Courses
Borderlands in American History
“Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.”
― Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
Course Description
How have people constructed borderlands, frontiers, and wilderness in American history? This reading intensive course is designed to challenge each student's critical thinking skills while enriching his or her understanding of American History by examining U.S-Canadian, U.S. Mexican, and Native American borderlands since the 1500s until today. While borders are often on the margins of nations and empires, they shape how nations defined their legal regimes and societal conventions related to immigration, citizenship, nationalism, race and ethnicity, expansion of territory, labor, and sovereignty. Students will learn to use race, class, and gender as categories of analysis to engage primary and secondary source material. Throughout the course students will gain a clear understanding of how the construction of borderlands and wilderness relates to the broader history of the United States.
“Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants.”
― Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
Course Description
How have people constructed borderlands, frontiers, and wilderness in American history? This reading intensive course is designed to challenge each student's critical thinking skills while enriching his or her understanding of American History by examining U.S-Canadian, U.S. Mexican, and Native American borderlands since the 1500s until today. While borders are often on the margins of nations and empires, they shape how nations defined their legal regimes and societal conventions related to immigration, citizenship, nationalism, race and ethnicity, expansion of territory, labor, and sovereignty. Students will learn to use race, class, and gender as categories of analysis to engage primary and secondary source material. Throughout the course students will gain a clear understanding of how the construction of borderlands and wilderness relates to the broader history of the United States.
Water and Society
“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes—one for peace and one for science.”
-– President John F. Kennedy, 1962
“Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
-- Albert Szent-Györgyi, 1937
Course Description
In this course, we will explore various ways in which humans have interacted with the water resources and examine how people’s attitudes about water have changed over time. While this course will mainly focus on North America, we will investigate water issues that transcend national boundaries. As a class, we will analyze the various ways in which people interact with water, including as drinking water, recreational space, a sanitation mechanism, an economic resource, a flood, a drought, wilderness, and a site tied into cultural identity. The ultimate goal of this class is to help you develop a deeper understanding of the role of water our in contemporary and historical American society while developing your critical thinking and writing skills.
“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes—one for peace and one for science.”
-– President John F. Kennedy, 1962
“Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
-- Albert Szent-Györgyi, 1937
Course Description
In this course, we will explore various ways in which humans have interacted with the water resources and examine how people’s attitudes about water have changed over time. While this course will mainly focus on North America, we will investigate water issues that transcend national boundaries. As a class, we will analyze the various ways in which people interact with water, including as drinking water, recreational space, a sanitation mechanism, an economic resource, a flood, a drought, wilderness, and a site tied into cultural identity. The ultimate goal of this class is to help you develop a deeper understanding of the role of water our in contemporary and historical American society while developing your critical thinking and writing skills.
Natural Environment: Perceptions and Practices
Course Description
Throughout this course, we will explore various ways in which humans have interacted with the environment. We will examine how the environment has shaped human history, philosophy, and sociology. Additionally, we will analyze how humans have continually transformed their world and how people’s attitudes about nature have changed over time. While this course will mainly focus on the environmental history of North America, we will investigate environmental issues that transcend national boundaries. As a class, we are going to explore situations where socioeconomic status, race, gender, and time period affect perceptions of the role of nature in society. The ultimate goal of this class is to help you develop a deeper understanding of contemporary environmental issues.
Course Description
Throughout this course, we will explore various ways in which humans have interacted with the environment. We will examine how the environment has shaped human history, philosophy, and sociology. Additionally, we will analyze how humans have continually transformed their world and how people’s attitudes about nature have changed over time. While this course will mainly focus on the environmental history of North America, we will investigate environmental issues that transcend national boundaries. As a class, we are going to explore situations where socioeconomic status, race, gender, and time period affect perceptions of the role of nature in society. The ultimate goal of this class is to help you develop a deeper understanding of contemporary environmental issues.
Introduction to the
History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science
Course Description
Debates over the role of science in society have captured headlines throughout the late nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. From the vaccines used by doctors to fight disease to nuclear power plants and modern agricultural techniques, science has become a part of our environment, homes, food, and the bodies of billions of human beings. LB 133 will help students develop an interdisciplinary understanding of the historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations that are deeply embedded in modern science, technology, and society. We will accomplish this by exploring key controversies regarding communication and trust and the rise of modern science and technology, particularly over the past 165 years. In this course, we will examine critical moments when modern scientists communicated their groundbreaking findings with other scientists, doctors, patients, public health officials, local and national governments, and the public. We will deeply explore scientists’ research and how various institutions, other scientists, and the media interpreted their work. Through the rigorous practice of reading, writing, and oratory skills, LB133 will enable students to become better communicators.
