History Department Offers Rich Slate of Courses for Spring 2025 Semester

Faculty and graduate students in the Emory History Department will teach a rich slate of undergraduate courses in the spring 2025 semester. These include offerings at the 200 and 300 levels, as well as many compelling interdisciplinary courses cross-listed with departments across campus. Browse the offerings below.

200-Level Courses

  • HIST 215/AMST 285-1: History of the American West, Patrick Allitt, TTh 11:30am-12:45pm
  • HIST 221/AFS 221-1: The Making of Modern Africa, Clifton C. Crais, TTh 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 228/AMST 228/ EAS 228 1: Asian American History, Chris Suh, MW 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 239/AAS 239: History of African Americans Since 1865, Kali Gross, MW 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 247: Napoleon’s Europe, Brian Vick, MW 5:30pm-6:45pm
  • HIST 254/MESAS 254: From Pearls to Petroleum, Roxani Margariti, MW 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 265/MESAS 235: Making of Modern South Asia, Hugo Hansen, MW 4pm-5:15pm
  • HIST 267W/AAS 267W: The Civil Rights Movement, Carol Anderson and Lizette London, MW 4pm-5:15pm
  • HIST 270/JS 270/MESAS 275: Survey of Jewish History, Tamar Menashe, TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 279W/CHN 279W: Post-Mao? China After 1976, Sarah M. Rodriguez, MW 1pm-2:15pm
  • HIST 285/AMST 285-2: The US and the Cold War, Emilie Cunning, MW 11:30am-12:45pm
  • HIST 285-2/AFS 270-2: Colonial Legacies in Africa, Gerardo Manrique de Lara Ruiz, MW 5:30pm-6:45pm
  • HIST 285-3/AFS 270-3: African Nationalism in the 20th Cent., Rene Odanga, 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 296-1/ JS 271: Jews & Race in U.S. History, Eric L. Goldstein, MW 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 296-2/REL 270-4/JS 271-2: Holocaust Memory in Europe, Israel, & the US, Alicja Podbielska, TTh 11:30am-12:45pm
  • HIST 200W/MESAS 200W: Middle East: Empires to Nations, Courtney Freer, TTh 11:30am-12:45pm
  • HIST 206W/MESAS 202W: South Asia: Empires to Nations, Ruby Lal, MW 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 214/AMST 285-3: The American Death Penalty, Daniel LaChance, MW 4pm-5:15pm

300-Level Courses

  • HIST 332/MESAS 332: Gandhi: Non-Violence & Freedom, Scott A Kugle, MW 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 336/AMST 336/LACS 336: Migrants & Borders in the US, Iliana Rodriguez, TTh 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 338/JS 338: Jews of Eastern Europe, Ellie Schainker, TTh 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 342/AMST 385-1: The Old South, Maria Montalvo, TTh 1pm-2:15pm
  • HIST 343 (Part of Sustainability Minor too): History of Skiing & Snowsports, Judith A. Miller, TTh 5:30pm-6:45pm
  • HIST 347: The Industrial Revolution, Patrick Allitt, TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 348/AMST 348-1/JS 371 3: Ethnic Experience in America, Jonathan Prude, TTh 5:30pm-6:45pm
  • HIST 363W/LACS 363W-1: Sugar and Rum, Robert Goddard, TTh 8:30am-9:45am
  • HIST 368/HLTH 385-10: History of Hunger, Thomas Rogers, TTh 5:30pm-6:45pm
  • HIST 378 /AFS 378-1/ANT 378-1/LACS 378 -1: Human Trafficking: Global History, Adriana Chira, MW 1pm-2:15pm
  • HIST 384/AAS 384-1/ENG 389-1: Slavery in US History & Culture, Michelle Gordon, TTh 4pm-5:15pm
  • HIST 385-1/AMST 385-2/ ANT 385-8: Oral History: Methods/Practices, Jonathan Coulis, TTh 4pm-5:15pm
  • HIST 385-2/AMST 385-3: Information & Power, US History, Matthew Guariglia, MW 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 385-3/JS 371-2/WGS 385-9: Women & Law, 1200-1800, Tamar Menashe, TTh 11:30am-12:45pm
  • HIST 385-4/REES 375-1: The Soviet Cold War, Matthew Payne, MWF 1pm-1:50pm
  • HIST 385-6: Cultures of Romanticism, Brian Vick, MW 1pm-2:15pm
  • HIST 385W-1: Singlewomen/Premodern Europe, Michelle Armstrong-Partida, MW 11:30am-12:45pm
  • HIST 385W-2/AMST 385W-2: Black & Indigenous Histories, Malinda Lowery, MW 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 396-2/CPLT 389-1/ENG 389-2: History, Memory, Literature, Angelika Bammer, TTh 10am-11:15am
  • HIST 396-3/ENG 389-3/PHIL 385-5/CPLT 389-3: No Time to Think!, Elizabeth Goodstein, TTh 4pm-5:15pm
  • HIST 396-4/ GER 375-1, JS 375 1, CPLT 389 4: Making Sense of Fascism, Frank Voigt, TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 302/CL 329R: History of Rome, Jinyu Liu, MW 2:30pm-3:45pm
  • HIST 323: Reformation Europe & Beyond, Sharon Strocchia, TTh 4pm-5:15pm
  • HIST 325W/CL 325W: The Classical Tradition & American Founding, Barbara Lawatsch-Melton, TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

