History is the study of how societies and cultures across the world change over time. History concentrators learn to write and think critically, and to understand issues from a variety of perspectives. The department offers a wide variety of courses concerned with changes in human experience through time, ranging from classical Greek and Roman civilizations to the histories of Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Asia. While some courses explore special topics, others concentrate on the history of a particular country (e.g. China or Brazil) or period of time (e.g. Antiquity or the 20th century). By taking advantage of our diverse course offerings, students can engage in and develop broad perspectives on the past and the present.
Prospective concentrators should visit the History site and visit the office hours of their prospective concentrator advisor (assigned according to student surname).
Concentration Requirements
Basic requirement: A minimum of 10 courses, at least 8 of which must be courses taught by a Brown University History Department faculty member (including their cross-listed courses) and/or courses offered by the Brown History Department (such as those taught by Visiting or Adjunct Professors). Transfer students or study-abroad students who have spent a year or more at another institution must have at least 7 of 10 history courses taught by Brown History faculty or otherwise offered through the Brown History Department.
| Summary | ||
| Two (2) Courses in the "Premodern" era (P) | ||
| One (1) Course in Africa OR Middle East - South Asia | ||
| One (1) Course in East Asia OR Latin America | ||
| One (1) course in Europe OR North America | ||
| One (1) course designated Global | ||
Students may take a maximum of 5 courses in any single geography | ||
| Field of Focus (FF) - Students must take four courses in the field of focus. These courses may be used to satisfy different requirements (geography and field of focus, etc.). | ||
| Capstone Seminar: All concentrators must complete at least one capstone seminar (HIST 1960s and HIST 1970s series and select HIST 1980s courses), ideally, in the field of focus. | ||
| Honors (optional) 3 additional courses related to writing a thesis (one of which, HIST 1992, can count towards your 10 concentration requirements) | ||
Note: Courses can fulfill more than one of these requirements at a time. For instance, HIST1963Q “Sex, Power, God: A Medieval Perspective” would count as “Premodern,” a "Europe" class, and a capstone seminar. It could also count towards a field of focus in premodern Europe or the history of sexuality or the history of religion, etc.
Courses below 1000: Students may count no more than four courses numbered below 1000 toward the concentration requirements. Students considering a concentration in History are encouraged to take First Year and Sophomore seminars, as well as courses in the HIST 0150 and 0200 series, for an introduction to historical reasoning, discussion, and writing.
Field of focus: In History, concentrators choose or create their own “track,” rather than having to select an existing track. The field of focus must include a minimum of four courses, and it may be: geographical (such as Latin America); geographical and chronological (such as Modern North America); or transnational (such as ancient world); or thematic (such as urban history). All students should consult a concentration advisor early in the process about their potential field of focus. All fields are subject to approval by the concentration advisor.
Thematic fields of focus include but are not restricted to:
- Comparative Colonialism
- Gender and Sexuality
- Law and Society
- Race and Ethnicity
- Science, Technology, Environment and Medicine (STEAM)
- Urban History
Examples of transnational foci include:
- The Ancient World
- The Early Modern Atlantic World
- Africa and the Diaspora
- The Mediterranean World from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
- The Pacific World
Geographic Distribution: Concentrators must take a at least four courses defined by geography as follows:
- One course in Africa or Middle East-South Asia
- One course in East Asia or Latin America
- One course in Europe or North America
- One course in Global
Maximum of five courses in a single geography
“Global” courses are defined as those that deal with at least three different regions of the world.
For details on which courses count toward which geographical distribution requirement click here.
Chronological Distribution: All concentrators must complete at least two courses designated as “P” (for pre-modern).
For a listing of which courses count as "P" courses click here
Capstone Seminar: All concentrators must complete at least one capstone seminar (HIST 1960s and HIST 1970s series and select HIST 1980s courses). They provide students with an opportunity to delve deeply into a historical problem and to write a major research and/or analytical paper which serves as a capstone experience. Students considering writing a senior honors thesis are advised to take an advanced seminar in their junior year. First-Year students are not advised to take these courses.
Transferring Courses: The History Department encourages students to take history courses at other institutions, either in the United States or abroad, as well as history-oriented courses in other departments and programs at Brown. Students may apply two courses taken in other departments/programs at Brown to the ten-course minimum for the History concentration. Students who spend one semester at another institution may apply to their concentration a maximum of two courses from other departments or institutions, and those who spend more than one semester at another institution may apply to their concentration a third course transferred from another institution.
