Department of History

Students attend and write responses to papers by visiting lecturers on topics in various fields of Medieval Studies. Themes will vary from year to year.

Provides essential historical context for understanding major issues and developments in contemporary life; topics vary each year. Coverage ranges from the local to the global, and encompasses current events in politics, economics, social relations, welfare, science, religion, and popular culture.

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 by 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 by permission of instructor. Topics vary by quarter and instructor.

Explores how science, technology and/or medicine have helped shape modern societies (roughly 1850-present). Themes include formation of scientific and technical communities, the interactions of science with political and popular culture, and the social context of knowledge production.

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

Examines the evolving relationships between science and Cold War geopolitics through key episodes from the natural as well as social sciences on both sides of the ideological divide. Topics examined include: science/state relationship, arms race, the military-industrial-academic complex, Big Science, government secrecy, the space race, environmentalism.

The incredible pace of technological change has changed the world forever. The internet and smartphones, plus cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, drones, virtual/augmented reality and Blockchain/Bitcoin pose fascinating legal and policy challenges.  This course will explore issues such as the tension between individual privacy and Silicon Valley business models; the debate between encryption and national security; the role of cybersecurity and hacking; and other key issues framing historical and current approaches to regulating advanced technology. 

History of the Persian Empire from its formation under Cyrus II of Anshan (r. 559-530 BCE) to the conquests of Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 BCE).

Focusing primarily on the rise of the Byzantine and Islamic empires, with some attention to the Germanic kingdoms, this course analyzes the process by which the late Roman Empire divided into three chief cultural, religious and political entities between the fifth and eighth centuries.  

Politics, religion, and society and culture in France from the reign of Francois I to Henri IV. Topics include the French Renaissance, religious divisions and civil war, kingship and local authority, family and social hierarchy, and France’s relations beyond its borders. 

Explores medical theory and practice in Western Europe and the Islamic World from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries. Medieval understandings of health, disease and how the body functioned are examined, along with strategies employed to combat injuries and illnesses.

Recommended Preparation: WRIT 109HU.

Recommended Preparation: HIST 9 and WRIT 109HU.

Examines the rise of the juvenile justice system in U.S. history, paying attention to the origins of youth incarceration in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the establishment of asylums, orphanages, and reformatories. Attention is then paid to the twentieth century and the spread of the juvenile court movement. The course ends with a close look at recent developments, including In re Gault (1967) and racial and gender disparities.

A seminar on a topic in African history. A research paper is required.

Explores the major socio-economic and political history of the Southern African region from around 1000 CE to the 1880s. Focuses on state making, economic systems, regional mobilities and international connections through trade before the advent of European colonialism.

Explores the experiences of Africans and their descendants in the Americas, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Looks at ways in which men and women (enslaved and free) negotiated their imposed conditions from the colonial period to the present. Considers the methodological challenges of writing a history of people who did not produce primary sources. Underscores the contribution that people of African-descent have made and the debates that continue shaping the discipline.  

Enrollment comments: Same course as LAIS 149AD. 

Africa is the only continent with a Muslim majority, with more than a quarter of the world’s Muslims living there. Americans tend to associate Islam with Arabs, but Africans greatly outnumber Arabs in the religion. There are more Muslims in Nigeria than in Egypt, more in Ethiopia than Iraq. 1/6th of the world’s Muslims reside in sub-Saharan Africa. How did this come to be? How has the adoption of Islam by Africans shaped their history? And, conversely, how have Africans shaped Islam? We answer these questions by exploring 14 centuries of Islamic African history. We also explore Islam as a system of religious meaning by studying the teachings and writings of African Muslims.

Recommended Preparation: History 9 and WRIT 109HU.

Political, cultural, social, and economic development of the United States from 1900 to the present: C. 1960-present.

A survey of the origins and formation of the American working class from the colonial period to the late nineteenth century. Topics include workers and community, the coming of the industrial order, the 1877 labor strike, and workers and the trade union movement.

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

A study of dominant and alternative representations of American values and identity in high and popular culture.

A study of the political, economic, social, and intellectual impact of the city upon American history, and the impact of history upon the growth of American urbanization.

Sixth to seventeenth centuries.  

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

Recommended Preparation: HIST 9 and WRIT 109HU.

A research seminar on Japanese History. Course culminates in a 10-20 page research paper. Topics vary by quarter.

Recommended Preparation: History 9 and WRIT 109HU

Analyzes the Caribbean as a site of encounters between Native Americans, Europeans and Africans in the early modern Atlantic world. Key themes include indigenous societies; imperialism and settler colonialism; capitalism, piracy and smuggling; voluntary and forced migration; plantation societies, slavery and slave resistance; cross-cultural exchanges and creolization; revolution and abolition.

Through this year-long internship, students work under faculty direction to produce an issue of the UCSB History Department’s 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 Library’s 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.  

To acquaint students with relevant research methods (oral history, legal research, family history, government documents and sources, historical preservation, field research).

This course provides students with the practical knowledge needed for obtaining an academic position, develops skills for effective teaching, and prepares students to deal with funding agencies, publishers, employers, and professional organizations.

How do human beings manage relations between the seen and unseen worlds? This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between spirituality and radical social change, especially, though not exclusively, among people of color. Visiting scholars and activists will workshop or present original research rooted in the humanities and social sciences and graduate students will read and respond to their work as they develop their own research questions. Short weekly reading responses and one 8-10 page paper are required each term. The goal is to foster collaborative interdisciplinary scholarship on the intersection of racial, religious, and revolutionary thought and practice, irrespective of period or place. 2-quarter course.

A two-quarter course.

A research seminar for graduate students interested in any aspect of recent U.S. history.

A seminar on selected problems in Chinese history. Some working knowledge of the Chinese language desirable but not necessary.

A colloquium introducing the important issues, themes and literature in the history of the United States, from 1846 to 1917. Historiographical in nature the course assumes a basic familiarity with the period.

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.  

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.