Department of History

Overview of Courses

Breadcrumb

Overview of Courses

A brief guide to some of the history department’s course offerings for the academic year.

For more detailed information about each course offered this term, see Courses@Brown.

History 150s and Gateway Intro Lectures

History 0150s are thematic courses on topics that cut across time and space and are open to all Brown undergraduates. They introduce students to methods of historical analysis, interpretation, and argument. Gateway courses are designed to offer students an introduction to problems and questions within a particular geography and generally across a shorter time period.

150 Courses

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0150C Locked Up: A Global History of Prison and Captivity T, Th 1-2:20pm Amy Remensnyder

 

Gateway Intro Lecture Courses

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0233 Colonial Latin America T, Th 9-10:20am Jeremy Mumford
HIST 0244 Understanding the Middle East: 1800s to Present T, Th 2:30-3:50pm Faiz Ahmed
HIST 0255A Mexican American History T, Th 10:30-11:50am Mark Ocegueda
HIST 0285A Modern Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity T, Th 1-2:20pm James Wang
HIST 0930R / CLAS 0650 War and Society in Ancient Greece (Interested students must register for CLAS 0650)

 

 Graham Oliver
HIST 0930W / CLAS 0320 21st Century Classics (Interested students must register for CLAS 0320) T, Th 2:30-3:50pm Graham Oliver
HIST 0930Y / EAST 0309 Courtesans, Concubines and Wives: Gender Relations in Imperial China (Interested students must register for EAST 0309) T, Th 9-10:20am Beverly Bossler

150 Courses

None Offered

 

Gateway Intro Lecture Courses

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0234 Modern Latin America M, W, F 11-11:50am Daniel Rodriguez
HIST 0256 Introduction to LatinX History T, Th 1-2:20pm Mark Ocegueda
HIST 0273B Religion and European Colonialism, 1700-1900 T, Th 2:30-3:50pm Shahzad Bashir
HIST 0276 Global History of Atomic Age M, W, F 11-11:50am Kerry Smith
HIST 0286A History of Medicine I: Medical Traditions in the Old World before 1700 M, W, F 9-9:50am Harold Cook
HIST 0930G / JUDS 0050M Judaism Christianity Middle Ages Today (Interested students must register for JUDS 0050M) T, Th 10:30-11:50am Adam Teller
HIST 0930S / EAST 0010 Beyond Orientalism: Understanding East Asia (Interested students must register for EAST 0010) T, Th 9-10:20am Beverly Bossler
HIST 0930X / COLT 0711L The Quran and its Readers (Interested students must register for COLT 0711L) T, Th 10:30-11:50am Elias Muhanna
HIST 0930Z / COLT 0510K The 1001 Nights (Interested students must register for COLT 0510K) M, W, F 10-10:50am Elias Muhanna

First-Year and Second-Year Seminars

History Department first-year seminars (FYS) and second-year seminars (SYS) (restricted to first-years and sophomores) provide first-years and sophomores an introduction to a topic and to historical methods in a small class setting. 

First Year Seminars

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0558C LatinX Social Movement History M 3-5:30pm Mark Ocegueda
HIST 0559A Culture and U.S. Empire F 3-5:30pm Naoko Shibusawa
HIST 0940D / ETHN 0090A The Border / La Frontera Th 4-6:30pm Evelyn Hu-DeHart
HIST 0940F / EDUC 0610 Brown vs. Board of Education (Interested students must register for EDUC 0610) M 3-5:30pm Tracy Steffes
HIST 0940M / EAST 0140 Catastrophic Japan (Interested students must register for EAST 0140) W 3-5:30pm Kerry Smith
Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0522O The Enlightenment M 3-5:30pm Neil Safier
HIST 0574A The Silk Road, Past/Present W 3-5:30pm Cynthia Brokaw

Second-Year and Non-Capstone Seminars

Second-Year Seminars

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0622A Information Overload in Early Modern Europe T 4-6:30pm Amanda Arceneaux
HIST 0624 Coexistence and Violence in Europe: Jews, Muslims, Roma and their Neighbors T, Th 1-2:20pm Harry Merritt
HIST 0623B The Russian Revolution F 3-5:30pm Ethan Pollock
HIST 0657A Early American Lives Th 4-6:30pm Christopher Grasso
HIST 0658D Walden and Woodstock W 3-5:30pm Ken Sacks

