Lauren Jannette

This seminar introduces first-year students to the study of history at Kenyon College by employing certain basic skills and methods to examine a particular theme in world history. Each section of the seminar is taught by a different instructor and has a different focus, but all of the sections emphasize close reading of primary sources, analysis of how scholars have interpreted those sources, comparison of case studies in different regions of the world, study of change over time, intensive writing assignments, and occasional guest lectures by other History faculty. In comparing cases from different times and places that are related to a common theme, the course and its instructor also model the dual skills of specialization and synthesis that students are expected to exercise in completing the field and distribution requirements of the History major.

The European continent is incredibly diverse: geographically, culturally, economically, ethnically and politically (to name only the most obvious factors). Throughout the semester we explore this diversity of experiences since the end of the 18th century. We look at issues of race, class and gender, as well as violence, poverty, faith, nationalism, technology and art. We read novels and memoirs, watch films and listen to music as we hone our historical knowledge and sensibilities regarding modern Europe, its peoples and its governments. We examine the fates of a variety of nations, using examples from across the continent. This counts toward the modern and Europe/Americas requirements for the major. No prerequisite

Through lectures and discussions, we cover European women's history from the Reformation and Enlightenment up through the late 20th century and the questions raised by the end of the Soviet system. We look at women’s participation in the work force and in revolutionary movements, their fight for political emancipation and equality, and their relationship to war and racism, as well as study the changing ideas of womanhood, gender and family throughout modern European history. This counts toward the modern and Europe/Americas requirements and the women, gender and sexuality field for the major. No prerequisite.

This course presents a survey of French history from the 17th century to the present, emphasizing the political/cultural life of France, particularly attempts to secure an elusive stability within a long trajectory of revolutionary and counterrevolutionary tumult. The course covers the reign of Louis XIV, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the renovation of the city of Paris, the modernization of the contryside, the cultural ferment of the fin-de-siècle, the crisis years 1914-1945, and the decolonization of Algeria, France's global connections, from the 17th century to the 20th, receive special attention. The course also explores the various ways (manifest through art, politics and social life) in which France conceived of itself as an exemplary nation or as a practitioner of an exemplary modernity to the rest of the world. This counts toward the modern and Europe/Americas requirements and the colonial/imperial field for the major. No prerequisite.

One hundred years ago, the European powers went to war over dynastic honor after the heir to the Habsburg throne was assassinated in Sarajevo. Four years later, all the European empires had fallen to revolution and defeat and Europe was transformed. The war inspired not only socialist revolutions but also revolutions in technology, art and daily life. We look at the experience of soldiers fighting and new technologies of warfare; civilian suffering, hunger and political radicalization; modernist art and music; postwar experiments in urban architecture; women's emancipation; and political violence and ethnic cleansing. This upper-level seminar examines the war, its causes, course and consequences, with a special emphasis on historiography, the way the war was interpreted at the time and over the century since. Students work with a variety of primary sources and conduct their own research project over the course of the semester. The course is intended for advanced history students, but students from other disciplines with an interest in the time period are welcome. Students without a modern Europe or equivalent history course should contact the professor about their preparedness. This counts toward the modern and Europe/Americas requirements for the major. No prerequisite. Sophomore standing. Offered every three years.

The French Revolution was a watershed moment in the history of the Western world. Many historians believe it was the beginning of modernity, as the Revolution ushered in seismic transformations in political, social, economic, cultural and intellectual life. Turbulent popular upheavals precipitated the unraveling of the existing social order, the unprecedented beheading of the king, the rapid mutation of political institutions and even the abolition of the Christian calendar. These changes occurred not only in France, but throughout the Western Hemisphere. French armies exported the ideas and institutions of the Revolution into neighboring European countries, while political leaders fighting for independence in Haiti and Latin America appropriated the rhetoric of the French revolutionaries for their own purposes. The Revolution's mythological legacy continued to inspire revolutionaries across the world far into the 19th century and beyond, making it an event of truly global significance. This seminar is structured both thematically and chronologically. We begin by looking back into the mid-18th century at the Old Regime to explore the various factors that brought about the end of the existing order. The Revolution's singular importance has turned it into a minefield of controversial debates across generations of historians, who have attempted to account for its causes and effects. We encounter various historical explanations of the Revolution and reflect on the assumptions and methods of different historical schools that have attempted to interpret it. We then explore the Revolution in its many stages, from its radical republicanism to the Reign of Terror to the eventual rise and fall of Napoleon. We end by considering the Revolution's short- and long-term effects. This counts toward the premodern and Europe/Americas requirements for the major. No prerequisite. Sophomore standing. Offered every other year.