History

The History Department: 


Department website: http://www.history.columbia.edu/

Office location: 413 Fayerweather Hall

Office contact: 212-854-4646, history@columbia.edu 

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Prof. Paul Chamberlin / dus-history@columbia.edu 

Undergraduate Administrator: Michael Adan / undergraduate-history@columbia.edu
 

The Study of History


The History undergraduate curriculum covers most areas of the world and most periods of history. Our courses explore various methodologies, a wide range of ways of writing history, and different approaches to the past. We emphasize no one approach to history and insist upon no single interpretive model. Thinking historically is an analytical skill of increasing value in an epoch dominated by short-term perspectives.

The History Department offers a major, concentration, and minor in history. Each degree enables students to achieve a deeper and broader knowledge of a particular field of history, while also developing the kinds of analytical and writing skills important in many areas of life. The heart of the undergraduate major is the senior thesis seminar, a small-group course in which students work closely with an individual faculty member on some subject. Undergraduate majors are not required to write a senior thesis, however in order to receive departmental honors a senior thesis must be completed. Each year the department offers 3 to 4 sections of Senior Thesis Seminar and students have the flexibility to work on any subject that they choose.

Student Advising 

Consulting Advisers 


The History Department does not assign individual advisors providing the Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED) for student advising. The UNDED, which consists of full-time faculty members, are ready to help undergraduates understand degree requirements, choose a specialization, guide students toward appropriate courses, and simply discuss students’ experiences. Students may see any member of UNDED for advising concerns. UNDED advisors also approve a History student’s Plan of Study, which serves as the course plan for students and lists the courses required to earn a History degree.

UNDED advisors hold office hours during the fall and spring terms and membership of UNDED changes from year to year, therefore please consult the department’s website for an up-to- date roster. History students are strongly encouraged to meet with an UNDED advisor at least twice, during the fall of their junior year and the fall of their senior year.
The undergraduate open house is held in February of each academic year. It serves as an opportunity for students to learn more about the History program from the DUS, UA, current students, and alumni.

Enrolling in Classes 


History courses fall into two types, lectures and seminars. Though almost all of these courses do not require placement exams, some seminars might require an application to join.

LECTURES meet twice a week for 1 hour and 15 minutes each session and have additional required discussion sections that meet once a week. Lectures range from the very large (over 300 students) to the very small (fewer than 25). Most lecture courses require a midterm and a final examination; many also require written assignments and final papers. For identification purposes, history lectures are numbered at the 1000 or 2000 level (exceptions exist for courses taught in the summer, which are sometimes listed at the 3000 level).

SEMINARS are smaller, more intensive courses that explore focused topics through concentrated reading in secondary literature, primary-source research, or both. They meet once a week for 1 hour and 50 minutes. The workload for seminars is generally heavier than for lectures, with more reading and more written work. Seminars normally do not have a final examination but often require a substantial paper. In many cases, admission to a seminar requires approval from the instructor and can include an application. History seminars are numbered at the 3000-level (all undergraduate) or 4000-level (undergraduate and graduate).  Some summer courses listed at the 3000 level may be lectures and do not qualify as seminars.

Preparing for Graduate Study 

TBA

Coursework Taken Outside of Columbia 

Advanced Placement 


Advanced Placement courses from High School or British A-levels do not count as History courses or towards the major, concentration, or minor.

Barnard College Courses


Barnard College courses offered through the Barnard History Department are eligible to count towards the Columbia History major, concentration, or minor. 

Transfer Courses


The History department allows up to 3 courses outside of Columbia University to count towards the major (up to 2 for concentrators and minors), to which no more than 2 may be applied toward the specialization. These courses consist of transfer courses and/or study abroad courses.

Transfer courses taken at an accredited college in the United States must first be evaluated and approved by a student’s home school before consideration to count towards the History major, concentration or minor. Students who wish to apply transfer courses to the major, concentration or minor should submit a transfer credit request to the History Department (undergraduate-history@columbia.edu).

To submit a transfer credit request with the History Department, students must submit an application that includes the following:

  • Completed departmental transfer credit form
  • Transcript from course institution showing course grade
  • Course syllabi
  • Current Plan of Study
  • An official Columbia PDF transcript is required for students that have not officially declared History as their major or concentration.
  • Available coursework from the courses, such as papers or exams (for courses outside the United States)

Transfer credit request from and details can be found on the History Departments transfer credit page here.

Study Abroad Courses 


The History department allows up to 3 courses outside of Columbia University to count towards the major (up to 2 for concentrators and minors), to which no more than 2 may be applied toward the specialization. These courses consist of transfer courses and/or study abroad courses.

History majors, concentrators and minors may choose to study abroad as part of their undergraduate education. This is typically done during the junior year for one term. A period of study overseas offers history students excellent opportunities to develop language skills as well as begin research projects that may be developed into a senior thesis. Members of UNDED will be happy to discuss with students their plans and how they fit both intellectual goals and program requirements. Please note that courses are formally approved by the department only after you have returned and a transfer credit request has been submitted. Students who wish to apply study abroad courses to the major, concentration or minor should submit a transfer credit request to the History Department (undergraduate-history@columbia.edu).

To submit a transfer credit request with the History Department, students must submit an application that includes the following:

  • Completed departmental transfer credit form
  • Transcript from course institution showing course grade
  • Course syllabi
  • Current Plan of Study
  • An official Columbia PDF transcript is required for students that have not officially declared History as their major or concentration.
  • Available coursework from the courses, such as papers or exams (for courses outside the United States)

Transfer credit request from and details can be found on the History Departments transfer credit page here.

Summer Courses 


History (HIST) summer courses taken through the School of Professional Studies are eligible to count towards the major, concentration, or minor. 

Undergraduate Research and Senior Thesis 

Undergraduate Research in Courses


History students are encouraged to strengthen their analytical and writing skills which can be achieved through seminars. History seminars explore focused topics through concentrated reading in secondary literature, primary-source research, or both. The workload for seminars is generally heavier than  lectures with more reading and more written work. Seminars normally do not have a final examination but often require a substantial paper. It is recommended that students begin taking seminars their second year and at the 3000-level. Seminars at the 4000-level consist of both undergraduate and graduate students.

Some seminars have prerequisites, which are noted in the directory course listing. In many cases, students must receive permission from the instructor prior to registering for a seminar.

Senior Thesis Coursework and Requirements 


History majors have the option of writing a senior thesis over one or two terms. This process involves original research, normally with extensive use of primary materials. The department encourages students with a strong interest in a particular subject to consider a thesis and strongly advises all students considering an academic career to write one.

Students are advised to begin thinking about whether they wish to write a thesis, and about possible topics by the start of junior year. Applications to join the year-long Senior Thesis Seminar are due during the spring semester of a student’s junior year. Students writing a senior thesis must take at least 1 HIST seminar by the fall of their senior year.

Alternatively, students who wish to work with a member of the department on an individual basis may register for a one or two-term independent senior thesis section for 2-4 credits per term. Students who pursue this option should identify an appropriate supervisor (History Department faculty member) and submit a short proposal, approved by the supervisor, to the History Department before the beginning of the thesis term. Independent theses cannot be considered for honors and prizes consideration.

Department Honors and Prizes

    Department Honors 


The Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED) awards departmental honors on the basis of a high major grade point average (at least 3.6) as well as an excellent senior thesis. Students must also have an overall GPA of at least 3.6. The committee takes into account the depth and breadth of the program of study for each honors candidate. Normally, no more than 10% of graduating majors receive Departmental Honors.
 

    Academic Prizes 


Senior Thesis Seminar writers have the opportunity to submit their thesis for prizes given by the History Department, the College, and General Studies. Prizes not administered by the department are also available and details can be found through your school’s academic affairs office.

Other Important Information 

To be added

Professors

  • Baics, Gergely (Barnard)
    Barkan, Elazar (SIPA)
    Berghahn, Volker (emeritus)
    Billows, Richard
    Blackmar, Elizabeth
    Blake, Casey
    Brown, Christopher
    Bulliet, Richard (emeritus)
    Cameron, Euan (UTS - emeritus)
    Carlebach, Elisheva
    Carnes, Mark (Barnard)
    Çelik, Zeynep
    Chauncey, George
    Coatsworth, John (Provost emeritus)
    Connelly, Matthew
    de Grazia, Victoria (emerita)
    Delbanco, Andrew (Englishand Comparative Literature)
    Diouf, Mamadou (Middle Eastern,South Asian,and African Studies)
    Dye, Alan (Barnard)
    Evtuhov, Catherine
    Fields, Barbara
    Foner, Eric (emeritus)
    Force, Pierre (French and Romantic Philology)
    Gluck, Carol (emerita)
    Guridy, Frank
    Hallett, Hilary
    Howell, Martha (emerita)
    Hymes, Robert (East Asian Language and Cultures)
    Jackson, Kenneth (emeritus)
    Jacoby, Karl
    John, Richard (Journalism)
    Katznelson, Ira (Political Science)
    Kaye, Joel (Barnard, emeritus)
    Kessler-Harris, Alice (emerita)
    Khalidi, Rashid (emeritus)
    Kim, LisbethBrandt (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Ko, Dorothy (Barnard)
    Kosto, Adam
    Leach, William (emeritus)
    Lean, Eugenia Y.,  (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Li, Feng (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Lilla, Mark (Religion)
    Lomnitz, Claudio (Anthropology)
    Ma, John (Classics)
    Mann, Gregory
    Mazower, Mark
    McCurry, Stephanie
    Milanich, Nara (Barnard)
    Moya, Jose (Barnard)
    Naylor, Celia (Barnard)
    Ngai, Mae
    Pedersen, Susan
    Pflugfelder, Gregory (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Phillips-Fein, Kim (DGS)
    Piccato, Pablo (Chair)
    Robcis, Camille
    Rosenberg, Rosalind (Barnard)
    Rosner, David (Mailman School of Public Health)
    Saada, Emmanuelle (French and Romance Philology)
    Schama, Simon (University Professor)
    Schwartz, Seth
    Smith, Pamela
    Somerville, Robert (emeritus)
    Stanislawski, Michael
    Stephanson, Anders
    Stephens, Rhiannon
    Tiersten, Lisa (Barnard)
    Tooze, Adam
    Tuttle, Gray (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Valenze, Deborah (Barnard)
    Van, Marc de Mieroop
    Weiman, David (Barnard College)
    Wennerlind, Carl (Barnard)
    Witgen, Michael
    Wortman, Richard (emeritus)
    Zelin, Madeleine (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
  •  

Associate Professors

  • Ahmed, Manan
    Baics, Gergely (Barnard)
  • Barraclough, Ruth
    Chamberlin, Paul (DUS)
    Chazkel, Amy
    Coleman, Charly
    Elshakry, Marwa
    Erickson, Ansley (Teachers College)
    George, Abosede (Barnard)
    Haley, Sarah
    Kim, Lisbeth Brandt (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Kobrin, Rebecca
    Lightfoot, Natasha
    Lurie, David (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Mazurek, Malgorzata
    Milanich, Nara (Barnard)
    Nguyen, Lien-Hang
    Pflugfelder, Gregory (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Pizzigoni, Caterina
    Rao, Anupama (Barnard)
    Roberts, Samuel
    Senocak, Neslihan
    Sivaramakrishnan, Kavita (Mailman School of Public Health)
    Tuttle, Gray (East Asian Languages and Cultures)
    Wennerlind, Carl (Barnard)
  •  

Assistant Professors

  • Chowkwanyun, Merlin (Mailman School of Health)
  • Delvaux, Matthew (Barnard)
    Farber, Hannah
  • Karjoo-Ravary, Ali (Summer Sessions Representative)
    Kreitman, Paul (East Asian Languages Cultures)
    Lipman, Andrew (Barnard)
    Ramgopal, Sailakshmi
  • Ramnath, Kalyani
    Şen, A.Tunç
    Skorobogatov, Yana
    Stafford, James
    Steingart, Alma
  •  

Lecturers (adjunct faculty)

  • DeVinney, Joslyn
    Dubler, Roslyn
  • Giordani, Angela
  • Salgado, Alfonso
  • Wayno, Jeffrey
  • Visiting Faculty

  • Edhem Eldem, Visiting Professor, History (Fall and Spring)

    Benedicte Sère, part-time Visiting Associate Professor, History (Fall and Spring)

    Marian Cavalcanti, Edward Larocque Tinker Visiting Professor, History and ILAS (Spring)

    Gabor Egry, Istvan Deak Visiting Professor, History and Harriman Institute (Fall and Spring)

  •  

On Leave

Fall 2024:   Blackmar, Chauncey, Elshakry, Evtuhov, Jacoby, Kreitman, Lightfoot, Lurie, Mazurek, Ngai, Pedersen, Rao, Robcis, Senocak, Stafford, Stephanson, Witgen, Zelin, 

Spring 2025:  Blackmar, Elshakry, Evtuhov, Jacoby, Kobrin, Kreitman, Lightfoot, Lurie, Naylor, Ngai, Pedersen, Robcis, Senocak, Stafford, Stephanson, Witgen

Guidance for Undergraduate Students in the History Department
 

Program Planning for all Students 

Course Numbering Structure 


History courses are typically offered as a lecture or a seminar. 

Lectures meet twice a week for 1 hour and 15 minutes each session and have additional required discussion sections that meet once a week and are numbered at the 1000-level and 2000-level below:

  • UN 1xxx - Introductory Survey Lectures
  • UN 2xxx - Undergraduate Lectures

Seminars are smaller, more intensive courses that explore focused topics through concentrated reading in secondary literature, primary-source research, or both. The workload for seminars is generally heavier than for lectures, with more reading and more written work often requiring a substantial paper. Seminars are numbered at the 3000-level and 4000-level below:

  • UN 3xxx - Undergraduate Seminars
  • GU 4xxx - Joint Undergraduate/Graduate Seminars 

History subject fields are numbered below (with some exceptions):

  • x000-x059: Ancient
  • x060-x099: Medieval
  • x100-x199: Early modern Europe
  • x200-x299: East Central Europe
  • x300-x399: Modern Western Europe
  • x400-x599: United States
  • x600-x659: Jewish
  • x660-x699: Latin America
  • x700-x759: Middle East
  • x760-x799: Africa
  • x800-x859: South Asia
  • x860-x899: East Asia
  • x900-x999: Research, historiography, and transnational

Guidance for First-Year Students 


Students interested in a History degree should first take a look at the department’s Undergraduate Handbook which details the requirements of the major, concentrator, and minor in History.

In regards to courses and where to begin, the History curriculum does not have a set course plan or “one size fits all” for History students. Every major, concentrator, and minor will have the opportunity to choose a field to specialize in to which their course plan will be created on a Plan of Study based on that specialization.

What is recommended to all first-year students interested in history is to begin with a lecture at the 1000 or 2000 level that captures their interest. From there they proceed to a seminar related to that initial lecture and/or more lectures as they begin building History courses for their Plan of Study.

Guidance for Transfer Students


Students transferring into Columbia should first take a look at the department’s Undergraduate Handbook which details the requirements of the major, concentrator, and minor in History.

After familiarizing themselves with the History program, transfer students should consider submitting a transfer credit request for history courses taken at their previous institution.  In addition, transfer students should meet with an Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED) advisor to go over and create a Plan of Study to set a course plan in place.


 

Undergraduate Programs of Study

Required Coursework for all Programs 


All History students are required to choose and complete a “specialization”. The specialization is a set of courses on a specific field, theme, or subject. In most cases, the regional specialization must be bound by a time period; for example, “20th Century U.S. History” as opposed to just “U.S. History”.

To determine which History courses fulfill a specialization, students should consult an Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED) advisor. 

Students interested in a thematic specialization (e.g. Environmental History) should consult an Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED) advisor. 

All program course plans are organized through a student’s Plan of Study, which is approved by an UNDED advisor.

Major in History


The History major is an opportunity for students to pursue their intellectual interests, whether in a specific or multiple fields in history. Students will establish an understanding of various methodologies and approaches to reading and writing history and also acquire skills such as critical thinking, research and analysis, synthesizing large amounts of information, and writing.

 

The total number of History courses required to complete the major is 9, most of which will be 4-points, and are created through a student’s Plan of Study. Courses eligible to count toward the major are below:

 
  • Courses in the History Departments of both Columbia and Barnard (HIST and HIST BC)
  • Cross-Listed courses for a specific term (found in the Columbia College Bulletin)
  • Transfer courses accepted through a transfer credit request.
  • Graduate courses taught by History Department faculty
 

With advice and approval from the Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED), students will create a Plan of Study, which serves as the course plan for their degree.

 

As mentioned, the History major requires 9 total courses listed on a Plan of Study approved by an UNDED advisor. The Plan of Study courses breakdown is below:

 

SPECIALIZATION COURSES are courses directly related to a student’s chosen specialization. (4 specialization courses required) 

 

BREADTH COURSES are courses taken outside of a student’s specialization. They are broken down into two categories: time and space.

 
  • Removed in Time: course covering a time period far removed from their specialization. (1 removed-in-time course required) 
  • Removed in Space: courses in regions removed from their chosen specialization. (2 removed-in-space courses required) 
 

ADDITIONAL HISTORY COURSES. These courses are History courses that do not have to fit a specific requirement. (2 additional courses required) 

 

SEMINAR REQUIREMENT. Of the 9 courses, at least 2 of them must be History seminars, with at least one of them being a seminar in specialization.

Minor in History 


The History minor serves as an introduction to the discipline affording students from other programs the opportunity to pursue their intellectual interests, whether in a specific or multiple fields. Through the minor students will establish an understanding of various methodologies and approaches to reading and writing history. Through the courses taken within History minor students will also acquire skills such as critical thinking, research and analysis, synthesizing large amounts of information, and writing.

 

The total number of History courses required to complete the minor is 5, most of which will be 4-points. Courses eligible to count toward the minor are below:

  • Courses in the History Departments of both Columbia and Barnard (HIST and HIST BC)
  • Cross-Listed courses for a specific term (found in the Columbia College Bulletin)
  • Graduate courses taught by History Department faculty
 

With advice and approval from the Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED), students will create a Plan of Study, which serves as the course plan for their degree.

 

As mentioned, the History minor requires 5 total courses listed on a Plan of Study approved by an UNDED advisor. The Plan of Study courses breakdown is below:

 

SPECIALIZATION COURSES are courses directly related to a student’s chosen specialization. (2 specialization courses required) 

 

ADDITIONAL HISTORY COURSES. These courses are History courses that do not have to fit a specific requirement. (3 additional courses required) 

 

BREADTH REQUIREMENT. Of the 5 courses, at least 1 of them must be a course taken pre-1500 or post-1500.

 

For students who entered Columbia in or before the 2023-24 academic year
 

Concentration in History 


The History concentration offers an opportunity to students from other programs the opportunity to pursue their intellectual interests, whether in a specific or multiple fields in history. Through the concentration students will establish an understanding of various methodologies and approaches to reading and writing history. Through the courses taken within History concentration students will also acquire skills such as critical thinking, research and analysis, synthesizing large amounts of information, and writing.

The total number of History courses required to complete the minor is 6, most of which will be 4-points. Courses eligible to count toward the minor are below:

  • Courses in the History Departments of both Columbia and Barnard (HIST and HIST BC)
  • Cross-Listed courses for a specific term (found in the Columbia College Bulletin)
  • Transfer courses accepted through a transfer credit request.
  • Graduate courses taught by History Department faculty

With advice and approval from the Undergraduate Education Committee (UNDED), students will create a Plan of Study, which serves as the course plan for their degree.

As mentioned, the History concentration requires 6 total courses listed on a Plan of Study approved by an UNDED advisor. The Plan of Study courses breakdown is below:

SPECIALIZATION COURSES are courses directly related to a student’s chosen specialization. (3 specialization courses required) 

BREADTH COURSES are courses taken outside of a student’s specialization. They are broken down into two categories: time and space.

  • Removed in Time: course covering a time period far removed from their specialization. (1 removed-in-time course required) 
  • Removed in Space: courses in regions removed from their chosen specialization. (1 removed-in-space course required) 

ADDITIONAL HISTORY COURSES. The sixth course required for a History concentration does not have to fit a specific requirement. (1 additional courses required) 

 

Fall 2025 History Courses

HIST UN1010 ANCIENT GREEK HIST, 800-146 BC. 4.00 points.

A review of the history of the Greek world from the beginnings of Greek archaic culture around 800 B.C. through the classical and hellenistic periods to the definitive Roman conquest in 146 B.C. with concentration on political history, but attention also to social and cultural developments.Field(s): ANC

Fall 2025: HIST UN1010
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1010 001/10161 T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm
Room TBA
Richard Billows 4.00 22/60

HIST UN1488 Indigenous History of North America. 4.00 points.

This course is an introduction to the history of the Native peoples of North America. Instruction will focus on the idea that indigenous people in North America possess a shared history in terms of being forced to respond to European colonization, and the emergence of the modern nation-state. Native peoples, however, possess their own distinct histories and culture. In this sense their histories are uniquely multi-faceted rather than the experience of a singular racial group. Accordingly, this course will offer a wide-ranging survey of cultural encounters between the Native peoples of North America, European empires, colonies, and emergent modern nation-states taking into account the many different indigenous responses to colonization and settler colonialism. This course will also move beyond the usual stories of Native-White relations that center either on narratives of conquest and assimilation, or stories of cultural persistence. We will take on these issues, but we will also explore the significance of Native peoples to the historical development of modern North America. This will necessarily entail an examination of race formation, and a study of the evolution of social structures and categories such as nation, tribe, citizenship, and sovereignty

Fall 2025: HIST UN1488
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1488 001/10360 T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm
Room TBA
Michael Witgen 4.00 21/30

HIST UN2310 European Intellectual History. 4.00 points.

This course provides an introduction to some of the major landmarks in European cultural and intellectual history, from the aftermath of the French Revolution to the 1970s. We will pay special attention to the relationship between texts (literature, anthropology, political theory, psychoanalysis, art, and film) and the various contexts in which they were produced. Among other themes, we will discuss the cultural impact of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, industrialism, colonialism, modernism, the Russian Revolution, the two world wars, decolonization, feminism and gay liberation movements, structuralism and poststructuralism. In conjunction, we will examine how modern ideologies (liberalism, conservatism, Marxism, imperialism, fascism, totalitarianism, neoliberalism) were developed and challenged over the course of the last two centuries. Participation in weekly discussion sections staffed by TAs is mandatory. The discussion sections are 50 minutes per session. Students must register for the general discussion (“DISC”) section, and will be assigned to a specific time and TA instructor once the course begins

Fall 2025: HIST UN2310
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2310 001/10340 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
Room TBA
Camille Robcis 4.00 23/60

HIST UN2347 Conquests and Transformations: Ireland since 1500. 4.00 points.

We are often led to believe that Ireland is a place defined by timeless tradition: ancient songs and stories, a rural way of life, persistent and mysterious religious antagonisms. The real history of modern Ireland, however, is defined by dramatic and restless change: political, social, economic, even environmental. This lecture course will introduce you to the broad sweep of modern Irish history, acquainting you with a rich historical literature and striking primary sources covering everything from the contentious and deadly politics of potato-farming to the secret lives of combatants in the Northern Ireland Troubles. It will view Ireland not as a place out of time but as somewhere from which we can gain a unique perspective on some of the historical forces that have shaped our world: empire, capitalism, religion, migration, and nationalism

Fall 2025: HIST UN2347
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2347 001/12904 T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm
Room TBA
James Stafford 4.00 19/30

HIST UN2533 US LESBIAN & GAY HISTORY. 4.00 points.

This course explores the social, cultural, and political history of lesbians, gay men, and other socially constituted sexual and gender minorities, primarily in the twentieth century. Since the production and regulation of queer life has always been intimately linked to the production and policing of “normal” sexuality and gender, we will also pay attention to the shifting boundaries of normative sexuality, especially heterosexuality, as well as other developments in American history that shaped gay life, such as the Second World War, Cold War, urbanization, and the minority rights revolution. Themes include the emergence of homosexuality and heterosexuality as categories of experience and identity; the changing relationship between homosexuality and transgenderism; the development of diverse lesbian and gay subcultures and their representation in popular culture; the sources of antigay hostility; religion and sexual science; generational change and everyday life; AIDS; and gay, antigay, feminist, and queer movements

Fall 2025: HIST UN2533
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2533 001/10349 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
Room TBA
George Chauncey 4.00 0/150

HIST UN2618 THE MODERN CARIBBEAN. 4.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

This lecture course examines the social, cultural, and political history of the islands of the Caribbean Sea and the coastal regions of Central and South America that collectively form the Caribbean region, from Amerindian settlement, through the era of European imperialism and African enslavement, to the period of socialist revolution and independence. The course will examine historical trajectories of colonialism, slavery, and labor regimes; post-emancipation experiences and migration; radical insurgencies and anti-colonial movements; and intersections of race, culture, and neocolonialism. It will also investigate the production of national, creole, and transborder indentities. Formerly listed as The Caribbean in the 19th and 20th centuries. Field(s): LAC

Fall 2025: HIST UN2618
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2618 001/10356 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
Room TBA
Natasha Lightfoot 4.00 37/120

HIST UN2719 HISTORY OF THE MOD MIDDLE EAST. 4.00 points.

This course will cover the history of the Middle East from the 18th century until the present, examining the region ranging from Morocco to Iran and including the Ottoman Empire. It will focus on transformations in the states of the region, external intervention, and the emergence of modern nation-states, as well as aspects of social, economic, cultural and intellectual history of the region. Field(s): ME

Fall 2025: HIST UN2719
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2719 001/10335 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
Room TBA
Rashid Khalidi 4.00 109/240

HIST UN2764 EAST AFRICAN HISTORY. 4.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

A survey of East African history over the past two millennia with a focus on political and social change. Themes include early religious and political ideas, the rise of states on the Swahili coast and between the Great Lakes, slavery, colonialism, and social and cultural developments in the 20th century. This course fulfills the Global Core requirement. Field(s): AFR

Fall 2025: HIST UN2764
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2764 001/10164 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
Room TBA
Rhiannon Stephens 4.00 15/90

HIST UN2851 Making Modern Korea. 4.00 points.

