HISTORY 2422. NATURE’S NATION: DISEASE, DISASTER, AND ECOLOGY IN AMERICAN HISTORY. This course provides and introduction to the complicated, contested, and fascinating relationship between the environment, humans, and historical change in North America. The course combines a traditional lecture format with intensive analysis of film, advertisements, art, music, policy, environmental philosophy, economic theory, and major works of environmental history. It also incorporates field exercises and service learning to deepen our understanding of the role of “nature” in shaping local history. Professor: J. Frank; 9:30-10:45 TTh

HISTORY 2560. MODERN MILITARY HISTORY. (Same as Peace Studies 2560). Explores the development of warfare around the world from circa 1300 to the present. Course materials devote equal attention to operational military history (combat, strategy, tactics, weapons systems, etc.) and the study of war and society (the various ways in which armed conflict impacts and reflects life beyond the battlefield). Additional focus on issues of cultural representation and historical memory. Professor: B. Nichols; 12:00-12:50 MWF

HISTORY 2700. HISTORY OF PIRATES: MARITIME RAIDING FROM THE ANCIENT TO THE MODERN ERAS. This is a broad survey of piracy around the globe from the ancient to the modern world, with a particular focus on the 15th through the 18th centuries. We will be examining the motivations for and effects of piracy in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Professor: K. Wilson; 2:00-3:15 TTh

HISTORY 2820. TAIWAN: THE FIRST CHINESE DEMOCRACY. The relationship between China and the United States has reached a low point in recent years. One of their most significant and long-standing disagreements concerns the status of Taiwan. The island, located about 100 miles off China’s coast, is a vital U.S. ally and a global leader in semiconductor production critical for the AI revolution. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province, while Taiwan thrives as the world’s first Chinese democracy and a progressive society. Most Taiwanese have developed a distinct national identity that not only challenges Beijing’s version of Chinese nationalism but also complicates the geopolitics of East Asia. This course explores how the U.S. became involved in the Taiwan issue and how Taiwan’s democracy actually emerged. More importantly, it offers a perspective of Taiwan history based on the views of the Taiwanese themselves. The course provides a foundation for critically examining the Taiwan-China dispute and its impact on Sino-American relations, with no prior knowledge required. Professor: D. Meng-Hsuan Yang; 11:00-12:15 TTh 

HISTORY 2950.1. FOUNDATIONS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOPHOMORE SEMINAR: . (Consent of the Department Required. Please email Brittony Hein, corneillierb@missouri.edu, Sr. Academic Advisor for Permission Number). This sophomore seminar engages a central question: how does one conduct research and write as an undergraduate historian? In our seminar, we will generate a sustained discussion of this question organized around a complex historical topic: Slavery and Political Economy in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions. Arranged in eight “modules,” this seminar facilitates a generative space in which you and your peers will form a cohort through discussion of weekly readings and by sharing your own notes and writings. In such work, this course prepares undergraduates for upper-level history courses that require research papers. This seminar has several main goals: 1.) to generate sustained discussion of historiographic essays; 2.) to survey the breadth of historical scholarship over the last two decades; and 3.) to generate a substantive historiographical paper, the start of a long-term project that, for majors and minors, culminates in an undergraduate thesis. To achieve these goals, our seminar will center on collective class discussions, in-seminar presentations, and written assignments that will culminate in a first-stage bibliography and research proposal. In this work, we will develop a range of ideas that we will, in turn, use to better understand the seminar theme, thereby becoming conversant with current trends in the field. Professor: M. Nevius; 2:00-4:20 W

HISTORY 2950.2. FOUNDATIONS OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH SOPHOMORE SEMINAR: NATURAL DISASTERS IN PRE-MODERN EUROPE. (Consent of the Department Required. Please email Brittony Hein, corneillierb@missouri.edu, Sr. Academic Advisor for Permission Number). The primary purpose of this course is to introduce history majors to history as a scholarly field of research as opposed to a collection of facts and narratives about those facts. Put another way: this course is all about introducing you to the skills and techniques used in historical research and writing. Recently we’ve witnessed

a return of diseases and disasters on a global scale that was unimaginable as late as the early 1980s: HIV/AIDS, Covid, tsunamis, drought, and increasingly violent storms such as hurricanes. This course will examine natural disasters in premodern Europe: their types and frequencies, how governments (including the Church) and ordinary people managed them, how people explained them religiously and scientifically, and how they impacted populations in the short- and long-terms. We will do this in ways that teach students fundamental historical skills such as reading primary and secondary sources, conducting research and establishing bibliographies, critically reviewing articles and books, and creating research conceptualizations. Professor: J. Frymire; 2:00-4:20 Th

