Programs & Courses

(WITH DESCRIPTIONS FOR Special Topics courses and seminars)

Core Distribution codes: (HP) History/Philosophy; (CC) Cross Cultural/
(WI) Writing Intensive

It is strongly recommended that students consult a professor in the Department of History prior to registration every semester.

Questions? Email: sally.charnow@hofstra.edu

• Hist 008J, sec 01: Key Events: Rise of American Rights
• Hist 008k, sec 01: The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon
• Hist 010, sec 01 (CC/HP): Intro to Global History 3sh, TR 9:40-11:05, Professor Yuki Terazawa
  This course is an introduction to major historical processes of global scope. Themes will vary but may include: diaspora and migration; the emergence of civilizations; worlds of slavery; gender and sexuality; empire and expansion; scientific revolutions; independence movements; and world wars.
• Hist 012, sec 01 (HP): Modern Worlds 3sh, MW 11:20-12:45, Professor Pugliese
  The rise of the modern west and the crises of the twentieth century: the struggles and contradictions which have led to continuing change in western civilization. Topics include the formation of the state, development of a capitalist economy, impact of technology on social change, development of science and philosophy, rise of industry and the emergence of a mass-society, modern nationalism, imperialism and war. A recurrent theme will be the role of revolution and the attempts to reconstruct society according to various ideal models including socialism, fascism and communism.
• Hist 013, sec 01 (HP): US: Colonial to Cival War 3 sh, MWF 8:30-9:25, Professor Galgano
  Intensive study of controversial issues from the colonial period through the Civil War. The course is not chronological, but rather organized around themes of the faculty member’s choosing. Conflicting points of view are addressed in lectures, readings, and discussions. 
• Hist 014C, sec 01 (HP): US History: Reconstruction – Present 3 sh, TR 4:20 – 5:35, Professor Munz
  Intensive study of controversial issues from the aftermath of the Civil War to the early 21st century. The course is not chronological, but rather organized around themes of the faculty member’s choosing.  Conflicting points of view are addressed in lectures, readings, and discussions. 
• Hist 014F, sec 01 (HP) : Italian Diaspora 3 sh, MW 9:10 – 11:05, Professor Pugliese
  Italy is a country of 60 million people. There are at least another 60 million people of Italian descent scattered across the globe.
  What can these different migrations tell us about Italian history, migration, transnational ties, racism, assimilation, and cultural legacies? 
  This course will examine the forces that pushed emigrants to leave Italy and those that pulled them to other countries. We will examine the “melting pot,” “salad bowl,” and “garbage can” metaphors social scientists use to describe the diasporic experience. Students will focus on the larger forces that affected the immigrant experience (and therefore which apply to other immigrant groups as well). A particular concern will be with Italian-American literature and the various attempts to forge a viable ethnic identity.
• History 014F sec 02 (HP): Middle Ages at the Movies 4sh, TR 2:40 – 4:35, Prof B. Westermeier
  This course gives first-year students the opportunity to work in a seminar format with a member of the faculty in an area of the faculty member’s research interests. 
• Hist 020, sec 01 (HP): Why History Matters: Immigration  3sh, MW 11:20-12:45 3 Professor Ahr
  Through the centuries, our world has been defined by many migrations of scale—around the globe, back and forth. And the present is also such a moment of movement. Greece and Turkey, not to mention Mexico, have recently become conduits to the West for peoples fleeing poverty, oppression, and violence—in search of change, opportunity, and safety. What are the experiences of these migrants (emigrants come immigrants), their fates and futures? Classes will combine lecture and discussion; and our texts are a combination of fiction and non-fiction, primary and secondary.
• Hist 020, sec 02 (HP): Why History Matters: The Crusades 3 sh, TR,11:20 - 12:45 pm, Professor Burton Westermeier
• HIST 020 sec 03  (HP) Why History Matters: Race and Body Aesthetics
  This course examines perspectives on crusading from its origins in the Middle Ages to the modern world. In particular, we will focus on portrayals of the Third Crusade (1189-1192) and its most famous Muslim leader, Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (c. 1137-1193), more commonly known in English as Saladin. We will examine a wide variety of sources ranging from a medieval biography of Saladin by his follower Baha’ al-Din Ibn Shaddad to modern works such as the 1963 Egyptian film al-Nasser Salah al-Din (Saladin the Victorious).
• HIST029 sec 01(HP): American Lives, 3sh, TR 11:20-12:45 pm, Professor John Munz
  In a biographical approach to historical understanding, the course considers the lives of four to six American men and women, chosen by the instructor to represent important aspects of American society since 1900. Individuals will be examined with regard to their interactions with society and one another, in the light of not only biographical and autobiographical texts but also of sound recordings, films, and visits to historical sites.
• HIST 036 sec 01 (HP): The Holocaust: Memory & Representation, 3sh, TR 11:20-12:45, Professor Santiago Slabodsky
