Department of History

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 prehistory to 1000 CE.  

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 1000 to 1700 CE.  

Survey of the history of Europe in the Medieval and Early Modern periods, 800-1700. 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. Weekly discussion sections are an important feature of this course, enabling students to develop and expand upon material presented during the lecture hour.  

Deals with major issues in Latin America’s historical formation: pre-Hispanic cultures, Spanish conquest, role of colonial institutions, development of trade, eighteenth- century reform, independence, formation of nations; and identify major issues in current Latin American affairs.  

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.  

Sectional crisis through progressivism. A survey of the leading issues in American life from colonial times to the present. The course focuses on politics, cultural development, social conflict, economic life, foreign policy, and influential ideas. Features discussion sections.  

As much as religion or politics, technology has played a central, yet often overlooked role, in the shaping of the modern world. This lower-division undergraduate course presents a social history of technology from roughly the 17th century to the early 21st century. This course is based around a framework of the individuals, issues, and ideas that shaped the development of different technologies and the ways these interacted with one another across time, space, and peoples. In studying this history, we do not accept technology uncritically. Rather, we learn how its use has acted as a powerful force in modern society.  

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.  

A basic introduction to the history of Japanese culture from its origins to the present day, with particular emphasis on the evidence of architecture and painting (presented through audiovisual modules). Selected examples of fiction and poetry will also be used.  

An intermediate level honors seminar in which students read and critique major primary and secondary works from a variety of periods and regions.  

This course asks students to consider money as a social relation in world history: as a moral obligation, a shared language, and a political bond. We will investigate the ancient foundations of money and debt; how different monetary forms have been shaped by politics, society, and culture; and how money has functioned as a means of rule, technology of power, and tool of discipline. This course is reading intensive and spans the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, political science, and literary criticism. Topics include cross-cultural currencies, counterfeiting, and money under neoliberalism, with special attention to the relationship between differential access to money and systems of race, class, and gender.  

Examines the social and scientific impacts of evolutionary ideas from around 1800 through Charles Darwin, the modern evolutionary synthesis, the birth of ecology, and molecular biology. Focus is on America and Western Europe. 

Undergraduate lecture course on ancient Greek history. Topics will vary from quarter to quarter  

Explores the overlapping worlds of Renaissance Italy, 1300-1500: the vibrant merchant culture; the elegant courts of princes; intellectual circles like the Platonic Academy; famed mercenary captains and their troops; the underworld of male same sex relations, of criminality and prostitution; the lives of women in marriages, in convents and in poorhouses; the workshops and homes of the laboring poor. One central theme is the culture of patronage and the production of extraordinary art.  

While in the past, historians of slavery tended to “gloss over” the middle ages, focusing instead on the shift from slavery to serfdom and the so-called disappearance of slavery from western Europe by the year 1000, more recently, historians have called attention to slavery’s persistence throughout the medieval world, in southern and central Europe, Scandinavia and in the Islamic world. This course explores the social category of the unfree in the medieval world in all of its diversity and complexity – contemplating the lives of captives, slaves, and serfs, as well as eunuchs, concubines and slave-soldiers (mamluks).  This course will also trace the historical evolution of justifications of slavery and consider whether the association of slavery with race was a “modern” invention.

Through the analysis of Latin Christian, Byzantine, Jewish, and Muslim sources, this course considers the development of the concept of the crusades and the progress of the crusading movement from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries.

A seminar in early modern European history, 1450-1700. Students develop research skills and use them to complete a research topic of their choice in early modern European history. Emphases will vary with instructor and offering.  

Research seminar in the history of Europe from 1789 to the present. Students conduct historical research in a seminar context, using both primary and secondary source materials, to produce an original and substantial research paper. Topics addressed: defining a research problem, identifying on original topic, conducting research, citing sources, and presenting results. Intensive writing required.  

“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?  

Economic, social, political, and intellectual history of the eighteenth century. 1763 to 1789.

This course will be a discussion, reading of a single document, and critique of your peers’ papers. Certain principles and rules for the study of history will be discussed. The main thrust of the course, however, is the analysis and writing of one or two short (500 to 600) word papers on some excerpts translated from one of Richelieu’s most famous writings, The Political Testament.  

A survey of Middle Eastern history from the rise of the Safavid Empire in Iran and the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Empire until the French occupation of Egypt and the first Ottoman attempts at modernizing reform.  

