Courses

What do Bruce Lee, an 1840s Japanese maidservant, 1920s Tianjin carpets, and a 17th century banjo have in common? Global historians follow them all, analyzing how people, things, capital, ideas, weather, and disease move across borders, mountains, and oceans. In this course, we will learn to do what global historians do through close reading of award-winning work. We will consider how global history methods help historians analyze “big picture” histories, moving nimbly across time and space, and also “microhistories,” stories of individuals or specific commodities that are told in very human ways, from the ground up. Throughout, we will focus on learning techniques for hands-on history, which will help students who want to do global history research themselves: we will work with a diversity of historical sources, including "off the page" sources such as material and visual culture; and learn how global history can be public history through analyzing digital history and visiting museum exhibits.