This course explores Korea’s history from the late nineteenth century to the present with a particular focus on caste/class, gender, war and industrialization. Using primary and secondary texts as well as documentary film and literary ephemera, the seminar analyses such topics as the relationship between imperialism and rebellions in the nineteenth century; the uneven experience of Japanese colonial rule; Korea’s early feminist movement; how North Korea became a communist society; the deep scars of the Korean War; cultures of industrialism in South and North Korea; counter-cultural movements in 1970s, 1980s and 1990s South Korea; and contemporary challenges facing the peninsula. This course will give students a thorough grounding in modern Korean history and introduce them to major interpretative currents in the study of Korean history

Fall 2025: HIST UN2851
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2851 001/10318 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
Room TBA
Ruth Barraclough 4.00 13/30

HIST UN2978 Science and Pseudoscience: Alchemy to AI. 4.00 points.

During the 2020 US presidential election and the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, science and “scientific truths” were fiercely contested. This course provides a historical perspective on the issues at stake. The course begins with an historical account of how areas of natural knowledge, such as astrology, alchemy, and “natural magic,” which were central components of an educated person’s view of the world in early modern Europe, became marginalized, while a new philosophy of nature (what we would now call empirical science) came to dominate the discourse of rationality. Historical developments examined in this course out of which this new understanding of nature emerged include the rise of the centralized state, religious reform, and European expansion. The course uses this historical account to show how science and pseudoscience developed in tandem in the period from 1400 to 1800. This historical account equips students to examine contemporary issues of expertise, the social construction of science, pluralism in science, certainty and uncertainty in science, as well as critical engagement with contemporary technologies

Fall 2025: HIST UN2978
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2978 001/10168 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
Room TBA
Pamela Smith 4.00 16/30

HIST UN3030 IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP IN AMER HIST. 4.00 points.

This course explores the meaning of American citizenship in connection with the country’s immigration history. Topics include historic pathways to citizenship for migrants; barriers to citizenship including wealth, race, gender, beliefs and documentation; and critical issues such as colonialism, statelessness, dual nationality, and birthright citizenship. We will ask how have people become citizens and under what authority has that citizenship been granted? What are the historic barriers to citizenship and how have they shifted over time? What major questions remain unanswered by Congress and the Supreme Court regarding the rights of migrants to attain and retain American citizenship?

Fall 2025: HIST UN3030
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3030 001/11065 Th 12:10pm - 2:00pm
Room TBA
Jessica Lee 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3061 ISLAM AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 4 points.

This course explores the encounter between Europe, broadly conceived, and the Islamic world in the period from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries.  While the Latin Christian military expeditions that began in the late eleventh century known as the Crusades are part of this story, they are not the focus.  The course stresses instead the range of diplomatic, commercial, intellectual, artistic, religious, and military interactions established well before the Crusades across a wide geographical expanse, with focal points in Iberia and Southern Italy.  Substantial readings in primary sources in translation are supplemented with recent scholarship.  [Students will be assigned on average 150-200 pages of reading per week, depending on the difficulty of the primary sources; we will read primary sources every week.]

Fall 2025: HIST UN3061
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3061 001/11952 W 8:10am - 10:00am
Room TBA
Adam Kosto 4 0/13

HIST UN3180 RELIGIOUS CONVERSION IN HIST. 4.00 points.

Priority given to majors and concentrators, seniors, and juniors.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.
Boundary crossers have always challenged the way societies imagined themselves. This course explores the intersection between personal identity, narrative, and the historical-political, religious, economic, and social aspects of religious conversion. While the course will focus on Western (Christian and Jewish) models in the medieval and early modern periods, we will also look at antiquity, the role of conversion in the spread of Islam, and the complexities of religious conversion through the prism of colonial relations

Fall 2025: HIST UN3180
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3180 001/10167 Th 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Elisheva Carlebach 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3189 COMPOSNG THE SELF-ERLY MOD EUR. 4.00 points.

This course explores manners of conceiving and being a self in early modern Europe (ca. 1400-1800). Through the analysis of a range of sources, from autobiographical writings to a selection of theological, philosophical, artistic, and literary works, we will approach the concept of personhood as a lens through which to study topics such as the valorization of interiority, humanist scholarly practices, the rising professional status of artists, the spirituality of Christian mysticism, mechanist and sensationalist philosophies of selfhood, and, more generally, the human person’s relationship with material and existential goods. This approach is intended to deepen our understanding of the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and other movements around which histories of the early modern period have typically been narrated

Fall 2025: HIST UN3189
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3189 001/11067 T 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Charly Coleman 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3274 Collapse: The Fall and Afterlife of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev to Putin. 4.00 points.

On Christmas Day 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev ended two things: his tenure as President of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union itself. The following day, Boris Yeltsin entered office as the first president of the Russian Federation, and without delay, began to institute radical economic and social reforms. Under his watch, the country privatized national industry, cut the state budget, and courted foreign multinational businesses. The world most commonly used to describe Russia in the early 1990s is “disappear”: money, jobs, food, and people. The very things that Soviet-style socialism had committed itself to providing for started to vanish as a result of invisible and market forces. At the same time as they were being told to welcome the approaching era of capitalist abundance, ordinary Russians were scrambling to cope with and recover from all that appeared to be suddenly and permanently missing from their pay stubs, kitchen tables, and family photographs. This course will explore what emerged in the spaces left empty after Soviet-style socialism’s demise. The course will be divided into three parts. The first part of the semester will examine the origins of the Soviet Union’s collapse and its breakup into fifteen successor states. Who was Mikhail Gorbachev, and why did the reforms instituted as part of glasnost and perestroika fail to revitalize the Soviet system? How did citizens - elites and average people alike - from Russia, the Soviet republics, and satellite states witness the collapse, and how did they manage the immediate transition to capitalism? The second part of the semester will survey the political, economic, and social processes that followed the collapse. How did former Soviet citizens reintegrate themselves in the new economies, political movements, and social structures that emerged in the Russian Federation under Yeltsin? In what ways did privatization and the arrival of foreign capital shape labor practices, consumer habits, the natural and built environment, and forms of cultural expression? What forms did nationalist movements in the former republics and and Warsaw Pact countries take? Finally, the third part of the course will focus on Putin’s ascendancy to the presidency and its consequences for Russian citizens at home and Russia’s image abroad. We will consider the role that memory and myth play in the formation of a “United Russian” consciousness, the costs and benefits of life in Putin’s Russia, and the transformation of the international system under Vladimir Vladimirovich. By semester’s end, students will have acquired the content and analytical literacy to place present-day Russia in its specific historical context and identify multiple sources of causation that may help explain Russia’s transition from socialism to capitalism to Putinism during the past quarter century

Fall 2025: HIST UN3274
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3274 001/11500 M 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Yana Skorobogatov 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3386 The Global First World War. 4.00 points.

The First World War has often been thought of as a European War, but it was fought on four continents and reverberated around the world. This course examines the global nature and impact of the war, paying particular attention to the way it destabilized or affected imperial, national, and ethnic/racial solidarities and hierarchies, and ushered in new transnational norms, hazards, movements and practices. Students will read selected recent historical work on the war, and will delve into and contextualize a wide array of primary materials: diplomatic treaties or declarations; collective petitions or claims; combatants’ diaries; observer accounts; official and humanitarian investigations; and novels, poetry, photography, and paintings. This seminar will function as a collaboration among its members, with the aim of producing not only individual work but a handbook of primary materials for a lecture-course version of the course which will be offered as a Global Core in 2023-4

Fall 2025: HIST UN3386
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3386 001/10338 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Susan Pedersen 4.00 0/15

HIST UN3418 The Carceral United States. 4.00 points.

Examination of the development of U.S. carceral systems and logics from the late 18th century through the present. Through course readings and class discussion, students will explore the changes and continuities in technologies of punishment and captivity over time, interrogating how the purpose and political economy of captivity and policing shifted over time, and analyzing the relationship between carceral institutions and constructions of race, gender, and sexuality

Fall 2025: HIST UN3418
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3418 001/10353 M 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Sarah Haley 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3501 Indians and Empires in North America. 4.00 points.

In this course you will be asked to re-think American history. That is, we will approach the history of America as a continental history. This will require that we think of North America as a New World space, a place that was inhabited and occupied by indigenous peoples, and then remade by the arrival and settlement of Europeans. You will be asked to imagine a North America that was indigenous and adaptive, as well as colonial and Euro-American. This approach to the study of North American history is designed to challenge the epistemology and literature of the history of colonization and American expansion, which displaces Native peoples from the central narrative of American history by placing them at the physical margins of colonial and national development. Instead we will explore the intersection and integration of indigenous and Euro-American national identity and national space in North America and trace their co-evolution from first contact through the early nineteenth century

Fall 2025: HIST UN3501
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3501 001/10362 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Michael Witgen 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3691 Women, Gender, and the Political Right in Latin America and the Caribbean. 4.00 points.

This course introduces students to the histories of women, gender, and right-wing politics in Latin America and the Caribbean from the early 1900s to the present. From the ‘Era of Fascism’ to the politics of motherhood, the course will explore the origins and debates surrounding key theories and gender-based narratives within the political right, including topics such as nativism, anti-communism, and religious nationalisms. We will also examine the agency, impact, and struggles of right-wing women, addressing issues related to sexuality, femininities, masculinities, and reproductive politics. Students will critically analyze how to unpack the concept of the “political right” across the region, investigate the counterintuitive discourses of “conservative feminists,” and examine the extremist views of fascist women. How can we trace and analyze anti-gender, right-wing narratives from the past to the present? What role did Latin American women play in shaping this history? Throughout, we will draw on a rich variety of primary and secondary sources to deepen our understanding of these complex issues

Fall 2025: HIST UN3691
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3691 001/12907 T 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Daniela Traldi 4.00 5/13

HIST UN3836 Law and Society in Colonial India. 4.00 points.

This course explores the relationship between law and society in colonial India. It features cases relating to marriage and divorce, property and inheritance, sedition and criminal conspiracy woven through the lives of ordinary people in nineteenth and twentieth century India. Through a range of materials, we will explore how British colonial officials reformulated what “law” was and how it was to be interpreted. We will also explore how these interpretations were understood and challenged. We will encounter judges, lawyers, and notaries that mediated the relationship between law and society, courts, and litigants, while catching a fascinating glimpse of what arguments, evidence, and sentencing looked like in these courts. As we go through our readings and attend classes, we might ask: how does this perspective from India shape our understanding of the relationship between law and colonialism, and what are its contemporary implications?

Fall 2025: HIST UN3836
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3836 001/12908 T 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Kalyani Ramnath 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3866 WARS OF INDOCHINA. 4.00 points.

This course will analyze the wars for Vietnam in the Cold War era from a multitude of perspectives, vantage points, and mediums. Using the award-winning documentary, The Vietnam War, as the basis of the seminar, students will explore this violent period in Indochinese history that witnessed decolonization movements, revolutionary struggles, state and nation-building, superpower interventions, and devastating warfare. At the same time, the battles that unfolded in mainland Southeast Asia posed geostrategic challenges to former imperial powers and the superpowers of the Cold War era. The class will not only familiarize students with Vietnam's tumultuous history, it introduces the latest debates, newest research, and most recent documentary films on this oft-studied topic

Fall 2025: HIST UN3866
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3866 001/10322 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Lien-Hang Nguyen 4.00 0/13

HIST UN3908 The Dirty Work: Histories of Domestic Labor. 4.00 points.

Domestic work - including food preparation, caring for children, and cleaning and maintaining a home - is essential to sustaining human life. Yet this work is often socially invisible. When paid workers undertake domestic labor, it has historically been one of the lowest-paid, most vulnerable and exploited forms of labor. In this course, we will explore how household labor itself and the people who do it have evolved over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, focusing on Britain and the United States as case studies. The course pays particular attention to the gender, class, and racial inequalities that have characterized this work and examples of how both paid and unpaid domestic workers have challenged their exploitation and invisibility in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Fall 2025: HIST UN3908
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3908 001/13612 W 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Lucy Sharp 4.00 0/12

HIST UN3928 SLAVERY/ABOLITION-ATLANTC WRLD. 4.00 points.

This seminar investigates the experiences of slavery and freedom among African-descended people living and laboring in the various parts of the Atlantic World. The course will trace critical aspects of these two major, interconnected historical phenomena with an eye to how specific cases either manifested or troubled broader trends across various slaveholding societies. The first half of the course addresses the history of slavery and the second half pertains to experiences in emancipation. However, since the abolition of slavery occurs at different moments in various areas of the Atlantic World, the course will adhere to a more thematic and less chronological structure, in its examination of the multiple avenues to freedom available in various regions. Weekly units will approach major themes relevant to both slavery and emancipation, such as racial epistemologies among slaveowners/employers, labor regimes in slave and free societies, cultural innovations among slave and freed communities, gendered discourses and sexual relations within slave and free communities, and slaves’ and free people’s resistance to domination. The goal of this course is to broaden students’ comprehension of the history of slavery and freedom, and to promote an understanding of the transition from slavery to freedom in the Americas as creating both continuities and ruptures in the structure and practices of the various societies concerned

Fall 2025: HIST UN3928
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3928 001/10358 T 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Natasha Lightfoot 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4311 European Romanticism. 4 points.

