History
College of Arts & Sciences
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What Is Europe?
CAS HI 191
Explores key moments in history when cultural contact prompted Europeans to reconsider how they defined themselves culturally and geographically. Lectures and discussions are combined with trips to local museums/archives to analyze the material remains of this process of self-definition. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration. 4 cr.
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Game of Thrones: Power and Politics in Pre-Modern Europe
CAS HI 207
This course employs medieval and early modern authors, as well as contemporary scholars, as vehicles for understanding the dynamics of power, gender, violence, and politics in George Martin's novel, Game of Thrones. Effective Summer 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation. 4 cr.
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The Reformation: Religious Conflict in Early Modern Europe
CAS HI 209
Examines religious change in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, particularly the origins and causes of the Protestant Reformation, the parallel Catholic Reformation, and the consequent military conflicts in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Also offered as CAS RN 310. Effective Spring 2024 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Social Inquiry I. 4 cr.
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The European Enlightenment
CAS HI 215
How Europe became modern. The rise of science, critique of religion, and struggle for rights. The public sphere emerges: newspapers, Freemasons, coffee, salons, smut. The invention of a cosmopolitan republic of letters: Voltaire, Diderot, Kant, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings. 4 cr.
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Experiencing Total War
CAS HI 279
Analyzes how soldiers and civilians experienced WWI and WWII, which brutally penetrated their everyday lives and affected their bodies, vocabularies, and world-views. Major sources include combat accounts, diaries, letters, songs, material culture, food, and more. This course cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course entitled "Intimate Histories of War" that was previously numbered CAS HI 279. Effective Summer 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Creativity/Innovation. 4 cr.
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The Twentieth-Century American Presidency
CAS HI 283
Examines the shifting role of the presidency in American politics, especially over the course of the twentieth century. Considers not only the accomplishments of individual presidents and institutional changes in the executive branch but also the evolving place of the presidency in American popular culture. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Social Inquiry II. 4 cr.