History

Return to: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences  

The Department of History offers courses in ancient, medieval and modern European history; in both North and Latin American history; in the history of Asia and in world history. Some of the department’s courses are chronological, some national or regional and some are thematic, with special strengths in gender, race and ethnicity, popular culture, medicine, and urban history. The faculty is committed to continuous review and revision of the department’s curriculum, as student needs and professional emphases shift. Many departmental courses meet general education requirements and various programs for majors and non-majors are available. The department offers an honors program for qualified seniors. Honors programs are individually arranged through consultation with the honors director. Completion of an honors thesis is required. The Department of History offers the BA and PhD in History; the BA in Law, History, and Culture; the BA in History and Social Science Education; the BA in Contemporary Latino and Latin American Studies, the minor in History, the minor in Resistance to Genocide and the minor in the History and Culture of Business.

Social Science Building 153
(213) 740-1657
FAX: (213) 740-6999
Email: history@dornsife.usc.edu
dornsife.usc.edu/hist

Chair: Jay Rubenstein, PhD

Faculty

University Professor and Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature and Professor of English, Art History, and History: Leo Braudy, PhD (English)

University Professor and Professor of Philosophy, History and Accounting: Jacob Soll, PhD (Philosophy)

Dean’s Professor of History, Myron and Marian Casden Directorship of the Casden Institute for the Study of Jewish Role in American Life and Professor of History: Steven Ross, PhD*

Garrett and Anne Van Hunnick Chair in Eureopean History and Professor of History: Anne Goldgar, PhD

Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History: Wolf Gruner, PhD

Gordon L. MacDonald Chair in History and Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Cultures: Joan Piggott, PhD

Barbara Streisand Professor of Contemporary Gender Studies and Professor of History, Gender & Sexuality Studies and English: Alice Echols, PhD*

Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the Early Modern Studies Institute and Professor of History and Anthropology: Peter C. Mancall, PhD

Ruth Ziegler Early Career Chair in Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of Religion, Law and History: Jessica Marglin, PhD (Religion)

Professors: Bettine Birge, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Lisa Bitel, PhD (Religion); Daniela Bleichmar, PhD (Art History); William Deverell, PhD*; Philip J. Ethington, PhD; Richard W. Fox, PhD; Ariela Gross, PhD (Law); Sarah Gualtieri, PhD* (American Studies and Ethnicity); Karen Halttunen, PhD; Daniel Klerman, PhD (Law); Lon Kurashige, PhD; Paul Lerner, PhD*; Carolyn Malone, PhD (Art History); John Pollini, PhD (Art History); Ramzi Rouighi, PhD (Middle East Studies); Jay Rubenstein, PhD; George J. Sanchez, PhD* (American Studies and Ethnicity); Vanessa Schwartz, PhD (Art History); Nayan Shah, PhD (American Studies and Ethnicity); Brett Sheehan, PhD*; David Sloane, PhD (Public Policy)

Associate Professors: Marjorie R. Becker, PhD; Christelle Fischer-Bovet, PhD (Classics); Jason Glenn, PhD; Joshua Goldstein, PhD; Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, PhD; Laura Isabel Serna, PhD; Francille Wilson, PhD (American Studies and Ethnicity)

Assistant Professors: Richard Antaramian, PhD; Joan Flores-Villalobas, PhD; Maya Maskarinec, PhD; Celeste Menchaca, PhD; Alaina Morgan, PhD; Ketaki Pant, PhD; Edgardo Perez Morales, PhD; Benjamin Uchiyama, PhD; Aro Velmet, PhD

Professor (Teaching): Deborah E. Harkness, PhD*

Associate Professor (Teaching): Lindsay O’Neill, PhD

Emeritus: Elinor A. Accampo, PhD; Lois W. Banner, PhD*; Judith Bennett, PhD*; Gordon M. Berger, PhD; Roger Dingman, PhD; Charlotte Furth, PhD; Cynthia Herrup, PhD; Paul W. Knoll, PhD; Franklin D. Mitchell, PhD; D. Brendan Nagle, PhD; Azade-Ayse Rorlich, PhD; Carole Shammas, PhD; Terry L. Seip, PhD*

*Recipient of university-wide or college teaching award.

Undergraduate Degrees

Advisement

The Department of History has one full-time staff adviser available to provide academic advisement, assist in the navigation of department and university requirements, review progress and future plans. Students interested in a major or minor in the department should contact the adviser to schedule a meeting. Faculty advisers are also available to offer guidance on pursuing the field of history both within and beyond USC. 

Honors Program for History (BA)

The department offers a one-semester honors program, in which qualified students are required to take HIST 492 Honors Thesis  in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her choosing under faculty direction. Contact the department director of Undergraduate Studies for further information. To graduate with honors, department majors must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 in their major course work and a B+ or higher in HIST 201 .

Honors Program for History and Social Science Education (BA)

The department offers a one-semester honors program, in which qualified students are required to take HIST 492 Honors Thesis  in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her choosing under faculty direction. Contact the department honors director for further information. To graduate with honors, department majors must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 in their major course work. 

Honors Program for Law, History, and Culture (BA)

The department offers a one-semester honors program, in which qualified students are required to take HIST 493  in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her choosing under faculty direction. Contact the director of Undergraduate Studies for further information. To graduate with honors, department majors must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 in their major course work.

Honor Society

The department sponsors its own local chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Phi Alpha Theta provides opportunities for students to take their interest in history beyond the classroom and to cultivate their intellectual pursuits in a community setting.

Membership is open to history majors and other interested students with a 3.33 GPA in history courses and a 3.0 overall GPA. For more information contact the honors director.

Teaching Credential Requirements

Credential requirements in California and elsewhere are complex and changeable. Students interested in preparing for public school teaching should contact the Credentials Office, Rossier School of Education, and the undergraduate adviser, Department of History, for up-to-date information.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Early Modern Studies

This minor brings together the resources of the departments of English, History and Art History to study the literatures and cultures of Europe and the Americas from the late medieval period to 1800. For a complete listing of requirements, see Department of English .

Interdisciplinary Middle East Studies Minor

See the Department of Middle East Studies .

Interdisciplinary Race, Ethnicity and Politics Minor

See Department of Political Science .

Interdisciplinary Russian Area Studies Minor

See Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures .

Interdisciplinary Law and Society Minor

See Department of Political Science .

Graduate Degrees

The graduate program in History offers a rigorous course of study that balances depth in particular fields with a broad, transnational and interdisciplinary perspective. We train our students in historical methods, research, critical analysis of written and visual sources, historical writing, and historical pedagogy through intensive reading courses, seminars and tutorials. This training culminates in the PhD dissertation, a significant scholarly and historiographical contribution to the study of a field. 

Admission Requirements

Prerequisites

An applicant should have an undergraduate degree or an MA degree in history or a related discipline. Promising students trained in other fields will also be considered.

Criteria

All applicants must take the general test of the Graduate Record Examinations. The subject test in history is not required. In addition, applicants must submit at least three letters of recommendation from college-level instructors and a sample of written work from a college-level history, social science or humanities course. This material should be uploaded through the Graduate Admission application portal.

Procedure

For complete information on the doctoral program, prospective applicants should address inquiries to Graduate Admission, Department of History, SOS 153, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034. Information on the programs is also available online at dornsife.usc.edu/hist/doctoral-program/.

Degree Requirements

These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to the Requirements for Graduation  section and The Graduate School  section of this catalogue for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degrees must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.

Advisement

Students should seek advice on their program of studies from the Director of Graduate Studies, a professor in their major field of study and other members of their qualifying exam committee.

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

• •  History (BA)
• •  History and Social Science Education (BA)
• •  Law, History, and Culture (BA)

Minor

• •  History and Culture of Business Minor
• •  History Minor
• •  Resistance to Genocide Interdisciplinary Minor

Master’s Degree

• •  History (MA)

Doctoral Degree

• •  History (PhD)

