Courses

HIST 100

Historical Encounters

An introduction to historical analysis and argumentation. While individual sections will focus on different topics and time periods, in all sections students will investigate a range of sources, methods and historical approaches to the past. Hist 100 may be repeated for credit with different topics.

Distribution Area	Prerequisites	Credits
Arts and Humanities		1 course

Spring Semester information

Robert Dewey

100A: Historical Encounters: Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali has been described as "the spirit of the 20th century". A man who proclaimed himself "The Greatest" from the earliest stages of his professional boxing career, Ali achieved an unprecedented level of global sporting fame. Accurately or not, the 1980 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records named him "the most written about" man in history. Yet, despite all the words and images we are left with a deceptively complicated question following his death in 2016: Who was Muhammad Ali? For his part, Ali told the world in the mid-1960s, "I don't have to be who you want me to be." What role did Ali play in shaping his own image? In what contexts was Ali's reputation forged and how did different communities respond? Did Muhammad Ali change? Did we change? This course engages those questions and others while analyzing Ali's complex life and boxing career in the historic contexts of race (including Black Power and white supremacy), religion (Nation of Islam), resistance and political activism (Vietnam War and freedom struggles), sport, masculinity, celebrity and memory. The course will focus heavily on representations of Ali, including commentaries by scholars, journalists and writers, film footage of Ali's boxing matches, documentaries, photographs, songs, etc.

Robert Dewey

100B: Historical Encounters: Empire of Sport

Organized sports are frequently described as one of Victorian Britain's most enduring global legacies. This course will consider the historic development of organized sport in Great Britain and the British Empire through case studies analyzing rugby and cricket, among others. Central themes will include the codification of games in the 19th century, the Victorian sporting ethos, amateurism/professionalism, women's sport and debates over gender roles and social class in a sporting context. Of particular interest are the cultural and sporting ties that spread to the Dominions and Crown Colonies of the British Empire and beyond through formal and informal means. The course will highlight the ways in which sport illuminated broader imperial developments including those that secured ties to Britain and fostered emerging national and post-colonial identities and resistance. The geographic range of the class will include: cricket in the West Indies, Australia and South Asia; Rugby in New Zealand, South Africa and the Pacific Islands.

David Gellman

100C: Historical Encounters: Land of Lincoln

Illinois proudly proclaims itself the "Land of Lincoln," and Indiana lays claim to being the 16th president's boyhood home. But, in a very real sense, everyone in the United States lives in the Land of Lincoln. Lincoln remains ubiquitous in American life--from monuments and money to automobiles, financial institutions, schools, and street names. The Lincoln Memorial draws tourists, musicians, protesters, and orators to its steps. He is also a character in movies and even in a prize-winning ghost story. Perhaps the most consequential single figure in US history, more has been written about Lincoln than any other American. Lincoln is a puzzle, a reflection, a mystery, a prism. This course combines biography, history, and culture to figure out who Lincoln was and how his story has marked his country during the 160 years since his death.

Sarah Rowley

100D: Historical Encounters: Sex & Society in Modern America

Everything has a history, including sex. In investigating the history of sexuality in the modern United States, this course introduces the changing social circumstances that affected the meanings of sexuality as well as how sex has been regulated over time. Central questions we will ask are: How did sexuality change over time? How did it come to be a central aspect of identity? How were systems of sexuality, gender, race, and class mutually constituted? What was the nature of the sexual revolution(s) of the 20th century?