Survey of the peoples, cultures, and social, economic, and political systems that have characterized the world’s major civilizations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania from 1700 to present.

Survey of the history of Modern Europe, 1650-present. Discusses the major social, political, religious, and cultural characteristics and developments of the period, as well as key interactions between Europe and other parts of the world. 

History 8A-B are general survey courses designed to introduce students to major themes in Latin American history. This course encompasses the crisis of colonial rule in the late eighteenth century, independence wars in the early nineteenth century, and the birth and transformations of independent republics from Mexico through the Caribbean to the Andes and the Southern Cone, into the twenty-first century. The course emphasizes the diversity of the Latin American experience with special attention to political processes and social transformations including revolutions, slavery and its legacies, and the struggle for citizenship and democracy, with particular attention to the working classes and ingenious movements.

Through studying a particular topic in history, students gain insight into historical methods and skills. Course designed for freshmen and sophomore history majors or prospective majors. Others may enroll with permission of instructor. Topics vary by quarter and instructor.

Through studying a particular topic in history, students gain insight into historical methods and skills. Course designed for freshmen and sophomore history majors or prospective majors. Others may enroll with permission of instructor. Topics vary by quarter and instructor.

World War I to the present. A survey of the leading issues in american lifefrom colonial times to the present. The course focuses on politics, cultural development, social conflict, economic life, foreign policy, and influential ideas. Features discussion sections.

1945 to present. History 49-A- B-C is a general survey course designed to introduce students to major themes in African history. The course focuses on colonialism and decolonization, nationalism and self-liberation, development and neocolonialism, Cold War contexts, as well as African experiences of independence and the everyday in our contemporary, global world. Weekly discussion sections are an important feature of this course, enabling students to develop and expand upon material presented during lecture.

An introduction to the history of the South Asian subcontinent, with emphasis on the period from 1500 CE to the present.

Introduces upper-division undergraduates to some of the main themes and topics in queer history from the seventeenth through to the late twentieth century across North America. The course is organized both chronologically and thematically. It may include discussions of sex, law, and religion, sex, science, and colonialism, sex, immigration, and urbanization, and sex, love, and resistance from perspectives that highlight those who sought to maintain heterosexual hegemony and those who lived lives that were deemed a threat to the sexual order of North America.

Explores Roman law from the archaic 12 Tables through Justinian’s 6th century CE Corpus Civilis, analyzing these developments within the broader historical context. Also addresses the influence of Roman law on medieval scholarship and later legal systems.

Assesses the more than seven centuries of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish coexistence (convivencia) in the Iberian peninsula, examining intercultural and interfaith relations from the time of the Visigoths (fifth century) to the expulsion of the Moriscos (Muslim converts to Christianity) in 1609.

Liberty, equality, fraternity?: what does this revolutionary motto mean from a colonial perspective? France, often characterized as ?the country of human rights,? also has a long imperial history that sheds light on key contradictions of modernity: democracy and populism, citizenship and inequality, colorblindness and racism. Countries as different as Canada, Haiti, Algeria, Vietnam, Senegal, India and even the United States share a common French colonial past: how did these French roots of globalization define the world as we know it?

Explores the history of development in Africa since the colonial ?civilizing mission? of the nineteenth century to the present. Case studies range from agricultural projects, health campaigns, modernist urbanism, to infrastructure projects like harbors railways, and hydroelectric dams. Class material focuses on development discourses by colonial officials, international experts, and African leaders, as well as on development practices and experiences. How did Africans, men and women, engage with specific development projects and shape their outcomes?

The intersection between leisure and politics is a consistent feature of African history, and it is a complex, creative intersection that produces and transacts history in dynamic ways. Utilizing ancient transcripts and records of performative cultures, contemporary music, primary and secondary interpretations of African cultural life, this course provides a deep and timely exploration of the fertile intersection between cultural performativity and power from ancient times to the present. Performative cultures are therefore political, and so also are they spiritual, economic and deeply embedded in questions of science and technology.

Students will conduct historical research in early American history in a seminar context. An original and substantial research paper is required.

A history of the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century. Emphasis is placed on the causes of the Civil War, the outstanding developments of the war itself, and the major consequences of the reconstruction period.

Readings and assignments assist students in using historical/social science methods to develop a 20-page research paper on some aspect of their internship.