Alumni Update: Ashleigh Dean Ikemoto (Ph.D., ’16)

Dr. Ashleigh Dean Ikemoto, a 2016 alum of the doctoral program, recently sent an update on her career trajectory since graduating from Emory. As she discusses below, Dean recently published her first book, Pedro de Alfaro & the Struggle for Power in the Globalized Pacific, 1565-1644 (Rowman & Littlefield, Lexington Books). The book derives from her dissertation, which was advised by Dr. Tonio Andrade. Enjoy Ashleigh’s update below!

“Since finishing my PhD, I taught at Monmouth College in New Jersey and at Gordon State College in Georgia before beginning at Georgia College in 2018. My doctoral research was on Spain’s frustrated attempts to conquer Ming Dynasty China. This year I published a book based on my dissertation. It examines the career of Pedro de Alfaro (d. 1580), a Spanish Franciscan whose illegal entry into China sparked a chain of events that contributed to the development of an interconnected Pacific economic and diplomatic maritime zone.

“I am still engaged in the field of early modern history and still teach East Asian history, but I currently spend most of my time working on food history. I teach courses on the historical methodology of foodways, Asian and Asian-American food, Jewish food, Mediterranean food, and the history of alcohol.

“Beginning in January 2023, I will be Co-Director of Georgia College’s Global Foodways Program, which provides an undergraduate certificate and opportunities for community outreach and study abroad. I have also done two research fellowships in pursuit of food-related research and pedagogy: one in Mongolia as a Henry Luce Foundation American Center for Mongolian Studies Field School participant in 2022, and one this past summer as a Brandeis University Schusterman Center for Israeli Studies Fellow in Israeli & the West Bank.

“My time at Emory prepared me to see history as a universally-applicable discipline, letting me branch out beyond my dissertation research and broadening my perspective as an educator.”

Are you an Emory History alumnus? Please send us updates on your life and work!

Chira to Lead Inaugural Study Abroad Program to Cuba


The Emory History Department will inaugurate a study abroad program in Cuba in May 2024. Titled “History, Environment, and Society,” the 4-credit program will be led by Dr. Adriana Chira, Associate Professor of History, and be run in collaboration with the Fundación Antonio Nuñez Jiménez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre in Havana and Learn from Travel. Highlights of the program include: experiencing a rumba street party, visiting a tobacco farm, and snorkeling at a starfish reserve. If you are interested and/or have questions, please contact Prof. Chira at adriana [dot] chira [at] emory [dot] edu.

