History Courses
HSTY 241: The History of Public Health
The core principle of this course is that public health is a concept that was formed in different ways at different times in different places. It had no existence as we know it before the nineteenth century, but course participants will learn how it grew out of an ancient tradition of the political elite’s concern that its subjects were a threat to them and the stability of the realm. Course participants will discover how, in the nineteenth century, it became a professional practice as we know it and realized advances in human health, longevity, and security perhaps greater than any made since. At the same time, the course will also cover how many of the assumptions of those that inaugurated public health were completely alien to present-day practitioners–even though in many ways it is a practice that helped inaugurate the modern world so familiar to us. Course participants will learn about the close relationship between public health agencies and agendas and various kinds of social authority: political power, moral influence, colonial power, and others. Ultimately, the aim of the course is to show participants that even though public health seems a supremely common sense practice, it had a highly contested birth and early life that was anything but natural or pre-ordained. That complicated birth continues to shape public health to this day. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.
Dates: June 2 - July 30, 2025
Session: 8 Week Session
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: asynchronous
Instructor: John Broich
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 270: Introduction to Gender Studies
This course introduces women and men students to the methods and concepts of gender studies, women’s studies, and feminist theory. An interdisciplinary course, it covers approaches used in literary criticism, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, film studies, cultural studies, art history, and religion. It is the required introductory course for students taking the women’s and gender studies major.
Offered as ENGL 270, HSTY 270, PHIL 270, RLGN 270, SOCI 201, and WGST 201.
Dates: May 12 - May 30, 2025
Session: May Session
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: MTWRF 10:30am-1pm
Instructor: Justine Howe
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 285: Psychedelics in History
A global exploration of psychedelic drugs, which have been revered, idealized, vilified, banned, and revived, HSTY 285 will look at their use in contexts ranging from indigenous Native American and African cultures, CIA explorations of “mind control,” 20th century psychotherapy, the 1960s counter-culture, and the current “psychedelic renaissance. How has historical context influenced the experience of these powerful substances? How have they in turn influenced historical context? We will explore ritual, medicinal, and recreational uses of psychedelics, but will also see how those categories can overlap.
Dates: July 10 - August 6, 2025
Session: 4 Week Session (2)
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: TWRF 10:30am-12:40pm
Instructor: Jonathan Sadowsky
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 294: History of Nature
What is nature, and what counts as natural? This course will examine the complicated and varied historical relationships between people and the natural world in the west. Like humans, nature, too, has a history, and its meanings, boundaries, and uses have changed dramatically over time. By studying those changes, we gain insight not merely into the world we inhabit and the ways that we have shaped it, for better or worse, but also into ourselves–our beliefs, values, and ambitions. The course will cover approaches to nature from the ancient Greeks to the modern anthropocene. We will look at how nature has been understood over time not only through texts but also through art, objects, and film. The course will include visits to various local sites in order for us to pursue these themes in a hands-on way.
Dates: May 12 - May 30, 2025
Session: May Session
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: MTWRF 9-11:30am
Instructor: Aviva Rothman
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 241: The History of Public Health
The core principle of this course is that public health is a concept that was formed in different ways at different times in different places. It had no existence as we know it before the nineteenth century, but course participants will learn how it grew out of an ancient tradition of the political elite’s concern that its subjects were a threat to them and the stability of the realm. Course participants will discover how, in the nineteenth century, it became a professional practice as we know it and realized advances in human health, longevity, and security perhaps greater than any made since. At the same time, the course will also cover how many of the assumptions of those that inaugurated public health were completely alien to present-day practitioners–even though in many ways it is a practice that helped inaugurate the modern world so familiar to us. Course participants will learn about the close relationship between public health agencies and agendas and various kinds of social authority: political power, moral influence, colonial power, and others. Ultimately, the aim of the course is to show participants that even though public health seems a supremely common sense practice, it had a highly contested birth and early life that was anything but natural or pre-ordained. That complicated birth continues to shape public health to this day. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.
Dates: June 2 - July 30, 2025
Session: 8 Week Session
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: asynchronous
Instructor: John Broich
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 270: Introduction to Gender Studies
This course introduces women and men students to the methods and concepts of gender studies, women’s studies, and feminist theory. An interdisciplinary course, it covers approaches used in literary criticism, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, film studies, cultural studies, art history, and religion. It is the required introductory course for students taking the women’s and gender studies major.
Offered as ENGL 270, HSTY 270, PHIL 270, RLGN 270, SOCI 201, and WGST 201.
Dates: May 12 - May 30, 2025
Session: May Session
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: MTWRF 10:30am-1pm
Instructor: Justine Howe
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 285: Psychedelics in History
A global exploration of psychedelic drugs, which have been revered, idealized, vilified, banned, and revived, HSTY 285 will look at their use in contexts ranging from indigenous Native American and African cultures, CIA explorations of “mind control,” 20th century psychotherapy, the 1960s counter-culture, and the current “psychedelic renaissance. How has historical context influenced the experience of these powerful substances? How have they in turn influenced historical context? We will explore ritual, medicinal, and recreational uses of psychedelics, but will also see how those categories can overlap.
Dates: July 10 - August 6, 2025
Session: 4 Week Session (2)
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: TWRF 10:30am-12:40pm
Instructor: Jonathan Sadowsky
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History
HSTY 294: History of Nature
What is nature, and what counts as natural? This course will examine the complicated and varied historical relationships between people and the natural world in the west. Like humans, nature, too, has a history, and its meanings, boundaries, and uses have changed dramatically over time. By studying those changes, we gain insight not merely into the world we inhabit and the ways that we have shaped it, for better or worse, but also into ourselves–our beliefs, values, and ambitions. The course will cover approaches to nature from the ancient Greeks to the modern anthropocene. We will look at how nature has been understood over time not only through texts but also through art, objects, and film. The course will include visits to various local sites in order for us to pursue these themes in a hands-on way.
Dates: May 12 - May 30, 2025
Session: May Session
Dates: Online course
Session: Online
Time: MTWRF 9-11:30am
Instructor: Aviva Rothman
Credits: 3 credits
Department: History