Mar 28, 2024  
Undergraduate Record 2021-2022 
    
Undergraduate Record 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED RECORD]

History


The Major in History


The department encourages students to work closely with faculty to construct challenging, coherent, and integrated programs of study. The major program is structured flexibly to achieve breadth while permitting students to specialize in an area that is of particular interest. Students are encouraged to explore new areas by taking courses that focus on periods, regions, and themes with which they are not familiar.

Many history majors choose to study abroad, and faculty advisers are happy to work with students in incorporating foreign study into their major.

Optionally, history majors may elect to declare one of the following thematic concentrations: Capitalism and Economic Life; Environment, Space, and Society; Global and Transnational History; Law and Society; Race, Ethnicity, and Empire; or War, Violence, and Society.

The requirements for the history major are as follows:

1. Ten history courses of 3 or 4 credits each, taken for a letter grade.

a. At least two courses, in any mnemonic(s), concerned principally with the period before 1700.

b. At least two courses, in any mnemonic(s), concerned principally with the period after 1700.

c. Five courses in distinct mnemonics (HIAF, HIEA, HIEU, HILA, HIME, HISA, HIST, HIUS).

d. One Introductory History Workshop (HIXX 3501). Students should complete this requirement before taking the Major Seminar.

e. one Major Seminar (HIXX 4501 or 4502) or Major Colloquium (HIXX 4511 or 4512).

i. Major Seminars and Colloquia are offered in a wide range of topics. Students should select a Major Seminar or Colloquium whose topic is familiar to them based on their work in at least two previous History courses.

ii. A grade of “C” or better is required for the Major Seminar or Colloquium to count toward the major.

f. additional courses chosen from among the total offerings of the department to complete a ten-course program of study.

g. Students may elect to complete one of the thematic pathways designated by the department (see below, BA in History with a Specialist Concentration). Students must complete five courses from the list approved for that concentration. 

2. Of the ten courses required for the major, no more than five may be taken in any one mnemonic.

3. No more than two 1500-level seminars may be counted toward the major.

4. Courses with the General History (HIST) mnemonic count toward the major, HIST 4501/4502 or HIST 4511/4512 courses count as the Major Seminar or Major Colloquium.

5. Advanced Placement (AP)/International Baccalaureate (IB) courses cannot be counted towards the major.

6. Up to three approved transfer courses may be applied toward the major.   Courses taken before matriculation transfer toward the major if they have been approved by the University and are on SIS with a History mnemonic (HIAF, HIEA, HIEU, HILA, HIME, HISA, HIST, HIUS).  Courses taken after matriculation require departmental approval.  Consult the Transfer Credit Approval Procedure link.

7.Courses taken in other departments may not be counted toward the major unless cross-listed in the History Department (e.g., ECON 2061/HIUS 2061).

8. Students must maintain a GPA of 2.0 in the major.

9. Before declaring the major, a student should have completed at least one university-level (i.e., UVa or transfer) history course with a grade of “C” or better. This course may be counted toward the ten required for the major. AP or IB courses do not satisfy this prerequisite.

10. B.A. in History with a Specialist Concentration

History majors may elect to complete a thematic pathway within the major. To complete a concentration, students must complete all other requirements for the major and select five courses from the relevant list below. A student may choose only one thematic pathway.

Concentrations

A. Capitalism and Economic Life

The study of economic life has long been at the core of the historical profession. Modern society’s greatest triumphs, along with its ongoing trials and tribulations, can be traced to the changing forms of socio-economic organization that humans have adopted and the ideas and discourses that motivated them. This pathway explores the processes, practices, institutions, and ideologies that have shaped human economic activity across space and time. It does not limit itself to the quantitative study of the past, but takes a more holistic approach to questions of production, exchange, and consumption over the course of human history. Courses in this pathway closely examine how human practices and institutions have shaped trajectories of economic growth, but also how they sowed the seed of inequality at both the local and global level. Together, we will develop a better understanding of the multiple histories of modern capitalism, but also a sharp sense of the other forms of socio-economic organization that societies engaged in and experimented with. Over the course of the pathway, students will build an analytical toolkit that will help students understand the deep inter-relationships between economy, society and government. They will be able to engage in archival research on questions of economic life across societies and time periods.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list:

  • HIXX 1501/1502: Introductory Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIME 2003: Economic History of the Islamic World
  • HIST 2001: Global History
  • HIUS 2061: American Economic History
  • HIXX 3501: Introductory History Workshop (designated topics)
  • HIAF 3051: West African History
  • HIEU 3670: The Fall of Communism: How the Soviet Empire Lost the Cold War
  • HIEU 3812: Marx
  • HIME 3195: Arabian Seas: Islam, Trade and Empire in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean
  • HIUS 3231: Rise and Fall of the Slave South
  • HIUS 3232: The South in the Twentieth Century
  • HIUS 3411: American Business
  • HIUS 3471: History of American Labor
  • HIUS 3753: Modern American Law
  • HIUS 3853: From Redlines to Subprime: Race and Real Estate in the US
  • HIST 4400: Topics in Economic History
  • HIXX 4501/4502: Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIXX 4511/4512: Colloquium (designated topics)
  • HIEU 5352: The British Economy Since 1850
  • HIME 5053: Slavery in the Middle East and Ottoman Empire
  • HIST 5002: Global History
  • HIUS 5022: Economic Culture in Early America

B. Environment, Space, and Society

People shape their history as they engage with the natural world and the built environment.  This pathway investigates how they move through space, understand it, and attempt to influence it. It centers on environmental history, the history of landscape and material culture, and the politics of spatial control, among other perspectives. It harnesses approaches from the study of literature, geography, philosophy, and digital humanities to generate new historical knowledge. How do people interact with the spaces around them? How do they reach out to the wider world to shape it? How do their understandings of these spaces, in turn, shape them as individuals and as members of cultures and societies?

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list:

  • HIXX 1501/1502: Introductory Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIST 2XXX: Introduction  to the History of Environment, Space, and Society
  • HIST 2XXX: History of Environment, Space, and Society
  • HIST 2150: Global Environmental History
  • HIST 2210: Pandemics, Epidemics, and History
  • HIST 2212: Maps in World History
  • HIST 2559: Climate History
  • HIST 2XXX: History of Sustainability
  • HIXX 3501: Introductory History Workshop (designated topics)
  • HIEA 3XXX: Borders, Maps, and Conflicts in East Asia
  • HIEU 3000: History of Modern European Empires
  • HISA 3005: War and Peace in South Asia
  • HIUS 3011: Colonial America and the Atlantic World
  • HIUS 3853: Race and Real Estate in the US
  • HIST 3XXX: Apocalyptic History / Histories of the End of the World  
  • HIST 3XXX: Global History of Nuclear Power  
  • HIXX 4501/4502: Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIXX 4511/4512: Colloquium (designated topics)
  • HIST 5501: Historical Geospatial Visualization (Edelson)

C. Global and Transnational History

The Global and Transnational History pathway provides students an opportunity to examine the global dimensions of historical problems, both through examining the origins of interconnections between geographic regions and tracing the emergence of international and transnational cultures and religions, social networks, economic patterns, and political movements and institutions across time and space. The methodological goal of this cluster is to train students to think critically about the global links between peoples and places across, above, and beyond states that have shaped the human past and defined our current moment.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list:

  • HIXX 1501/1502: Introductory Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIEU 2004: Nationalism in Europe
  • HIME 2003: Economic History of the Islamic World
  • HIME 2012: Israel/Palestine, 1948
  • HIST 2001: Global History
  • HIST 2002: The Modern World: Global History since 1760
  • HIEU 2102: Jewish History II: The Modern Experience
  • HIEU 2071: Early Modern Europe and the World
  • HIEU 2072: Modern Europe and the World
  • HIST 2150: Global Environmental History 
  • HIST 2214: The Cold War
  • HIST 2559: Fascism: A Global History
  • HIXX 3501: Introductory History Workshop (designated topics)
  • HIAF 3051: West African History
  • HIEA 3162: Historical China and the World
  • HIEA 3321: China and the Cold War
  • HIEA 3323: China and the United States
  • HIEU 3000: Modern European Imperialism
  • HIEU 3152: The British Empire and the Making of the Modern World
  • HIEU 3670: Fall of Communism
  • HIME 3003: Law and Empire in World History
  • HIST 3162: War and Society in the 20th Century
  • HIST 3281: Genocide
  • HIST 3452: The Second World War
  • HIUS 3456: America in the World since 1914
  • HIXX 4501/4502: Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIXX 4511/4512: Colloquium (designated topics)
  • HIEU 5559: Race, Religion and Rights in Global Perspective
  • HIST 5001: Policy Design and Statecraft
  • HIST 5559: Global Neo-Liberalism, Shock Therapy and Covid-19

D. Law and Society

The Law and Society pathway draws on UVA’s unusual strengths in legal history across many fields in the United States and around the globe, and from the ancient world to the modern. Students have the opportunity to explore law’s history in institutional settings—the work of legal professionals, courts, and legislative bodies, and at the national and international level—and to explore more informal modes of legal life. Among topics covered in this pathway are law and human rights, the law of the sea, and the origins of transregional legal regimes; law in relation to race and slavery, in the U.S. and beyond; criminal law in multiple countries; and legal history in and among empires.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list:

  • HIXX 1501/1502: Introductory Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIME 2003: Economic History of the Islamic World
  • HIXX 3501: Introductory History Workshop (designated topics)
  • HIEU 3091: Ancient Law and Society
  • HIEU 3471: English Legal History to 1776
  • HIEU 3695: The Holocaust and the Law
  • HIME 3000: Law and Empire in World History
  • HIUS 3752: The History of Early American Law
  • HIUS 3753: The History of Modern American Law
  • HIUS 3853: Race and Real Estate
  • HIXX 4501/4502: Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIXX 4511/4512: Colloquium (designated topics)
  • HIME 5053: Slavery in the Middle East and Ottoman Empire
  • HIST 5130: Global Legal History

E. Race, Ethnicity, and Empire

The Race, Ethnicity and Empire Pathway encompasses the long temporal arc and shifting geographical scope of imperial formations, as well as the contingent constructions and reconstructions of racial and ethnic formations.  It further encompasses both the creative political, cultural, social, religious, and artistic worlds and subjectivities forged by imperial and/or racialized and gendered subjects; and the ongoing transformations in state formation (e.g. citizenship, law, carceral regimes) labor regimes, and social formations that have produced continually evolving forms of racial, ethnic, and gendered  hierarchies, exclusions, and subjugation.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list:

  • HIXX 1501/1502: Introductory Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIAF 2002: Modern Africa
  • HIAF 2031: The African Diaspora
  • HIEA 2101: Modern Korean History: One Peninsula, Two Paths
  • HIEU 2041: Roman Republic and Empire
  • HILA 2001: Colonial Latin America 
  • HIME 2001: History of the Middle East and North Africa, c. 500-1500
  • HIME 2002: History of Middle East and North Africa, 1500-present
  • HIME 2003: Economic History of the Islamic World
  • HIME 2012: Israel/Palestine 1948
  • HISA 2002: History and Civilization of Medieval India
  • HISA 2003: Modern India
  • HIST 2150: Global Environmental History
  • HIUS 2001: American History to 1865
  • HIUS 2003: Slavery & Freedom at UVA and in Virginia
  • HIUS 2053: American Slavery
  • HIXX 3501: Introductory History Workshop (designated topics)
  • HIAF 3021: History of Southern Africa
  • HIAF 3051: West African History
  • HIEA 3172: The Japanese Empire
  • HIEU 3000: Modern European Imperialism
  • HIEU 3152: The British Empire and the Making of the Modern World
  • HIEU 3390: Nazi Germany
  • HIEU 3462: Neighbors and Enemies in Germany
  • HIEU 3692: The Holocaust
  • HIEU 3695: The Holocaust and the Law
  • HIEU 3702: Russia as Multiethnic Empire
  • HILA 3559: The Great Encounter
  • HIME 3000: Law and Empire in World History
  • HIME 3192: From Nomads to Sultans: The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1700
  • HIME 3195: Arabian Seas: Islam, Trade, and Empire in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean
  • HISA 3003: Twentieth-Century South Asia
  • HISA 3004: India’s Partition: Literature, Culture, Politics
  • HISA 3111: Social and Political Movements in Twentieth Century India
  • HIST 3281: Genocide
  • HIST 3301: South Atlantic Migration
  • HIUS 3000: Cultures of U.S. Imperialism: Race, Gender and Empire
  • HIUS 3011: The Colonial Period of American History
  • HIUS 3032: The Age of Jefferson and Jackson
  • HIUS 3161: The American West
  • HIUS 3231: The Rise and Fall of the Slave South
  • HIUS 3490: From Motown to Hip-Hop
  • HIUS 3641: American Indian History
  • HIUS 3471: History of American Labor
  • HIUS 3651: Afro-American History to 1865 
  • HIUS 3652: Afro-American History since 1865
  • HIUS 3654: Black Fire
  • HIUS 3671: History of the Civil Rights Movement
  • HIUS 3853: From Redlines to Subprime: Race and Real Estate in America
  • HIXX 4501/4502: Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIXX 4511/4512: Colloquium (designated topics)
  • HIEU 5061: Roman Imperialism
  • HIME 5053: Slavery in the Middle East and Ottoman Empire
  • HIUS 5000: African-American History to 1877
  • HIST 5130: Global Legal History
  • HIST 5621: Genocide

 F. War, Violence, and Society

The War, Violence, & Society Pathway aims to strengthen students’ historical understanding of armed conflict and other forms of mass violence by contextualizing these in the polities, economies, societies, and cultures in which they took place. Courses in this pathway explore the experience of civil war, international war, and one-sided mass violence in order to better understand how these have shaped and, in turn, been shaped by political, social, economic, demographic, and cultural formations throughout history. These courses also examine the relationship between violence, on the one hand, and sovereignty, state formation, communal or national belonging, citizenship, race, gender, and sexuality, on the other. Faculty teaching in this pathway address all historical eras and regions of the world from antiquity to the present.