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.  

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.  

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.  

Research seminar on events leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War. Topics addressed: defining a research problem, identifying an original topic, conducting research, citing sources, and presenting results. Intensive writing required. Students will conduct historical research in a seminar context, using both primary and secondary source materials, to produce an original and substantial research paper.

Examines the history of political and legal scandals in the United States. Focuses primarily on scandals during the 20th and early 21st centuries, including Teapot Dome, Watergate, the “Keating Five,” Iran-Contra, Iraq-Gate, Clinton-Lewinsky, Enron, waterboarding and mistreatment of Iraq war prisoners, and the various Trump-related scandals. We explore theoretical approaches to scandal analysis, similarities and differences between the scandals, and future prospects in American politics.  

A undergraduate research seminar on US history designed to guide students in doing research. Each student will produce a substantial research paper on some aspect of American politics and/or culture since 1900.  

A survey of American workers from the turn of the century to the present period. Topics include workers and American socialism, the 1919 steel strike, the rise of the CIO, labor and the cold war, and deindustrialization and workers.  

Analysis of developments in foreign affairs in first half of twentieth century. Formation and execution of foreign policy; interaction between foreign and domestic affairs.

The interaction of politics and public policy from the revolution to the present, focusing upon the key issues of each era in social, economic, cultural, racial, and other policy areas. A particular concern for the policy-making process, ideology, and the cultural origins of politics.  

Traces the history of American attitudes and behavior toward nature. Focus on wilderness, the conservation movement, and modern forms of environmentalism.  

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.  

Ancient China to 589ce.  

The Qing period saw the doubling of China’s territory, the enormous population growth, and the many encounters with the West. We will examine the politics, cultures, social norms, and different peoples, with a focus on the problem of modernization.  

No understanding of contemporary China is possible without understanding the ramifications of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This course seeks to consider the tumultuous episode as a field of historical research and conceptual inquiry. We create this class together.  

This course introduces students to the major topics, themes, and debates in early modern Atlantic history using the “Atlantic World” as a category of analysis. Atlantic history diverges from traditional imperial and state histories of the western hemisphere in recognizing that the Americas were shaped by all of the peoples of the Atlantic basin—not just Europeans but Africans and Native Americans as well. Accordingly, this course emphasizes the contacts, interchanges, and conflicts between the different groups that inhabited the Atlantic World, offering new insights into the cultural, social, political, and economic processes that transformed the early Americas between 1400 and 1800 and laid the groundwork for contemporary American society.  

Students taking part in departmental honors program will write a senior thesis on a research topic of suitable depth under close supervision of faculty mentors.

A two-quarter individual research project, under the direction of a history professor selected with the advice of the departmental adviser to public policy students. 

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.  

A reading course in a general area of history, specifically designed to prepare M.A. candidates for their comprehensive examination fields, but also appropriate for Ph.D. students seeking broad preparation. Introduces the student to the sources, historiography, and general literature of the field in question.  

For W22: 200AS introduces the key questions that shaped the field of modern Japanese history. We will examine how these questions have shaped scholars’ approaches to major events in the history of modern and postwar Japan and how these questions relate to larger conversations taking place within the discipline of History.

This course is part one of a two-part seminar on the history of modern and postwar Japan. The second part of the series, 201AS, will be held in the Spring. Taking both courses is recommended, but not required. 

Prior knowledge of Japanese history is not required.

A reading course in a general area of history, specifically designed to prepare M.A. candidates for their comprehensive examination fields, but also appropriate for Ph.D. students seeking broad preparation. Introduction to the sources, historiography, and general literature of the field in question.  

For W22: This graduate reading course is intended to introduce students to the histories of sex, gender, and colonialism through a comparative framework. Though the main focus will be the connected histories of British colonial rule across the globe and over the long-nineteenth century, attention will also be given to historical parallels in other sites of empire when possible. Students will interrogate themes that transcend these varied geographic spaces to explore how notions of queerness and civilization, intimacy and empire shaped (and were shaped by) projects of rule that ordered bodies and regulated desires. 

A reading course in a field of the professor’s specialty. Introduces students to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor.  

A reading course in a field of Chinese History, 220 CE- 1571 CE. Introduces the student to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor.  

