History

This course covers the major themes of European cultural history since the end of the 18th century. It studies institutions (schools, universities), vectors (books, press), actors, and audiences. This study is also part of the political history of the continent, through the commitment and birth of the “intellectual”, as well as the debates and polemics of the time.

This course focuses on the transatlantic Cold War and thus on developments in and interactions between the US, the USSR and Europe from the angles of primarily diplomatic, as well as cultural and technological history.  After completing this course students are able to: summarize the main developments in international politics in the post-World War II world, as well as some of the main themes in international relations theory; plan their own research, i.e. find relevant literature, and work out a thesis on their particular topic; and present the results of their research, both orally and in writing.  Prerequisites include one of the following courses: Ancient Literature and History, Ancient History, Medieval History, Early Modern History, Modern History, or Introduction to Political Theory. Knowledge of modern history (especially post-World War II history) is required for this course. If students have not taken a prerequisite course, they must request permission from the instructor to enroll.

This course offers a broad introduction and critical review of recent trends in the field of digital humanities, with particular attention paid to applications relevant for the study of premodern societies (history, archaeology, anthropology, theology, museum studies). The course is divided into four broad themes – text, image, place, and object – highlighting an extensive interdisciplinary range of evidence that both sits within students' fields of study and encourages them to create connections with parallel avenues of scholarship. Following these themes, the course introduces cutting edge tools, successful research projects, and recent scholarship that have leveraged digital advances to fundamentally reshape our understanding of the past. Simultaneously, it engages with more complex topics concerning the ethical and methodological implications of the “Digital Turn” in humanistic studies and its implication for more traditional modes of enquiry. As a whole, this course prepares students to both more substantively engage with digital methodologies and their potential for novel research in religious studies, broadly defined. The course provides hands-on experience developing fundamental skills in digital humanistic scholarship, developing a “Digital Toolbox” that allows students to both undertake digital scholarship in their own studies and to critically engage with ongoing trends and projects relevant to their own research. These tools include, but are not limited to, introductions to GIS, database development, 3D modeling, text encoding, large language models, network modeling, and semantic modeling. Special attention is paid to ongoing research at the University of Copenhagen, highlighting the fundamental skills and research objectives of the diverse research programs taking place throughout the university. The Faculty of Theology, in particular, hosts several compelling case studies for the development and implementation of digital humanities and offers a behind-the-scenes look at these methods in action.

This course addresses Jewish migration as a part of Germany's past and present, explores integration issues from the perspective of Jewish immigrants and the non-Jewish majority, and makes relevant comparisons with the current population of refugees in Germany. Topics include the trend of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe to Germany as early as the late 19th century and with the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, how Jewish migration from the former Soviet Union fundamentally changed Jewish life in Germany. Students also examine the increase in migration from Israel.

This course is a survey of the history of the Americas from the late 19th-early 21st centuries. While we will focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, we will also learn about U.S.-Latin American relations. Through weekly lectures and exploration of primary documents and bibliography, we will discuss four main themes: state formation; constructing national identity through popular culture; economics and commodities; and the intersection of race, class, and gender.

This course covers 600 years of Seoul history, the Chosun (1394-1897), Taehan Empire (1897-1919), and the Japanese Colonial Period (1910-1945). As of 2020, Seoul has a population of 9.97 million and is considered one of the top ten metropolitan economies in the world. By exploring the history of Seoul, students gain an understanding of the history of one of the oldest cities in the world and also the dynamic history of modern Korea.  By the end of the course students should be able to understand early modern Korean history and its significant events. In addition, students will understand how modern-day Seoul was established via its 600 year history.

This course explores the different ways in which Germany has confronted, and continues to address, the historical legacy of the twentieth century, with an emphasis on sites of remembrance in Berlin related to the National Socialist era and the Holocaust. Individual historical and commemorative sites will be considered within the broader context of German history after 1945—and how those sites provide valuable insights into the successes and controversial failures of coming to terms with a complex and burdensome past. From the general silence and continuities of the Adenauer years, as well as the first criminal trials of the 1960s, to the citizens' initiatives of the 1970s and the institutional memorials of the 1990s, students will familiarize themselves with different approaches to confronting the past (Vergangenheitsbewältigung) and the German culture of remembrance (Erinnerungskultur).

This course introduces some of the major questions and historical debates that continue to surround the origins, implementation, and aftermath of the Holocaust—the systematic, industrialized mass murder of an estimated six million European Jews, as well as homosexuals, communists, Roma and Sinti, handicapped, and other victims by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during WWII. The first part of the course focuses on the historical context, planning, and execution of the Holocaust. The second part of the course introduces the major historiographical debates in the post-war period. The third part of the course focuses on memorialization and the politics of memory in contemporary Germany. Special attention is given to issues in Holocaust studies that are peculiar to Germany as the country of the perpetrators. The course examines domestic German controversies about Holocaust memorialization, the place of the Holocaust in German national self-understanding, and more broadly the concept of "coming to terms with the past" (Vergangenheitsbewältigung).

This course examines the city of Rome itself, its turbulent history, its empire and its vibrant culture.