3.00 Credits
Selected topics in history scheduled on a one-time basis when faculty and student interest justifies it.
Fall 2008:Adv: Top: Modern Tourism: From beaches to lunatic asylums, mountains to urban centers, tourism both shaped and was shaped by the modern world. Although now a cornerstone of our lives, modern tourism is only about two hundred and fifty years old. This class explores the development of touristic practice, beginning in a time when beaches were an intermediary space between heaven and hell, mountains were so terrifying that those who could afford it were carried through them while blindfolded, and most people could not even imagine the idea of "free time." As years passed, aesthetic revolution, technological developments, and growing economies utterly transformed how we look at our surroundings and how we think about time. This class will use lectures, readings, discussions, and field trips to explore the history of modern tourism, while at the same time giving students an opporrtunity to play a role in shaping understanding of this vital part of modern life.
Fall 2008:Adv: Top: Rebellion and Revolution in Twentieth Century Latin America: This course examines the major revolutionary movements in Latin America during the twentieth century -- particularly-- but not exclusively those movements that developed in Mexico (1910), Cuba (1959), Chile (1973) and Nicaragua (1979). The course asks what were the political, economic and cultural forces at work that compelled ordinary people in these countries to rebel against their governments and the status quo.
Spring 2008 & Spring 2009:Adv: Top: Modern Architecture: This course is a study of the development of modernism in the built environment of the past two centuries, with a close look at key structures and texts that highlight the major ideas of the period. The focus will initially be on Europe and North America, with a shift to a global perspective in the second half of the course. Topics will vary widely, but include buildings, design issues, city planning, ornament, technology, colonialism, and other aspects that contribute to the built environment of the modern world.
Fall 2009:Adv: Top: Indigenous People of Latin America Since the colonization of Latin America in the fifteenth century, Europeans and their descendents have sought to change the lives and habits of the native peoples, who the colonizers called "Indians", or "Indios". This course examines the indigenous cultures before, during and after European colonization. During the semester, we will ask how indigenous people drew on their own cultural traditions to endure colonial and post-colonial rule. Along the way, we will ask how divisions among natives-rich and poor, women and men, young and old-shaped the history of indigenous groups.
Spring 2010: The Vietnam War (Section A) This course examines the origins, evolution and impact of United States political and military intervention in Vietnam, which became a dominant, and divisive, issue in American politics in the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition to reviewing the history of the Vietnam War, the class will explore the political, cultural and social forces that shaped the behavior of the various Vietnamese and American parties in the conflict. The objective of the course is to develop a coherent perspective on what became one of the costliest conflicts in U.S. history.