Students wishing to apply such courses must present to their concentration advisor justification that those courses complement some aspect of their concentration. Courses from other Brown departments may not be applied toward the chronological distribution requirement. History courses taught by trained historians from other institutions (e.g., from study abroad or a previous institution) may be applied toward the chronological distribution requirement so long as at least 2/3 of the course content examine the "premodern" or "early modern" periods.
It is normally expected that students will have declared their intention to concentrate in History and have their concentration programs approved before undertaking study elsewhere. Students taking courses in Brown-run programs abroad automatically receive University transfer credit, but concentration credit is granted only with the approval of a concentration advisor. Students taking courses in other foreign-study programs or at other universities in the United States must apply to the Transfer Credit Advisor and then get approval from a concentration advisor.
Regular Consultation: Students are strongly urged to consult regularly with their concentration advisor or a department advisor about their program. During the seventh semester, all students must meet with their concentration advisor for review and approval of their program.
| COURSES BELOW 1000 | ||
| LECTURE COURSES | ||
| 150's: Thematic Courses that Cut Across Time and Place | ||
| History of Capitalism | ||
| The Philosophers' Stone: Alchemy From Antiquity to Harry Potter | ||
| Locked Up: A Global History of Prison and Captivity | ||
| Refugees: A Twentieth-Century History | ||
| Pirates | ||
| History of Law: Great Trials | ||
| Foods and Drugs in History | ||
| The Making of the Modern World | ||
| The Ocean in Global History | ||
| Gateway Lecture Courses | ||
| African Experiences of Empire | ||
| Modern Africa: From Empire to Nation-State | ||
| Histories of East Asia: China | ||
| Histories of East Asia: Japan | ||
| Modern Korea: Contending with Modernity | ||
| The Making of Modern East Asia | ||
| War, Tyranny, and Peace in Modern Europe | ||
| Clash of Empires in Latin America | ||
| Colonial Latin America | ||
| Modern Latin America | ||
| Modern Middle East Roots: 1492 to the Present | ||
| Understanding the Middle East: A Modern History | ||
| Civilization, Empire, Nation: Competing Histories of the Middle East | ||
| American Exceptionalism: The History of an Idea | ||
| The American Civil War | ||
| Religion, Politics, and Culture in America, 1865 - Present | ||
| Mexican American History | ||
| Introduction to Latinx History | ||
| Modern American History: New and Different Perspectives | ||
| Labor, Land and Culture: A History of Immigration in the U.S. | ||
| From Fire Wielders to Empire Builders: Human Impact on the Global Environment before 1492 | ||
| From the Columbian Exchange to Climate Change: Modern Global Environmental History | ||
| The First Globalization: The Portuguese in Africa, Asia, and the Americas | ||
| A Global History of the Atomic Age | ||
| Science and Capitalism | ||
| Modern Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity | ||
| History of Medicine I: Medical Traditions in the Old World Before 1700 | ||
| History of Medicine II: The Development of Scientific Medicine in Europe and the World | ||
| SEMINAR COURSES | ||
| First-Year Seminars | ||
| Shanghai in Myth and History | ||
| Athens, Jerusalem, and Baghdad: Three Civilizations, One Tradition | ||
| Christianity in Conflict in the Medieval Mediterranean | ||
| The Holy Grail and the Historian's Quest for the Truth | ||
| An Empire and Republic: The Dutch Golden Age | ||
| Reason, Revolution and Reaction in Europe | ||
| What is Enlightenment? | ||
| The Holocaust in Historical Perspective | ||
| State Surveillance in History | ||
| History of Fascism | ||
| The First World War | ||
| Atlantic Pirates | ||
| Conquests | ||
| Popular Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean | ||
| Tropical Delights: Imagining Brazil in History and Culture | ||
| Object Histories: The Material Culture of Early America | ||
| Abraham Lincoln: Historical and Cultural Perspectives | ||
| A Textile History of Atlantic Slavery | ||
