Teaching

Thinking Mountains

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2017

This class engages the history of mountaineering to think transnationally about major historiographical themes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: modernity, nature, empire, class, nationalism, science, leisure, gender, and climate change. We will leave the beaten track of history and follow Simon Schama “into wild woods, upstream along the rivers of life and death, up into the high mountains, not as a cultural camper but because so many of our modern concerns [...] have invoked topography to give their ruling ideas a natural form.”1 As an upper-level history research seminar, the...

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Cold War: Perspectives from East and West

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2017

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the social, cultural, and political history of both Western and Eastern Europe since 1945. By exploring the permeability of the “Iron Curtain,” the course encourages students to critically assess conceptions of division and unity in European history. We will explore ways in which borders were both reinforced and transcended. The course is organized thematically and roughly chronologically—it explores themes rather than offering a classic event- orientated history. Topics include the origins of the Cold War, cultural competition,...

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Modern Balkan Histories

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2017

The Balkans, Winston Churchill famously said, “produce more history than they can consume.” This course offers an introduction to the complex histories of this little-know yet diverse and fascinating part of Europe that has been subject to many myths. Starting in the nineteenth century and making our way quickly into the twentieth century, we will focus on modern Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania. Using a broad range of primary and secondary sources, we will study historical key themes such as the legacy of Habsburg and Ottoman imperial rule, the emergence of the modern nation...

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Modern and Contemporary Europe

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2016

Surveys the major movements and developments in Europe during the era of European expansion and dominance--from the devastations of the Thirty Years War to the Second World War--and up to the current era of European Union. Topics include: the French Revolution and the birth of nationalism; the scientific and industrial revolutions; the modern history of international relations; imperialism, fascism, the Holocaust, the two World Wars, and the present and potential roles of Europe at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Topics in the Recent History of Europe: "Postwar Societies: USSR and Eastern Europe"

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2016

What was it like to be a hipster in the Soviet Union? What does rock music have to do with political dissent? This course offers a critical inquiry into the fascinating and vibrant societies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe from 1945 to 1989, with a focus on the former. While gaining an understanding of the major political developments from late Stalinism to the end of Communism, we will explore the creative ways in which citizens of the Eastern bloc expressed their agency and initiated societal change. Using a range of primary and secondary sources, including film and...

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Identity, Power, and Social Transformation in Eastern Central Europe (Carolin Roeder/Victoria Donovan)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2010

Visiting Lecturer, University of Bologna
A graduate course for students of the Master in East European Research and Studies, co-taught with Dr Victoria Donovan. This course intends to provide students with a broad overview of the social, political and cultural history of Eastern Central Europe with emphasis on the key theme of identity. The course is organized chronologically from early modern times to the breakdown of Communism.