Priority given to majors and concentrators, seniors, and juniors.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.

“…Romanticism is the largest recent movement to transform the lives and the thought of the Western world. It seems to me to be the greatest single shift in the consciousness of the West that has occurred, and all the other shifts which have occurred in the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries appear to me in comparison less important, and at any rate deeply influenced by it.” (Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism)

,

This seminar will introduce students to the manifold expressions of Romanticism in Europe from the late eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century. It is geared both at History majors, particularly but not exclusively those specializing in European Intellectual History, and at students interested in the literature and culture of Germany, France, and Great Britain. We will also  take a  brief look at Romantic writers in Eastern Europe. We will read primarily works written by philosophers and social thinkers, but also a good deal of literature, both prose and poetry. We will have two sessions devoted to the plastic arts – including a class trip to the Metropolitan Museum to view paintings and sculptures, and we will have one session devoted to Romantic music (a study of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.)  We will include readings relating to the Romantic fascination with “the East,” and devote one session to the crucial subject of Romanticism and gender.  Most of the readings will be primary sources either originally in or translated into English, as well as a selection of pertinent secondary sources.

Fall 2025: HIST GU4311
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4311 001/10512 T 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Michael Stanislawski 4 0/13

HIST GU4344 Truth from the Past: Introduction to the Philosophy of History. 4.00 points.

Exploring philosophies of history from the ancient Greeks to the present

Fall 2025: HIST GU4344
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4344 001/10511 M 12:10pm - 2:00pm
Room TBA
Mark Mazower 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4356 Montaigne and the Modern Self. 4.00 points.

This seminar, which focuses on Montaigne’s Essays, is one of a series on the history of the modern self. The series has included seminars on figures like Pascal, Rousseau, and Tocqueville, and will continue to expand

Fall 2025: HIST GU4356
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4356 001/12964 Th 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Mark Lilla 4.00 0/9

HIST GU4388 The Holocaust in the USSR. 4.00 points.

Following the trials of the immediate postwar, and the Historikerstreit of the 1980s, the study of the Holocaust has another significant turn with the opening of the Soviet archives beginning in the 1990s. The Holocaust in the USSR expands our knowledge of the catastrophe, situating the latter phases of emblematic extermination camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau against a longer continuum of personalized, individual violence. The “Holocaust by Bullets” as coined by Father Desbois has parallels to other colonial violence and further explains the genocidal process from dehumanization to militarily crafted murder to institutions of extermination. This course specifically addresses the Holocaust in the USSR with a focus on historical research methods, expanded victim groups, testimony, archival research, denial, and rigorous historiographical grounding. Materials include testimonies from the USC Shoah Foundation and Fortunoff Archives, historiographical surveys like Wachsmann’s KL and Friedländer’s Years of Extermination, and important books with new turns in Holocaust scholarship specifically on the USSR like Lower’s Hitler’s Furies and Snyder’s Black Earth. Our class will be supplemented by field trips to YIVO, the Bukharian Jewish Center, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, giving students hands-on experience with archival materials and research methods. Together, diverse research methods and materials present students with a more complete understanding of the Holocaust and an excellent foundation to continue research in atrocity studies

Fall 2025: HIST GU4388
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4388 001/12950 W 12:10pm - 2:00pm
Room TBA
Alexandra Birch 4.00 0/15

HIST GU4426 PEOPLE OF THE OLD SOUTH. 4.00 points.

No place or period in American history has ignited more passion or brought into being a richer trove of first-rate scholarship than the South during the years before the Civil War. On the other hand, no place or period in American history has generated more misguided scholarship or more propaganda. In this course, students will sample historical literature and primary sources about the Old South, evaluating the interpretations historians have offered and scrutinizing some of the documents on which historians of the Old South have based their conclusions

Fall 2025: HIST GU4426
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4426 001/11468 Th 4:10pm - 6:00pm
Room TBA
Barbara Fields 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4489 Early American Law and Society. 4.00 points.

How does law shape the way that people live together in society, and how do changes in society bring about changes in the law? How is law lived on the ground, and how did its subjects think about it and use it for their own purposes? In this class, we will read recent and significant scholarship in the history of the early American republic (c. 1776-1840) that explores these questions, drawing on the history of the law and legal sources. Although this class will touch on some of the better-known arguments among scholars of legal history, its approach will be more practical than theoretical. Its primary focus will not be on the evolution of American law as a conceptual matter, or on philosophical arguments about the nature of the law. Rather, students in this class will read in order to become better researchers: to learn more about how law worked in the early American republic, about the institutions through which it operated, about how it changed over time, and how it formed (and was formed by) American society. This reading-intensive class is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students who are interested in the history of the law, or in conducting research projects that draw extensively on legal sources. For undergraduates, previous coursework in US history is strongly recommended

Fall 2025: HIST GU4489
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4489 001/10351 M 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Hannah Farber 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4518 Research Seminar: Columbia and Slavery. 4 points.

In this course, students will write original, independent papers of around 25 pages, based on research in both primary and secondary sources, on an aspect of the relationship between Columbia College and its colonial predecessor King's College, with the institution of slavery.

Fall 2025: HIST GU4518
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4518 001/10355 T 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Karl Jacoby 4 0/13

HIST GU4527 Topics in U.S. Foreign Relations History. 4.00 points.

This course will explore various topics in the History of U.S. foreign relations. Drawing on a wide range of scholarly writings, we will explore the history of the United States and the world with an eye toward the impact of American power on foreign peoples. Students will also use the semester to design, research, and write a substantial essay that draws on both primary and secondary sources on a topic chosen in consultation with the professor

Fall 2025: HIST GU4527
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4527 001/10328 Th 12:10pm - 2:00pm
Room TBA
Paul Chamberlin 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4528 Power, Place, Politics, and Health: Historical Perspectives. 4.00 points.

COURSE DESCRIPTION Through assigned readings and a 3500-4000 word paper, students will gain familiarity with a range of historical moments in the history of public health in the 20th-century United States. Themes will include ethnic and racial formations, technological development, biopolitics and biopower, medicalization, geography, political economy, and biological citizenship, among others.. Topics to be examined will include, but will not be limited to, women’s health organization and care; HIV/AIDS politics, policy, and community response; reproductive justice; “benign neglect”; urban renewal and gentrification; social movements, and environmental justice. Previous coursework in relevant fields required (U.S. history or health history, certain area studies, Public Health/Sociomedical Sciences, medical humanities, etc.). GUIDELINES & REQUIREMENTS There are no official prerequisites. However, this is an upper-level course, and students should have some academic or professional background in health studies (especially public health), African-American/ethnic studies (history or social science), or some other work related to the course material. ADMISSION Admission to this course is by application only, Students from all schools, including Teachers College, are welcome to apply. Students may not enroll in this course on a pass/fail basis or as an auditor without instructor permission

Spring 2025: HIST GU4528
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4528 001/17884 M 10:10am - 12:00pm
467 Ext Schermerhorn Hall
Samuel Roberts 4.00 4/15

HIST GU4607 RABBIS FOR HISTORIANS. 4.00 points.

This course introduces the central historical issues raised by ancient Palestinian and Babylonian rabbinic literature through exploration of some of the crucial primary texts and analysis of the main scholarly approaches to these texts

Fall 2025: HIST GU4607
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4607 001/10163 Th 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Seth Schwartz 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4708 Topics in Ottoman History, 1300–1800. 4.00 points.

The Ottomans ruled Southeast Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Anatolia for nearly half a millennium. The objective of this seminar is to explore the rich and growing literature on the social, cultural, political, and economic history of this bygone empire, whose legacy still persists, in one way or another, in some twenty-five contemporary successor states from the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula. The seminar is designed to contextualize the Ottoman experiences within the broader structures of global and regional histories during the late-medieval and early modern eras. Each week, we will focus on a particular theme, assess the current state of scholarship on the topic, and reflect upon a specific set of primary sources useful for the study of the issue. The themes we will explore include, but are not limited to, identities and mentalities, governance of the empire and its bureaucracy, the status of minorities and confessional politics, literacy and the use of the public sphere, legal culture and pluralism, the environment, and science and technology. Please be advised that this seminar will avoid the mere chronological narrative of Ottoman political and institutional history, which often recounts the transformation from the 'terror of Europe' to its 'Sick Man.' Throughout the course, we will emphasize the gradually evolving nature of the multi-layered, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual Ottoman polity, society, and culture to challenge such essentialist and ahistorical assessments of past Ottoman experiences

Fall 2025: HIST GU4708
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4708 001/12949 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Tunc Sen 4.00 2/13

HIST GU4709 Race and Enslavement in the Middle East. 4.00 points.

This research seminar explores the nexus between race and enslavement in the Middle East and broader Indian Ocean world. This course will re-envision the contours of the Middle East as part of a larger geography that extends beyond Southwest Asia and North Africa, highlighting its deep ties to what is often called “Black Africa.” It also looks at Blackness within the Middle East and examines its long history of belonging, exchange, and migration. It investigates the kinds of knowledge production required to erase these ties and connections, and to produce a vaguely “brown” racial sphere that both homogenizes the Middle East and removes any references to Blackness from its history and societies. Throughout the course, we will probe the memories and legacies of enslavement across the Middle East and Indian Ocean world. How has enslavement and the lives of those enslaved been remembered, defined, written about, and narrated in both academic and non-academic texts? What were the factors that enabled remembering or forgetting these pasts and the people’s lives they controlled? And how do these narratives relate to the questions of race? This course considers narratives and their afterlives from throughout North Africa, the Nile Valley, West Asia, and South Asia

Fall 2025: HIST GU4709
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4709 001/12951 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
4.00 2/10

HIST GU4713 Orientalism and the Historiography of the Other. 4 points.

This course will examine some of the problems inherent in Western historical writing on non-European cultures, as well as broad questions of what itmeans to write history across cultures. The course will touch on therelationship between knowledge and power, given that much of the knowledge we will be considering was produced at a time of the expansion of Western power over the rest of the world. By comparing some of the "others" which European historians constructed in the different non-western societies they depicted, and the ways other societies dealt with alterity and self, we may be able to derive a better sense of how the Western sense of self was constructed. Group(s): C Field(s): ME

Fall 2025: HIST GU4713
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4713 001/10331 Th 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Marwa Elshakry 4 0/13

HIST GU4721 Archaeology and Heritage in the Ottoman Lands in the Long 19th Century. 4.00 points.

“Archaeology and Heritage in the Ottoman Lands” is an undergraduate/graduate seminar focusing on archaeology, museology, and the notion of heritage throughout the lands under Ottoman rule during the ‘long’ nineteenth century. The objective is to critically reassess the nature of Western antiquarian and archaeological endeavors, and to focus on the local dimension of the question to fill numerous gaps and inconsistencies in the ‘grand narrative’ of Near Eastern archaeology and heritage

Fall 2025: HIST GU4721
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4721 001/10330 W 4:10pm - 6:00pm
Room TBA
Edhem Eldem 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4736 Ottoman Westernization and Orientalism in the Long 19th Century. 4.00 points.

“Ottoman Westernization and Orientalism in the Long 19th Century” is an undergraduate/graduate seminar focusing on the intricate relationship between Westernization and Orientalism in the context of the Ottoman Empire. Based on the assumption that these two concepts cannot be dissociated from one another, it sets out to explore Western/Orientalist perceptions of the empire, Ottoman efforts to Westernize, the emergence of Ottoman Orientalism, and other local reactions such as Occidentalism and anti-Westernism

Fall 2025: HIST GU4736
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4736 001/10329 W 12:10pm - 2:00pm
Room TBA
Edhem Eldem 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4955 Fossil Power: history of global climate politics. 4.00 points.

Since the 1980s, the realization of the pace of global warming and its likely impacts has created a new kind of global politics – climate politics. We live under the shadow of a new kind of catastrophe. Our increasing certainty about the scale of the escalating climate crisis stands in glaring contradiction with the ongoing consumption of huge amounts of energy in the developed economies and surging energy consumption in the developing world, led by China. Attempting to achieve climate stabilization requires an unprecedented collective effort. If we do not make the effort, the science tells us that we face radical new types of uncertainty and risk. As a result, we are living in an era marked by new tensions - political, economic, social, technological and geopolitical. The narrative of modernity itself is put in question. In this seminar we will engage with the first efforts to write the history of this new era

Fall 2025: HIST GU4955
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4955 001/12952 M 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Adam Tooze 4.00 0/13

HIST GU4962 Making and Knowing in Early Modern Europe: Hands-On History. 4.00 points.

