HIST 121 Rethinking “the West”: A Critical History of Europe, Southwest Asia, and North Africa from Antiquity to 1700
This course takes on a familiar narrative—the rise of "Western Civilization"—but approaches it from a critical and expansive perspective. Rather than telling a triumphalist story of European superiority, we explore how the cultural, religious, and political traditions of Europe, West Asia, and North Africa developed in deep conversation with one another over more than 6,000 years of history. In doing so, we aim not only to understand the past, but to question the historical frameworks that have upheld ideas of cultural hierarchy and civilizational elitism.
Beginning with the early cities of Mesopotamia and Egypt, we’ll move through the Hebrew Bible and Persian imperial ideology, the golden ages of Athens and Rome, and the spiritual revolutions of Christianity and Islam. We’ll study medieval trade networks, Crusader chronicles, mystics and merchants, libraries and battlefields, and end with the intellectual, religious, and political upheavals of early modern Europe and the Islamic world. To guide our study, we’ll follow thematic threads—empire, religion, gender, and knowledge—while engaging closely with a wide range of primary sources, including sacred texts, philosophical writings, scientific diagrams, law codes, letters, myth, art, and material artifacts.
Core Requirements Met
- Global Connections
- Pre-1800