This course is designed to engage students in conversations about particular perspectives on the history of a selected nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon as specified by the respective instructor. By taking this course, students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for, some combination of: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may also explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the complex political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors and subject will vary.

Central Asia and Inner Asia (including the contemporary states of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia, as well as historically Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur-populated regions of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation) are connected by a unique legacy and play a major role in international politics. While the region has been treated as peripheral to the encircling geopolitical powers of China, Russia, India, Iran and Turkey, its cities and oases represent major centers at the heart of the massive Eurasian continent. We will study how Central and Inner Asia were shaped by Buddhism, Islam, the Mongol Empire, and Communism as trade goods, ideas, religions and empires spread through the routes of the Silk Road. We will read biographies, short stories, and historical accounts to understand developments from Chinggis (Genghis) Khan's conquests and the emergence of the Dalai Lamas to Afghanistan's ongoing struggles and China's current "Belt and Road" international development initiative.

Repeat Rules

Requirements class fulfills