This course introduces undergraduate and graduate students to the materials, techniques, contexts, and meanings of skilled craft and artistic practices in early modern Europe (1350-1750), in order to reflect upon a series of topics, including craft knowledge and artisanal epistemology; the intersections between craft and science; and questions of historical methodology in reconstructing the material world of the past. The course will be run as a “Laboratory Seminar,” with discussions of primary and secondary materials, as well as hands-on work in a laboratory. The first semester long course to use the published Edition of Fr. 640 as its focus, it will test the use of the Edition in a higher education classroom to inform the development of the Companion. This course is associated with the Making and Knowing Project of the Center for Science and Society at Columbia University.The first semester-long course to use the published Edition of Fr. 640 as its focus, it will test the use of the Edition in a higher education classroom to inform the development of Phase II of the Making and Knowing Project - a Research and Teaching Companion. Students’ final projects (exploratory and experimental work in the form of digital/textual analysis of Ms. Fr. 640, reconstruction insight reports, videos for the Companion, or a combination) will be published as part of the Companion or the Sandbox depending on content and long-term maintenance considerations

Fall 2025: HIST GU4962
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4962 001/10170 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Pamela Smith 4.00 0/13

Fall 2025 Cross-listed Courses

PLEASE READ: The passage below lists *all* sections being offered by a Columbia instructor for a given course, including sections which *do not* count for History students. NOT ALL sections of the courses listed below count for History majors and concentrators. Particular sections only count towards the History degree if the section instructor is a History faculty member or an affiliate with the History Department. For additional information, please review the "Requirements" tab or consult Undergraduate Administrator at undergraduate-history@columbia.edu. All courses from the Barnard History Department also count towards the History degree.

HIST BC1062 Introduction to the Global Middle Ages. 4.00 points.

This course introduces students to medieval history and the methods historians use to study and communicate about the past. Medieval history has traditionally centered on Western Europe, but this course also integrates new approaches to the Global Middle Ages, including attention to connectivity, comparative studies across contexts, and a survey of world literatures. Topics include Late Antique transformations to the Roman world, the Germanic migrations, and the rise of Christianity; the Islamic Conquests, the Carolingian Renaissance, and the Viking expansion; the Crusades, the Black Death, and the rise of early modern empires. Students will learn to read primary sources, assess scholarly arguments, and incorporate interdisciplinary approaches. This course will require visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Met Cloisters

Fall 2025: HIST BC1062
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1062 001/00368 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
504 Diana Center
Matthew Delvaux 4.00 5/45

HIST BC1101 EUROPEAN HISTORY 1500-1789. 4.00 points.

Political, economic, social, religious, and intellectual history of early modern Europe, including the Renaissance, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, absolutism, Scientific Revolution, and Enlightenment

Fall 2025: HIST BC1101
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1101 001/00035 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
323 Milbank Hall
Deborah Valenze 4.00 6/50

HIST BC1402 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1865. 4.00 points.

Examines the major social, political, economic, and intellectual transformations from the 1860s until the present, including industrialization and urbanization, federal and state power, immigration, the welfare state, global relations, and social movements

Fall 2025: HIST BC1402
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1402 001/00037 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
152 Horace Mann Hall
Matthew Vaz 4.00 10/35

AFRS BC2004 INTRODUCTN TO AFRICAN STUDIES. 3.00 points.

Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the study of Africa, moving from pre-colonial through colonial and post-colonial periods to contemporary Africa. Focus will be on its history, societal relations, politics and the arts. The objective is to provide a critical survey of the history as well as the continuing debates in African Studies

Fall 2025: AFRS BC2004
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AFRS 2004 001/00113 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
223 Milbank Hall
Abosede George 3.00 3/30

HIST BC2199 A History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. 3.00 points.

This lecture course examines the social, cultural, and legal history of witchcraft, magic, and the occult throughout European history. We will examine the values and attitudes that have influenced beliefs about witchcraft and the supernatural, both historically and in the present day, using both primary and secondary sources. This course will pay specific attention to the role of gender and sexuality in the history of witchcraft, as the vast majority of individuals charged in the witch hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were indeed women. We will also study accusations of witchcraft, breaking down the power dynamics and assumptions at play behind the witch trials, and the impacts of these trials on gender relations in European society. This class will track the intersections of magic and science throughout the early-modern period, and the reconciliation of belief systems during the Enlightenment. We will carry our analysis into the modern period, touching on Victorian spiritualism and mysticism, McCarthyism in the United States, and contemporary goddess worship. We will conclude the semester with an investigation into the role of witchcraft in discussions of gender, race, and sexuality in popular culture

Spring 2025: HIST BC2199
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2199 001/00783 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
263 Macy Hall
Dale Booth 3.00 67/90
Fall 2025: HIST BC2199
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2199 001/00038 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
408 Zankel
Dale Booth 3.00 35/90

HIST BC2321 COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS. 3.00 points.

Examines the shaping of European cultural identity through encounters with non-European cultures from 1500 to the post-colonial era. Novels, paintings, and films will be among the sources used to examine such topics as exoticism in the Enlightenment, slavery and European capitalism, Orientalism in art, ethnographic writings on the primitive, and tourism

Fall 2025: HIST BC2321
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2321 001/00039 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
408 Zankel
Lisa Tiersten 3.00 11/60

HIST BC2385 Global Environmental History. 3.00 points.

This class introduces students to the field of environmental history from a global perspective. Environmental history is the study of the relationship between nature and society over time. It deals with the material environment, cultural and scientific understandings of nature, and the politics of socio-economic use of natural resources. The class combines the study of classic texts that were foundational to the field with modern case studies from all over the world. It addresses questions of global relevance, such as: how did the environment shape human history? How did humans shape the natural environment? How are power relations of class, race and gender embedded in the environment we live in? The class welcomes students from the natural and social sciences, as well as the humanities. The goal of the course is to understand how the relationship between environment and society in history led to the current climate crisis

Fall 2025: HIST BC2385
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2385 001/00040 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
328 Milbank Hall
Angelo Caglioti 3.00 7/45

HIST BC2401 PLTCS CRIME& POLICING IN U.S.. 3.00 points.

This course will examine the historical development of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States since the Civil War. The course will give particular focus to the interactions between conceptions of crime, normalcy and deviance, and the broader social and political context of policy making

Fall 2025: HIST BC2401
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2401 001/00041 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
504 Diana Center
Matthew Vaz 3.00 50/60

HIST BC2413 UNITED STATES 1940-1975. 3.00 points.

Emphasis on foreign policies as they pertain to the Second World War, the atomic bomb, containment, the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam. Also considers major social and intellectual trends, including the Civil Rights movement, the counterculture, feminism, Watergate, and the recession of the 1970s

Fall 2025: HIST BC2413
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2413 001/00042 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
304 Barnard Hall
Mark Carnes 3.00 36/165

HIST BC2549 EARLY AMERICA TO 1763. 3.00 points.

This course examines the three critical centuries from 1492 to 1763 that transformed North America from a diverse landscape teeming with hundreds of farming and hunting societies into a partly-colonized land where just three systems empires held sway. Major themes include contrasting faiths, power relationships, and cultural exchanges among various Native, European, and African peoples.This course examines the three critical centuries from 1492 to 1763 that transformed North America from a diverse landscape teeming with hundreds of farming and hunting societies into a partly-colonized land where just three systems empires held sway. Major themes include contrasting faiths, power relationships, and cultural exchanges among various Native, European, and African peoples

Fall 2025: HIST BC2549
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2549 001/00043 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
Ll002 Milstein Center
Andrew Lipman 3.00 3/70

HIST BC2567 Women, Race, and Class. 3.00 points.

Using an intersectional framework, this course traces changing notions of gender and sexuality in the 20th century United States. The course examines how womanhood and feminism were shaped by class, race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality and immigration status. We will explore how the construction of American nationalism and imperialism, as well as the development of citizenship rights, social policy, and labor organizing, were deeply influenced by the politics of gender. Special emphasis will be placed on organizing and women's activism

Fall 2025: HIST BC2567
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2567 001/00345 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
202 Milbank Hall
Premilla Nadasen 3.00 20/35

HIST BC2697 The Cold War in Latin America. 3.00 points.

This lecture offers a comprehensive view of the Cold War era in Latin America and zooms in on those places and moments when such war turned hot. It understands the Cold War as a multi-national and multi-layered conflict, which not only pitted two superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—against one another, but also a plethora of state and non-state actors that framed their actions as part of a larger struggle for the fate of humanity. In Latin America in particular, the idea of socialist revolution posed a significant challenge to both capitalism and United States hegemony. We will pay special attention to revolutionary and counterrevolutionary events in Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, and Nicaragua, probing the motives, actions, and influence of local and foreign actors in such events

Fall 2025: HIST BC2697
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2697 001/00658 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
504 Diana Center
Alfonso Salgado 3.00 19/70

HIST BC2859 South Asian Diasporas. 3.00 points.

This course will familiarize students with major debates around questions in the study of diaspora and migration while providing a sense of their interlinkages with large scale socio-political processes such as the globalization of labor, the formation of social hierarchies, as well as movements for survival and belonging. Students who complete this course will learn how to: 1) Use and evaluate primary materials through critical reading and interpretation 2) Conduct close readings of key texts in multimedia formats (posters and ephemera, digital archives, art and cultural production, manifestos, etc.) 3) Evaluate divergent perspectives and representations by combining historical accounts with memory and personal narratives 4) Adopt methods of public outreach and neighborhood ethnography to understand the imprint of the past on the present 5) Present arguments cogently and logically in writing and speaking, including through collaborative learning and presentation

Spring 2025: HIST BC2859
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2859 001/00883 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
Ll003 Barnard Hall
Maia Ramnath-Christiansen 3.00 9/70
Fall 2025: HIST BC2859
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2859 001/00157 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
418 Barnard Hall
Anupama Rao 3.00 4/70

HIST BC2920 Urban Healthscapes: A Spatial History of Public Health, c 1200-1900. 3.00 points.

This course examines the landscapes of urban public health from the medieval era to the 19th century using spatial analysis. It has two objectives. Thematically, it introduces students to the concept and study of “urban healthscapes” in Europe and the Americas before the age of modern bacteriology. Weekly lectures advance through a sequence of four related themes: (1) medieval and early modern communal, infrastructural, and regulatory spatial practices of public health; (2) urban mortality regimes, epidemics, and societal responses; (3) the relationships between urban form, spatial governance, planning, and public health; and (4) problems of environmental justice, including unequal exposure to health risks and access to health amenities. Methodologically, the course approaches these topics via the lens of historical Geographic Information Systems. In weekly labs, students acquire technical skills of GIS mapping. They learn how to work with spatial data, create GIS maps, conduct spatial analysis, and develop spatial historical arguments and narratives. Labs integrate recently released public hGIS datasets on a variety of cities—such as medieval Bologna and 19th-century New York—directly relevant to the themes covered in lectures. For course assignments, students use these datasets to conduct spatial analyses of urban healthscapes. The course is open to all undergraduates. Previous GIS knowledge is not needed

Fall 2025: HIST BC2920
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2920 001/00341 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
111 Milstein Center
Gergely Baics 3.00 12/25

HIST BC2980 WORLD MIGRATION. 3.00 points.

Overview of human migration from pre-history to the present. Sessions on classical Rome; Jewish diaspora; Viking, Mongol, and Arab conquests; peopling of New World, European colonization, and African slavery; 19th-century European mass migration; Chinese and Indian diasporas; resurgence of global migration in last three decades, and current debates

Fall 2025: HIST BC2980
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2980 001/00346 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
328 Milbank Hall
Jose Moya 3.00 6/45

ECON BC3013 Economic History of the United States. 3 points.

BC: Fulfillment of General Education Requirement: Historical Studies (HIS).

Prerequisites: ECON BC3035 or ECON BC3033, or permission of the instructor.

Economic transformation of the United States from a small, open agrarian society in the late colonial era to the leading industrial economy of the 20th century. Emphasis is given to the quantitative, institutional, and spatial dimensions of economic growth, and the relationship between the changing structures of the economy and state.

Fall 2025: ECON BC3013
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
ECON 3013 001/00155 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
328 Milbank Hall
David Weiman 3 23/40

HIST BC3079 Women's Voices from the Premodern World. 4.00 points.

This course samples works by women writers from the Middle Ages, interrogating questions of authorship and gender to situate these works in broader social histories. Selections center on western archives, where women’s voices have been extensively curated, but students will also survey non-western texts. This course is built around in-class discussion and the collaborative exploration of texts, complemented by a series of short papers in which students explore recurring themes. A visit to special collections and supplemental materials will also allow students to explore how premodern women projected their voices and views through manuscripts and visual culture. Students will select an additional text to explore individually for the final project, writing a short research paper and presenting a summary of their findings

Fall 2025: HIST BC3079
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3079 001/00342 W 2:10pm - 4:00pm
502 Diana Center
Matthew Delvaux 4.00 0/22

HIST BC3108 The Body and Society in Europe. 4.00 points.

This seminar course explores topics in the history of the body in Europe, from the medieval period to the 1880s. The course will begin with an introduction to Galen’s humoral theories of the body that informed the diagnosis and treatment of illness in Europe for centuries. We will look at the role of the body in religious practices in the medieval period, and its role as evidence in the witch trials of the early modern period. We will also look to the framing of sexual difference and consider how these parameters have shaped contemporary gender politics and medical practice. We will trace outbreaks of infectious disease – from the bubonic plague, to syphilis, to cholera– and the implications on the social, cultural, political, and economic structures of everyday life. Students will learn about the professionalization of the medical field, the rise of public health institutions, and the ways in which authorities policed social behavior on the grounds of public health. Together, we will examine the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and class in the understanding and treatment of the body within society. Students will also be challenged to ground their understanding of social and cultural history in a broader history of the body and embodiment. In doing so, students will examine how ideas surrounding the body change over the course of time, and how we, as historians, can account for and assess such changes

Fall 2025: HIST BC3108
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3108 001/00343 M 2:10pm - 4:00pm
214 Milbank Hall
Dale Booth 4.00 0/15

AFRS BC3110 THE AFRICANA COLLOQUIUM. 4.00 points.

