History Course Descriptions
HIST 1000 Eyewitness to History (2 units)
Explores the past by using such primary sources as diaries, personal letters, autobiographies, memoirs, and travel accounts written by men and women of different countries, cultures, religions and social classes in order to understand different points of view of historical events. Fall, Spring Semesters.
HIST 1001 Introduction to History (3 units)
Examines the nature of the study of history as a social science and deals with the nature of historical argument, interpretation, evidence and sources.
HIST 1010 Ancient and Medieval Civilizations (2 units)
Surveys major developments in history beginning with ancient Greece and continuing through the Renaissance. Emphasis on key events, ideas, and movements as well as on persons who were the agents of social, religious, economic, political, and cultural change. Paired with Art History 1010. Spring Semesters.
HIST 1011 Modern World History (2 units)
Provides a broad introduction to different cultures and civilizations of the modern world and their interaction from c. 1500 through the 20th century. Emphasis on key events, ideas, and movements as well as on persons who were the agents of social, religious, economic, political, and cultural change. Paired with Art History 1011. Fall Semesters.
HIST 1015/3015 African History and Culture (3 units)
Surveys the origins and development of African cultures with a focus on selected civilizations and societies. Key themes include: unity and diversity in African history, the impact of Islam, trading cities, and the Diaspora to the Caribbean. Offered regularly.
HIST 1018/3018 Asia Survey (3 units)
Surveys the three major civilizations of Asia: China, Japan, and India. Particular emphasis is placed on Western impact, and how each society in its search for national identity and autonomy created a distinctive style of modernity blending traditional with Western values. Offered regularly.
HIST 1019/3019 Latin American Survey (3 units)
Covers the colonial history of Central and South America beginning with precolonization and up to the present. Examines independence movements, the formation of the 19th Century nations, and contemporary economic, political, and cultural crises of Latin America. Offered regularly.
HIST 1117 United States Survey (4 units)
Covers both colonial and modern periods. Topics include indigenous peoples, European colonization, early political and constitutional history, Civil War, westward movement, industrialization, world wars, and the emergence of US as world power. Fall Semesters.
HIST 3000 History of the Western World (3 units)
Broad introduction to key periods, ideas, events, and people of Western civilization beginning with ancient Greece and concentrating on the modern world (post 1500). Students will read, discuss, and interpret a variety of sources in order to learn about the life and values of different eras. (Pathways) Fall Semesters.
HIST 3001 History of the Non-Western World (3 units)
Broad introduction to key periods, ideas, events, and people of world civilization. Students will read, discuss, and interpret a variety of sources in order to learn about the life and values of different eras. (Pathways) Spring Semesters.
HIST 3008 World History and Geography (3 units)
Covers the main phases of world history in major geographical regions outside North America. Reviews historical and physical geography and ancient, medieval, and modern history in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. Primarily geared for future elementary school teachers. Spring Semesters.
HIST 3010 Middle East: Star, Cross, and Crescent (3 units)
Explores the encounters of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Middle East (especially Palestine). Offered regularly.
HIST 3020 20th Century: A Global Perspective (3 units)
Covers the major steps in world history from the European nation states and their empires through their global conflicts during WWI, WWII, and the Cold War, to decolonization and the rise of a multi-polar global world. Themes include cultural exchange, consumer economies, nationalism and internationalism, the environment, the individual and society, and the impact of technology. Offered regularly.
HIST 3100s Biographical Approach to History (1-3 units)
Looks at the lives, ideas, and influence of individuals through the study of biographies and/or autobiographies. Courses have included: Flora Tristan, Hernando Cortez, Angela Davis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abigail Adams, Cochise and Crazy Horse, Ida B. Wells, and La Malinche. Fall, Spring Semesters.
HIST 3202 Woman and the American Experience (3 units)
Looks at women's experience (in their own words) from the colonial period through the 20th century in the United States. Examines female experience in family life, economic life, and public life and shows how women contributed to the shaping of American life and culture. Offered regularly.
HIST 3203 In the Name of Liberty: Women, Power, and Politics, 1750-1850 (3 units)
Explores the public debate about the nature and role of women in Europe and the United States over a tumultuous century (The American, French, 1848, and Industrial Revolutions). Offered intermittently.
HIST 3204 In the Name of Liberty: Women, Power, and Politics, 1850-1950 (3 units)
Looks at women’s roles and the debate over their role in society in both the United States and Europe. Topics include: education, the vote, war/peace, and economic opportunity. Offered intermittently.
HIST 3205 Women in Early Modern Europe (3 units)
Looks at the experiences and the lives of women in early modern Europe with special emphasis on France and Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Topics include women in religious and political movements (e.g., witchcraft and English Civil War), women and work (rural and urban) and women and culture. Offered intermittently.
HIST 3215 Women in Islam: Women Warriors and Royal Courtesans (3 units)
Explores the diverse roles of women in Islamic history from desert warriors to courtesans, from modern Islamic feminists to religious conservatives. Begins and concludes with the emergence of contemporary feminist discourse and discussion of issues affecting women today in Islamic nations. Offered intermittently.
