Fall 2023 Course Listings

UA Department of History
Fall 2023 Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Note: There are no prerequisites for any courses in History. 300-level courses cap at 40 students and are lecture based. 400-level courses cap at 30 students, are discussion based, and usually have the “W” designation (double check below). 300 and 400-level courses have roughly the same workload.

HY 101 Western Civilization to 1648. A history of Western civilization from its origins in Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the age of discovery and expansion during the emergence of modern Europe.

HY 102 Western Civilization Since 1648. Covers the development if the Western world from the Thirty Years’ War to the post-World War II era; the age of absolutism, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, industrialization and the wars of the 20th century.

HY 103 American Civilization to 1865. A survey of American history from its beginning to the end of the Civil War, giving special emphasis to the events, people, and ideas that have made America a distinctive civilization.

HY 104 American Civilization Since 1865. A survey of American history from the Civil War to the present, giving special emphasis to the events, people, and ideas that have made America a distinctive civilization.

HY 105 Honors Western Civilization to 1648. A history of Western civilization from its origins in Greece and Rome through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Reformation, and the age of discovery and expansion during the emergence of modern Europe.

HY 106 Honors Western Civilization Since 1648. Covers the development of the Western world from the Thirty Years’ War to the post–World War II era: the age of absolutism, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, industrialization, and the wars of the 20th century.

HY 107 Honors American Civilization to 1865. An honors-level approach to the American experience. Prerequisite(s): Invitation of the department or membership in the University Honors Program.

HY 108 Honors American Civilization since 1865. An honors-level approach to the American experience. Prerequisite(s): Invitation of the department or membership in the University Honors Program.

HY 111 Colonial Latin America. Professor Juan José Ponce Vázquez. TR 11-12:15. Formation of the largely Spanish speaking New World, from the shock of conquest to the trials of freedom that spawned the modern nations of Latin America.

HY 113 Asian Civilization to 1400. Professor Di Luo. MWF 9-9:50. History 113 is an introduction to the societies and cultures of pre-modern Asia with a focus on China, Korea, and Japan. One goal of this course is to consider what is distinctive about “Asian civilization,” as manifested in these countries. A second goal is the study of the relationship between the evolution of China, Korea, and Japan as distinct cultures themselves.

HY 115 Science/Medicine to 1800. Professor Erik Peterson. MW 11-11:50. Also requires a recitation: R 8, R 9, F 10, F 11. Science and technology are ever-present in today’s world, defining not only how we live our daily lives but also shaping our conceptions and evaluations of modernity, civilization, and progress. How did science and technology become so important and pervasive to the modem world? This course is intended as an introduction to the history of modem science and technology from the enlightenment to the present. Our focus will be on the development of science and technology in the Western World (Europe and North America). However, we will also make comparisons across cultures to explore how science and technology shaped notions of what counts as “Western” and “modem.” In addition to learning about key developments in the history of science and technology, from Ford’s Model-T to Einstein’s theory of relativity, we will address larger themes, including the relationship between science and religion and the role of technology in war and empire.

HY 117 World History to 1500. Professor Patrick Hurley. MW 10-10:50. Also requires a recitation R 9, R 11, F 11, F 1. This survey course explores the history of several major parts of the world and their perspective histories from the earliest times to AD 1500. Such exploration will include studies of the Mediterranean and Near East, China, India, Mesoamerica, and Sub-Saharan Africa. When examining these topics, attention will be given to social, economic, and religious history as well as political history.

HY 306-002 History of the US Navy. Professor John Beeler. TR 12:30-1:45. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the broad strategic concepts of sea power, their role in evolution of the United States and its Navy from their origins to the present, and ancillary topics such as naval technology, the evolution and transformation of tactics, and, not least of all, the nature of sea warfare in the ages of sail and steam, and the perceptions and experiences of those who have served in the U.S. Navy, in both peace and war. Along the way we shall spend considerable time focusing on wars, campaigns and battles, but several classes will be devoted to examining the changing nature of technology and naval warfare in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from the revolution effected by steam, armor, modern ordnance, torpedoes and other technological novelties, right up to the nuclear age and the exocet missile. Individual lectures will also be dedicated to the social evolution of the Navy: the development of a professional officer corps, life before the mast, and related topics.

