CONCENTRATIONS IN THE HISTORY MAJOR
The History Department strongly recommends that majors think seriously about the distribution of courses which they will take in order to complete the major. Majors are required to take at least one 300 or 400-level course (although we recommend that juniors and seniors take additional courses at that level); and at least two courses from U.S. and/or European history and two courses from “non-western” areas (i.e., all other areas of the world, including Russia). We recommend that, with the help of your advisor, you map out a concentration in the major so as to provide yourself with depth as well as breadth within your study of History. The concentration within the major, while not required, is designed to help you think through your study of History at Oberlin. Your choice of field of concentration will depend on a number of factors including plans after graduation, particular interests, linguistic competencies, and staffing strengths in the Department. We list below a number of possible concentrations within the major. Note that the African American Studies and Classics Departments offer important courses that fit into these concentrations, as indicated below. No more than ten credit hours, however, may be transferred in from outside of the History Department. Should you have an “independent concentration” or a combination of concentrations in mind, please discuss this with your advisor.
Concentrations consist of at least five courses in the particular field.
I. Geographic
China
Europe
Japan
Latin America
Russia
South Asia
United States
II. Chronological [Chronological
divisions are quite field specific.
Please discuss this with your advisor.]
Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern (i.e., mainly pre-1850)
Modern (mainly post-1850)
III. Thematic
African and African Diasporatic History
Colonialism, Imperialism, Anti-Colonialism and Post-Colonial Societies
Environmental History
Ethnic History of the United States
Intellectual/Cultural History
Jewish History
Socio-Cultural History
Women, Gender, the Family, and Sexuality
World History
COURSE OFFERINGS
IN VARIOUS CONCENTRATIONS
(N.B. Many courses
fit into several concentrations; the following list is suggestive, not
definitive)
I. Geographic
Please refer to the catalog which currently lists History offerings in the 200- and 300- level on the basis of geography. Survey courses at the 100-level are also easily identified on the basis of geographic area of concentration. For African and African Diasporatic History, see the “Thematic” section.
II. Chronological
Ancient, Medieval,
and Early Modern
HIST 101: Medieval European History
HIST 103: American History to 1877
HIST 105: Chinese Civilization
HIST 107: Russian History, I
HIST 109: Latin America, Conquest and Colony
HIST 111: Colloquium: Early American History (to 1750)
HIST 113: The French Revolution and the Origins of Modern Europe
HIST 114: Colonial Encounters: The Spanish Invention of the New World
HIST 122: Three Worlds Meet: Colonial Latin America
HIST 125: History of Science I: From Antiquity to Newton
HIST 131: Jewish History from Biblical Antiquity to the Spanish Expulsion
HIST 159: Traditional Japan
HIST 162: Cultures and Peoples of Ancient India
HIST 201: The History of Science from Antiquity through the Scientific Revolution
HIST 202: Renaissance, Reformation, and the Making of Early Modern Europe
HIST 203: Humanism and Reform
HIST 204 Biography and Autobiography in Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
HIST 205: History of Africa, Earliest Times to A. D. 1000
HIST 237: Women in Jewish Society: Antiquity to Modernity
HIST 240 Early American Encounters (15th to 17th Centuries)
HIST 245 The American Revolution
HIST 246 Media and Society in American History
HIST 284: Cultural History of Medieval Japan
HIST 296: Russia Before Peter the Great
HIST 300: Science and History, Middle Ages to the 17th Century
HIST 301: Machiavelli and the Renaissance
HIST 302: Problems in English Constitutional History in the Middle Ages
HIST 303: Critical Issues in the Renaissance and Reformation
HIST 304: Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
HIST 308: Heresy and Orthodoxy in Medieval Europe
HIST 319: Crime and Punishment in Early-Modern Europe
HIST 325: Native American History, ca. 1450-1900
AAST 203: African History from Earliest Times to the 19th Century
AAST 208: Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
CLAS 103: History of Greece
CLAS 104: History of Rome
Modern
All other courses not listed above can be considered to fall in the “modern” concentration.
