History Department

This course explores the early history of Western Civilization. Topics include: Classical Greece and the Roman Republic and Empire; Christianity; the Byzantine Empire; Islam; the Carolingian Empire; Feudalism and Manorialism; the Economic Revival; Medieval Society and Culture; the Growth of National Monarchies; the Age of Exploration and Discovery; the Renaissance and the Reformation. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

This course explores the history of Western Civilization from the European conquest of the Americas to the end of the Cold War. Topics include: Europe’s overseas expansion; the age of absolutism; the scientific revolution; the Enlightenment; the American War of Independence; the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte; the Industrial Revolution; Nationalism, liberalism, feminism, and imperialism; the two World Wars; decolonization; and the Cold War. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

It may come as a surprise to the history channel, but ancient monuments were not built by aliens. Rather, they stand as evidence of the complex societies that existed throughout the ancient world and the goods, ideas and people that connected them. From the Han Dynasty in China to the Roman Empire in Europe to the early trade networks of the Nok in West Africa, the ingenuity, mobility and interconnectedness of premodern cultures will be explored. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 103, HIST 116 or ART 143. Cross-listed as ART 143. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Scholars now know that the premodern world was more profoundly interconnected by trade, cultural exchange and migration than we had ever realized. Still Not Ancient Aliens examines some of these interconnections, from the roads of the ancient Wari of Peru to the cultural and trade connections of the Polynesian Islanders, to the premodern trade networks operating in the far North and the cultural mosaic of Islamic Spain. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 104, HIST 116 or ART 144. Cross-listed as ART 144. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

W.E.B. Du Bois stated, “The problem of the colour line is the problem of the twentieth century,” but even earlier, the creation and operation of racial differences in colonial and capitalist contexts defined many key world events. This course examines the major events of world history from 1300 to the late eighteenth century’s “Age of Revolutions.” Global developments shall be examined via the social construction of racial, and ethnic differences between peoples. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 121 and HIST 110, HIST 111, HIST 141. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

W.E.B. Du Bois stated, “The problem of the colour line is the problem of the twentieth century,” but even earlier, the creation and operation of racial differences in colonial and capitalist contexts defined many key world events. This course examines the major events of world history from the late eighteenth century’s “Age of Revolutions” to the twenty-first century. Global developments shall be examined via the social construction of racial, and ethnic differences between peoples. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 122 or HIST 110, HIST 112, HIST 132, HIST 142. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

This introductory survey lecture course is designed to examine the life and times of the Pre-Confederation Canada from a political, social, cultural and economic perspective. In this journey back in time in Canadian history, student will learn about the diversity of historical figures, experiences, events and ideas. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 213 or HIST 113. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

This course provides an introduction to the major themes in Canadian history from Confederation to the contemporary era. It will explore the crucial political, economic, and social themes in Post-Confederation history. Regional, racial, ethnic, and gender variations will be addressed in this survey. Students will learn to identify, analyze, and discuss key issues in Canadian history. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 215 or HIST 115. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

This survey lecture course is designed to examine the political, social, cultural and economic development of the Maritime Provinces from the 1860s to the 1960s. It will examine such topics as the federation with Canada; industrialization and deindustrialization; labour unrest; social reform; the world wars; the impact of modernity and state intervention; out-migration; and the historical experiences of African-Maritimers, Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Acadians, and Maritime women. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

The Indian sub-continent has been a crossroads of people and cultures throughout human history. The resulting material production helped create a state out of a multi-ethnic region and transformed economies and design throughout the globe. Creative production also provided the language to speak back to colonial systems and to shape modern South Asian nation-states. This course examines cultural developments in South Asia beginning with the Mughals in the 16th century and ending in the 1970s. Cross-listed as ART 235. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Survey of the US from colonial times to the Civil War, with emphasis on aboriginal beginnings and civilizations; colonization; the rise of slavery and racism in British North America; the place of the colonies in the British Empire; the War of Independence; territorial expansion; the beginning of industrialization and its effects on the Jeffersonian notions of republicanism; the “problem” of slavery and growing sectionalism; and the road to Civil War and disunion. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Topics emphasized are the Civil War as a black freedom movement; the federal government’s brief and grudging commitment to black citizenship during Reconstruction; the abandonment of Reconstruction and the imposition of segregation in the late 19th century; industrialization and age of fabulous robber barons and desperate immigrants; the Depression and the coming of the New Deal; the civil rights movement and Vietnam and its sequels. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