A reading course in a field of the professor’s specialty. Introduces the student to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor. E. Europe.

For W22: This seminar will introduce students to recent literature on nations, nationalism, and empire in the Soviet Union.  Topics will include the evolution of Soviet nationality policy; ethnographers, censuses, and national classification; the Soviet state as a “maker of nations”; debates about empire and Orientalism in the Soviet context; the attempt to create a supra-ethnic “Soviet people”; migration, diasporas, and ethnic cleansing within the USSR; the fate of Russia as nation and imperial center; and the literature on race and racialization in the Soviet Union.

A reading course in a field of the professor’s specialty. Introduces the student to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor. LA. Latin America.  

A reading course in a field of the professor’s specialty. Introduces the student to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor. ME. Middle East. 

For Winter 2021: Advanced Historical Literature: Middle East

“Freedom and Unfreedom in the Modern Middle East”
This course focuses on histories of policing, imprisonment, and the quest for freedom  in the modern Middle East. It will explore historical experiences ranging from North Africa, to the Arabian Peninsula, the Eastern Mediterranean. We study spectra of freedom and unfreedom in experiences of bondage, slavery, labor, conscription, detention, and punishment. The course will focus on both the lived experiences and microhistories of (un)freedom as well as the institutions and structures that shaped these experiences (police, prisons, households, hospitals, and more.) 

Readings in a field of the professor’s specialty. Introduction to the sources and literature of the field in question. Written work as prescribed by the instructor.  

HIST 201OH, Winter 2022: HIST 201OH provides an introduction into the methodologies and practices of oral history. The course explores how scholars of Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America have used oral history to reconstruct the historical experiences of individuals and marginalized communities. Themes include debates/objectives in oral history; designing an oral history project; interviewing; ethics; oral history as advocacy; oral history and memory; oral history and community history; life histories; songs and performances; preserving/presenting/filming oral histories; oral history in the digital age. As a final assignment, each student will conduct and transcribe one interview, reflect on methodological challenges, and provide a brief interpretation.

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.  

For Winter 2022: This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the academic field of history as a profession. We will discuss the state of graduate education, the job market, the experience of adjuncts and lecturers, diversity, equity, and inclusion, the variety of teaching jobs, peer review and getting published, careers outside academia, work/family balance, the current state of the humanities, and the changing face of the university.  

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.  

As a group reading course over two quarters, the themes of the course involve reflecting on how your present or possible work or research fits into the historical study of the Middle Ages, the field of Medieval Studies, and history in general. It incorporates and welcomes other time periods and places. This widely encompassing course will help you in positioning your research and writing. In consultation with your advisor and the instructor, students will select their topics for the course – what you are presently doing for a dissertation or to start to formulate a possible dissertation topic. We will moreover be compiling individual bibliographies, discussing everyone’s sources, reflecting on possible theoretical aspects of your work, and doing translations in common as well as we can. We will read theoretical articles together that are to be suggested by the students. We will do a close reading of the texts brought forward by the individual student. Our work will be about your various research projects!  The instructor understands that the students will be at various levels of experience and stages of personal research. Among the specific themes we will emphasize are: Medieval World History, medievalism and ideology, how your research might be perceived by the modern world over time. We will also study in some detail  the influence of nationalism, racism, and colonialism on history study and our concepts. We will look at the state and role of the digital humanities for our projects. 

A research seminar in selected topics in the history of Europe, 1815 to the present.  

Research seminar selected from such topics as Babylonian astronomy, Greek science, Age of Newton, rise of modern physics, scientific instruments, nationalism/internationalism in science, science and society, sociology of science, public conceptions of science, organization and profession of science.  

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 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.  

Starting in Fall 2021 there will be space set aside for senior History Undergraduates or those completing their LGBTQ Studies Minor in Feminist Studies in the Gender and Sexualities Workshop (HIST 295 GS). Though this 2 Credit Hour Course is designed for Graduate Students who study the histories of women, gender, or sexuality across time and space, its primary purpose is to introduce students to current literature and contemporary debates through readings, discussion, and public presentations by guest scholars. Participants will meet every other week and preparation might include coordinating readings for discussion or sharing their own original research with workshop members (among other things).  If you are interested or would like to know more, please contact Jarett Henderson at jhenderson@history.ucsb.edu. You will need an add code to enroll. 

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.  

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.