History Degree Requirements
For up-to-date details on academic requirements please refer to the current academic calendar (section 9.21) located on the registrar’s website here.
Department Requirements
Students must follow the degree regulations found in chapter 4 of the Academic Calendar and must consult with the department chair to plan their specific program and have it approved.
The fundamental requirements of each program are outlined below. Departures from these regulations require the permission of the department chair and/or the Dean of Arts. Students following the major degree programs strive to balance specialization with breadth in their selection of courses. They must have some degree of specialization in one of the three designated areas of concentration:
(1) Canadian History, (2) European History, or, (3) American/Latin American/Asian History.
Courses by Areas of Concentration
Canadian History
205: Introduction to Public History
213: Life and Times: Pre-Confederation Canada
215: A History of Canada: Post-Confederation
227: Canadian Business History
228: History of Maritime Provinces: Pre-Confederation
229: History of Maritime Provinces: Post-confederation
257: Canada and the "Global South": Connections and Disconnections in the 20th Century
297: ST: Canadian Military History (2019-2020)
297: ST: Public History (2021-2022)
297: ST: Historical Methods (2023-2024)
298: ST: Introduction to Oral History (2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022)
299: ST: At the Ends of the Earth (2019-2020)
302: Histories of Health and the Body in Canada
303: Capitalism and Social Justice in Early Canada
304: Capitalism and Social Justice in Modern Canada
314: Canada and the Cold War Era
317: Canadian Women's and Gender History: From Colony to Nation
318: Canadian Women's & Gender History: Modernity
319: Myth and Memory in Canadian History
322: Canadian Immigration, Race & Ethniciy to 1896
323: Canadian Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity from 1896
341: A History of Canadian-American Relations
344: Uses and Abuses of History
355: The Sixties: A Social History
397: ST: Social Media, Past/Present (2023-2024)
398: Themes in the History of Sexuality
399: Creating Public History (2018-2019)
399: ST: Learning from Disaster: Catastrophe and Change (2021-2022)
401: Topics in Canadian History
European History
203: Modern Germany, 1860 to the Present
216: Modern France, 1789 to the Present
221: Medieval Russia
222: Imperial Russia
223: Black and White and Colourful all over: Africa in the World from 1800
231: Martyrs, Monks & Marauders: Piety & Violence in Early Medieval Europe (300-1050 CE)
232: Surviving Chivalry & the Four Horsemen: Europe's High & Late Middle Ages (1050-1521 CE)
233: French Imperialism
236: Vikings! The Course
247: Crusades and Their Cultures
250: A Survey of German History from 1648 to the Present
261: Europe in the 19th Century
262: Europe in the 20th-Century
282: Cool Britannia: Four Nations & One State
283: Making Britain Great
292: World War II: Causes and Battles
297: ST: World War II: Causes and Battles (2020-2021)
297: ST: Historical Methods (2023-2024)
298: Black and White and Colourful all over: Africa in the World from 1800 (2016-2107)
298: ST: The USSR, 1917-1991 (2023-2024)
299: ST: World War II: Causes and Battles (2017-2018)
299: ST: British Empire Decolonize (2020-2021, 2023-2024)
320: The USSR, 1917-1991
324: Plagues and Peoples
325: Eastern Europe, 1848-1995
332: The Medieval Body
333: The Individual in Medieval Society
334: Society and Ritual in the High Middle Ages
344: Uses and Abuses of History
353: Explorers and Exploration before Columbus
360: Gender & Sexuality in Modern European Empires
362: European Fascism
363: Reformation Europe
364: The Holocaust
383: Victorian Britain: Quakers, Queens, and Queers
384: 20th-Century Britain: State and Identity
386: Tudor England
390: World War I
391: ST: World War I: Causes and Battles (2023-2024)
395: ST: Magic and Witchcraft in the Premodern West (2022-2023)
395: ST: Medieval Christianity and the Church (2023-2024)
397: ST: Medicine and Miracle (2021-2022)
398: Themes in the History of Sexuality
399: ST: World War I: Diplomacy and Home Fronts (2023-2024)
455: Topics in Medieval European History
461: Topics in Modern European History
497: ST: Empire, Archives, and Destruction (2023-2024)
498: ST: The Black Death: Plague and Medieval Society (2021-2022)
498: ST: Drugs and Pharmacy from Antiquity to the Laboratory (2022-2023)
498: ST: Medieval Cult of the Saints (2023-2024)
American/Latin American/Asian History
235: Introduction to South Asian History
242: The United States Before 1865
244: The United States after 1865
255: History of Colonial Latin America
256: History of Modern Latin America
294: History of US-Hispanics Relations (Spring 2022)
297: ST: Historical Methods
324: Plagues and Peoples
326: History of Cuba from Independence to the Revolution
327: Pirates of the Caribbean: A Mostly True History, from Columbus to Blackbeard
337: History of Modern Mexico
343: The Place of Race in the United States
344: Uses and Abuses of History
346: American Social Movements, 1865-1945
347: American Social Movements, 1945-Present
351: United States Immigration and Ethnicity
353: Explorers and Exploration before Columbus
372: Imperial China
374: People's Republic of China
389: The Sixties in the USA: the Culture of Protest (2022-2023)
457: Topics in American History
462: Topics in Latin American History
Transfer credit limitations: Of the 36 credits required for a history major or advanced major, normally at least 24 must be obtained from StFX; of the 60 credits required for a history honours, normally at least 42 must be obtained from StFX; of the 48 credits required for a history honours with subsidiary, normally at least 36 must be obtained from StFX. The seminar and thesis requirements must be completed through StFX.
