Category: History

The Special Project class is offered on an occasional basis, with course content specific to the area being explored.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites:

This course focuses on the interdisciplinary study of aspects of American culture through its music. We will explore the cultural interrelationship of the social, political, economic, historical and aesthetic influences that have formed the context and development of American music genres. Throughout we emphasize popular, innovative and sometimes experimental musical forms and their basis in individual communities. In that process we explore what seems to have made musical forms “speak” to our ancestors and to us. We also explore how the rise of mass-market music and the music industry has affected this history. Classes combine discussion of reading materials, discussion of films, presentations from guest musicians and music historians, and, above all, listening to music.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS (Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

This course will focus on the causes and aftermath of World War I. While the war itself was fought between 1914-1918, consideration of the causes and aftermath widens our exploration from 1848 (the “year of revolutions”) to 1939 (the Spanish Civil War). Sometimes called “The War to End all Wars” or “The Great War”, the catastrophic events of WWI changed the modern world. These causes and changes extend from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, and into our own 21st century. This is why this war can be considered an endless war. World War I affected virtually every field discipline – from the arts and science, politics and ideology, geography and anthropology, finance and popular culture, and, the ways we consider the process of History itself.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS (Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

Throughout history the term revolution has been applied broadly to political, social, cultural, and intellectual change. This course will examine the anatomy of a revolution and ask how far social protest must go before it can be considered a revolution. By using the French, American, and Russian Revolutions as examples of ”real” revolutions, students will explore pre-revolutionary engines of social and political change, how these revolutions unfolded, and their lasting effects. Also, students will explore whether other popular protests such as movements in civil rights labor rights, art, might be considered revolutions.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS (Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

This course is designed to meet two broad objectives: 1) to provide a comprehensive introduction to the historical narrative of the city of Detroit and the American urban experience; and 2) to practice skills of critical analysis in research, writing and presentation. We will accomplish these objectives by researching primary documents and artifacts; reading personal narratives; viewing select documentaries and film clips; listening to guest speakers representing multiple cultural and racial viewpoints and visiting a site of historical significance.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS (Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

This course offers students an introductory survey to the cultural, intellectual, social, and institutional histories of consumption in the United States. In particular students focus on four issues: the development of the mass market at the end of the nineteenth century, the cultural and institutional histories of advertising and marketing, consumption and the construction of gender, race and sexuality and the long-running debate over the social effects of consumption.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: Take one 3.0 credit, 200 level course from one of the following subjects: DAH (Art History), DEN (English), DAS (Academic Studies), DVC (Visual Culture).

The Special Project class is offered on an occasional basis, with course content specific to the area being explored.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites:

Independent Study is available to students who are at Junior or Senior level standing with a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or above. The student may receive approval to work in an area or on a project that is not otherwise offered or addressed in the regular curriculum. An Independent Study should include opportunities for individual student voice and provide a space for diverse perspectives. Students may receive credit toward graduation for no more than 6 credit hours. The student must submit to the chairperson of the department in which they wish to study, an Independent Study Proposal of 150 words (no less) of the student’s plan for study and her/his reason for choosing to study independently. Once the department chairperson provides approval and the instructor for the Independent Study is determined, the faculty member must write an Independent Study Syllabus with education goals, learning outcomes, meeting dates, course expectations, timelines, and due dates. Art Education candidates must pass DAE 490 with a grade of ‘C’ (2.00) or higher to qualify for certification.

Credits: 3

Prerequisites: DEN 239