Explore commonly taught topics along with related primary sources, discussion questions, teaching strategies, and annotated bibliographies.
Short Teaching Module: Controversial Historical Statues
I use images of three historical statues that triggered controversy beginning in the 2010s to teach about the concept of contested historical memory and to have students consider parallels and differences among public history controversies in different parts of the world. I have several aims in using the images.
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Short Teaching Module: European Maps of the Early Modern World
I use images of three historical maps for topics on colonial exploration and for interpreting historical evidence in undergraduate courses on history and historical methodology. I have several aims in using the maps. One is to study moments as well as change over time in Europeans’ conceptions of the world.
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Short Teaching Module: Early Modern Islamic Carpets as Transcultural Objects
Islamic carpets were ubiquitous in the early modern period (1500-1800) in Europe as much as it was in the Islamic world. They were important objects of decor within homes, imperial palaces, and religious buildings. These decorative art objects were produced in great numbers and in a variety of designs and techniques across the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
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Short Teaching Module: Cleopatra, Gender, Beauty and Power in Egypt and Rome
Our most important early sources on Cleopatra are Roman histories, which are problematic in their reliability. Cleopatra held the status as the “enemy” for Romans, which created a bias among Roman authors. Moreover, Rome’s patriarchal culture influenced writers’ views of a powerful female ruler.
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Short Teaching Module: Christianity and Slavery in the Kingdom of Kongo, 1480s-1520s
Portuguese missionaries brought Christianity to West Africa in the late fifteenth century. They had their greatest success at conversion in the Kingdom of the Kongo, a powerful state that was never conquered in the early modern period. Here rulers created a Kongolese version of Christianity, combining local beliefs and practices with imported ones.
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Syllabus: Women and Gender in World History, 600-2000
The syllabus below lays out a 15-week course, beginning in the 6th century and continuing through the 20th century. It provides suggestions for how to use units and their various parts with your students, as some of the materials are student-facing, and others are instructor-facing.
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Long Teaching Module: Women and Empire
This teaching cluster assembles an array of primary and secondary sources, as well as teaching strategies and lesson plans, for educators to effectively teach the important roles women played in colonial and imperial projects from the 17th century to the 20th century.
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Long Teaching Module: The Collapse of Yugoslavia
This case study examines the rewriting and reworking of Serbian national history that accompanied the breakup of Communist Yugoslavia, especially by intellectuals, and the role such groups played in reconstructing and resurrecting a distinct narrative of Serbia’s national history.
This long teaching module includes an activity and two primary sources.
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