History - Asia (HISC)

History - Asia (HISC)

HISC 1500  Special Topics  (3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department.

HISC 1910  Special Topics  (3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated unlimited times for credit.

Course Limit: 99

HISC 1940  Transfer Coursework  (0-20)  

Transfer Coursework at the 1000 level. Department approval may be required.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 2010  History of China to 1800  (3)  

This survey course introduces the main themes of Chinese history, from Neolithic times down to the end of the pre-modern era (marked, both by tradition and for sake of convenience, at 1800 CE). Key topics include the exploration of the religious, moral, and social beliefs of early China as well as the assessment of the significance of the institutions of state and family, which have left such a striking imprint on the whole of Chinese history. This course is intended for those with little or no prior study of Chinese history; by the end of the semester, students should have a rounded perspective on the diversity as well as the essential continuities of Chinese culture in its formative stages.

HISC 2020  History of China since 1800  (3)  

This survey course introduces the main themes in Chinese history from the height of the Qing dynasty to the end of the twentieth century. The first half of the course explores the political, social, economic, and cultural trends of the late imperial era. The second half of the course examines twentieth-century China, from the turbulent years of the Republican period to the traumatic events of the Cultural Revolution and beyond. This course is intended for those with little or no prior study of Chinese history.

HISC 2120  History of Modern India  (3)  

This is an introductory survey of the major cultural, social, political thought, traditions, and institutions of the Indian subcontinent or South Asia from 1500 to the present. No prior knowledge of the area or the culture is assumed or expected from the students.

HISC 2910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 2940  Transfer Coursework  (0-20)  

Transfer Coursework at the 2000 level. Department approval may be required.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 3000  Historical Methods: HISC 3910  (1)  

Historical Methods Lab. For description, consult the department.

HISC 3910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 3970  Special Topics - Asia  (3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 4910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 5380  Junior Year Abroad  (1-20)  


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 6110  Women in East Asian History  (3,4)  

Historically, women in East Asia had to negotiate with a highly patriarchal and Confucian world. This course aims at exploring the lives of women in East Asia, hoping to gain a further understanding of the challenges they faced under traditional Confucian regimes as well as the modernizing states of the 19th and 20th centuries. Special attention will be placed on the roles of personal agency and state power in shaping female lives and identity

HISC 6120  Women In China & Japan  (3)  

This course examines women's history and gender relations in both traditional and modern China and Japan. Themes to be explored include the constantly evolving roles of women in the family and as workers, artists, writers, and revolutionaries.

HISC 6210  The PRC: China under Communism  (3,4)  

In 1949, as Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese people were once again under a united government, ending decades of civil strife and foreign aggression. Yet the year 1949 represented only the military victory of the CCP, and in the following decades the new rulers of China would attempt to recreate state and society on a previously unimaginable scale. This course explores the dramatic years following the establishment of the PRC and follows the mass campaigns and political upheavals that marked Chinese history under the rule of the Communist Party. Attention will be given to both mass movements in the countryside and events that largely affected urban dwellers and intellectuals. Overall, this course aims at understanding the large-scale structural changes of the revolutionary era of 1949 to 1976 and its aftermath, as well as what these changes meant for the lives of individual Chinese citizens.

HISC 6310  China Revolution 1900-1949  (3)  

China's twentieth century was irrevocably and profoundly marked by the Chinese Revolution. But how are historians to define the Chinese Revolution, both in setting its temporal boundaries and interpreting the meaning behind the event? Is it possible to determine the causes of the Revolution, or to elucidate why it took the path that it did? What did the Revolution mean for different social groups, as well as the individual? This course, an intensive reading seminar, is designed to address these issues by engaging a wide range of scholarship. Key topics include the legacy of the Republican Era, the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, land reform, and the impact of the revolutionary era on the lives of women. 

HISC 6410  Empire and Rebellion in China  (3)  

During the Ming and Oing dynasties, Chinese emperors faced the enormous challenge of maintaining control over a vast and populous polity. This seminar will explore the methods utilized in the late imperial age to control the populace. These methods-most notably the state, legal, and family systems-were never fully effective in enforcing the will of dynastic rulers. As such, we will also investigate the possibilities for resistance against imperial rule and the Confucian worldview. While control and resistance will be the main themes for this seminar, other topics such as the roles of the environment and identity in history will add to our understanding of the late imperial age. Please note that this is a reading and writing intensive course that will rely heavily on the peer-review process. 

HISC 6610  Seminar on Modern Japan  (3-4)  

Japan's rapid transformation from a traditional agrarian society to a modern nation-state has been one of the most intensely studied and debated topics in the historiography of Asia. This course explores the continuities and contrasts in Japanese history from the late Shogunate period to the disasters of the Pacific War; particular emphasis will be placed on how Japan came to be defined as a modern nation. Please note that this is a reading and writing intensive course that will utilize both peer-collaboration and peer-review. 

HISC 6910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department. Course may be repeated up to unlimited credit hours.


Maximum Hours: 99

HISC 7910  Special Topics  (1-3)  

Courses offered by visiting professors or permanent faculty. For description, consult the department.