III. Thematic
African and
African Diasporatic History (see also next heading)
HIST 111: Malcom X
HIST 205: History of Africa, Earliest Times to A. D. 1000
HIST 263: The American Civil War and Reconstruction
HIST 356: The British Empire in Asia and Africa
HIST 380: Method in African History
HIST 386: The Apartheid State and the Liberation Movement in South Africa
HIST 390: Slavery and Anti-Slavery in American History
HIST 422: Researching the American Civil War and Reconstruction
AAST 120: The Caribbean and the Wider World
AAST 202: African American History since 1865
AAST 203: African History from Earliest Times to the 19th Century
AAST 204: African History
AAST 208: Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
AAST 209: Society and Politics in the Modern Caribbean 1838-1970
AAST 215: African American Women’s History
AAST 219: The Freedom Movement: Civil Rights and Black Power
AAST 220: Black Women in America
AAST 306: The History of South Africa, 1870-1950
AAST 321: Black Feminist Thought: An Historical Perspective
AAST 328: Researching and Writing Black Women’s History
Colonialism,
Imperialism, Anti-Colonialism, Post-Colonial Societies (see also heading above)
HIST 106: Modern China
HIST 109: Latin American History: Conquest and Colony
HIST 114: Colonial Encounters: The Spanish Invention of the New World
HIST 122: Three Worlds Meet: Colonial Latin America
HIST 163: Modern South Asia: From British Imperialism to the Present
HIST 226: Expansion of Europe and Colonialism
HIST 241: Living with the Bomb
HIST 245: The American Revolution
HIST 282: Invention of Asia
HIST 287: Islamic South Asia
HIST 293: Dirty Wars and Democracy
HIST 325: Native American History, ca. 1450-1900
HIST 356: The British Empire in Asia and Africa
HIST 357: Non-violent Opposition to British Imperialism: M. Gandhi
HIST 358: British Empire in England
HIST 359: Gender and Identity in Colonial and Post-Colonial India
HIST 360: History of Vietnam
HIST 365: Peasants, State and Rebellion in Latin America
HIST 367: Narrating the Nation
HIST 380: Method in African History
HIST 386: The Apartheid State and the Liberation Movement in South Africa
AAST 203: African History from Earliest Times to the 19th Century
AAST 204: African History
AAST 208: Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
AAST 209: Society and Politics in the Modern Caribbean 1838-1970
AAST 306: The History of South Africa, 1870-1950
Environmental History
HIST 115: Colloquium: The American City, 1870-1970
HIST 145: Water in American History
HIST 146: Ecology of Native America
HIST 251: Social History of American Architecture
HIST 252: American Environmental History
HIST 258: Industrial Revolution in America
HIST 267: Environmental History in Global Perspective
HIST 329: The Suburbanization of the United States
HIST 330: American Landscapes
HIST 338: Colloquium in U.S. Urban Environmental History
HIST 341: Environmental Movements as Cultural History
Ethnic History of
the United States
HIST 111: Malcom X
HIST 122: Three Worlds Meet: Colonial Latin America
HIST 146: Ecology of Native America
HIST 260: Asian American History
HIST 264: Aliens and Citizens
HIST 266: Survey of Native American History
HIST 267: Gender, Ethnicity and Race in 19th Century America
HIST 270: Latina/Latino Survey
HIST 325: Native American History, ca. 1450-1900
HIST 326: Frontiers of Native America
HIST 327: Borderlands
HIST 328: American Mixed Blood
HIST 331: Colloquium in Asian American History
HIST 337: Asian American Labor
HIST 368: Borderlands: Chicana/o History and Memory
HIST 389: Race and Slavery in the English Atlantic
HIST 390: Slavery and Antislavery in American History
AAST 202: African American History since 1865
AAST 208: Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
AAST 215: African American Women’s History
AAST 220: Black Women in America
AAST 321: Black Feminist Thought: An Historical Perspective
AAST 328: Researching and Writing Black Women’s History
Intellectual/Cultural
History
HIST 111: Malcom X
HIST 116: Russian Social Thought
HIST 117: National Schizophrenia in Japan and Africa
HIST 125: History of Science I: From Antiquity to Newton
HIST 126: History of Science II: From Newton to the Present
HIST 201: The End of Antiquity through the 11th Century
HIST 202: Intellectual History of the Middle Ages, II: 12-Early 15th Century
HIST 203: Humanism and Reform
HIST 204: Biography and Autobiography in Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
HIST 205: European Intellectual History of the 19th Century
HIST 213: Women and Medicine: Patients and Practitioners from Antiquity to Present
HIST 233: Jewish Memoirs and Memory: Writing the Self in Jewish Society
HIST 234: Good & Evil: Decision-Making in the Holocaust
HIST 238: East European Jewry: From Polish Partition to 1939
HIST 246: Media and Society in American History
HIST 254: The Radical Tradition
HIST 256: American Intellectual History, 1600-1860