HIST 3216 Women in Middle Eastern Film (3 units)
Film is an ideal lens to examine gender portrayals in many cultures. Looking at popular as well as independent films from a number of countries in the Middle East, we will closely examine representations of women and how they have changed over the course of the twentieth century. We will also investigate the social and historical background of each of the countries in which these films were produced. Summer Sessions.
HIST 3219 Women in the Ancient World (3 units)
Looks at such women as Cleopatra, Sappho, Aspasia, Livia, and Galla Placidia. Examines the lives and experiences of actual women, both illustrious and ordinary and how gender attitudes and politics shaped their lives. Also studies the images of women as they are portrayed in mythology, religion, literature, and the visual arts. Offered as needed.
HIST 3220 Women and Christianity (3 units)
Explores women’s experience in Christianity over the past 2000 years. Many women throughout the history of Christianity have preached (broadly defined as delivering a religious message). This course looks at both individuals and movements that fostered women’s preaching and at how different eras described women’s religious role. Offered as needed.
HIST 3230/3231 Women’s Causes, Women’s Voices (3 units)
Looks at Western women's experience during the 19th century, examining family life, economic life, and public life. This provides a framework for studying the changing role of women and understanding how women contributed to reforming their society. Women advocated reforms in prisons, changes in marriage laws, and improvements in working conditions. Offered as needed.
HIST 3306 Ancient Sumer & Egypt: Messages From The Past (3 units)
Explores the origins, history, and legacy of ancient Sumer and Egypt upon the Western experience. Special attention will be placed on geography and river systems (Tigris-Euphrates, Nile) of the Fertile Crescent. Field trips will be an integral part of the class. Offered as needed.
HIST 3310 Romans and Christians (3 units)
Looks at the Roman Empire from its beginnings under Augustus through its transformation under Constantine to its continuation as the Byzantine Empire. Emphasis on the interaction of Romans, Christians, and Byzantines in the Mediterranean world. Offered as needed.regularly.
HIST 3320 Medieval Europe (3 units)
Explores society and culture in the Middle Ages with special reference to their influence on modern culture and society. Topics include feudal society and chivalry, the rise of towns, and the development of universities. Fall 2007.
HIST 3333 Renaissance Europe 1350–1550 (3 units)
This course examines the social and cultural context of the Renaissance as it developed in 15th century Florence and spread to other Italian city-states and eventually to the rest of Europe. Emphasis is on the interrelationship of statecraft, philosophy, the arts, and science that helped shape Western culture. Offered as needed.
HIST 3349 Versailles to Waterloo: Europe, 1660-1815 (3 units)
This course starts with Louis XIV and moves to England's 1689 Glorious Revolution and the struggle between Britain and France for world domination in the 18th century and the rise of Enlightenment ideals that opposed Europe's traditional political and social structures leading to the French Revolution and Napoleon. Offered regularly.
HIST 3350 Age of Enlightenment (3 units)
Studies the people and ideas of the 17th and 18th centuries. The 17th century saw the development of constitutional and absolute monarchy. The 18th was an era in which European philosophers (e.g., Montesquieu, Voltaire) sought to understand and improve their societies by using reason, common sense, and humanitarianism. Offered as needed.
HIST 3351 Historical Roots of US Law (3 units)
Examines ancient and Roman legal ideas and political and legal developments in British history from which the United States shaped its Constitution and law. Students are introduced to concepts of property rights, marriage rights, torts, contracts, and Constitutional rights. Offered regularly.
HIST 3410 19th Century Europe (3 units)
This course examines major developments in European history such as the industrial revolution, Marxism, nationalism, romanticism, liberalism, and women's rights, along with the revolutions of the 1830s and of 1848, concluding with the unification of Germany and Italy and imperialism towards the end of the century. Offered regularly.
HIST 3420 20th Century Europe (3 units)
Looks at the political, social, and economic issues in Europe from the turn of the century through World War II. Topics include la belle époque, total war, use of propaganda, decline of European power, rise of Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler. Offered regularly.
HIST 3421 Postwar Europe (3 units)
Looks at the history of Europe since 1945. Topics include Cold War, development of the welfare state, search for unity, 1968 student unrest, decolonization, and the dismantling of communism. Offered regularly.
HIST 3450 Russia/USSR/CIS (3 units)
Surveys political, social and economic history of imperial, soviet, and post-Gorbachev Russia. The course begins with Russia under Tsar Nicholas I in 1825, focuses on the year 1917 in which the Bolsheviks successfully seized power, and concludes with the Gorbachev revolution and the disintegration of the USSR. Offered regularly.
HIST 3470 Imperialism and Colonization (3 units)
Examines how European notions of technology, science, culture, and race accompanied and facilitated colonial expansion during the modern era with emphasis on the 19th century. Offered regularly.
HIST 3611 Women in Latin America (3 units)
Looks at the historical and contemporary roles of women as well as the contributions they made in the course of Latin American history. Explores both significant and not so significant historical women who contributed to the disciplines of art, literature, philosophy, politics and religion of the colonial and modern epochs of Latin American history. Offered regularly.