Capstone seminar for the Minor in Poverty, Inequality, and Social Justice. Students participate in structured discussion and in-depth reflection of the knowledge acquired through interdisciplinary coursework and internship experiences, to produce a final paper, series of essays or policy briefs, and/or other kinds of creative products in consultation with the course instructor. Students will present their work at a public symposium, providing an opportunity to hone their public speaking skills, while contributing to community understanding of how poverty and inequality can be addressed through purposive social research and action.

Sixth to seventeenth centuries.  

Eurasia is the largest geographical feature on earth. It gave birth to the earliest civilizations and fostered the antecedents of many modern cultures. Yet, in much historical writing, the regions of Eurasia are treated as isolated units with independent trajectories. This is an artifact of nationalism and ignores the key role that trans-Eurasian interaction played in world history. This course investigates the movement of people, technology, ideas, and images across Eurasia from 3,000 BC to the present. It encourages one to think of a past world without national boundaries, a vast interconnected organism inside which materials and ideas were transmitted in all directions, adapted to the cultural and environmental needs of specific areas.

Specific topics will differ from year to year. Through readings and discussion students will explore a topic or problem in the history of Pre-Modern China. The course will culminate with a 10-20 page research paper.

A study of traditional Chinese thought from the classical period to the beginning of the last imperial dynasty (500 BCE -1700 CE). Same course as Chinese 184T.

The samuri of Japan were a hereditary military class that evolved over a millenium. Course traces this history and clarifies the range of differences that separated samuri in each era as their roles and ideologies changed.

We will be collectively creating the first Social Justice Tour of Santa Barbara! This course offers a unique fusion of public history, social history, ethnohistory, ethnic studies, historical tourism, civic engagement, storytelling, and cultural geography. Students will use archival research to design and deliver a site-specific public history tour created for invited guests from across campus and the local community. Our course will rely heavily on a hands-on approach to learning, researching, and practicing public history methodologies appropriate for documenting, interpreting, and presenting experiences of marginalized communities. The course will help students gain understanding and insights into the issues of collecting and presenting historical information about communities and individuals around the social categories of race, Indigeneity, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class; and help develop critical collaboration skills within the practice of public history

What is “fake” news and how has it developed historically? To understand this phenomenon, this course explores the history of advertising, market research, public relations, and propaganda in global perspective. We consider how these persuasion industries emerged, how they operated in different places and time periods to shape politics, policies, and public opinion. We also consider how these industries influence our identities and understandings of race, class, and gender, age and ideas about sexuality and the body. Finally, we pay attention to the changing influence of the modern media and the major critics who have worried about its power to manipulate the public.

This year-long colloquium brings together undergraduate students, graduate students, as well as scholars at UCSB and beyond to explore the history of labor, capitalism, commodities, trade, colonialism, imperialism, poverty, race, gender, class, law, and politics. It meets three to four times a quarter and includes guest lectures, workshops, and reading groups.

This colloquium brings together students and UCSB scholars who study the histories of women, gender, or sexuality across time and space. It introduces students to current literature and contemporary debates through readings, discussion, and public presentations by scholars and graduate students. This colloquium meets three to four times a quarter.

Students gain practical experience by working in organizations or initiatives engaged in addressing poverty and inequality through policy analysis, advocacy, direct social provision, community action, and/or political organizing. Opportunities to cultivate problem-solving, communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills needed to work effectively in institutional or collectively organized settings and to gain exposure to professional, post-graduate educational and training, and related career opportunities in anti-poverty and social justice fields. Students work under faculty supervision to produce reports, a research paper, or other types of creative material based on their experiences.

Through this year-long internship, students work under faculty direction to produce an issue of the UCSB History Departments Undergraduate Journal. Students meet every two weeks and gain practical experience in scholarly publishing disseminating calls for papers, soliciting undergraduate contributions, locating peer reviewers, facilitating revisions with authors, and bibliographic and copywriting work. They also gain a working knowledge of the UCSB Librarys online publication platform, which will host the journal. Students utilize various digital humanities tools – podcasts, social media, and websites – to promote the undergraduate research being published in Journal as well as host an annual showcase of scholars work.

This is part one of a two quarter internship. Students will earn 4 units total upon completion of HIST 196JB. Use HIST 196JC to earn credit for journal participation beyond two quarters.