Note: 3 credits of HIST at the 100 level are required as a foundation for all first- and second-year students taking further history courses but this requirement is normally waived for third-and fourth-year student seeking a first course in history.
Program Options
Minor or Subsidiary in History
a) 6 credits at the 100 level
b) 18 additional credits above the 100 level
c) Total: 24 history credits with at least 6 credits at the 300/400 level
Major Program
a) 6 credits HIST at the 100 level
b) 6 credits in Canadian history above the 100 level
c) Total of 18 credits in a chosen concentration
d) Total of 12 credits from areas outside the chosen concentration
e) Total: 36 history credits with at least 15 credits at the 300/400 level
f) Majors are expected to take HIST 344 and take a 400-level seminar course in their 4th year
Joint Major Program
Same history requirements as major above.
Advanced Major Program
a) 6 credits at the 100 level
b) 6 credits in Canadian history above the 100 level
c) HIST 344
d) A senior seminar (counts in the chosen concentration; requires senior advanced major essay)
e) Total of 18 credits in a chosen concentration
f) Total of 12 credits from areas outside the chosen concentration
g) Total: 36 history credits with at least 15 credits at the 300/400 level.
Joint Advanced Major Program
Same history requirements as advanced major above. Students are also required to complete a senior advanced major essay in 400-level class. However, students are not required to do a senior advanced major essay if they choose history as their major subject B.
Honours Program*
a) 6 credits at the 100 level
b) 6 credits in Canadian history above the 100 level
c) HIST 344
d) A seminar (counts in the chosen concentration)
e) Total of 33 credits in a chosen concentration (includes HIST 490)
f) Total of 21 credits from areas outside the chosen concentration
g) HIST 490 (Thesis, 6 credits) with a faculty member
h) Total: 60 history credits with at least 24 credits at the 300/400 level.
Honours with a Subsidiary Subject*
a) 6 credits at the 100 level
b) 6 credits in Canadian history above the 100 level
c) HIST 344
d) A seminar (counts in the chosen concentration)
e) Total of 27 credits in a chosen concentration (includes HIST 490)
f) Total of 15 credits from areas outside the concentration
g) HIST 490 (Thesis, 6 credits) with a faculty member
h) Total: 48 history credits with at least 18 credits at the 300/400 level
Note *
To qualify for the Honours program, students must have an average of 75 on 60 credits completed in the first two years; an average of 75 for all history courses, with a minimum grade of 70 on all history courses. Please see section 4.1.5 in the academic calendar for upper-year requirements.
Recognized Courses
Subject to the restrictions stated below, students may count the following courses for credit in the Department of History: Celtic Studies - CELT 131/132 (100 level courses are not included in concentrations) and CELT 331(European)/CELT 332(Canadian); Art - ART 251, 252, 371, 372, 373, and 435 (all ART courses count as European). Students completing a minor, major, advanced major, joint advanced major or honours in history are permitted to count no more than twelve credits of the aforementioned courses as history courses; similarly, no more than six credits of these courses may be taken from any one department. For a history pair, students are permitted no more than six credits of these recognized courses.
Social Justice Colloquium
The Social Justice Colloquium (SJC) is a first-year option for Bachelor of Arts students. Participants are enrolled in dedicated sections of anthropology, global history and women’s and gender studies. Further information is available on the website.
Humanities Colloquium
The Humanities Colloquium (HC) is an optional and interdisciplinary way of studying three first-year courses, usually ENGL 100, HIST 100, and PHIL 100. Three sections of these courses are taught in a historically co-ordinated way with a focus on the great books of Western Civilization. Please see the Humanities Colloquium website for additional information and update for the specific courses offered each academic year.
Contact
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