History Minor
This minor emphasizes the power of studying the past. Courses chronicle the social, political, economic, and cultural trends that have shaped human society. Among the themes covered are the construction of historical accounts, the role of culture and memory as historical evidence, and the value of history in communication and arts careers and everyday life. Students are required to critically engage with a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and will have the opportunity to examine how the documenting and “telling” of history largely affects what is presented as socially, culturally, and politically possible.
The minor consists of four courses (16 credits). The required core course is HI 200 Contemporary World History or HI 235 History of the United States. The remaining 12 credits are chosen from the following courses, at least one of which must be a 300- or 400-level History course. Students may choose up to one course that does not have a History (HI) designation. Students wishing to concentrate in either World History or US History are advised to take two or more courses in those areas.
Courses
- HI 200 - Contemporary World History (if not used as a core course)
- HI 201 - Africa, Asia, and the Middle East in Popular History
- HI 203 - Social Movements in the United States
- HI 204 - Islam in the World
- HI 208 - Europe in Wartime: Conflicts of the 20th Century
- HI 210 - Medieval Cultures and the Origins of Europe
- HI 211 - African American History
- HI 214 - Topics in US History**
- HI 227 - Radical Women in Contemporary World History
- HI 235 - History of the United States (if not used as a core course)
- HI 240 - Topics in World History**
- HI 310 - Demystifying Revolutionaries: Race, Imperialism, and Transformative Change in Latin America*
- HI 340 - Advanced Topics in World History**
- HI 498 - Directed Study*
- IN 203 - Postcolonial Cultures
- IN 230 - Evolution of Queer Identity: History, Literature, and Theory
- IN 316 - The War on Drugs
- PL 230 - The United States and Latin America
* Note prerequisites
** Check current course listings for specific topics
Faculty
Nancy Allen, senior executive-in-residence in Health and Society, is a public health professional with teaching and research interests in health communication, HIV/ AIDS, human sexuality, and the opioid epidemic. She teaches The War on Drugs.
Kaysha Corinealdi, assistant professor of History, specializes in the study of modern empires, nationalism, and migration, with a particular focus on the role of gender, race, and class in these intertwining practices and ideologies. Her current research project includes a book monograph that connects 20th-century nationalism debates in Panama to US imperial policies and racially coded anti-foreigner debates across the Americas. She teaches contemporary world history, Latin American history, and radical women in world history.
Sebastian Ferrada, assistant professor, specializes in queer of color critique, raciolinguistics, and the developing field of Jotería Studies, which merges women of color feminisms and queer Chicanx studies. They teach Social Movements in the US and Evolution of Queer Identity: History, Literature, and Theory for the minor.
Adam Franklin-Lyons, associate professor, is interested in almost anything Medieval. He first worked in archives in Catalonia and Valencia, investigating famines in the Western Mediterranean. A monograph based on that work is under contract with Pennsylvania State University Press. Currently, he participates in the Travelers Lab at Wesleyan University. He teaches Medieval Cultures and the Origins of Europe (topics).
Mneesha Gellman, associate professor in Political Science, does research on comparative democratization, cultural survival, and social movements in the Global South and the US. She is the author of Democratization and Memories of Violence: Ethnic Minority Rights Movements in Mexico, Turkey, and El Salvador. For this minor, she teaches The United States and Latin America.
Nigel Gibson, professor in Interdisciplinary Studies, is an expert in the fields of Africana thought, postcolonialism, and African studies. He is a leading scholar on Frantz Fanon. He teaches Postcolonial Cultures.
Seth Harter*, associate professor, specializes in modern Chinese political history and has a broad familiarity with Asian history and culture, delving deeply into the topics of colonialism and decolonization, Daoism, environmental studies, and, most recently, craft and aesthetics. His work has been supported by grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Freeman Foundation. He teaches Contemporary World History and Power and Peril in Post-Mao China (topics).
Roger House, associate professor of American Studies, is currently writing a history of Boston’s culture in the jazz age. In 2010, he published Blue Smoke: The Recorded Journey of Big Bill Broonzy. As a public historian, he was featured in the BBC TV documentary Big Bill Broonzy: The Man Who Brought the Blues to Britain. He is the producer of Victory Stride, a College-based website on African American social justice topics with the address victorystride.com. He teaches social movements in the United States, African American history, history of the United States, and history of the alternative press.
Ralph Trost, affiliated faculty member at Kasteel Well, has a research interest in German, Spanish, and European history in the 19th and 20th centuries, and commemorative culture in international museums and historical sites. He is also an independent museum consultant and teaches courses in contemporary world history and Europe in wartime.
Please note this may not be a comprehensive list, as our affiliated faculty rotate on a semesterly basis. Please refer to the semester registration listings to identify any additional faculty participating in the minor.
* Minor Coordinator