HISTORY 3010. COLONIAL AMERICA. This course invites students to think about the origins of American history through a combination of lectures, readings, and projects. Throughout the course of the semester, we will encounter famous leaders, troublesome women, rebellious slaves, a few witches, at least one cannibal, and a host of other colonial Americans (both famous and obscure) as we grapple with a people who became increasingly attached to both liberty and slavery. Professor: M. Morris; 11:00-11:50 MWF

HISTORY 3515. PTOLEMAIC EGYPT FROM ALEXANDER THE GREAT TO CLEOPATRA. The core of this course explores the history of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BC), founded by Alexander’s bodyguard Ptolemy, which lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII and the annexation of Egypt by the future Roman emperor Augustus (30 BC). In order to provide sufficient context for the Ptolemaic period, however, some early portions of the course will include a brief overview survey of ancient Egypt and its rulers from Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom, continuing with some emphasis on the 1st millennium BC changes down to Late Period Egypt under Persian rule. The course will shift to the rise of Alexander the Great and the eventual establishment of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. The primary focus of the course is political and military history, but various social and economic aspects of Egyptian society are also considered, as well as the literary and scientific output of scholars at Alexandria, the intellectual center of the Hellenistic world. Topics include: the legacy of old Egypt in the Hellenistic period, Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia (including Egypt) and his influence on the Successors; the establishment of the Ptolemaic dynasty by Ptolemy, the reigns of Ptolemy I to Cleopatra VII, with special focus on Cleopatra VII; Egyptian society; Alexandria; and Cleopatra in the context of Roman imperialism. Professor: J. Stevens; 3:30-4:45 TTh

HISTORY 3550. SCIENCE AND MEDICINE IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL EUROPE. This course explores how ancient observations and theories about the natural world and the human body led to the development of "natural philosophy" and medicine as fields of expertise. We will be examining attitudes and beliefs about the natural world and man's place within it from Egyptian-Babylonian roots through the Middle Ages. Professor: K. Wilson; 11:00-12:15 TTh

HISTORY 3570. EUROPEAN WOMEN IN THE 19TH CENTURY. (1st 8-weeks; Same as Women's and Gender Studies 3570). This course will trace the history of European women from 1789 to 1900, exploring the ways women experienced the political, social, and economic transformations of the 19th century. We will look at how the French revolution, industrialization, and colonialism redefined the lives of European women. Themes emphasized in this course include changes in nation-formation, family, sexuality, work and politics. Professor: L. Reeder; 9:30-10:45 TTh

THESE COURSES ARE RESTRICTED TO HISTORY MAJORS ONLY
DEPARTMENT CONSENT REQUIRED

Please email Brittony Hein, corneillierb@missouri.edu,

Sr. Academic Advisor for Permission Number

ALL SEMINARS ARE WRITING INTENSIVE

HISTORY 4970W. UNDERGRADUATE SEMINAR IN THIRD WORLD HISTORY: WAR, ATROCITY, AND MEMORY POLITICS IN MODERN EAST ASIA. This history senior seminar course examines a number of traumatic events in modern East Asia. These include the Rape of Nanking (China), the Cultural Revolution (China), the atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan), the comfort women (Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and China), the 228 Massacre (Taiwan), and more. The course focuses not only on the history of these events per se, but also their legacies in today’s world. We discuss issues concerning commemoration, reparation, apology, museums, public exhibitions, media or social media representations, and international politics. As a writing intensive course, the attainment of credit requires students to produce a full-length research paper through a multi-step process. The process involves: (1) identification of a historiographical research question via seminar learning and discussion; (2) a draft-producing practice, where students submit two preliminary drafts and receive multiple rounds of instructor comments for revision and feedback from their peers via class presentations and Q&A sessions. Students are required to do at least two rounds of draft revision to take account of the comments, criticisms, and corrections raised by the instructor and their peers in an effort to produce a high-quality final research paper. This course takes a transnational and comparative perspective. Students working on American and European topics of war, atrocity, trauma, memory, and public history can take this course. Prior knowledge of modern Asian history or Asian languages is not required. Professor: D. Meng-Hsuan Yang; 2:00-4:20, Th

