Fall 2021 Course Catalog

Course Descriptions:

History 103 History of Me

All of history is someone’s life story, and everyone is a historian because they make and remake the story of themselves throughout their lives. One of the most important elements of the college experience is its role as a time where people can think through who they are, where they came from, and who they want to be. In this course, we will look at historical models and use techniques of historical research and writing to think through the questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I now? Where do I want to go? We will read autobiographies, oral histories, and histories of San Francisco State, and we will produce digital portfolios that collect our individual answers to our questions about identity in a variety of rhetorical genres.

Fulfills the following GE requirements E: Lifelong Learning Develop, Social Justice

• 103.1 Horowitz
  • On Campus, TR, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
• 103.2 Horowitz
  • Hybrid, T, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
• 103.3 Horowitz
  • Hybrid, R, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

History 114 World History to 1500CE

 This class will examine humanities first agricultural endeavors to the first great world empires of the Classical period, to the introduction of Islam on the world stage. Developments in every aspect of the human experience are contextualized and explored using a global perspective to explore the foundations of science, politics, law, and artistic expression. 

Fulfills the following GE requirements:  D1-Lower Division, Global Perspectives

• 114.1 Campbell
  • Synchronous, TR, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
• 114.2 Arrieta
  • Asynchronous

History 115 World History since 1500CE

The study of World History allows us to see how globalization took shape, how something as simple as a trade route also brought advances in technology, cultural exchange and understanding, the machines of war, and new religious and spiritual belief systems. Looking at our world beyond the “New World” and “Old World” paradigm allows us to see the depth and richness of the human experience, and to connect with cultures and our own past.

Fulfills the following GE requirements: D1-Lower Division, Global Perspectives

• 115.1 Morrison
  • Bichronous, W, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.
• 115.2 Behrooz 
• On Campus, MW, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

History 120 US History to Reconstruction

The struggle is real! Learn how Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans vied for power in the "New World" and how gender, race, and wealth affected the social, cultural, and political development of America from the colonial period to the American Revolution, the Civil War, Native settlement and conquest, and Reconstruction.

Fulfills the following GE requirements:  D2-Lower Division, AI American Institutions, US History, Global Perspectives

• 120.5 Crabtree
  • Asynchronous

History 121 US History since Reconstruction

The struggle continues! From picking up the pieces after the Civil War and expanding rights to a greater segment of the population, to entering the economic, political, and often embattled world stage, this class explores how America has become the country we know today.

Fulfills the following GE requirements: D2-Lower Division, AI American Institutions, US History, Global Perspectives

• 121.5 Livie
  • Asynchronous
• 121.6 Livie
  • Asynchronous

History 300 Seminar in Historical Analysis GWAR 

PREREQUISITE: Upper-division standing; GE Area A2; or consent of the instructor.

Are you interested in how historians uncover historical documents and figure out what they mean?  Do you want to know how and why historical interpretations change over time?  Then join History 300 to learn the nuts and bolts of history research, analysis and writing.  This is where you'll learn all the secrets about being a real historian.

This course is required for all History Majors, who must pass with a C or better.  It cannot be taken CR/NC.

This course is the prerequisite for history Proseminars (HIST 696)

• 300.1 Harris
  • On Campus, MW, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
• 300.2 Wolf  
  • Synchronous, MW, 2 - 3:15 p.m.
• 300.3 Katz   
  • Synchronous, TR, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

HIST 310 Ancient Near East: Cities and Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia

History and culture of Ancient Mesopotamia from the Fourth Millennium B.C.E. through the creation and expansion of the Persian Empire in the First Millennium B.C.E. [Formerly HIST 600]

• 310.1 Campbell
  • Asynchronous

History 328 Pagans and Christians in a Changing Roman World 

PREREQUISITE: Upper division standing; ENG 214 or equivalent; or consent of instructor.

Christian Church from its beginnings to the conversion of Constantine. Quest for the historical Jesus; Orthodoxy and Gnosticism; development of worship; the Apologists; the phenomenon of martyrdom.

