Catalog 2021-2022

HIS - History

HIS 102 World History to 1500

This course examines topics from the Paleolithic Era to the dawn of the Age of Globalization, including: early foraging, pastoral, and agricultural societies; the emergence of urban societies in Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas; trade and cultural transmission; concepts of gender; technological transfers; and the emergence of transcontinental and global interconnections through the Saharan trade, the Pax Mongolica, and Malay, Chinese and Iberian ocean explorations. Equally importantly, the course introduces students to the methods of the historian, involving critical thinking, the analysis of source texts, and the use of evidence to address historical questions.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 103 World History from 1500 to the Present

This course examines topics from the 16th through 20th centuries, including: state-building, commerce, and society in Eurasia and Africa; the creation and integration of the Atlantic World; new ideologies; industrial revolutions; changing conceptions of gender, class, race, ethnicity, and nation; political revolutions, genocides, and wars; imperialism and decolonization; and the global impact of the Cold War. Equally importantly, the course engages students in the methods of the historian, involving critical thinking, the analysis of source texts, and the use of evidence to address historical questions.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 201 The Historian's Craft

This course introduces undergraduate majors and minors to the exercise of thinking, researching and writing historically, focusing on the technical, methodological and theoretical skills that guide professional practice in diverse settings: museums, archives, secondary education and universities. Students will learn how to distinguish between evidence and interpretation and how to assess different kinds of evidence. Class meetings will sample representative fields, approaches and primary sources to provide the foundations for independent research in the capstone course.
Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

Prerequisites

History Major or Minor

HIS 202 The United States to 1877

Surveys the cultural, political, social and economic developments in this country from the discovery of America through Reconstruction.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 203 The United States Since 1877

Surveys the urbanization and industrialization of the nation and its rise to world power.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 204 Twentieth Century Europe

European History in the 1900s.
Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS)

HIS 205 Native American Histories: Colonialism and Resistance

A survey of the history of Native Americans in the Caribbean, North America, and South America from the pre-Columbian period through the twentieth century. By focusing comparatively on the themes of colonialism and resistance over five centuries, students will study the range of tactics that Native Americans have adopted to create and preserve their communities, cultures, and sovereignty since 1492.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 206 Slavery and Racism in the Early Americas: A Comparative Perspective

A study of the development of slavery and relations between European Americans and African Americans in British, Spanish, and Portuguese America from the beginning of European settlement in the New World until the abolition of slavery in the mid-19th century.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 212 Witchcraft and Magic in the Early Modern Atlantic World

A study of the development of witchcraft accusations, beginning with continental Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and continuing with the later scares in England and New England. Particular emphasis will be given to international comparisons and to the changing social, cultural and economic positions of women.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS)

HIS 215 Women in American History

A survey of women's accomplishments, lifestyles, changing image and struggle for equality and recognition from colonial times to the present.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS) (W)

HIS 217 China's Centuries of War and Revolution: since 1800

Napoleon Bonaparte said: “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” This course will explore how prophetic his words were by exploring China’s often torturous search for modernity. It surveys the interplay between China and the outside world from before the Opium War through the collapse of two millennia of dynastic rule, the rise of the Communist movement, decades of Japanese aggression, the Maoist years of almost constant revolution, and its gradual transition to a socialist-style entrepreneurial state, and its emergence on the world stage as a major power.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

AWR 201

HIS 218 History of the Islamic World

A study of Muslims in world history from the 7th to the 21st centuries. This course explores the history of Islamic societies and of Muslims in local and global contexts, including the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia, and the West. The course addresses selected topics such as politics and statecraft; religious and cultural traditions and varieties; gender roles; and the challenges and choices that Muslim societies and individuals have faced in classical, early modern, and modern times. Materials include film, fiction and political writing as well as primary historical documents and secondary history textbooks.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 219 Mistaken Identities: Myths and Realities of the New World Encounter

The term “discovery” is an ambivalent and charged word when discussing the arrival, military occupation and colonization of the Americas during the late 15th and 16th centuries. Who discovered whom in 1492 and what were the economic, demographic, ecological, political and cultural consequences brought about by the New World/Old World encounter? How were Europe and the Americas transformed by this seminal event, and how were the foundations of modern Latin America (and modern Western civilization) laid during this fascinating period? These questions and many others will be studied and analyzed through exposure to the primary texts and artifacts of that era, in an attempt to understand the Spanish and Indigenous mindset on the eve of conquest and their mutual transformation throughout the 16th century, when a New World — a world still in formation — was born.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (W)