This course is concerned with two interrelated topics: 1) the long, complicated history of voyages to Latin America; and 2) the myriad and evolving ways voyagers to the region have portrayed its landscapes, people, food, festivals, and more. The course will move chronologically from the 15th century to the present, with each week devoted to grappling with a type of voyage characteristic of a given era, including: conquest voyages undertaken by figures such as Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés settler-colonial voyages undertaken by Iberians seeking new lives in the New World captive voyages undertaken by Africans destined for enslavement in households, cities, and rural environs freedom voyages undertaken by African Americans escaping from slavery sex-tourism voyages undertaken by North Americans and Europeans We will view these topics through a combination of different forms of media (such as letters, travel accounts, features, and films) and traditional scholarly sources that will help contextualize them

Fall 2025: AFRS BC3110
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AFRS 3110 001/00165 W 4:10pm - 6:00pm
308 Diana Center
Celia Naylor 4.00 1/15

AFRS BC3145 Black Women’s Histories in the United States. 4.00 points.

In this course you will be examining paper tracings and other sources related to the lived experiences of Black women. You will be required to review and interrogate materials on triggering subjects; some of these items include violent descriptions, images, and acts. In order to join in our collective engagement with the history of Black women, within the context of the U.S., you will critically analyze items that have not been sanitized for popular consumption. Thus, we will not be “erasing history” in this course by avoiding the deployment of white supremacy and its vast, related violence(s) against Black women’s bodies and lives, as well as the various manifestations of resistance of Black women throughout the history of the United States

Fall 2025: AFRS BC3145
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AFRS 3145 001/00219 W 12:10pm - 2:00pm
111 Milstein Center
Celia Naylor 4.00 7/15

HIST BC3327 CONSUMER CULTURE IN MOD EUROPE. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. Preregistration required.
The development of the modern culture of consumption, with particular attention to the formation of the woman consumer. Topics include commerce and the urban landscape, changing attitudes toward shopping and spending, feminine fashion and conspicuous consumption, and the birth of advertising. Examination of novels, fashion magazines, and advertising images

Fall 2025: HIST BC3327
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3327 001/00224 M 2:10pm - 4:00pm
306 Milbank Hall
Lisa Tiersten 3.00 8/15

HIST BC3360 LONDON:'GREAT WEN'TO WRLD CIT. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. Preregistration required.
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. Preregistration required. Social and cultural history of London from the Great Fire of 1666 to the 1960s. An examination of the changing experience of urban identity through the commercial life, public spaces, and diverse inhabitants of London. Topics include 17th-century rebuilding, immigrants and emigrants, suburbs, literary culture, war, and redevelopment

Fall 2025: HIST BC3360
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3360 001/00347 W 2:10pm - 4:00pm
214 Milbank Hall
Deborah Valenze 4.00 0/15

HIST BC3379 Water Histories: Society, Environment, and Power in Global History. 4.00 points.

This class explores the relationship between water and society in history. How did water shape human and environmental histories around the globe? On one hand, oceans and rivers affected the characteristics and resources of different civilizations. Throughout history, every community depended on access to water resources, developed local practices of water management, and produced cultural and scientific understandings of “water.” On the other hand, human attempts at regulating water flows aimed at controlling life itself, as water is essential for life. Hydro-power, before being a renewable source energy, required exerting political power over humans and nature alike. Grounded in the interdisciplinary approach of the environmental humanities, this class will explore the politics of water management thanks to a wide range of case studies. Starting with the first environmental history of the Mediterranean in the early modern period, we will focus on the last two centuries to examine the roots of the current environmental crisis. By following the politics of water flows, the class will introduce students to key themes in global environmental history, such as the role of geography, climate, race, energy, labor, technology, cities, animals, diseases, and empires in the transformation of human societies. Finally, the class provides foundational historical knowledge to understand the importance of water in contemporary debates about environmental justice and climate change

Fall 2025: HIST BC3379
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3379 001/00348 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
308 Diana Center
Angelo Caglioti 4.00 0/15

HIST BC3589 Anti-Apartheid Solidarity Movement. 4.00 points.

This course examines the struggle against South African apartheid with a particular focus on the global solidarity movement in the 20th century. The class will examine key turning points in the movement, its connection with broader anti-colonial and anti-racist struggles, gendered constructs of apartheid and feminist leadership in the movement, and the circulation of theories of racial capitalism. Students will understand how and why apartheid became a global concern. Students will work on a project using the primary source material available on the African Activist Archive Digital Project at Michigan State University

Fall 2025: HIST BC3589
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3589 001/00484 T 4:10pm - 6:00pm
308 Diana Center
Premilla Nadasen 4.00 0/15

HIST BC3682 Work & Citizenship in 20th-Century Latin America. 4.00 points.

This seminar focuses on the relationship between workers and the state in 20th century Latin America, a period characterized by the recognition of labor unions, the codification of labor laws, the expansion of social and economic rights, and the establishment of welfare regimes. Throughout the course, students will get acquainted with some of the key problems, concepts, and methods through which historians and, to a lesser extent, social scientists have probed such relationship and studied such processes. More concretely, we will examine the class, racial, and gender dynamics that gave shape to labor movements, labor laws, and welfare regimes; a variety of political experiments to court workers, regulate labor, and expand the scope of citizenship; and, finally, the transformations brought about by neoliberalism at the end of the century. Knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is welcome, but not mandatory

Fall 2025: HIST BC3682
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3682 001/00344 T 4:10pm - 6:00pm
306 Milbank Hall
Alfonso Salgado 4.00 0/15

HIST BC3770 African Communities in New York, 1900 to the Present. 4.00 points.

This class explores the history of voluntary migrations from Africa to the United States over the course of the 20th century. This course is designed as a historical research seminar that is open to students with prior coursework in African Studies, Africana Studies, Race and Ethnic Studies, or History. Thematically the course dwells at a point of intersection between African history, Black History, and Immigration History. As part of the Barnard Engages curriculum, this class is collaboratively designed with the Harlem-based non-profit organization, African Communities Together. The aim of this course is to support the mission of ACT by producing a historically grounded digital advocacy project. The mission of ACT is to empower immigrants from Africa and their families to integrate socially, advance economically, and engage civically. To advance this mission, ACT must confront the reality that in the current political moment new legal, political, and social barriers are being erected to the integration, advancement, and engagement of African immigrants on a daily basis. As immigrants, as Black people, as Africans, and often as women, low-income people, LGBT people, and Muslims, African immigrants experience multiple intersecting forms of marginalization. Now more than ever, it is critical that African immigrants be empowered to tell their own stories—not just of persecution and suffering, but of resilience and resistance

Fall 2025: HIST BC3770
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3770 001/00882 W 2:10pm - 4:00pm
318 Milbank Hall
Abosede George 4.00 0/15

HIST BC3870 GENDER& MIGRATN:GLOBAL PERSPC. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. Preregistration required. Sophomore Standing. Explores migration as a gendered process and what factors account for migratory differences by gender across place and time; including labor markets, education demographic and family structure, gender ideologies, religion, government regulations and legal status, and intrinsic aspects of the migratory flow itself

Spring 2025: HIST BC3870
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3870 001/00842 W 9:00am - 10:50am
119 Milstein Center
Jose Moya 4.00 10/14
Fall 2025: HIST BC3870
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3870 001/00366 W 9:00am - 10:50am
111 Milstein Center
Jose Moya 4.00 2/15

HIST BC3910 Global Politics of Reproduction: Culture, Politics, and History. 4 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. Preregistration required.

Comparative, cross-cultural examination of social organization and historical construction of human reproduction, with emphasis on 20th century. Topics include role of states and local and transnational "stratification" of reproduction by race, class, and citizenship; eugenics; population politics; birth control; kinship as social and biological relationship; maternity; paternity; new reproductive technologies.

Fall 2025: HIST BC3910
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3910 001/00367 M 12:10pm - 2:00pm
214 Milbank Hall
Nara Milanich 4 0/15

CSER UN3928 COLONIZATION/DECOLONIZATION. 4.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement
Enrollment limited to 22.

Prerequisites: Open to CSER majors/concentrators only. Others may be allowed to register with the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: Open to CSER majors/concentrators only. Others may be allowed to register with the instructors permission. This course explores the centrality of colonialism in the making of the modern world, emphasizing cross-cultural and social contact, exchange, and relations of power; dynamics of conquest and resistance; and discourses of civilization, empire, freedom, nationalism, and human rights, from 1500 to 2000. Topics include pre-modern empires; European exploration, contact, and conquest in the new world; Atlantic-world slavery and emancipation; and European and Japanese colonialism in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The course ends with a section on decolonization and post-colonialism in the period after World War II. Intensive reading and discussion of primary documents

Fall 2025: CSER UN3928
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
CSER 3928 001/10182 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
420 Hamilton Hall
Karl Jacoby 4.00 0/20

AMST UN3930 Topics in American Studies. 4 points.

Please refer to the Center for American Studies website for course descriptions for each section. americanstudies.columbia.edu

Fall 2025: AMST UN3930
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AMST 3930 001/12262 T 2:10pm - 4:00pm
Room TBA
Hilary-Anne Hallett 4 0/18
AMST 3930 002/12273 W 12:10pm - 2:00pm
Room TBA
John McWhorter 4 0/18
AMST 3930 003/12341 T 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
James Stephen Shapiro 4 0/18
AMST 3930 004/12342 M 6:10pm - 8:00pm
Room TBA
Benjamin Rosenberg 4 0/18
AMST 3930 005/12347 Th 10:10am - 12:00pm
Room TBA
Mark Lilla 4 0/18

HIST BC3978 Development Economics, Democracy & Revolution in the 20th Century. 4.00 points.

After World War II, the question of the development of so-called underdeveloped countries became an international priority. The timing was not casual: the demise of the colonial empires and the birth of new countries propagated the ideals of modernization worldwide. Moreover, in a world divided between two superpowers, the fate of less developed countries became a matter of foreign policy concern in the developed ones. Since then, development has become a major challenge for the contemporary world. The new relevance of the issue has also prompted, in the years after World War II, the birth of a new disciplinary field, namely, development economics, which is increasingly at the core of the economics profession, as demonstrated by the Nobel prizes in Economics to W. Arthur Lewis in 1979, to Amartya Sen in 1998, and to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer in 2019, as well as the work on development of other prominent economists such as Dani Rodrik, William Easterly, Jeffrey Sachs, and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz. This seminar will explore the trajectory of the idea of development from World War II to the present, with a particular focus on how it has been discussed within the disciplinary field of development economics. We will discuss how different analyses of development processes—how they can be put in motion, how they evolve, and what are their potential outcomes—have intersected debates about dynamics of social and economic change, how the whole development field has been interpreted alternatively as a progressive endeavour or an ideological construct fostering a neocolonial agenda, and how development policies have been judged to strengthen democratic institutions or, on the contrary, as a mechanism reinforcing domestic and international inequality, to be opposed with revolution. Although the focus of this seminar will be on understanding the history of development rather than shaping its future, graduate students from outside of history (including business, anthropology, political science, economics, human rights, law, sociology, and area studies) are welcomed to register, as this is a topic that would benefit greatly from an interdisciplinary perspective

Fall 2025: HIST BC3978
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3978 001/00509 T 9:00am - 10:50am
912 Milstein Center
Michele Alacevich 4.00 6/15

CSER GU4400 Histories and Representations of the Bronx. 4.00 points.

The history of the Bronx is a history of the struggles, political coalitions, and creative contributions of the dispossessed. To tell the story of the Bronx is to tell the story of how historically marginalized communities have survived and made a home in environments forsaken by the state. And yet, in the popular imagination, the Bronx often circulates simply as a symbol of urban abjection, as the necessary foil against which prosperous urban spaces define themselves. Many of these "Bronx tales" invariably relegate the borough both materially and imaginatively to the past—infused with either white ethnic nostalgia of a lost Bronx innocence or with battle-scar bravado won on its mean streets. This interdisciplinary course invites students to interrogate these long-standing narratives about the Bronx through a critical study of the borough’s rich history and enduring cultural, political, and artistic traditions during the past century. This course explores a variety of movements and artifacts that have been central to the making of the Bronx such as: efforts to establish affordable housing, public art-making, the literary tradition of Bronx coming-of-age stories, grassroots organizing for immigrant rights, struggles against gentrification and environmental racism, and the inter-ethnic collaborations that led to the emergence of hip hop. Students will have the opportunity to embark on field trips and will undertake a wide array of methods including oral histories, performance analysis, archival research, ethnography, mapping, as well as opportunities to engage in creative art-making. By the end of the semester, students will gain a nuanced understanding of the central role that Bronx communities have played in the making of modern New York City

Fall 2025: CSER GU4400
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
CSER 4400 001/10184 Th 10:10am - 12:00pm
420 Hamilton Hall
Frank Guridy, Deborah Paredez 4.00 0/15

Spring 2026 History Courses

HIST UN1512 The Battle for North America: An Indigenous History of the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. 4.00 points.

