Course Catalog

Focuses on Los Angeles, golden city of cinema and myth, and more realistically, a multi-tiered transplanted society rife with internal tension. The course retraces some of the key phases of the development of the city, investigates how and the extent to which the myth of an “earthly paradise” was manufactured, and raises questions about the impact of the city's mythic status on its social fabric.

This seminar surveys basic themes in world history from the origins of humanity until about the year 1500 AD. Major themes include the rise of civilizations in Mesopotamia, India, East Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, the role of technological change as a motor of historical development, the role of imperial states in the ancient world, the development of major world religions, the establishment of trade routes and other forms of contact between the main civilizations.

This course provides an introduction to world history from the early modern period to the late twentieth century. Students will attain a sound grasp of the world history approach through study of the political, economic, and social connections and networks generated within and among these societies.

We have reached a critical moment in the evolution of cities. From Ur and Rome to Shanghai and the shadow cities of the 21st century, this radical shift in the way humans inhabit the planet marks a watershed moment in the history of world. This course will offer a historical perspective on this global transformation through an interdisciplinary study of city development from the ancient world to present. Students will be introduced to dominant themes of global and urban history by reading the historians, urban planners and social scientists who have traced the evolution of the built environment in context from its origins to today.

This course examines the historical development of the Middle East from the rise of the Ottoman Empire to its decline, and later from colonial rule to national independences. It covers the Arab World, Turkey and Iran and follows four main general themes: Reform, Colonialism, Nationalism and Revolution. The course is divided into two main sections which are organised chronologically and thematically. The first part of the course deals with the formation of the Ottoman Empire, its expansion, and the rise of Safavids in Persia. It then covers the reform movements in the Ottoman and Persian (Qajar) Empires, the influence of Europe and the political and social upheaval brought about by the outbreak of revolutions in the early 20th century. Indigenous responses to European penetration and indigenous reform are analysed through an understanding of revolutionary movements, and the rise of nationalism. The second part of the course examines the emergence of states in the Arab World, the British French accords and declarations, the question of Palestine and the Zionist activism and the debates around Secularism vs. Islam.

Topics vary every semester.

Examines French history between 1770 and 1815: the rise of the modern monarchical state, population growth and increased commercial wealth calling for flexibility and innovation, new values of the Enlightenment urging a rethinking of traditional beliefs and practices, war and bankruptcy precipitating revolution and bringing to power men such as Robespierre and Napoleon.