Undergraduate
Summer Course Descriptions - 2024
The Department offers 100-level, 200-level, 300-level, and 400-level History (HIS) courses.
PLEASE NOTE
- Course descriptions are not final and may be changed at or before the first class.
- For enrolment instructions, students should consult the Faculty of Arts & Science Summer 2024 Timetable.
- Prerequisites will be enforced rigorously. Students who do not have the relevant prerequisite(s) may be removed from the course after classes begin. Specific questions regarding prerequisites for a course can be answered by the course instructor. Where there are two instructors of a course, an asterisk (*) indicates the Course Coordinator.
**This page will be updated regularly. Please check here for curriculum changes.
Course Nomenclature
- Y1-Y is a full course, both terms.
- Y1-F is a full course, first term (fall session)
- Y1-S is a full course, second term (winter session)
- H1-F is a half course, first term (fall session)
- H1-S is a half course, second term (winter session)
100 Level Courses
100-level HIS courses are designed for students entering university. They take a broad sweep of material, and introduce students to the methods and techniques of university study. Each week, students will attend two lectures given by the course professor, and participate in one tutorial led by a teaching assistant. First year courses are not considered to be in an ‘area’ for program requirements.
All 100-series HIS courses are mutually exclusive, with the exception of AP, IB, CAPE, or GCE transfer credits. Students may enrol in only one 100-series History course. Students enrolled in more than one of these courses (or who have completed one of these courses or a previous HIS 100-series course with a mark of 50% or greater) will be removed at any time. First-Year students can also enrol in 200-series HIS courses. ALL students enrolled in a History Specialist, Major, or Minor program must take ONE 100-level HIS course.
HIS103Y1-Y, LEC0101 Strategy and Statecraft: War and Diplomacy in European History
An analysis of the development of the international system, from 1648 to 1945, which highlights the role of war as an instrument of national policy, as a determinant of the system of states and as a threat to international society.
Exclusion: HIS100Y1, HIS101Y1, HIS102Y1, HIS106Y1, HIS107Y1, HIS108Y1, HIS109Y1, HIS110Y1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: TBA
Lecture: Monday & Wednesday 3-5
Tutorials: TBA
Temporal: ½ credit
200 Level Courses
200-Level HIS courses are surveys that introduce in broad outlines the history of a particular country, region, continent, or theme. Most are essential background for further upper-level study in the area. Students will generally attend two lectures and participate in one tutorial each week. The 200-level courses are open to first year students as well as those in higher years.
HIS244H1-S, LEC5101 Early Modern Europe, 1648-1815
The political, social, economic, and intellectual history of continental Europe. Development of royal absolutism, social change and the crisis of the ancient regime, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic era.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: TBA
Lecture: Tuesday & Thursday 5-7
Tutorials: TBA
Geographical Area: c
Temporal: ½ credit
HIS 264H1-F, L5101 Critical Issues in Canadian History
This course introduces the history of Canada through an exploration of key themes and methods. It will cover several time periods, but it is not a standard survey that begins with New France and proceeds forward to next week. Rather, we will focus on some the key forces that shaped Canada over time. We will also study some of the important skills of historical research and writing. Possible topics include treaties with First Nations, immigration, empire and nationalism, welfare, and environment. All students are welcome, but a key aim of the course is to help prepare students for upper year Canadian History courses.
Exclusion: HIS262H1, HIS263Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: TBA
Lecture: Monday & Wednesday 5-7
Tutorials: TBA
Geographical Area: b
HIS280Y1-Y, LEC0101 History of China
A critical history of the place we today call China from prehistoric times to the 21st century, tracing shifting borders, identities, governments, and cultures while challenging any singular definition of "China."
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: TBA
Lecture: Monday & Wednesday 1-3
Tutorials: TBA
Geographical Area: a
Temporal: ½ credit
300 Level Courses
300-Level HIS courses are more specialized and intensive. They deal with more closely defined periods or themes. They vary in format, with some being based around lectures, and others involving tutorial or discussion groups. Most 300-level courses have prerequisites, which are strictly enforced. First year students are not permitted to enrol in 300 or 400-level HIS courses. Although some upper level courses do not have specific prerequisites, courses at the 300- and 400-level are demanding and require a good comprehension of history.
HIS322H1-F, L0101 Topics in African History: Mobility and the Making of European Empires in Africa
The colonial period in Africa was known for the extraordinary mobility of people, fauna, goods, cultures, and ideas. Both involuntary and voluntary mobility characterized this epoch. This course explores the significance and the indispensableness of all these forms of mobility in the making of European empires in Africa. The course explores the motives behind various forms of mobility by the indigenous people, Europeans as well as “things” within empires and between the metropole and the African territories in the 19th Century. By taking this direction, the course attempts to bring to the fore the fact that mobility was not a one-way but a but was also characterized by the mobility of people, ‘things and capital to the metropole, and the empire was not made overnight but over a process that spanned the entire period. The course will help expose the fact that all forms of mobility during this period were meant to benefit the metropole and chiefly the European capitalists, but some African societies and individuals thrived. The course touches on African precolonial mobilities, exploration and early colonial expansion, and colonial knowledge constructions of Africa will be explored. The impact of colonialism and borders on the redirection of labor, new forms of social mobility, gendered mobilities, borders and indigenous mobility, and the and the mobility of “things” within the new colonial infrastructures and geographies will also be explored. Overall, the course uses the lens of mobility to explore everyday life in the British, German, French, and Italian empires.
Recommended Preparation: HIS295Y1
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: TBA
Lecture: Wednesday & Friday 2-4
Geographical Area: a
HIS333H1-S, L0101 Catholic Asia in the Early Modern Era, 1500-1800
This course examines the impact of Catholicism in Asia, from its introduction to its relevance in the contemporary global order. Students will be introduced to how Catholicism and the technologies accompanying it affected historical transitions in local communities in Asia as well as how the growth of these communities has affected the global Catholic Church.
Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in European or Asian history. Students who do not meet the prerequisite are encouraged to contact the Department.
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: N. Tran
Lecture: Tuesday & Thursday 10-12 (online)
Geographic Area: a
Temporal: ½ credit
HIS343H1-F, L0101 History of Modern Intelligence
This course explores the rise of modern intelligence over the long 20th century, from Anglo-Russian imperial competition before World War I through to the post-9/11 era. Students will study the contribution of intelligence services to victories and defeats in war, peace, and the grey areas in between. The course will also examine the relationship between intelligence services and society.
Exclusion: HIS343Y1
Recommended Preparation: HIS103Y1 or an equivalent introduction to modern international relations
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
Instructor: T. Sayle
Lecture: Tuesday & Thursday 1-3
400 Level Courses
400-Level HIS courses are two-hour seminars that deal with very specialized subjects and are often closely connected to a professor's research. Most have specific course pre-requisites and require extensive reading, research, writing, and seminar discussion, and in most you will have the opportunity to do a major research paper. All 400-level HIS courses have enrolment restrictions during the FIRST ROUND (must have completed 14 or more full courses, be enrolled in a HIS Major, Specialist or Joint Specialist program and have the appropriate prerequisite). During the SECOND ROUND of enrolment, access to 400-level seminars is open to all 3rd and 4th year students with the appropriate prerequisite. IMPORTANT: Due to significant enrolment pressure on 4th year seminars, during the first round of enrolment, the Department of History reserves the right to REMOVE STUDENTS who enrol in more than the required number for program completion (Specialists – 2; Majors, Joint Specialists – 1) without consultation. First year students are not permitted to enrol in 300 or 400-level HIS courses.
Students in 400-level seminars MUST ATTEND THE FIRST CLASS, or contact the professor to explain their absence. Failure to do so may result in the Department withdrawing the student from the seminar in order to "free up" space for other interested students. Additional 400-level seminars for the 2024 Summer Session may be added at a later date. To fulfill History program requirements, students may also use 400- level courses offered by other Departments at the U of T that are designated as 'Equivalent Courses'.
HIS495H1-F, L5101 Topics in History: An Empire of Travel: British World Tourism in the Long Nineteenth Century
This course explores the relationship between British imperialism and the rise of modern tourism in the nineteenth century. Particular attention is given to the industry’s expansion from Britain to the European continent and beyond, as well the role of royal tours in advancing imperialist objectives and the various impacts of tourist demand for international exhibitions and big-game hunting excursions. Drawing on contemporary scholarship and social theory, this course also considers the formation of imperial identities during a period of unprecedented mobility for the working and middle classes. Course themes include Romanticism, political hegemony, the spectacle, nationalism, racial formation, and gender.
Prerequisite: 14.0 credits, including 2.0 HIS credits excluding HIS262H1.
Recommended Preparation: Varies from year to year
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Instructor: TBA
Seminar: Tuesday & Thursday 5-7
Geographic Area: c