The American Great Plains are a living ecosystem. The predecessors of today’s Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara moved onto the Plains at the beginning of the 11th century. The horse allowed the Lakota to move onto the Plains centuries later, and they were followed by Euromericans. Each group saw its economic, cultural, and technological developments shaped by its relationship to the Plains. This is true for prosperous and difficult times. Environmental factors—drought or rain, for example--have shaped how people have viewed the Plains. Whether it was the “Great American Desert” or the “Best Poor Man’s land,” the Plains have influenced our understanding of the region many of us call home. Using Deitrich Bonhoeffer's argument that "action be in accordance with reality" this course explores how the history of the Great Plains shapes contemporary understandings many of our students call home. By exploring how humans have interacted with this living ecosystem over the centuries, a better understanding of the promise and peril the Great Plains entail is possible. Students will leave with a new understanding of the community that they come from.
Between the end of the First World War in 1919 and the Second World War in 1945, the United States became a modern nation. Signs of this “modernism” were everywhere: in the rise of cities and urban cultures; in the mass media and its obsession with celebrity; in new norms about consumption and pleasure; in the politics of government activism and the welfare state; in new ideas about gender roles and sexual freedoms; and in new conceptions of ethnic & racial pluralism. In this course, we will examine the tensions, fears, and dreams surrounding the American transition to modernism in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.
This course will offer greater understanding of the history of medicine and how the hospital has become a central institution to life. Beginning with a historic and scientific discussion of child-birth, the course will then focus on cancer and diabetes as examples of diseases to which the human body is susceptible and conclude with a discussion of death as part of life. Central to each of these themes will be the ethical questions and complexities that cannot be separated from the practical aspects of caring for life. Through case studies, lab work, group projects, and invited guests, the class will offer students an understanding of the increasingly complex nature of the science of care.
Natural Science Core course.
Occasional Interims
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection is one of the greatest (maybe the greatest) intellectual and cultural turning points in the modern era. Since the Origin of Species was published in 1859, the way we have thought about science, philosophy, religion, and society has been profoundly altered. In this course, we will study Darwin, his theory, and its impact from both a scientific and humanistic perspective. This is, we are going to integrate a study of evolution (science) with a study of society (humanities) to better understand the reciprocal ways that Darwin’s theory shaped—and was shaped by—society, from the middle of the nineteenth century to today. This course, then, is broadly organized into two main units. The first part investigates in detail Darwin’s theory, the way he came to it, the social and scientific context in which it emerged, and its reception among scientists. The second part will explore the broad ramifications of his theory, including debates about science and religion, eugenics, sociobiology, and other tricky contemporary issues.
Every other Spring, even years
Covering the years 1861 to the present, this course examines the Civil War and its legacy. The course has three distinct elements to it, the Civil War itself, the emergence to two distinct historiographies about the Civil War’s meaning, and finally, the manipulation of Civil War iconography in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Each of these areas continues to shape the American social, economic, and political discourse. In accomplishing our objective this course is going to take some detours and side roads. As historians know, there is no such thing as a straight line between events. Among the detours and side roads taken will be discussions on the Civil War in the movies, the creation of Civil War re-enacting, and musical fights between some well-respected musicians.
None
Occasionally
The central political, legal, and moral issue for the United States after 1945 was equality: of class and race; gender and sexuality; and many related issues. This post-war "search for equality" poses important and challenging questions: What is equality? How is equality determined? Is legal equality sufficient, or are laws fairly toothless compared to opportunities for jobs, housing, health care, social respect, cultural authority, and individual autonomy? Do we seek an "equality of opportunity" or an "equality of outcomes"? This course will explore these and related questions as they have shaped American history over the last 70 years.