HIST 3622 Mexico: Aztecs to the Present (3 units)
Surveys the history of Mexico from the earliest human inhabitation to the present. Examines the era of conquest, exploration, and settlement, the Mexican Revolution of the 20th century, Mexico US relations and the political, cultural, social factors. Offered regularly.
HIST 3630 Cuba and the Caribbean (3 units)
Considers the Caribbean Islands' history, emphasizing 20th century Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. Examines national movements for independence as well as European and African contributions to Caribbean social, political, and intellectual traditions. Contemporary topics include the impact of the Cuban Revolution and Marxism on political and intellectual life in the Caribbean. Offered regularly.
HIST 3710 US Multicultural History (3 units)
Depending upon the instructor, this course, in addition to history, will draw on sociology or political, cultural, or religious methodologies to examine diversity in American culture and the history of interaction between European immigrants, Native Americans, Afro-Americans, Latin Americans, and Asian Americans and the differing interpretations of those interactions. Offered regularly.
HIST 3711 US Environmental History: From Boston Common to Golden Gate Park (3 units)
Investigates origins of the American idea of “common space;” the struggle between Native Americans and Europeans over land; origins and development of the National Park system; conflicts between industry and environmentalists; and women’s groups in urban beautification. The environmental movement of the 1960s and the ecological consciousness of the 1970s are analyzed. Offered regularly.
HIST 3712 Religion in American History (3 units)
Looks at U.S. religion from pre-colonial times to the present. Focuses on the roles of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in American pluralistic society. Areas to explore are how religion is affected by politics, law, gender, economy, migration, and region. Offered regularly.
HIST 3730 Postwar United States (3 units)
Examines the relationships of students, their parents, and their grandparents to recent US events and values. Studies the Civil Rights movement, the McCarthy era, the Vietnam War, and the 1960s movements for students’, women’s, and gay and lesbian rights. Offered regularly.
HIST 3789 California: The Golden Dream (3 units)
Introduces broad themes and important issues in California history, from Pre-Columbian period to the present. Topics include: Native Americans, Spanish and Mexican Era, Gold Rush, missions, patterns of immigration, suburbanization and urbanization, Reform Movements, Depression, World War II, Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Primarily geared for future elementary school teachers. Spring semesters.
HIST 3790 California (3 units)
Looks at the indigenous, colonial, and modern history of the thirty-first state, with special attention to the history of San Francisco and Los Angeles as cultural, economic, and political centers of the state.
HIST 3791 Southwest Borderlands (3 units)
Examines the continuous Spanish and Mexican phases of northward expansion and the settlement of New Mexico, California, Texas and Primeria Alta. Surveys cultural, religious, economic, agricultural and political change initiated by European contact and colonization. Also explores contributions made by significant indigenous and European peoples of the regions under consideration. Offered intermittently.
HIST 3811 Revolutionary China: From Sun Yat-sen to Mao Zedong (3 units)
Looks at the revolutionary changes that have shaped China during the 20th century: 1911 revolution, May 4th movement, rise of Mao and Chinese Communist Party, the Sino-Japanese War (1931-45), 1949 Maoist triumph, the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, and the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping. Offered as needed.
HIST 3840 India and Southeast Asia (3 units)
Focuses on the distinct civilization India had before the British conquest and on its search for autonomy and national identity in the Gandhian era and aftermath. Highlights colonialism, nationalism, and independence in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and the Philippines. Offered regularly.
HIST 3910 Professional Readiness Seminar (1 unit)
Majors explore career options and internships. The aim is to help students set and move towards their career goals and to prepare them for the research and writing of their senior thesis. Offered every other Fall.
HIST 3911 The Historian’s Craft (1 unit)
Examines history as a discipline that has been practiced for millennia. The ideas of Herodotus along with Greek, Roman, Renaissance and Enlightenment historians are reviewed as well as historians of the early 19th century. The course focuses on the debates about history among modern British, French, and American historians. Offered every other Fall.
HIST 3930 Special Interest Course: History and Film (1-3 units)
Examines a theme, an era, or a geographic area by use of a series of films. 1-3 hours. Offered as needed.
HIST 4910/4911 Senior Project (1-3 units)
Students select and develop a research project and write a major research paper. Students also study some major historians and historiographical questions. Corequisites: 4920/4921. Fall, Spring Semesters.
HIST 4920/4921 Senior Project Workshop (0.5 unit each)
Course helps students through the process of writing a senior project paper. Corequisites: 4910/4911. Fall, Spring Semesters.
HIST 4996 Internship (1-3 units)
For full description see General Description–All Internships at end of Art Course Descriptions.
HIST 4998 Directed Research (1-3 units)
HIST 2999/4999 Independent Study (1-3 units)
The following courses have been offered in the past and may be offered in response to student needs and interests:
HIST 3331 The Age of Discovery: Renaissance Trade and Exploration
HIST 3340 Reformation Society and Culture
HIST 3440 Great Britain: From Empire to Welfare State
HIST 3810 China: Silk Road to Fax Machine
HIST 3820 Japan
