History Introductory Courses

(F,Sem) (Same as CLASSHIS 37N.) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. The politics, drama, and characters of the period after the fall of the Roman Republic in 49 B.C.E. Issues of liberty and autocracy explored by Roman writers through history and biography. The nature of history writing, how expectations about literary genres shape the materials, the line between biography and fiction,and senatorial ideology of liberty. Readings include: Tacitus' Annals, Suetonius' Lives of the Caesers, and Robert Graves' I Claudius and episodes from the BBC series of the same title. GER:DB-Hum

3 units, Aut (Saller, R)

HISTORY 20Q. Russia in the Early Modern European Imagination

(S,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to sophomores. The contrast between the early modern image of Europe as free, civilized, democratic, rational, and clean against the notion of New World Indians, Turks, and Chinese as savage. The more difficult, contemporary problem regarding E. Europe and Russia which seemed both European and exotic. Readings concerning E. Europe and Russia from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment; how they construct a positive image of Europe and conversely a negative stereotype of E. Europe. Prerequisite: PWR 1. GER:DB-Hum, EC-GlobalCom

5 units, Spr (Kollmann, N)

HISTORY 22N. Images and Practices of Violence in Early Modern Russian Art and Law

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Myths and realities about violence in 15th-17th century Russia. While Muscovy is often considered a brutal and violent state, political ideology stressed piety, judicial practice routinely mitigated sentences, and artistic imagery never depicted graphic violence. Theories of iconography, ritual, and imagery and their reception by beholders; judicial and political practice; political ideology; social behavior; and comparisons to early modern Europe in art, violence, and the law. GER:DB-Hum

5 units, Spr (Kollmann, N)

HISTORY 34N. The European Witch Hunts

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Witch trials, early modern demonology, and historians' interpretations. What was it about early modernity that fueled witch hunting? Forms of the supernatural in history, whether from the ordered world of organized religion, or frightening, uncontrolled, and dangerous. The idea of witchcraft; the fear that some people harm others supernaturally. Reformation era witch hunts conducted in a period of state building and scientific discovery and in violation of extant laws and procedures. GER:DB-Hum

4 units, Win (Stokes, L)

HISTORY 36N. Gay Autobiography

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Gender, identity, and solidarity as represented in nine autobiographies: Isherwood, Ackerley, Duberman, Monette, Louganis, Barbin, Cammermeyer, Gingrich, and Lorde. To what degree do these writers view sexual orientation as a defining feature of their selves? Is there a difference between the way men and women view identity? What politics follow from these writers' experiences? GER:DB-Hum, EC-Gender

4 units, Spr (Robinson, P)

HISTORY 38N. The Body

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Cultural and social meanings of the body. How medicine, media, law, and culture construct changing ideals of the body. How to apply historical and feminist analyses to understand change and the difference that gender makes in the social and cultural construction of the body. Emphasis is on shifting historical ideals for female and male bodies, and the changing importance of body image in popular culture. Readings include girls' diaries, women's sports, masculinity in the media, sexual violence, and performing the body. GER:DB-Hum, EC-Gender

5 units, Spr (Freedman, E)

HISTORY 44N. The History of Women and Gender in Science, Medicine, and Engineering

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Women's participation in science; women as objects of scientific research; gender in the culture of the sciences; and how gender analysis has changed science theory and practice. GER:DB-Hum, EC-Gender

4 units, Win (Schiebinger, L)

HISTORY 46N. Science and Magic

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Key episodes in the intertwined histories of natural science and magic from the early modern period, and questions these episodes raise regarding the nature of scientific knowledge, its public image, and the modern role of magic in society. GER:DB-Hum

5 units, Win (Riskin, J)

HISTORY 48Q. South Africa: Contested Transitions

(S,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to sophomores. The inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president in May 1994 marked the end of an era and a way of life for S. Africa. The changes have been dramatic, yet the legacies of racism and inequality persist. Focus: overlapping and sharply contested transitions. Who advocates and opposes change? Why? What are their historical and social roots and strategies? How do people reconstruct their society? Historical and current sources, including films, novels, and the Internet. GER:DB-Hum

3 units, Win (Samoff, J)

HISTORY 52N. The Harlem Renaissance

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. The literary and artistic movement of the Harlem Renaissance in the context of broader transformations in American and African American culture in the 20s. Novels, poetry, plays, and critical essays by writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman, and Alain Locke. The work of contemporary musicians, dancers, and visual artists. GER:DB-Hum

5 units, Win (Campbell, J)

HISTORY 54N. African American Women's Lives

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. The everyday lives of African American women in 19th- and 20th-century America in comparative context of histories of European, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American women. Primary sources including personal journals, memoirs, music, literature, and film, and historical texts. Topics include slavery and emancipation, labor and leisure, consumer culture, social activism, changing gender roles, and the politics of sexuality. GER:DB-Hum

4-5 units, Aut (Hobbs, A)

HISTORY 90Q. Buddhist Political and Social Theory

(S,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to sophomores. Historical and textual roots, emphasizing Tibetan, Bhutanese, and Thai Buddhism. Society and polity in Buddhist thought, Buddhist spiritual, social, and political practice. The state, sovereignty, and the individual and society. Law. Buddhist economic theory, Gross National Happiness, and sustainable economy. The Buddhist critique of neoliberalism. GER:DB-SocSci, EC-GlobalCom

4-5 units, Win (Mancall, M)

HISTORY 95N. Mapping the World: Cartography and the Modern Imagination

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Focus is on cutting-edge research. Topics: the challenge of grasping the globe as a whole; geography's roots in empire; maps as propaganda and as commodities; the cultural production of scale; and the cartography of imaginery worlds.Sources include resources in the Green Library Special Collections and in the Stanford Spatial History Lab. GER:DB-SocSci

5 units, Aut (Wigen, K)

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Stanford Bulletin, Archive 2008-09

Stanford Bulletin, Archive 2008-09

Alphabetical Index

Bulletin Archive

History Introductory Courses