Undergraduate Course Listing

Digital Humanities is the fusion of digital tools with humanities research and scholarship. Students learn how to bring a solid grounding within the humanities to technological innovations and development, engaging with the use of digital resources and their application in different ways grounded in the fields of the Humanities. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: ENGL-2020H

Provides an introductory survey of French colonialism in North America, from the first French incursions on the continent to the cession of its colonies to Britain in 1763. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST-CAST 3020Y.

Cross-listed: CAST-2021H

The late medieval world was devastated by overwhelming calamities, including the Little Ice Age, the Black Death and other forms of "pestilence," famines, economic crises, endless wars, rebellions, breakdown of order, ubiquitous violence, and religious turmoil. The course examines these disastrous developments, as well as the human efforts to cope. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Medieval Europe from the birth of Christianity and collapse of the Roman Empire in the West through the establishment of "barbarian" kingdoms, survival and transformation of the Eastern Roman Empire, spread of Islam, Carolingian Renaissance, ninth- and tenth-century invasions, and Europe's gradual recovery and reorganization around the year 1000. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 2050Y.

Cross-listed: AHCL-2051H

Popularly associated with castles, cathedrals, crusades, and valiant knights, this period also saw the rapid development of powerful centralized governments, cities, international trade networks, technological innovation, universities, improved literacy, book production, art and architecture, church reform, social intolerance, and a new focus on the individual and individual emotion. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 2050Y.

Investigates shifting concepts and experiences of childhood in Europe and North America from the Middle Ages to the Cold War. This course helps students to question some modern-day assumptions of the inherent 'nature' of childhood that guide parents, educators, and policymakers. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Explores how war has shaped and been shaped by society in the period before 1800. Specific case studies are chosen by the instructor. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

An introduction to ancient history from Archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire, examining both the history of this period and its construction by ancient writers. Excludes AHCL 2100Y, 2102H, 2105H. Prerequisite: 4 university credits.

Cross-listed: AHCL-2103H

This survey course analyzes Europe's short yet dramatic twentieth century from the beginning of World War I to the fall of Communism. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits. Excludes HIST 2200Y (220).

Seeks to destabilize conventional narratives of pre-twentieth-century Canadian history, which tend to present the region's history as characterized by peaceful accommodation and "progress." Instead, it looks at how violence was deeply ingrained in the colonial project of what would become Canada, and profoundly influenced social, political, racialized, class-based, and gender relations. Prerequisite: 3.0 univeristy credits.

Cross-listed: CAST-2211H

The origins and history of the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 in Upper and Lower Canada and the fight over democracy and responsible government in British North America in the 1840s. Course operates in conjunction with Season One of the audio podcast series 1867 & All That and students learn to create and edit podcast episodes in a flipped classroom with an intensive writing focus. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the instructor. Excludes CAST-HIST 2235H.

Cross-listed: CAST-2236H

A study of Indigenous involvement in the fur trade and imperial politics of the eighteenth century, the development of European "civilizing" policies, and the growth and ideology of the modern Indigenous political movement. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits, including 1.0 CAST or HIST or INDG credit at the 1000 level with a minimum of 60%. Students may take only one of CAST-HIST-INDG 2255Y or 2256H for credit.

Cross-listed: CAST-2256H, INDG-2256H

Explores the 1960s, a decade of shifting meanings of "Canadian." The accent is on the ironies of Canadian identity. Topics may include fiscal policy, youth cultures, the women's movement, racial identity and the Chuvalo-Ali fight, sex scandals and politics, working-class revolt, upheavals in Quebec, and the challenge of Aboriginal rights. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: CAST-2285H, POST-2285H

Explores Indigenous histories and grounding history in lands, knowledges, languages, and genders. Examines methodologies such as oral narratives, orality, and land-based research along with methods for gathering knowledge related to Indigenous histories. Explores scholarly positionality as historians, research ethics, and the various formats being used to articulate Indigenous histories. Recommended prerequisite: INDG 1001H. Excludes INDG 2305Y.

Cross-listed: INDG-2306H

This course meets the Indigenous Course Requirement.

Explores the multifaceted encounters that resulted from European colonialism. The focus of the course is on the lives and experiences of Indigenous peoples in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific basin to develop a comprehensive understanding of colonialism and resistance on a global scale. Prerequisite: INDG 2306H. Excludes INDG-HIST 2305Y.

Cross-listed: INDG-2307H

This course meets the Indigenous Course Requirement.

