Undergraduate Courses

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The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete. A selection of current class syllabi for the semester can be found on the course syllabi page.

Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website.

Courses with numbers 100–299 are designed for first years and sophomores but are open to all undergraduate students. Advanced courses, with numbers 300–499, are generally designed for students who have completed introductory courses in the appropriate area while 500-level courses are reserved for the Senior Thesis (AS.100.507/AS.100.508) and Independent Studies (AS.100.535/AS.100.536). Courses that are 500-level are listed as Independent Academic Work (IAW) courses.

Course # (Section)	Title	Day/Times	Instructor	Location	Term	Course Details
AS.001.120 (01)	FYS: U.S. History of the Present	TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Brann, Allon Yagoda	Gilman 413	Fall 2025	Which ideas, movements, problems, and conflicts define the contemporary United States—and where did they come from? In this First-Year Seminar, we’ll study the history of this country since the turn of the 21st century to try to answer those questions. Using a range of texts and visual media, we’ll investigate the history behind concepts like "the War on Terror," “the free market,” “identity politics,” “culture wars,” and "populism," and discuss the causes and consequences of the debates they provoked in this period. We’ll also assess what’s appealing and challenging about studying the very recent past and using it to interpret our present.
AS.001.232 (01)	FYS: German Thought, German Theater: Reason, Capital, Sex and Science	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Jelavich, Peter	Jenkins 102	Fall 2025	Over the past 250 years, Germany has produced some of the most influential currents of theory as well as drama. In this course, we will read and view plays and films that address developments in German thought and society from the Enlightenment to the present. We will ask: How effective are performances at transmitting ideas and values? How do they balance emotional involvement with intellectual understanding? These issues will be examined with respect to four themes: reason and enlightenment; capitalism; sexualities; and moral dilemmas raised by scientific discoveries.
AS.001.256 (01)	FYS: Monuments and Memory in Asian History	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Meyer-Fong, Tobie	Gilman 308	Fall 2025	Sites like the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and Angkor Wat conjure images that often have more to do with fantasy than fact. Modern monuments like Yasukuni Shrine and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial similarly evoke history, memory, and myth. Why (and how) were these monuments built? How have their meanings changed over time and why? What forces have transformed them into symbols of national identity and cultural otherness? This First-Year Seminar will explore the ritual, political, historical, and religious significance of monumental sites in Asia. We will also examine their more recent role as sites for political mobilization, as signifiers of cultural and national identities, and as commodities in global and local tourism.
AS.001.273 (01)	FYS: The Long Civil Rights Movement in 20th-Century America	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Wright Rigueur, Leah M	SNF Agora 107	Fall 2025	This First-Year Seminar traces the development of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States over the course of the 20th Century. By exploring some of the major sites of conflict, activism, protest, opposition, and resistance in modern African American History, we will begin to complicate traditional understandings of Black freedom struggles in the United States. Why and how did African Americans mobilize and organize for their rights? How did they imagine citizenship, Black freedom, and equality within the United States? How did these events impact public life and public policy? What are the legacies of the movement? Students will analyze a broad range of primary and secondary source materials, including the writings of W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Fannie Lou Hamer, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and more. Additionally, students will watch a series of civil rights films related to the broad themes of the course and will visit local museums and archives as part of a larger experiential component, to better understand the significance of the modern Civil Rights Movement on contemporary American society and culture.
AS.001.276 (01)	FYS: Friends or Foes? US-European Relations since 1979	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Harms, Victoria Elisabeth	Gilman 413	Fall 2025	This First-year Seminar offers students the opportunity to better understand current debates through the lens of key documents and controversies that illustrate shared interests and disagreements between the US and Europe since the pivotal year 1979. Topics include but are not limited to: NATO, arms limitations and reduction, the Polish Crisis, Chernobyl, Gorbachev, German unification, collapse of the Soviet Union, 9/11 and the GWOT, the financial crisis of 2008-2012, Ukraine, the EU, the rise of China and climate change. The seminar includes a visit to the Delegation of the European Union in DC and other conversations with experts.
AS.010.358 (01)	The Art of Celebration in Early Modern Northern Europe	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Slater, Alexis Diane	Gilman 177	Fall 2025	The lavish feasts and dynamic jousts associated with medieval and Renaissance celebrations have long been subjects of fascination in popular culture and will be familiar to anyone who has watched House of the Dragon or attended a modern “Renaissance” fair. But what did these celebrations mean in their original context? This course aims to take “play” seriously by examining the wide-ranging material culture of courtly and civic festivities in Germany and the Netherlands from 1400 to 1600. The art created for festive events ranges from panel paintings and tapestries to table fountains and drinking vessels made of expensive and “exotic” materials. Artists were also responsible for the design and construction of ephemeral architecture for triumphal entries as well as the festival books that commemorated them. But these works did more than just facilitate fun; they were tools of communication that made arguments about issues such as social class, identity, and power. They also engaged with the geopolitical and intellectual developments of the period. There are drinking vessels, for instance, made of nautilus shells, Seychelles nuts, or bezoars, whose materials and construction offer insight into global exploration and European colonialism as well as medicinal practices. Automata, machines akin to premodern “robots,” frequently provided entertainment for guests at aristocratic banquets by showing off the latest technological developments. While the study of any historical event faces the daunting task of recuperating what has been lost to time, this rings especially true for the study of festivities. In this course, we turn to these celebrations’ artistic and material traces to illuminate the past. As object-based learning is an important component of this course, we will visit several local collections including the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the National Gallery in Washington, and Johns Hopkins’ Special Collections.
AS.010.431 (01)	Obsessed with the Past: the Art and Architecture of Medieval Rome	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Zchomelidse, Nino	Gilman 177	Fall 2025	In antiquity, Rome became the capital of an empire, its growing status reflected in its sophisticated urban planning, its architecture, and the arts. While an abundance of studies explores the revival of this glorious past in the Renaissance, this seminar discusses various ways of the reception of antiquity during the medieval period. We address the practice of using spolia in medieval architecture, the appropriation of ancient pagan buildings for the performance of Christian cult practices, the continuation of making (cult)images and their veneration, the meaning and specific visuality of Latin script (paleography and epigraphy) in later medieval art. We discuss the revival and systematic study of ancient knowledge (f. ex. medicine, astronomy, and the liberal arts), in complex allegorical murals. As we aim to reconstruct the art and architecture of medieval Rome, this course discusses ideas and concepts behind different forms of re-building and picturing the past, as they intersect with the self-referential character of a city that is obsessed with its own history.
AS.010.497 (01)	Reply-All: Letter-Writing in Art and History	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Brown, Rebecca Mary	Gilman 177	Fall 2025	From embellished silver pens and abolitionist secretary desks to contemporary artists manipulating historical postcards and making fax collages, this course will explore the materiality, technologies, and aesthetics of written communications from the 18th century to the present. This research-centered course will engage directly with objects in the Baltimore Museum of Art collection, in preparation for an upcoming exhibition. Topics include the development of specific decorative arts and designs in conjunction with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century postal and bureaucratic history, letter-writing as a mode of resistance, strategic illegibility and asemic writing as a form of critical artistic practice, and the importance of mail art as conceptual and institutional critique. Includes hands-on work in the museum and class visits with BMA curator Dr. Leslie Cozzi.
AS.100.104 (01)	Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Gilman 132; Gilman 277	Fall 2025	Modern Europe familiarizes students with key moments, ideas, communities, individuals, and movements which have defined European experiences in global encounters since the Revolutionary era. We will particularly focus on European imperial expansion, the formation of the modern nation-state, the history of political ideas and their global ramifications, and popular culture and social change.
AS.100.104 (02)	Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Gilman 132; Gilman 277	Fall 2025	Modern Europe familiarizes students with key moments, ideas, communities, individuals, and movements which have defined European experiences in global encounters since the Revolutionary era. We will particularly focus on European imperial expansion, the formation of the modern nation-state, the history of political ideas and their global ramifications, and popular culture and social change.
AS.100.104 (03)	Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Gilman 132; Bloomberg 178	Fall 2025	Modern Europe familiarizes students with key moments, ideas, communities, individuals, and movements which have defined European experiences in global encounters since the Revolutionary era. We will particularly focus on European imperial expansion, the formation of the modern nation-state, the history of political ideas and their global ramifications, and popular culture and social change.
AS.100.104 (04)	Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Gilman 132; Gilman 305	Fall 2025	Modern Europe familiarizes students with key moments, ideas, communities, individuals, and movements which have defined European experiences in global encounters since the Revolutionary era. We will particularly focus on European imperial expansion, the formation of the modern nation-state, the history of political ideas and their global ramifications, and popular culture and social change.
AS.100.106 (01)	History of the Global Cold War	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Schrader, Stuart Laurence	Hodson 316; Gilman 400	Fall 2025	The Cold War was a defining event of the 20th century. But what was it? Where did it take place? Who were the major contenders? And what were the consequences? This introductory course will examine the Cold War in a global context, looking beyond the United States and Europe. Students will learn about how the Cold War unfolded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in relation to the fall of European empires, the process of decolonization, and the rise of U.S. global power. This course will introduce students to key themes and primary sources in the study of the Global Cold War, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
AS.100.106 (02)	History of the Global Cold War	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Schrader, Stuart Laurence	Hodson 316; Maryland 104	Fall 2025	The Cold War was a defining event of the 20th century. But what was it? Where did it take place? Who were the major contenders? And what were the consequences? This introductory course will examine the Cold War in a global context, looking beyond the United States and Europe. Students will learn about how the Cold War unfolded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in relation to the fall of European empires, the process of decolonization, and the rise of U.S. global power. This course will introduce students to key themes and primary sources in the study of the Global Cold War, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
