[Histmaj] New Senior Seminar opened for Spring 2026--HSTRY 498 A

[HISTORY UNDERGRADUATE ADVISORS via Histmaj]

Hello, Historians-
We have had to change the offerings for Senior Seminar classes for Spring 2026.  We will not offer "American Empire in Comparative Perspective".  But we are adding a new Senior Seminar on "Pirates in the Early Modern World." Email the History Advising address (histadv at uw.edu<mailto:histadv at uw.edu>) to be given an add code or to be put on the waiting list.  Please remember to give clear information about which section you want to add, and also include your name and UW student number.  These classes fill VERY quickly, so request your add codes sooner than later.
Here is the description of the new course. All of the other courses are also included farther down the email:
HSTRY 498  A
Topic: "Pirates in the Early Modern World"
SLN: 15143
W 330-520PM
Dr. Bryan Averbuch
In this seminar, we will explore histories of piracy in the early modern Caribbean, Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, Mediterranean, and beyond. Synthesizing textual sources with maritime archaeology (including explorations of shipwrecks and sunken ports), we will investigate the origins of pirates, their culture and lives aboard ships and ashore, their frequently-unconventional tactics, and campaigns to suppress piracy. We will encounter female, Asian, African, Native American, and mixed-descent pirates, and explore gender and sexuality in pirate communities. We will examine the role of pirates in slave-trading and the establishment of colonial empires, as well as pirate opposition to these projects. We will also consider pirates in modern popular culture, and the 21st-century resurgence of piracy. In consultation with the instructor, students in the seminar will research a chosen topic in pirate history, drawing on primary and secondary sources to create a substantial research paper. No prior knowledge of pirate history is required!

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If you intend to take a History Junior or Senior Seminar, now is the time to ask for an add code for the course you would like to take!  I know that both Tracy and I have said to almost every new major that you need to plan ahead to get an add code for these class, since they fill up so quickly.  Now is the time!
Here are descriptions (below) from the faculty of each Junior and Senior Seminar offered in Spring 2026 to help you make registration choices.  The full Spring Time Schedule has been released, but you should assume that there will be changes in the months before the quarter actually starts.
We recommend students have completed at least two 300-400 level History courses before taking HSTRY 388.  Students need to have taken HSTRY 388 before they are eligible to get an add code in HSTRY 494 or 498.
If you want to add one of these courses, email the History Advising address (histadv at uw.edu<mailto:histadv at uw.edu>) to be given an add code or to be put on the waiting list.  Please remember to give clear information about which section you want to add, and also include your name and UW student number.  These classes fill VERY quickly, so request your add codes sooner than later.

Junior Seminars

HSTRY 388 A
Topic: "Journey to the Mongols"
SLN: 15136
M1000-1250
Prof. Matthew Mosca
This course examines the accounts left by travelers to the Mongol Empire.  The sudden rise of the Mongol Empire, which came to dominate much of Eurasia in the thirteenth century, led to unprecedented cross-cultural interaction between Europe and Asia.  In particular, it focused close attention on previously unfamiliar nomads - their lifestyles, beliefs, cultures, and military and political organization.  By force or the lure of conquest and conversion, travelers set out across the Mongol Empire, through lands unknown to them.  For Europeans, the new knowledge of Asia afforded by travel in the Mongol Empire both expanded and transformed conceptions of the world.  This course is centered on two major primary sources written by European travelers in the Mongol Empire, which are compared with contemporary accounts of the Mongols by other European and Chinese authors.

***
HSTRY 388 B
Topic: "Cattle in Global History"
SLN: 15137
MW 1030-1220
Prof. Joel Walker
No animal has had a greater impact on world history than the cow.  This course employs the history of cattle as a lens to investigate broad patterns in human-animal interaction from the Paleolithic era until today.  The assigned readings range widely across world history, including the Ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, India, East Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

***
HSTRY 388 C
Topic: "Polar Exploration and Its Literature"
SLN: 15138
TTh 1230-2220
Prof. Ross Coen
The history of polar exploration is commonly understood in terms of the dramatic, romantic, and oftentimes tragic exploits of intrepid mariners such as Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Sir John Franklin. And while such stories abound in the literature and will be a significant part of the course, humankind's connection to the Arctic and Antarctic touches on deeper historical themes such as nationalism, colonialism, science, geographical misconceptions, Indigenous cultures, racial theories, the biological impact of cold, and the advances and limits of technology. This course will trace the evolution of polar exploration, focusing on the 19th and 20th centuries, to demonstrate that exploration is an integral part of being human. Students will work with primary sources, read and discuss secondary works, think and write analytically, and hone their skills in developing evidence-based arguments.

