Topics Courses
Each semester, the History Department offers several "topics" courses. These are often new courses or ones that cross traditional chronological and geographical divides. American History topics fall under HIST 533, European topics fall under HIST 597, and Non-Western topics fall under HIST 598. The KSU catalog does not offer a full description of these topics classes, so we do so below.
Spring 2012 classes
HIST533: Lost Kansas Communities (Morgan)
Description: Lost Kansas Communities introduces students to the diversity of Kansas towns founded between 1840 and WWI. With over 6,000 documented ghost towns, Kansas is fertile ground for the study of human migration, settlement history, and the failure to persist. This class fulfills the Kansas History credit for education majors; it is also a field research course featuring off-campus trips, oral history, mapping, and work with archival documents and photographs. Students with creative ability in art, photography, cartography, and writing are especially welcome.
HIST533: U. S. since 1945 (Hoff)
Description: The U.S. Since 1945 explores American history since World War II, and in particular America's rise to superpower status, the growth of the American state, the economic boom of the 1950s to the 1970s (and subsequent economic decline), the rise of interest groups, environmental and technological change, the struggle by various minority groups for greater inclusion in American society, the liberal reforms of the 1960s, and the ascendancy of conservatism in the final third of the twentieth century. Along the way we will consider the evolution of music from Elvis to Flo Rida, of gender norms from Leave it to Beaver to Californication, of foreign policy from Cold War containment to the "War on Terror," of economics from Kennedy's "New Economics" to the recent financial crisis, and of the media from the birth of commercial television to Fox News. The course incorporates a variety of video and audio clips from sources such as speeches, popular songs, films, and advertisements. The U.S. since 1945 is organized around traditional lectures, but student input and participation are vital.
HIST597: Saints, Relics, and Miracles (Defries)
Description: This course will focus on reading primary sources connected with the cult of the saints in pre-modern Western Europe. Readings will begin with the Gospels and extend through the beginning of the Protestant Reformation but will concentrate on the period from 400 to 1400. Topics to be explored will include what made a saint; why saints' bones were valued; what roles the cult of the saints played in pre-modern Christian society; why saints' bones were stolen; what made people interpret a 'sweating' cross as a miraculous event; why dead saints smelled good; why saints had legal rights; and why some saints had more than one head.
HIST598: Himalayas (Mrozek)
Description: This course explores the development of the Himalayan region from early times to the present, especially in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and the surrounding region. Coverage includes culture (such as architecture and design), religion (such as Buddhism and Hinduism), politics (including changes in forms of government), economy (in traditional as well as modern forms), and military affairs. No prior knowledge of the region is needed to perform effectively in this course.
HIST598: History of Islam (Al-Salim)
Description: This course is designed for students with a general interest in Islamic world history. We will examine the theology, history, and main social and legal institutions of Islam. This course will focus on the variety of ways in which Muslims and non-Muslims have understood and interpreted Islam. We will review the discussions surrounding the life of Prophet Muhammad, Islamic pre-modern and modern history, the Islamic concept of God and society, the role of women, and Islamic government and movements. This course gives voice to Islamic texts and provides a window into how Muslims, in varying socio-historical contexts, view themselves and, equally important, how they view others, as we will see while addressing specific topics such as Islamic doctrines and law, philosophy, Sufi mysticism, Islamic civilization, gender issues, politics, the ongoing debate between secularism and traditionalism in contemporary Islamic societies, and Islam in America.
HIST586: Breen
Topic: Colonial America
HIST586: Sanders
Topic: Nineteenth-Century America