HISTORY 4971W. UNDERGRADUATE SEMINAR IN EUROPEAN HISTORY: CIVILIANS IN WAR IN 20TH-CENTURY EUROPE. Scholars and critics have remarked that today’s world is notable for its level of globalized militarism. More people live under the surveillance and power of state militaries (armies, militias, militarized national police forces, etc.) than ever before. Our economies depend on the continued militarization of our world. This militarization has a history, and that history is deeply classed, gendered, raced, and sexed in particular ways. This course looks at how twentieth century European wars played a crucial role in shaping the social, cultural, and political contours of our contemporary world. Drawing on readings that explore the total wars between 1914-1945, the wars of decolonization, and the Bosnian wars, we will look at how wars of the 20th century changed over time, the blurring of boundaries between civilian and soldier, technological transformations, peace time militarization and surveillance. We will look at the experience on the battlefield, on the home front, genocide, and policies of state surveillance to examine how wars transform and reinforce individual and collective identities. Students will spend the semester producing a substantial original historical research project exploring one of the central questions or themes of the course. Students may choose to write a paper, produce a podcast, make a film, or create a virtual exhibit. Professor: L. Reeder; 2:00-4:20 W 

HISTORY 1410. AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY. (Same as Black Studies 1410). This introductory course surveys African American history from the 15th century to the present. The course will provide an overview of major events throughout African American history framed by the Long Black Freedom Struggle. These events will include the trans-Atlantic slave trade, chattel slavery in the United States, the Civil War and emancipation, Reconstruction and the New Negro Era, Jim Crow Era, the Great Depression and World War II, the modern Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and the Obama years. Professor: W. Mack; 11:00-12:15 TTh 

HISTORY 2100. THE REVOLUTIONARY TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA. (Same as Constitutional Democracy 2100; Consent of the Department Required--Contact Thomas Kane,kanetc@missouri.edu, to be put on a waiting list should seats open up). This course examines the causes, course, and consequences of the American Revolution. Students will consider both leaders and ordinary citizens of the revolutionary era as real people through readings and activities that include reading primary sources (letters, diaries, memoirs, pamphlets, newspaper reports and essays written by people who lived through the events of 1763-1783) and secondary sources (texts written by recent historians that offer varying interpretations of America’s revolutionary past), as well as delving into online databases, analyzing archival images, and constructing digital document sets. Through these explorations, we consider what made the Revolution so revolutionary and what the Revolution meant to the broad spectrum of people who lived through it. In this course, students will be encouraged to make their own assessments of just how radical, transformative, and global the Revolution truly was and what its legacy is today. Instructor: K. Jackson; 3:30-4:45 TTh  

HISTORY 2100H. THE REVOLUTIONARY TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA. (Honors Section-Must be eligible for Honors Standing; Same as Constitutional Democracy 2100H). This course explores transformations, challenges, and developments in North America during era of the American Revolution (1750 to 1800). Through the lens of the History of Science, Technology, & Medicine, students examine the economic, social, and political causes of Anglo-Americans’ decision to overthrow British rule. The course investigates the most influential ideas that captured the American imagination in this period. Participants will consider how Anglo-Americans thought about government, trade, environment, dinosaurs, bodies, gender, liberty, and even evolution. Students will investigate why people found these ideas new, provocative, infuriating, offensive, or inspiring in the eighteenth century. Students will consider the views not only of eminent scientists, politicians, and writers of the period, but also those of working-class people, women, American Indians, and enslaved and free African and African-descended peoples. Through this multi-faceted approach to the revolutionary transformations of America, course participants will consider what a society of knowledge is and how the pursuit of knowledge affected freedom, liberty, and equality. Instructor: C. Byers; 12:00-12:50 MWF 