• 328.1 Campbell
  • Synchronous, TR, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

History 331 The High Middle Ages

Ever wonder where all your favorite books, movies and TV shows got their inspiration? Then come explore the middle Ages, without which our pop culture would mostly consist of lawyer dramas, reality to, "talent” competitions, and cat GIFs. Also, learn about the origins of modern systems of government, education, law, culture, and thought.

• 331.1 Rodriguez
  • Synchronous, W, 4 - 6:45 p.m.

History 340:  Saints, Demons, and Popular Belief in the Middle Ages

 What do you get when you mix saints, vampires, ghosts, angels, and demons and add a dash of piety, ritual, and inquisition? The world's weirdest recipe?  A really bad novel? A political campaign? We are not sure either, but if you take Medieval Popular Beliefs you will learn how these things ingrained themselves into the medieval imagination and shaped how the people in the Middle Ages saw and understood the world around them.

• 340.1 Rodriguez
  • Bichronous, W, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

History 346 Recent European History

At the end of the 19^th century, Europeans — through military, economic, political, and cultural power — seemed to dominate the globe and the future. Over the following hundred years, however, Europe became the central battlefield in three wars and saw its preeminence fade in the face of American ascendency, Russian power, and the diffusion of focus across the entire world. Amid these developments, Europeans became “modern” while struggling to come to terms with their past. We will explore the political, economic, and cultural aspects of European history over this period and find out what we can learn about great power(s) in decline.

• 346.1 Harris
  • On Campus, MW, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

History 347 Women in Modern Europe   

“I read it [history] a little as a duty; but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me.  The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all, it is very tiresome” (Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey). This course is not tiresome at all: learn about extraordinary and ordinary European women from the eighteenth century to the present through fiction, memoirs, and manifestos as well as individual research projects.  In addition to restoring women's voices to history, we will examine well-known historical events from the perspective of women's history, look at ideas about women, and examine the historical roots of issues and debates still informing the lives of European women.  Until we reach the twentieth century, we will be looking exclusively at Britain and France; after 1914, we will also consider women’s experiences in Russia, Germany, and (to a lesser extent) Italy and Spain

Fulfills the following GE requirements: UD-C Art and Humanities, Global Perspectives, Social Justice

• 347.1 Curtis
  • Synchronous, TR, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

History 357 Colonial Latin America

Latin America after 1492 was not just the story of conquistador victors and indigenous victims. This course prompts students to understand the complex experiences created by the Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule in the Americas. Students are encouraged to explore the lives and political behaviors of the African-American, European-American, indigenous, and mestizo “peoples that formed societies in colonial Latin American by chance and by design” between 1492 and 1823.  Special consideration is also given to the Spanish-American background to the formation of the United States.

• 357.1 Morrison
  • Bichronous, W, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

HUM 373 Biography of a City: Paris

Have you always wanted to go to Paris and experience its history and culture?  Here’s the next best thing, a 15-week interdisciplinary trip through the history, arts, and literature of one of the world’s most captivating capitals.  From the Middle Ages to the present, Paris has been on the cutting edge of social and cultural change in politics (revolution!) and the arts (Gothic cathedrals, impressionism).  At many points in its history, especially the nineteenth century, it has defined modern urbanism, and it has welcomed expats and immigrants up to the present day.  This class will focus on Paris as a city of revolution, of modernity, and of artistic innovation with an emphasis on the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries.  This course can be applied to the history major (even though it is offered through the Humanities department) or you can use it for Complementary Studies.  

Fulfills the following GE requirements GE UD-C and Global Perspectives.

• 373.1 Curtis
  • Asychronous

History 376 History of Southeast Asia

Join us for a voyage to Southeast Asia, one of the most diverse and interesting regions in the world.  We’ll explore the cultural, political, and social histories of societies from Burma to Vietnam to the Philippines.  And you’ll learn about how this area became a global crossroads where local practices have mixed with Chinese, Indian, European, and American influences.

