History - Faculty of Arts

Offered by the School of Historical Studies

Campus availability: Caulfield, Clayton

Relevant Courses

2429 Diploma in Arts (Archaeology and Ancient History)
2443 Diploma in Arts (History)
0002 Bachelor of Arts (and associated double degrees)
3910 Bachelor of Arts (Global)
0202 Bachelor of Letters

History is a discipline that looks back at the past and tries to understand where we - as individuals, societies and national groups - have come from. In part, therefore, history may be said to be the study and representation of past events, lives, places, ideas and institutions. This means history is full of fascinating and exciting stories that connect and resonate with - but also counterpoint - our own. But history also looks to the past for understandings about the origin of things. How did the notion of democracy arise? Why do most of us live in cities? When was the expression 'teenager' first used? Why are certain nations implacable enemies? What made the United States the most powerful country in the world? Investigating the past, we learn more about ourselves.

Students may construct a major sequence in history by selecting units spread geographically across the fields of Asian, European and Australian history or by following a more specialised sequence based upon a particular field or theme. Students are advised to seek further information from school course advisers.

Students are also encouraged to study foreign languages in fields relevant to their historical interests. The School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics offers a number of units for beginners.

International studies is also an interdisciplinary area of study which is administered in the School of Historical Studies.

Sequences

First-year sequence

A first-year sequence in history comprises of any two first-year level history units to the value of 12 points chosen from the units listed below.

Minor sequence

Students complete a standard minor chosen from the units listed below.

Major sequence

Students complete a standard major chosen from the units listed below.

Students taking a major in history, particularly those contemplating honours, are strongly recommended to take HSY3060, HSY3080 or HSY3805.

Non-history units (other than those listed below), may be counted towards a major or minor in history with the permission of the Head of School.

Units

First-year level

AAH1010 Ancient civilisation 1
AAH1020 Ancient civilisation 2
BME1111 Science, culture and origins*
BME1122 Human affairs: Health, environment and sexual difference*
HSY1010 Medieval Europe
HSY1020 Renaissance Europe
HSY1050 Asian civilisations: The cycle of empires
HSY1060 Asian civilisations: Crisis and transformation
HSY1111 Nations at War I: From Napoleon to Gallipoli
HSY1112 Nations at War II: Genocide and total war
HSY1120 Jews and non-Jews in the middle ages
HSY1150 World War Two: The rise of fascism**
HSY1160 World War Two: The crushing of the Axis*
HSY1190 Jews, God and history
HSY1200 Histories of God
INT1010 Contemporary worlds 1
INT1020 Contemporary worlds 2

Suggested first-year sequences in history are:

Second/Third-year level

The normal prerequisite for second-year level units is any first-year level history sequence. The normal prerequisite for third-year level units is at least 12 points of second-year history units.

Units marked with this symbol (*) cannot be included in an Arts double degree course. Further, non-Arts units are prohibited for students fulfilling a core Arts requirement, for example, non-Arts units cannot count towards the 96 point Arts core necessary to qualify for the Bachelor of Arts degree.

