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Course Listing for HISTORY - Spring 2027 (ALL: 01/25/2027 - 05/14/2027)
Class
No.		 Course ID Title Credits Type Instructor(s) Days:Times Location Permission
Required		 Dist Qtr
2966 HIST-214-01 Eastern Europe Since 1848 1.00 LEC Rodriguez, Allison MWF: 9:00AM-9:50AM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 35 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  “Eastern Europe” usually evokes images of grey buildings and Communist workers. But this points to only one historical moment of a region that has been a cosmopolitan empire, a site of new democracies, and the killing grounds of millions of Europeans. This course will explore the various “Eastern Europes” which have existed since 1848, starting with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With its dissolution after the First World War, we will follow the history of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia from the interwar period, through the destruction and horror of World War II, the establishment of the Soviet Bloc and finally the fall of Communism. We will explore issues of nationalism, fascism and socialism in the Eastern European context. Readings will include contemporary novels, memoirs and film.
2255 HIST-220-02 Possible Earths 1.00 SEM Cocco, Sean MWF: 12:00PM-12:50PM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  NOTE: Seat reservations: 5 seats reserved for first-year students, 7 for sophomores, and 3 for juniors.
  This seminar examines environmental thinking across histories and cultures in order to retrieve sources of hope and wisdom for a planetary future. Reading and discussion will foreground current humanity's vast inheritance when it comes to ways of existing in community with and knowing a living planet. Students will look critically at how texts, images, objects, and practices are historical evidence of the many ways humans have imagined natural communities and acted within them.
2469 HIST-220-03 Possible Earths 1.00 SEM Kete, Kathleen TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This seminar examines environmental thinking across histories and cultures in order to retrieve sources of hope and wisdom for a planetary future. Reading and discussion will foreground current humanity's vast inheritance when it comes to ways of existing in community with and knowing a living planet. Students will look critically at how texts, images, objects, and practices are historical evidence of the many ways humans have imagined natural communities and acted within them.
2256 HIST-221-01 Science,Religion&Nature 1.00 LEC Cocco, Sean TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 35 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  The astronomer Galileo Galilei’s trial before the Roman Inquisition nearly four centuries ago endures as a symbol of the clash between science and religion. Undoubtedly, the rise of early modern science in 17th-century Europe provoked its share of battles, but was this the whole story? This course will lead students to consider the origin and extent of the apparently irreconcilable differences between world views. How wide was the rift between science and religion, especially before the Enlightenment? Students will be encouraged to explore this complex relationship in historical context, by weighing the coexistence of scientific curiosity and intense faith, and also by considering the religious response to the expanding horizons of knowledge. The course will highlight investigations of the heavens and the earth, thus seeking instructive comparisons between disciplines such as astronomy, botany, and geology. A number of broad themes will be the focus. These include the understanding of God and nature, authority (classical and scriptural) versus observation, the wide range of knowledge-making practices, the place of magic, and finally the influence of power and patronage. The class seeks to present a rich and exciting picture, looking forward as well to the influence of rational thinking and scientific inquiry on the making of modernity.
2972 HIST-233-01 Whiteness in American History 1.00 LEC Gac, Scott MW: 11:30AM-12:45PM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 20 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This introductory course delves into the origins, development, and impact of Whiteness as a racial category. Through thought-provoking readings and discussions, it explores how White identity has evolved over time, examining both its historical roots and theoretical frameworks. Beyond unpacking the concept of Whiteness itself, the course investigates its crucial role in shaping race and class dynamics in American history.
2258 HIST-238-01 Caribbean History 1.00 LEC Euraque, Dario TR: 2:55PM-4:10PM TBA HUGI  
  Enrollment limited to 35 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: INTS-238-01
  The location of the first encounter, conquest, and colonization of Native American peoples by Europeans, the Caribbean became a center of bitter rivalries between European imperial powers, and later in the 20th century a new, premiere location of the United States’ own imperial thrust. The Caribbean’s strategic location in relation to Atlantic Ocean trade routes and its tropical climate and fertile soils were key factors in shaping these imperial rivalries and the colonial and postcolonial societies that emerged in the region. The vast experience of African slavery, the later “indentured” migration of hundreds of thousands of Asians to some colonies, and the migration of similar numbers of Europeans (especially to the Hispanic Caribbean) have shaped deeply yet unevenly the nature of Caribbean societies since the 16th century, giving the Caribbean a complex multi-ethnic, yet also heavily “Western,” cultural landscape. This course will introduce students to these and other aspects of Caribbean history, from the pre-European era, through the epics of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) and the Cuban Revolution of 1959, to the present.
3061 HIST-239-01 Modernizing Europe: 1710-1789 1.00 SEM Kete, Kathleen TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM TBA  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Europe in the eighteenth century established the primacy of capitalism in agriculture, commerce and manufacturing, innovations of the economy that we remain subject to today. This course introduces students to the debates that ensued at the time over the impacts of this transition to a market economy. The course also enters into contemporary discussions of how states should be run and on what principles they should rest. Can people be free and equal at the same time, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others claimed for us? How traditional forms of community were reshaped into the powerful nation states of Atlantic Europe – France and Britain especially – and what that means for us today is the narrative arc of this course.