HIST 257: American Intellectual History, 1860 to the Present
HIST 262: 20th Century U.S. Cultural and Intellectual History
HIST 285: Intellectual History of the Meiji Period (1886-1912)
HIST 301: Machiavelli and the Renaissance
HIST 303: Critical Issues in the Renaissance and Reformation
HIST 304: Classical Tradition in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
HIST 306: German Jewry
HIST 308: Heresy and Orthodoxy in Medieval Europe
HIST 310: Marx and Nietzsche
HIST 312: Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge
HIST 316: Body as an Historical Subject
HIST 318: From Darwin to the Gnome Project
HIST 328: Roots of Anglo-American Feminist Thought
HIST 339: Movies, Popular Culture, and Moral Conflict
HIST 351: National Schizophrenia and the Modern Japanese Novel
HIST 367: Narrating the Nation
HIST 378: In People’s Own Words: Soviet Power and Society, 1917-1941
HIST 380: European Intellectual History
HIST 131: Jewish History from Biblical Antiquity to the Spanish Expulsion
HIST 132: Jewish History from Spanish Expulsion to the Present
HIST 233: Jewish Memoirs and Memory: Writing the Self in Jewish Society
HIST 234: Good & Evil: Decision-Making in the Holocaust
HIST 237: Women in Jewish Society: Antiquity to Modernity
HIST 238: East European Jewry: From Polish Partition to 1939
HIST 305: Jewish Women, Jewish Men, the Jewish Family and the Jewish Community
HIST 306: German Jewry
HIST 313: Seminar: Topics in Jewish History
Socio-Cultural
History
HIST 104: American History 1877-Present
HIST 112: Bourgeoisie and the Making of Modern Europe
HIST 113: French Revolution and the Origins of Modern Europe
HIST 115: Colloquium: The American City, 1870-1970
HIST 119: The 1960s
HIST 141: The Gilded Age
HIST 162: Cultures and Peoples of Ancient India
HIST 213: Women and Medicine
HIST 222: Peoples, Cultures and Politics of Central Europe since 1815
HIST 223: Ethnic Minorities in Central Europe
HIST 224: Twentieth Century Europe, I: 1900-1945
HIST 224: Twentieth Century Europe, II: 1945-present
HIST 241: Living with the Bomb
HIST 251: Social History of American Architecture
HIST 252: American Environmental History
HIST 253: Recent America: The United States Since World War II
HIST 258: The Industrial Revolution in America
HIST 261: Historical Perspectives on American Families
HIST 263: The American Civil War and Reconstruction
HIST 265: American Sexualities
HIST 268: Oberlin History as American History
HIST 269: Nation of Joiners: Voluntarism and Social Movements in America
HIST 284: Cultural History of Medieval Japan
HIST 299: Life after Socialism
HIST 312: Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge
HIST 316: The Body as Historical Subject
HIST 319: Crime and Punishment in Early-Modern Europe
HIST 329: The Suburbanization of the United States
HIST 338: Colloquium in U.S. Urban Environmental History
HIST 341: Environmental Movements as Cultural History
HIST 345: Social Movements in China, Late Imperial Times to the Present
HIST 378: In People’s Own Words: Soviet Power and Society, 1917-1941
HIST 393: Poverty in 18th and 19th Century England
HIST 442: Democracy and Human Rights in China
HIST 452: Japanese Domestic History
AAST 219: The Freedom Movement: Civil Rights and Black Power
Women, Gender, the
Family, and Sexuality
HIST 120: Turning Points in American Women’s History, 18th Century to 1880
HIST 121: Turning Points in American Women’s History, 1880-present
HIST 124: Women in Industrial America
HIST 212: Women in 20th Century Europe
HIST 213: Women and Medicine: Patients and Practitioners from Antiquity to Present
HIST 237: Women in Jewish Society: Antiquity to Modernity
HIST 261: Historical Perspectives on American Families
HIST 265: American Sexualities: Queer History in the United States
HIST 266: Women and Social Movements in the United States
HIST 267: Gender, Ethnicity, and Race in 19th Century America
HIST 305: Jewish Women, Jewish Men, the Jewish Family and the Jewish Community
HIST 315: Gender in Modern European History
HIST 316: The Body as Historical Subject
HIST 317: Readings in Modern European Women's History
HIST 328: Roots of Anglo-American Feminist Thought
HIST 344: Gender, Marriage, and Family in China
HIST 350: Women in Modern Japan
HIST 359: Gender and Identity in Colonial and Post Colonial India
HIST 366: Gender Issues in Latin American History
HIST 372: Readings in Russian Women's History
HIST 373: Modern Russian Women's History
AAST 215: African American Women’s History
AAST 220: Black Women in America
AAST 321: Black Feminist Thought: An Historical Perspective
AAST 328: Researching and Writing Black Women’s History
World Areas
A concentration in World History is recommended for prospective teachers at the secondary level, particularly those who already have a proficiency in U.S. history via the AP program. It is designed to give the student a broad competence in the history of many areas of the world.
