Course descriptions for our seminars, special topics courses, and other non-regular catalog offerings for Fall 2011 are listed below. Students looking for course descriptions for our regular catalog courses should consult the course listings in the PSU Bulletin, located on our website at http://www.pdx.edu/sites/www.pdx.edu.history/files/media_assets/catalog.pdf HST 199: Jewish History I, Antiquity to the Medieval Period TR 1000-1150 Prof. Spielman This class is the first in a two semester introduction to the study of Jewish history, religion and culture (no prerequisites are required). The course is organized to introduce students to the Jewish historical experience from its Biblical origins through the end of the first millennium CE primarily by means of close readings of primary sources. Throughout the course, equal attention will be paid to the social and political history of the Jews and the development of Jewish thought in the cultural context of the Ancient and Late Antique Mediterranean world. By the end of this course, students will be able to identify the key figures, institutions and events in Ancient and Early Medieval Jewish History and demonstrate their importance to the development of Jewish thought and culture. Students will also be exposed to the diverse forms of Jewish life under Persian, Greco-Roman, Early Christian and Muslim rule and examine the boundaries of pre-modern Jewish cultural and religious identity. Lastly, students will be introduced to the various genres of Jewish literature and the rich material culture of Jewish Palestine and the Mediterranean Diaspora. HST 405A/505A: Readings in Eurasian History T 1400-1700 Prof. Walton This reading colloquium provides a broad introduction to Eurasian history before 1900. It encompasses the history of peoples and cultures that inhabited a broad swath of the Eurasian continent, connecting Europe with Asia. Topics to be covered include connections between the Roman and Han Empires, the Silk Roads, Buddhism and Islam in Central Asia, the Turkic, Uighur, and Tibetan Empires, the Mongols and their predecessors, and early modern empires in Central Asia. Designed as the prequel to a winter 407/507 seminar on the Mongol Empire, weekly discussions focus on a wide range of readings in history, anthropology, and archaeology. The major written work is a substantial bibliographic essay that will provide background for more focused research on the Mongol Empire in the 407/507 seminar. Prerequisite: HST 300 or consent of the instructor. Students who have not completed HST 300 will be unable to register for this course via web registration. HST 405G/505G: Readings in History of the American West R 1400-1700 Prof. Barber Course description pending from instructor. Prerequisite: HST 300 or consent of the instructor. Students who have not completed HST 300 will be unable to register for this course via web registration. HST 405H/505H: Readings in History of the American South M 1000-1250 Prof. Garrison This course examines several of the important historiographical issues regarding the history of what has been referred to as “the antebellum South” or “the Old South.” We will cover the period from the early colonization of the southern colonies until the surrender of the Confederacy in 1865. We will consider the following major issues: the indigenous civilizations of southeastern North America; the establishment and development of the southern colonies; the South’s role in the Early Republic; slavery as an economic institution; slavery's impact on the people of the South; the particular theories regarding class, identity, and gender (Planters and Plain Folk); the development of southern nationalism; the social and military history of the Civil War; and the war’s impact on southern identity and memory. Prerequisite: HST 300 or consent of the instructor. Students who have not completed HST 300 will be unable to register for this course via web registration. HST 405I/505I: Readings in History of Early Modern England: Continuity and Change R 1000-1250 Prof. Litzenberger This will be the first of a two-term readings and research sequence for advanced undergraduate and graduate students focusing on the history of 16th- and 17th-century England. This period in English history was marked by change in religion, politics, society and the economy, with the nature of this change ranging from gradual to abrupt – from being in continuity with the past to being dramatically and suddenly different from the past. This was the time of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, the introduction in England of ideas of Renaissance humanism, increased population and economic dislocation, and the rise of England as a nation state. These developments, in turn, fueled provincial revolts and civil wars, accusations of heresy and treason, an increase in literacy, and the redefinition of gendered boundaries. In this Readings Colloquium students will read and analyze these developments to familiarize themselves with the issues at hand. In the research seminar which will follow in Winter 2012, they will select a specific aspect of the history of this period (covered in the first term), as the focus for a research paper to be based on a combination of primary and secondary sources. Prerequisite: HST 300 or consent of the instructor. Students who have not completed HST 300 will be unable to register for this course via web registration. HST 405J/505J: Readings in History of Japan and the World T 1000-1250 Prof. Ruoff This course examines Japan's role in world history from the late 19th century through to the early postwar (1945-) period. Note that we shall be moving back in time (which is a more accurate introduction to how historians approach an issue) rather than employing the more conventional approach of moving forward chronologically. Prerequisite: HST 300 or consent of the instructor. Students who have not completed HST 300 will be unable to register for this course via web registration. HST 427/527: Topics in History of Science: Einsteinian Revolution T 1730-2100 Prof. Beyler This course uses Einstein's life and career as a window on the cultural and intellectual history of the late 19th and early 20th century. In this course we hope to gain a fuller understanding of the scientific, philosophical, and practical contexts in which Einstein’s theories developed; the social and political context of science, particularly as revealed by Einstein’s biography; the impacts of Einstein’s theories in science, philosophy, and the arts. This course is a historical examination of the development and impact of Einstein’s theories–not a scientific analysis. Our goal is not necessarily to assess the correctness or incorrectness of any particular theory in the view of present-day science. Also, it is not necessarily our goal to develop a technical, “internal” understanding of the scientific theories, although you might wish to pursue this in one of the optional assignments. Rather, we will attempt to gain a picture of the social, intellectual, and other resources which went into the development of Einstein’s theories, and how they were understood and appropriated by his contemporaries. A background in science is neither expected nor required (though it is welcome). Recommended prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of the instructor. HST 429/529: Topics in U.S. Cultural History: Populist Expressive Culture, 1880-1945 MWF 1015-1120 Prof. Horowitz Course description pending from instructor. Recommended prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of the instructor. HST 454/554: Topics in Medieval History: Sanctity and Deviance TR 1400-1550 Prof. Ott Course description pending from instructor. Recommended prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of the instructor. HST 495/595: Comparative World History: European Colonialism in Asia MW 800-950 Prof. Hsu Course description pending from instructor. Recommended prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of the instructor. HST 495/595: Comparative World History: Gender and Religion in a Global Context TR 1400-1550 Prof. Schuberth Course description pending from instructor. Recommended prerequisite: upper-division standing or consent of instructor. Department of History Fall 2011 Course Descriptions