HY 307-001 Exploration and Conquest. Professor Matthew Lockwood. TR 12:30-1:45. The period from the 15th through the 18th centuries saw an unprecedented global expansion. Great empires—British, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Inca, Mughal, Ottoman, and Chinese—grew far beyond their original borders through sea voyages, land wars, and conquest. This global history course examines this Age of Exploration and Conquest, looking not only at the European settlements in the Americas, Africa, and Asia but also the changing dynamics of imperial life around the globe.

HY 311 Antebellum America. Professor Sharony Green. R 3:00-5:30. This course will explore the antebellum period as an era of great change in the United State. Between 1820 and 1860, we witness an expanding frontier in the Cotton South, but also the rise of the “city,” among other things. While the South will always be on our radar, we will also be interested in finding meaning in other regions by paying close attention to the people who move through or live in them and the landscape itself.

HY 337 Foodways in American History. Professor Chuck Clark. MWF Noon-12:50pm. American Foodways will use food and the cultural meanings surrounding it to examine American history from the colonial era to the present day. Everyone eats, but the ways in which they did so and the meanings of various groups ascribed to their food will provide a set of viewpoints on our shared past. There will be an experimental component to the class, mainly in the form of food and tastings.

HY 341 History US-Vietnam War. Professor Sarah Steinbock-Pratt. TR 2:00-3:15. This course will explore the long history of the Vietnam War. Beginning with early Vietnamese history and colonization, this class will trace the struggle of Vietnamese people for autonomy and sovereignty, the rise of the US as a formal empire and its expanded global role in the twentieth century, the American phase of the war and the burgeoning Cold War, and the multiple and contested legacies of the conflict. Through assigned readings and class discussions, students will explore different perspectives on the wars in Vietnam, American and Vietnamese notions of freedom during the Cold War, the intersection of domestic and foreign policies and politics, the construction of ideas about race, gender, and national identity, and the conflicted ways that the war has been remembered and commemorated. As a course project, students will conduct oral history interviews and create websites based on these interviews.

HY 349 History of France 1760-present. Professor Holly Grout. TR 9:30-10:45. This course examines major trends in the social, cultural, economic and political history of modern France. Major themes include: republicanism and citizenship, nationalism, daily life, war, class conflict, consumerism, imperialism, the arts and gender.

HY 352 The Right to Privacy. Professor Lawrence Cappello. MW 2:00-3:15. This course examines the right to privacy in American history from the invention of the instant-camera in 1890 to the launch of Facebook in 2004. Major themes include government surveillance, tabloid journalism, large-scale data collection, corporate espionage, reproductive rights, the privacy v. security debate, and the relationship between privacy and technology. Students in this class will spend a considerable amount of time exploring the merits of the question: “If you’re not doing anything wrong, then what do you have to hide?”

HY 354 Southern Queer History. Professor John Giggie. TR 11:00-12:15. This class will explore the modern queer civil rights movement. Sponsored by the Summersell Center for the Study of the South and working the Invisible Histories project based in Birmingham, the class will read key works and meet with archivists and scholars active in preserving and telling the story of queer history. Students will end the course by conducting interviews with local queer leaders and building a website to host their research.

HY 357  World War I. Professor Charles Clark. MW 10:00-10:50. Recitations R 9, R 10, F 8, F 10. World War I deals with the social, cultural, and economic aspects of the war, the role that technology played in the outcome, and the impact of the war on the world today. Students write two six-to-eight-page comparative papers, identify important images from the war, and write in-class essays to assess understanding.

HY 368 From Columbus to Castro: Caribbean History since 1492. Professor Jenny Shaw. MWF 9:00-9:50. Conquistadors! Planters! Pirates! Indians! Enslaved Africans! Religious Reformers! Independence Leaders! Radical Revolutionaries! Together these people built a new world – a world forged at the intersection of imperial ambitions and international contact, where the peoples and cultures of the Americas, Africa, and Europe collided. This class examines how colonialism, plantation slavery, the age of abolition, and the emergence of national independence movements made the modern Caribbean.

