As the restrictions imposed on us by the pandemic ease, we look forward to welcoming more students back on campus. From Trimester 1 2023, more of our courses will be delivered (at least partly) in-person to ensure we can offer you the best learning experience through workshops, field trips, placements, labs, and face-to-face tutorials and lectures. When you enrol for 2023, be sure to check what modes are available for your chosen course(s).
Showing 76 courses for the subject History
This course introduces students to themes central to the study of the cultures of the French, German, Italian and Spanish-speaking worlds. Cultural case studies will allow students to draw out commonalities without losing sight of historical, politic...
Great Ideas
FHSS103
Great Ideas is a course reflecting on some of the most exciting, important and revolutionary ideas that have shaped society and culture as it is today. It also considers how those ideas have an ongoing influence. It’s an interdisciplinary course look...
Atrocity, violence, persecution, warfare and injustice form part of the record of human history. So do attempts to redress such wrongs. The course examines historical case studies of oppression of many sorts based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion...
This course introduces students to the discipline of history through the study of colonial encounters in the greater Pacific region, drawing on experiences of indigenous peoples in Australia, the Pacific Islands, and New Zealand. Ranging from pre-con...
New Zealand's peoples occupy one of the most remote parts of the world. As an island people, their history has been one of constant connection and innovation. Surveying the dynamic movements that made Aotearoa New Zealand a destination for peoples fr...
The global catastrophes of the Great War and the 1918 influenza pandemic were followed by hope, reconstruction, crisis and conflict as the world was re-made. Taking an international approach and using as entry points the extraordinary events of 1936 ...
This course puts the early United States and Canada in the broad historical context of Empires in the Americas and indigenous societies. Topics may include: Inca and Aztec empires; Columbus and the Spanish American Empire; Salem witchcraft trials; mi...
The Birth of Modern Europe
HIST118
How do Europe’s historical upheavals and contradictions inform our contemporary notions of modernity? Students will investigate the histories of the continent, and the local and global implications of Europe’s path towards modernity. Demographic chan...
World War One and its Legacies
HIST121
World War One broke apart empires and families and fostered political, social and technological revolution. Using empire, nation, community, family and individual as frames, this global history of World War One examines the complex facets of the conf...
This course examines key developments in later medieval and early modern European history that helped to shape the modern world.
A study of popular revolt, social protest and political sedition in Britain from the sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.
Special Topic: To Hell and Back
FHSS203
This course will focus primarily on three representations of the underworld: the Odyssey, Vergil’s Aeneid, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. We will trace the development of the underworld from one work to another and consider the influence of each work on ...
An introduction to Māori historical methods and practical research skills, emphasising a range of older and more contemporary methodological frameworks for the study of history.
Roman Social History
CLAS207
A study of the main features of Roman social history from the time of Augustus to AD 200. Topics include class structure, law, education, the family, slavery, poverty and public entertainment. Offered in alternate years.
The Future of Work
FHSS207
Workforces are changing at a rapid pace with various predictions regarding the future nature of work. In this interdisciplinary course, students will critically examine the changing nature of the work and employment from a range of perspectives inclu...
Greek Society
CLAS208
A study of the main features of Greek society with special emphasis on Athens of the Classical period. Topics include the life cycle, population, class structure, economy, democracy, slavery, warfare and festivals.
This course explores political propaganda in inter-war European society, focusing predominantly on Britain, Germany, France, the Soviet Union, Italy and Spain. It investigates techniques of persuasion in democratic and totalitarian states, examining ...
This course examines the early history of the USA as it expanded across the North American continent, became an industrial power, emancipated slaves, and dispossessed native peoples. It looks at the effects of the United States' origins in an age of ...
The course traces the historical interaction between criminalisation, punishment and the expansion and retraction of human rights in the United States from 1865 to 1975. It will include American involvement in international jurisprudence about genoci...
This course examines the history of the US as it expanded from a continental to an international power. It analyses crucial episodes in the century including the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the US's role in the po...
This course provides an introduction to the history of the peoples of the Pacific Islands from their initial settlement of the region to the present day. Beginning with Pacific Islanders' colonisation of the region, the course then charts Pacific Isl...
Australian History
HIST222
Australia and New Zealand are often described as neighbours, cousins and mates. But are we? Australia is a large and diverse country with a complex history. Students will examine aspects of Australia's past since the late 1700's focusing on themes of...
This course examines the histories of Māori and Pākehā cultural interactions during the nineteenth century. It explores relationships between identity, power and place, in both international and local forums.
This course introduces students to the digital tools and methods used by historians in producing historical scholarship, and issues surrounding ‘digital history’. Students will be introduced to writing for the web, database basics, digital mapping, a...
