This introductory course surveys the history of Europe from the Renaissance to the Napoleonic period. Topics to be covered include European encounters in the Americas, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and the subsequent religious violence of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the rise of centralizing states and popular resistance to expanding government, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment as well as the origins, process and legacies of the French Revolution.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:00PM - 4:30PM
• Instructor: Loiselle, Ken
• Room: Gilman 308
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 20/20
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, HIST-EUROPE

How has haunting, marked by presence and absence, shaped famed Haitian author Edwidge Danticat’s worldmaking? As we investigate texts including The Farming of Bones (1998), The Dew Breaker (2004), and Claire of the Sea Light (2013), we will dissect multivalent iterations of hauntings and their connections to other critical themes in Danticat’s oeuvre, including nation-building, diaspora, colonization and migration.

• Days/Times: MWF 9:00AM - 11:40AM
• Instructor: Webb, Nadejda Isha
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): HIST-LATAM

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 Cold War to try to answer those questions. Using a range of texts and visual materials, we’ll investigate the history behind concepts like “globalization,” “the free market,” “identity politics,” “culture wars,” and the “War on Terror,” 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.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Brann, Allon Yagoda
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT

Over the past 250 years, Germany has produced some of the most influential currents of philosophy as well as drama—at the same time that it has been the site of the greatest horrors of the modern era. In this course, we will read (and view) tragedies, comedies, and cabaret scripts 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? What is the function of words, gestures, music, and staging, and how do they interact? And what are the relative strengths of the various genres: tragedy, comedy, cabaret? The sources will range from classics of 18th-century drama (Lessing’s Nathan the Wise and Goethe’s Faust) to highlights of 20th-century theater (the plays of Brecht, cabaret songs and skits). We will read most of the works as texts, but we will also view videos and films, and perhaps (depending on the offerings of local stages) attend performances.

• Days/Times: MW 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Jelavich, Peter
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

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.

• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Meyer-Fong, Tobie
• Room: Gilman 308
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

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.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Wright Rigueur, Leah M
• Room: SNF Agora 107
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Harms, Victoria Elisabeth
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Slater, Alexis Diane
• Room: Gilman 119
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/18
• PosTag(s): HART-RENEM

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.

• Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Zchomelidse, Nino
• Room: Gilman 177
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): HART-ANC, HART-MED

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.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Brown, Rebecca Mary
• Room: Gilman 177
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/5
• PosTag(s): HART-MODERN, MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Schrader, Stuart Laurence
• Room: Hodson 316
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/20
• PosTag(s): HIST-ASIA, HIST-US, HIST-LATAM, HIST-AFRICA, CDS-EWC, INST-GLOBAL, CES-LE, CES-LSO

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.

• Days/Times: MW 11:00AM - 11:50AM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Schrader, Stuart Laurence
• Room: Hodson 316
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/20
• PosTag(s): HIST-ASIA, HIST-US, HIST-LATAM, HIST-AFRICA, CDS-EWC, INST-GLOBAL, CES-LE, CES-LSO

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali
• Room: Krieger 170
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/12
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
• Instructor: Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali
• Room: Krieger 170
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/12
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali
• Room: Krieger 170
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/12
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
• Instructor: Noor, Rao Mohsin Ali
• Room: Krieger 170
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/12
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Thornberry, Elizabeth
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-AFRICA

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.

• Days/Times: F 10:00AM - 10:50AM, MW 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Thornberry, Elizabeth
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-AFRICA

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Gill Peterson, Jules
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): HIST-US, CES-GI, CES-TI

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Roberts, Anna May
• Room: Hodson 315
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 13/20
• PosTag(s): HIST-US, HIST-EUROPE, CES-FT, CES-GI, CES-PD, CES-RI, INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Loeffler, James
• Room: Gilman 377
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/20
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, HIST-US, HIST-MIDEST, INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Harms, Victoria Elisabeth
• Room: Gilman 17
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/35
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, INST-GLOBAL, MLL-GERM, MLL-ENGL

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.

• Days/Times: M 9:30AM - 12:00PM
• Instructor: Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz
• Room: Gilman 308
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Thornberry, Elizabeth
• Room: Gilman 17
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/15
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, CES-LE, CES-RI, AFRS-AFRICA

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 12:50PM, F 1:30PM - 2:20PM
• Instructor: Thornberry, Elizabeth
• Room: Gilman 17
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/15
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, CES-LE, CES-RI, AFRS-AFRICA

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz
• Room: Gilman 119
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/30
• PosTag(s): n/a

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Sampias, Wesley Jordan
• Room: Gilman 75
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/18
• PosTag(s): HIST-ASIA, INST-GLOBAL, ENVS-MAJOR, CES-LE, MSCH-HUM

The focus will be on Soviet-American interactions, Cold-War Cultures, and the impact on both societies.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Schmelz, Peter John
• Room: Gilman 75
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/20
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, HIST-ASIA, INST-GLOBAL

The history of China from the 16th to the late 19th centuries.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Rowe, William T
• Room: Gilman 55
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 19/40
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, HIST-ASIA

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Lester, Anne E.
• Room: Hodson 313
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/25
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, CES-LSO, CES-PD

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.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Lurtz, Casey Marina
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 4/15
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, CES-LE, CES-PD, MSCH-HUM

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)

• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Lester, Anne E.
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, CES-LE, CES-LSO, CES-PD

What did Chinese local society look like under the Qing Empire, and how did it change over the early modern era?

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Rowe, William T
• Room: Gilman 277
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, HIST-ASIA

Witchcraft, magic, carnivals, riots, folk tales, gender roles; fertility cults and violence especially in Britain, Germany, France, and Italy.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Marshall, John W
• Room: Gilman 308
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/19
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, HIST-EUROPE

“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.

• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Pearsall, Sarah
• Room:  
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): HIST-US, MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Shepard, Todd
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-AFRICA, INST-GLOBAL, AFRS-AFRICA

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Marshall, John W
• Room: Krieger 308
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/19
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL, CES-LSO, CES-RI

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Ragab, Ahmed; Staff
• Room: Hodson 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Ragab, Ahmed; Staff
• Room: Hodson 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: MW 10:00AM - 10:50AM, F 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Ragab, Ahmed
• Room: Hodson 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina
• Room: Hodson 305
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/20
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: De Azeredo Cerqueira, Flavia Christina
• Room: Hodson 305
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/5
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

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.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Saiber, Arielle
• Room: Gilman 119
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/30
• PosTag(s): MLL-PITAL

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Lurtz, Casey Marina
• Room: Gilman 308
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): HIST-LATAM, INST-GLOBAL, MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Jackson, Lawrence P; Makalani, Minkah
• Room: Gilman 219
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/15
• PosTag(s): CES-ELECT, CES-RI

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.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Hindmarch-Watson, Katherine Anne
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/18
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

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.

• Days/Times: Th 2:30PM - 5:00PM
• Instructor: Amin, Kadji
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

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.

• Days/Times: W 3:00PM - 5:30PM
• Instructor: Havens, Earle A; Michalek, Martin William
• Room: BLC 2043
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/15
• PosTag(s): MLL-ENGL

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Kingsley, Jennifer P
• Room: Gilman 17
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 22/25
• PosTag(s): HIST-EUROPE, ARCH-ARCH, PMUS-INTRO, MSCH-HUM, ARCH-RELATE, CDS-SSMC

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.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: McGinn, Emily
• Room: BLC 4040
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/15
• PosTag(s): PMUS-PRAC, MSCH-HUM, ARCH-RELATE