An examination of Canada's participation in military action during the 20th century, including World War I and II, Korea, and more recent conflicts. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Using primary documents and scholarly analyses, this course explores the struggles across Canada between the "Smashers" or prohibitionists, who were rooted in evangelical religion and an early strain of feminism, and the "Rummies," who fought to preserve a recreational drinking culture and the economic opportunities that made it possible. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Traces the legacies of the heritage which is central to black cultures in the Americas. Those sold from Africa brought skills to replicate communities as well as religious traditions like voodoo. Despite savage efforts to erase them, diasporic populations resisted, maintaining their identities despite sustained violence and trauma. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Cross-listed: IDST-2422H

Medicine is simultaneously scientific and social. What gets defined as a disease? Who heals? Who can access health care? Such questions reveal how political, cultural, and economic forces have shaped medicine throughout history. We explore topics highlighting this interaction between the scientific and the social in a variety of historical contexts. Prerequisite: 2.5 university credits or permission of the chair.

Cross-listed: SOCI-2601H

Surveys the social, cultural, institutional, and intellectual histories shaping Western world attitudes about the mind and brain, while exploring the histories of madness, mental deficiencies, insanity, and mental health during the period when psychiatry and psychology emerged as formal scientific disciplines. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Cross-listed: PSYC-2621H

An overview of the history of feminist ideas, strategies, and actions in Canada. We explore the diversity and distinctiveness of Canadian feminism at different historical moments, celebrating the strength and creativity of organized and individual forms of resistance, while also probing the complicated, difficult, and sometimes "messy" workings of feminism. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits, including 0.5 WMST, GESO, CAST, or HIST credit at the 1000 level, or permission of instructor. Excludes WMST-CAST 2110H.

Cross-listed: GESO-2711H, CAST-2711H

Twentieth-century East Asia was convulsed by war and revolution. The course analyzes the forces shaping the socio-political developments of China, Korea, and Japan. Alongside factors unique to the region, the transformations were propelled by the challenges of colonization, modernity, and globalization. Students will unravel these connections and analyze their impacts. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Examines the political and social developments of China, Japan, and Korea from the late nineteenth century onward. While the course explores how East Asians responded to the challenge of the rising West, it also focuses on the internal dynamics of these societies which resulted in wars and revolutions. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Explores how and why foodways have changed in Canada and the Western world between 1492 and the present. It allows students to draw links between global questions and everyday life, gender and politics, and social class and health, while introducing various methods of historical inquiry. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits. Excludes HIST-CAST-SAFS 2820Y.

Cross-listed: SAFS-2821H, CAST-2821H

Uses sport as a prism through which to approach a range of cultural problems over the past century in societies around the world. Prerequisite: 3.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

A behind-the-scenes history of everyday life in Canada, exposing the complex histories of such common activities as drinking, barbecuing, gambling, and sex. The course emphasizes the "otherness" of previous moments in time as a way to foster an awareness of the contingency of our current historical moment. Prerequisite: 6.0 university credits. Students may take only one of HIST-CAST 3010Y or 3011H for credit.

Cross-listed: CAST-3011H

Provides a detailed investigation of the history of French Canada from 1763 to the late nineteenth century. It covers numerous political transformations as well as economic, social, and cultural developments that shaped French-Canadian nationalism and collective identity. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST-CAST 3020Y.

Cross-listed: CAST-3021H

Provides a detailed investigation of the history of French Canada and Quebec since 1890. It covers numerous political transformations as well as economic, social, and cultural developments that transformed, modernized, and liberalized French-Canadian nationalism, collective identity and attitudes. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST-CAST 3020Y.

Cross-listed: CAST-3022H

The art of bringing history to a wider public. This course explores issues of memory, commemoration, heritage preservation and interpretation that face historic sites, museums, heritage societies, and archives in Canada and throughout the world. Excludes HIST-CAST 4071H. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Cross-listed: CAST-3071H

An in-depth study of the practice of ancient warfare from the Bronze Age to the Arab Invasions. Themes examined for each era include logistics, recruiting, intelligence, strategy, and naval warfare. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits including AHCL 2102H or 2105H (or 2100Y).

Cross-listed: AHCL-3103H

A study of the political, administrative, social, and cultural history from the assassination of Julius Caesar to the death of Augustus, with special attention paid to the ancient sources. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of instructor. Excludes AHCL 3963H.

Cross-listed: AHCL-3130H

During the twentieth century, the United States emerged as a predominant world power. Course themes include the empire and expansionism; revolutionary struggle in Latin America, Asia, and Africa; ideological confrontation with the Soviet Union and China; and the impact of rapid cultural and social change in the United States on its international positions. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 4150Y, 4151H. Students may take only one of HIST 3150Y or 3151H for credit.

A focused study of a particular topic in the study of ancient Greek and Roman history. Topics change from year to year but emphasis will be on understanding some aspect of Mediterranean antiquity from a historical perspective. Prerequisite: 8.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: AHCL-3155H

How do we understand our complex and quickly changing twenty-first century world? This course examines contemporary issues in Canada and the United States in historical perspective by utilizing flashpoint issues, individuals, and events to explain longer trends and developments within a continental, cross-border analytical framework. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST-CAST 4290Y, 4957.