Fulfills the following GE requirements: UD-D Social Science, Global Perspectives

• 376.1 Elkind
  • On Campus, TR, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

History 380 Islamic World I

This is a study of Islamic civilization, culture and history from 500 to 1700 CE.  The course assumes no prior knowledge of Islam or Middle Eastern history.  The course emphasizes on a core region of the Islamic world (the area between Nile and Oxus rivers).  The first part of the course begins with an investigation of the pre-Islamic world and goes on to survey the rise of Islam as a religion and an empire.  Next, the golden age of Islamic civilization, covering the Umayyad Empire (centered in Damascus) and the Abbasid Empire (centered in Baghdad), will be covered.  The second half of the course will examine the Islamic civilization from the decline of the Abbasid Empire (950 CE) through the establishment of regional empires, the Crusades, the Mongol invasion and the emergence of the "gun-powder empires."  The course will pay special attention to cultural and religious development in the Islamic world, as well as political changes.  Students will be able to discuss and analyze the rise of Islam both as religion and civilization.  Students will examine ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversities of the Islamic civilization.

• 380.1 Behrooz
  • On Campus, MW, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

HIST398 Modern Imperialism

This course will allow you to explore the writings and actions of both great and unknown people from Asia, Africa, Polynesia, and the Americas as they experience, resist, and ultimately overturn European colonial rule between the sixteenth and late twentieth centuries.  Workshop-intensive and collaborative, this hybrid course will not have any course materials that cost money.

Fulfills the following GE requirements UD-D: Social Sciences, Global Perspectives, Social Justice

• 398.1 Getz
  • Hybrid, W, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

History 404 History of Technology

From sex toys to locomotives, from telecommunications to cyberpunks, this course will trace the history of technology and its interrelationship with American culture, beginning in the indigenous/colonial period and concluding in the early 21^st century.

The technological aspect of the course will cover inventions and innovations on both a large scale, such as transportation, “big technologies” of industrial systems, urban design, energy creation, and agricultural production, but also on a more moderate scale; the “homespun” world, consumer products, body modification, appliances, automobiles, clothing fashions, the entertainment industry, and other areas where the “mechanical arts” touch more intimately on the cultural life of Americans.

The cultural component of the course will delve deeply into expressions and responses to technological advances and/or stasis in art, music, architecture, film, the writings of cultural and intellectual critics, science fiction literature and other popular writings/images, such as advertising. How various technologies sustain or disrupt Americans’ vision of the past, present and future, such as agrarian romanticism, utopian or dystopian references, ideas of American Exceptionalism, or even metaphysical/theological implications of the material world, such as emerge from artificial intelligence technology as metaphor, will also be analyzed.

An examination of how gender, race, class, the disabled and children are impacted by technology’s alleged liberating qualities, and how the “useful arts” effect, or not, those with limited access to the benefits of the latest “advancements,” will highlight issues of uneven power and authority distribution which are often hidden by the celebratory aura of  “newness.” And we will also include the voices of those in the Luddite/ neo-Luddite community, who resist the idea of technology as a positive force in America’s cultural fabric.

America is indeed a “technological society,” but technology does not exist in a vacuum; America’s vibrant cultural life and its technology are intertwined, affecting each other through a dramatic dance. How that dance has performed throughout American history, and what it says about American society as a whole, will be our ultimate focus.

Fulfills the following GE requirements Environmental Sustainability, Social Justice

• 404.1 Corea
  • On Campus, TR, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

History 420 American Colonial History

This course argues that colonial America is a myth – a politically useful but historically inaccurate portrait of early North America.  We discuss how this myth was created and why it has persisted, while also exploring the real people, places, and events that characterize the American colonies.  The class is divided loosely into thirds: the first section re-examines the relationships between American Indians and Europeans in borderland regions, the second narrates the emergence of a slave society in the English colonies, and the third asks how the thirteen colonies thought of themselves as part of and, eventually, separate from the British Empire.