HY 378 Drugs, Booze & Mexican Society. Professor Steven Bunker. TR 12:30-1:45. This course is a hybrid survey of Mexican history since conquest, the history of the US-Mexican border, and a view of that history through the lens of drug production, consumption, and influence on Mexican society and US-Mexican relations. In short, the goal of this course is to impart an understanding of drugs as embedded in Mexican social, political, economic, and cultural contexts, providing students with a view from the Mexican side of the border. Alcohol and marijuana will be the focus of the course, but other substances will enter into certain readings throughout the semester. An important theme in this course is to answer the question “What are the origins of today’s War on Drugs?” In addition, the course will endeavor to provide a broader, international context for the development and use of intoxicants and the drug trade, both legal and illegal.

HY 386 History of Rome. Professor Patrick Hurley. MWF 9:00-9:50. This course explores the history of Rome from the founding of the city to the rise of the Empire and beyond. Special attention will be paid to the individuals, institutions, and customs that contributed to the development of a distinctive Roman identity.

HY 404 Modern China since 1600. Professor Di Luo. MWF 1-1:50. This course provides a general but analytic survey of the history of China from the 17th to the 20th century. After a brief introduction to China’s geography, languages, and cultural background, we will discuss key historical phenomena that have distinguished China’s evolution in the modern period. The course is organized around the paired themes of non-Chinese attempts to challenge or undermine China’s sovereignty and Chinese responses to those efforts, partly and especially since 1895 to achieve wealth and power for their nation. For this reason, emphasis is placed on political, military, and social developments, although some attention is also given to economic and intellectual ones.

HY 406-001 (W) Slavery in American Popular Culture. Professor Joshua Rothman. TR 9:30-10:45. This course examines how slavery has appeared in American popular culture over time. Students will be engaging with novels, film and television, theater, advertisements, art, and other cultural productions from the nineteenth century to the present. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 406-002 (W) American Politics since 1960. Professor Kari Frederickson. MWF Noon-12:50. This course examines the history of politics in America from the 1960s to the 1980s. Topics to be explored include the civil rights and black power movements, the New Left, the Vietnam War and accompanying antiwar movement, the feminist movement, Watergate, and the rise of the Christian Right. We will focus our study on the impact of these movements on American electoral politics, as well as their impact on the fate of political ideologies such as liberalism and conservatism. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