AS.100.118 (01)	Introduction to the Middle East	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali	Krieger 170; Greenhouse 113	Fall 2025	Where is the Middle East? What is it exactly in the Middle of? What, if anything, defines it, and who gets to do the defining? This introductory course poses such questions. Whilst promising no easy answers, it will nevertheless introduce students who have no prior knowledge of the Middle East to the region. Emphasis will be placed on the history, geography, languages, religions, and culture of the pre-modern and modern Middle East. Students will also be exposed to different methods and approaches to the academic study of the region. The course, while at the introductory level, is reading and writing intensive.
AS.100.118 (02)	Introduction to the Middle East	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM	Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali	Krieger 170; Gilman 400	Fall 2025	Where is the Middle East? What is it exactly in the Middle of? What, if anything, defines it, and who gets to do the defining? This introductory course poses such questions. Whilst promising no easy answers, it will nevertheless introduce students who have no prior knowledge of the Middle East to the region. Emphasis will be placed on the history, geography, languages, religions, and culture of the pre-modern and modern Middle East. Students will also be exposed to different methods and approaches to the academic study of the region. The course, while at the introductory level, is reading and writing intensive.
AS.100.118 (03)	Introduction to the Middle East	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali	Krieger 170; Gilman 77	Fall 2025	Where is the Middle East? What is it exactly in the Middle of? What, if anything, defines it, and who gets to do the defining? This introductory course poses such questions. Whilst promising no easy answers, it will nevertheless introduce students who have no prior knowledge of the Middle East to the region. Emphasis will be placed on the history, geography, languages, religions, and culture of the pre-modern and modern Middle East. Students will also be exposed to different methods and approaches to the academic study of the region. The course, while at the introductory level, is reading and writing intensive.
AS.100.118 (04)	Introduction to the Middle East	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM	Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali	Krieger 170; Gilman 10	Fall 2025	Where is the Middle East? What is it exactly in the Middle of? What, if anything, defines it, and who gets to do the defining? This introductory course poses such questions. Whilst promising no easy answers, it will nevertheless introduce students who have no prior knowledge of the Middle East to the region. Emphasis will be placed on the history, geography, languages, religions, and culture of the pre-modern and modern Middle East. Students will also be exposed to different methods and approaches to the academic study of the region. The course, while at the introductory level, is reading and writing intensive.
AS.100.122 (01)	Introduction to History of Africa (since 1880)	MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Thornberry, Elizabeth	Gilman 305; Gilman 305	Fall 2025	Explore the social and political changes that have transformed the African continent in the modern era, with a focus on the rise and fall of colonialism, the relation between Africa and the world in the post-colonial era, and effect of colonialism and its aftermath on African household structures and gender roles.
AS.100.122 (02)	Introduction to History of Africa (since 1880)	MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Thornberry, Elizabeth		Fall 2025	Explore the social and political changes that have transformed the African continent in the modern era, with a focus on the rise and fall of colonialism, the relation between Africa and the world in the post-colonial era, and effect of colonialism and its aftermath on African household structures and gender roles.
AS.100.125 (01)	The History of Gender and Sexuality on the Internet	TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Gill Peterson, Jules	Gilman 413	Fall 2025	The growth of the internet and social media since the 1990s has been associated with an explosion of identities and a perception that younger generations have redefined gender and sexuality online. This course will introduce students to critically examining that premise. Topics will include the transgender history of Silicon Valley, the Tumblr era, the rise of queer and nonbinary influencers, and the redefinition of political engagement on social media.
AS.100.144 (01)	Shopaholics: Consumer Revolution and the Material World, 1600-1850	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Katz, Anna May	Gilman 119	Fall 2025	We live in a world of global consumption. This course introduces students to the birth of global consumer culture in the period from the 1600s through to the American, French and Haitian revolutions. These revolutions were themselves sold to consumers through “revolutionary things”, and this period witnessed the first major consumer boycotts against slave-produced goods. Students will examine the histories of many key commodities involved in the “consumer revolution”, including fashion items such as shoes, wigs, clothing and accessories. A significant portion of the course will examine addictive stimulants like sugar, coffee, tea and tobacco, globalized and imperial goods which became common for the first time in this period. We shall see how production of these goods involved new forms of racialized exploitation; simultaneously, we shall explore the diversity of people involved in the consumer revolution, studying the consumption of important new goods by people living in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. By the end of the class, students will understand how the emergence of mass consumption affected the global politics of race, gender and class, with especially important consequences for women and non-elite men. Students will examine objects lauded for their politeness, decorative appeal, and cultural importance such as porcelain tea sets, snuffboxes, and fans. Students will choose their own objects for a student presentation and research project.
AS.100.226 (01)	Antisemitism in Historical Perspective	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Loeffler, James	Gilman 377	Fall 2025	This course explores the origins and evolution of antisemitism, with focus on questions of historical continuity and rupture, comparison with other hatreds, and the politics of history.
AS.100.233 (01)	History of Modern Germany	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Harms, Victoria Elisabeth	Gilman 17	Fall 2025	There is more to Germany than beer, BMWs, and Bayern Munich. We explore politics, culture, economics and society to understand Germany and its role within Europe and the world from the 18th century, through imperialism, WWI and WWII, the Cold War to German unification, the ‘Refugee Crisis’, the rise of the AfD, and EU politics today.
AS.100.256 (01)	History of Kabbalah	M 9:30AM - 12:00PM	Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz	Gilman 308	Fall 2025	This course surveys the history of Jewish magic, mysticism, and secret traditions from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. We will explore the concept of sod (mystery) and its historical variations, examining how it evolved over time. Readings will include excerpts from foundational texts of Jewish esotericism, such as Sefer Yetzirah, the Bahir, and the Zohar. Additionally, we will discuss practical Kabbalah—including the preparation and use of amulets and charms—as well as beliefs surrounding demonic (and angelic) possession.
AS.100.282 (01)	Race & Power in Modern South Africa	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Thornberry, Elizabeth	Gilman 17; Gilman 119	Fall 2025	From 1948-1994, South Africa was governed under the system of apartheid, which denied political and civil rights to non-white citizens. This class traces the rise of apartheid in South Africa as well as the liberation struggle that eventually defeated it.
AS.100.282 (02)	Race & Power in Modern South Africa	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM	Thornberry, Elizabeth	Gilman 17; Gilman 305	Fall 2025	From 1948-1994, South Africa was governed under the system of apartheid, which denied political and civil rights to non-white citizens. This class traces the rise of apartheid in South Africa as well as the liberation struggle that eventually defeated it.
AS.100.293 (01)	Historical Methods, Archives and Interpretations	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz	Gilman 119	Fall 2025	This course will survey the main methods of and approaches to history since the Ancient times till the present. We shall begin by asking “What is history?” and explicate the basic concepts such as “fact”, “event”, “source”, narrative”, “evidence”, etc. We shall inquire if history can teach lessons for the future, or, for that matter, any lessons at all. We shall explore the interactions of history and collective memory and discuss various social, political, and psychological uses and abuses of historical writing.
AS.100.329 (01)	Animals in Chinese and Japanese History	TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Sampias, Wesley Jordan	Gilman 75	Fall 2025	Everyday, we all have encounters with animals: the mosquito that bites our arm, the rat that runs in front of us on the sidewalk, the dog that greets us upon our return home. These interactions are quotidian, but rarely reflected in the histories that we read. In this class, we will bring the animal back into the narratives that we tell by considering history from a multispecies perspective. Taking the examples of China and Japan, we will see how animals, both real and metaphoric, played a critical role in the political, economic, religious, and social lives of our historical, human, actors. We will see how the inclusion of animals in history bolsters and challenges history as it has been written and gain a deeper understanding of how our current mores regarding animals came to be. Our class will begin with a discussion of Japan and China in the 17th century and end with contemporary controversies surrounding Japanese whaling and shark fin soup. Throughout the course we will consider the ethical and philosophical ramifications of our inquiries like the agency of non-human animals. Designed for upper-level undergraduate students interested in the history of East Asia, prior knowledge of the region will be useful but is not required.
AS.100.346 (01)	Soviet-American Cold War	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Schmelz, Peter John	Gilman 75	Fall 2025	The focus will be on Soviet-American interactions, Cold-War Cultures, and the impact on both societies.
AS.100.347 (01)	Early Modern China	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Rowe, William T	Gilman 55	Fall 2025	The history of China from the 16th to the late 19th centuries.
AS.100.373 (01)	Crime, Punishment, Felony and Freedom: Law and Society in Premodern England, 1066 to 1688	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Lester, Anne E.	Hodson 313	Fall 2025	This course explores the development of English law and the English legal tradition from the Norman Conquest through the English Revolution (ca. 1066-1688). We will begin by tracing the impact of the Norman Conquest of England and examine the origins and development of English legal and political institutions such as kingship, the common law, the evolution of legal procedure, and the court and jury system, ideas of franchise, treason and the emergence of Parliament. We will also consider how English law constructs legal categories including aliens, women, heirs, traitors as well as the legal framework for the emergence of the English Church under the Tudors. When applicable the implications of these institutions for developments in the contemporary American and British legal systems will be addressed.
AS.100.395 (01)	History of Global Development	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Lurtz, Casey Marina	Smokler Center 213	Fall 2025	This course explores development as an ideology and a practice. From colonialism to the Cold War to contemporary NGOs, we will interrogate the history of our attempts to improve the world. This iteration of the course will have a particular focus on the intersections between development and the environment. Graduate students welcome.
AS.100.407 (01)	Freedom and Unfreedom in the Premodern World, 500BCE-1000CE (Part 1)	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Lester, Anne E.		Fall 2025	What did it mean to be free in the premodern world? What did it mean to be a serf or enslaved? How was freedom and unfreedom experienced differently based on gender, geography, religion and space? This two-semester course will explore the social history of slavery, freedom, and ‘unfreedom,’ that is, constraints placed on individuals and groups and the structuring role of such constraints. We will consider together an array of source materials spanning law codes, personal narratives, manumission cases, chronicles, histories, and hagiography, but also including a close examination of non-written sources. How did practices of slavery and unfreedom during the Greek and Roman periods come to shape an understanding of those categories in Europe and the Islamic world by ca. 1000CE? What role did trade and the movement of people play in this transition? Are slavery and empire intimately connected? An emphasis is also given to how scholars have written about slavery, manumission, and freedom in the past and how power, difference, and ideals of freedom have been theorized over time. This seminar meets once a week. Students should be prepared to discuss course materials and will be asked to keep a reading journal as well as notes from class discussion. This is the first of a two-semester sequence. Part I: the Ancient and Medieval Period (ca. 500BCE-1000CE); Part II (to be taught in the spring of 2026): the Medieval and Early Modern World (ca. 1000-1500CE)
