History Department Topics Courses

Our departmental offerings include a number of "Topics" courses, which present a different specialized subject each semester, depending on the instructor's interests and training. The following "Topics" courses represent our offerings in 2010-11.

Spring Semester 2011

History 351: Topics in European History - The European Inquisitions
Victoria Christman
chrivi02@luther.edu
Contrary to popular belief, Spain was not the only early modern country to have an inquisition.  In this course, we will look at the development of inquisitions throughout Europe in the medieval and early modern periods.  We will focus in particular on the inquisitions as they functioned in four countries: France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy, and the ways in which the inquisitors treated heretics, Jewish and Muslim “conversos,” witches, sorcerers, and homosexuals.  Reading materials will consist of recent scholarly articles discussing these issues, as well as translated primary source documents, including anti-heresy edicts, excerpts from chronicles, legal testimony from those tried by the inquisitions, and eye-witness accounts of executions.  The goal of the course is to examine the inquisitions as they were conceived by those who created them, experienced by those who fell victim to them, and understood by historians ever since.

History 362: Topics in Asian History - Modern Afghanistan and Pakistan
Brian Caton
catobr01@luther.edu
Students in this course will examine the shared legacy of culture, history, and geography between Pakistan and Afghanistan, their role in shaping the contours of global politics in that region over the past three hundred years. The course will focus on the political and economic development of the region, but students will also consider social, ethnic, religious, and sectarian movements and discourses of the past ten years, including the Taliban, the invasion of Afghanistan, Musharraf’s coup, Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, and the lawyers’ movement.

Fall Semester 2011

History 351--Topics in European History: "Hitler and Nazi Germany"
Marvin G. Slind
slindmar@luther.edu
"Hitler and Nazi Germany" will examine political, economic, and social developments in Germany between 1918 and 1945. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and individual research papers, we will examine such topics as: nineteenth century "Völkisch ideology" and the roots of National Socialism; World War I and the development of Hitler’s political philosophy; the Weimar Republic; the growth of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s rise to power; German society in the "Third Reich;" Hitler’s foreign policy; and Nazi racial policies and the Holocaust. In addition to reading and participating in class discussions, students will be required to write a 10 page research paper.

History 351--Topics in European History:  "The Middle Ages in Film"
Victoria Christman
chrivi02@luther.edu
Unfortunate though it may be, film is the most common means by which modern people encounter the historical past. This course takes the medium of film, and examines the various ways in which the medieval and early modern world has been represented in it. The course is divided into a series of units, each concerned with a different aspect of medieval and early modern life (e.g. warfare, religiosity, philosophy and learning, romance, etc.) For each unit, students analyze a selection of scholarly background material, as well as a number of primary sources, written and visual. Students will use the knowledge amassed through these sources to assess the choices made by screenwriters and directors as they portray scences from the past. Our task is therefore two-fold: to better understand the historical reality of the Middle Ages, and to assess the choices made by modern screenwriters as they construct their own portrayals of that historical reality for modern audiences.