Cross-listed: CAST-3170H

In ancient Greece and Rome, exclusionary rituals and secretive initiation cults like those of Dionysos, Mithras, Isis, and Christianity overturned entrenched social norms and threatened the cohesion of the state. Archaeological and written evidence provide evidence for the origins, impact, and legacy of such practices in the Ancient Mediterranean. Prerequisite: 8.0 university credits including both AHCL 2102H and 2105H (or 2100Y) or both ANTH-AGRS-AHCL 2205H and 2206H (or 2200Y). Excludes AHCL-ANTH 3220Y.

Cross-listed: ANTH-3222H, AHCL-3222H

Examines the First World War from a global perspective. Through assigned readings, written assignments, and online discussions, students examine topics ranging from military operations in all the major theatres to studies of the war's impact on the European and North American home fronts. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 3350Y, 4370Y.

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) remains one of the most controversial and disputed conflicts in history. Was the Spanish Republic fighting for democracy against a tide of fascism that would soon swamp Europe? Did Franco save Spain from Stalinist communism? This class tackles these and other questions. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits.

During the Second World War there were significant developments in military tactics and technology, but also in societal norms, ideology, and morality. This intensive course provides a detailed chronologicalthematic overview of some of this conflict's most important themes, controversies, and historical debates. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 3360Y, 4360Y.

Examines the North American national-security state from the Cold War to the present, including domestic and foreign intelligence-gathering, state-sponsored espionage, surveillance, covert action and torture, propaganda, education, academic and medical research, dissidence and other subversive practices, and human rights. Prerequisite: 4.0 univeristy credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 4381H. Offered only at Trent University Durham.

A survey of the history of France from prehistoric times to the present. Prerequisite: FREN 1100Y or 1102H, and a minimum average of 70% on all FREN credits completed. Excludes FREN-HIST 3505Y. Offered only in Nantes.

Cross-listed: FREN-3506H

Explores developments in warfare during the European Middle Ages (300-1550 CE), including cavalry, infantry, distance weapons, armour, fortifications, sieges, logistics, espionage, torture and the treatment of prisoners, and the social implications of war. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Not open to students with credit for HIST 4510Y or 4511H.

A look at the recruitment, camp, and battlefield adventures of men in the ranks of the British Army from 1803 to 1815. The course encourages students to think about creative ways to understand the daily lives of soldiers through simulated experiential learning. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 4565H.

Explores the phenomenon of witchcraft in early modern Europe and New England (1450-1750) in the context of family and community structures, religious beliefs, the legal system, health care, and dissemination of ideas, including the social-anthropological role of accusations and philosophies, and ideologies facilitating belief in witchcraft and its censure. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 4580Y, 4581H. Students may take only one of HIST 3580Y or 3581H for credit.

Examines the changing place of world's oceans in European outlook, from fear-inspiring barriers to eagerly explored and hotly contested highways that enabled the personal fortunes and disasters, establishment of European seaborne empires, and exchanges of goods, germs, ideas, and to the often involuntary mixing of cultures. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Students may take only one of HIST 3600Y or 3601H for credit.

Explores episodes of major epidemic diseases to chart the social, cultural, demographic, scientific, and political impacts of widespread deadly scourges. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of chair.

Cross-listed: SOCI-3630H

An advanced seminar course on select aspects of the history of the Middle East. Specific topics are determined yearly. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 4650Y, 4651H, 4958Y (2004-2005).

Explores the history of incarceration from the late 1700s to the present, focusing on institutions designed to segregate those labelled sick, deviant, or in need of reform, particularly in Canada. Through secondary and primary literature, incarceration is studied from the perspective of authorities, the public, and inmates. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Cross-listed: FRSC-3711H

Explores the centuries-old obsession among Western elites with the political, technological, and social future of humankind. Special emphasis on anti-capitalist and eco-doom dystopians including Thomas Malthus, Karl Marx, and Paul Ehrlich. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits. Excludes HIST 4730H. Offered only at Trent University Durham.

Examines social and cultural conflicts that marked the history of the Caribbean during the colonial period. Topics include native societies, colonization, wars and conflicts, and plantation slavery during the early modern period. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Encompasses developments from the beginning of European settlement in the New World to the pre-revolutionary period in the mid-eighteenth century. Topics include the destruction and reconfiguration of indigenous societies, cross-cultural relations, the establishment of colonial empires, the slave trade, and overseas trade, as well as war and conflict in the Americas. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Not open to students with credit for HIST 3755Y.

Opium consumption, trade, and prohibition have shaped the modern world. As a medical panacea and a social problem, opium has brought relief but also suffering to individuals and society. On a global scale, it has played a critical role in the spread of imperialism, capitalism, and war. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair.