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Seniors Seminars

HSTRY 494  B
Topic: "Everyday Life in Ancient China"
SLN: 15141
W 1030-1220
Prof. Yifan Zheng
How can we reconstruct the texture of ordinary life in ancient China when traditional histories focus on emperors and high politics, rather than food, leisure, family relations, religion and death of commoners? This seminar takes advantage of a major transformation in the field: the discovery of hundreds of thousands excavated bamboo and wooden manuscripts over the past few decades. Using these materials (letters, contracts, calendars, recipes, etc.) alongside a range of transmitted sources, we will explore how peasants, slaves, convict laborers, soldiers, women and local functionaries lived within the structures of empire.

This course is organized around key life stages (birth, marriage, aging/health, and death) and emphasizes close reading, discussion, and sustained writing. Students will develop a research paper grounded in primary sources: you'll craft a proposal, workshop a draft with peers, give an end-of-quarter presentation, and submit a revised final paper. No prior knowledge of Chinese language or history is required; all students are welcome.

***
HSTRY 498  A
Topic: "Pirates in the Early Modern World"
SLN: 15143
W 330-520PM
Dr. Bryan Averbuch
In this seminar, we will explore histories of piracy in the early modern Caribbean, Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, Mediterranean, and beyond. Synthesizing textual sources with maritime archaeology (including explorations of shipwrecks and sunken ports), we will investigate the origins of pirates, their culture and lives aboard ships and ashore, their frequently-unconventional tactics, and campaigns to suppress piracy. We will encounter female, Asian, African, Native American, and mixed-descent pirates, and explore gender and sexuality in pirate communities. We will examine the role of pirates in slave-trading and the establishment of colonial empires, as well as pirate opposition to these projects. We will also consider pirates in modern popular culture, and the 21st-century resurgence of piracy. In consultation with the instructor, students in the seminar will research a chosen topic in pirate history, drawing on primary and secondary sources to create a substantial research paper. No prior knowledge of pirate history is required!
***
HSTRY 498  B
Topic: "The 'Long' Civil Rights Movement"
SLN: 15144
Th 1230-220
Prof. Travis Wright
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, television screens, newspaper headlines, and radio broadcasts blazed with stories of sit-ins, demonstrations, Supreme Court rulings, and landmark legislation like the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. These events reshaped American society, leaving behind an enduring legacy that continues to spark debate and activism today. Yet, the Civil Rights Movement did not emerge fully formed, nor was it inevitable. How did it take shape within a particular social and political landscape? How was it built, sustained, and contested over time, and by whom? Whose labor, organizing, and vision made the movement possible, and how have these contributions been remembered, or left out, of dominant historical narratives? Finally, how does the Civil Rights Movement connect to ongoing social justice movements?

This seminar seeks to answer these questions through an in-depth examination of the Civil Rights Movement. We will use a wide range of primary and secondary sources (films, music, oral histories, memoirs, recent scholarship, and more) to investigate the origins and evolution of the movement, exploring not only its iconic leaders and landmark moments but also the lesser-known activists and strategies that fueled and sustained its progress. Additionally, we will consider how the Black struggle for civil rights intersected with contemporaneous feminist, gay rights, labor, and antiwar movements. Through our discussions and research, we will reflect on the movement's profound achievements, its limitations, and its lasting impact on modern society. By the quarter's end, each student will have produced a substantive research paper, grounded in primary and secondary sources.


Sincerely,
Mark and Tracy

Mark Weitzenkamp and Tracy Maschman Morrissey
History Undergraduate Advising
University of Washington
Smith Hall 315
Box 353560
Seattle, WA 98195
vm: 206.543.5691<tel:206.543.5691> fax: 206.543.9451<tel:206.543.9451>
depts.washington.edu/history<http://depts.washington.edu/history>

Please click here to schedule an advising appointment! [outlook.office365.com]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/UWHistoryAdvising@cloud.washington.edu/bookings/__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!hepl5zsGyNtp8irH6BFU_vfzEDAVByBQeKGrA21TwwYy6eG5HGMceoCxsf_yemPn_ZqlOYzhtiOUSeGhRg$>

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