AS.100.422 (01)	Society & Social Change in 18th Century China	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Rowe, William T	Gilman 277	Fall 2025	What did Chinese local society look like under the Qing Empire, and how did it change over the early modern era?
AS.100.426 (01)	Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Marshall, John W	Gilman 308	Fall 2025	Witchcraft, magic, carnivals, riots, folk tales, gender roles; fertility cults and violence especially in Britain, Germany, France, and Italy.
AS.100.429 (01)	Witchcraft and Conflict in Early America	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Pearsall, Sarah	Gilman 400	Fall 2025	“They Say I am a witch,” declared one woman in seventeenth-century North America. Trials and fights over accusations of witchcraft provide rich material for an examination of early American power dynamics. This class will explore moments of such accusations. The class will culminate in a final project on a witchcraft case in early America.
AS.100.444 (01)	Historiography of the Maghreb, 1939 to the Present	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Shepard, Todd	Bloomberg 172	Fall 2025	We will explore key texts in the historiography of post-1939 North Africa as well as key recent publications, in French as well as in English.
AS.100.445 (01)	Revolution, Anti-Slavery, and Empire 1773-1792: British and American Political Thought from Paine, Smith, and the Declaration of Independence to Cugoano, Wollstonecraft, and the Bill of Rights	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Marshall, John W	Krieger 308	Fall 2025	This seminar-style course will focus on discussing British and American political thought from the "Age of Revolutions", a period also of many critiques of Empire and of many works of Antislavery. Readings include Paine's Common Sense and Rights of Man, the Declaration of Rights, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers; works by Smith, Burke, and Wollstonecraft; and antislavery works by Cugoano, Equiano, Rush, Wesley, and Wilberforce.
AS.140.105 (01)	History of Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Ragab, Ahmed	Hackerman B 17; Krieger 300	Fall 2025	Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.
AS.140.105 (02)	History of Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Ragab, Ahmed; Staff	Hackerman B 17; Gilman 119	Fall 2025	Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.
AS.140.105 (03)	History of Medicine	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Ragab, Ahmed	Hackerman B 17; Gilman 119	Fall 2025	Course provides an introduction to health and healing in the ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Topics include religion and medicine; medicine in the Islamicate world; women and healing; patients and practitioners.
AS.211.171 (01)	Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the Present	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina	Hodson 305	Fall 2025	Did you know that Brazil is very similar to the United States? This course is intended as an introduction to the culture and civilization of Brazil. It is designed to provide students with basic information about Brazilian history, politics, economy, art, literature, popular culture, theater, cinema, and music. The course will focus on how Indigenous, Asian, African, and European cultural influences have interacted to create the new and unique civilization that is Brazil today. The course is taught in English. No Prereq. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM.
AS.211.171 (02)	Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the Present	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina	Hodson 305	Fall 2025	Did you know that Brazil is very similar to the United States? This course is intended as an introduction to the culture and civilization of Brazil. It is designed to provide students with basic information about Brazilian history, politics, economy, art, literature, popular culture, theater, cinema, and music. The course will focus on how Indigenous, Asian, African, and European cultural influences have interacted to create the new and unique civilization that is Brazil today. The course is taught in English. No Prereq. THERE IS NO FINAL EXAM.
AS.213.364 (01)	Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Frey, Christiane	Gilman 479	Fall 2025	Fake facts, conspiracy theories, outright lies: have we entered a new era of “post-truth”? Some claim that deception has always been a part of political processes, that objectivity is an illusion, that every “fact” is made, formed, fashioned, constructed (“fact” comes from the same Latin root as “fiction”). Others insist that without a distinction between truth and lie, all politics is a farce, and look to fact-checking and evidence for guidance. Who is right? And what assumptions are at the basis of this perhaps overly-simple binarism? In order to get a grasp on these questions, we will explore the theme and the concept of lying in literature, philosophy, and current media, with an emphasis on political language. We will read literary texts by Heinrich von Kleist, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, the much-discussed GDR novel “Jacob the Liar,” political philosophy by Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Nietzsche (“On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”), Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, and Nina Schick’s 2020 exposé “Deep Fakes: The Coming Infocalypse.” We will apply what we learn from these readings to fake news and social media in order to develop new skills of dealing with manipulative language. Taught in English (with the option of a section in German).
AS.213.364 (02)	Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Frey, Christiane	Gilman 479	Fall 2025	(German language section of this course.) Fake facts, conspiracy theories, outright lies: have we entered a new era of “post-truth”? Some claim that deception has always been a part of political processes, that objectivity is an illusion, that every “fact” is made, formed, fashioned, constructed (“fact” comes from the same Latin root as “fiction”). Others insist that without a distinction between truth and lie, all politics is a farce, and look to fact-checking and evidence for guidance. Who is right? And what assumptions are at the basis of this perhaps overly-simple binarism? In order to get a grasp on these questions, we will explore the theme and the concept of lying in literature, philosophy, and current media, with an emphasis on political language. We will read literary texts by Heinrich von Kleist, Herman Melville, Thomas Mann, the much-discussed GDR novel “Jacob the Liar,” political philosophy by Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Nietzsche (“On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”), Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, and Nina Schick’s 2020 exposé “Deep Fakes: The Coming Infocalypse.” We will apply what we learn from these readings to fake news and social media in order to develop new skills of dealing with manipulative language.
AS.214.479 (01)	Dante Visits the Afterlife	MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Saiber, Arielle	Gilman 119	Fall 2025	One of the greatest works of literature of all times, the Divine Comedy leads us down into the torture-pits of Hell, up the steep mountain terrain of Purgatory, through the “virtual” space of Paradise, and then back to where we began: our own earthly lives. We accompany Dante on his journey, building along the way knowledge of medieval Italian history, literature, philosophy, politics, and religion. The course also focuses on the arts of reading deeply, asking questions of a text, and interpreting literary and scholarly works through discussion and critical writing. Conducted in English. For undergraduate students only.
AS.360.420 (01)	Humanities Research Lab: Making Maps of Mexico	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Lurtz, Casey Marina	Gilman 308	Fall 2025	Learn the basics of ArcGIS, data management, and the history of maps and censuses as you help Prof. Lurtz build a digital historical atlas of Mexico. No experience necessary, graduate students welcome.
AS.362.112 (01)	Introduction to Africana Studies	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Jackson, Lawrence P	Gilman 219	Fall 2025	This course introduces students to the field of Africana Studies. It focuses on the historical experience, intellectual ideas, theories, and cultural production of African-descended people. We will consider how people of the black diaspora remember and encounter Africa. We will explore, too, how such people have lived, spoken, written, and produced art about colonialism and enslavement, gender and mobility, violence and pleasure. This course will be thematically organized and invite you to center your own stories about black people within your understanding of the modern world and its making.
AS.363.201 (01)	Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Gilman 400	Fall 2025	This course will serve as an intensive introduction to contemporary approaches to theories of gender and sexuality, and their relationship to cultural production and politics. Students will develop a historically situated knowledge of the development of feminist and queer scholarship in the 20th and 21st centuries, and consider the multiply intersecting forces which shape understandings of sexual and gender identity. We will consider both foundational questions (What is gender? Who is the subject of feminism? What defines queerness?) and questions of aesthetic and political strategy, and spend substantial time engaging with feminist and queer scholarship in comparative contexts. Students will be introduced to debates in Black feminism, intersectionality theory, third world feminism, socialist feminism, queer of colour critique, and trans* theory. We will read both canonical texts and recent works of scholarship, and the final weeks of the course will be devoted to thinking with our theoretical and historical readings against a selection of feminist and queer literature and cinema. No prior familiarity with the study of gender and sexuality is necessary.
AS.363.201 (02)	Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality		Gill Peterson, Jules		Fall 2025	This course will serve as an intensive introduction to contemporary approaches to theories of gender and sexuality, and their relationship to cultural production and politics. Students will develop a historically situated knowledge of the development of feminist and queer scholarship in the 20th and 21st centuries, and consider the multiply intersecting forces which shape understandings of sexual and gender identity. We will consider both foundational questions (What is gender? Who is the subject of feminism? What defines queerness?) and questions of aesthetic and political strategy, and spend substantial time engaging with feminist and queer scholarship in comparative contexts. Students will be introduced to debates in Black feminism, intersectionality theory, third world feminism, socialist feminism, queer of colour critique, and trans* theory. We will read both canonical texts and recent works of scholarship, and the final weeks of the course will be devoted to thinking with our theoretical and historical readings against a selection of feminist and queer literature and cinema. No prior familiarity with the study of gender and sexuality is necessary.
AS.363.333 (01)	Poetics and Politics of Sex: The Queer/Trans Underground ?	Th 2:30PM - 5:00PM	Amin, Kadji		Fall 2025	What does it mean that until relatively recently, the center of queer/trans culture was the underground – a metaphorical space of illegality – and what are the political possibilities of such illegality? This seminar will consider how Black/trans fugitivity and interracial sex, trans identity theft and forgery, black market hormones and silicone injections, sex work, and mood-altering drugs defined same-sex desiring and gender-variant cultures during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Far from being a lawless place, we will analyze how life in the underground, including stints in prison, concretely shaped gender and sexual possibilities, subcultural codes of conduct, and practices of community-making.