Selected social, economic, institutional, intellectual, and cultural features of early modern Europe (ca.1500- ca.1800), with special emphasis on popular culture, including such themes as gender relations, sexuality, popular religion, riots, literacy, crime, and popular politics. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Students may take only one of HIST 3800Y or 3810H for credit.

Explores a variety of medieval innovations and their impact including architecture, armour and weaponry, food and drink, clothing and cloth-making, eyeglasses, time-keeping, health and sanitation, water power, printing, mining, and more. Students have the option to recreate a medieval invention for credit. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair.

Focuses on visual culture in relation to broad themes in modern United States history. Topics include photography and civil rights struggles, gender and visual politics, environmental images, and debates over war and memory. The course emphasizes research methods and the value of images for historical and interdisciplinary scholarship. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST-CUST-MDST 4090Y, HIST 4958Y.

Cross-listed: CUST-4091H, MDST-4091H

Examines the North American national-security state from the Cold War to the present, including domestic and foreign intelligence-gathering, state-sponsored espionage, surveillance, covert action and torture, propaganda, education, academic and medical research, dissidence and other subversive practices, and human rights. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 3381H. Offered only at Trent University Durham.

Examines the lives of individuals and families, both famous and ordinary, striving to make their way in the turbulence of the Renaissance period, shaped both by remarkable human achievements and creativity and by never-ending turmoil caused by climate change, epidemics, economic problems, wars, social conflicts, and religious crises. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair

A look at the recruitment, camp, and battlefield adventures of men in the ranks of the British Army from 1803 to 1815. The course encourages students to think about creative ways to understand the daily lives of soldiers through simulated experiential learning. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 3565H.

Explores the phenomenon of witchcraft in early modern Europe and New England (1450-1750) in the context of family and community structures, religious beliefs, the legal system, health care, and the dissemination of ideas, including the socialanthropological role of accusations and philosophies, and ideologies facilitating belief in witchcraft and its censure. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 3580Y, 3581H. Students may take only one of HIST 4580Y or 4581H for credit.

Examines how and why our environment and our relationship with it have changed over time. Topics include how to do environmental history, shifts in ideas about natural resources and wilderness, the history of the Trent and Peterborough environments, the urban environment (particularly Toronto), and the history of environmental science and environmental politics. Prerequisite: 10.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: ERST-4670H, CAST-4670H

Examines the social and political dimensions of the Vietnam War from the perspective of Vietnam. Focusing on colonialism and postcolonial nation-building, Cold War rivalry and Vietnamese agency, the course underscores the complexity and violence of this civil conflict, made worse by the Cold War. Strong emphasis is placed on historiography, research, and critical analysis. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Not open to students with credit for HIST 3700Y.

Explores the centuries-old obsession among Western elites with the political, technological, and social future of humankind. Special emphasis on anti-capitalist and eco-doom dystopians including Thomas Malthus, Karl Marx, and Paul Ehrlich. Prerequisite: 4.0 university credits. Excludes HIST 4730H. Offered only at Trent University Durham.

A social history of crime between 1500 and 1900, from the perspective of the prosecutors and the courts as well as that of the criminals. Topics include witchcraft, sodomy, murder, theft, rape, and prostitution. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 3751Y, 3850Y, 4850Y, 4953Y.

Cross-listed: FRSC-4751Y

Examines two hundred years of maritime depredations from the first raid of a Spanish treasure fleet in 1523 to the suppression of piracy by 1726. It addresses social, economic, political, and cultural aspects of piracy, the underlying conditions, and the representations of this popular historical theme in the media. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Students may take only one of HIST 4755Y or 4757H for credit.

Explores madness in the West from the seventeenth century to the present, seeking to understand how mental illness has been constructed by the medical profession and society, and by those labelled mad. Social and cultural issues are approached through sources including patient narratives, asylum records, and film. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits or permission of the chair. Excludes HIST 4907Y.

Individual courses designed to provide opportunities for more intensive study of particular topics in areas of history offered by the department. Open to undergraduates in the fourth year of the Honours program in History. Permission from relevant instructors and departmental approval is essential before registering. Regular consultation during the year. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits.

Individual courses designed to provide opportunities for more intensive study of particular topics in areas of history offered by the department. Open to undergraduates in the fourth year of the Honours program in History. Permission from relevant instructors and departmental approval is essential before registering. Regular consultation during the year. Prerequisite: 4.0 HIST credits.

Traces the history of the concept of the self in Western culture, with a special focus on Canada. Examines key debates about the idea of the self through interdisciplinary readings in philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, politics, and history. Includes questions as to the concept's historicity, modernity, and its connections to modern debates about identity politics and political correctness. Prerequisite: 14.0 university credits.

Cross-listed: CAST-4975H