Spring 2024 Courses

GLBL 100 Intro to Global Studies

Credit: 3 hours

Multiple instructors

Foundation course for understanding a range of contemporary issues and learning to analyze them from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Students consider globalizing trends within themes of wealth and poverty; population, cultures, and human rights; environment and sustainability; and governance, conflict, and cooperation. Course objectives are to enhance knowledge of human cultures, their interactions and impacts on the world; develop skills for successfully negotiating realities of contemporary societies; and promote values for global learning, diversity, and sustainable futures.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Spring 2024 for:

• Cultural Studies - Western
• Social & Beh Sci - Soc Sci

GER 261 The Holocaust in Context

Credit: 3 hours.

Instructor: Anna Hunt

Examines cultural representations of the Holocaust in literature, film, and critical essays.

Same as CWL 273, ENGL 269, and JS 261. Credit is not given for both GER 261 and GER 260.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Spring 2024 for:

• Cultural Studies - Western
• Humanities – Lit & Arts

Section info:

This course is designed as an introduction to the study of literary, cinematographic, and theoretical representations of the Holocaust. Through close readings of texts and films, students will grapple with some of the fundamental concerns, challenges, and philosophical debates provoked by the Nazi genocide. By situating the Holocaust in the context of its literary, cinematographic, and theoretical afterlife, the course foregrounds the problem of representation. We will look closely at the way works of literature have testified to the impossibility of the task of representing the Holocaust and the necessity of nevertheless attempting it. World War II marked a dramatic shift in how we commemorate war. Focus moved from honouring the heroes on the battlefield to honouring the victims, a transition described as the “ethical turn in memory culture” or Erinnerungspolitik(memory politics). Trauma – and responding to catastrophic events – has become central to present-day politics, central to the constitution of the modern subject. This shift will take centerstage in our discussions of the difficulties encountered by museums and memorials in their attempts to commemorate victims. Central to these discussions will be the questions: Under what conditions do we fail to mourn others? and How should we mourn? The question of how will lead us into discussions of aesthetics. In many ways the works we will look at this semester will prove to be experiments in mourning an event that must not be forgotten. The course is organised into 6 units: Under What Conditions Do We Fail to Mourn Others, The Necessity and Impossibility of Testimony, Fascist Aesthetics, Holocaust Documentaries, Evil’s Banality, and Second-Hand Memory. Students will develop the following skills: close reading, film analysis, critical thinking, thesis formulation.

HEBR 202 Elementary Modern Hebrew II

Credit: 5 hours.

ARRANGED.

Continuation of HEBR 201, with introduction of more advanced grammar, and with emphasis on more fluency in speaking and reading. Participation in the language laboratory is required.

Prerequisite: HEBR 201 or equivalent.

HEBR 404 Intermediate Modern Hebrew II

Credit: 4 OR 5 hours.

Instructor TBD

Continuation of HEBR 403. Concentration on ability to engage in reasonable fluent discourse in Hebrew, comprehensive knowledge of formal grammar, and an ability to read easy Hebrew texts. Israeli television programs and movies are used to develop communicative skills and cultural knowledge. Participation in the language laboratory is required.

5 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: HEBR 403 or equivalent.

HIST 100 Intro Hist Interpretation

Credit: 3 hours.

Multiple Instructors

Through the careful examination of a specific topic or theme, this course provides a thorough introduction to historical interpretation. Particular attention will be devoted to research strategies, writing practices, handling primary and secondary sources, and the analysis of historiography.

May be repeated to a maximum of 6 hours with permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Topics will be listed in the department's course guide at http://www.history.illinois.edu.

HIST 252 The Holocaust

Credit: 3 hours.

Instructor: Peter Fritzsche

Exploration of the Holocaust in historical perspective by examining European anti-Semitism, political developments in Germany, the rise to power of the Nazis, and the origins of the Holocaust with first-hand accounts, films, and historical texts, concluding with the legacy of the Holocaust in the contemporary world.

Same as JS 252.

This course satisfies the General Education Criteria in Spring 2024 for:

• Cultural Studies - Western
• Humanities – Hist & Phil

The Holocaust in Historical Perspective Description: The purpose of this general education course is to provide students from all backgrounds with an introduction to the complex events in twentieth-century Europe now known as the Holocaust, and to explore the various interpretations that scholars have offered to attempt to explain the Holocaust as well as the global legacy of the Holocaust. We will examine perpetrators, bystanders, and victims, the role of anti-Semitism, the interaction of war and genocide, the relationships between German and other European actors, the responses of Jewish communities, and the memory of the Holocaust. There will be a midterm and a final, but the primary focus of the course will be on student engagement with the texts in three short papers spread out across the semester.

2nd 8-week session course

Online

Instructor: Marisa Natale

Note: course will appear in course explorer at a later time

HIST 312 Immigrant America

Credit: 3 OR 4 hours.

Instructor: Augusto Espiritu

History of immigration and immigrant groups in the United States from 1830 to 1980. Covers major waves of immigration and focuses on the diverse cultural heritage, social structure, and political activism of immigrants from Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Course description:

The goal of this course is to provide the advanced and graduate student with a general survey of the immigrant (more broadly, the “migrant”) in the United States. The course will examine various recurring themes of migration history including the global forces shaping migration, the encounters between “natives and strangers,” internal migration, the process of naturalization, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and interethnic relations. Much of this course will be centered on classroom dialogue and exercises on the lectures, readings, and sources. We will be examining both primary and secondary sources, continuing debates in immigration history and immigration law and policy, and questions of historical method. As part of the course, all students will be required to complete service with a community partner that serves (im)migrant and refugee populations. Attendance and informed participation in class discussions is mandatory in the course.

HIST 345 Medieval Civilization

Credit: 3 hours.

Instructor: Carol Symes

The architectural, artistic, philosophical, political, and religious components of medieval culture, thought, and patterns of behavior; includes monasticism and society and the individual.

Same as MDVL 345 and REL 345.

Description: An introduction to the cultural history of medieval Europe in its wider contexts. This “in-between era,” from the 4th to the 16th centuries, generated many of today’s forms of education, identity, law, government, language, literature, architecture, art, and religious belief. We will study some key texts and artifacts produced in this era, as well as some cutting-edge historical scholarship on crucial developments. There are no prerequisites, but students will be required to read and participate actively in class discussions and exercises, and to complete several writing assignments.

HIST 535 Prob Middle Eastern History

Credit: 4 hours.

Instructor: Laura Frances Goffman

Covers, in depth, major problems of specific periods and areas and the relevant literature of Near and Middle Eastern History, which will vary from term to term.

May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours if topics vary.

JS 495: Jewish Life in Central Illinois

Credit: 2 TO 4 hours.

Instructor: LeiAnna Hamel

Readings in selected fields in consultation with the instructor along with the completion of a specified writing assignment.

2 to 4 undergraduate hours. 2 to 4 graduate hours. May be repeated in the same term to a maximum of 4 undergraduate hours or 8 graduate hours. May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 8 undergraduate hours and 16 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

Description: Treasure Found! Those of you who love going through your grandparents’ old drawers or boxes up in the attic--join me on this adventure! In this hands-on history class, we will become detectives and storytellers as we sift through, catalogue, and sort documents and photos that have never been worked on before. We will learn how to turn sources from the U of I’s Central Illinois Jewish Communities Archives (CIJCA) into stories that engage public audiences. We will discuss microhistory as a method and point of view, challenging our understanding of what history is and how it can be expanded. Students will get a glimpse into the Central Illinois Jewish communities of the past and will participate in making history.