 

Non-Capstone Seminars

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 1952B Politics of Gender, Sexuality and Family in U.S. M 3-5:30pm Robert Self
HIST 1956S History of Artificial Intelligence Th 4-6:30pm Holly Case
HIST 1981P / COLT 1310J The Arab Renaissance (Interested students must register for COLT 1310J) W 3-5:30pm Elias Muhanna
HIST 1981S / AFRI 1170 African American Women's History Th 4-6:30pm Keisha Blain
HIST 1981T / RELS 1530H Problems in Islamic Studies: Shaking up the Study of the Islamic World M 3-5:30pm Nancy Khalek

Second-Year Seminars

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 0623D The Great Patriotic War: The Soviet Experience of World War II T 4-6:30pm Harry Merritt
HIST 0656A History of Intercollegiate Athletics M 3-5:30pm Howard Chudacoff
HIST 0659A Excessive Force: State Violence, Vigilantism, and the History of “Law and Order” in America T 4-6:30pm Aaron Jacobs
HIST 0678A What Do Concubines Have to Do with It? Gender, Sexuality, and Status in the Premodern World T 4-6:30pm Stacey Murrell

 

Non-Capstone Seminars

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 1942A Taiwan’s Geographies Th 4-6:30pm Rebecca Nedostup
HIST 1953Q Hindus and Muslims: Readings in South Asian History T, Th 6:40-8pm Vazira Zamindar
HIST 1956A Thinking Historically Th 4-6:30pm Ken Sacks
HIST 1980B / ENVS 1916 Animals and Plants in Chinese History (Interested students must register for ENVS 1916) Th 4-6:30pm Brian Lander
HIST 1980R / EDUC 1720 Urban Schools in Historical Perspective (Interested students must register for EDUC 1720) M 3-5:30pm Tracy Steffes
HIST 1981Q / POBS 1601K Early Modern Global History at the John Carter Brown Library (Interested students must register for POBS 1601K) Th 4-6:30pm Gabriel Rocha
HIST 1981R / ETHN 1750D Transpacific Asian American Studies (Interested students must register for ETHN 1750D) M, W 8:30-9:50am Evelyn Hu-DeHart

Other Lecture Courses

History lecture courses address topics of broad interest chronologically, geographically and thematically defined. These courses are designed for History concentrators and non-concentrators alike. Our courses over 1000 are organized geographically as follows:

  • 1000-1099 courses on Africa
  • 1100-1199 courses on East Asia
  • 1200-1299 courses on Europe
  • 1300-1399 courses on Latin America
  • 1400-1499 courses on Middle East
  • 1500-1599 courses on North America
  • 1600-1699 courses on South Asia
  • 1700-1799 Global courses
  • 1800-1899 Thematic courses
Course Number Coures Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 1101 Chinese Political Thought T, Th 9-10:20am Cynthia Brokaw
HIST 1120 At China’s Edges M, W, F 11-11:50am Rebecca Nedostup
HIST 1156 Postwar Japan M, W, F 12-12:50pm Kerry Smith
HIST 1266C English History, 1529-1660 M, W, F 2-2:50pm Tim Harris
HIST 1272D The French Revolution T, Th 10:30-11:50am Joel Revill
HIST 1320 Rebel Island: Cuba, 1492-Present T, Th 10:30-11:50am Jennifer Lambe
HIST 1360 Green Inferno: Amazonia from the Prehuman to the Present M, W, F 1-1:50pm Neil Safier
HIST 1381 Latin American History and Film: Memory, Narrative and Nation M, W, F 11-11:50am Daniel Rodriguez
HIST 1507 Politics and Culture in the U.S. since 1945 T, Th 1-2:20pm Robert Self
HIST 1515 American Slavery M, W, F 12-12:50pm Emily Owens
HIST 1553 Empires in America to 1890 M, W, F 2-2:50pm Naoko Shibusawa
HIST 1800 Religion and Power in North America to 1865 M, W, F 10-10:50am Christopher Grasso
HIST 1830B Sigmund Freud to QAnon T, Th 2:30-3:50pm Michael Steinberg
HIST 1931G / CLAS 1330 Roman Religion MWF 11-11:50am John Bodel
Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 1202 Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims T, Th 10:30-11:50am Ken Sacks
HIST 1211 Europe in the High Middle Ages T, Th 9-10:20am Amy Remensnyder
HIST 1217 The Cultural History of Democracy T, Th 2:30-3:50pm Michael Steinberg
HIST 1262M Truth on Trial T, Th 1-2:20pm Caroline Castiglione
HIST 1266D British History, 1660-1800 M, W, F 2-2:50pm Tim Harris
HIST 1310 History of Brazil T, Th 1-2:20pm Jim Green
HIST 1333 The Mexican Revolution M, W 8:30-9:50am Evelyn Hu-DeHart
HIST 1340 The History of the Andes M, W, F 1-1:50pm Jeremy Mumford
HIST 1382 Environmental History of Latin America M, W, F 10-10:50pm Gabriel Rocha
HIST 1502 Early Republic of the United States T, Th 9-10:20am Christopher Grasso
HIST 1533 Cities and Inequality Since 1920: The United States M, W, F 12-12:50pm Robert Self
HIST 1554 American Empire since 1890 M, W, F 2-2:50pm Naoko Shibusawa
HIST 1820B Environmental History of East Asia T, Th 10:30-11:50am Brian Lander
HIST 1930U / CLAS 1120E Slavery in the Ancient World (Interested students must register for CLAS 1120) T, Th 1-2:20pm John Bodel
HIST 1931F / CLAS 1210 Mediterranean Culture Wars: Archaic Greek History, c. 1200 to 479 BC M, W, F 2-2:50pm Graham Oliver