Through this year-long internship, students work under faculty direction to produce an issue of the UCSB History Departments Undergraduate Journal. Students meet every two weeks and gain practical experience in scholarly publishing disseminating calls for papers, soliciting undergraduate contributions, locating peer reviewers, facilitating revisions with authors, and bibliographic and copywriting work. They also gain a working knowledge of the UCSB Librarys online publication platform, which will host the journal. Students utilize various digital humanities tools – podcasts, social media, and websites – to promote the undergraduate research being published in Journal as well as host an annual showcase of scholars work.

This is part two of a two quarter internship. Students will earn 4 units total upon completion. Use HIST 196JC to earn credit for journal participation beyond two quarters.

Through this year-long internship, students work under faculty direction to produce an issue of the UCSB History Departments Undergraduate Journal. Students meet every two weeks and gain practical experience in scholarly publishing disseminating calls for papers, soliciting undergraduate contributions, locating peer reviewers, facilitating revisions with authors, and bibliographic and copywriting work. Students also gain a working knowledge of the UCSB Librarys online publication platform, which hosts the journal. Students utilize various digital humanities tools – podcasts, social media, websites – to promote the undergraduate research being published in Journal as well as host an annual showcase of scholars work.

A reading course in a field of Chinese History, 1572 CE-present day. Introduces the student to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor.

This seminar will focus on the social and environmental history of rural Egypt in the late medieval and early modern periods. We will primarily read works of historiography, with some primary sources in translation thrown in to provide fodder for discussion. Subjects may include water use, regional variations, the commercialization of agriculture, the evolution of agricultural administration under the systems of prebends and tax farms, human-animal interactions, relations between Arab tribal groups and fellahin, and literary depictions of rural life. All readings will be in English, but knowledge of Arabic and/or French would be advantageous for deeper exploration of some topics.

A general introduction to selected historiographical issues and historical methods.

Normally required of all entering M.A. candidates other than those in public history. Open to other students on a space available basis. Offered every fall quarter.

Practicum in the writing and critiquing of specialized research papers in all fields of history. May be repeated for credit. May qualify by petition for graduate research seminar credit when combined with a History 596 in which the student has developed a research proposal for this course.

May qualify by petition for graduate research seminar credit when combined with a History 596 in which the student has developed a research proposal for this course.

This two-quarter research seminar guides graduate students through the process of researching and writing an original article-length historical research paper based on primary sources.
Through our discussions of the common readings and the process of workshopping students’ papers, the seminar will illuminate the diverse ways that histories of gender and sexualities,
working in conjunction with other subfields of history, can deepen and enrich our understanding of the past and the present. The course seeks to accommodate students pursuing a wide variety of topics in different places and times. The final papers should include some comparative analysis, but they do not need to be organized as a sustained comparative study of different regions or nations.

A two-quarter special seminar on a given topic. Students will produce a chapter-length paper or publishable article.

Two-quarter sequence course; final grade given upon completion of History 253B. May be repeated for credit.

This year long interdisciplinary colloquium brings together graduate students who study Japanese history and culture. It introduces current scholarship on Japan via readings, discussions and presentations by visiting scholars, UCSB scholars and graduate students. The colloquium meets bi-weekly. Students will prepare readings for discussion, write a seminar-length paper and present their paper to the colloquium once during the year.

This year-long colloquium brings together undergraduate students, graduate students, as well as scholars at UCSB and beyond to explore the history of labor, capitalism, commodities, trade, colonialism, imperialism, poverty, race, gender, class, law, and politics. It meets three to four times a quarter and includes guest lectures, workshops, and reading groups.

Writing/reading workshop, professionalization seminar, and guest lecture series for graduate students working in area of history of science/technology. Meets monthly throughout the academic year.

This year-long interdisciplinary colloquium brings together graduate students and UCSB scholars who study the histories of women, gender, or sexuality across time and space. It introduces students to current literature and contemporary debates through readings, discussion, and public presentations by visiting scholars, UCSB scholars, and graduate students. Participants will meet every other week. Preparation might include coordinating readings for discussion, writing a chapter/article for peer review, or presenting original research to colloquium members.

A year-long professional colloquium on major topics and new work in Public History. Leading practitioners share theory and practice of the discipline in talks, workshops and occasional field visits. Relevant reading and writing assigned. Meets three to four times per quarter.