Occasional Spring terms
This course examines the interactions of society, nature, and power in North American and United States history with emphasis over the period from pre-conquest to the present. The primary objective is to understand the ways in which changes in the natural world and changes in human societies have been integral, interdependent parts of history. We will focus on three major themes: First, we will study how nature, and people’s use of nature, shaped social, political, and economic systems. Second, we will consider some of the ways that people thought about nature and their place in it. And third, we will examine how people’s thoughts and actions altered nature, and the consequences of those alterations for both nature and society.
Every other Spring, even years
This course will begin with an in-depth analysis of the French Revolution and conclude by focusing on the First World War. Between these bookends, the course will touch upon those events that contribute to our understanding of the history of Europe during the modern era including discussion of the anti-slavery activism, colonization, political ideologies, the changes brought by the first and second industrial revolutions, the rise of unionism and the suffrage movement. Through lectures, discussion, required reading, film, examination, the use of technology and in-depth assignments, this course will seek to provide an understanding of how these many events transformed modern European society.
In this course, students learn the major events, people, and cultural trends that have shaped the Mexican people of today. The course starts with the major pre-Columbian indigenous cultures and ends with the current drug war. As the class traces out the history of Mexico, students reflect on themes such as the cultural influence of Catholicism, the complicated role of indigenous peoples in the nation state, the epic struggle to govern a vast country, and the love/hate relationship of Mexicans with the United States.
Occasionally
This course examines the political, social, and cultural history of modern Ireland. It begins with the 1798 Revolution which must be contextualized with late eighteenth century revolutions, including the American and French. We will move through the nineteenth century which is characterized by the worst famine in recorded history and ultimately culminate with Europe's most deadly guerilla war. Throughout we will pay special attention to the role of gender in Irish history.
Occasional Spring terms
Britain’s time in India began with the establishment of the East India Company in 1600. This joint stock company would conduct trade in the East Indies, but would eventually come to be a dominate force in global commerce. Effectively, the East India Company ruled India from 1757-1858, when, after a brutal revolt by Indians, the British government assumed direct control of the subcontinent. In 1885, the Indian National Congress (INC) formed to fight for India’s Independence. The INC would eventually be dominated by Mohandas K. Gandhi who, through peaceful civil disobedience, would help to achieve the nation’s independence.
Advanced study of history provides critical skills that can lead to many careers. In this course, students hone their ability to think, research, and write like a historian by completing a major research project. Students also reflect on how to translate their academic skills into professional careers such as law, libraries, museums, parks, and education.
Every Fall
This course presents an historical analysis of Lakota/Dakota history from pre-European contact to the present. Examining the political, economic, familial, gender, and educational transformations of the Lakota/Dakota over the course of three centuries, students learn to identify both the continuities and discontinuities with Siouan culture. Such an examination introduces students to a group of people whose culture, and some would say priorities, sit outside that of the majority culture.
Every other Spring, odd years
Public history is the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world. Public historians collect, preserve, and interpret the past as museum curators, historic site interpreters, archivists, media producers, and historic preservationists. They are employed at consulting firms; federal, state, and local governments; community and non-profit organizations; museums and heritage organizations; cultural institutions; and corporations. This course will introduce you to public history’s key principles: communicating historical knowledge for non-academic audiences; working within and for a variety of bureaucracies and regulations; sharing authority with community partners; understanding the politics of memory; undertaking artifactual analysis.
I taught it as HIST 297: Special Topics once in Fall 2022.
This course gives students the essential information to understand the people and forces that have shaped today's Latin America. We begin in the era of European exploration in the 1450s and end with the violence of the drug trade at the turn of the twenty-first century. Along the way, we show how Latin Americans grappled with conquest, Catholicism, and slavery. We will analyze the dynamics of revolutions and radical politics of the twentieth century in places like Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, and Mexico.
Every other Spring, odd years
An examination of the development of American journalism from colonial times to the present. Using primary source readings and films, in addition to textbooks, the course will examine changes within the journalism industry itself, the response of that industry to changes in American society and culture, and the effects journalism has had on American life.
Every other Spring, even years
Special Topics in History.