| Robber Barons | ||
| Sport in American History | ||
| Inequality and American Capitalism in the Twentieth Century | ||
| Slavery and Historical Memory in the United States | ||
| Slavery, Race, and Racism | ||
| Narratives of Slavery | ||
| World of Walden Pond: Transcendentalism in the Age of Reform | ||
| History of American Feminism | ||
| Latinx Social Movement History | ||
| Culture and U.S. Empire | ||
| Asian Americans and Third World Solidarity | ||
| The Silk Road, Past and Present | ||
| The Arctic: Global History from the Dog Sled to the Oil Rig | ||
| The Chinese Diaspora: A History of Globalization | ||
| The US-Mexico Border and Borderlands: A Bilingual English-Spanish Seminar | ||
| The Age of Revolutions, 1760-1824 | ||
| Making Change: Nonviolence in Action | ||
| Animal Histories | ||
| Science and Society in Darwin's England | ||
| Sophomore Seminars | ||
| The Search for King Arthur | ||
| The Russian Revolution | ||
| Americans in the USSR | ||
| Fractious Friendships: The United States and Latin America in the Twentieth Century | ||
| Welfare States and a History of Modern Life | ||
| American Patriotism in Black and White | ||
| Culture Wars in American Schools | ||
| History of Intercollegiate Athletics | ||
| Early American Lives | ||
| Walden + Woodstock: The American Lives of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Bob Dylan | ||
| The Chinese Diaspora: A History of Globalization | ||
| The Social Lives of Dead Bodies in China and Beyond | ||
| COURSES WITH NUMBERS 1000-1999 | ||
| LECTURE COURSES | ||
| Entangled South Africa | ||
| Colonial Africa | ||
| "Modern" Africa | ||
| Humanitarianism and Conflict in Africa | ||
| Chinese Political Thought from Confucius to Xi Jinping | ||
| Imperial China/China: Culture and Legacy | ||
| Women and Gender Relations in China | ||
| China's Early Modern Empires | ||
| China's Late Empires | ||
| At China's Edges | ||
| The Modern Chinese Nation: An Idea and Its Limits | ||
| China Pop: The Social History of Chinese Popular Culture | ||
| Japan in the Age of the Samurai | ||
| Imperial Japan | ||
| Modern Japan | ||
| Japan's Pacific War: 1937-1945 | ||
| Postwar Japan | ||
| Mediterranean Culture Wars: Archaic Greek History, c 1200 to 479 BC | ||
| The Fall of Empires and Rise of Kings: Greek History to 478 to 323 BCE | ||
| History of Greece: From Alexander the Great to the Roman Conquest | ||
| Roman History I | ||
| Roman History II: The Empire | ||
| Formation of the Classical Heritage: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims | ||
| The Long Fall of the Roman Empire | ||
| The Viking Age | ||
| Becoming Medieval: Self, Other, and the World | ||
| The Paradox of Early Modern Europe | ||
| Modern European Intellectual and Cultural History: Revolution and Romanticism, 1760-1860 | ||
| Modern European Intellectual and Cultural History: The Fin de Siecle, 1880-1914 | ||
| The Search for Renewal in 20th century Europe | ||
| Politics of Violence in 20C Europe | ||
| Migration in European History | ||
| Living Together: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Iberia | ||
| After Empire: Modern Spain in the 20th Century | ||
| Women, Gender, and Feminism in Early Modern Italy | ||
| Truth on Trial: Justice in Italy, 1400-1800 | ||
| Cultural History of the Netherlands in a Golden Age and a Global Age | ||
| English History, 1529-1660 | ||
| British History, 1660-1800 | ||
| The Rise of the Russian Empire | ||
| Russia in the Era of Reforms, Revolutions, and World Wars | ||
| The Collapse of Socialism and the Rise of New Russia | ||
| German History, 1806-1945 | ||
| The French Revolution | ||
| Paris: Sacred and Profane, Imagined and Real | ||
| Death from Medieval Relics to Forensic Science | ||
| History of Brazil | ||
| Brazil: From Abolition to Emerging Global Power | ||
| Brazilian Biographies | ||
| Rebel Island: Cuba, 1492-Present | ||
| The Rise and Fall of the Aztecs: Mexico, 1300-1600 | ||
| Reform and Rebellion: Mexico, 1700-1867 | ||
| The Mexican Revolution | ||
| History of the Andes | ||
| Amazonia from the Prehuman to the Present | ||
| The United States and Brazil: Tangled Relations | ||
| Latin American History and Film: Memory, Narrative and Nation | ||
| The Ottomans: Faith, Law, Empire | ||
| The Making of the Ottoman World, 15th - 20th Centuries | ||
| The Making of the Modern Middle East | ||
| Understanding the Palestinians | ||
| Modern Turkey: Empire, Nation, Republic | ||
| Legal History in the Middle East | ||
| The American Revolution | ||
| The Early Republic United States | ||
| Antebellum America and the Road to Civil War | ||
| Making America Modern | ||
| American Babylon: Crisis and Reckoning in the Postwar United States, 1945-1980 | ||
| Sinners, Saints, and Heretics: Religion in Early America | ||
| First Nations: The People and Cultures of Native North America to 1800 | ||
| U.S. Cultural History from Revolution to Reconstruction | ||
| Capitalism, Slavery and the Economy of Early America | ||
| American Slavery | ||
| The Intimate State: The Politics of Gender, Sex, and Family in the U.S., 1873-Present | ||
| Movement Politics in Modern America | ||
| Black Freedom Struggle Since 1945 | ||
| American Urban History, 1600-1870 | ||
| American Urban History, 1870-1965 | ||
| Empires in America to 1890 | ||
| American Empire Since 1890 | ||
| American Legal and Constitutional History | ||
| The Intellectual History of Black Women | ||
| Resisting Empire: Gandhi and the Making of Modern South Asia | ||
| Inequality + Change: South Asia after 1947 | ||
| "Cannibals", "Barbarians" and "Noble Savages": Travel and Ethnography in the Early Modern World | ||
| Slavery in the Early Modern World | ||
| A Global History of the Reformation | ||
| Religion and Power in North America to 1865 | ||
| Environmental History | ||
| Environmental History of East Asia | ||
| Nature on Display | ||
| Nature, Knowledge, Power in Early Modern Europe | ||
| Science, Medicine and Technology in the 17th Century | ||
| History of Artificial Intelligence | ||
| The Roots of Modern Science | ||
| Science at the Crossroads | ||
| Science and Capitalism | ||
| Politics and the Psyche from Sigmund Freud to Donald Trump | ||
| From Medieval Bedlam to Prozac Nation: Intimate Histories of Psychiatry and Self | ||
| Unearthing the Body: History, Archaeology, and Biology at the End of Antiquity | ||
| SEMINAR COURSES | ||
| Non-Capstone Seminars | ||
| History of Jews in Brazil | ||
| World of Walden Pond: Transcendentalism as a Social and Intellectual Movement | ||
| Thinking Historically: A History of History Writing | ||
| Rites of Power in Modern China | ||
| History of Artificial Intelligence | ||
| Archives of Desire: Non-Normative Genders and Sexualities in the Hispanophone World | ||
| SEMINAR COURSES | ||
| Capstone Seminars | ||
| Southern African Frontiers, c. 1400-1860 | ||
| Medicine and Public Health in Africa | ||
| South Africa Since 1990 | ||
| North African History: 1800 to Present | ||
| Cities and Urban Culture in China | ||
| Knowledge and Power: China's Examination Hell | ||
| Heaven Above, Suzhou and Hangzhou Below: Urban Culture in Early Modern China | ||
| Colonization and Ethnicity in East Asian History | ||
| Life During Wartime: Theory and Sources from the Twentieth Century | ||
| State, Religion and the Public Good in Modern China | ||
| Japan in the World, from the Age of Empires to 3.11 | ||
| Print and Power in Modern Southeast Asia | ||
| Barbarians, Byzantines, and Berbers: Early Medieval North Africa, AD 300-1050 | ||
| Charlemagne: Conquest, Empire, and the Making of the Middle Ages | ||
| Sex, Power, and God: A Medieval Perspective | ||
| Age of Impostors: Fraud, Identification, and the Self in Early Modern Europe | ||
| The Enchanted World: Magic, Angels, and Demons in Early Modern Europe | ||
| Women in Early Modern England | ||
| The English Revolution | ||
| Early Modern Ireland | ||
| Spin, Terror and Revolution: England, Scotland and Ireland, 1660-1720 | ||
| Race and Empire in 18th Century France | ||
| Descartes' World | ||
| Slavery in the Early Modern World | ||
| City as Modernity:Popular Culture, Mass Consumption, Urban Entertainment in Nineteenth-Century Paris | ||
| Fin-de-Siècle Paris and Vienna | ||
| Stalinism | ||
| The USSR and the Cold War | ||
| Politics of the Intellectual in 20C Europe | ||
| Europe and the Invention of Race | ||
| Industrial Revolution in Europe | ||
| Double Fault! Race and Gender in Modern Sports History | ||
| Appetite for Greatness: Cuisine, Power, and the French | ||
| The Crisis of Liberalism in Modern History | ||
