2010-2011 - Sweet Briar College

historySweet Briar CollegeHIST 272 (3)–Pre-Colonial African HistoryAn introduction to the development of Africanpolitical culture from the tenth to nineteenth centuries.After studying the historical foundationsof local institutions, the course will focus on theformation of states before and during the periodof the slave trade until about 1860. Emphasis oncontemporary historical sources. V.4, V.5.HIST 308 (3)–Encounters, Conquest andEuropean Expansion, 1350-1650Prerequisite: HIST 143 or HIST 224. Thiscourse probes the economic, scientific, and territorialexpansions that both fuelled and resultedfrom the “rebirth” of western Europe during theearly modern era. Topics include Columbus’svoyages to the New World; the Portugueseslave trade in Africa; Italian and Ottoman commercialrivalries in the Mediterranean; Spanish,British and French colonization of the Americas;and Europe’s scientific responses to the newand strange environments being mapped andexplored. Offered alternate years. III.W, V.1.HIST 312 (3)–Virginia: History and MemoryPrerequisite: HIST 135 or HIST 225. Virginiahas occupied a central if contested position in thecultural memory of Americans. This research seminarexplores key dimensions of Virginia’s distinctivehistory, including its economic structure, racerelations, and political culture. Through case studiesof historical memorials, museums, and othersites of remembrance we will analyze the politicsand social construction of collective memories ofVirginia. Students will develop and present theirown research projects, drawing on the rich publichistorical, printed, and archival resources availablein Central Virginia. Offered every third year. Thiscourse may not be taken on a P/CR/NC gradingoption. III.O.HIST 315 (3)–Illness and Healing in AmericaPrerequisite: HIST 103, HIST 135, HIST 221,HIST 228, HIST 234, or HIST 242. This courseinquires into the religious, medical, and culturalforces shaping the experiences of illness and healingin America. Key topics include Puritan modesof suffering, medical pluralism in the nineteenthcentury, the rise and fall of “nervousness” andother diagnoses, the medicalization of behavioronce thought immoral, and the popularization ofpsychology in the twentieth century. The coursepays particular attention to historical shifts in therelations between sufferer, community, and healer,and how such shifts affect understandings of healthand illness. Offered alternate years. This course maynot be taken on a P/CR/NC grading option. III.O.HIST 319 (3)–The Playground of Empires:Eastern Europe and the Balkans in the 19thand 20th CenturiesPrerequisite: HIST 143, HIST 210, orHIST 216. Eastern Europe and the Balkans weretraditional European borderlands for centuries.Due to the regions’ positions between expandingand contracting empires, they have beenthe “playground” of the Great Powers for thelast three centuries. This course examines thesestruggles and the various reactions of the indigenouspopulations to the competing empiresfrom the late 18th to the 21st centuries. Offeredevery three years. III.W, V.1, V.7.HIST 321 (3)–Studies in Medieval HistoryPrerequisite: HIST 143. The millennium separatingantiquity and the Renaissance witnessedthe rise of western Christianity and capitalism,the invention of romantic love, the developmentof Islamic science, and the Black Death. Topicswill alternate: Early Middle Ages or Dark Ages;High Medieval Renaissance(s); Medieval Iberia;The Disastrous Fourteenth Century. Offeredalternate years. May be repeated for credit whentopic is different. May be counted as a core coursetoward the minor in gender studies.. III.W, V.5.HIST 322 (3)–Renaissance and ReformationPrerequisite: HIST 127 or HIST 143. The coursewill explore the social and cultural context ofRenaissance and Reformation thought as well asthe ideas and ideals of humanist intellectuals andreligious reformers. The study of RenaissanceItaly will include such topics as the family, sexand marriage, crime and criminal justice andsocial structure and politics in the city statesas well as humanism and art. The Reformationsection will examine traditional Catholicism andpopular beliefs, as well as the ideals and goalsof Protestant and Catholic reformers, and willassess the reformers’ achievements. The focusof the course may be EITHER Renaissance ORReformation. Offered alternate years. May becounted as an adjunct course toward the minor ingender studies. V.5.126­