Capstone Seminars

All concentrators must complete at least one capstone seminar (HIST 1960s & HIST 1970s series courses and selected HIST 1980 courses). These seminars are designed to serve as an intellectual culmination of the concentration. They provide students with an opportunity to delve deeply into a historical problem and to write a major research and/or analytical paper which serves as a capstone experience. Ideally, they will be taken in the field of focus and during the student’s junior or senior year. Students considering writing a senior honors thesis are advised to take a capstone in their junior year. These seminars are designed to serve as an intellectual culmination of the concentration. First-Year students are not advised to take these courses and only rarely are sophomores allowed to enroll.

Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 1962F Self, Family and Network in Chinese Landscapes W 3-5:30pm Rebecca Nedostup
HIST 1964F Early Modern Ireland M 3-5:30pm Tim Harris
HIST 1968A Approaches to the Middle East T 4-6:30pm Alexander Winder
HIST 1968V America and the Middle East: Histories of Connection and Exchange W 3-5:30pm Faiz Ahmed
HIST 1974I Central and Eastern Europe and the Trajectory of History W 3-5:30pm Holly Case
Course Number Course Title Schedule Instructor
HIST 1960S North African History, 1800-Present F 3-5:30pm Jennifer Johnson
HIST 1964L Slavery in the Early Modern World Th 4-6:30pm Adam Teller
HIST 1967C Making Revolutionary Cuba, 1959 to Present M 3-5:30pm Jennifer Lambe
HIST 1967L Life in Brazil under Military Rule W 3-5:30pm Jim Green
HIST 1977I Gender, Race and Medicine in the Americas W 3-5:30pm Daniel Rodriguez
HIST 1977J War and Medicine Since the Renaissance W 3-5:30pm Harold Cook
HIST 1981U / AFRI 1060V Black Transnationalism F 3-5:30pm Keisha Blain

Honors Courses

Honors courses are a three-part series. They are all offered each semester annually.

Learn more about the honors programs

HIST 1992 | History Honors Workshop for Prospective Thesis Writers

Recommended for all those thinking about researching and writing a senior thesis. Must have an A- average in history courses to be considered for the History Honors Program. Completion of a thesis prospectus that receives an A or A- is admitted into the History Honors Program.

HIST 1993 | History Honors Workshop for Thesis Writers

Limited to seniors and juniors who have been admitted to the History Honors Program. First semester of writing the honors thesis.

HIST 1994 | History Honors Workshop for Thesis Writers

Limited to seniors and juniors who have been admitted to the History Honors Program. Second semester of writing the honors thesis.

Additional Course Information

Race, Power, and Privilege Courses

In their content and their objectives, Race, Power, and Privilege (RPP) courses examine issues of structural inequality, racial formations and/or disparities, and systems of power within a complex, pluralistic world

Writing Designated Courses

The History Department offers a wide variety of courses that can fulfill the College's Writing Designated (WRIT) requirement.