America in World Civilization III
Course Code
HIST 13700 91
Cross Listed Course Code(s)
SOSC 28700
Course Description
The American Civ sequence examines America as a contested idea and a contested place by reading and writing about a wide array of primary sources. In the process, students gain a new sense of historical awareness and of the making of America.
The course is designed both for history majors and non-majors who want to deepen their understanding of the nation's history, encounter some enlightening and provocative voices from the past, and develop the qualitative methodology of historical thinking. The twentieth-century segment of American Civ asks: What conditions have shaped inclusion and exclusion from the category "American" in the twentieth century? Who has claimed rights, citizenship, and protection, and under what conditions? We focus on multiple definitions of Americanism in a period characterized by empire, transnational formations, and America's role in the world. We explore the construction of social order in a multicultural society; culture in the shadow of war; the politics of race, ethnicity, and gender; the rise and fall of new social movements on the left and the right; the emergence of the carceral state and militarization of civil space; and the role of climate change and the apocalyptic in shaping imagined futures.
Course Criteria
Pre-requisites: It is recommended that students take this course in chronological sequence: HIST 13500–13600 (I & II) or HIST 13600–13700 (II & III).
Instructor(s)
Michael Rossi
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