenges are bound up with the use of visual material? This graduate colloquium caters to history students from all periods and fields. We will start with key theoretical and methodological texts that originate in neighboring disciplines such as art history, visual studies, and anthropology. In a second step, we will read and discuss select studies that utilize visual material to make a distinctively historical argument. Most of these studies focus on the medieval and early modern period, but you are welcome to expand your reading and to choose any other historical period for your final paper. Whatever topic and period you elect, we will all depart from the same basic premise: images are not mere ‘illustrations’ of historical events, but rather cultural artifacts that encapsulate historical processes with all the attendant ambiguities and contradictions.

An introduction to the study of women and gender in history with a focus on the relevant historiographical trends, methodological developments, and approaches to research.

This course explores topics in the history of women and gender.

This course explores various topics throughout American social history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout African history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout Latin American history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

A colloquium on the formation and development of the African diaspora, uncritically defined as the dispersal of people of African descent throughout the world, by way of examining the most recent and influential literature on the topic. Care is given to consider works addressing the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean, as well as the Americas.

This reading-intensive colloquium on early modern China is intended for those who are already familiar with the outlines of early modern Chinese history. Participants will both engage in greater depth some of the major paradigms in Chinese history c1550-1900 and will gain a broad knowledge of recent historiographical debates.

Fascism is back in the news today, with right-wing movements finding popularity in Europe and strongmen rulers finding favor. This interdisciplinary course gives us background to understand our contemporary world by examining Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship. We address Fascism’s culture of violence; biopolitics and demographic policy; imperialism and war; Fascist ideology and visual culture; gender roles; and anti-Fascism.

Introduces students to the major themes, scholarly approaches, and sources for Atlantic history.

In this seminar, students pursue independent research projects while meeting as a class to discuss research challenges as represented both by their own research and in common readings.

The course examines Islam?s multiple developments and expressions across the expanse of West Africa, from the seventh century through the present.

Seminar setting in which students consider a variety of issues and topics relating to their fieldwork sites and internship venues. Topics include public policy, historic site interpretation, digital humanities, current archival and museological theory, and leadership in cultural institutions. Students complete a 120-hour internship/practicum at a cooperating archives or public history site, arranged through the program director. Introduction to Archives or Introduction to Public History are a prerequisite for this course.

This course introduces students to the preservation of archival collections and cultural heritage materials. Beginning with an overview of the history of and the context for the preservation of cultural heritage, the course includes an examination of the composition of a variety of common archival materials, including paper, inks, photographs, magnetic media, and digital objects. The course is designed to introduce the student to preservation issues, such as conversation, holdings maintenance programs, rehousing techniques, reformatting, digital migration and conversion methods, selection for preservation, condition and needs assessment, proper use, handling and storage methods, environmental.

All communities create historical records, and recent decades have brought a growing critical awareness of how existing social hierarchies influence the creation and maintenance of historical archives. Community archive projects locate the power to preserve and shape history, heritage, and memory in communities themselves. Through readings, discussion, and analysis, this course will introduce students to a range of issues relating to grassroots community archives, archives of community organizations, and what happens when larger institutions partner with communities and community organizations to create archives. Students will also work with a local non-profit organization to undertake an archivally-based public project.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

Introduction to the theoretical and methodological components involved in the research process. Considers historiographical issues; develops an understanding of the archival and library environments, focusing on searching strategies and the use of automated techniques; and emphasizes framing research questions. Students complete a research paper with appropriate documentation and bibliography in their area of interest.

This course is a meditation on West African social history, and spans periods from the earliest through the postcolonial. We will read a monograph a week, cutting-edge works that help to shape the field of African history as a whole, serving as portals into the historiographic and methodological issues that historians of Africa encounter. The idea is for students to acquire an understanding of how the literature has built upon itself, as well as the means (methods/approaches) by which histories of the continent have been researched and written. This is the craft of the historian, and to best way to learn that craft is to consider how it unfolds over the course of an entire œuvre.The course is intended to support student research, which in practical terms, the course is the completion of a term/research paper by the end of the semester.

This course explores the purposes of archival description and the place of description in the continuum of archival practice, especially its relationship to arrangement, discovery, and reference. The course exposes students to the application of archival description and introduces the tools used to create description: content and encoding standards, controlled vocabularies, and content management systems. The course also emphasizes the importance of understanding users and applying this knowledge to influence descriptive practice, local practice and implementation, and online discovery environments. Introduction to Archives is a prerequisite for this course.

A hands-on introduction to “doing history” in the digital age, this course focuses on the evolving methodologies and tools used by public historians to collect, preserve, and present digital sources. Students will become familiar with a range of web-based tools, such as Omeka, and learn best practices for digitizing, adding metadata, tagging, and clearing permissions. By evaluating existing digital history projects and discussing perspectives from leading practitioners, students will also consider the role of the general public as both audiences for, and co-creators of, digital history. The core requirement is a collaborative digital history archive and exhibit that will be developed throughout the semester on a selected historical theme.

This course will examine the relationship between gender, race, and ethnicity in the United States in the twentieth century.

Interpretation of medieval history in the 20th century. Historiography and sociology of knowledge.