Courses

History

• •  HIST 100gm The American Experience
• •  HIST 101gp State and Society in the Ancient World
• •  HIST 102gm The Worlds of Medieval Europe
• •  HIST 103g The Emergence of Modern Europe
• •  HIST 104gp Modern Europe
• •  HIST 105g The Korean Past
• •  HIST 106g Chinese Lives: An Introduction to Chinese History
• •  HIST 107gp Introduction to the History of Japan
• •  HIST 108g Histories of South Asia
• •  HIST 109g The Latin American Experience
• •  HIST 180gw The Middle East
• •  HIST 185g A Survey of Armenian History
• •  HIST 190g History of Science: Antiquity to the Scientific Revolution
• •  HIST 195 Selected Themes and Topics in History
• •  HIST 201 Approaches to History
• •  HIST 210gw How to Be An American: Global Histories of U.S. Citizenship
• •  HIST 211gp Race in America
• •  HIST 215g Business and Labor in America
• •  HIST 220gp Murder on Trial in America
• •  HIST 225g Film, Power, and American History
• •  HIST 235g War and the American Experience
• •  HIST 237gp Fascism
• •  HIST 240gp The History of California
• •  HIST 245mgp How Sex Changed: US History, 1870-the Present
• •  HIST 250g Climate Change: Science, History and Solutions
• •  HIST 251gp History of Science, Technology and Medicine
• •  HIST 260g Dramatizations of Korean History
• •  HIST 265gw Racism, Sexism, and the Law
• •  HIST 266gp Business and East Asian Culture, 1800-Present
• •  HIST 268g Kings, Courts, and Clerics: Foundations of East Asian Political Culture
• •  HIST 270 Queens, Witches, Courtesans: Women and Power in Renaissance Europe
• •  HIST 271g Telling Native American Stories
• •  HIST 272g Women and Gender in the Ancient and Spanish Americas
• •  HIST 273g Colonial Latin America
• •  HIST 275g The Worlds of the Silk Road
• •  HIST 278gp Ottomans and Empire: Anatolia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean World
• •  HIST 301 Religions of Ancient Egypt and the Near East
• •  HIST 302 From Sappho to Stonewall: Lesbians in History
• •  HIST 303 Barbarians, Romans, and Christians
• •  HIST 304 Archaeology of Egypt and the Near East
• •  HIST 305 Women and Gender in Pre-Modern Europe
• •  HIST 306 The Early Middle Ages
• •  HIST 307 The High Middle Ages: 1100-1400
• •  HIST 308 Britain and Ireland to 1200 C.E.
• •  HIST 309 Britain and Ireland, 1100–1500 C.E.
• •  HIST 310 Medieval Iran: Society and Culture
• •  HIST 311 Warfare, State, and Society in the Ancient World
• •  HIST 312 The Age of the French Revolution and Napoleon
• •  HIST 313 France and the French from Napoleon to Mitterand
• •  HIST 314 Rome Through its Monuments from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
• •  HIST 315 Origins of Free Market Thought in Early Modern Europe
• •  HIST 316 The Renaissance
• •  HIST 317gmp Native Americans in American Public Life
• •  HIST 319 The Quest for the Individual in Early Modern Europe
• •  HIST 320p Law, Slavery, and Race
• •  HIST 321 The Crusades
• •  HIST 322 Anti-Semitism, Racism and Other Hatreds
• •  HIST 323 The Holocaust in 20th Century Europe
• •  HIST 325 Early Modern Britain
• •  HIST 326 The Victorians
• •  HIST 327 Twentieth Century Britain
• •  HIST 328 Ptolemaic Egypt
• •  HIST 329 Madness and Society in the Modern Age
• •  HIST 330 Drugs: A Global Cultural History
• •  HIST 331 The British Empire: 1588–1834
• •  HIST 332 British Empire from the Mid-19th Century
• •  HIST 333 Korea: The Modern Transformation
• •  HIST 334 History of the Samurai
• •  HIST 335 History of Japan to 1550
• •  HIST 336 History of Japan, 1550–1945
• •  HIST 337 Japan since 1945
• •  HIST 338 China to 960 A.D.
• •  HIST 339 China, 960–1800 A.D.
• •  HIST 340 History of China since 1800
• •  HIST 341 American Social History
• •  HIST 343 Work, Leisure, and Violence in Industrializing America
• •  HIST 344 The Vietnam War, 1945–1975
• •  HIST 345 Men and Women in United States History from the 1920s to the Present
• •  HIST 346 American Intellectual History
• •  HIST 347 Urbanization in the American Experience
• •  HIST 348 The Dynamics of American Capitalism
• •  HIST 349 Colonial North America 1600–1760
• •  HIST 350 Early Modern Things: Material Culture in Early Modern Life
• •  HIST 351 The American Revolution
• •  HIST 352gp The American Civil War
• •  HIST 353m Race and Racism in the Americas
• •  HIST 354 Mexican Migration to the United States
• •  HIST 355 The African-American Experience
• •  HIST 356 The Old South
• •  HIST 357 Modern Consumer Culture
• •  HIST 358 U.S. Gay and Lesbian History
• •  HIST 359 The U.S.-Mexico Border
• •  HIST 360 19th Century U.S. History
• •  HIST 361 20th Century U.S. History
• •  HIST 362 Authenticity in Twentieth Century Popular Music
• •  HIST 363 Foundations of American Foreign Policy, 1776 to the Present
• •  HIST 364 Religion and Difference in the Modern Middle East
• •  HIST 365 The Second World War
• •  HIST 366 The People’s Republic of China
• •  HIST 367 Sex and Empire