Spring 2023 Online Classes
Course Guide
This spring, the UMass History Department is offering three online classes, each of which fulfills one or more UMass general education requirements, including Historical Studies (HS), United States Diversity (DU), and Global Diversity (DG). All classes are open to UMass students and the general public. Please join us!
For questions about course content, contact the faculty member teaching the course. For general questions about the UMass History Department's online classes, contact outreach@history.umass.edu. For all other questions, including registration and records, contact University Without Walls. To register, follow the steps noted here.
History 111: World History since 1500
In this course, students are invited to explore the continuities, connections, trends, and ruptures in world history from the late fifteenth century to the present. Throughout the semester, we will investigate the historical processes that formed the modern world, including cross-cultural interactions, capitalism, global migration, colonization and decolonization, nationalism and imperialism, trade networks, revolutions, and war. The course emphasizes the multiple perspectives and experiences that shaped world history, including the determinant role played by non-European societies in making the modern world. Course readings include a textbook and a set of primary sources that provide a window into the diverse human experiences in history. Course assignments include quizzes, primary sources discussion, and short essays. For more information or to request a syllabus, contact Ross Caputi: rcaputi@umass.edu. (4 credits, DG HS GenEd)
History 121: Modern Latin America
Discussions of Latin America usually fall back upon facile generalizations that emphasize recent changes to explain "current events." This course will examine in detail the creation of modern Latin America. We will concentrate on the struggles over land and labor, the creation of nation-states, and the conflicts within those states over issues of citizenship and social justice. The course will also address the contentious role the United States has played in the region. For more information or to request a syllabus, contact Professor Wolfe: jwolfe@history.umass.edu. (4 credits, DG HS GenEd)
History 253: Asian Pacific American History, 1850-present
This course explores the history of Asian Pacific Americans from the 1850s to the present, including the histories of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Lao, Hmong, and Indian Americans. Major themes include racism, ethnicity, capitalism, white supremacy, migration, transnationalism and the ways that Asian American history is linked to the empire-building projects of the United States and other imperial powers in the Asia-Pacific region. Students will read Erika Lee’s The Making of Asian America and other sources. For more information, contact Professor Richard Chu: rtchu@umass.edu. (4 credits, DU HS GenEd)