This course will explore the struggle to control the continent of North America from an Indigenous perspective. After a century of European colonization Native peoples east of the Mississippi River Valley formed a political confederation aimed at preserving Native sovereignty. This Native confederacy emerged as a dominant force during the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. At times Native political interests aligned with the French and British Empires, but remained in opposition to the expansion of Anglo-American colonial settlements into Indian country. This course is designed to engage literature and epistemology surrounding these New World conflicts as a means of the colonial and post-colonial past in North America. We will explore the emergence of intersecting indigenous and European national identities tied to the social construction of space and race. In this course I will ask you to re-think American history by situating North America as a Native space, a place that was occupied and controlled by indigenous peoples. You will be asked to imagine a North America that was indigenous and adaptive, and not necessarily destined to be absorbed by European settler colonies. Accordingly, this course we will explore the intersections of European colonial settlement and Euro-American national expansion, alongside of the emergence of indigenous social formations that dominated the western interior until the middle of the 19th century. This course is intended to be a broad history of Indigenous North America during a tumultuous period, but close attention will be given to use and analysis of primary source evidence. Similarly, we will explore the necessity of using multiple genres of textual evidence – archival documents, oral history, material artifacts, etc., -- when studying indigenous history

HIST UN1942 The Year 1000: A World History. 4.00 points.

This course is designed to introduce students to the study of premodern history, with a substantive focus on the variety of cultures flourishing across the globe 1000 years ago. Methodologically, the course will emphasize the variety of primary sources historians use to reconstruct those cultures, the various approaches taken by the discipline of history (and neighboring disciplines) in analyzing those sources, and the particular challenges and pleasures of studying a generally “source poor” period. The course queries the concepts of “global history” and “world history” as applied to the “middle millennium” (corresponding to Europe’s “medieval history”), by exploring approaches that privilege connection, comparison, combination, correlation, or coverage

Spring 2025: HIST UN1942
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1942 001/13854 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
142 Uris Hall
Adam Kosto 4.00 69/90
HIST 1942 AU1/19146 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
Othr Other
Adam Kosto 4.00 5/5

HIST UN2215 MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY. 4.00 points.

An introductory survey of the history of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union over the last two centuries. Russia’s role on the European continent, intellectual movements, unfree labor and emancipation, economic growth and social change, and finally the great revolutions of 1905 and 1917 define the “long nineteenth century.” The second half of the course turns to the tumultuous twentieth century: cultural experiments of the 1920s, Stalinism, World War II, and the new society of the Khrushchev and Brezhnev years. Finally, a look at very recent history since the East European revolutions of 1989-91. This is primarily a course on the domestic history of Russia and the USSR, but with some attention to foreign policy and Russia’s role in the world

Spring 2025: HIST UN2215
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2215 001/13715 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
310 Fayerweather
Yana Skorobogatov 4.00 66/70

HIST UN2222 NATURE & POWER: ENV HIST NORTH AMERICA. 4.00 points.

Environmental history seeks to expand the customary framework of historical inquiry, challenging students to construct narratives of the past that incorporate not only human beings but also the natural world with which human life is intimately intertwined. As a result, environmental history places at center stage a wide range of previously overlooked historical actors such as plants, animals, and diseases. Moreover, by locating nature within human history, environmental history encourages its practitioners to rethink some of the fundamental categories through which our understanding of the natural world is expressed: wilderness and civilization, wild and tame, natural and artificial. For those interested in the study of ethnicity, environmental history casts into particularly sharp relief the ways in which the natural world can serve both to undermine and to reinforce the divisions within human societies. Although all human beings share profound biological similarities, they have nonetheless enjoyed unequal access to natural resources and to healthy environments—differences that have all-too-frequently been justified by depicting such conditions as “natural.”

HIST UN2323 Nineteenth-Century Britain. 3 points.

This course covers all aspects of British history – political, imperial, economic, social and cultural – during the century of Britain’s greatest global power.  Particular attention will be paid to the emergence of liberalism as a political and economic system and as a means of governing personal and social life.  Students will read materials from the time, as well as scholarly articles, and will learn to work with some of the rich primary materials available on this period.

HIST UN2336 Everyday Communism. 4 points.

This lecture course comparatively and transnationally investigates the twentieth-century communism as a modern civilization with global outreach. It looks at the world spread of communism as an ideology, everyday experience, and form of statehood in the Soviet Union, Europe, Asia (Mao’s China), and post-colonial Africa. With the exception of North America and Australia, communist regimes were established on all continents of the world. The course will study this historical process from the October Revolution (1917) to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (1986), which marked the demise of communist state. The stress is not just on state-building processes or Cold War politics, but primarily on social, gender, cultural and economic policies that shaped lived experiences of communism. We will closely investigate what was particular about communism as civilization: sexuality, materiality, faith, selfhood, cultural identity, collective, or class and property politics. We will explore the ways in which “ordinary people” experienced communism through violence (anti-imperial and anti-fascist warfare; forced industrialization) and as subjects of social policies (gender equality, family programs, employment, urban planning). By close investigation of visual, material and political representations of life under communism, the course demonstrates the variety of human experience outside the “West” and capitalist modernity in an era of  anti-imperial politics, Cold War, and decolonization, as well as current environmental crisis.

HIST UN2415 Immigrant New York. 4 points.

This seminar explores the intersection of immigration, race, and politics in New York City, both from the perspective of history and in relation to contemporary realities. In this course we will discuss the ways in which immigration has reshaped the cultural, economic, and political life of New York City both in the past as well as the present. Readings will focus on the divergent groups who have settled in New York City, paying close attention to issues of gender, class, race, the role of labor markets, the law, and urban development.

HIST UN2432 U.S. ERA OF CIVIL WAR & RECON. 4.00 points.

It is difficult to exaggerate the significance of the American Civil War as an event in the making of the modern United States and, indeed, of the western world. Indeed the American Civil War and Reconstruction introduced a whole series of dilemmas that are still with us. What is the legacy of slavery in U.S. history and contemporary life? What is the proper balance of power between the states and the central government? Who is entitled to citizenship in the United States? What do freedom and equality mean in concrete terms? This course surveys the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction in all of its aspects. It focuses on the causes of the war in the divergent development of northern and southern states; the prosecution of the war and all that it involved, including the process of slave emancipation; and the contentious process of reconstructing the re-united states in the aftermath of Union victory. The course includes the military history of the conflict, but ranges far beyond it to take the measure of the social and political changes the war unleashed. It focuses on the Confederacy as well as the Union, on women as well as men, and on enslaved black people as well as free white people. It takes the measure of large scale historical change while trying to grasp the experience of those human beings who lived through it

HIST UN2540 HISTORY OF THE SOUTH. 4.00 points.

A survey of the history of the American South from the colonial era to the present day, with two purposes: first, to afford students an understanding of the special historical characteristics of the South and of southerners; and second, to explore what the experience of the South may teach about America as a nation

Spring 2025: HIST UN2540
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2540 001/13925 T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm
614 Schermerhorn Hall
Barbara Fields 4.00 55/75

HIST UN2611 JEWS & JUDAISM IN ANTIQUITY. 4.00 points.

  Field(s): ANC

HIST UN2717 The Ottoman Empire and the West in the 19th Century. 4.00 points.

“The Ottoman Empire and the West” is a course designed to familiarize undergraduate students with the major developments concerning the Ottoman Empire’s relations with the West throughout the ‘long’ nineteenth century, roughly from the end of the eighteenth century to the outbreak of World War I. The course will adopt a predominantly chronological structure but will address a wide range of themes, from politics and ideology to economics and diplomacy, and from religion and culture to gender and orientalism

Spring 2025: HIST UN2717
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2717 001/17264 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
227 Seeley W. Mudd Building
Edhem Eldem 4.00 13/35
HIST 2717 AU1/20319 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
Othr Other
Edhem Eldem 4.00 7/9

HIST UN3011 THE SECOND WORLD WAR. 4.00 points.

This course surveys some of the major historiographical debates surrounding the Second World War. It aims to provide student with an international perspective of the conflict that challenges conventional understandings of the war. In particular, we will examine the ideological, imperial, and strategic dimensions of the war in a global context. Students will also design, research, and write a substantial essay of 15-18 pages in length that makes use of both primary and secondary sources

HIST UN3021 THE GREEK INVENTION OF HISTORY. 4.00 points.

HIST UN3429 TELLING ABOUT THE SOUTH. 4.00 points.

A remarkable array of Southern historians, novelists, and essayists have done what Shreve McCannon urges Quentin Compson to do in William Faulkners Absalom, Absalom!--tell about the South--producing recognized masterpieces of American literature. Taking as examples certain writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, this course explores the issues they confronted, the relationship between time during which and about they wrote, and the art of the written word as exemplified in their work. Group(s): D Field(s): US Limited enrollment. Priority given to senior history majors. After obtaining permission from the professor, please add yourself to the course wait list so the department can register you in the course

Spring 2025: HIST UN3429
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 3429 001/11700 Th 4:10pm - 6:00pm
311 Fayerweather
Barbara Fields 4.00 12/14

HIST UN3490 THE GLOBAL COLD WAR. 4.00 points.

The superpower competition between the US and the USSR dominated international affairs during the second half of the twentieth century. Though this Cold War was born from ideological differences and initially focused on Europe, it soon became entangled with the concurrent global process of decolonization. In this way, the US-Soviet rivalry shaped events on every continent. This course will examine the intersection of the superpower competition and the emergence of the postcolonial world. Through course readings and class discussion, students will examine the global dimensions of the Cold war. Each student will prepare a research paper on a topic to be chosen in consultation with the instructor.

HIST UN3517 The Historical Imagination in Caribbean Literature. 4.00 points.

Caribbean literature offers complicated and vivid portrayals of the Caribbean’s past, and grapples with difficult histories lived by its people that compromised colonial archives can only partially capture. Literary works far exceed the limited narratives of Caribbean history by imagining entire worlds that official documents could never contain, rich selves, cultures and communities built by many generations of Caribbean people. This course is aimed at bringing forth a broader understanding of Caribbean history by examining a body of creative works by feminist and womanist writers that continuously remain attuned to the complexities of the past, which are either underrepresented or absent in the record. Chosen literary texts will also be paired with historical works that will illuminate and contextualize the multiple themes with which these Caribbean authors frequently engage, including slavery, and colonialism, racism and colorism, migration and immigration, gender and sexuality, poverty and globalization. From these pairings, students will explore both the divergences and alignments in how writers and historians approach the work of retelling the past, and will acquire reading and writing skills that will foster thoughtful critical analysis of the ever-changing contours of the Caribbean’s history

HIST UN3571 Left and Right in American History. 4.00 points.

This course examines 20th-century American political movements of the Left and Right. We will cover Socialism and the Ku Klux Klan in the early twentieth century; the Communist Party and right-wing populists of the 1930s; the civil rights movement, black power, and white resistance, 1950s-1960s; the rise of the New Left and the New Right in the 1960s; the Women's liberation movement and the Christian right of the 1970s; and finally, free-market conservatism, neoliberalism, white nationalism and the Trump era. We will explore the organizational, ideological and social history of these political mobilizations. The class explores grass-roots social movements and their relationship to “mainstream” and electoral politics. We will pay special attention to the ways that ideas and mobilizations that are sometimes deemed extreme have in fact helped to shape the broader political spectrum. Throughout the semester, we will reflect on the present political dilemmas of our country in light of the history that we study

HIST UN3644 MOD JEWISH INTELLECTUAL HIST. 3.00 points.

This course analyzes Jewish intellectual history from Spinoza to the present. It tracks the radical transformation that modernity yielded in Jewish thought, both in the development of new, self-consciously modern, iterations of Judaism and Jewishness and in the more elusive but equally foundational changes in "traditional" Judaisms. Questions to be addressed include: the development of the modern concept of "religion" and its effect on the Jews; the origin of the notion of "Judaism" parallel to Christianity, Islam, etc.; the rise of Jewish secularism and of secular Jewish ideologies, especially the Jewish Enlightenment movement (Haskalah), modern Jewish nationalism, and Zionism; the rise of Reform, Modern Orthodox, and Conservative Judaisms; Jewish neo-Romanticism and neo-Kantianism, and American Jewish religious thought

HIST GU4223 Hist of Russian Thought: Faith & Reason. 4.00 points.

Priority given to majors and concentrators, seniors, and juniors.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.
Russian ideas are familiar to the world through Tolstoy’s and Dostoevsky’s novels. In this course, we will examine key texts in the intellectual tradition that forms the backdrop to these famous works. Emphasis is on close textual readings; but also on how Russian ideas have been read and interpreted across national and cultural boundaries, including in recent English-language works like Tom Stoppard’s play, Coast of Utopia. Thinkers include Schellingians and Hegelians, Slavophiles, Populists and Pan-Slavists, and Vladimir Soloviev

HIST GU4363 Pascal and the Modern Self. 4.00 points.

This seminar will focus particularly on Pascal’s humanistic case for religious faith as a response to Montaigne’s skeptical portrayal of the self. The aim is to understand all the implications of this encounter for the history of Western thought about human psychology, religion, and politics

HIST GU4699 Medieval Franciscans and their World. 4.00 points.

