Undergraduate Handbook Preface Academic Honesty Departmental Honors Procedures Curriculum Major and Concentration Undergraduate Schools What Counts as a History Course Advisors What Counts as a Seminar Historical Theories and Methods Study Abroad Senior Thesis Prizes & Fellowships Guidelines for Papers Introduction

Major and Concentration

This section lays out the requirements for the undergraduate major and concentration for students in Columbia College and the School of General Studies.  Major requirements for history do not change for those students who intend to double major. Students may not double count a single course for two different programs.

NOTES:

• No more than 12 points of transfer credit or study-abroad credit will be accepted toward the major; no more than 9 points will be accepted toward the concentration.
• The seminar requirement must be fulfilled at either Columbia or Barnard

The requirements of the undergraduate program are intended to encourage students to: (1) develop the deeper knowledge of the history of a particular time and/or place that allows for more advanced study; and (2) take a wide range of courses to gain a sense of the full scope of history as a discipline (breadth). Students are required to choose and complete a "specialization"-that is, a set of courses on a specific field, theme, or subject. Students must also fulfill a breadth requirement by taking courses outside the field within which their specialization falls.

The historical fields in which the department offers classes include, but are not limited to:

• Ancient history
• Medieval history
• Early Modern European history
• Modern European history
• United States history
• Latin American and Caribbean history
• Middle Eastern history
• African history
• East Asian history
• South Asian history

Additionally, we offer classes in thematic and cross-regional fields which include, but are not limited to:

• Intellectual history
• Jewish history
• Women's history

These fields are only examples. Students should work with a member of UNDED to craft a specialization on the theme or field that most interests them. A specialization does not appear on the student's transcript but provides an organizing principle for the program.

Majors are required to complete at least 13 credits in their area of specialization and concentrators must complete at least 9 credits.

Breadth Requirement

Both majors and concentrators must also fulfill a breadth requirement by taking courses outside of their own specialization. Majors must take 3 breadth courses and concentrators must take 2. The breadth requirement itself has two parts: time and space.

Time: Both majors and concentrators must take at least one course specifically covering a time period far removed from that of their specialization. Students specializing in the modern period must take at least one course in the pre-modern period (before 1750), and students specializing in the pre-modern period must take at least one course in the modern period. Pre-modern courses cover a wide range of geographic fields, but the course used for the chronological breadth requirement should either be in a geographic region different from your specialization or else focus on a drastically different time period. A student specializing, for example, in Modern European history could not take a course in Early Modern European history for the pre-modern requirement and would need to take something further removed, such as Ancient Greek history or early Chinese history.

Space: Majors must take at least two additional courses in a regional field or fields not their own. At least one of these must cover an area of the world on the hemisphere opposite to the primary location of their specialization. Therefore, a student specializing in some part of Europe, the US, or Latin American/Caribbean, therefore, must take one of their breadth courses in either Asia, the Middle East, or Africa, and vice versa. Concentrators must take one geographic breadth course, and it must cover an area on the opposite hemisphere. Some courses cover multiple geographic regions. If one of the regions covered by the class is the one covered by the specialization, the course cannot count toward the breadth requirement unless it is specifically approved by the DUS. For example, if a student is specializing in “Twentieth Century US History” and takes a class on World War II, the class is too close to his or her specialization and will not fulfill the breadth requirement as would a course in Asian history.

Students with thematic or cross-regional specializations will have their breadth requirements set in consultation with a member of UNDED.

Students may not use a single course to fulfill more than one component of the breadth requirement: for example, a student specializing in Latin American history could not take "History of Ancient China to the End of the Han" and count it toward both his pre-modern and geographic breadth requirements.

Seminar Requirement (MAJORS ONLY): Majors in history must also complete a seminar requirement by taking two 4000-level seminars. At least one of these courses must be in the student's specialization. Seminars must be completed at either Columbia or Barnard; seminars taken abroad or at other universities may count towards the overall number of credits, but NOT towards the seminar requirement. Undergraduate seminars are filled by advance application.

The two-term Senior Thesis Seminar provides 8 credits, but may only be counted as one of the two required seminars, and normally counts as within the specialization.

Categorization of courses: Each term, a list of courses which may be counted toward the major will be posted on the Department website. Each course will have one or more of the following codes to designate the content fields that will be addressed:

• ANC-Ancient history
• MED-Medieval history
• EME-Early Modern European history
• MEU-Modern European history
• US-United States history
• LAC-Latin American and Caribbean history
• ME-Middle Eastern history
• AFR-African history
• EA-East Asian history
• SA-South Asian history

All pre-modern courses will be marked with an *. All other classes are considered Modern Era classes.

Sample Plans of Study

Below are some examples of possible specializations and breadth requirements

Ancient Greek and Roman History

Specialization:

• HIST W1010 The Ancient Greeks, 800-146 BCE
• HIST W1020 The Romans, 754 BCE to 565 CE
• HIST W3006 Ancient Political Theory
• HIST W4044 Romanization

Breadth Requirement:

Removed in Time:

• HIST W3330 Europe Since 1945

Removed in Space:

• HIST BC4861 Body Histories: Foot-Binding
• HIST W3618 The Modern Caribbean

Modern US History

Specialization:

• HIST BC1402 American Civilization Since the Civil War
• HIST W3425 The Presidency Since 1945
• HIST W3407 America Since 1960
• HIST W4450 Histories of American Capitalism

Breadth Requirement:

Removed in Time:

• HIST BC1062 Intro to the Later Middle Ages

Removed in Space:

• HIST W3760 Main Currents in African History
• HIST W3660 Latin American Civilization I

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Modern European History

Specialization:

• HIST BC 1302 Introduction to European History: French Revolution to the Present
• HIST W3360 British History from 1867
• HIST W3302 The European Catastrophe, 1914-1945
• HIST W4322 German History: 1740-1914

Breadth Requirement:

Removed in Time:

• HIST W1004 Ancient History of Egypt

Removed in Space:

• HIST W3800 Gandhi's India
• HIST W3535 History of the City of New York

Cross-regional and Thematic Specializations

3-course breadth requirements set in consultation with a member of UNDED

Intellectual History

Specialization:

• HIST W3311 Modern European Intellectual History
• HIST W3478 US Intellectual History, 1865-Present
• HIST W4105 Intellectual Origins of Political Economy
• HIST W4384 Tocqueville and Social Theory

Breadth Requirement:

• HIST W1010 The Ancient Greeks, 800-146 BCE
• HIST W3671 Militarism in Latin America
• HSEA W3338 Cultural History of Japanese Monsters

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Women's History

Specialization:

• HIST W3106 Politics and Gender in Early Modern Europe
• HIST BC3038 Women in Modern Europe
• HIST W3651 History of American Women, 1776-Present
• HSEA W4886 Gender, Passions, and Social Order in China

Breadth Requirement:

• HIST W3110 Renaissance, An Introduction
• HIST BC3321 Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Culture of Empire
• HSEA W3869 Modern Japan, 1800-Present

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Comparative Empires

Specialization:

• HIST W3020 Roman Imperialism
• HIST W3220 Imperial Russia, 1682-1918
• HIST W3312 British History, 1760-1867
• HIST W4310 Europe and the End of Empires

Breadth Requirement:

• HIST W3103 Alchemy, Magic & Science
• HSEA W3881 History of Modern China II
• HIST BC3567 American Women in the 20^th Century