AS.389.140 (01)	Antiquity and Its Afterlives: Books, Art, and Culture from Ancient Greece and Rome to the Modern Era	W 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Havens, Earle A; Michalek, Martin William	BLC 2043	Fall 2025	This course explores the surviving “objects” of the ancient Greco-Roman world, and the histories of their excavation, organization, and preservation in museum and library collections. From ancient objects and sculptures, ancient Greek papyri, scrolls, and late-antique and medieval books, to the revival of Greek and Roman traditions in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, we will learn how these objects help shape and transform our understanding of the ancient world over two millennia, up to the formation of the great antiquities museums of the modern era. This hands-on course will take advantage of ancient objects and texts in Baltimore, at the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as the Archaeology Museum at JHU and the rare book and manuscript collections of the Sheridan Libraries at JHU.
AS.389.201 (01)	Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Kingsley, Jennifer P	Gilman 17	Fall 2025	This course surveys museums, from their origins to their most contemporary forms, in the context of broader historical, intellectual, and cultural trends including the social movements of the 20th century. Anthropology, art, history, and science museums are considered.
AS.389.313 (01)	Data and the Digital in Museums	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	McGinn, Emily	BLC 4040	Fall 2025	Digital media play an increasingly significant role in museums from how museums share and narrate their collections online to the use of AI to catalog things and create metadata about them. This class explores critically how digital tools work to tell stories and invites students to unpack the resulting museum narratives. Students will learn by doing, creating a digital exhibit of five museum objects using Omeka and later transforming their exhibits by creating data of their own design to tell a new story about their objects. This new narrative will apply critical perspectives considered in the course such as, but not limited to, repatriation, critical cataloging, and geo-politics.
AS.010.311 (01)	Object Lessons: An Introduction to European Printmaking c. 1450-1750	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Young, Rachel Aria Rose	BLC 2043	Spring 2026	This course offers an introduction to the history of prints and printed books in Europe before 1800. Taking a hands-on approach, class meetings will be held in special collections at the Johns Hopkins Library and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Students will learn to identify and assess the major techniques and processes of early modern printmaking and gain familiarity with key artists and core concepts and terms. Organized thematically, the course will address a wide spectrum of contexts and subjects, including devotional practice; natural history and anatomy; patterns of collection and antiquarianism; the publishing industry; prints in the artist’s workshop and in art theory; pattern books and practices of craft; proto-ethnographic prints and costume books; city views and maps. Through this object-focused survey of early modern print, we will explore the medium’s potential to both codify and destabilize ideas, transmitting visual and textual information across Europe to reach new audiences, and consider how meaning was not only conveyed but also shaped by the materials and techniques of print.
AS.010.314 (01)	The Art and Architecture of the Gods in Ancient Greece	F 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Staff	Gilman 177	Spring 2026	In ancient Greece, the visual arts were at the heart of human relations with the divine. Images of gods in various media were everywhere, from marketplaces to sanctuaries, from private homes to the coins in people’s pockets. Temples sacred to deities punctuated the landscape, from city-centers to remote mountain peaks. Alongside poets, artists were hugely influential in shaping ideas about gods. And by making objects for dedication, artists also provided worshippers with an essential means of divine veneration. In fact, much of what we call Greek art was made to honour deities. This course explores the relationship between the gods and the visual arts in ancient Greece, with a particular focus on the Archaic and Classical periods (ca. 700–300 BCE). What can art and architecture tell us about Greek attitudes to the gods? How and why were art and architecture important in divine worship? How did the visual arts contribute to human (mis)understanding of the divine? And what happened to the Greek gods in art after antiquity? The course tackles these questions by examining a wide range of primary material, including Greek architecture, sculpture, and painting, as well as relevant textual sources (in translation). Each week will focus on a different theme or case study, giving students the opportunity to investigate the many ways in which art’s interconnection with the gods featured in Greek culture. Topics include: the portrayal of divine myths in Greek sculpture and painting; the art and architecture of Greek sanctuaries, such as Delphi, Olympia, and the Athenian acropolis; Dionysos and the art of the symposium; Aphrodite and the emergence of the female nude in Greek art; the relationship between gods, art, and the natural landscape; and the artistic afterlives of the Greek gods, from the Renaissance to today. The course will include visits to the John Hopkins Archaeological Museum and the Walters Art Museum.
AS.010.322 (01)	Knowledge, Holiness, and Pleasure: The Illustrated Book in the Medieval World	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Zchomelidse, Nino	Shaffer 305	Spring 2026	The book was the primary source for the collection of knowledge in the Middle Ages. It was also the medium for the preservation and proliferation of the texts that underlay the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). It served as a source for elite entertainment, perhaps most importantly in Late Antiquity and the later Middle Ages. This course investigates the role of the illustrated book within the political, religious, and artistic developments that took place after the rise of Christianity from the end of the Roman Empire until the early modern period. We will examine how the different types of books, such as horizontal and vertical scrolls, large and miniature size codices influenced the placement, conception, and style of the illustrations. The class also addresses processes of manufacture, issues of materiality (i.e. precious multi-media book covers, papyrus, parchment, paper), and the relationship between text and image. The course will be taught exclusively with facsimiles of medieval manuscripts from Special Collections at Eisenhower Library and original manuscripts in the Walters Art Museum and other collections.
AS.010.369 (01)	The American Art Museum: Origins, Mission, and Civic Purpose	M 4:30PM - 7:00PM	Weiss, Daniel H	Gilman 55	Spring 2026	This course will explore the American art museum as a distinctive cultural and political idea. Tracing its origins to the ancient world, the American art museum was descended more immediately from institutions created during the European Enlightenment, but differing with regard to overall mission and civic purpose. This course will explore the various roles played by museums in American society, focusing on programmatic content, organizational design, funding and operating practices, and the particular issues that have arisen in recent years in the areas of cultural property restitution, collection development, special exhibitions, governance and funding, and the larger question of civic purpose.
AS.010.459 (01)	The illuminated charter: visual splendor, performance, and authenticity of medieval legal documents	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Zchomelidse, Nino	Gilman 177	Spring 2026	This course investigates the complexities of medieval legal documents, their specific visuality and materiality, as well as practices of copying and forgery. We will address the aesthetics of legal documents, their graphic signs, seals, and paleography and the authenticating strategies used to corroborate their legitimacy. Another emphasis is set on the performative aspects of the medieval charters in court and church rituals. Comparison with contemporary illuminated sacred books will reveal the tight connections of monastic scriptoria and royal/imperial chanceries. The geographic focus is set wide, ranging from medieval Spain, to Carolingian and Ottonian chanceries in France and Germany, to the papal court in Rome and the imperial and monastic scriptoria in Byzantium.
AS.010.467 (01)	The Renaissance in its Global Dimensions 1450-1650	M 4:30PM - 7:00PM	Campbell, Stephen John	Gilman 119	Spring 2026	A seminar focusing on recent scholarship that seeks to conceptualize a “global Renaissance,” beginning with Italy and the Mediterranean and then addressing exchanges between Europe and Southern/Eastern Asia. Case studies of the mobility of artists and artifacts, artistic adaptation and translation, materials as commodities and bearers of meaning.
AS.070.205 (01)	Gods and Ancestors: East Asian Religions in Everyday Life	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Kim, Sujung	Mergenthaler 426	Spring 2026	This course offers an introduction to the religious traditions of East Asia, including Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shinto. Moving chronologically from ancient foundations to modern developments, we will explore how religious ideas and practices have shaped—and been shaped by—East Asian societies over time. Emphasis will be placed on the diversity and unity of religious expressions in these traditions, with readings drawn from a wide range of texts: religious scriptures, philosophical texts, popular literature, and ethnographic accounts.
AS.070.318 (01)	Black Atlantic Worlds	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Angelini, Alessandro; White, Alexandre Ilani Rein	Mergenthaler 426	Spring 2026	This seminar explores the formation of Black Atlantic worlds through a selection of historical and ethnographic texts, material artifacts, and films. We will encounter familiar themes of slavery, revolution, commodity production, and imperial power recast in the minor key of the Black experience. Exploring major works by anthropologists, particularly key figures from Johns Hopkins, the course also examines how studies of transatlantic movements have reshaped our very understanding of history and culture, not simply as static or official forms but as fields of contention.
AS.100.107 (01)	History of the Global War on Terror	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Schrader, Stuart Laurence	Hodson 316; Gilman 17	Spring 2026	The United States and its allies launched the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack. But it quickly exceeded the scope of neutralizing al-Qaeda, the organization behind that attack, leading to military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and across numerous countries in Africa and elsewhere. This course will examine the historical background of the Global War on Terror, including its relationship to prior stages of colonialism and the Cold War. It will delve into the post-9/11 wars and examine the relationship between US foreign policy and regional politics in Asia and Africa. This course is sequential to AS.100.106, The History of the Global Cold War, though that course is not a prerequisite. This course will introduce students to concepts and methods in the study of recent history, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
AS.100.107 (02)	History of the Global War on Terror	MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Schrader, Stuart Laurence	Hodson 316; Gilman 17	Spring 2026	The United States and its allies launched the Global War on Terror in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attack. But it quickly exceeded the scope of neutralizing al-Qaeda, the organization behind that attack, leading to military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and across numerous countries in Africa and elsewhere. This course will examine the historical background of the Global War on Terror, including its relationship to prior stages of colonialism and the Cold War. It will delve into the post-9/11 wars and examine the relationship between US foreign policy and regional politics in Asia and Africa. This course is sequential to AS.100.106, The History of the Global Cold War, though that course is not a prerequisite. This course will introduce students to concepts and methods in the study of recent history, as a foundation for further courses in History, Critical Diaspora Studies, International Studies, Political Science, etc.
AS.100.108 (01)	Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Johnson, Jessica Marie	Macaulay 101; Macaulay 101	Spring 2026	The history of Africans and people of African descent in what becomes the continental United States. We will learn about the everyday experiences of Africans and people of African descent and the way this struggle for (and meaning of) freedom made make and shake the Americas. You will learn historical facts and how to distinguish change over time and place. You will learn to construct historical narratives using primary and secondary sources, about systems of oppression (like slavery) and how those systems operate--and how ordinary people and communities resisted and took that system down. Opportunities for independent research will be available for advanced students looking for professional development and research experience.