HIST 101: Medieval European History
HIST 102: Modern European History
HIST 105: Chinese Civilization
HIST 106: Modern China
HIST 107: Russian History, I
HIST 108: Russian History, II
HIST 109: Latin American History: Conquest and Colony
HIST 110: Latin American History: Independence and Dependence
HIST 117: National Schizophrenia in Japan and Sub-Saharan Africa
HIST 118: World War I
HIST 159: Traditional Japan
HIST 160: Modern Japan
HIST 162: Cultures and Peoples of Ancient India
HIST 163: Modern South Asia: From British Imperialism to the Present
HIST 170: World War II: Shaping the 20th Century
HIST 205: History of Africa, Earliest Times to A. D. 1000
HIST 222: The Peoples, Cultures, and Politics of Central Europe since 1815
HIST 224: Twentieth Century Europe
HIST 225: Europe since 1945: The end and Beginning of the European Era?
HIST 238: East European Jewry: From Polish Partition to 1939
HIST 241: Living with the Bomb
HIST 267: Environmental History in Global Perspective
HIST 282: Invention of Asia
HIST 285: Intellectual History of the Meiji Period
HIST 293: Dirty Wars and Democracy
HIST 296: Russia Before Peter the Great
HIST 297: Russia and the Soviet Union Since 1941
HIST 306: German Jewry
HIST 344: State and Society in China
HIST 356: The British Empire in Asia and Africa
HIST 357: Non-violent Opposition to British Imperialism: M. Gandhi
HIST 358: British Empire in England
HIST 360: History of Vietnam
HIST 378: In People’s Own Words: Soviet Power and Society, 1917-1941
HIST 386: The Apartheid State and the Liberation Movement in South Africa
HIST 406: Research Seminar: World War I
HIST 442: Democracy and Human Rights in China
HIST 451: Japan in the Post-World War II International Arena: 1945-Present
HIST 452: Japanese Domestic History Since the End of the Second World War
AAST 120: The Caribbean and the Wider World
AAST 203: African History from Earliest Times to the 19th Century
AAST 204: African History
AAST 208: Slavery and Freedom in the Western Hemisphere
AAST 209: Society and Politics in the Modern Caribbean, 1838-1970
AAST 306: The History of South Africa, 1870-1950
CLAS 103: History of Greece
CLAS 104: History of Rome
EAST 162: Modern Korean History
Concentrations for
Individuals Interested in Pursuing Graduate Work in History
1. You should speak with your advisor early in your junior year about Honors in History. It is highly recommended that you declare your major at that point.
2. You should build a competence in a specific geographic area. If you are interested in cross-cultural studies, please discuss this with your advisor.
3. You should consult with your advisor about the language competencies you will need for research in your field in graduate school.
4. You should plan, with the assistance of your advisor, a vertical approach to your studies at Oberlin: beginning with introductory surveys and moving to 200-level topical courses and 300 and 400-level seminars within your area of concentration. After your first two years, your courses should largely be at the 200 300 and 400 level.
5. Your program should include at least two courses designated as “research-focus.” You are strongly advised to take a 400-level research seminar and/or Honors since the skills and experience you develop there will be vital to success in graduate school.
6. You are advised to select electives from other departments that complement their concentration in History.