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.

This course develops a thematic history of the Atomic Age with a focus on Indigenous perspectives and experiences. We will examine a range of topics including uranium mining in Navajo Nation, weapons testing in the Marshall Islands, and the proposed nuclear waste repository on Western Shoshone lands. These are the guiding questions of the course: What is the relationship between nuclear colonialism and nuclear science? What roles have Indigenous land, labor, and lives played in nuclear developments? How have Indigenous people and communities responded? And how does UC Berkeley fit in the story? This course is global in scope, though our focus is on North America. We will consider scholarly, artistic, bureaucratic, and philosophical sources. The legacies and meanings of the Atomic Age in Indigenous worlds open new ways of thinking about our relationships with the environment, with technology, and with each other.

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Requirements class fulfills