Students in Rodriguez’s ‘LatinX US History’ Class Make Altar for Día de los Muertos


Earlier this semester students in Dr. Yami Rodriguez’s course “LatinX US History” produced an altar for Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, on the first floor of Bowden Hall. Practiced in Mexico, especially, and throughout other Latin American countries, these altars are meant to celebrate loved ones who have passed and invite them to reunite with those still living. The “LatinX US History” course invited all to participate in the practice by displaying a picture or making an offering to a loved one. Read more about this wonderful project below.

Malinda Maynor Lowery Discusses Native Pasts, Presents, and Futures in Walk & Talk with Josh Newton


Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery, Cahoon Professor of American History, recently joined Senior Vice President of Advancement Josh Newton for an edition of his series Walk & Talk with Josh Newton. Lowery, a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and a historian of Native America, discusses her work as a scholar, teacher, documentary filmmaker, and tribal community member. Since coming to Emory from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2021, Lowery has been instrumental in facilitating Emory’s reckoning with practices of dispossession and colonialism, including by helping to craft the university’s Land Acknowledgement and creating a deep, reciprocal partnership with the College of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Lowery will lead Emory’s new Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, set to launch in the 2023-24 academic year. Watch her conversation with Newton, which also includes discussion of what drew her to the History Department, here: “Understanding the present begins in the past.”

Arts and Social Justice Fellow Collaborates with Mortimer’s ‘Intro. to Native American History’

Atlanta-based painter and social practice artist Bird Harris, a 2023-24 Arts & Social Justice (ASJ) fellow at Emory, has worked this past semester with Dr. Loren Michael Mortimer‘s class “HIST 285: Introduction to Native American History.” Now in its fourth year, the ASJ program pairs artists in Atlanta with faculty across schools at Emory to “reimagine an existing course, injecting a creative approach to addressing the social justice issues that surfaced within class conversations.”

Harris led students in the course on a Radical Noticing Walk through the sacred Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park during their historic trip to the 31st Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration in September of this year. That walk formed part of a broader project she has developed with students in Mortimer’s class, titled “Land as Living Memory.” Mortimer is Provost Postdoctoral Fellow in Native American history in the History Department. His book manuscript, Kaniatarowanenneh Crossings: Indigenous Power and Presence in the St. Lawrence River Watershed, 1534-1842, is under advance contract with University of Nebraska Press.

“I believe the earth has a long memory and that we, often intentionally, do not. I view my roles as an artist, mother, historian, and citizen as deeply intertwined and linked to the same core responsibilities: interrogate imbalances, reckon with hard histories, create beauty, and work towards a future of natural equilibrium. Having just moved my family from our home in New Orleans, one of the fastest disappearing land masses in the world, my work is a meditation on land loss, the multiple histories of American land, and mothering in the face of ecological collapse.”

Bird Harris, Artist Statement

Crespino on Carter’s Legacy: “One of the great Americans of the late 20th and early 21st century”

In the wake of recent news that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter would forgo further medical treatment and receive hospice care in his home, journalists from Atlanta News First (ANF) visited campus to investigate Carter’s legacy in the Emory community. ANF interviewed Dr. Joseph Crespino, Department Chair and Jimmy Carter Professor of History, about the positive impact that the former president made on generations of Emory students through public lectures, “Carter Town Halls,” and visits to classes that professors like Crespino taught. Crespino said that Carter, who was Distinguished University Professor at Emory, will “be remembered as one of the great Americans of the late 20th and early 21st century.” Watch/read the full story from the ANF: “Emory University professor says President Carter left lasting impression on students.”

Mellon Foundation Awards $2.4 million for Unique Partnership between Emory and College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN); Malinda Maynor Lowery to Co-Lead Initiatve

Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery, Cahoon Family Professor of American History

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $2.4 million in support of a unique partnership between Emory University and the College of the Muscogee Nation (CMN) centered on Native and Indigenous Studies as well as the preservation of the Mvskoke language. The funding will support collaborative learning communities and research opportunities that link the campuses of Emory and the CMN. Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery, Cahoon Family Professor of American History, helped to forge the partnership between the two institutions, including as part of the the Indigenous Language Path Working Group convened following the reappointment and expansion of President Fenves’ Task Force on Untold Stories and Disenfranchised Populations. Read more about the partnership between Emory and the CMN and the Mellon Foundation award:

Rodriguez’s Class Inspires Pioneering, Undergraduate-Curated Exhibit on Latinx History

“Consciousness is Power: A Record of Emory Latinx History”

Emory Libraries has showcased a pioneering exhibit on Latinx histories in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month. Titled “Consciousness is Power: A Record of Emory Latinx History,” the exhibit was curated by Arturo Contreras, a fourth-year student majoring in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. In the Emory News Center piece about the exhibit, Contreras describes how History Department Assistant Professor Yami Rodriguez helped to inspire the project through her class “Migrants, borders and transnational communities in the U.S.” Read an excerpt from the Emory News Center Article below along with the full piece here: “Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with an Emory Libraries pop-up exhibit.”

As a student, Contreras wanted to integrate his community work into his academic life. In spring of 2022, he enrolled in Yamileth “Yami” Rodriguez’s special topics history class to expand as a scholar in the field of Latinx studies. Rodriguez, an assistant professor of history at Emory, inspired and supported Contreras in proposing his exhibit project to the Emory Libraries Events and Exhibits team. 

“Yami’s presence is what Emory needed, especially for students wanting to be involved with their respective communities,” Contreras says. “Her field of study and method of facilitating makes the classroom an environment of belonging and safety to explore intellectual curiosity.” 

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with an Emory Libraries pop-up exhibit,” September 14, 2022.

Welcoming New Faculty: Q&A with Yami Rodriguez

In the fall of 2022 the Emory History Department welcomes Dr. Iliana Yamileth (“Yami”) Rodriguez, a historian of Latinx communities in the United States, as Assistant Professor. In the latest installment of our Welcoming New Faculty series, Dr. Rodriguez offers a glimpse into her research and teaching along with what drew her to Emory.

Tell us about the focus of your research and principal current project.

My research focuses on Latinx 20th – 21st century history, with a regional focus on Latinx communities in the southern United States. I’m especially interested in questions of culture, race, ethnicity, labor, and migration as they relate to Latinx histories and experiences. My current book project, “Mexican Atlanta: Migrant Place-Making in the Latinx South,”  traces the history of Metro Atlanta’s ethnic Mexican community formation and the region’s broader Latinx histories beginning in the mid-twentieth century. The book draws on diverse archival and personal collections, as well as original English- and Spanish-language oral histories with community members. 

Was there a particularly memorable moment from archival or field research that has had a lasting impact on your work or career?

When I started research for the dissertation-turned-book-project, it quickly became apparent how limited the Latinx historical presence was in Georgia archives. While there were some scattered collections that held primary sources related to Georgia’s Latinx communities, I primarily had to curate my own archive as I attempted to narrate this community history from a “bottom-up” perspective. Thankfully, I had the privilege of meeting and working with community members and archivists who were interested in developing archival collections on Latinx Georgia history. These kinds of collaborations have resulted in the donation of materials to UGA related to Mundo Hispánico and the Latinx (primarily Mexican) music scene in the Southeast, as well as the ongoing Latinx Georgia Oral History Project for which I conduct oral history interviews. It has been fulfilling to assist in preserving Latinx Georgia histories, and I look forward to continuing the work of archive-building at Emory. 

What sort of courses – undergraduate or graduate – are you most excited to offer at Emory?

I’m looking forward to teaching courses that center issues of ethnicity, race, and migration in US history. Furthermore, I’m looking forward to teaching courses that focus on southern and local histories. For Fall 2022 I’m teaching “Race and Labor in the US,” which is an advanced seminar for students writing original research papers. In Spring 2023 I’ll be teaching courses on Latinx and southern history. 

What drew you to Emory?

I first stepped foot on Emory’s campus as an undergraduate attending the annual Latino Youth Leadership Conference hosted by the Latin American Association. As a first-generation Latina raised in Metro Atlanta, the prospect of teaching Latinx history at Emory was academically and personally exciting. Today I’m glad to join an incredibly supportive history department that is home to wonderful students, staff, and faculty. En pocas palabras, estoy feliz que de nuevo radicó en Atlanta