2890 HIST-241-01 Hist China Shang-Ming 1.00 LEC Alejandrino, Clark MWF: 10:00AM-10:50AM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 35 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This first half of the Chinese history survey covers roughly the period between the appearance of the first ancient Shang city-states more than three thousand years ago until the Ming empire became a central hub in a truly global economy by 1600. As we go through millenia of Chinese history, we will consider several questions: What did it mean to be Chinese at different historical and spatial junctures? How much of Chinese history was shaped by what was happening outside of what we know today as China? How did the historical dynamics within China shape the world outside of it? In the process, we will look at the kinds of historiographical debates that have animated scholarship, primarily in English, about imperial China.
2997 HIST-256-01 Human Rights in Lat Amer&Carib 1.00 LEC Euraque, Dario MW: 2:55PM-4:10PM TBA HUGI  
  Enrollment limited to 35 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: INTS-256-01, HRST-256-01
  In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of people were “disappeared,” tortured and murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean, mostly by military regimes and by para-military death-squads. The period is often characterized as perhaps the lowest point in the modern abuse of “Human Rights” in the region. This course explores how these central notions, the human and rights, have evolved in theory and in practice in the history of the Americas. The course begins with the 16th-century debates among the Spaniards over the “humanity” of Indians and enslaved Africans; it then covers distinguishing elements of the human and rights within the legal structures of the nations created after independence from Spain in the 1820s and before the more contemporary conceptions of human rights in the aftermath of the Holocaust and the crimes against humanity during WWII. Finally, the modern conception and practice of human rights defense and legal monitoring are explored in case studies in the region from the late 1940s to the 1980s.
3050 HIST-273-01 The Emergence of Modern Japan 1.00 LEC Mall, Shatrunjay TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 30 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course examines the social, economic, and cultural transformations that have occurred in Japan from its initial encounter with Western modernity to the present day. We will uncover Japan’s rise in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a modern empire and military power prior to its defeat and destruction in World War II. Positioning Japan within the East Asian region and the global Cold War, we will analyze its emergence as a pacifist postwar “economic miracle” and cultural superpower. Exploring the impact of the “Lost Decades,” we will engage with contemporary issues that the country faces in the twenty-first century. By the end of the course, students will acquire a more sophisticated historical understanding of a major global power within the emerging world system. Students who have taken HIST 223 or HIST 224 may not enroll in this course due to the overlapping course material.
2968 HIST-279-01 Food Latin America/Caribbean 1.00 LEC Euraque, Dario TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 30 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: INTS-279-01
  Food in Latin America and the Caribbean has a rich, long history before Columbus sailed into the Caribbean Sea in 1492. This past was enhanced by economic and cultural aspects of European Colonialism and the Atlantic Slave Trade, even with their tragic legacies. Before 1492, millions of Indigenous peoples grew corn, beans, chilies, cacao, quinoa, avocados, potatoes, tomatoes, and more. Europeans brought wheat, cattle, lambs, and many fruits from Africa and Asia, including sugar, bananas, and coffee. Africans, free and enslaved, brought their own crops: okra, rice, yams, black-eyed peas, kidney and lima beans, and especial techniques for cultivating and cooking. This course explores the economic history of colonial and post-colonial food production, consumption, global marketing and branding in Latin America and the Caribbean.
3051 HIST-284-01 World War II in Asia 1.00 SEM Mall, Shatrunjay MW: 11:30AM-12:45PM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 19 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Asia was a major front in World War II, the deadliest conflict in human history. Approximately half of the war’s global casualties were in Asia, with the start of hostilities in the continent arguably preceding other world regions. Nevertheless, Asian experiences of the conflict are often overlooked in popular discussions, beyond a few catastrophic events. In this course, you will learn how different regions of Asia – India, China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia – got embroiled in the war and were profoundly reshaped by it. You will understand World War II through its impact on the lives of hundreds of millions of ordinary people. Approaching the conflict as a social history beyond the battlefield, you will analyze historical scholarship, memoirs, oral histories, films, and documentaries.
2891 HIST-300-01 History Workshop 1.00 SEM Alejandrino, Clark TR: 10:50AM-12:05PM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Prerequisite: C- or better in at least one History course completed at Trinity, or permission of instructor.
  The Workshop seminar combines extensive readings on the topic of the seminar with a substantial research paper involving the use of primary source materials and original analysis. Prerequisite: At least one History Department course completed at Trinity. This course is primarily for History majors but permission of the instructor will allow other Trinity students interested to enroll.
3052 HIST-307-01 Empire Revolution 20th c. Asia 1.00 SEM Mall, Shatrunjay MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  In 1900, most of Asia was either directly colonized by Euro-American powers, or under the threat of colonization. Half a century later, much of the continent was newly independent or on the cusp of sovereignty. In this course, you will learn how such transformations occurred. You will explore revolutionary and anti-imperial movements across East, South, and Southeast Asia. We will study how scholars have variously conceptualized imperialism and encounter the writings of revolutionaries of multiple ideological views across the Asian continent. Whereas some Asian leaders advocated violence as a necessary means for bringing about revolution, others espoused non-violence for fighting colonialism. You will examine thorny questions of identity, political and social change, and the triumphs and tragedies of Asia in the twentieth century.
