Core Courses & Concentrations

IHIS core courses

IHIS core courses are designed to expose students to the major methodological and theoretical approaches to historical interpretation, with special attention to the analytical issues associated with comparative and trans-regional history. 

All core courses are theoretical in nature or international in scope, and most have a substantial research component. 

The required core course, Global Perspectives on International History, explores diverse approaches to historical globalization: political, diplomatic, economic, ecological, cultural. In addition, it examines the relations between globalizing processes and history as it is experienced, discussed, and debated in nations and communities. It asks why historical understandings have focused on national developments, while the forces of change have operated on ever larger scales. This course serves as a foundation for the major. 

IHIS Concentrations

IHIS majors work with a faculty mentor to design a concentration devoted to exploration of a period, theme, region or question of interest. A few basic rules guide the design: 

• Concentrations emphasizing a single primary theme - such as diplomacy, environment, or culture - should incorporate at least two world regions.
• Concentrations on the history of one world region should incorporate diverse approaches, such as social history, political history, economic history, or cultural history.
• Concentrations must be interdisciplinary.
• All courses numbered above 100 in the history department may be used in the concentration, but at least three courses in the concentration must be numbered 200 or higher. 
• Two courses from disciplines other than history must be included in the concentration. (Up to two additional courses from departments other than history may be included either within the concentration or as part of the core course selections in International History.)

Sample Concentrations:

Concentrations focused on the history of a world region would likely include the two-semester survey of that region; two advanced history courses on the region; and two courses in related disciplines (government, literature, anthropology, etc.) on that region. (If the student took the regional survey to meet the sophomore regional history requirement, then four advanced history courses on the region would apply to the concentration, since regional history courses may not double-count toward a major.) 

A concentration on gender, revolutions, diplomacy, or another theme in comparative historical perspective would combine four courses in history with two from other disciplines focused on the theme selected, including at least two world regions.

Regional or thematic concentrations are most common in International History. Yet we encourage students to work with mentors to design more unique programs: Atlantic History-combining work in European, U.S., Latin American, and African histories, and focused on their interactions; State Power and Cultural Contests in two world regions; Environmental History-with global reach and a regional sub-focus; etc.