AIS2010/AIS3010 Social justice and indigenous Australians
AIS2020/AIS3020 Racism and prejudice
AIS2070/AIS3070 Australian Aboriginal women
AAH2210/AAH3210 The age of empires: Assyria, Bablyon and Persia, 900 - 331 BCE
AAH2220/AAH3220 Alexander the Great and his world
AAH2230/AAH3230 Imperial Egypt and the Mediterranean world
AAH2260/AAH3260 Imperial Rome: A study in power and perversion in the early Empire
AAH2580/AAH3580 The Middle Kingdom in Egypt: From collapse to recovery and foreign rule
AAH2590/AAH3590 East meets West: The archaeology of the Indian sub-continent
AAH2800/AAH3800 The golden age of Athens
AAH2970/AAH3970 The Early dynastic period and old kingdom in Egypt, 3050 - 2150 BCE
AAH2990/AAH3990 Egypt's golden age and its aftermath
AAH3950 Kleopatra's Egypt (previously ptolemaic and Roman Egypt)
AUS2000/AUS3000 Anzac legends: Australians at war
AUS2001/AUS3001 Broken earth: journeys through the Australian landscape
AUS2002/AUS3002 Anzac battlefield tour: Walking in history
ECC2500/ECC3500 Imperialism and development in Asia*
ECC2510/ECC3510 Australian economic history*
ECC2520/ECC3520 Australia in the Asian business world since 1945*
ECC2560/ECC3560 European economic history since 1945*
ECC3570 The international economy since 1945*
EUR2140/EUR3140 Modern Eastern and Central Europe: Culture and society
HSY2015/HSY3015 History, film and TV in 20th century Australia
HSY2025/HSY3025 Beyond Machiavelli: Crisis and renewal in early modern Italy
HSY2035/HSY3035 Heresy, persecution, identity
HSY2045/HSY3045 Decoding 'The Da Vinci Code': Histories behind the story
HSY2050/HSY3050 Fears and fantasies: Deviance in history
HSY2055/HSY3055 Murder and mayhem: The London underworld from the 18th to the 20th Centuries
HSY2060/HSY3060 The uses of the past
HSY2065/HST3065 Suspicious minds: A history of distrust
HSY2075/HSY3075 Soldiers of fortune: Mercenaries, states and violence
HSY2085/HSY3085 Witches and depravity in the medieval and early modern world
HSY2095/HSY3095 The Middle East in the 20th century
HSY2105/HSY3105 Religion and genocide in 20th century India
HSY2115/HSY3115 Centres of power: Great cities of Asia***
HSY2130/HSY3130 The Ottoman empire: From Gazi to Gallipoli (summer unit jointly offered with La Trobe University)
HSY2140/HSY3140 Faith and power: Islam in history and society
HSY2145/HSY3145 The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict
HSY2190/HSY3190 Modern Indonesia: Nation and state
HSY2225/HSY3225 History and film: Nazi Germany and the Jewish holocaust
HSY2245/HSY3245 Another opening, another show: A history of the musical****
HSY2255/HSY3255 Witchcraft in the European mind, 1400 to the present***
HSY2260/HSY3260 Australian Aboriginal history
HSY2275/HSY3275 Islam: Principles, civilization, influence
HSY2300/HSY3300 Twentieth-century Australia
HSY2325/HSY3325 Becoming Australian: Nineteenth century subjects
HSY2400/HSY3400 Sexuality, decadence and modernity in Europe c1880-1918
HSY2410/HSY3410 History of sexuality 1800 to the present
HSY2415/HSY3415 Twentieth century news media: The prerogative of the harlot
HSY2440/HSY3440 The rise and fall of Nazi Germany
HSY2460/HSY3460 The Vietnam war
HSY2495/HSY3495 History of Australian feminism***
HSY2555/HSY3555 Australian Jewry: History and society
HSY2560/HSY3560 Challenge and response: The course of modern Jewish history
HSY2570/HSY3570 Modern Israel: History, politics and society (previously Modern Israel: vision and reality)
HSY2580/HSY3580 The holocaust in an age of genocide
HSY2595/HSY3595 Alexandria - Jerusalem - Rome
HSY2600/HSY3600 Cults and the end of time: A history of millenarian discourse (previously Cults and the end of time: millennial belief, prophecy, progress and dissent through the ages)
HSY2630/HSY3630 Renaissance Florence
HSY2640/HSY3640 Christians, Jews and Muslims in the age of crusades
HSY2645/HSY3645 Arthur: History and myth
HSY2655/HSY3655 Troubadours and street singers: Music and popular culture 1100-1600
HSY2710/HSY3710 The island world of Southeast Asia
HSY2725/HSY3725 Nationalism and revolution in Southeast Asia
HSY2850/HSY3850 The Australian city: Contemporary problems in historical perspective
HSY2860/HSY3860 The renaissance in Florence (taught in November to December in Italy)
HSY2910/HSY3910 The "Great War": Reconsiderations and representations***
HSY2920/HSY3920 Death and disease: Healers and quacks in history
HSY2950/HSY3950 Slavery, freedom and revolution: The enlightenment and the French revolution
HSY2955/HSY3955 Searching for the American dream
HSY2985/HSY3985 Twentieth-century America: Race, rights and power
HSY2990/HSY3990 The American civil war
HSY2995/HSY3995 Dissent, revolution and freedom: Inventing the United States to 1850
HSY3005 Special reading unit (previously Adjunct research subject)
HSY3080 Reading history
HSY3125 Dante's medieval world: Politics, religion and the city
HSY3135 Facing history: Representing the Arab-Israeli conflict
HSY3165 Final journey: The life and death of European Jews, 1900-1945
HSY3195 Israelis and Palestinians between war and peace
HSY3200 Advanced history workshop
HSY3690 Rome, the papacy and the world (previously Pageant and Power: The Renaissance Papacy)
HSY3805 Teaching history
INT2030/INT3030 Nationality, ethnicity and conflict
INT2055/INT3055 Global disasters: Impact, inquiry and change
INT2095/INT3095 Travel and global encounters
INT2130/INT3130 Global cities
INT3140 After atrocity: The Holocaust, South Africa, Rwanda
JWC2425/JWC3425 On the edge of destruction: Polish Jewry between the two world war
JWC2540/JWC3540 Israeli culture through cinema and literature
RLT2210/RLT3210 Starring God: Religion, myth and film
RLT2480/RLT3480 The religious quest: Eastern faith and illumination
SHS2020/SHS3020 Jesus and the Jews
SHS2265/SHS3265 The world of the bible: Text and context
SHS2470/SHS3470 Spiritual journeys: mysticism, sufism and kabbalah (previously RLT2470/RLT3470)
SHS2735/SHS3735 Myth and meaning in ancient worlds (previously HSY2735/HSY3735 and RLT2190/RLT3190)

* Not available from 2006.

** Not available from 2007.

*** Not available from 2004.

*** Not available from 2005.

Enrolment advice

Liisa Williams, Coursework officer, W605, West Wing, Menzies building, Clayton campus; telephone: +61 3 9905 2199; email: liisa.williams@arts.monash.edu.au