A survey of the European “short” 20th century from the Great War to the collapse of the USSR. The course covers a variety of political, economic, social, cultural, and intellectual themes, including: the Great War/Russian Revolution, European society and culture during the “roaring 1920s”, the Great Depression, interwar dictatorships (Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Russia), World War II/the Holocaust, the Cold War, Decolonization, post-1945 economic prosperity and social change, intellectual/cultural trends and protest during the 1960s, and the fall of the Soviet Union. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

From its agricultural practices to the growth of urban centres Britain was fundamentally transformed from the 18C. ‘Britishness’ emerged from large-scale modern technical production, a democratic form of government that was wrestled into being, and colonial dominance. This course will examine the lived experiences of this change and how the resulting challenges are recorded in art and material culture. Cross-listed as ART 282. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

The topic for 2025-2026 is Nineteenth Century Britain. In this course, students will explore Britain’s history through the newspaper and periodical press as an institution that documented the social injustice that became regular features of nineteenth century life. Through course lectures, directed readings, and working with primary sources, students will learn how the press influenced public opinion and shaped moral and social reform. Three credits.

This course will explore the scholarly literature on changing approaches to and experiences of health and embodiment in Canada over the period from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 20th century. Students will examine how historically situated and intersecting systems of power such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability shaped health and well-being. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

This course explores the cultural history of 20th Century Europe, with a particular emphasis on hitherto ignored or underground,avantgarde, and pop culture manifestations. The class will focus on a “secret history”, in which artists/ filmmakers/fashion designers/musicians produced seminal work, either for diverse audiences or a small clique whose influence far outweighed their size. They shared ideas and spaces with queer and feminist activists/performers, teenagers, colonial denizens and African American expatriates, and political activists across the continent. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

What is told? How is it told? Why is it told? And, who is telling the story? By examining a variety of events, hero figures, communities, regions and time periods, students will look critically at how Canadians have used myth and memory to create their pasts and to construct group identities and national narratives. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

This history of pirates starts with Columbus and ends with Blackbeard. It addresses images of piracy in history and culture, and the nature of piracy. European powers used piracy to challenge Spain in Europe and the Americas. Topics include the political economy of piracy, pirate republics, and the dynamics of class, race, gender, and sex. Instruction includes lectures, discussions, popular culture, and essays. There are no prerequisites, but familiarity with Latin American history is encouraged. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

A study of Canadian-American relations from the American Revolution to the modern era. Topics include the founding of separate American and provincial societies; the tensions of continental and nationalist identities; the evolution of a North American economy and culture; policy making and bilateral relations in NATO and the UN; post-9/11 security arrangements; complementary and conflicting national interests in political, military, economic, social, and cultural issues. Cross-listed as PGOV 341. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

There is a long tradition of history - that is the written analysis of historical events - being used to underpin particular narratives of peoples and interests. By studying historiography, exploring the “history of history,” and the various approaches historians bring to their sources and writings, this course will help students understand how the discipline is grounded in present concerns and always written from a particular perspective. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 344 or HIST 445. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

