Undergraduate Concentrations
Every history major is required to select a concentration area to specialize in. A concentration area can have a geographic, chronological or thematic focus. To complete a concentration, history majors must complete:
- At least three upper division classes that fit the geographical, chronological or thematic area of specialization.
- At least one upper division class significantly outside of your concentration.
Concentrations are declared in conversation with your undergraduate advisor prior to your final semester.
Please contact our undergraduate advisor with any questions.
The History Department offers a large selection of courses that can be combined into a wide variety of concentration areas. We encourage you to consider which classes and themes best fit your interests and goals. You are welcome to choose an existing area of concentration or to construct your own.
To give an idea of how you may construct your area of concentration, here are some examples of concentrations along with examples of courses you might take to fulfill them:
Many students choose history because they are interested in a place. The place is one of those complex and necessary categories that help organize the study of history. We ask students not only to be aware of the geography of political, economic, and cultural processes, but also to study the connections and interactions between places like cities, states, nations, or continents. Moreover, places represent the outcome of complex, often violent, processes that fix names onto landscapes and make claims about identity.
For any of these fields, there are lots of courses you can take, and you’ll be encouraged to explore classes that connect to your region of interest in surprising ways. But here’s some ideas to start with:
A student who is excited about learning the history of Africa, might look for courses like HIST 3431: Early Africa, HIST 3433 Images of Africa, or HIST 3513: North Africa since 1500.
A student who is excited about learning the history of Asia, might look for courses like HIST 3462: East Asia since 1500, HIST 3483: Hmong History, or HIST 3471: Modern Japan.
A student who is excited about learning the history of Europe, might look for courses like HIST 3746: Game of Thrones, HIST 3244: Eastern Europe, or HIST 3101: Introduction to Medieval History.
A student who is excited about learning the history of Latin America, might look for courses like HIST 3401W Early Latin America, HIST 3429: Latin America in Film, or HIST 3423: Central American Revolutions.
A student who is excited about learning the history of Middle East, might look for courses like HIST 3054: Ancient Egypt, HIST 3512: History of Modern Israel and Palestine, or HIST 3505: Modern Middle East.
A student who is excited about learning the history of North America, might look for courses like HIST 3865: African-American History, HIST 3852: Work and Workers in the United States, HIST 3834: Law in American Life, or HIST 3858 - The History of Policing & Surveillance.
What are periods in history? This has long been an intense intellectual debate especially around the moments of transition from one period to another. These labels are understood today as a convenient shorthand and you as a historical can divide time any way you want. Here are four ways that a lot of people follow:
Students who are interested in ancient history can find classes like HIST 3052: Greece, HIST 3051: Ancient Near East, or HIST 3061: Bread and Circuses - Spectacle in Antiquity.
Students who want to study the medieval history could take HIST 3426: Pirates of the Mediterranean, HIST 3617: Pagans, Christians, Barbarians, or HIST 3606: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Middle Ages.
Students interested in early modern history can go around the world with classes like HIST 3547: The Ottoman Empire, HIST 3708: The Age of Curiosity, HIST 3466: Religion and Society in Imperial China.
Students who want to study modern history can study any part of the world, but might want to look at comparative modern courses like HIST 3416: Imperialism, or combine place and time with HIST 3425: Modern Mexico, or HIST 3432: Modern Africa in a Changing World
You don’t have to focus your study of history around a time and/or a place. History majors often study topics such as:
- Religious history (HIST 3767: Eastern Orthodoxy, HIST 3534: Jewish History, HIST 3546: Islam and the West)
- Conflict (HIST 3361: A Global History of WWI, HIST 3891: American Military History),
- Movement of people voluntarily or involuntarily (HIST 3813W: Slavery and the Making of America, HIST 3862: American Immigration History).
- Environment (HIST 3417: Food in History, HIST 3514W: Water and Oil - Middle Eastern Environmental History)
These are just a few of the possible themes. Come up with your own thematic concentration in conversation with the undergraduate advisor or your professors. In addition, we are highlighting a concentration on the history of social justice, with these classes currently approved by faculty, and more to come!
We are highlighting a concentration on the history of social justice, with these classes currently approved by faculty, and more to come!
Intro Level:
- HIST 1301, Authority and Rebellion: America
- HIST 1911 The Sixties in History and Memory
- HIST 1917, Inequality and the American Dream
Upper Division:
- HIST 3023, Hands on History, Contested Nation: The US in the 1790s
- HIST 3023, Hands on History, The Work of History: Global Apartheid
- HIST 3211, History of Sexuality
- HIST 3433, Images of Africa
- HIST 3435, South Africa from 1910
- HIST 3349, U. S. Women's Legal History
- HIST 3417W, Food in History
- HIST 3486, Hmong Refugees from the Secret War
- HIST 3489, Democracy and popular politics in India
- HIST 3637, Modern Russia
- HIST 3726W, The Century of Refugees
- HIST 3728, The History of Human Rights
- HIST 3749, Central and Eastern European Migrants in Minnesota
- HIST 3811, Antebellum America: Slavery, Expansion and the Development of a Divided Nation
- HIST 3813W, Slavery and the Making of America
- HIST. 3822, US, 1945-Present
- HIST 3834, Law in American Life, Colonial Era to Civil War
- HIST 3835, Law in American Life, 1865-Present
- HIST 3852, Work and Workers in the United States
- HIST 3854, Race and Sport HIST 3853, Black Protest in Twentieth Century America
- HIST 3857, Race: The History of an Idea
- HIST 3858 - The History of Policing & Surveillance
- HIST 3862, Immigration History
- HIST 3865, African American History Since 1865
- HIST 3868, Race, War, and Race Wars
- HIST 3872, American Indian History 1830 to the Present
- HIST 3877, Asian American History
Capstones:
- HIST 4011W, Researching the Long Civil Rights Movement
- HIST 4011W, Human Rights