Course Descriptions

Fall 2024: I will be teaching FFYS 1000, People and the Environment, and Hist 3452, US Environmental History.

FFYS 1000, First-Year Seminar: People and the Environment (fulfills First-Year seminar requirement)

This First-Year Seminar will introduce students to the field of environmental history. At the most basic level, environmental historians study the relationship of people to the environment.  Some environmental historians emphasize culture and intellectual themes, exploring the ways that people think about the natural world and how that is connected to the ways that they shape it.  Others privilege the economic foundations of environmental relationships, focusing on how human beings get subsistence, comfort, and wealth from the environment. Still others focus on the politics and policy of human relationships with their environment, covering topics such as environmental activism and government regulation.  This course will explore these themes within a historical context, focusing on North America.  Our topics will include American Indian societies, European colonization and settlement, urbanization and industrialization, conservation and environmentalism, and contemporary environmental issues in historical perspective.  We will also look at how you might continue your study of “people and the environment” at LMU.

Hist 1400/Hnrs 2100 The United States and the World (fulfills Historical Analysis and Perspectives requirement)

This course serves as an introductory survey of United States history from the mid nineteenth-century to the early twenty-first century.  It focuses on the experiences of groups and individuals and their relationships to the broader structures of United States society, by examining changes to American society over time, exploring their causes, and analyzing their consequences, within a transnational context.  This course will also highlight particular themes that will help students understand the development of the United States and its place in the world, including migration and immigration; the ways that race, class, gender, and sexuality impact historical experience; the transformation of the nation’s economy, from agrarian-based, to industrialization, to globalization; the expansion of the federal government; and the growing presence and influence of the United States in the world.

Hist 2405, Civil Rights Activism, 1880-Present (fulfills Studies in American Diversity requirement)

This course examines the history of US civil rights activism and advocacy from the late-nineteenth century to the present.  It traces the efforts by several groups to achieve and expand the full rights of United States citizenship, focusing on African Americans, LGBTQ+ people, and women.  It also draws connections between activist movements in the United States and throughout the world.  Throughout the course we ask a series of fundamental questions as we trace the experiences of these groups over time: What have been the conditions of these groups and what demands have they made for full citizenship in US society?  What have been the different forms of activism and advocacy and how have they changed over time?  How have their efforts been received and what changes have they made?  Have the efforts of activists and advocates been confined to their groups, or did they work to expand the rights of all Americans?  What is the nature of these struggles today and how can we better understand them by examining this history?  Since this is a survey class we pay particular attention to how these efforts by different groups are contextualized within the broader changes of US society and culture.

Hist 2450, Indigenous Histories

This course introduces students to the study of history, including historical method, the writing of history, and historical interpretation, with a focus on the field of Indigenous History.  For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples have maintained traditions and practices of historical interpretation.  European and Americans began interpreting the history of Indigenous peoples during the colonization of North American, incorporating Indigenous peoples into broader historical narratives that served colonial purposes.  By the late twentieth century, new trends in historical scholarship focused attention on Indigenous perspectives and the field has continued to expand and shift directions, often in response to broader social forces and the advocacy of Indigenous scholars and activists.  This course will study this “history of Indigenous History,” then students will prepare a research proposal and annotated bibliography for a major research paper in Indigenous History.

Hist 3452, US Environmental History (cross-listed with Environmental Studies, fulfills Interdisciplinary Connections requirement)

Grounded in US Environmental History – which examines relationships between humans and the environment and how they change over time, as well as the role of the environment in social, cultural, and political history – this upper-division course focuses on environmental inequalities and movements for environmental justice, with particular attention to BIPOC, women, and working-class populations.  Organized topically, it moves roughly chronologically, covering topics that include Indigenous peoples and settler colonialism, urban development, rural communities, wilderness protection, nuclear and chemical research and production, and energy production and climate change.  

Hist 4411, History of the American West (cross-listed with Environmental Studies, fulfills Interdisciplinary Connections requirement)

This course surveys the history of the American West, focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries.  Throughout the semester, we will discuss six overlapping themes: 1) the drive by the United States government and its citizens to conquer the lands of North America; 2) the struggles by the region’s inhabitants to control and adapt to the changes brought by newcomers to their lands; 3) the migration of peoples to the West from all over the world; 4) the transformation of the region’s society, culture, politics, and economy; 5) and the shifting relationships between the West, the United States, and the world.  Furthermore, throughout the course, we will constantly question what we mean by the “West” and how useful a term it is for understanding historical experience. 

Hist 4412, History of California (cross-listed with Liberal Studies)

This course surveys the history of California from the sixteenth century to the end of the twentieth century.  Thematically, it will highlight 1) migration and immigration; 2) the transformation of the state’s economy; 3) how race, class, and gender mitigate historical experiences; 4) California’s unique culture and the perception of that culture; 5) and the shifting relationships between California, the American West, the United States, and the world.

Hist 4441, Hollywood and History: US History through Film (fulfills Interdisciplinary Connections requirement)

This course explores twentieth-century United States history through film.  It is based on the premise that films reflect the historical trends of the periods in which they are made.  We will work to develop critical tools to contextualize, analyze, and critique the images and ideologies conveyed on the screen as we watch films that address the major historical problems and issues of 20th century America.  In addition, we will read and discuss the work of film commentators and historians that offer additional perspectives on film; address the historical trends of the periods under study; and explore developments in the film industry. 

Hist 5400, Seminar: Indigenous Peoples and American History

This course introduces students to current scholarship in the history of the Indigenous Peoples of North America.  While framed by the conditions of European and American settler colonialism, it focuses on Indigenous agency in negotiating these forces to survive and adapt to become active participants in shaping modern American culture and society.  Based on historiographical and secondary readings, weekly discussions will cover topics such as settler colonialism as a theoretical foundation, the contested North American West, California’s foundations, Indigenous Nation histories, reservation struggles, American Indian activism, Native peoples and modern society, and how to write Indigenous Peoples into North American history.  A parallel component of the course will discuss research methods, to guide students through the processes of choosing a topic and writing a research paper based on a combination of primary and secondary sources.  By the latter weeks of the course these research papers will be the course focus and include individual feedback and consultation, peer review, and class presentations.