Thematic Major Options

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History of Empire and Colonialism

This major explores the historical development of imperial and colonial formations around the world, from ancient times to the current era of neoliberalism and globalization. How have imperial and colonial formations shaped larger processes and events in world history? And how have historical actors in both colonies and metropoles experienced, negotiated, advanced, and resisted imperial and colonial domination? See the approved course list for this major.

History of Religion and Society

This major explores the development of religious traditions worldwide, asking how religious beliefs, practices, and institutions have helped shape culture, politics, and ideology from pre-modern times to the present. Courses in the minor push students to consider the multifarious ways in which religion structures society and is structured by it. See the approved course list for this major.

History of Race, Gender, and Power

This major explores the centrality of race and gender in shaping and reproducing hierarchical relations of power around the world. From social classifications and legal codes in ancient and medieval societies to scientific and cultural conceptions of racial and sexual differences over the last four centuries, how have race and gender defined and denied access to power to justify and naturalize social inequalities? And how have different peoples organized politically around racial and gender identities (e.g., as women, as Chicanas, as First Nations, etc.) to contest and transform social norms? See the approved course list for this major.

History of War and Society

This major explores experiences of civil and international wars as a means to question how violence, conflict, and other traumatic acts have shaped political, social, and cultural formations in the past and present. In addition to military history, courses in this minor examine the following aspects of war's linkage to society: how the experiences and exigencies of war create conditions for broader changes, including changes in notions of territorial integrity, sovereignty, national belonging, citizenship, gender, and race, as people are called to serve in battle zones and on the home front. See the approved course list for this major.

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