HIS 220 Introduction to African History

An exploration of the history of Africa from the rise of the great Sahel empires to the struggle for independence from European imperialism, with an emphasis on the period from 1500 to 1975. Major topics include the role of Islam, colonialism, nationalist movements, Pan-Africanism, decolonization and the challenges facing newly independent states and societies.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 221 Japan's Modern Centuries

This course surveys Japanese history from the coming of the Western gunboats in the 1850s through the Meiji restoration, the early development of international trade and democracy, the rise of militarism in the 1930s, World War II, the American Occupation, the economic "miracle" and the troubled 2000s.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS) (W)

HIS 225 The Age of the Civil War

A study of mid-19th century America, with particular emphases on the political developments, changing regional economies, patterns of interracial, interethnic and interclass relationships, as well as the course of military events during the Civil War.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 227 China and the World to 1800

China is frequently represented as a monolithic civilization, ethnocentric, and static in pre-modern times. This course challenges those stereotypes. It is a descriptive and analytical survey of China’s dynamic history from its historical origins in the 2nd millennium to 1800. It focuses on the evolution of the state, emphasizing cultural and political interactions with both neighboring and more distant societies. It further examines how China’s civilization influenced the emergence of the East Asian family of nations. This is a writing intensive course in which writing is a mode of learning and written assignments are a substantial part of the course grade.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

AWR 201

HIS 228 Traditional Japan

This course examines the history of Japan from its pre-historical origins until the rise of modern Japan in the mid-nineteenth century. Special focus is given to indigenous Japanese beliefs, the influence of Chinese political and social values on Japanese life, Buddhist religious culture, the military ethos of the samurai, and the material cultural and artistic achievements of the Tokugawa period. In addition to a conventional textbook, literature and film are used to immerse students in the worldviews of traditional Japan. Group work and collaborative learning is emphasized. 

Credit Hours: 4
(NW) (SS)

HIS 229 History of Sexuality

This course surveys major trends and turning points in the history of sexuality since 1500. We will examine the governing regimes (legal, religious, medical, etc.) that defined sexual behavior and reproductive practices in mainland North America, paying particular attention to the changing relationship between sexual regulation and politics over time. The course will also explore the ways that official pronouncements differed from the actual practices and perceptions of ordinary woman and men. We will ask how factors such as race and ethnicity, class, and gender shaped sexual understandings and behavior.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 236 Latin America

A study of Latin American history from the colonial period to the present.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 256 The Era of World War I

The course traces the diplomatic and economic events leading to the outbreak of war in 1914 and follows the progress of the war, revolution and peace.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS)

HIS 257 The Era of World War II

The course traces the political, economic, social and diplomatic events leading to the outbreak of hostilities and the military and diplomatic aspects of the war itself. It concludes with the Nuremburg Trials.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS)

HIS 260 The Holocaust

This course covers the persecution and systematic extermination of Jews, Romany, Slavs and other targeted populations of Europe by the Nazis and their collaborators. The course will explore antisemitism in modern European history, the ways in which antisemitism was legalized in Nazi Germany and the consequences of those policies in Nazi-occupied Europe. 

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

one HIS course

HIS 265 The Origins of Western Thought in Ancient Greece

Western civilization traces its intellectual roots to the civilization of Ancient Greece and the extraordinary contribution that it produced in philosophy, drama, and the arts. This course will explore some of the important philosophical texts from Ancient Greece, including the dialogues of Plato (the Last Days of Socrates and The Republic); the dramatic literature found in the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; and the arts, with focus on the human body and architecture, in particular, the Parthenon. The class will be structured as a seminar, asking the question: How does Ancient Greece continue to shape our thinking in the 21st century?
Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 266 Coming to America: The Immigrant Experience in History, Fiction and Film

The stories of immigration to America by peoples from Asia, Europe and Latin America — whether in history, fiction or film — examine the motives for leaving homeland and family, the experience of newcomers and the process of assimilation into an evolving American culture over time. While the stores have similarities in outline, there are significant cultural differences for each people. This course will examine the immigrant experience of the Chinese, the Jews and the Mexicans, using a major work of history, a novel and three films for each group.
Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 269 Paris in the 1920s: The Cultural Impact of the Great War

In the 1920s, Paris became the center of an avant garde artistic and cultural community that demonstrated the profound impact of World War I, and has, in turn, shaped art and culture to the present. This course uses period poetry and fiction, memoir, biography and film to evoke the lives and contributions of select iconic figures: poets Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot; writers Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; painters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali; composer Igor Stravinsky, dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and producer Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russes; fashion entrepreneur Coco Chanel; and jazz sensation Josephine Baker.
Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS)

HIS 270 Hitler and Stalin

This course will weave together the biographies of the two most important revolutionaries of the twentieth century with an examination of the societies that they sought to create. We will try to understand what motivated Hitler and Stalin, how they seized and held power, and how they tried to impose their wills on Europe and the world.
Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 275 The Civil Rights Movement

This course focuses on the struggle for racial equality and freedom in the American South after World War II. It also helps students comprehend this struggle within the broader context of post-Civil War American race relations.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 285 America in the 1960s

This course covers the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis, the war in Vietnam, the concern about nuclear warfare, the civil rights movement, and the student movement of the late 1960s.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 290 Special Studies

Special courses are offered each year.

Credit Hours: 2-4
(SS)

HIS 292 Drama and Society in Elizabethan London

Drama flourished in Elizabethan London during a sustained period of economic prosperity, including the rise of the professional entertainment industry. While the Elizabethan theatre evolved from medieval public religious traditions, the plays of William Shakespeare demonstrate the pivotal role of the playhouse in the late 16th and early 17th centuries as cultural history, and a window to the world outside London. The course will provide perspective on the historical and cultural context of Elizabethan drama and will explore six of Shakespeare's plays -- both as texts and films -- from his emergence in 1589 through the end of his career in London in 1611.
Credit Hours: 4
(A) (IG) (SS)

HIS 300 The Modern Middle East and North Africa

This course examines the Modern Middle East and North Africa from the 1500's to the era of modern revolutions and recent conflicts.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

Prerequisites

One prior HIS course

HIS 302 Revolutionary Europe 1712 to 1919

Revolutionary thought and action in Europe from the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the death of Rosa Luxemburg. This course examines revolutionary ideas, groups, and individuals, from the French Revolution to the Russian Revolution and post-WWI Europe. Students will develop their abilities to write essays analyzing the ideas of the women and men who shaped Europe in the revolutionary era.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

Any two HIS courses, including one of the following: HIS 102, HIS 103, HIS 202, HIS 203.

HIS 304 History of Florida

The objectives of this course are to develop historical analysis beyond the level of the lower-division survey and to introduce students to experiential learning within the arena of local history practice. Students should master the historiography that structures the study of Florida’s past, gaining an awareness of how, over time, political history, social history, spatial theory and transnational studies have altered state history. Student research topics will be drawn from local history sources and celebrations, encouraging community engagement as well as independent analysis.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 305 The Ancient World

HIS 305 surveys the political, social, economic, and cultural development of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world from the prehistory to the fall of the Roman Empires. Students will learn about the rise and fall of ancient and classical civilizations, their political and social institutions, their economic and trade practices, their religions and cultural traditions. Readings will be extensive and include text, scholarly articles, primary sources, art and archeology. This is a writing intensive class and students will be expected to produce papers in style of historical writing.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

One History course

HIS 306 The Middle Ages

A study of European society from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 308 Renaissance and Reformation

A study of the origins, progress, interrelationships and impact of new forms and ideas that characterized the Renaissance and the Reformation in Europe from 1400 to 1650.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 317 China's Revolutionary Twentieth Century

This course examines China’s revolutionary century with a particular emphasis on four definitive events: the Boxer Rebellion (1900), the Communist revolution (1934-1949), the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and the 1989 Democracy Movement. It explores both the cause and course of these revolutions, how they become embedded in cultural memory and the ways in which they shaped state-society power relationships.