2892 HIST-310-01 Animal Histories 1.00 SEM Alejandrino, Clark MWF: 11:00AM-11:50AM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Humans are animals. Most histories are about us, the most prominent and impactful animals on this planet. But we have arrived at where we are today on the backs of other non-human animals whose histories are often taken for granted. This seminar puts the animal back into our histories. It looks at how humans have shaped the ecological and evolutionary paths of animals but also how animals have influenced the course of history as agents of empire, biotechnology, and culture. We will explore the interdisciplinary methods that scholars use to understand the complex interactions between human and non-human animals and students will have the opportunity to undertake a project in animal history.
2967 HIST-330-01 History of Genocide 1.00 SEM Rodriguez, Allison MW: 10:00AM-11:15AM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Although the term "Genocide" was not coined or codified until the 1940s, it has occurred around the globe and across the centuries. This course will examine several genocidal events in various national contexts, examining their unique circumstances while also stressing common themes. Issues of race, class and gender, and how they affect genocidal actions, will be closely examined Possible topics will include the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the US; the Armenian genocide; the Holodomor; the Holocaust; the Khmer Rouge; the Rwandan genocide; and the genocide in Bosnia. Sources will include scholarly texts, memoirs and films.
3011 HIST-339-01 Modern Mexico 1.00 LEC Euraque, Dario TR: 9:25AM-10:40AM TBA GLB2  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: INTS-339-01
  This course is a survey of Mexican history from the colonial period under Spain to the aftermath and consequences of the Mexican Revolution in the 1910s and 1920s. However, most of the course’s time will be dedicated to the post-Independence period after 1821. The “modern” period extends from the post-Cardenas period (after 1940) to the recent economic crisis of the late 1970s as a result of plummeting oil prices. This latter period will be considered in a more “topical” than a chronological way. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the post-Cardenas political system, the border economy with the United States and industrialization, Mexican immigration to the United States, and the contours of deepening Mexican agrarian capitalism.
3062 HIST-370-01 Unfinished American Revolution 1.00 SEM Gac, Scott W: 1:30PM-4:10PM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This seminar examines Black New England from the era of the American Revolution through the early nineteenth century, asking how African Americans in the region claimed freedom, built communities, confronted violence, and challenged the racial limits of the new republic. The course begins with the Revolution’s promises and contradictions, including slavery in New England, gradual emancipation, race-making, and the relationship between violence and liberal government. It then turns to Black community formation through religion, mobility, print culture, education, political activism, and resistance to colonization. Throughout the semester, students will work closely with newspapers, pamphlets, sermons, broadsides, images, account books, petitions, town records, and institutional materials to develop original research projects. The course culminates in a 15-page research paper grounded in these sources.
2969 HIST-373-01 Women and the Enlightenment 1.00 SEM Kete, Kathleen W: 1:30PM-4:10PM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: Y Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  The French Revolution ushered in an era of nationalism throughout Europe. However, nowhere were women counted as full members of the new citizen-states. This exclusion stands in contrast to the visibility of women in the world of Enlightenment thought and praxis. With a focus on primary sources and their interpretation, the seminar will evaluate women’s contributions to the Enlightenment alongside debates about women’s place in the polity. Three topics will be emphasized: women and the emerging democratic order; women in the arts and sciences; and women and the new sociability of the eighteenth century centered on salons, cafés, and clubs.
2423 HIST-397-01 Slavery and Trinity 1.00 SEM Gac, Scott M: 1:30PM-4:10PM TBA HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
    Cross-listing: AMST-406-01
  How long do the reverberations of slavery last, and how far do they travel? While debates on the memory and legacy of slavery take the national stage, colleges and universities are reckoning with how their own histories of slavery and exploitation may have shaped their pasts and presents. It is Trinity's turn for an honest accounting. Recent scholarship emphasizes slavery's many facets and its far-reaching tendrils. In this course, students will discover Trinity's and Hartford's place in slavery's vast social, cultural, economic, and political networks. Combining archival research and public humanities, we will create projects and archives commemorating Trinity's past, which our community will be able to use as we plot a course for a more equitable future. This course meets the Archival method requirement.
1035 HIST-399-01 Independent Study 1.00 - 2.00 IND TBA TBA TBA Y HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Submission of the special registration form, available on the Registrar’s Office website, is required for enrollment.
1115 HIST-466-01 Teaching Assistant 0.50 - 1.00 IND TBA TBA TBA Y  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  Submission of the special registration form, available online, and the approval of the instructor are required for enrollment. Guidelines are available in the College Bulletin. (0.5 - 1 course credit)
2173 HIST-499-01 Senior Thesis Part 2 1.00 IND TBA TBA TBA Y HUM  
  Enrollment limited to 15 Waitlist available: N Mode of Instruction: In Person  
  This course is the second part of a two semester, two credit thesis. Submission of the special registration form and the approval of the thesis adviser and the director are required for enrollment. The registration form is required for each semester of this year-long thesis.