History

History courses
History department home page

Director of undergraduate studies: Robert Harms, 237 HGS, 432-1355, robert.harms@yale.edu

FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Professors

Jean-Christophe Agnew, Abbas Amanat, Gershon Bacon (Visiting), Ivo Banac, David Blight, Paul Bushkovitch, Jon Butler, George Chauncey, John Demos, Michael Denning, Carlos Eire, Laura Engelstein (Chair), John Mack Faragher, Paul Freedman, Joanne Freeman, Ute Frevert, John Gaddis, Glenda Gilmore, Robert W. Gordon, Timothy Guinnane, Valerie Hansen, Robert Harms, Jonathan Holloway, Paula Hyman, Matthew Jacobson, Gilbert Joseph, Donald Kagan, Paul Kennedy, Daniel Kevles, Benedict Kiernan, Bentley Layton, Robert Liberles (Visiting), Ivan Marcus, John Matthews, John Merriman, Joanne Meyerowitz, Steven Pincus, Stephen Pitti, Tessa Rajak (Visiting), Cynthia Russett, Lamin Sanneh, Stuart Schwartz, Frank Snowden, Timothy Snyder, Jonathan Spence, Harry Stout, Francesca Trivellato, Frank Turner, Noël Valis, John Warner, Anders Winroth, Jay Winter, Keith Wrightson

Associate Professors

Jennifer Klein, Susan Lederer, Mary Lui, Michael R. Mahoney, Mridu Rai, Naomi Rogers

Assistant Professors

Bruno Cabanes, Patrick Cohrs, Seth Fein, Beverly Gage, Michael Gasper, Lillian Guerra, Ole Molvig, Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Youval Rotman, Edward Rugemer, Celia Schultz, Marci Shore, Charles Walton, Kariann Yokota

Senior Lecturer

Annping Chin

Lecturers

Adel Allouche, Theodore Bromund, Cynthia Connelly, Aglaia De Angeli, Jay Gitlin, Walter Goffart, Veronika Grimm, Maija Jansson, María Jordán, Geoffrey Kabaservice, Shonaleeka Kaul, Bettyann Kevles, Charles Kim, Mark Lawrence, George Levesque, John Mangan, William Metcalf, David Miller, David Musto, Brian Noell, Michael Oren, Frank Prochaska, Kevin Repp, Honor Sachs, Daniel Stein Kokin, William Summers, Rebecca Tannenbaum, John Varty

History courses that do not require permission of the instructor for enrollment are open to all students in Yale College. Such courses, however, are liable to be limited in their enrollment ("capped") at the beginning of the term, depending on the number of teaching assistants available.

A student who declares a History major is assigned an adviser from among the departmental faculty. The adviser is available throughout the year for consultation about courses and the major. At the beginning of each term, students majoring in History must have their departmental adviser approve and sign their schedules. It is possible for students to change advisers provided they obtain the written consent of the new adviser.

The major. The prerequisite for entering the History major is two term courses in history. Courses completed in fulfillment of the prerequisite may be applied to the requirements of the major.

Selection of courses. The Department of History strongly urges each student to devise a program of study that, while meeting individual interests and needs, also achieves a balance between diversification and specialization. Exposure to a variety of areas of history is desirable first because only wide-ranging experience can give students confidence in having discovered their own true interests and aptitudes. Equally important, studying various times and societies, including preindustrial ones, prevents provincialism and provides the comparative knowledge essential to a clearer understanding of the area chosen for specialization. Finally, the department assumes that all students understand the vital importance of studying the historical traditions from which their society has developed. One cannot expect to understand another culture without a firm historical grasp of one's own.

Requirements of the major. Twelve terms of history are required, which may include the two terms taken as prerequisites. Included in these twelve terms must be:

(a) two terms of United States or Canadian history (courses in the colonial period may fulfill this requirement);

(b) two terms of European or British history (courses in Greek and Roman, Byzantine, and Russian history may fulfill this requirement);

Two of these seven terms must be courses in preindustrial history, and they must be chosen from two of the geographical categories listed above. Preindustrial history courses are so marked in the course listings. Students may use the same courses to count toward both geographical and preindustrial requirements. Only in rare cases will the director of undergraduate studies consider petitions from History majors seeking geographical or chronological credit outside of a History course's primary designation.