Fulfills the following GE requirements US History

• 420.1 Crabtree
  • Hybrid, W, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

History 422 The American Revolution   

Join up for the true tale of how and why a bunch of colonial amateurs took on the most powerful empire in the world, and find out how slaves, women, Native Americans, and the Continental Congress shaped the founding of the United States.

• 422.1 Wolf
  • On Campus, MW, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

History 426 History of the US 1877-1916

There is no period of American history quite like this one, when the country as a whole transformed so rapidly and so dynamically. This era marked the rise of mass entertainment, mass religion, mass migrations, and mass politics. It ushered in new conceptions of gender and sexuality, race, class, and citizenship. It brought dramatic transformations in work and leisure, significant shifts in the relationship between the American government and its people, great economic boom times, and historic depressions. And during this era, the nation stood on the threshold of world war. Throughout this course, we will explore the fabric of this era –– the “modern era” of American history –– by sorting through many of its most important economic, political, cultural, and social developments along with the various ways in which people and institutions navigated these changes. Assignments will include in-class activities, short reflections, a midterm, and a final exam. 

• 426.1 Viator
  • Hybrid, R, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

History 450 The History of California

Time magazine once noted, “If America is the land where the world goes in search of miracles and redemption, California is the land where Americans go.” This survey course will explore the history of California, from its native past to its present, as both a geographical place and as an idea as laden with expectation as the American Promised Land itself. Topics will include indigenous cultures and pre-contact California; exploration and conquest; frontier labor, economies, and societies; water and agriculture; urban growth and decline; migration and immigration; gender, race, ethnicity, and citizenship; political cultures and trends; Hollywood and the popular culture industry; and the perpetual myth of California as the Promised Land, or “America’s America.” 

Fulfills the following GE requirements:  American Institutions, California State and Local Government, UD-D: Social Sciences

• 450.1 Sigmon
  • On Campus, MW, 2 - 3:15 p.m.
• 450.2 Viator
  • Asynchronous
• 450.3 Sigmon
  • Asynchronous
• 450.4 Sigmon
  • Asynchronous

History 451 Bay Area History and Society

Exploration of the Bay Area, specifically San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Jose, from a sociohistorical and global perspective. Exploration of various dimensions of the bay area's human and environmental composition and history, paying special attention to the built environment, immigration, globalization, race, and class.

Fulfills the following GE requirement: UD-D Social Science, American Ethnic and Racial Minorities

• 451.2 Haskaj
  • Asynchronous
• 451.3 Haskaj
  • Asynchronous
• 451.4 TBD    
  • Hybrid, T, 2 - 3:15 p.m.
• 451.5 TBD    
  • Hybrid, R, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

History 467 Women in the US to 1890 

This course examines women’s history from the period of colonization through 1890 specifically focusing on the intersection of gender and sex with settler colonialism, slavery, religion, labor, and immigration as well as changing ideas about marriage, family, sexuality, and the body.

Fulfills the following GE requirements: UD-C Arts and Humanities, American Ethnic and Racial Minorities, Social Justice, US History

• 467.1 Crabtree
  • Hybrid, W, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
• 467.2 Crabtree
  • Hybrid, W, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.

History 470 US Constitution to 1877

“Four [eleven] score and seven [ten] years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in ... testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."

Fulfills the following GE requirements: UD-C Arts and Humanities, American Institutions US History, US Government and California State and Local Government, American Ethnic and Racial Minorities, and Social Justice (SJ)

• 470.1 Stein
  • On Campus, TR, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

History 471 US Constitution since 1896

In the summer of 2016, Muslim American Khizr Khan, the father of a U.S. soldier who had died in Afghanistan, famously asked Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump if he had even read the U.S. Constitution. In this class, students read the Constitution and study its history from the late nineteenth century to the present. We focus in particular on debates and discussions about the rights of immigrants, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, poor people, racial minorities, sexual and gender minorities, women, and workers