History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science
Course Description
Debates over the role of science in society have captured headlines throughout the late nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. From the vaccines used by doctors to fight disease to nuclear power plants and modern agricultural techniques, science has become a part of our environment, homes, food, and the bodies of billions of human beings. LB 133 will help students develop an interdisciplinary understanding of the historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations that are deeply embedded in modern science, technology, and society. We will accomplish this by exploring key controversies regarding communication and trust and the rise of modern science and technology, particularly over the past 165 years. In this course, we will examine critical moments when modern scientists communicated their groundbreaking findings with other scientists, doctors, patients, public health officials, local and national governments, and the public. We will deeply explore scientists’ research and how various institutions, other scientists, and the media interpreted their work. Through the rigorous practice of reading, writing, and oratory skills, LB133 will enable students to become better communicators.
The History of Contemporary Issues
Course Description
This course will examine the foundations of various contemporary attitudes towards nature and the environment. We will begin each section of the class with an overview of a contemporary local, national, or global environmental issue. The topics will vary from water and air quality in metropolitan areas to the creation of current environmental policies and agricultural practices. Using a combination of in-class activities, lectures, and readings, we will investigate the historical roots of the relationship between human beings and the environment.
Course Description
This course will examine the foundations of various contemporary attitudes towards nature and the environment. We will begin each section of the class with an overview of a contemporary local, national, or global environmental issue. The topics will vary from water and air quality in metropolitan areas to the creation of current environmental policies and agricultural practices. Using a combination of in-class activities, lectures, and readings, we will investigate the historical roots of the relationship between human beings and the environment.
Environmental History in North America
Course Description
What is environmental history? How do we define wilderness and nature? How do environmental historians write history? Throughout this course, we explore these questions and examine various ways in which humans have interacted with the natural environment in North America. From initial human contact with the continent over the Bering land bridge to environmental justice movements, this class gives a survey of the major texts within the field of environmental history. The course provides students with insight into emerging topics among environmental historians. In addition to understanding the role of nature in North American history, we examine the historical foundations of conservation, environmentalism, and the complicated relationship between science, nature, technology, and society in the twentieth century.
Course Description
What is environmental history? How do we define wilderness and nature? How do environmental historians write history? Throughout this course, we explore these questions and examine various ways in which humans have interacted with the natural environment in North America. From initial human contact with the continent over the Bering land bridge to environmental justice movements, this class gives a survey of the major texts within the field of environmental history. The course provides students with insight into emerging topics among environmental historians. In addition to understanding the role of nature in North American history, we examine the historical foundations of conservation, environmentalism, and the complicated relationship between science, nature, technology, and society in the twentieth century.
Twentieth Century U.S. History
Course Description
This course is an overview of key turning points in the United States during the twentieth century. We center our attention on several key themes including: modernization, the U.S. and the world, shifts in culture, transformations in race relations, urban and suburban landscapes, and political movements. In addition to understanding broad societal, economic, and political shifts, we focus on the lives and experiences of everyday Americans. As a class, we analyze sources related to immigration, race relations, wars, gender, class, consumerism, labor, and the environment. Throughout the course, we examine an array of primary source material including music, images, newspapers, speeches, oral histories, letters, and memoirs. The articles and books that we read help students to understand how historian’s craft arguments and write the history of the United States in the twentieth century.
Course Description
This course is an overview of key turning points in the United States during the twentieth century. We center our attention on several key themes including: modernization, the U.S. and the world, shifts in culture, transformations in race relations, urban and suburban landscapes, and political movements. In addition to understanding broad societal, economic, and political shifts, we focus on the lives and experiences of everyday Americans. As a class, we analyze sources related to immigration, race relations, wars, gender, class, consumerism, labor, and the environment. Throughout the course, we examine an array of primary source material including music, images, newspapers, speeches, oral histories, letters, and memoirs. The articles and books that we read help students to understand how historian’s craft arguments and write the history of the United States in the twentieth century.
