Integrative Learning Courses emphasize making connections that combine disparate disciplinary, methodological, ideological, or epistemological perspectives; entail applying multiple ways of knowing to concepts and experiences; and empower students to recognize and solve problems, address existing questions, and ask new ones in more comprehensive ways. The Integrative Learning curricular requirement provides opportunities for intentionally cultivating this way of thinking in collaborative environments and communities.
Recent Integrative Learning Courses offered by the History Department:
HST-284 Special Topics: Istanbul: Historical & Political Contest (Stein/Mello)
Istanbul celebrated its selection as a European Capital of Culture in 2010, but the meaning of this designation seems obscured by the reality of a city that looks at times and in certain places anything but European. Modern Istanbul (and by extension Turkey) is simultaneously a place of great history and a place where this history coexists with the technological and cultural trappings of 'modern' society. Thus while it may rake in tourist dollars as an exciting yet safe place to experience Islamic, Ottoman, and ancient culture, it is difficult to define the city as either authentically modern, or authentically something else. To be fair, it isn't so much that its ascendancy to the mantle of modernity is in question—Istanbul is undoubtedly a thoroughly modern city—it's that its niche in the western imagination lies between both the image of the modern and the image of 'oriental,’ and this seems to be a place of tension and unease, but also the very source and power of the city’s attraction. This course uses the historical development of Istanbul, various representations of the city, and political science theories in order to explore what the city itself can tell us about the development of modernity, identity, and cultural politics in Turkey. This course alone satisfies the IL requirement.
HST-286 Special Topics: Gender, Feminism, and Globalization (Ouellette/Mathews-Schultz)
Feminist inquiry offers a unique window into the complex and multifaceted processes of globalization and development, processes that are remaking women’s, and men’s, lives. This course examines globalization through the multiple lenses of feminism, history, and political science. Course topics include: theories of development, globalization, and democratization; the global reproduction of gender, race, and sexuality; gender-based violence and contested notions of security; material and reproductive health; the feminization of poverty; sex work and tourism; education; and women’s economic and political empowerment. In linking the disciplines of history and political science, this course emphasizes the various roles of culture, history, political elites, governments, social movements and other organized interests, and institutions in shaping the global gender order and women’s lives. This course alone satisfies the IL requirement.
HST-287 Special Topics: Ethnicity & Religious Diversity in Spain (Stein/Albert)
The era of Muslim rule in Spain in the Middle Ages provides a fascinating model of diversity in action, a much more complex and problematic co-existence than the picture of idealized tolerance that is often portrayed. This era, and the convivencia among Christians, Jews, and Muslims in medieval Spain, laid an important foundation for contemporary Spain. This interdisciplinary course focuses on transitions to the modern and contemporary eras, including issues such as migrations from North Africa. The course culminates in a short-term trip to Spain and Morocco to further investigate the tensions and possibilities of religious and ethnic diversity, focusing on Spain as an important locus of contact. This course alone satisfies the IL requirement.
HST-295 Revolutions in the Middle East (Stein/Mello)
“Down with the ruler! Power to the people!” Throughout the twentieth century these calls echoed across the Middle East as Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Egypt experienced revolutions that sought to remove repressive governments and led to great political, cultural, and social change. While all these revolutionary movements called for greater democracy and often produced constitutional governments, most ended with autocratic rulers who were possibly worse than the kings they overthrew. This course will investigate the history of revolutions in the Middle East, focusing on Iran's 1905 Constitutional Revolution, the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, Egypt's anti-British revolution of 1919 and Nasser's anti-monarch 1952 revolution there, and the 1979 Iranian Revolution which led to the rise of the Islamic Republic. This course, in conjunction with PSC 258, Contemporary Protest in the Middle East, satisfies the IL requirement.
HST-330 Books & Their Readers (Yankaskas/Orzech)
This writing-intensive class will explore the history and meanings of print from Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the movable-type printing press to the advent of e-readers in the twenty-first century. Focusing primarily on the U.S. context, we will ask how, why, and what people have read, and what the meanings and consequences of reading have been for individuals, groups, and society at large. We will talk about the politics of literacy and censorship, the history of libraries, and the aesthetics of print. We will also think about books as objects, and about the history of their production, circulation, and consumption. The course includes hands-on work in Trexler Library Special Collections. This course, in conjunction with ARS-111, Printmaking & the Book, satisfies the IL requirement.
HST-375 Race & Ethnicity in Latin America & the Caribbean (Ouellette)
This course examines race and ethnicity within the context of the African Diaspora, Indo-American populations, European Colonialism, and the resulting cultural hybridity of Latin America and the Caribbean. Major themes include the classification of races and ethnicities during the colonial period; forms of labor (slave and coerced) and their relationship to these categories; resistance to colonialism and debates over abolition; and discourses on race, ethnicity, gender, and class in Modern and Revolutionary Latin America and the Caribbean. This course alone satisfies the IL requirement.
HST-389 Contemporary Cuba (Ouellette/Chi)
This course focuses on Contemporary Cuban nation-building from its transition as a Spanish colony into the hands of the United States to the “Revolutionary” Nation it is today (1989-2017). At the forefront of discussions of nation-building was the forging of identities that challenged western capitalist readings of Cuba. Along the way, political discourse was so centered on class that it denied conversation on race in spite of its enormous Afro-Cuban population and historical legacies of slavery. Simultaneously, the Cuban state created a dialogue of identity that underscored healthy bodies & minds, and thus Contemporary Cuban bodies & identities have centered public health, education, and Cuban culture. Through a series of carefully selected course readings, we will address the following questions: How did nationalist politics and policies affect the large Afro-Cuban population as well as the formation of a national Cuban identity and “Cubanness”? How has the emphasis on public health & education affected Cuban bodies and perceptions of Cuba around the world? How has education & culture reinforced or challenged contemporary notions of Cubanidad? How has the Cuban Diaspora in the United States (exiles, refugees, and migrants) affected Cuban society? How unique is the case of Cuba in the Caribbean? This course alone satisfies the IL requirement.