| Making Revolutionary Cuba, 1959-Present | ||
| In the Shadow of Revolution: Mexico Since 1940 | ||
| The Maya in the Modern World | ||
| Politics and Culture Under The Brazilian Military Dictatorship, 1964-1985 | ||
| Gender and Sexuality in the Modern History of Latin America | ||
| History of Rio de Janeiro | ||
| History of the Andes from the Incas to Evo Morales | ||
| Approaches to the Middle East | ||
| History of Capitalism: The Eastern Mediterranean and the World Around | ||
| America and the Middle East: Histories of Connection and Exchange | ||
| Israel-Palestine: Lands and Peoples I | ||
| Israel-Palestine: Lands and Peoples II | ||
| Debates in Middle Eastern History | ||
| Palestine versus the Palestinians | ||
| Nothing Pleases Me: Understanding Modern Middle Eastern History Through Literature | ||
| Colonial Encounters: Indians, Europeans, and the Making of Early America | ||
| Enslaved! Indians and Africans in an Unfree Atlantic World | ||
| Problem of Class in Early America | ||
| Early American Money | ||
| Captive Voices: Atlantic Slavery in the Digital Age | ||
| From Emancipation to Obama | ||
| American Legal History, 1760-1920 | ||
| Theory and Practice of Local History | ||
| Consent: Race, Sex, and the Law | ||
| Lesbian Memoir | ||
| U.S. Human Rights in a Global Age | ||
| Loss, Political Activism and Public Feelings: Between Fact and Affect | ||
| Racial Capitalism and U.S. Liberal Empire | ||
| The Silk Roads, Past and Present | ||
| War and Peace: A Global History | ||
| Nonviolence in History and Practice | ||
| Decolonizing Minds: A People's History of the World | ||
| Maps and Empires | ||
| Early Modern Globalization | ||
| Modernity's Crisis: Jewish History from the French Revolution to the Election of Donald Trump | ||
| The Nuclear Age | ||
| Moral Panic and Politics of Fear | ||
| Native Histories in Latin America and North America | ||
| The History of Extinction | ||
| Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Environmental Histories of Non-Human Actors | ||
| Powering the Past: The History of Energy | ||
| The Anthropocene: Climate Change as Social History | ||
| Animal Histories | ||
| Environmental History of Latin America 1492-Present | ||
| Imperialism and Environmental Change | ||
| Earth Histories: From Creation to Countdown | ||
| Topics in the History of Economic Thought | ||
| Histories of the Future | ||
| Feathery Things: An Avian Introduction to Animal Studies | ||
| Gender, Race, and Medicine in the Americas | ||
| War and Medicine since the Renaissance | ||
| Undergraduate Reading Courses | ||
| History Honors Workshop for Prospective Thesis Writers | ||
| History Honors Workshop for Thesis Writers, Part I | ||
| History Honors Workshop for Thesis Writers, Part II | ||
Honors (OPTIONAL):
History concentrators in the 5th or 6th semester may apply for honors. To be admitted, students must have achieved two-thirds “quality grades” in History department courses. A “quality grade” is defined as a grade of “A” or a grade of “S” accompanied by a course performance report indicating a performance at the “A” standard.
Students who wish to enroll in honors are recommended to takeHIST 1992, “History Honors Workshop for Prospective Students.” HIST 1992 can count as one of the 10 courses required for graduation in history. HIST 1992 students who prepare a prospectus that receives a grade of A- or above will be admitted to the honors program. Students in their 7th semester who have not taken HIST 1992 (including but not limited to those who are away from Brown during that semester) may apply to the program by submitting a prospectus no later than the first day of that semester. All honors students must complete one semester of HIST 1993 “History Honors Workshop for Thesis Writers, Part I” and one semester of HIST 1994 “History Workshop for Thesis Writers, Part II.” HIST 1993 and HIST 1994 do not count towards the 10 courses required for graduation in history; they are an additional two courses to the minimum of 10 required history courses. Students who contemplate enrolling in the honors program in History should consult the honors section of the department website. They are also encouraged to meet with the Director of the Honors Program (DHP), who serves as the honors advisor.