What is an Empire? This course is designed to study the advent and growth of “early modern” empires between ca. 1400 - 1800. Many of the exciting theories of empire in the last 30 years of historical scholarship have drawn disproportionately in the 19th and 20th centuries. Meanwhile, each early modern empire has tended to be studied separately, leaving the nature of early modern empires under-theorized. To what extent do existing arguments about empire fit with earlier imperial structures? Can new understandings of empire itself be inferred from the excellent monographic studies of specific empires published in recent years? We will explore key themes such as state formation, slavery, environment, law, science, religion, family, and gender. And, crucially, we will comparatively evaluate indigenous / colonizer interactions in America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The intent of the course is to enrich our understanding of the notion of early modern empire by reading and discussing widely together, while also deepening our knowledge of specific times and places through our research and writing.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout European history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course serves as a dual orientation for MA students. First, it introduces about a dozen approaches and fields of historical research. Second, it introduces students to NYU and its History Department. By the end of the semester, students will have (1) expanded their historiographical literacy; (2) developed their ability to read and discuss unfamiliar work, and (3) reflected upon a range of questions and approaches that might inform their own future work

In *Religion at the American University* we will seek to understand the—sometimes confusing— place of religion in the 21st century university through an historical lens. · To understand the radically changed place of religion in the American college and university from the religious core of the colonial and early national university to today’s secular institution. · To understand tensions from the past that are reflected in 21st century higher education such as the perceived tension between religion and science (think battles over evolution) or struggles over the teaching of values vs. a more value-free approach to data. · To understand historical reasons for 21st century skepticism about the role of people of faith as chaplains or administrators or teachers. In pursuing this issue we will ask: Can religious faith and objectivity co-exist? Is there such a thing as objectivity? · To ask “where did the idea of a college chaplain or a religious life leader come from?” We know that in the clergy dominated colleges of the colonial era, the notion of a designated chaplain made no sense? When did this change? Why?

The focus of this course is the research and writing of gender history. Not only will we discuss the overlap and tensions between the fields of women’s history and gender history. We will also consider histories of sexuality and the body. Along these lines, we shall explore the methodological issues that arise in researching the history of gender, bodies, and/or sexuality.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores the emergence of what is called the “Agrarian Question” as that question was related to the emergence of modernity (as a tendentially global economic, cultural, social, and political formation). The course begins with formative analyses of the problem of value (where and how is value produced?) and continues into the question of land, peasants, domestic and global revolution, modernization and development, race & labor, gender & reproduction, migration and ecological disaster/pandemics. The aim is to familiarize students with some basic theoretical/philosophical approaches and selected historical texts, as these articulate the agrarian question in modern terms. The course is intended to assist students in analyzing the agrarian question through a broad theoretical/historical/global perspective.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

Historiographic and analytic approaches to variable topics. Recent colloquia have included Historical Consciousness in Latin America; Age of Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean; Race, Gender, and Nation; US-Latin American Relations; Historical Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in Latin America; Independence and Nationalism in the 19th Century. May also focus on the history of a particular country or subregion, such as modern Brazil, Central America, or the Caribbean.

Methodology research seminar in which students learn the basic techniques of isolating and conceptualizing a topic, develop their research skills in handling primary and secondary sources available in the New York area, and complete a coherent, pertinent research paper of about 25 pages, with appropriate documentation and bibliograp

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

In this capstone seminar course, students are expected to undertake an original research project that relates to either the archives or public history field. The final product may take several forms: 1) a 30-50 page, article-length, research paper that might be submitted for publication in an academic journal; 2) a public history or archives project, which has been worked out with a cooperating institution, that might result in such products as a consulting report, finding aid with recommendations for handling or treating particular types of material, or collections survey; 3) an online project that contextualizes a body of historical source material and brings it to broader public attention.

This course is a requirement for all students completing their MA in History. During their final semester, students write an MA thesis, expanding on their Proseminar paper. The thesis is conceived of as a historical article; this form means that the thesis should be suitable for submission for publication, and/or for use as a writing sample for future graduate applications. Students work directly under the supervision of a faculty thesis advisor.

This independent study provides students with the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member to explore readings on a particular topic. This independent readings course is taken on a pass/fail basis.

This independent study provides students with the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member to explore readings on a particular topic. This independent readings course is taken on a pass/fail basis.

This independent study provides students with the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member to explore readings on a particular topic.

In this capstone seminar course, students are expected to undertake an original research project that relates to either the archives or public history field. The final product may take several forms: 1) a 30-50 page, article-length, research paper that might be submitted for publication in an academic journal; 2) a public history or archives project, which has been worked out with a cooperating institution, that might result in such products as a consulting report, finding aid with recommendations for handling or treating particular types of material, or collections survey; 3) an online project that contextualizes a body of historical source material and brings it to broader public attention.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course is designed to introduce students to some of the basic methodological and interpretive issues involved in historical research. Based around a core set of readings, the course covers important books and articles that explicitly deal with questions of method, as well as examples of certain methodologies or schools of historiography in action. The goal of these courses is to help the student produce a research paper that is of potentially publishable quality and to reveal that the student is capable of doing graduate level research and writing

This seminar is intended for PhD students to complete the History Department’s first-year requirement to write a 6000 - 10,000-word paper, based on original research, that can stand as a draft of a dissertation chapter or journal article. In tandem with the course requirements, students will consult with their advisors about matters specific to their fields and projects.

This year-long course overlaps with the Atlantic History Workshop colloquium, which meets regularly in the Department of History throughout the academic year. At the colloquium, participants discuss precirculated works-in-progress presented by visiting scholars or members of the colloquium. Students enrolled in this course attend every meeting of the colloquium and undertake additional activities assigned by the instructor.

This course explores Russian history.

This research seminar is designed for students whose work encompass the piecing together of lives in the past, whether obscure or well-known; singular or plural; local, regional, national, or transnational. Alongside the writing of a research paper, we will explore the crafting of historical inquiries, the search for evidence, the art of interpretation and analysis, and the place of thesis and argument, all the while concerning ourselves with the process of writing, including questions of voice, style, narrative, and imagination.

This course explores various topics throughout history; the specific topic of course content is variable year-by-year.

This course explores Eastern European history.