AS.100.108 (02)	Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Johnson, Jessica Marie	Macaulay 101; Macaulay 101	Spring 2026	The history of Africans and people of African descent in what becomes the continental United States. We will learn about the everyday experiences of Africans and people of African descent and the way this struggle for (and meaning of) freedom made make and shake the Americas. You will learn historical facts and how to distinguish change over time and place. You will learn to construct historical narratives using primary and secondary sources, about systems of oppression (like slavery) and how those systems operate--and how ordinary people and communities resisted and took that system down. Opportunities for independent research will be available for advanced students looking for professional development and research experience.
AS.100.108 (03)	Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Johnson, Jessica Marie	Macaulay 101; Macaulay 101	Spring 2026	The history of Africans and people of African descent in what becomes the continental United States. We will learn about the everyday experiences of Africans and people of African descent and the way this struggle for (and meaning of) freedom made make and shake the Americas. You will learn historical facts and how to distinguish change over time and place. You will learn to construct historical narratives using primary and secondary sources, about systems of oppression (like slavery) and how those systems operate--and how ordinary people and communities resisted and took that system down. Opportunities for independent research will be available for advanced students looking for professional development and research experience.
AS.100.108 (04)	Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Johnson, Jessica Marie	Macaulay 101; Gilman 217	Spring 2026	The history of Africans and people of African descent in what becomes the continental United States. We will learn about the everyday experiences of Africans and people of African descent and the way this struggle for (and meaning of) freedom made make and shake the Americas. You will learn historical facts and how to distinguish change over time and place. You will learn to construct historical narratives using primary and secondary sources, about systems of oppression (like slavery) and how those systems operate--and how ordinary people and communities resisted and took that system down. Opportunities for independent research will be available for advanced students looking for professional development and research experience.
AS.100.119 (01)	Introduction to U.S. Immigration History and Law	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Lim, Julian	Hodson 313	Spring 2026	Many Americans celebrate the United States as a “nation of immigrants,” but defining which immigrants to include and exclude in the nation has always been a contentious process. This course will put some of today’s immigration debates in historical perspective, examining how past Americans debated questions about the “fitness” of immigrants for freedom and citizenship, and how those debates in turn shaped immigrant experiences, the law, and American identity. Topics that we will cover include colonialism and slavery; immigrant labor; families; gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality; immigration law; borders and deportation; refugees and asylum seekers; and citizenship and belonging.
AS.100.132 (01)	Introduction to Jewish America	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Loeffler, James	Krieger 300	Spring 2026	An introduction to the study of the American Jewish experience, tracing five centuries of history from the colonial period through to the present. Topics will include immigration and citizenship, antisemitism and philosemitism, religion and politics.
AS.100.143 (01)	China: Neolithic to Song	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Meyer-Fong, Tobie	Hodson 316; Gilman 377	Spring 2026	This class offers a broad overview of changes in China from Neolithic times through the Song dynasty (roughly from 5000 BCE through the 13th century CE). It features discussion of art, material culture, philosophical texts, religious ideas, and literary works as well as providing a broad overview of politics and society. Close readings of primary sources in discussion sections and extensive use of visual material in lectures will allow students to consider the relationship between what (sources) we have—and what we can know about the past.
AS.100.143 (02)	China: Neolithic to Song	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM	Meyer-Fong, Tobie	Hodson 316; Gilman 55	Spring 2026	This class offers a broad overview of changes in China from Neolithic times through the Song dynasty (roughly from 5000 BCE through the 13th century CE). It features discussion of art, material culture, philosophical texts, religious ideas, and literary works as well as providing a broad overview of politics and society. Close readings of primary sources in discussion sections and extensive use of visual material in lectures will allow students to consider the relationship between what (sources) we have—and what we can know about the past.
AS.100.152 (01)	Undergraduate Seminar: Love and War in the Middle Ages	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Lester, Anne E.	Krieger Laverty	Spring 2026	Love and war; two forces that brought people together and drove them apart. What did these concepts mean in the medieval world? How were they expressed? What role did love play in binding people, families, and kingdoms together, guiding their motivations, connecting them to the divine? How did war – whether intensive battles as we encounter in the Song of Roland or prolonged campaigns during the crusades – divide people, create categories of difference, force migrations, and change the shape of polities? How were love and war linked? We will read a series of primary texts covering some of the major genres of medieval writing including chanson de geste, romance, poetry, and memoir, as a lens through which to answer these questions. Together we will read a series of medieval texts in their historical context, probing how people used storytelling, sentiment, memories and personal experience to navigate their worlds. Designed as a freshman seminar, the course exposes students to a variety of historical methods, close-reading and critical analysis, with an emphasis on developing critical writing skills.
AS.100.171 (01)	Europe since 1945	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Harms, Victoria Elisabeth	Bloomberg 274	Spring 2026	This class focuses on Europe from the end of World War II until today. We will discuss topics such as the Cold War, the European welfare state, Europe’s volatile relations with the US and the Soviet Union/ Russia, decolonization, 1989 and neoliberalism, racism, European integration and the role of the European Union in international politics. Expect to spend 25% of class time in group work, where we discuss the assigned literature, movies, documentaries, textual and visual primary sources.
AS.100.209 (01)	Slavery in the Caribbean	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Turner, Sasha	Gilman 119	Spring 2026	An introductory examination of slavery in the Caribbean, this course explores the structure of slavery and its development and its transformative effects on people and the region, and the formation of the modern world. Students can expect to explore themes broadly related to gender and sexuality; politics and economy; science and technology; health and the environment; law, culture and society.
AS.100.225 (01)	Mansa Musa’s Gold: the History of African Muslims	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Thiam, Madina	Krieger 307	Spring 2026	Today about one third of the world’s Muslims live in Africa, a continent where Islam has a long history. This course follows African Muslims as they traveled and migrated, built communities and states, produced literature and scholarship, and contended with slavery and empire. Our historical investigations will take us all over the African continent as well as across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, following the paths of African Muslim pilgrims, scholars, slaves, soldiers, merchants, rulers, and revolutionaries. No prerequisites needed.
AS.100.250 (01)	The American Revolution in Unexpected Places	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Pearsall, Sarah	Hodson 203; Gilman 75	Spring 2026	This course considers the American Revolution from the perspective of locations beyond the thirteen rebelling colonies. Covering a range of global hotspots, the focus is on events from 1763 to 1788.
AS.100.250 (02)	The American Revolution in Unexpected Places	MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Pearsall, Sarah	Hodson 203; Gilman 377	Spring 2026	This course considers the American Revolution from the perspective of locations beyond the thirteen rebelling colonies. Covering a range of global hotspots, the focus is on events from 1763 to 1788.
AS.100.252 (01)	Sex and the American City	T 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Gill Peterson, Jules		Spring 2026	Why are cities associated with sex and vice? How did modern forms of policing and urban development first arise? This introductory course explores the place of US cities in the history of sexuality, including Baltimore.
AS.100.253 (01)	Modern Histories of Human Rights: Empire, Justice, and International Law	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Peeples, Sandy W	Hodson 315	Spring 2026	The language of human rights can be found all around us, as a legal framework, political discourse, and method of interpreting justice and liberation. Much of this language invests human rights with a unique scale of political and intellectual power, opening up a range of questions. Can human rights accomplish justice? How are they enforced? What does it mean to support human rights? In order to answer these contemporary questions it helps to start from some historical ones. Where did human rights come from? What is a human right? Who decides and does it matter? Recently, scholars, including historians and lawyers, have revived attempts to chart the historical development of human rights as a discrete project. Those histories have diverged in the power and intellectual weight they attribute to human rights as well as the basic chronology of human rights as a discourse. This class will provide a survey of these histories and in the process attempt to introduce students to historiography as a method as well as provide insight into the structure and function of the modern human rights project.
AS.100.271 (01)	Documenting & Digitizing Black Louisiana: Sources, Tools and Contexts	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Burri, Margaret N; Johnson, Jessica Marie; McGinn, Emily	Macaulay 101	Spring 2026	Documenting & Digitizing Black Louisiana: Sources, Tools and Contexts is an experiential, team-based, community-engaged undergraduate seminar that combines secondary literature on the history of colonial Louisiana as well as the digital humanities, with intensive deep readings of a selection of translated documents. Seminar sessions will include gatherings with research teams of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, with a special emphasis workshops, with and hosted by scholars at JHU and beyond (including team members at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. Students with interests in Black history, in multimedia content creation, in digital infrastructure, in manuscript documents, in translation and languages, in public history, social justice and community engagement will find much to learn in this course.
AS.100.274 (01)	Conspiracy in American Politics	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Luff, Jennifer D	Gilman 219	Spring 2026	Conspiratorial thinking is nothing new in American politics. Since the founding of the nation, Americans have been riveted—and riven—by conspiracy theories. This course introduces students to key methods and questions in U.S. history by exploring conspiratorial episodes from the American Revolution through the present. We’ll pick apart allegations and denials of conspiracies to discover what they tell us about American politics and culture. We’ll also consider historians’ analyses of conspiratorial claims, and think about the relationship between conspiracy and historical causality.
AS.100.283 (01)	Making and Unmaking Queer Histories: Identity, Self-Representation, Politics, and Contexts, 1800-Pre	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Hodson 316; Krieger 304	Spring 2026	This course investigates sexual cultures through the lens of modern Queer History in the United States and Western Europe, with forays into global and transnational histories.
AS.100.283 (02)	Making and Unmaking Queer Histories: Identity, Self-Representation, Politics, and Contexts, 1800-Pre	MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM	Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne	Hodson 316; Krieger 304	Spring 2026	This course investigates sexual cultures through the lens of modern Queer History in the United States and Western Europe, with forays into global and transnational histories.