HISTORY 2120. THE YOUNG REPUBLIC. (Same as Constitutional Democracy 2120). This seminar engages recent historiographic trends that define the period of early American history which began in the 1780s and extended into the 1860s. In our seminar, we will generate a sustained discussion of new and classic scholarship that conveys new approaches, informed by new studies in Atlantic world history, to the story of the early United States. The seminar has several main goals: 1.) to generate sustained reading in and discussion of key monographs and supporting secondary articles; 2.) to engage research using primary sources; and 3.) to facilitate the start of a long-term research-based project grounded in histories of the "Young Republic." To achieve these goals, our seminar will center on collective class discussions, in-class presentations, and written assignments that will culminate in a first-stage bibliography and research proposal. In this work, we will develop a range of ideas that we will, in turn, use to better understand the seminar theme, thereby becoming conversant with current trends in the field. Professor: M. Nevius; 11:00-12:15 TTh

HISTORY 2120H. THE YOUNG REPUBLIC. (Must be eligible for Honors Standing; Same as Constitutional Democracy 2120H). This course examines the early years of the United States. Our focus will be on abandoning our preconceptions about the nation's early history and thoroughly understanding the contingencies, crises, and challenges that faced the American Founders after 1776. Professor: J. Pasley; 2:00-3:15 TTh

HISTORY 3210W/3210H. HISTORY OF RELIGION IN POST-CIVIL WAR AMERICA. (Honors Section--Must be eligible for Honors Standing; Writing Intensive; Research Intensive; Same as Religious Studies 3210W). This course considers the kaleidoscopic religious landscape of the United States from the late 19th to the early 21st century focusing on how religious practices, beliefs, values, and communities contributed to and responded to major social developments. The course situates religious groups within their changing historical context, noting how they have played a crucial role throughout United States history. In addition to surveying this history, the course introduces methods for historical research. Students will conduct a research project about a religious movement or figure of their choice over the course of the semester and will present their research at a public research day event on campus. Professor: M. McLaughlin; 2:00-3:15 TR

HISTORY 3535/3535W SICILY: CROSSROADS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. (2nd 8-Weeks) (Writing Intensive; Same as Italian 3535/3535W); Students must apply through Mizzou International Programs; Permission required). “Sicily: Crossroads in the Mediterranean” is a faculty-led study abroad program that takes place in Sicily, Italy from March 22 – May 30, 2027. Before departure, students enroll in an asynchronous 2nd 8-weeks spring semester hybrid course, which will consist of modules to be complete before departing for Sicily. Students will explore the “contaminated” nature (from the late Latin contaminatio, fusion of diverse elements) of the food, geography, history, architecture, and culture of the island of Sicily, a veritable crossroads in the Mediterranean. Sicily’s unique position, situated at the intersection between Italy, Spain, Greece, and North Africa, has resulted in a plurisecular, complex mix of diverse peoples and cultural traditions who have left their traces on Sicilian language, cuisine, literature, religion, literature, architecture, and art. Professor: C. Cornette; ARR, Internet.  

HISTORY 4040. SLAVERY AND CRISIS OF THE UNION: THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR ERA. (Same as Black Studies 4040). This class explores transformative era of the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction from the perspectives of Black people. Together we will study a number of questions that center Black people, including how and why did slavery persist in an age of liberal democracy? What role did Black thought, and resistance play before and during the war? How and why did the Union war aims evolve from preservation to emancipation? What was interracial democracy during Reconstruction and why was it ultimately overthrown? We will also assess the social, political, and economic changes this period produced and this history’s meaning in the present. Together we will critically engage, from the perspectives of Black women and men, the meanings of freedom, emancipation, and democracy. Professor: M. Jirik; 12:00-12:50 MWF

HISTORY 4303. BLACK STUDIES IN RACE, CLASS, GENDER AND U.S. POLICY. (1st-8 weeks; Same as Black Studies 4303). Examines the causes and effects of the vast social and economic inequalities that exist between blacks and whites in US society, including the role federal, state, and local government play in creating and addressing such inequalities as financial, tax, environmental, trade, and foreign policies as well as issues of human and social welfare. Professor: W. Mack; ARR, Internet.