200
Arts & Letters-History. Intermediate Writing. This course examines the Renaissance (approximately 1350 to 1620) thematically as we study together this tumultuous time of great art; new ideas; lively mercantile piazze, busy merchants and traders, bloody vendettas; "exotic" foods and material goods from distant places, and the encounters that took place between people in the East and the West. We will consider the religious turmoil of the age, the effects of plague, political upheaval, and warfare on people's daily lives, and take some time to think about love, marriage, family, and sex, coming to understand the Renaissance as a time of ordinary and extraordinary people whose lived experiences shaped the age. Although the focus is on the Italian Renaissance, with the help of William Shakespeare and others, we will explore the spread of the Renaissance beyond Italy, to other parts of Europe, and east across the Mediterranean for a look at the histories that occurred simultaneously with, and were connected to, the world of the western Renaissance. Cross listed with
HI 303; students may not get credit for one course if they have taken the other.
Arts & Letters-History. This course begins as the Western Roman Empire is collapsing, c. 410 and ends with the arrival of the plague in 1348. We will encounter philosophers and saints, nobility and peasants, merchants and pirates, knights and many others. Against the backdrop of daily life in Medieval Europe, we will follow the romances of courtly love, the paths of Crusaders, and spend some time with heroes such as King Arthur and Robin Hood (and of course, Maid Marion), as well as with the ordinary men and women who are often forgotten. Get ready for more than just the Dark Ages Fall semester, even-numbered years
Arts & Letters-History. This course covers the history of Modern Europe from 1789 to the decade before World War I, organized around political, social, and economic developments and conflicts. As we explore the ways nineteenth-century Europeans grappled with the creation of the modern world, the course will address several specific themes, including the tension between liberty and control in modernizing states, new belief systems (ideologies), migrations, imperialism, reform movements, and cultural developments.
Arts & Letters-History. This is a stacked class, offered at both the 200-level and the 300-level. All students will attend the regular class meetings. Students enrolled in this course at the 300-level will have the additional requirements.
HI 206 - Description Two Reformations, one Protestant the other Catholic, a host of explorers, often behaving badly when viewed through our 21st century lens, and the daily life of ordinary people in the early modern age occupy our study this semester. More than just the reforms of Martin Luther and the travails of Christopher Columbus, this course looks critical and analytically, and at times even with great humor, at the people, events, ideas, values, cultures, and perspectives of this turbulent and fascinating time in history. We will consider carefully topics including the body and the spirit, sex and gender, the plight of the poor, and of course witchcraft. . We will venture beyond the confines of Europe in an attempt ascertain what might be learned about both the "discovered" and the "discoverer" from a wide array of travel narratives. We will consider the use of maps as both ideological statements and navigational tools, and we will conduct our own search for the elusive Prester John. Monopods, Atlantic Flying Fish, and a Ninety-Five Theses are sure to remind us that we are not in the Renaissance anymore. Cross listed with
HI 304 - students may not get credit for one course if they have taken the other.
Arts & Letters-History. This course examines Europe's 20th century, starting with Europe at the height of its relative wealth, power, and population in 1900 and continuing through war, trauma, division, and resurgence to the year 2000. We will survey major political, economic, social, and intellectual events and trends from several perspectives including individual experience, culture, and geopolitics, emphasizing the role of ideology. The course includes lectures, discussions, readings, and two papers. Country assignments will help students bring national perspectives to class, and special assignments will help students tie past events to present-day issues and controversies.
Arts & Letters-History. A topical study of the American West from the late 18th through the 20th centuries. Special emphasis on the myths and symbolism of the West, and on the West's impact on the nation's attitudes and values.