406-003 (W) War and Society. Professor Andrew Huebner. M 2-4:30. This course will survey the radiating impact of armed conflict and military service on individuals, communities, culture, politics, and the state in America since 1898. Subjects of inquiry will include the relationship between military service and citizenship, the consequences of war for soldiers and their families, the selling of wars to the public, the representation and memorialization of violence in popular and literary culture, and the role of the military as a venue for the politics of class, gender, ethnicity, race, and sexual orientation. At its core, the class will ask students to dedicate sustained attention to this question: Is America a militarized country, a militaristic one, both, or neither? Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 407-001 (W) Caribbean Pirates HY & Culture. Professor Juan José Ponce Vázquez. T 3-5:30. Their imagery of Caribbean pirates has become commercialized and ever-present in western culture to the point that everyone has heard about them. In this course, we will first learn who the real pirates of the Caribbean were, their impact in defining international trade, as well as the imperial aspirations of early modern European states in the New World. We will look into the Golden Age of Piracy, how pirates lived and died, their meteoric rise in the New World and the reasons for their final decline. While doing this, we will also explore the ways in which Caribbean piracy has been portrayed in multiple media formats, mostly film, board games, and video games. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 407-002 (W) Modern Korea. Professor Sean Han. MW 2-3:15. Today, North Korea’s nuclear program and ballistic missile feed our news media, and Samsung Smartphones from South Korea gained a presence in people’s daily lives. Despite Korea’s importance, its past and present remain poorly understood, even among highly educated people in the Western world. This course will examine Two Korea’s recent past colonization, the Korean War, economic takeoff and stagnation, cultures of the Cold War, globalization and isolation, and the most recent phenomena of the so-called Korean Wave. By reading, watching, and discussing various materials, including scholarly works, primary sources, films, and TV dramas, this course allows students to trace salient features of cross-cultural and transnational aspects in Korean society. No Korean language skill is required. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 439 (W) Foundations in Public History. Professor Julia Brock. MW 3:30-4:45. In this course, you will absorb readings, participate in discussions, and undertake hands-on work that will begin your engagement with the field of public history. By the end of the course, you will be familiar with major debates that engage public historians; the professional workplaces of public historians; new directions in the field; and the ways in which we accomplish our goal of working in partnership with stakeholders to make the past accessible to public audiences. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course. A student who does not write with the skill normally required of an upper-division student will not earn a passing grade, no matter how well the student performs in other areas of the course. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 444-001 (W) Reform & Counter-Reformation. Professor Lucy Kaufman. MWF 11-11:50. This course covers the divide between the Catholic and the Protestant churches in sixteenth-century Europe and the splintering of religious unity in this remarkable century of change. We will study the history of great thinkers of the day, like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ignatius Loyola and Teresa of Ávila and politicians like Elizabeth I of England and Charles V of Spain. But we will also explore what it was like to live during a period of such wrenching change: what it meant to experience—and to participate in—the fracturing of religious, familial, gender, professional, institutional, and national identities. Though the class focuses on European history, we will also examine the impact of the Reformation on the relationship between Europe and the world, from China to New England to Mexico to India. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 482-001 (W) War & Religion in the West. Professor Daniel Riches. TR 11-12:15. This course will deal with the complex interrelationships between religion and armed conflict that have marked the Western tradition from the ancient world into modern times. How and why have issues of religious belief and identity contributed to conflict amongst Westerners, and between those living in the West and those living elsewhere? Do conflicts tinged with a religious element take on a particular ferocity, and pose particular challenges for resolution? We will examine both the histories of specific conflicts and theoretical works dealing with broader issues, and will focus in on particular moments across the scope of Western history in which the connections between war and religion have been especially poignant (the development of just war theory; the Crusades; the early modern wars of religion; the ‘war on terror’ and the ‘clash of civilizations’ paradigm, etc.). Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course. 

HY 497 (Formerly HY 430) Capstone Research Seminar. This course offers students extensive training in historical research methods and writing. It will normally culminate in a 15-page research paper based on primary source materials, as well as an oral presentation. Instructors may also choose to offer a range of equivalent alternatives at their discretion. In all events the course will offer students a rewarding opportunity to practice the craft of historical research. A grade of C or higher is required for credit in the major. Writing proficiency is required for a passing grade in this course. A student who does not write with the skill normally required of an upper-division student will not earn a passing grade, no matter how well the student performs in other areas of the course.

HY 497-001 (W) Crime and Law in Britain. Professor Matthew Lockwood. R 2-4:30.Forming the basis of legal systems from America to Australia, India to South Africa, the British legal system stands at the very center of historical developments in constitutionalism, jurisprudence, and carceral policy. In this research seminar, students will examine and interpret historical developments in British legal history using a wide array of primary sources. Students will pick a research project relating to crime and the law in the British Isles from any historical period that appeals to their interests and then engage in extensive primary source research to create an original research essay. This class asks students to consider the importance of crime and the law historically and to use their own original research and writing to assess the influence of moments of legal change on the development of Britain and the modern world. The class will focus on this independent research project, which will culminate in a 15–18-page paper based on an exploration of both primary sources and historiography. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course. 