Fulfills the following GE requirements: UD-C Arts and Humanities, American Institutions US History, US Government and California State and Local Government, American Ethnic and Racial Minorities, and Social Justice (SJ)

• 471.1 Englander
  • On Campus, MW, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
• 471.2 Englander
  • On Campus, MW, 11 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
• 471.3 Englander
  • On Campus, TR, 3:30 - 4:45 p.m.
• 471.4 TBD
  • Bichronous, M, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

History 474 History of Labor in the United States 

What does it mean to be an American worker?  How have working people in the United States reacted to this nation's evolution from a land of farmers into a prominent industrial power?  In what ways have workers shaped this transformation?  Students will consider these questions by following America's ever-changing working class through time, and by examining workers' institutional and non-institutional responses to the problems they have faced in life and labor.  We will address the impact of changing work processes on laboring men and women, as well as the influence of multiple allegiances of class, gender, race and ethnicity in shaping the various ideologies, social movements, labor unions and political parties spawned or supported by the workers in the United States.

• 474.1 Englander
  • Synchronous, TR, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

History 479 History and Literature of Baseball

Come see how US History is reflected in our favorite pastime, and how changes in capitalism,  race relations, technology, and gender expectations have been reflected on the field of play.  

Fulfills the following GE requirement UD-C Arts and Humanities

• 479.1 Sigmon
  • On Campus, M, 4 - 6:45 p.m.

History 484 Disability and Culture in America

Examination of some of the major topics in U.S. history (industrialization, Civil War, eugenics, immigration, Great Depression, social policies, etc.) through the lens of "disability."

Fulfills the following GE requirement: UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities, U.S. History, Social Justice

• 484.1 Kudlick
  • Synchronous, TR, 2 - 3:15 p.m.

History 696 Proseminars:

The Middle East and the Modern World 1700-Present

This is a seminar covering different aspects of Middle Eastern history from 1700 C.E. to the present.  The Middle East will be studied during an age of colonialism, reform, nationalism, emergence of nation states, revolutions, and emergence of political Islam.  Major Twentieth century developments if the region, (e.g., Arab-Israeli conflict, Iranian revolutions, Arab nationalism, and Islamic revivalism)

• 696.1 Behrooz
  • On Campus, M, 4 - 6:45 p.m.

World War I: Social and Cultural Perspectives

In August 1914, the great powers of Europe started a war that was supposed to be over by Christmas.  By Armistice Day in November 1918, nine million Europeans were dead, and twenty-two million returned home with wounds in body or mind.   Millions of others, including women, had been mobilized in war work at home.  Almost everybody lost a loved one.  How did such a catastrophic war affect European society and culture?  In this seminar, we will explore how European society was turned upside down during the "Great War" from 1914 to 1918 and in its immediate aftermath. Using primary documents, memoirs, fiction, poetry, art, film footage, images, and historical studies, we will examine such issues as the trauma of trench warfare, shell shock, the home front, the propaganda used to promote the war, objectors to the war, strikes and worker discontent, colonial contributions to the war effort, women's roles and gender anxieties, the "lost generation," and the construction of memory after the war. This seminar is not intended to be a diplomatic or military history of World War I, but rather an exploration of the societal and cultural transformations that accompanied the strains of Europe's first total war.

• 696.3 Curtis
• Synchronous, TR, 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

Political Movements in U.S. History

Political movements have played influential roles in U.S. history, transforming society and culture in the process. This seminar will focus on three powerful movements that fought for social change from the 1940s to the 1980s: For the civil rights and black power movements, we will read Clayborne Carson’s book Eyes on the Prize Civil Rights Reader. For the women’s movement, we will use Miriam Schneir’s Feminism in Our Time. For LGBT activism, we will work with instructor Marc Stein’s new book The Stonewall Riots. All three are primary source readers, providing access to hundreds of documents that will form the basis for student research papers. The main graded work will be class participation, oral presentations, and a comparative and/or intersectional primary source research paper on three political movements

• 696.2 Stein
  • On Campus, TR, 9:30 - 10:45 p.m.