Gandhi, India and the World
HIST230
A study of Gandhi and his India and his influence on democratic movements in other parts of the British Empire, South Africa and the USA.
A study of late Medieval Europe and the world during the time of Christopher Columbus, and the historical processes set in motion by his four voyages to the Americas.
Special Topic: History and Film
HIST234
This course explores the relationship between History and the ‘moving image’. Drawing from case studies from four different continents, the course will engage with the theory and practice of cinema's dual role as mirror and catalyst of social trends,...
We examine the history of New Zealand’s relations with the Pacific islands from the 1890s to the 1990s through the life histories of Pacific peoples in Aotearoa and NZers in the Pacific (e.g., travellers, traders, “chiefs”, missionaries, students, pe...
This course examines the concept of race, the origins of racial thinking and the practice of racial intolerance and persecution in Europe and its colonies from 1750 to 1950. Emphasis will be given to the meanings of race through its codes: class, col...
HIST 238 examines, along chronological lines, the history of Italy from the rise of Fascism until the end of the "First Republic" and the rise of media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's "Forza Italia party", dedicating particular attention to the history of ...
Peoples of the Soviet Empire
HIST245
This course introduces the nations of the Soviet Empire, discussing both federal regions within the USSR itself and dependent states beyond the Soviet frontier. Lectures contrast the evolution of Communist rule at the Russian core of the empire with ...
This course on the German-Speaking world starts at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and concludes at the present day, and it takes the interplay between German linguistic nationalism and other political loyalties as its main theme.
New Zealand Political History
HIST249
This course will survey key themes in New Zealand's political history. The course content will include the changing shape and nature of the New Zealand state, the evolution of political parties, economic and social policy, and Maori and the state. Th...
Tracking across New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, North America and parts of Europe, the course examines what it means to 'be modern'. Why did people in many different parts of the world come to see themselves as 'modern' and thereby distin...
This course introduces the twentieth-century history of the Middle East with a focus on Arab, Persian, and Turkish national experiences. Lectures explore ideas of political legitimacy: the course examines the collapse of the Ottoman caliphate, Europe...
Students in this course will research and examine the various intellectual and empirical traditions that shaped how people gathered knowledge about nature and the cosmos in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a period that saw the birth of moder...
A comparative study of settler colonialism and the evolution of self-government in Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Special Topic: To Hell and Back
FHSS303
This course will focus primarily on three representations of the underworld: the Odyssey, Vergil’s Aeneid, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. We will trace the development of the underworld from one work to another and consider the influence of each work on ...
Roman Social History
CLAS307
A study of the main features of Roman social history from the time of Augustus to AD 200. Topics include class structure, law, education, the family, slavery, poverty and public entertainment. Co-taught with CLAS 207. Offered in alternate years.
Greek Social History
CLAS308
A study of the main features of Greek society with special emphasis on Athens of the Classical period. Topics include the life cycle, population, class structure, economy, democracy, slavery, warfare and festivals. Co-taught with CLAS 208: reading su...
A study of late Medieval Europe and the world during the time of Christopher Columbus, and the historical processes set in motion by his four voyages to the Americas.
Working Lives in New Zealand
HIST312
This course explores how the meaning of work has changed over time in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It interrogates the interplay of race, class, gender and sexuality in the worlds of work.
Media and the Modern USA
HIST315
This course examines the US from 1975 to the present, exploring the interaction between media and major events including the conservative counteroffensive, the undermining of Detente, the Reagan and Bush I eras, the end of the Cold War, the Clinton s...
New Zealand Social History
HIST316
Explores the changing visions and patterns of social life in Aotearoa/New Zealand from the early 19th to late 20th century, drawing on new approaches in cultural and social history. Central themes include the interaction of people with the land, radi...
New Zealand History
HIST317
In 2020 this course will consider migration to to New Zealand from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales over the period 1800 to 1945 in the context of British and Irish migration more generally, and New Zealand’s place in the world in the Age of Mass...
This course introduces the twentieth-century history of the Middle East with a focus on Arab, Persian and Turkish national experiences. Lectures explore ideas of political legitimacy: the course examines the collapse of the Ottoman caliphate, Europea...
This course has a primarily chronological focus from 1945 to 1991 but also includes some thematic structure, notably a focus on the Cold War as an 'imaginary war' and the cultural effects of the Cold War in areas such as gender, race, and class. It w...
This course examines early Māori encounters with and use of the written word and the archival records which assist us in reclaiming this intellectual tradition today. Topics include: whakairo, moko, religious texts, translation, whakapapa, nuipepa, b...
This course examines national conflicts at the end of the First World War, exploring how the ideal of "national self-determination" affected the post-war world. Lectures explore various border disputes. Seminars discuss primary sources: memoirs, prop...