AS.100.310 (01)	The French Revolution	TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Mason, Laura	Gilman 75	Spring 2026	This course immerses students in the rich historiography of the French Revolution. We will focus on recent scholarship to examine such themes as: the nature of revolution and popular activism; violence & trauma; constitutionalism; citizenship, democracy, and social rights; the revolution after Thermidor and why the republic collapsed.
AS.100.322 (01)	Asian Americans and the Law	TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Lim, Julian	Shaffer 301	Spring 2026	This course will explore the prominent role that Asian Americans have played in U.S. legal history. Paying close attention to the relationship between immigration, citizenship, law, and society, we will dive more deeply into the legal histories of numerous groups of Asian descent in the American past and present. We will also place these experiences within the more heterogeneous and complicated landscape of race relations in the United States, as well as considering international relations and transnational connections.
AS.100.327 (01)	The Islamic Age of Empires: The Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Safavids	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali	Hodson 303	Spring 2026	In this course, we will survey the political, social, intellectual, and cultural history of the three Islamic early modern gunpowder empires that ranged from “the Balkans to Bengal”: The Ottomans (1300-1922), the Safavids (1501-1736), and the Mughals (1526-1858).
AS.100.345 (01)	Right-wing Populism since the 1980s	W 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Gill Peterson, Jules	Gilman 219	Spring 2026	This seminar will explore the development of right-wing populism in the US since the 1980s, beginning with Ronald Reagan’s election and ending in the present day. A key focus will be the relationship between populist visions of American government, identity politics, and economic crisis.
AS.100.348 (01)	20th-Century China	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Rowe, William T	Hodson 203	Spring 2026	Survey of the history of China from ca. 1895 to ca. 1976.
AS.100.372 (01)	African Cities: Environment, Gender, and Economic Life	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Gondola, Didier Didier	Gilman 308	Spring 2026	This class explores the geographic, economic and cultural issues resulting from Africa’s urban growth from precolonial times to the present.
AS.100.388 (01)	Practicing Historical Research	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz	Latrobe 107	Spring 2026	Students work in close collaboration with a faculty member to produce an individual research project. The course is designed for history majors in conjunctions with AS.100.293, and it is recommended, although not required, that the AS.100.293 be taken first.
AS.100.404 (01)	John Locke	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Marshall, John W	Gilman 186	Spring 2026	John Locke’s works had enormous influence in eighteenth century America and on justifications of the American Revolution. In this 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, this seminar- style course will read and discuss Locke’s major works intensively together with works influenced by Locke’s arguments and together with select scholarly interpretations. Locke’s works will be placed into the seventeenth century British, European and American contexts in which they were written, and the eighteenth-century American contexts in which they became extremely influential.
AS.100.412 (01)	Baltimore, Basketball, and the Legacy of Bentalou	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Harms, Victoria Elisabeth	Gilman 119	Spring 2026	In this community-engaged sports history seminar, we partner with co-educator Coach Paul Franklin and an after-school youth basketball program in Bentalou, West Baltimore, founded in 1970. This class provides crucial lessons about US and sports history in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will study the history of urban planning, public health, law and order, and politics in Baltimore through the lens of this program and seek to better understand its significance for the community. Our group is tasked with researching the program’s evolution: we will speak with experts, sports figures, organizers and community leaders in the city, conduct interviews with past and current players, coaches, and supporters, explore relevant archives, newspapers, photos and film. Expect 90% group work and, instead of class, attend some U10 & U12 games. Collectively, we will decide on the deliverables to be presented to parents and players at the end-of-the-season celebration in April.
AS.100.413 (01)	London 1580-1830: The History of Britain's capital city	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Marshall, John W	Gilman 308	Spring 2026	Seminar-style class analyzing the social, cultural, gender, religious, economic, and political history of London from Shakespeare's time through revolutions, plague, fire, and commercial, colonial, and industrial expansion.
AS.100.423 (01)	History of the Carceral State	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Schrader, Stuart Laurence	Gilman 17	Spring 2026	This course will cover the state of the field in the history of the carceral state in the United States. It will cover key texts from the past few decades, as well as some of the latest works, on policing, surveillance, incarceration, migrant detention, border control and deportation, etc. Some works in the fields of Law, Political Science, Sociology, and Geography may also be included. Students will write an essay on the field in this course. Open to advanced undergraduates by permission of instructor.
AS.100.428 (01)	Saints, Saviors, and Sovereigns in the Early Modern World	Th 3:00PM - 5:30PM	Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali		Spring 2026	This reading intensive seminar will explore the myriad ways in which questions of sovereignty and the sacred were joined together across the early modern world. Emphasis will be placed on sacred and universal modes of kingship, saintly cults, and messianic movements amongst the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and South Asia.
AS.100.433 (01)	Free Speech and Censorship in the United States	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Jelavich, Peter	Gilman 308	Spring 2026	This undergraduate research seminar examines free speech and censorship laws, practices, and debates in the United States since the 19th century. Issues include political speech, obscenity and pornography, and racist hate speech. In addition to discussing common readings, each student will choose a free speech case or issue to research, present to the class, and analyze in a final essay.
AS.100.450 (08)	History Research Lab: The Black Press South Africa	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Thornberry, Elizabeth		Spring 2026	Early twentieth-century South Africa was home to a vibrant African publishing scene, with numerous newspapers run by African publishers for black audiences. This class will use these newspapers as primary sources to reconstruct the conversations among African intellectuals about some of the most pressing issues of the day, including African voting rights, land ownership, and the place of “customary law” in the colonial state.
AS.100.453 (01)	Global Legal History	M 4:30PM - 7:00PM	Loeffler, James	Gilman 381	Spring 2026	Introduction to the practice of global legal history, with focus on the growth of modern international law from the seventeenth century to the present, its relationship to nationalism and empire, war, atrocity-crimes and human rights, international institutions, and the relationship between law and history.
AS.100.482 (01)	Historiography of Modern China	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Rowe, William T	Gilman 75	Spring 2026	How has the history of modern China been told by Chinese, Western, and Japanese historians and social thinkers, and how did this affect popular attitudes and government policies toward China?
AS.100.508 (01)	Senior Honors Thesis	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Furstenberg, Francois		Spring 2026	This seminar is required for senior history majors who are writing senior honors theses and wish to graduate with departmental honors.
AS.100.536 (01)	Independent Study		Burgin, Angus		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (02)	Independent Study		Celenza, Chris S.		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (03)	Independent Study		Connolly, Nathan D		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (04)	Independent Study		Furstenberg, Francois		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (05)	Independent Study		Gill Peterson, Jules		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (06)	Independent Study		Gondola, Didier Didier		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (07)	Independent Study		Harms, Victoria Elisabeth		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (08)	Independent Study		Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (09)	Independent Study		Hyman, Louis		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (10)	Independent Study		Jackson, Lawrence P		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (11)	Independent Study		Jelavich, Peter		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (12)	Independent Study		Johnson, Jessica Marie		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (13)	Independent Study		Jones, Martha Suzanne		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (14)	Independent Study		Kwass, Michael		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (15)	Independent Study		Lester, Anne E.		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (16)	Independent Study		Lim, Julian		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (17)	Independent Study		Loeffler, James		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (18)	Independent Study		Luis, Diego Javier		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (19)	Independent Study		Lurtz, Casey Marina		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (20)	Independent Study		Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (21)	Independent Study		Makalani, Minkah		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (22)	Independent Study		Marshall, John W		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (23)	Independent Study		Mason, Laura		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (24)	Independent Study		Meyer-Fong, Tobie		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (25)	Independent Study		Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (26)	Independent Study		Pearsall, Sarah		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (27)	Independent Study		Rowe, Erin		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (28)	Independent Study		Rowe, William T		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (29)	Independent Study		Schrader, Stuart Laurence		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (30)	Independent Study		Shepard, Todd		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (31)	Independent Study		Thiam, Madina		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (32)	Independent Study		Thornberry, Elizabeth		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (33)	Independent Study		Turner, Sasha		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.536 (34)	Independent Study		Wright Rigueur, Leah M		Spring 2026	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.130.126 (01)	Gods and Monsters in Ancient Egypt	TTh 12:30PM - 2:00PM	Jasnow, Richard	Gilman 130G	Spring 2026	A basic introduction to Egyptian Religion, with a special focus on the nature of the gods and how humans interact with them. We will devote particular time to the Book of the Dead and to the "magical" aspects of religion designed for protective purposes.
AS.190.411 (01)	The Politics of Political Surveillance	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Luff, Jennifer D	Krieger 306	Spring 2026	Mass political surveillance is a hallmark of modern life. All contemporary regimes practice some form of surveillance. Yet the politics of surveillance vary. This seminar investigates the technologies, purposes, and significance of political surveillance in the 20th century in different polities. We will explore perspectives on surveillance from various approaches—historical, sociological, anthropological, and in political science.
AS.194.230 (01)	African-Americans and the Development of Islam in America	Th 6:00PM - 9:00PM	Fanusie, Fatimah	Gilman 134	Spring 2026	Muslims have been a part of the American fabric since its inception. A key thread in that fabric has been the experiences of enslaved Africans and their descendants, some of whom were Muslims, and who not only added to the dynamism of the American environment, but eventually helped shape American culture, religion, and politics. The history of Islam in America is intertwined with the creation and evolution of African American identity. Contemporary Islam in America cannot be understood without this framing. This course will provide a historical lens for understanding Islam, not as an external faith to the country, but as an internal development of American religion. This course will explicate the history of early Islamic movements in the United States and the subsequent experiences of African-Americans who converted to Islam during the first half of the twentieth century. We will cover the spiritual growth of African American Muslims, their institutional presence, and their enduring impact on American culture writ large and African-American religion and culture more specifically.
