WCSU Graduate Catalog 2023-2024

History

HIS 501 Development of Western Thought    3 SH

An examination of the philosophical under-pinning’s of Western society. The pertinent thoughts of those theorists who have contributed significantly to the fashioning of Western culture are studied.

HIS 505 New York City: Its History and Culture    3 SH

This survey course examines the political history of the city from its foundation. It also offers an examination of selected themes in the context of the social and cultural history of the city. In addition to regular lectures, the course will use the city itself as a classroom. Students will pay for travel costs and participation in tours and cultural events.

HIS 506 Readings in American History to 1877    3 SH

This course will analyze select works from the Colonial era through Reconstruction.

HIS 507 Readings in American History Since 1877    3 SH

This course will analyze select works from the Gilded Age to the present.

HIS 508 Readings in European History to 1500    3 SH

This course will analyze select works from the beginnings of Western civilization to the Renaissance.

HIS 509 Readings in European History Since 1500    3 SH

This course will analyze select works from the Reformation to the present.

HIS 510 Fascism: Revolution or Counterrevolution    3 SH

This course examines the revolutionary nature of Fascist movements throughout Europe and their conflict with the forces of liberalism and socialism. Particular stress will be placed on the Italian and German experiences.

HIS 511 The Communist Revolution and the Soviet Union    3 SH

This course offers a study of revolution as a continuing and evolving phenomenon. Included is the Marxist-Leninist ideology at work in the Russian setting, the meaning and characteristics of the Stalinist revolution, and the significance of the liberalizing trend after Stalin.

HIS 515 The French Revolution    3 SH

This course offers an anatomy of an unplanned revolution, tracing and assessing the development of the peaceful meeting of the Estates-General into a rampant revolution and its reversion to more traditional forms. The Napoleonic era will be treated as an integral part of the Revolution as it spread throughout Europe.

HIS 516 The American Revolution    3 SH

An examination of the American Revolution (1775-1783): the course of the War of Independence between the colonists and the British and the simultaneous revolution within American society, affecting, among other things, women, slavery, education, and government.

HIS 520 Origins of World War I    3 SH

The origins of the Great War will be examined together with a view of the cataclysmic changes it produced in the European political and social system. The rise of the masses will be linked to the waxing tide of nationalism, the development of mass armies, and the concept of total war. Social, economic, and psychological factors will be treated in close interrelation with growing diplomatic complications and the gradual inexorable erosion of the long peace in Europe.

HIS 521 Origins of World War II    3 SH

This course is an examination of the foreign policies of the European powers in the period after 1918, with particular emphasis on the years immediately preceding the outbreak of hostilities.

HIS 528 World War II    3 SH

An examination of the entire spectrum of the Second World War including its military history around the globe and its political, social, and economic effects on every continent. 

HIS 535 Afro-American History and Culture    3 SH

The course objectives will focus on the economic, political, and social events of Black Americans from the Reconstruction years to the present. The organizing conceptual framework will be Black History as a protracted struggle.

HIS 536 The Civil War Era    3 SH

This course offers an examination of the American Civil War, focusing on its causes, its military history, and its social, political, and economic effects.

HIS 537 America in the Sixties    3 SH

This course offers an analysis of America in the 1960s from Kennedy’s election to Watergate, covering the civil rights and peace movements, riots, and assassinations (includes causes and effects).

HIS 539 America in the 1950’s    3 SH

This course examines the America society and politics in between 1945 and 1960. Students will consider the ramifications of America’s expanded international role, the consequences of material prosperity, and the construction of a new consumer society.

HIS 542 Approaches to World History     3 SH

This course examines the ways in which world history can be defined, focusing on the differences between the conceptualizations of world history as comparative history, as international history, and as the “history of the world.” It considers the development of the ideas of world history since 1900, examining its origins in nineteenth-century debates on the philosophy of history; the development of synthesizing theories of history through Marxist and Annales school paradigms; the development of World Systems theories of history; and the organization of World History as a field of study since 1990. It then will consider the ways in which topics in World History can be organized by analyzing work on contemporary themes in world history, possibly including, but not limited to ecology, trade, empire, anarchy, and governance.

HIS 543 History Summer Institute    1 SH

This course will be a one-credit, one-week seminar in the summer on the newest curricular material and updates from the fields of American, European, and World history of use to secondary education in history. Students will read this material, which will vary according to what is most contemporary and accessible to high school students in recent publications in the field, and will present a brief paper discussing how they might use this material in class.

HIS 544 U.S. Immigration History    3 SH

 This course traces the immigration history of the United States from the Colonial era to the present. Topics covered include nativism and restriction, work and community, race and gender, identity and tradition, as well as ethnicity in popular culture.

HIS 545 U.S. Urban History    3 SH

This course examines the evolution of the American City from the colonial era to the present. Topics covered include the urban environment, gender and race in the city, urban leisure, migrations and mobility.

HIS 556 Colonial North America    3 SH

This course provides students with an opportunity to explore themes of exploration, settlement, and development of the North American colonies. It focuses on the interaction among Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans from the first contacts to the beginning of the American Revolution. Themes explored will include European attempts to assimilate, dominate, and exterminate Native Americans and Native American attempts to negotiate within an increasingly constricted world; the importance of African slavery to the development of American culture and economy; women’s roles in the colonies; political and economic relationships between the center and periphery; and America’s role in the British empire.

HIS 557 The Early American Republic    3 SH

This course covers the leading issues in the historical age of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, when the American Republic remained experimental and America’s place in the world was uncertain and contested. Subjects that will be considered may include the Marshall Court, the War of 1812, U.S.-Muslim relations, Hamiltonianism, territorial expansion, Thomas Jefferson’s vision for America, and slavery.

HIS 558 History of the American South    3 SH

This course provides an opportunity to engage with leading works of Southern history. Covered are topics such as slavery, Indian relations, the Colonial economy, the drafting of the federal Constitution, the American Revolution, Jacksonian politics, the Civil War, Reconstruction, segregation, the civil rights movement, Southern culture, and the birth of the modern Republican majority.

HIS 570 Chinese Thought and Religion    3 SH

This course explores the world of thought and religions in traditional China. It focuses on the evolution of Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese Buddhism and challenges students to interpret certain representative works in these traditions. Episodes of cultural clashes in the history of Christian missions in China will be examined to provide a conceptual point of departure for understanding comparative religion and interfaith dialogue or, simply, for making sense of Chinese religious thought and practices on Western terms.

HIS 571 China in the Twentieth Century     3 SH

This course is an in-depth study of the sociopolitical, intellectual, and cultural history of China in the twentieth century. It examines, from both Chinese and world historical perspectives, topics such as the transition from dynastic system to the modern state, the rise of Nationalism and Communism, Mao Zedong and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and the economic and cultural reconstruction of the post-Mao era.

HIS 592 Independent Thesis Research in History    6 SH

This course is designed for students who are fulfilling the thesis requirement for the M.A. in History and who have submitted an acceptable thesis outline. Individual conferences with the thesis adviser are scheduled as needed. Credit will be granted upon submission of one copy of an approved final draft of the thesis and the appropriate number of copies of the thesis abstract. Prerequisite: permission of the department chair and the Dean of Arts and Sciences.

HIS 598 Faculty-Developed Course

This experimental course is offered by the History Department as a means of determining its value to the total department program or in response to a particular request from a group of students.

HIS 599 Student-Developed Study

This vehicle is designed to provide the student with an opportunity to develop his/her own learning experience. A student will design a project and secure a faculty sponsor. This vehicle may be utilized more than once. Prerequisite: written permission of the faculty sponsor and department. Registration through the Division of Graduate Studies Office is required.