Arts & Letters-History. Russia has become a major player once again in the political affairs of the world, generating controversy through its annexation of territory, its intervention in foreign conflicts such as Syria, its resurgent anti-Western nationalism, and its attempts to undermine the integrity of leading Western democracies. Understanding the dramatic sweep of Russia's history helps us to understand the challenges the country faces and poses today. This course will begin with Tsar Alexander II's authoritarian attempts to modernize Russia in the 1860s, explore the Russian Revolution and the resulting coercive utopian project of the Soviet Union, and then study the solutions Russia has embraced to find a post-Communist identity. By reading, analyzing, and discussing texts, you will sharpen your critical reading and analytical skills, your writing skills, and your ability to debate concepts in a group situation. The course will be conducted through lectures, reading, and discussion. Class participation will be a component of the final grade. Crosslisted with
HI 320 - students can't take or get credit for one course if they have taken the other.
Arts & Letters-History. An introductory survey of Montana's past and its importance in the development of the West, from the period of exploration to the present.
Arts & Letters-History. The history of the Mediterranean is a survey of ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean basin, specifically Greece, Rome and the Near East to the rise of Islam in the seventh century AD. Consideration will also be given to Ancient Egypt and Mediterranean connections to the Silk Road. The course focuses on the cultural interactions and exchanges that took place around the Mediterranean: material, cultural, religious and social; the importance of merchants and trade networks; and the Mediterranean Sea as a space both connected and conflicted.
Cultural Diversity, Arts & Letters-History. For purposes of this class, the modern Middle East is defined as 1914- present, territorially and politically stretching from Egypt to Iran, including Israel/Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula, and Turkey. As time allows, we will consider North Africa as a region with cultural, linguistic, and religious ties to the Middle East but also very different, as well as Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This course carefully considers how history, culture, politics, economics, and geography, as well as all three Abrahamic faiths-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-shaped the region's past, are inextricably tied to its present, and help us think about what the future might hold. This class also addresses matters of gender, violence, terrorism, and the chances for a lasting peace. Finally, colonialism and imperialism continue to resonate throughout the Middle East, making it necessary to exam the roles of such countries as Britain, France, Russia, and the United States.
Arts & Letters-History. An Elusive Peace, Study Abroad in Israel/Palestine and Jordan This study abroad course is designed to introducestudents to the history, culture, politics, and religions of Israel/Palestine and Jordan, a region uniquely shaped by a past and a present that includes three faiths all worshipping the same God, membership in the same linguistic family, and foreign intervention by Romans then crusaders, and finally Europe and the US. Despite these commonalities, and a desire on the part of many who are working daily for peace, this part of the world is also torn by animosities. Offering students an opportunity to see first-hand the region's rich history, vibrant cultures, and passionate attachment to faith and to the land, this program provides a better understanding of the role played by centuries of history in the region's volatile present and its uncertain future.
Arts and Letters History.
This course begins in the Arabia of the centuries
preceding the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in
571CE, and continues through the spread of the
faith first under the four Righteous Caliphs, then
far beyond Arabia, the Golden Age of Islam, and
the schools of jurisprudence that exist. We will
end our study with how understanding the history
of Islam, its sacred text, the Qur'an, the Hadith,
and the law, or Shari'a, might lead to a better
understanding of Islam in the contemporary era in
order to shed some light in the darkness. Over the
semester, the topics we will encounter include the
world of pre-Islamic Arabia, the influences of
polytheism, the other two monotheisms that share
Abraham as their religious ancestor - Judaism and
Christianity - the place of Islam's mystics, the
Sufi, the divide between Sunni and Shi'a, family
and society, art and architecture, political
Islam, the rise of groups such as al-Qaeda and
ISIS, reflections on gender, and what the future
might hold for all of us who seek to better
understand one another.
Arts & Letters-History. Food. It has the power to conjure comforting memories of past meals, of loved ones, and of travels to places near and far. It is also, at the very least, necessary for survival. Writ large, however, food is about so much more than sustaining life. What people eat, how they eat it, and with whom they eat it are windows into the societies, cultures, values, and histories of all people. This course examines this history of food, beginning with our earliest human ancestors and culminating with the questions of food security and food equity that exist in the twenty-first century. Along the way, we will consider the many ways the study of food and foodways informs history in complex yet fascinating ways, as well as engage in considerations of what food might tell you about your own family's history. Finally, from time to time I will prepare food for the class, because after all this is the focus of our work as an intellectual community. Our final class project will be a meal, with lively conversation enhanced by food and drink.
