Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
HIST 0207 - The Southwest Borderlands ▲
The Southwest Borderlands: Cultural Encounters in a Changing Environment
In the wake of the US-Mexican War in 1848, Anglo-settlers, Native Americans, and Mexicans struggled over competing visions of an American future that would take root in the Southwest Borderlands. In this course we will examine how cross-cultural encounters shaped policy, changed the landscape, and heightened racial tensions. Using a variety of texts—documentary and feature films, magazines and newspapers, travelers' accounts and popular literature—we will explore a wide range of topics: territorial expansion, Native dispossession, racial formation and anxiety, the creation of the sunbelt, Mexican migration and labor, and the rise of the information economy. Drawing on these items, we will ultimately reflect on how past and present collide on the American borderlands, shaping the United States in countless ways. 3 hrs. lect
Spring 2014, Fall 2014
HIST 0700 - Senior Independent Study ▲
The History Senior Thesis is required of all majors. It is written over two terms, with the final grade applying to both terms. The project is generally begun in the fall and completed during winter or spring. Approval is required to begin the thesis in winter or spring, and such students must still attend the Thesis Writer's Workshops that take place in fall and winter.
HIST 1023 - Unnatural Border
In this course we will explore how the U.S.-Mexico border transformed from a “line in the sand” to a place of increasing physical presence. The 20th century brought customs stations and fences to channel bodies through a federally regulated space. Over time, fences and check points transformed into walls, buildings, and a network of roads built to control the movement of mobile nature: people, animals, and pathogens. Using both primary and secondary texts, documentaries, and news articles, we will learn why federal agencies created an unnatural border and how it has affected immigration and the environment in the borderlands. This course counts as elective credit towards the History major.
Winter 2013, Winter 2014