Students electing to follow this pathway must complete all of the distribution requirements for the BA in History and select five courses from the following list:

  • HIXX 1501/1502: Introductory Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIEU 2XXX: France in the Age of Revolution, 1789-1871
  • HIEU 2004: Nationalism in Europe
  • HIEU 2162: Russia since 1917
  • HIST 2214: The Cold War
  • HIST 2559: Why Did They Kill: Interpreting Genocide and Its Perpetrators
  • HIST 2559: Fascism: A Global History
  • HIUS 2051: US Military History 1600-1900
  • HIUS 2052: America and War Since 1900
  • HIXX 3501: Introductory History Workshop (designated topics)
  • HIEA 3321: China and the Cold War
  • HIEU 3021: Greek and Roman Warfare
  • HIEU 3041: The Fall of the Roman Republic
  • HIEU 3312: Europe at War, 1939-45
  • HIUS 3352: Modern German History
  • HIEU 3390: Nazi Germany
  • HIEU 3505: Hitler in History and Fiction
  • HIEU 3692: The Holocaust
  • HIEU 3695: The Holocaust and the Law
  • HISA 3003: Twentieth Century South Asia
  • HISA 3004: India’s Partition: Literature, Culture, Politics
  • HISA 3005: War and Peace in South Asia
  • HIST 3281: Genocide
  • HIST 3451: The First World War
  • HIST 3452: The Second World War
  • HIST 3162: War and Society in the Twentieth Century
  • HIUS 3011: Colonial America and the Atlantic World
  • HIUS 3031: The Era of the American Revolution
  • HIUS 3071: The Coming of the Civil War
  • HIUS 3072: Civil War and Reconstruction
  • HIUS 3172: America in Vietnam
  • HIUS 3173: The War in Vietnam in American Film
  • HIXX 4501/4502: Seminar (designated topics)
  • HIXX 4511/4512: Colloquium (designated topics)
  • HIEU 5021: Greece in the Fifth Century
  • HIEU 5061: Roman Imperialism
  • HIST 5621: Genocide

The Minor in History


The requirements for the history minor are as follows:

  1. Six History Department courses of 3 or 4 credits each, taken for a letter grade.
  2. All six courses must be taken in residence at the University or on approved study-abroad programs taught by a member of the History faculty.
  3. Courses should be distributed in at least three geographic fields. For purposes of this requirement, the geographic fields are: Africa (HIAF), East Asia (HIEA), Europe (HIEU), Latin America (HILA), Middle East (HIME), South Asia (HISA), and United States (HIUS).
  4. No more than three General History (HIST) courses may be counted toward the minor.
  5. At least two courses should be numbered 3000 or above.
  6. Courses taken in other departments may not be counted toward the minor unless cross-listed in the History Department (e.g., ECON 2061/HIUS 2061).

There are no prerequisites for the minor.

The Distinguished Majors Program


Students who seek independent study and directed research may apply for admission to the History Distinguished Majors Program (DMP). The program consists of a two-year course of study. In the fall of their third year participants take a special colloquium on historical theory and methodology, and follow this in the spring with a Major Seminar or Major Colloquium of their choice. The fourth year is devoted to research and writing of a substantial (60 to 90 page) thesis. Distinguished majors must fulfill all the requirements of the history major. Applications for admission to the program are normally accepted in late March of each year from second-year students who have declared – or who plan to declare – history as their major. DMP students are eligible for degrees with distinction, high distinction, and highest distinction. The level of distinction is determined by the student’s GPA inside and outside the major (a minimum GPA of 3.4 is required for a degree with distinction), the quality of the DMP thesis, and overall performance in the program. For further information, contact the DMP director or the director of undergraduate studies.

The American Studies Major


The American Studies Major offers students the opportunity to study the United States in a multidisciplinary context. History majors focusing on the United States can also major in American Studies readily and efficiently, and this double major will deepen and enrich their study of United States history in fruitful ways. Students will be admitted to the American Studies Major after a competitive application process that is normally completed at the end of their second year. Those accepted take, in their third year, two seminars that are available only to American Studies students; a fourth-year seminar in a special topic of American Studies; and seven other courses, to be chosen in consultation with the Director of American Studies, from other departments throughout the college and the university. (History majors may count some of their coursework in United States history towards the American Studies major.) For more information, please contact the Director of the American Studies Program.

Requirement for Minor in the History of Science and Technology


Please refer to the section on the Division of Science, Technology, and Society in chapter 10.

Additional Information


For more information, contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Corcoran Department of History, Nau Hall, P.O. Box 400180, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4180; (434) 924-7147; Fax: (434) 924-7891; www.virginia.edu/history.

Course Descriptions


European History


General History


United States History