We examine the history of New Zealand’s relations with the Pacific islands from the 1890s to the 1990s through the life histories of Pacific peoples in Aotearoa and NZers in the Pacific (e.g., travellers, traders, “chiefs”, missionaries, students, pe...
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
HIST331
The history of the transatlantic slave trade, 1519-1867, and its impact on Europe, Africa and the Americas. Seminars discuss slavery in the early modern world, the commercial organisation of the slave trade, shipboard disease and mortality, the devel...
The Holocaust and Genocide
HIST332
"The Holocaust and Genocide" surveys the origins, implementation, experience and aftermath of the Holocaust - the state-sponsored policing, persecution, concentration and destruction of the Jewish and non-Jewish victims by the Nazi regime in Germany ...
This course explores World War One as more than a military event. A variety of perspectives are examined on the social and cultural meanings of the War in a variety of national contexts, focusing particularly on Britain, New Zealand and Australia, an...
The Pacific Islands after 1945
HIST336
This course surveys developments in the Pacific Islands since 1945. In the first half of the course particular attention is paid to developments in the period between World War II and the attainment of independence in some Pacific Islands. The second...
This course explores the aftermath of World War II, namely the problem of displaced persons, refugees and expellees on the quest for peace and governance of Europe. It will include attention to humanitarian organisations, international law, the geogr...
History on Film/Film on History
HIST339
This course explores the relationship between History and the Moving Image. Drawing from case studies from four different continents, the course will engage with the theory and practice of cinema's dual role as mirror and catalyst of social trends, a...
This course explores the involvement of Aotearoa/New Zealand and New Zealanders in the Pacific islands since 1840. It focuses not only on New Zealand’s formal colonial empire and its legacy in Sāmoa, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau and Nauru but also its...
The course explores the way the Cold War shaped US society and culture from 1965 to 1991 and the causes and consequences of the Culture Wars that followed from 1991 to 2021. It examines the growing polarisation- political, social, cultural, ideologic...
This course will introduce students to historical problems and approaches in studying the five senses: vision, touch, taste, smell and hearing. The chief aims of the course are to consider the role of the senses in history and to interrogate historia...
This is a historiographical and theoretical course. This means that we will examine both the philosophical bases for understanding the past and the ways in which history has been (and currently is) practised.
This course considers the European outreach into the Atlantic in early modern history, 1400-1800. We examine the development of major Atlantic trades, including the Newfoundland fishing industry, whaling, the slave trade, and trades in cash-crops and...
We explore how the recovery and reconstruction of memory can be both the source and subject of oral history, and the methods to make that happen. Students will both analyse and create oral histories in this course.
This course will examine the digital tools and methods increasingly used by historians in producing historical scholarship, via discussion of recent scholarship on digital history and hands-on workshops of various digital skills and resources. Studen...
Was there such a thing as a Scotttish Empire or a distinctively Scottish experience of empire? This course takes a self-consciously Scotocentric approach to British imperial and colonial history. It considers Scottish thinking on empire, Scottish exp...
Spanning the period from roughly the end of the 18th Century and American independence through to the imperial conferences of the 1920s, this course explores the inter-related histories of gender and empire, largely as they unfolded in what become kn...
Special Topic: Class in History
HIST428
This course will examine the importance of social class as an analytical category and a historical reality. Attention will be paid to classical and more recent theoretical debates, and to the concrete meaning of class in a variety of historical situa...
History of Migration
HIST429
History of Migration considers the history of forced and free migration. Topics may include: Māori migration to Aotearoa; recent Māori migration to Australia; the transatlantic slave trade; convict labour; indentured labour in the Atlantic, Indian Oc...
Māori Literature in History
HIST430
Drawing on an extensive archival and published pool of Māori writing c. 1820 to the current day, this course examines the written landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand's first peoples. Critical and theoretical work on indigenous literatures drawn from va...
Class in History
HIST431
This course will examine the importance of social class as an analytical category and a historical reality. Attention will be paid to classical and more recent theoretical debates, and to the concrete meaning of class in a variety of historical situa...
This course introduces students to the phenomenon 'national awakening' by examining the political, social, intellectual, and cultural origins of East European nationalism in light of nationalism theory. Students may choose to focus on either Czech or...
Origins of Nationalism
HIST449
The emergence of nationalism has transformed human societies all over the world, but scholars disagree about what nationalism is and how to interpret it. This course examines the origins of nationalism in detail by reading canonical works by leading ...
Research Project
HIST489
HIST 489 is a compulsory research essay undertaken in the completion of a BA (Hons) degree. The topic is devised principally by the student under the guidance of a History programme staff member.
Thesis
HIST591
MA thesis in History.
History for PhD
HIST690
Showing results 1 - 76 of 76 results
Showing 1 - 76 of 76 results for History