This course offers a broad survey of the frontier in human history. From Hadrian's Wall and the Roman limites, to the American West in the 19th c., to contemporary Chinese jurisdictional claims in the South China Sea, borders and frontiers are universal phenomena. We will thus look at multiple times and places from multiple different perspectives. Topics will include territorialization as a historical process, borderland societies and regimes over time, legal pluralism, imperial expansion, non-state space, the ecology of the frontier, and the art and poetry of the frontier. The course will include lectures, in-class discussions, and student presentations.

This course is discussion- and project-based. In lieu of a final exam, there will be a final presentation (in the last week of class), and a 10-page (minimum) literature review or research paper on a topic of your choice. In lieu of a midterm, you will be asked to participate regularly in in-class discussions. By means of a social scientific approach to the study of the frontier in human history, the class is designed to expose students to the particularities of the history discipline, while helping them to cultivate specific skills, including how to read scholarship closely and critically, how to deconstruct arguments and interpretive debates, and how to communicate orally in an effective matter in the context of seminar-style scholarly conversations. As with any undergraduate history class, there are no prerequisites; all students are welcome regardless of previous coursework in history.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills