Brian Caton

HIST 161 East Asian History
An introduction to the basic themes and content of East Asian history from the earliest times to the present. Students will explore the lives of both great and ordinary people who lived in what are now China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Students will consider how empire, international trade, relations of production, and ideologies affected the construction and reproduction of social and cultural groups.

HIST 162 South Asian History
An introduction to the basic themes and content of South Asian history from the earliest times to the present. Students will explore the lives of both great and ordinary people who lived in what are now Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Students will consider how empire, international trade, relations of production, and ideologies affected the construction and reproduction of social and cultural groups. Offered alternate years.

HIST 163 Modern Middle East History
Students in this course investigate the history of the Middle East, including Iran, Turkey, and northern Africa. The course begins with the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258, but its focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries allows students to understand the cultural and material processes that inform current events. The course provides important historical context for intellectual discussion among the Abrahamic traditions and requires students to consider social, economic, and cultural factors that may find expression in religious canon and practice.

HIST 291 Environmental History
This course introduces students to the field of environmental history. Students will examine the ways in which humans, plants, animals, and microbiota have acted as agents in the history of the world. The course emphasizes historical developments after 1300 and especially investigates the roles of science, colonialism, capitalism, and the state in changing the physical state of the environment and the ways humans understand their surroundings. Offered alternate years.

HIST 361 Topics in East Asian History
In-depth study of a selected topic in East Asian history. Topics may cover the whole history of a particular country or may focus on a more limited time period in that country’s history. Topics may also investigate diplomatic, economic, or cultural interactions between countries or explore themes common to multiple East Asian states.

HIST 362 Topics in South Asian History
In-depth study of a selected topic in South Asian history. Topics may cover the whole history of a particular country or may focus on a more limited time period in that country’s history. Topics may also investigate diplomatic, economic, or cultural interactions between countries or explore themes common to multiple South Asian states.

Paideia 111, 112 Enduring Questions
A two-semester common course for all first-year students that addresses questions central to the human condition. It develops students’ ability to read, write, analyze, discuss, and research by engaging with works from across the disciplines, drawn from different time periods and parts of the globe. As a signature course and a foundation for liberal learning, “Enduring Questions” is taught by faculty from all divisions of the college. Students may not withdraw from Paideia 111 or 112. If they fail the course, they must retake it in the next semester it is offered.

• Ph.D., History, University of Pennsylvania, 2003
  Dissertation: “Settling for the State: Pastoralists and Colonial Rule in Southwestern Panjab, 1840-1900.”
• M.A., South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1995
  Thesis: “Politics of Sikh Historiography, 1700-1995.”
• B.A., Honors in Government, College of William and Mary, 1993
  Thesis: “Political Instability in the States of India: Four Case Studies.”

Brian Caton’s CV