  This course will explore the diversity of Jewish identities in the US from a historical perspective. Students will survey the creative paths that Jewish communities and individuals have taken to negotiate and reimagine memories, experiences, and traditions in conversation with each other and with other collectives in American society. Topics will include the relationship between immigration and assimilation, antisemitism and freedom, Zionism and diasporism, communal agreements and polemics, gender constructions and religious differences, ethnic crossovers and racial tensions, and political participation and popular culture. 
• Hist 102 WI (HP): Investigating the Past: Stories from the Street: Memory, History, and the Public, 4sh, MW 2:40-4:35pm, Professor Sally Charnow
  This class explores the role of historical memory in shaping our understanding of the past as it is put to use in public settings. Topics include the treatment and curating of memory, history, and the collective past in museums and exhibitions; digital and new media including websites, podcasts, and film; the use and interpretation of material cultural and artifacts; and the presentation of history in historic sites.  Through class discussions and assignments, we will examine the activities of public historians and the issues they face in their work. Students will get hands-on experience in many of these activities and produce final projects based on their field work and oral history interviews.
• Hist 103 WI: Debating History: Liberal Reform and the Rise of the Right TR 11:20-1:15pm, Professor Carolyn Eisenberg
  The 1960s were the high watermark of liberal reform. There was a widely shared belief in the efficacy of the federal government, and its responsibility to promote greater equality and a range of social benefits for all Americans. Since then, this consensus has eroded, with a weakening of the liberal mission and rise of the political right. In this class, we will examine these changes, with all political perspectives welcome. We will be using films, memoir and biography, as well as historical works to explore the changes and their meaning for our lives.
• Hist 104 sec 01 (HP): Stories from the Street: TR 1:00-2:25 pm
• HIST 115 sec 01 (HP), African American History to 1865, 3sh, MW 11:20 – 12:45,  Professor Katrina Sims
• Hist 127 sec 01 (HP): Race, Sport & Americas 3sh, TR, 4:20- 5:45 pm, Professor John Staudt
  This course introduces students to the history of sports as a way to understand racism and the experiences of racialized communities in the Americas. We will use sports history as a lens to understand social movements, the communities of players and fans, and the business of popular culture. Long before Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the U.S. national anthem, sports stars used their platforms to express their commitment to civil rights. That hasn’t only occurred in the U.S. context. The course may examine, for example, sport in the Brazilian transition to democracy, during apartheid in South Africa, and among Afro-Cubans to understand race in the global sporting landscape as well as the history of race in the U.S., for example, as reflected through the prism of baseball from the late 19th to the early 21st centuries.
• Hist 133 sec 01:Modern Germany 3sh, MW 9:40 – 11:05, Professor Johan Ahr
  This course explores the history of Germany from unification in 1870 to the present, with emphasis on World War I and World War II, the Holocaust, the partitioning of Germany, the nation’s reunification of “East” and “West” in 1989, and the fall of “the Wall.”
• Hist 147 sec 01: US: 1900 - 1945 3 sh, TR 4:20 – 5:45pm, Professor TBA
  Politics and society in America from the turn of the century to 1945. Emphasis on changing political thought and trends in business, labor, family life and popular culture.
• Hist 162C sec 01: (HP) Protest & Reform in American History 3sh, TR 2:40 – 4:05, Professor Carolyn Eisenberg
  Exploration of the broad theme of social change in American historical experience. Through a consideration of selected aspects of radical and meliorist reform traditions, the dynamics of the interrelationships between individual conscience and social institutions, and the role of personal and collective idealism and commitment in the attempt to redirect cultural traditions and transform social institutions are studied. Movements examined might include: abolitionism, temperance, anti-war movements and pacifism, civil rights and social equality movements, women’s rights and Feminism, Anarchism and Socialism, Populism, Progressivism and the New Deal.
• Hist 170 sec 01: (HP) The Middle East and the West, 3sh, MW, 4:20-5:45, Professor TBA
  This course examines political and socio-cultural interactions between Europe, the United States, and the Middle East from 1945 to the present. Topics include evolving historical representations of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the 1979 Iranian Revolution, 9/11, the Iraq War, the Arab Spring, current attitudes toward Arab/Muslim culture, and the role American popular culture plays in the Middle East.
• Hist 177G  sec 01: (CC) Samurai to Anime, 3 sh, TR 2:40 – 4:05, Professor Yuki Terazawa.
  This course introduces Japanese culture, history, and politics from an interdisciplinary perspective, focused on topics such as, the samurai past, Japan’s transition from the pre-modern to the modern period, World War II in Asia and the Pacific, Atomic Bombing, and contemporary J-pop culture. The materials that will be used include historical documents, short stories and films. We will have extensive discussions on Japanese samurai and Godzilla movies, the latter with its connection to Atomic Bombing. 
• HIST 187 01 WI: Seminar: Epidimics, Disease and American Medicine, 4sh, MW 3:50-545, Professor Katrina Sims