This course will offer an examination of the birth and development of the Franciscan Order between 1200-1350. The topics will include Francis of Assisi, the foundation of the three orders of Franciscans, education, poverty, preaching, theology internal strife, antifraternalism, and relations with secular governments and papacy

HIST GU4716 Imag(in)ing the Ottoman Empire: A visual history, 18th-20th centuries. 4.00 points.

“Imag(in)ing the Ottoman Empire: A visual history, 18th-20th centuries” is an undergraduate/graduate seminar focusing on visual representations of the Ottoman Empire during the last two centuries of its existence, from the early eighteenth to the early twentieth century. The objective is to study the development of visual representations both by and about the Empire, from Ottoman miniatures to early European paintings, and from the surge of Western illustrated magazines to the local uses of photography. The seminar’s chronological thread will be complemented by a thematic structure designed to explore different aspects and influences concerning the production and diffusion of images: curiosity, documentation, exoticism, propaganda, orientalism, modernity, self-fashioning, eroticism, policing, to name just a few

Spring 2025: HIST GU4716
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4716 001/17266 T 4:10pm - 6:00pm
602 Northwest Corner
Edhem Eldem 4.00 10/18

HIST GU4933 American Radicalism in the Archives. 4.00 points.

“American Radicalism in the Archives” is a research seminar examining the multiple ways that radicals and their social movements have left traces in the historical record. Straddling the disciplines of social movement history, public humanities, and critical information studies, the seminar will use the archival collections at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library to trace the history of social movements and to consider the intersections of radical theory and practice with the creation and preservation of archives

Spring 2025: HIST GU4933
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 4933 001/11711 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
302 Fayerweather
Thai Jones 4.00 19/15

Spring 2026 Cross-listed Courses

PLEASE READ: The passage below lists *all* sections being offered by a Columbia instructor for a given course, including sections which *do not* count for History students. NOT ALL sections of the courses listed below count for History majors and concentrators. Particular sections only count towards the History degree if the section instructor is a History faculty member or an affiliate with the History Department. For additional information, please review the "Requirements" tab or consult Undergraduate Administrator at undergraduate-history@columbia.edu. All courses from the Barnard History Department also count towards the History degree.


HIST BC1302 EUROPEAN HISTORY SINCE 1789. 4.00 points.

Emergence of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary mass political movements; European industrialization, nationalism, and imperialism; 20th-century world wars, the Great Depression, and Fascism

Spring 2025: HIST BC1302
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1302 001/00128 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
304 Barnard Hall
Lisa Tiersten 4.00 66/90
HIST 1302 AU1/20290 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
Othr Other
Lisa Tiersten 4.00 22/22

HIST BC1401 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY TO 1865. 4.00 points.

Themes include Native and colonial cultures and politics, the evolution of American political and economic institutions, relationships between religious and social movements, and connecting ideologies of race and gender with larger processes such as enslavement, dispossession, and industrialization

HIST BC1402 INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1865. 4.00 points.

Examines the major social, political, economic, and intellectual transformations from the 1860s until the present, including industrialization and urbanization, federal and state power, immigration, the welfare state, global relations, and social movements

Fall 2025: HIST BC1402
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1402 001/00037 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
152 Horace Mann Hall
Matthew Vaz 4.00 10/35

HIST BC1760 INTRO AFRICAN HIST:1700-PRESNT. 4.00 points.

Survey of African history from the 18th century to the contemporary period. We will explore six major themes in African History: Africa and the Making of the Atlantic World, Colonialism in Africa, the 1940s, Nationalism and Independence Movements, Post-Colonialism in Africa, and Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa

Spring 2025: HIST BC1760
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 1760 001/00130 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
504 Diana Center
Abosede George 4.00 32/70

AFRS BC2006 INTRODUCTION AFRICAN DIASPORA. 3.00 points.

Interdisciplinary and thematic approach to the African diaspora in the Americas: its motivations, dimensions, consequences, and the importance and stakes of its study. Beginning with the contacts between Africans and the Portuguese in the 15th century, this class will open up diverse paths of inquiry as students attempt to answer questions, clear up misconceptions, and challenge assumptions about the presence of Africans in the New World

Spring 2025: AFRS BC2006
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AFRS 2006 001/00486 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
223 Milbank Hall
Tamara Walker 3.00 23/25

HIST BC2101 HISTORY OF CAPITALISM. 3.00 points.

The aim of this course is to provide students with analytical tools to think critically and historically about the concept of capitalism. By studying how philosophers, economists, and political theorists have defined and described the concept of capitalism throughout its history, students will be provided with a set of terminologies and analytical frameworks that enable them to interrogate the various dimensions of capitalism

HIST BC2375 Fascism in European History. 3.00 points.

What was Fascism? What kind of appeal did authoritarianism and dictatorship have in interwar Europe? How did the Fascist “New Order” challenge liberal democracies and why did it fail in World War II? What was the common denominator of Fascist movements across Europe, and in particular in Mussolini’s Italy, Salazar’s Portugal, Franco’s Spain, culminating in Nazi Germany? This class examines the history of Fascism as an ideology, constellation of political movements, and authoritarian regimes that aimed at controlling the modernization of European societies in the interwar period. Thus, the course focuses in particular on the relationship between politics, science and society to investigate how Fascism envisioned the modernity of new technologies, new social norms, and new political norms. The class will also explore Fascism’s imperialist goals, such as the calls for national renewal, the engineering of a new race, and the creation of a new world order

Spring 2025: HIST BC2375
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2375 001/00131 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
304 Barnard Hall
Angelo Caglioti 3.00 58/70

HIST BC2482 REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA, 1763-1. 3.00 points.

How did thirteen diverse British colonies become a single boisterous but fragile new nation? Historians still disagree about the causes, motives, and meanings surrounding the founding of the United States of America. Major themes include the role of ideologies, material interests, global contexts, race, gender, and class

Spring 2025: HIST BC2482
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2482 001/00138 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
504 Diana Center
Andrew Lipman 3.00 67/70

HIST BC2567 Women, Race, and Class. 3.00 points.

Using an intersectional framework, this course traces changing notions of gender and sexuality in the 20th century United States. The course examines how womanhood and feminism were shaped by class, race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality and immigration status. We will explore how the construction of American nationalism and imperialism, as well as the development of citizenship rights, social policy, and labor organizing, were deeply influenced by the politics of gender. Special emphasis will be placed on organizing and women's activism

Fall 2025: HIST BC2567
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2567 001/00345 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
202 Milbank Hall
Premilla Nadasen 3.00 20/35

HIST BC2681 WOMEN AND GENDER IN LATIN AMERICA. 3.00 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Examines the gendered roles of women and men in Latin American society from the colonial period to the present. Explores a number of themes, including the intersection of social class, race, ethnicity, and gender; the nature of patriarchy; masculinity; gender and the state; and the gendered nature of political mobilization

HIST BC2699 Latin American Civilization II. 4.00 points.

This course is intended to offer a survey of the history of a complex and vast region through two centuries. In order to balance the specificity of particular histories and larger processes common to Latin America, units will often start with a general presentation of the main questions and will be followed by lectures devoted to specific countries, regions, or themes. We will look closely at the formation of class and ethnic identities, the struggle around state formation, and the links between Latin America and other regions of the world. We will stress the local dimension of these processes: the specific actors, institutions and experiences that shaped the diversity and commonalities of Latin American societies. The assignments, discussion sections, and lectures are intended to introduce students to the key conceptual problems and the most innovative historical research on the region and to encourage their own critical reading of Latin American history

Spring 2025: HIST BC2699
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HIST 2699 001/00855 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
Ll002 Milstein Center
Alfonso Salgado 4.00 60/90

HIST BC3130 Failed Empire: Sweden in the Early Modern World. 4.00 points.

The geopolitical map of the world was in flux during the seventeenth century. As Spain was losing its control over Europe and the Atlantic world, a number of ambitious small states on the periphery of Europe set their sights on achieving imperial glory. By mid-century, The Dutch Republic, England, and Sweden were the primary contenders. Each nation developed a sense of manifest destiny and dedicated scarce resources to establish an imperial presence, from which they could conquer the world. While the former two nations succeeded in creating vast empires, the latter enjoyed only a brief stint as a world power. This failure had nothing to do with a lack of effort or moral considerations. This course explores Sweden’s imperial efforts and investigates its failures. It examines how military, political, religious, commercial, and scientific endeavors contributed to Sweden’s quest for riches and prominence. The seminar begins by discussing Sweden’s sudden military success during the Thirty Years’ War and the consequent formation of a Baltic empire. We next investigate Sweden’s presence on the west coast of Africa, where it built fort Carlsborg, and the east coast of North America, where it founded New Sweden. While these ventures failed relatively rapidly, Sweden continued to pursue a colonial presence through trade and the acquisition in 1784 of St. Barthélemy, a colony from which they engaged in trade, including the slave trade

HIST BC3495 Representing the Past. 4.00 points.

Examines the renderings of the past as conveyed by historians and by those seeking to "represent" the past, such as novelists, playwrights, filmmakers, ritualists, and artists. Analyzes the theoretical, philosophical, and evidentiary problems and possibilities inherent in various modes of historical narration and representation

HIST BC3505 Pandemic Tales: Curated Conversations with Migrant Workers. 4.00 points.

Pandemic Tales: Curated Conversations with Migrant Workers will work collaboratively with a New York City-based organization, Damayan. The course will chronicle the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on economically vulnerable Black and Brown communities. We will read about the history of Filipino migrant workers and be trained in the interview process. Our intention is to uplift the stories of undocumented migrant workers’ battles around housing and food insecurity and the collective efforts to provide support and care. Students will work with Damayan leaders in preparation for speaking to members who will share their stories of pain, hardship and resilience during the pandemic. From these stories we will work with Damayan to curate conversations about the impact of the pandemic on Filipino migrants and produce a webpage or podcast for Damayan’s use. This is a Barnard Engages course, supported by the Mellon Foundation, with the intention of fostering long-term relationships between Barnard college faculty and students and New York City-based community organizations addressing issues of poverty, immigration or labor rights. We will partner with Damayan Migrant Workers Association, an organization I have worked with for many years. A worker-run and directed organization, Damayan has been at the forefront of the effort to rescue and advocate on behalf of Filipino migrant workers. They were also involved in providing support for needy families when the pandemic hit. Our class project will be designed in collaboration with Damayan to assist them in their work. They have asked us to uplift the voices of the people severely impacted by the pandemic by curating conversations. There will be a joint public launch of our final product, which could be a webpage or a podcast. Because this is a community-directed project, students should be prepared for changes to the syllabus and end product. Much of the work for this course will be collaborative. Students will be working in teams and I will be working alongside students to produce the final product. In addition to the scheduled class times, there will be other scheduled meetings and/or workshops

CSER UN3928 COLONIZATION/DECOLONIZATION. 4.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement
Enrollment limited to 22.

Prerequisites: Open to CSER majors/concentrators only. Others may be allowed to register with the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: Open to CSER majors/concentrators only. Others may be allowed to register with the instructors permission. This course explores the centrality of colonialism in the making of the modern world, emphasizing cross-cultural and social contact, exchange, and relations of power; dynamics of conquest and resistance; and discourses of civilization, empire, freedom, nationalism, and human rights, from 1500 to 2000. Topics include pre-modern empires; European exploration, contact, and conquest in the new world; Atlantic-world slavery and emancipation; and European and Japanese colonialism in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The course ends with a section on decolonization and post-colonialism in the period after World War II. Intensive reading and discussion of primary documents

Fall 2025: CSER UN3928
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
CSER 3928 001/10182 W 10:10am - 12:00pm
420 Hamilton Hall
Karl Jacoby 4.00 0/20

AFAS GU4001 Revolution and Decolonization in the African Diaspora. 4.00 points.

This undergraduate/graduate seminar examines the history of Black revolutionary movements for decolonization from the era of slavery to the late twentieth century. While studies of what historians have called “Black Internationalism” have emerged over the past ten years, the revolutionary and decolonial legacies of Black Freedom movements have tended to be overshadowed by nation-centric models of Black Studies that tend to predominate in the field. This course poses long-standing questions for a new generation of students. How have Black revolutionary thinkers and movements analyzed the racial, class, gendered, and sexual dimensions of colonization? How have they confronted colonial state power and envisioned postcolonial transformation? What obstacles did these movements face? What lessons can be learned from revisiting Black revolutionary traditions? The course employs both intellectual history and social movement methodologies so that students can develop the tools to examine histories of decolonization and the visions of freedom that they inspired. While the class begins with the foundational struggles against slavery, the bulk of the course focuses on the revolutionary struggles of the mid-late 20th century, when a wide array of decolonization movements from Ghana and the Congo, to Cuba and the United States, attempted to challenge Euro-American imperial domination. The course’s diasporic focus, including struggles for decolonization in Africa, prompts students to explore the connections and resonances across national borders and colonial frontiers

Spring 2025: AFAS GU4001
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AFAS 4001 001/18656 Th 2:10pm - 4:00pm
758 Ext Schermerhorn Hall
Frank Guridy 4.00 17/16