Cultural Diversity. Arts & Letters-History. This course is a survey of the relatively recent histories of China, Japan, and Korea, from the 19th century to the present. Through readings, lectures, and films, we will chronicle the transformation of these three East Asian countries from quasi-medieval dynasties to subordinate semi-colonies of the Western powers in the 19th century, to the revolutionary and bloody upheavals of 20th century nationalism and communism that led to human suffering and war on an almost unimaginable scale. Today, Japan is an economic power that still hasn't fully come to terms with its wartime past, Korea is divided between a prosperous South that only recently embraced democracy and a bizarrely anachronistic Communist North, while China is finally emerging from more than a century of turmoil to become a global power that will do much to shape the course of the 21st century. The fascinating stories of how and why all of this occurred will be the subject matter of this course.
Arts & Letters-History. A survey of the major trends in the political, social, economic and intellectual development of Latin America since independence. The primary focus will be on the histories of Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and Argentina, although examples from across the region will be studied.
Arts & Letters-History. World War II was the most destructive conflict in human history. By the time the guns fell silent in 1945, approximately 60 million people had been killed worldwide. What can possibly explain the extent of such bloodshed? While a comprehensive answer may require us to explore some of the most difficult existential questions about what it means to be human, history offers us a clear guide as to why this conflict occurred when it did, the ways in which it unfolded, and how it came to an end. This course will explore the historical origins of World War II in both Europe and the Pacific, the major political and military turning points of the conflict, and issues related to the war's lasting impact, including the Holocaust. We will also seek to balance the stories of some of the more compelling personalities of the war (e.g., Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt) with the experience of the millions of everyday soldiers and civilians who endured unspeakable suffering during this most terrible war. Cross listed with
HI 382; students may not get credit for one course if they have taken the other.
Arts & Letters-History. Special Topics courses include ad-hoc courses on various selected topics that are not part of the regular curriculum, however they may still fulfill certain curricular requirements. Special topics courses are offered at the discretion of each department and will be published as part of the semester course schedule - view available sections for more information. Questions about special topics classes can be directed to the instructor or department chair.
Arts & Letters-History. Special Topics courses include ad-hoc courses on various selected topics that are not part of the regular curriculum, however they may still fulfill certain curricular requirements. Special topics courses are offered at the discretion of each department and will be published as part of the semester course schedule - view available sections for more information. Questions about special topics classes can be directed to the instructor or department chair.
Cultural Diversity, Arts & Letters-History. A survey of Sub-Saharan African history from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries with an emphasis on formal colonization, colonialism, decolonization, and post-colonial developments.
Arts & Letters-History. 'Saving Strangers': The History of Humanitarianism International humanitarianism has come about to assist the victims of man-made and natural disasters, sometimes in the form of lobbying, sometimes as direct aid, and sometimes as military intervention. The current practice of humanitarianism is of unprecedented size and scale, but it is built on the foundations laid by pioneers over a hundred years ago. Since the beginning, it has been critiqued as naïve, open to self-interest, colonial in its practices, and sometimes doing more harm than good. Yet international humanitarianism is also the mark of humanity at its best: making sacrifices to assist suffering strangers in faraway lands. We will examine the motives, methods, and effectiveness of humanitarian action by studying examples such as Congo reform, Armenian relief, Oxfam, Biafra, and LiveAid. At the same time, we will consider critiques of relief efforts from different perspectives in order to develop a better understanding of the factors contributing to success and failure. Successful students will understand the types of humanitarian action, will be able to think about present practices in historical context, consider how governments can promote or thwart humanitarian impulses, and analyze the factors tending to make a humanitarian action successful.