HY 497-002 (W) Global 1960s. Professor Ian Wasserman. T 2-4:30. The Prague Spring. May riots in Paris. Protests in Mexico City and the Olympics. The Tet Offensive in Vietnam. 1968 was the most tumultuous year in a most momentous decade. Was 1968 a revolutionary year? In this class we explore this question by studying the events, social movements, and legacy of 1968 across the globe. Looking at this crucial year in contemporary history, we analyze the political, social, and cultural meaning of protest and its impact on class, generational, gender, and racial relations in Western and Eastern Europe, in Asia and Africa, and across the Americas. In this class, students will conduct original research on the global 1960s. Areas of student research might include histories of: social, cultural, or intellectual movements; scientific theories/policies; art and literature; politics and diplomacy; labor history; and class, race, gender, and sexuality. Each student will identify an area of particular interest and develop a research project using proper historical methods. While students may research events in the United States, the expectation is that the project will have a comparative, international, transnational, or global dimension. It should not just be about the US. The final project will include a 20-to-25-page research essay based on primary source analysis and secondary source reading as well as a 20-minute in-class multimedia presentation. To achieve these goals, students will complete readings on 1960s history and the practice of history; develop an original research topic with assistance from the instructor and university librarians; identify primary sources accessible at UA or online; identify secondary literature necessary to contextualize the topic; develop a research plan; submit short written assignments relating to the broader project; turn in rough drafts for instructor and peer evaluation ahead of the final due date. The seminar will meet weekly but several weeks will be devoted to individual meetings. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 497-003 (W) History of London. Professor Lucy Kaufman. M 2-4:30. In this research seminar, students will explore the rich and varied history of London from its inception to the present day. Rather than concentrate on a wide geography and a short period of time, we will look at the evolution of one space over the course of millennia. Students can pick any period of this history that interests them; they will then engage in extensive original research using the many accessible primary source collections available for the metropolis. At its core, this class asks you to think of yourself not as a student, but rather as an historian. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course. 

HY 497-004 (W) College Life in 20th-Century Alabama. Professor Kari Frederickson. W 2-4:30.  In this course, students will have the opportunity to research life on The University of Alabama campus from 1900 to the present. Drawing on a range of primary sources in W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, students can examine topics as diverse as dating culture in the 1920s, student antiwar activism during the Vietnam War, the changing relationship between UA and the city of Tuscaloosa, or the ever-changing campus landscape. These are just a few examples; the topics are endless! Students will survey historical research methods, develop their own topics, conduct primary and secondary source research, and communicate their findings in a 15-page paper and a 15-minute oral presentation. Students must earn a grade of C or higher to count the course toward their history major. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.

HY 497-005 (W) American Military Leadership. Professor Harold Selesky. W 2-4:30. This course examines the use of force by the United States through the lens of the decision-making of six key figures: George Washington and Nathanael Greene in the War for American Independence, Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman in the American Civil War, and George Catlett Marshall and Dwight David Eisenhower in World War II. Because it falls under the rubric of HY 497, the ‘capstone of the History major at The University of Alabama,’ the course is designed around the investigative tools of the historian, with the goal of producing a substantive piece of historical scholarship. Thus the course has three components: the identification of an historical problem through familiarity with the secondary literature on the topic, the location of the appropriate primary sources that will enable you to construct an answer to your question, and the creation of an essay of twenty to twenty-five pages that embodies in clear and cogent prose the product (‘the conclusions’) of your research. With these three components, the course provides the ‘capstone’ experience required of all history majors and fulfills the University’s requirement for one of the two courses bearing the “W” (for Writing proficiency) demanded of all undergraduates.

The first half of the course is devoted to the first two components. We will examine in brief the structure of a good historical essay –definition of the question, appropriateness and adequacy of the primary source material, and the extent to which the author is able to convey insight in clear and concise ways. We will briefly review the course of three conflicts – the War for American Independence, the American Civil War, and the Second World War, with an eye to identifying the ‘breakpoints,’ the ‘crossroads,’ the ‘points of decision’ –call them what you will—in the careers of the six commanders on whose decisions we will focus.   The second half of the course provides, I hope, sufficient space and time for you to accomplish the goals you have identified in the first half. For three weeks, class will not be held. Use this time wisely to think and write. I would hope that by then you will have assembled the requisite source materials and have read and digested them.

The final three meetings of the course will provide you with the opportunity to present to your classmates the results of your labors. Presentations will be in chronological order of subject. The people presenting their research in each of these classes will circulate a draft of their essay ONE WEEK BEFORE the meeting of that class, so that everyone will be able to read the author’s work. To ensure active participation, I will go around the room and ask each of you to comment briefly on the work of your peers — what did you learn, what did you take away. Writing proficiency within this discipline is required for a passing grade in this course.