Hist 3098 The Pacific in World History
MW 2:15-4:45pm, Professor Brad Simpson
Wars, Whaling, and WalMart. What do these have in common?
All three are phenomena joined together by the Pacific Ocean. In fact, we can hardly understand them without the Pacific Ocean. This seminar will use the Pacific Ocean as a lens for thinking about modern history.
We will explore the flow of people (immigrants and explorers), ideas, goods (from porcelain to iPods), nature (whales, bird poop!) and technology, among much else, among the nations and peoples of the Pacific World. We will examine the impact of colonialism, war, decolonization and the Cold War on the history of the region, as well as the ways that these dynamics intersected with the fortunes of indigenous peoples.
We will employ a wide range of sources – from scholarly works to government documents, movies, art, diaries and literature – to illuminate the history of the Pacific and its centrality to understanding the modern world.
The class is aimed at anyone with interests in Russia, Asia, North America, the Pacific Islands, South America, and Australasia, as well as those interested in oceanic, transnational, and global history.
For more information, contact: Brad Simpson at Bradley.Simpson@uconn.edu