AS.214.417 (01)	Galileo in Dialogue: Science, Literature, and Gender in Early Modern Italy	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Ray, Meredith		Spring 2026	This seminar investigates the contours of scientific dialogue in early modern Italy through the figure of Galileo Galilei and his intellectual milieu. We will examine how literary culture shaped the circulation of new ideas, and how women—whether as poets, patrons, or correspondents—participated in the exploration and communication of scientific knowledge. Readings include selections from Galileo’s scientific writings and extensive correspondence, alongside literary and artistic texts that illuminate the cultural contexts in which his ideas were produced, debated, and disseminated. By situating Galileo within academic, courtly, and cultural networks, the seminar considers the reciprocal relationship between scientific inquiry and literary production, with particular attention to how gender shaped access to, and participation in, intellectual life.
AS.300.401 (01)	Comparative Late- and Post-Cold War Cultures in China, the USSR, and Beyond	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Hashimoto, Satoru; Schmelz, Peter John	Gilman 208	Spring 2026	This course invites students to explore culture in the late and post-Cold War world from a broader perspective by surveying literature, thought, cinema, art, and music in Chinese and Soviet (and post-Soviet) societies from the 1980s to the present. How did Chinese and Soviet (and post-Soviet) intellectuals reconfigure, reform, and/or reinvent their cultures as they re-embraced or debated ideas of freedom, democracy, and globalization? How did they grapple with the legacies of their socialist and even pre-socialist pasts as they entered new eras of reforms? How did reform movements adopt different forms and strategies in different parts of the USSR and in the Sinophone world? What kinds of negotiations took place between various centers and peripheries within and around these regions? What can we learn from their cultural endeavors about the promises, contradictions, and discontents of the post-Cold War world, as we witness the rise of a so-called “new cold war” and revisionist coalitions against globalization today? In this co-taught course, specialists in Sinophone and Soviet cultures and their legacies will guide students in reading and discussing representative works from the 1980s onward from a comparative perspective. Readings include the film Hibiscus Town, Cui Jian, Yu Hua, Ge Fei, Can Xue, Mo Yan, Yan Lianke, and Ng Kim Chew, as well as the film Russian Ark, Viktor Tsoi, Komar and Melamid, Aka Morchiladze, Oksana Zabuzhko, and Serhiy Zhadan. No prerequisites. All course materials will be provided in English translation or with English subtitles.
AS.310.326 (01)	Labor Politics in China	Th 3:00PM - 5:30PM	He, Gaochao	Mergenthaler 266	Spring 2026	This course explores the transformation of labor relations in China over the past century. It will cover the origins of the labor movement, the changes brought about by the 1949 Revolution, the industrial battles of the Cultural Revolution, the traumatic restructuring of state-owned enterprises over the past two decades, the rise of private enterprise and export-oriented industry, the conditions faced by migrant workers today, and recent developments in industrial relations and labor conflict. The course is designed for upper division undergraduates and graduate students. Cross-listed with Sociology and International Studies (CP).
AS.310.329 (01)	Women, Patriarchy, and Feminism in China, South Korea, and Japan	TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM	Henning, Stefan	Gilman 313	Spring 2026	We will try to get a quick overview of the recent history of patriarchy in China, South Korea, and Japan from the mid-twentieth century to our present and then compare the initiatives of feminists to transform the lives of women throughout these three societies. We will also debate whether or how it makes sense to adapt the Western notions of patriarchy and sexism as well as the Western political program of feminism to the non-Western context of East Asia by reading books by historians, anthropologists, and sociologists.
AS.310.331 (01)	Islam in Asia	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Henning, Stefan	Gilman 17	Spring 2026	You will learn about the efforts of ordinary, non-elite Muslims to shape the relation between their communities and the state as well as to (where applicable) the non-Muslim majority through collective organizing over the last forty years. We will read and discuss books by anthropologists, historians, and sociologists studying Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
AS.360.305 (01)	Introduction to Computational Methods for the Humanities	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Lippincott, Tom; Sirin Ryan, Hale	Bloomberg 168	Spring 2026	This course introduces basic computational techniques in the context of empirical humanistic scholarship. Topics covered include the command-line, basic Python programming, and experimental design. While illustrative examples are drawn from humanistic domains, the primary focus is on methods: those with specific domains in mind should be aware that such applied research is welcome and exciting, but will largely be their responsibility beyond the confines of the course. Students will come away with tangible understanding of how to cast simple humanistic questions as empirical hypotheses, ground and test these hypotheses computationally, and justify the choices made while doing so. No previous programming experience is required.
AS.360.306 (01)	Computational Intelligence for the Humanities	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Backer, Samuel Ehrlich; Messner, Craig A	Bloomberg 168	Spring 2026	This course introduces substantial machine learning methods of particular relevance to humanistic scholarship. Areas covered include standard models for classification, regression, and topic modeling, before turning to the array of open-source pretrained deep neural models, and the common mechanisms for employing them. Students are expected to have a level of programming experience equivalent to that gained from AS.360.304, Gateway Computing, AS.250.205, or Harvard’s CS50 for Python. Students will come away with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different machine learning models, the ability to discuss them in relation to human intelligence and to make informed decisions of when and how to employ them, and an array of related technical knowledge.
AS.362.112 (01)	Introduction to Africana Studies	TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Spence, Lester	Gilman 119	Spring 2026	This course introduces students to the field of Africana Studies. It focuses on the historical experience, intellectual ideas, theories, and cultural production of African-descended people. We will consider how people of the black diaspora remember and encounter Africa.
AS.362.413 (01)	Radical Histories of MLK Jr. and Malcolm X	W 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Jackson, Lawrence P	Shaffer 302	Spring 2026	This is a research seminar devoted to the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (El-Hajj El-Malik Shabazz), the two the key African American male icons of the Civil Rights Movement representing two ideological camps: racial integration and black nationalism.
AS.389.305 (01)	Oral History: Recording Voices Today for the Archives of Tomorrow	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Roome, Kristine		Spring 2026	Oral Histories are a means by which history is both generated and preserved. Talking to and recording people in their own voices is immensely valuable but also brings challenges. This course equips students with the theoretical framework, methods and an awareness of the ethics of making and interpreting oral histories and provides hands-on experience researching, designing and creating an archival record of our time to professional standards.
AS.389.314 (01)	Researching the Africana Archive: Black Cemetery Stories	T 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Dean, Gabrielle		Spring 2026	This course addresses the historic role of the African American cemetery as sacred and political space, with important links to other Black institutions. Operating in partnership with Mount Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore, owned and operated by the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church, we will visit the cemetery and related locations in Baltimore throughout the semester. Our collective goal is to research and share stories that further the interests of these important and vulnerable sites.
AS.389.445 (01)	The Political Lives of Dead Bodies	M 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Hester, Jessica Leigh; Lans, Aja Marie	Gilman 55	Spring 2026	Taking its name from the work of scholar Katherine Verdery, who investigates why and how certain corpses took on a political life in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, this course examines ways that human bodies have been collected, displayed, concealed and disappeared across cemeteries, museums, universities and other sites. We will trace various valuations (and devaluations) imposed on bodies across the life course and examine how some bodies are made to matter more than others in both life and death. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across anthropology, Black studies, history of medicine and more, we will engage with case studies from across the globe, from the 18th century to the present day.
AS.100.535 (01)	Independent Study		Burgin, Angus		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (03)	Independent Study		Connolly, Nathan D		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (02)	Independent Study		Celenza, Chris S.		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (05)	Independent Study		Gill Peterson, Jules		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (06)	Independent Study		Gondola, Didier Didier		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (04)	Independent Study		Furstenberg, Francois		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (08)	Independent Study		Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (09)	Independent Study		Hyman, Louis		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (07)	Independent Study		Harms, Victoria Elisabeth		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (10)	Independent Study		Jackson, Lawrence P		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (14)	Independent Study		Kwass, Michael		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (15)	Independent Study		Lester, Anne E.		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.507 (01)	Senior Honors Thesis	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Furstenberg, Francois	Bloomberg 172	Fall 2025	The Senior Honors Seminar is a coordinating seminar for senior history majors who are writing senior honors theses and wish to graduate with departmental honors. We will discuss the organization of your historical research projects and help you prepare for writing your senior thesis based on that research. This is an interactive class that helps make the most of your senior thesis experience!
AS.100.535 (20)	Independent Study		Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (21)	Independent Study		Makalani, Minkah		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (17)	Independent Study		Loeffler, James		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (18)	Independent Study		Luis, Diego Javier		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (19)	Independent Study		Lurtz, Casey Marina		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (16)	Independent Study		Lim, Julian		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (11)	Independent Study		Jelavich, Peter		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (13)	Independent Study		Jones, Martha Suzanne		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (23)	Independent Study		Mason, Laura		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (12)	Independent Study		Johnson, Jessica Marie		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (24)	Independent Study		Meyer-Fong, Tobie		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (28)	Independent Study		Rowe, William T		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (26)	Independent Study		Pearsall, Sarah		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (30)	Independent Study		Shepard, Todd		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (25)	Independent Study		Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (27)	Independent Study		Rowe, Erin		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (31)	Independent Study		Thornberry, Elizabeth		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (29)	Independent Study		Schrader, Stuart Laurence		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (32)	Independent Study		Turner, Sasha		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (33)	Independent Study		Wright Rigueur, Leah M		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.
AS.100.535 (22)	Independent Study		Marshall, John W		Fall 2025	Undergraduate independent research under a faculty mentor.