A history of Christianity during the Reformation period. The course pays close attention to the transformation during this time of new Christian groups into the Anglican, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Baptists and Lutheran churches. Topics include Luther and Calvin, critical events, prominent Protestant women, and new creeds. Cross-listed as RELS 383. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Explores the history and legacy of the destruction of the Jews in Europe during World War II. Topics include historical anti-Semitism; the rise of the Nazis; euthanasia; the ghettos; the death camps; the actions of collaborationist regimes; Jewish and non-Jewish resistance; the role of ordinary Germans; the establishment of Israel; and post-war trials and controversies. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Topics include: Confucianism; the dynastic cycles; the fall of the Ming dynasty; the Manchus; the intrusion of the West: the missionaries, the Canton System, the opium wars and the unequal treaties; the Taiping Rebellion; the failed attempts at modernization; the Boxer uprising; the revolution of 1911. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Covers the revolution of 1911, World War I, and warlordism; Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang; Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party; World War II (1937-45); the civil war (1945-1949); the profound economic, social, cultural, and political transformations of the country under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping; China as a world power today. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

20C Britain portrayed itself as a leading democratic world power, having built a multiethnic nation and modern empire. Even as decolonial movements spoke back, Britain’s rule was portrayed as benign and its decolonizing experience as peaceful. It wasn’t. This course examines ‘the Irish question’ through a colonial lens, critically examining how British institutions worked to control culture and identity in order to undermine democratic social-justice discourse. Cross-listed as ART 384. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

The topic for 2025-2026 is Magic and Witchcraft in Premodern Europe. This course introduces students to the history and sources of magic around the Mediterranean and in Europe from Antiquity through the Early Modern period, ca.500 BCE – ca.1700 CE, and to scholarly debates on the differences between magic and science, philosophy, and religion in premodern cultures. We will focus on magical beliefs and practices in Medieval Christian Europe, including charms, necromancy, demonic magic, heresy, and the rise of the witch trials. Cross-listed as RELS 395. Three credits.

The topic for 2025-2026 is Extremism in America. The course will examine the nature of extremist movements (the left and right, and some that do not seem to fit on an ideological spectrum) from abolitionists, Filibusters and Redeemers before and shortly after the Civil War; anarchism; the Industrial Workers of the World; the Ku Klux Klan; anti-union vigilantism; Trotskyism; pro-fascist groups in 1930s-40s America; segregationists; the radical fringe of the 1960s student movement; including the current polarizing advocates of violence in 21st-century US. Three credits.

The topic for 2025-2026 is The Historical Imagination. In this course, students will explore how newcomers to the discipline go about the process of harnessing the historical imagination? In this course, students will develop research skills, undertake independent reading, prepare a research grant proposal, and ultimately produce research that meets the conventions of historical practice. This course prioritizes transferable skills in critical reading, effective writing, and sound communication. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 399 or HIST 397(History Workshop, 2024-2025). Three credits.

This course examines important themes and interpretations in Canadian history. The specific focus of the seminar will reflect the interests of the professor and the students. Three credits. Offered 2025-2026.

Each student works under the supervision of a chosen professor who guides the selection of a thesis topic, use of resources, methodological component, quality of analysis and execution, and literary calibre of the final version. A student should have an appropriate course background in the selected thesis topic. Second readers will be selected on the approval of the thesis topic and consulted with the submission of the first chapter. Required for all honours students. Six credits.

The topic for 2025-2026 is Global History. Globalization has fundamentally transformed ways of knowing. In this course, students will learn about the conceptual foundations, challenges, and opportunities of research that practices global history. Through directed readings, seminar discussions, and an independent research project, students will confront the challenges of the twenty-first century by contextualizing the world’s past as part of an integrated whole. Credit will be granted for only one of HIST 497 or HIST 497(History Under Review, 2024-2025). Three credits.

The topic for 2025-2026 is Medieval Gender and Christianity. Christian beliefs and practices in the Middle Ages shaped, and were shaped by, the gender and sexual identities, and sexual practices or abstinence, of believers. This course is a senior seminar for advanced students in History and Religious Studies to investigate the role of gender and sexuality in medieval Christian theology, sacraments, hagiography, monasticism, and crusading. Special attention will be given to female mystics from Hildegard of Bingen to Joan of Arc. Cross-listed as RELS 498. Three credits.