History

One of the oldest traditions in France has been la contestation: a word that can be translated as questioning, entering into a dispute, confronting, protesting, or simply contesting. French history has consequently borne the imprint of this long and lively history. More often than not these movements have been led by the youth, for whom protest was a means to bring about change and right what they viewed as wrong. This course journeys through a number of such movements and investigates what was being contested and why, what was being proposed in its place and why, and what was achieved as a result. The course begins with the French Revolution of 1789. In the 19th century, the course visits the barricades of 1848 and the Paris Commune, where the youth often paid with their lives for their ideals. It analyzes the texts of the thinkers and intellectuals who gave the youth the tools to question the status quo. Following these upheavals, the course continues into the 20th century, when the youth were faced with two cataclysmic wars in which their contestation became synonymous with choice, freedom, and resistance. The course then concentrates on the movement that culminated in the year 1968, when the streets of Paris and other major cities witnessed an unprecedented level of contestation, challenging the all-powerful government of General de Gaulle. Here, too, the course studies the texts that questioned authority. It ends with a glance at the beginning of the 21st century, where the youth—faced with the consequences of globalization, ecological concerns, unemployment at home, and wars beyond their borders leading to major waves of migration—continue to confront and question what they view as unfair and unjust.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Western world of the early Middle Ages underwent centuries of transformation marked by new political structures, the adoption of Christianity, and a renewed social organization. This course offers an overview of the early European Middle Ages, prior to the Gregorian Reform and the Crusades, and examines political, social, economic, and cultural aspects while introducing the historical sources that allow us to reconstruct this period.

This course examines some of the cultural consequences of the coming of Christianity to medieval Ireland, especially in the area of reading and writing. Topics include the early history of Christianity in Ireland, the earliest writings from the Celtic-speaking world, religious literature in Irish and Latin, the contribution of the Irish to Christianity and learning abroad, and the impact of Christianity and the new learning on Irish vernacular culture.

This course examines the evolution of Madrid society throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from the perspective of urban history. It examines the interrelationship of urban, demographic, economic, social, political, and cultural factors and how they have shaped contemporary Madrid society.

This interdisciplinary course focuses on one of the most important recent developments in Spanish society: the onset in the 1990s of mass immigration from Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Spain's long history of expulsions, enforced religious uniformity, colonialism, contending regional and national identities and loyalties, and the marginalization of the Roma minority, provides an obvious starting point from which to consider both migrant experiences in Spain, and the way migration is reconfiguring contemporary attitudes and identities in Spanish society. Against this historical background, the course examines the dynamics and demographics of migration to and—again more recently—from Spain, and more generally, migrants' integration into the education system, the labor market, and social, political and cultural life. Class discussions and readings analyze the Spanish response to immigration, whether in the shape of laws and public policies, media representations of migrants, or public attitudes and behavior towards newcomers and ethnic minorities, including racism. The course ends by considering the impact of the ongoing economic crisis on immigrants, and the interplay between migration and current nationalist tensions within Spain, particularly the areas surrounding Catalonia and the Basque Country.

This course examines and analyzes conspiracy theories that have had a major impact upon politics and society in Europe, the United States, and the world from 1890 to the present. Through readings of secondary sources, the course assesses how historians have approached, assessed, and contextualized such conspiracy narratives. Through readings of primary sources, the course analyzes why individuals spread conspiracy theories. What goals are they pursuing? With whom are they arguing, and whom or what do they seek to discredit? How has the spread of individual conspiracy theories affected politics, culture, and society?