History

This course examines Roman history, literature, and culture. It explore Rome from multiple perspectives, from politicians and poets to pilgrims and pirates, paying attention to the voices of the enslaved, dispossessed, and exploited and acknowledging the rich cultural diversity of the territories ruled by Rome. It will not only study ancient texts and monuments but also literary and artistic interpretations of the Roman world.

This course introduces students to the core themes and debates in the history of science and technology in modern America, examining how both shaped and were shaped by broader U.S. political, social, and economic developments and interests. Questions posed include what role did science and technology play in shaping twentieth-century U.S. history, and which major STEM figures and institutions drove this transformation? Topics covered include the rise of Big Science; research in wartime and during the Cold War; the relationship between scientific expertise and the state; science and public health policy; the development of technological hubs such as Silicon Valley; and the rise of environmentalism. Readings include contributions by figures such as Rachel Carson, Richard Feynman, Mae Jemison, Katherine Johnson, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Chien-Shiung Wu, alongside relevant historical scholarship. No prior STEM background is required. The course includes at least one science-focused field trip.

This course covers major topics in the Western study of Classics. In addition to the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, this course will cover developments in the study of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China. It presents an introduction to the major themes and methods involved in the study of the ancient world. Drawing on scholarship in the fields of literature, archaeology, history, and manuscript studies, the course engages with the main theoretical and methodological advances in classics. Using case studies from the ancient world, the course opens perspectives for the comparative study of ancient cultures, and provides a helpful starting point in developing a well-rounded understanding of the classical traditions of the ancient world.

An introduction to the study of ancient history and classical archaeology in the Mediterranean world from the 8th century BC to the early Roman Empire (1st century AD). The focus is on the development of Rome in the Italian peninsula and the emergence of Rome as a major power in the Mediterranean world. The reigns of the early Roman emperors are also covered. DP requirements: Students must attend at least 80% of tutorials, submit the prescribed number of essays and assignments and write any class test that may be scheduled. Submission dates must be adhered to. Assessment: One two-hour examination in October/November counts for 50% of the final mark; coursework counts for 50%.

This course covers the eventful and tumultuous decades of German history after the founding of the federal monarchy in 1871. Students study the Prussian kingdom and German Empire, World War I, and the collapse of the monarchy. The promise and failings of the Weimar Republic are examined in the context of the rising political extremes of communism and fascism that gave way to the terror of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The course analyzes World War II, including the Holocaust and complete defeat of Germany, and the 40 years of occupation and division of the country during the Cold War. Finally, the course examines the 1989 “peaceful revolution,” the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Germany’s reunification.

From the 1790s to the 1840s, a Berlin-based network of artists and intellectuals developed novel ways of writing, thinking, feeling, and living under the conceptual banner of the ‘romantic.’ Drawing on key texts by Ludwig Tieck, Friedrich and Dorothea Schlegel, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Novalis, Henriette Herz, Rahel Levin Varnhagen, Bettina and Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and the brothers Grimm, the class explores the central areas and practices of their romantic discourse of radical aesthetic, philosophical, political, and sociocultural modernity. Students critically examine how the romantics manifested and confronted the defining conflicts of their political and cultural present as these crystallized in Berlin, the capital of Prussia, 19th century Germany’s emerging hegemonic power. The course also surveys influential contemporary critiques of the romantic movement (Goethe, Hegel, Heine) and follow its legacies in the 20th century. Art history is another focus of the class, which includes a museum visit.

This course introduces students to U.S. military history and covers the long history from the colonial era up to World War II. Themes the course discusses include: What is military history and what approaches are there to writing military history? Who and what are the subjects of military history? How have the US armed forces evolved in time and how have they shaped the course of events in US history? Why has the US waged wars and how have wars reflected back on US society, popular culture, and the military itself? What happens if one looks at the military through the lenses of race, class, and gender?

This interdisciplinary seminar examines Berlin as a crucible of revolutionary thought and action across two transformative centuries. Rather than simply surveying historical events, the course investigates how revolutionary ideas—about the state, freedom, justice, and human emancipation—have evolved, collided, and been reimagined from the Napoleonic era through contemporary social movements. Students engage with canonical texts in philosophy and political theory (Hegel, Marx, Luxemburg, the Frankfurt School) alongside historical analysis and on-site exploration of Berlin's revolutionary landscapes—from the Berlin Wall Memorial to former Stasi prisons to sites of student uprising. Throughout, the course emphasizes critical connections between past and present, examining how Berlin's revolutionary traditions inform contemporary debates about surveillance, resistance, urban space, and democratic participation. Students develop skills in comparative historical analysis, philosophical argumentation, and critical citizenship, learning to recognize how understanding revolutionary history can illuminate present-day struggles for social transformation.

This course examines key moments of struggle over what ‘Australia’ means and what it means to be Australian. Topics may include: imperial expansion and the colonial frontier; race relations and British race patriotism, Indigenous resistance and the White Australia policy; battles over land and labor; refugee and border protection; engagement with the Asia-Pacific; economic revolutions; protest movements and state formation. It will explore the ceaseless debate about government, community, history and identity that helps shape a collective and individual consciousness.

Drawing on primary and secondary sources, history textbooks, and academic and historical texts in English (from the late nineteenth century onward), this course allows students to discuss key conceptual terminology in the field of history, as well as major developments in Japanese history and their connections to more recent social and economic issues. The topics may cover a variety of historical periods, ranging from Tokugawa period to Shōwa era, from the foundation of the modern state to the postwar long economic boom.

Preliminary knowledge of modern and contemporary Japanese history is recommended.