Two terms of HIST 400–496 are required and are normally taken during the junior year, although students are encouraged to take more than two junior seminars. (See the course descriptions for HIST 400–496 for information about pre-enrollment.) Students must choose junior seminars from two different geographical categories. Sophomores contemplating a junior term abroad are urged to consider taking at least one junior seminar in the sophomore year. Residential college seminars that count toward the History major do not fulfill the junior seminar requirement. During senior year, each student must complete a senior departmental essay written under the guidance of a member of the faculty.

Credit toward the major will be given only for courses included in the History listing in the printed YCPS and in the History course listings included in the online Yale College Course Supplement. All courses in History of Science, History of Medicine count automatically toward the History major. No substitutions from other departments are allowed.

Library orientation. The History department requires all majors to complete a ninety-minute introductory research session for historians by the end of the third week of the junior year. Several library orientation sessions are offered at the beginning of each term. Students are strongly encouraged to take this class during their sophomore year; indeed, sophomores who have not taken the library orientation before the end of February will not be permitted to preregister for the following year's junior seminars. Students may offer no substitutions for this orientation. Students should register on the Yale Library Web site. For questions students should contact the director of undergraduate studies.

History of Science, History of Medicine. A major in History of Science, History of Medicine is available to students through the auspices of the History department. See under History of Science, History of Medicine.

Placement in advanced courses. With a few exceptions, chiefly HIST 400–496, history courses are automatically open to freshmen. Acceleration credit in history resulting from the requisite score on an Advanced Placement test in history will not be counted toward the History major. Courses for the major must be taken at Yale, except with prior permission of the director of undergraduate studies.

Senior departmental essay. History is more than past events; it is also the discipline of historical inquiry. As a discipline, it uses many techniques, but its basic method is the collection and careful evaluation of evidence and the written presentation of reasonable conclusions derived from that evidence. To experience history as a discipline, a student must grapple at first hand with the problems and rigors involved in this kind of systematic investigation and exposition. The Department of History therefore requires each student majoring in History to present a historical essay on a subject of the student's choice to the department in the senior year. The range of acceptable topics is wide, but most essays fall into two categories. The first involves the study of a limited problem through research in accessible source materials. The second is a critical assessment of a significant historical controversy or historiographical issue. Whatever topic the student elects, the essay must be interpretive and analytical, not only narrative and descriptive.

In choosing the subject of the senior essay, students should be aware that lack of foreign language expertise is not necessarily a bar to researching a topic in the history of a non-English-speaking area. Many translated materials exist, and for some areas of the world (chiefly Africa, Asia, and Latin America) diaries, letters, and newspapers composed by missionaries, businessmen, and diplomats writing in English are available. Many of these sources are held in Yale's extensive archival collections; others are available on microfilm.

Seniors receive course credit for satisfactory completion of their departmental essays by enrolling in HIST 498a or b and 499a or b. They must also complete a library research colloquium for the senior essay. Students should register for the colloquium on the Yale Library Web site.

REQUIREMENTS OF THE MAJOR

Prerequisites: 2 term courses in hist

Number of courses: 12 term courses (incl prereqs and senior essay)

Substitution permitted: None outside Hist dept listing

Distribution of courses: 2 courses in hist of U.S. or Canada, 2 in hist of Europe or Britain, 3 in hist of Africa, Asia, Latin America, or Middle East; 2 of preceding must be preindustrial in different geographical areas; at least 2 courses in HIST 400–496, normally in junior year, in 2 different geographical areas (defined above)

Senior requirement: Senior essay (HIST 498a and 499b, or 498b and 499a)

History courses numbered 001 to 020 are freshman seminars, with enrollment limited to 15. Courses numbered 100 to 199 are in the history of the United States or Canada; those in the 200s, Europe and Britain; and those in the 300s, the rest of the world. Courses numbered from 100 to 380 are subject to capping at the beginning of each term.