Undergraduate Courses

FYS: U.S. History of the PresentAS.001.120 (01)

FYS: German Thought, German Theater: Reason, Capital, Sex and ScienceAS.001.232 (01)

FYS: Monuments and Memory in Asian HistoryAS.001.256 (01)

FYS: The Long Civil Rights Movement in 20th-Century AmericaAS.001.273 (01)

FYS: Friends or Foes? US-European Relations since 1979AS.001.276 (01)

The Art of Celebration in Early Modern Northern EuropeAS.010.358 (01)

Obsessed with the Past: the Art and Architecture of Medieval RomeAS.010.431 (01)

Reply-All: Letter-Writing in Art and HistoryAS.010.497 (01)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-PresentAS.100.104 (01)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-PresentAS.100.104 (02)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-PresentAS.100.104 (03)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-PresentAS.100.104 (04)

History of the Global Cold WarAS.100.106 (01)

History of the Global Cold WarAS.100.106 (02)

Introduction to the Middle EastAS.100.118 (01)

Introduction to the Middle EastAS.100.118 (02)

Introduction to the Middle EastAS.100.118 (03)

Introduction to the Middle EastAS.100.118 (04)

Introduction to History of Africa (since 1880)AS.100.122 (01)

Introduction to History of Africa (since 1880)AS.100.122 (02)

The History of Gender and Sexuality on the InternetAS.100.125 (01)

Shopaholics: Consumer Revolution and the Material World, 1600-1850AS.100.144 (01)

Antisemitism in Historical PerspectiveAS.100.226 (01)

History of Modern GermanyAS.100.233 (01)

History of KabbalahAS.100.256 (01)

Race & Power in Modern South AfricaAS.100.282 (01)

Race & Power in Modern South AfricaAS.100.282 (02)

Historical Methods, Archives and InterpretationsAS.100.293 (01)

Animals in Chinese and Japanese HistoryAS.100.329 (01)

Soviet-American Cold WarAS.100.346 (01)

Early Modern ChinaAS.100.347 (01)

Crime, Punishment, Felony and Freedom: Law and Society in Premodern England, 1066 to 1688AS.100.373 (01)

History of Global DevelopmentAS.100.395 (01)

Freedom and Unfreedom in the Premodern World, 500BCE-1000CE (Part 1)AS.100.407 (01)

Society & Social Change in 18th Century ChinaAS.100.422 (01)

Popular Culture in Early Modern EuropeAS.100.426 (01)

Witchcraft and Conflict in Early AmericaAS.100.429 (01)

Historiography of the Maghreb, 1939 to the PresentAS.100.444 (01)

Revolution, Anti-Slavery, and Empire 1773-1792: British and American Political Thought from Paine, Smith, and the Declaration of Independence to Cugoano, Wollstonecraft, and the Bill of RightsAS.100.445 (01)

History of MedicineAS.140.105 (01)

History of MedicineAS.140.105 (02)

History of MedicineAS.140.105 (03)

Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the PresentAS.211.171 (01)

Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the PresentAS.211.171 (02)

Truth and Lies in the Languages of PoliticsAS.213.364 (01)

Truth and Lies in the Languages of PoliticsAS.213.364 (02)

Dante Visits the AfterlifeAS.214.479 (01)

Humanities Research Lab: Making Maps of MexicoAS.360.420 (01)

Introduction to Africana StudiesAS.362.112 (01)

Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and SexualityAS.363.201 (01)

Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and SexualityAS.363.201 (02)

Poetics and Politics of Sex: The Queer/Trans Underground ?AS.363.333 (01)

Antiquity and Its Afterlives: Books, Art, and Culture from Ancient Greece and Rome to the Modern EraAS.389.140 (01)

Introduction to the Museum: Past and PresentAS.389.201 (01)

Data and the Digital in MuseumsAS.389.313 (01)

Object Lessons: An Introduction to European Printmaking c. 1450-1750AS.010.311 (01)

The Art and Architecture of the Gods in Ancient GreeceAS.010.314 (01)

Knowledge, Holiness, and Pleasure: The Illustrated Book in the Medieval WorldAS.010.322 (01)

The American Art Museum: Origins, Mission, and Civic PurposeAS.010.369 (01)

The illuminated charter: visual splendor, performance, and authenticity of medieval legal documentsAS.010.459 (01)

The Renaissance in its Global Dimensions 1450-1650AS.010.467 (01)

Gods and Ancestors: East Asian Religions in Everyday LifeAS.070.205 (01)

Black Atlantic WorldsAS.070.318 (01)

History of the Global War on TerrorAS.100.107 (01)

History of the Global War on TerrorAS.100.107 (02)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896AS.100.108 (01)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896AS.100.108 (02)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896AS.100.108 (03)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896AS.100.108 (04)

Introduction to U.S. Immigration History and LawAS.100.119 (01)

Introduction to Jewish AmericaAS.100.132 (01)

China: Neolithic to SongAS.100.143 (01)

China: Neolithic to SongAS.100.143 (02)

Undergraduate Seminar: Love and War in the Middle AgesAS.100.152 (01)

Europe since 1945AS.100.171 (01)

Slavery in the CaribbeanAS.100.209 (01)

Mansa Musa’s Gold: the History of African MuslimsAS.100.225 (01)

The American Revolution in Unexpected PlacesAS.100.250 (01)

The American Revolution in Unexpected PlacesAS.100.250 (02)

FYS: U.S. History of the Present
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FYS: German Thought, German Theater: Reason, Capital, Sex and Science
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FYS: Monuments and Memory in Asian History
AS.001.256 (01)

FYS: The Long Civil Rights Movement in 20th-Century America
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FYS: Friends or Foes? US-European Relations since 1979
AS.001.276 (01)

The Art of Celebration in Early Modern Northern Europe
AS.010.358 (01)

Obsessed with the Past: the Art and Architecture of Medieval Rome
AS.010.431 (01)

Reply-All: Letter-Writing in Art and History
AS.010.497 (01)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present
AS.100.104 (01)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present
AS.100.104 (02)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present
AS.100.104 (03)

Modern Europe in a global context, 1789-Present
AS.100.104 (04)

History of the Global Cold War
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History of the Global Cold War
AS.100.106 (02)

Introduction to the Middle East
AS.100.118 (01)

Introduction to the Middle East
AS.100.118 (02)

Introduction to the Middle East
AS.100.118 (03)

Introduction to the Middle East
AS.100.118 (04)

Introduction to History of Africa (since 1880)
AS.100.122 (01)

Introduction to History of Africa (since 1880)
AS.100.122 (02)

The History of Gender and Sexuality on the Internet
AS.100.125 (01)

Shopaholics: Consumer Revolution and the Material World, 1600-1850
AS.100.144 (01)

Antisemitism in Historical Perspective
AS.100.226 (01)

History of Modern Germany
AS.100.233 (01)

History of Kabbalah
AS.100.256 (01)

Race & Power in Modern South Africa
AS.100.282 (01)

Race & Power in Modern South Africa
AS.100.282 (02)

Historical Methods, Archives and Interpretations
AS.100.293 (01)

Animals in Chinese and Japanese History
AS.100.329 (01)

Soviet-American Cold War
AS.100.346 (01)

Early Modern China
AS.100.347 (01)

Crime, Punishment, Felony and Freedom: Law and Society in Premodern England, 1066 to 1688
AS.100.373 (01)

History of Global Development
AS.100.395 (01)

Freedom and Unfreedom in the Premodern World, 500BCE-1000CE (Part 1)
AS.100.407 (01)

Society & Social Change in 18th Century China
AS.100.422 (01)

Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe
AS.100.426 (01)

Witchcraft and Conflict in Early America
AS.100.429 (01)

Historiography of the Maghreb, 1939 to the Present
AS.100.444 (01)

Revolution, Anti-Slavery, and Empire 1773-1792: British and American Political Thought from Paine, Smith, and the Declaration of Independence to Cugoano, Wollstonecraft, and the Bill of Rights
AS.100.445 (01)

History of Medicine
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History of Medicine
AS.140.105 (02)

History of Medicine
AS.140.105 (03)

Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the Present
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Brazilian Culture & Civilization: Colonial Times to the Present
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Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics
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Truth and Lies in the Languages of Politics
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Dante Visits the Afterlife
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Humanities Research Lab: Making Maps of Mexico
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Introduction to Africana Studies
AS.362.112 (01)

Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
AS.363.201 (01)

Introduction to the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
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Poetics and Politics of Sex: The Queer/Trans Underground ?
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Antiquity and Its Afterlives: Books, Art, and Culture from Ancient Greece and Rome to the Modern Era
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Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present
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Data and the Digital in Museums
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Object Lessons: An Introduction to European Printmaking c. 1450-1750
AS.010.311 (01)

The Art and Architecture of the Gods in Ancient Greece
AS.010.314 (01)

Knowledge, Holiness, and Pleasure: The Illustrated Book in the Medieval World
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The American Art Museum: Origins, Mission, and Civic Purpose
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The illuminated charter: visual splendor, performance, and authenticity of medieval legal documents
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The Renaissance in its Global Dimensions 1450-1650
AS.010.467 (01)

Gods and Ancestors: East Asian Religions in Everyday Life
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Black Atlantic Worlds
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History of the Global War on Terror
AS.100.107 (01)

History of the Global War on Terror
AS.100.107 (02)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896
AS.100.108 (01)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896
AS.100.108 (02)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896
AS.100.108 (03)

Making America: Black Freedom Struggles to 1896
AS.100.108 (04)

Introduction to U.S. Immigration History and Law
AS.100.119 (01)

Introduction to Jewish America
AS.100.132 (01)

China: Neolithic to Song
AS.100.143 (01)

China: Neolithic to Song
AS.100.143 (02)

Undergraduate Seminar: Love and War in the Middle Ages
AS.100.152 (01)

Europe since 1945
AS.100.171 (01)

Slavery in the Caribbean
AS.100.209 (01)

Mansa Musa’s Gold: the History of African Muslims
AS.100.225 (01)

The American Revolution in Unexpected Places
AS.100.250 (01)

The American Revolution in Unexpected Places
AS.100.250 (02)

Sex and the American City
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