Credit Hours: 4
(NW) (SS) (W)

HIS 320 Museums, Historic Sites and Archives

This course offers an introduction to the methods and approaches that structure the presentation of history in public venues, including museums, historic venues and archives. Tools that facilitate collaboration between historians and communities to preserve local memory will also be examined. Finally, we will explore critically the political, financial and professional pressures that have shaped some of the most prominent displays of the nation’s past as well as the pressures that structure representations of history in Tampa. Students will attempt to reconcile these concerns by crafting exhibition proposals that would allow a local museum to engage multiple history publics.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 321 Revolutionary America

A study of the history of the United States before, during and after the Revolutionary War. Focuses on the role of ideology and the patterns of change in religion, racial relations and the status of women.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS) (W)

HIS 322 Spanish Caribbean and its Diasporas

This course surveys the Spanish-speaking Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic) from the Taino world of the pre-Columbian period to today. Topics include the creation of colonial plantation societies and the rise of sugar and coffee economies; movements for abolition, reform, and national self-determination; the persistence of Caribbean borderlands in the U.S. gulf south; the Caribbean’s neo-imperial economies, social structures, and political institutions; the impact of the Cuban Revolution; and the Caribbean’s tourist trade and diasporas in the global economy.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

HIS 323 Age of Revolutions in the Americas

A comparative study of the revolutions and independence movements that swept the Americas between 1776 and 1826, focusing on the American, Haitian, and Latin American Revolutions. Topics include the political, economic, social, and cultural changes experienced by white, black, and indigenous Americans.
Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS)

Prerequisites

One History course

HIS 325 Narcotic Drugs and Modern Society

This course explores the history of narcotic drugs and modern society, focusing on America. The course also examines the history of U.S. drug policy.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS)

HIS 326 The History of U.S. Foreign Relations

Studies the formulation of American foreign policy and issues in American diplomatic history.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS) (W)

HIS 332 Imperialism and Nationalism in Asia and Africa

This course examines the British rule in India as a case study of how imperial rule is imposed and maintained, and the Indian independence movement as a model of colonial resistance.  It then examines the different imperial systems imposed on Africa, the struggle by African colonies for self-determination, and their search for identity and stability after independence.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (NW) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

AWR 201

HIS 335 U.S. Constitutional History

This class broadly surveys the chronological span of U.S. Constitutional history, from the 18th century to the 1970s, studying Supreme Court decisions and dissenting opinions as primary documents that can be used to understand the past. Students will determine how relationships between people and legal regimes changed over time, and they will assess the ways that specific political, economic, social and cultural contexts affected the development of American constitutional thought, the role of the Supreme Court and the evolving relations between law and society.
Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

Prerequisites

One History survey course (HIS 102, HIS 103, HIS 202 or HIS 203)

HIS 400 History Capstone Research Seminar

This course represents the culmination of the History major. With the guidance of the instructor, students consider historiographical and methodological models and carry out a complete research project related to a common theme or body of source material. This course is normally taken in the Senior year. 
Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

Prerequisites

HIS 201 and one HIS course numbered 300 or above.

HIS 401 Field Work

Involves practical work in museums, historical preservation and historical archives. Requires permission of area coordinator. Graded on a pass/fail basis. This course counts as a history major elective.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

HIS 402 Natural and Unnatural Disasters in Modern World History

This course investigates the impact of catastrophes — earthquakes, epidemics, hurricanes, fires, accidents — on society, politics and culture in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas since 1624. Natural disasters often transform relations between nations and among social groups, while revealing social conditions and cultural attitudes kept hidden under normal circumstances. Natural disasters can create the conditions for revolutions, lead to wars over scarce resources, provide pretexts for imperial intrusions and expose the inequalities and tensions in society. Students will develop their knowledge of world history and disaster studies by reading and writing about selected case studies.

Credit Hours: 4
(IG) (SS) (W)

Prerequisites

Any two History courses.

HIS 450 Independent Study

Involves guided readings, research and criticism.  Materials covered must be different from those included in current courses.  May be repeated for credit if subject matter varies.

Credit Hours: 2-4
(SS)

Prerequisites

Minimum 3.0 GPA, 12 hours of history. Independent studies must be taken under the direction of a full-time HIS professor. Subject matter must be determined through student-faculty consultation.

HIS 451 Senior Thesis

A substantial research and writing project.  The subject matter must be determined through student-faculty consultation.  A senior thesis can be written under the guidance of any full-time professor in the HIS department.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)

Prerequisites

Senior standing, minimum 3.0 GPA.

HIS 460 Advanced Special Topics

Advanced study of a selected historical topic. This course will count toward the upper-level requirement for the History major, and, depending on the topic, may fulfill other requirements, with approval of the Associate Chair for History, Sociology, Geography and Legal Studies. May be repeated for credit if the topic differs.

Credit Hours: 4
(SS)