History

Paris, the most visited city in the world, is both a historical city and a modern global capital that fashionably wears the old and the new on its sleeve. It is also home to Parisians, whose clichéd image has been shaped in cultural imaginaries from around the globe, but whose identities and cultures are increasingly plural. The city and language course poses this two-fold question: just who is this city for, and how does one unlock its levels? More than a picturesque concentration of streets and buildings, Paris's urban landscape provides a tableau upon which people have inscribed meaning, message, and significance to state, nation, and culture. To decipher these messages and gain an understanding of Paris's history and the French culture that has shaped it, this course examines the histories of the conception, construction, and public perception of Parisian sites and it places their stories within the larger context of the development of French identity. The city and language course introduces students to French history, culture, and language through team-taught instruction. In the “Pursuing Paris” sessions, students study French history and culture by visiting sites important to the evolution of the capital city—these sessions are taught in English. In the “Unlocking French” sessions, students practice targeted language skills through situational communication with opportunities to use everything they learn in daily activities.

Paris has long been recognized as a center for both revolutionary activism and innovative artistic production. This course explores the coming together of these two domains through diverse visual manifestations of social justice and advocacy produced and/or displayed in Paris from the Revolution to the present, including painting, sculpture, architecture, performance, installations, photography, video, posters, graffiti, and street art. Students explore the ways in which the urban landscape bears the scars of revolutionary destruction and serves as a showcase for politically engaged production, housed in its museums or visible to all on the streets. The instructional format consists of both lectures and group site visits throughout the city, to venues including public and private museums, which are studied both for their content, architecture, and their politics of display; galleries, artist collectives, and Parisian neighborhoods with outdoor art displays.

This course examines major developments in world history, in the period from the late eighteenth century to the present, with particular emphasis on the theme of globalization. It covers areas of culture, religion, politics, society and the world economy.

This course introduces the history of the modern Middle East from the nineteenth century to the start of the Arab Spring in 2010. Since the 600s C.E., the Middle East has been the heartland of Muslim peoples and empires. Along with other religious communities (Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian) and a variety of ethno-linguistic groups (Arab, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, Berber, Azeri), the Middle East constituted one of humankind’s critical intersections between religions and cultures. This course addresses a number of important themes in the lives of Middle Easterners in the past and provides the vital tools and skills to conduct such an investigation. More broadly, the course examines how Middle Easterners have engaged with and contribute to modernity; how traditions and customs has helped them shape and understand the world around them; and how individuals have related to society and state. The Middle East has played vital roles in international affairs today. While the study of contemporary politics is important, this is a history class and it focuses on the past that led to the present.

The course discusses two main topics. The first topic is on Etruscans and the Italic peoples: Ancient Italy between Bronze Age and Iron Age. Topics include the transition from the protovillanovian to the villanovian period; transformations of the population, origin of the proto-urban centres and “formation” of the Etruscan ethnos; cultures, languages, and peoples of the pre-roman Italy; Etruscans and their relationships with the other italic peoples: commercial exchanges and cultural connections; and cultural and chronological periods. The second topic is on History and culture of the Etruscans Culture: The Villanovian period (IX-VIII c. BCE). Topics include from the hut to the house and from the village to the town; the early forms of social and political organization; the Orientalizing period (VIII-VII c. BCE): the rise and consolidation of the aristocracy; the culture of the princes; palaces and big funerary architecture; different expressions of the aristocratic ideology; the Archaic period (VI c. BCE): the end of the aristocracies and coming of the demos; big works of urban monumentalizing; cities and their harbors; relations with the oriental Greek Culture; the Classic period (V-IV c. BCE): the dominance of the inner Etruria and the crisis of the coastal Etruria; the artistic issue and the relationships with Greece; the Hellenistic period (IV-III c. BCE): the great “crisis” of the Fourth Century and the return of aristocracies; the relations with Macedonia and Magna Graecia and last great season of the Etruscan culture; and conflict with Rome and decline of the Etruscans.

This course examines contemporary approaches to the past through a critical examination of current literature, case studies – mainly British, European, and imperial/colonial – and fieldwork excursions in and around London. History and Memory I and II are designed to explore the complex relationships between past and present, promote an understanding of the nature of history as a discipline, and investigate the social and public functions of historical research. The emphasis is on the often controversial relationship between professional historians and other groups with an interest in the past: politicians and states, cultural institutions, the media, and the general public.