History & Social Science   

Stories, personalities, and discoveries in the development of modern science over the last several centuries.

Imagine being wrongfully imprisoned for nearly four years and turning to art to help you describe, remember, and cope with being in prison for ‘looking like the enemy. Explore the artists and their works, arts and craft, photography, sculptors, and delve into the vocational skills made available in the ten camps. Learn more about the artists who survived the camp and later became famous in their respective fields after the war. GAMON – endure with dignity.

This course is a continuation from last semester’s examination of human sexuality through an evolutionary and cultural perspective. Sexual selection theory is the lens through which we will view human sexuality in a biological and cultural framework. Topics include attractiveness, sexual orientation, parental investment, and the science of sex. Online research survey results will also be discussed.

This course will consist of visits to historic sites in Tallahassee and the surrounding area that are managed by the State of Florida. Collectively experiencing these sites through a combination of lectures and guided tours will provide students with an overview of major themes in Florida history from the pre-contact period to post-World War II.

A one-week interactive experience focusing the artistic milieu (music and painting) in France , roughly between 1890 and 1925. Contemporary relationships between music, art and literature of this important period will be explored. Musically, the primary focus will be on selected compositions by Claude Debussy (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) and Maurice Ravel (Spanish Rhapsody). Learning outcomes include: recognition of common concerns between symbolist poets, impressionist painters and composers, in their pursuit of subtle suggestion over obvious depiction of artistic forms and/or ideas

This three-week mini-course will emphasize discussion and encompass two topical areas selected by the Foreign Policy Association for discussion -- U.S. Engagement involving the continent of Africa, and the Future of Human Rights and International Law in a Divided World, thereby exploring different topical areas than were explored during the Spring 2026 semester. An open forum will be maintained in one instance in an effort to be responsive to emerging issues of the day.

This course will cover the significant political, military, social, economic, and cultural developments in postwar Leon County. We will examine how global, national, and state history connects with and influences Leon County. Granular stories and major events will be described to illustrate those connections.

Imagine the laws and executive orders affecting the Japanese and Japanese Americans in WWII finding their way into current events. From the perspective of a third-generation Japanese American (Sansei), who had 17 family members incarcerated in three different camps, we will learn how the hatred of the Japanese resulted in over 120,000, 2/3 of whom were US citizens, being placed in prison camps for nearly four years. From the courage of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to the Coram Nobis cases, we will look at camp life and what the camps are like today.

The story of how the “Me Decade” transformed into the final phase of the Cold War. Starting in the final months of 1978 and extending throughout 1979 the period of torpor, malaise, and polyester was replaced by revolution in Iran, near-meltdown at Three Mile Island, tectonic shifts in China, the reworking of the intelligence authority, and the onset of a proxy war between the US and USSR in Afghanistan. Through the use of video, documents, music, and news of the day, this will tell the story of how the seventies ended before the decade was over.

Explore how the turmoil of the late 1920s and early 1930s gave rise to infamous American criminals. This session compares Al Capone’s Chicago outfit, the Dillinger gang, and Bonnie and Clyde—their motives, methods, and lasting impact.

Michael Kinnicutt presents an overview of ancient Roman history, spanning more than two millennia. Beginning with its founding as a kingdom in 753 BCE, we will trace the evolution of Rome from its humble, tribal beginnings into one of the world’s greatest empires. The tumultuous growing pains of the republic (510 – 27 BCE) culminated with the creation of an empire that lasted five centuries (27 BCE – 476 CE). After the Western part of the empire’s slow, but probably inevitable, decline, the legacy of Rome continued for another millennium in its final iteration as the Byzantine Empire (330 -- 1453 CE). We will focus on the political and military institutions, governance systems, and legendary personalities that combined to create a complex, and often combative, historical narrative.

The turn of the 20th century is a momentous period in Russian history, often underappreciated. While the 19th century is considered the Golden Age of Russian civilization, and the transformative events of the Soviet period attract much attention, this course will focus on the two decades known as the Silver Age of Russian literature and culture, when three revolutions occurred in Russia in quick succession. We will examine the political, philosophical, economic, and cultural developments of that period—and how Russia got from Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky to the Gulag camp.

This class transports you back 237 years, to experience the best-documented party in Florida history. The same year the USA elected its first President, Spanish Florida celebrated the coronation of Carlos IV. We’ll unveil the royal flag, investigate the native dances performed by city clerks, reconstruct the marches, music, and commemorative coins minted for the parade, read the first English translation of the play presented by Black troops from Cuba, and explore why this festive wrinkle in time still matters today.

This course explores the events surrounding American independence from the British perspective, investigating the political, cultural, and military responses to the crisis engulfing the Empire. In particular, it will think of the War of Independence as a civil war and consider how this perspective shaped attitudes to the conflict. The course will also consider how people in the UK itself, and other parts of the British world, were inspired by happenings in America, and sought to change conditions in Britain and other parts of the British Empire in the wake of American successes.

Contrary to popular belief, the Roman Empire did not come to an end with the loss of its western provinces. The eastern half of the empire survived until 476 AD and continued to thrive for another millennium. In this course we will explore the nature of this new medieval Christian Roman empire through biographies of several of its most notable rulers in addition to examining contemporary Activityounts of the rise of Islam and the Crusades.

In 1633 the deeply religious townspeople of Oberammergau in Southern Germany prayed to their God to stop the bubonic plague that had entered their village. The plague had been ravaging Europe during the Thirty Years War (1618-48), killing an estimated two-thirds of the continent’s population. The townspeople promised to honor their God’s life, suffering, crucifixion, and ascension with a performance every ten years. God heard their prayers. The course addresses the geography, traditions, art, music, woodcarving, and historic sightseeing places of Bavaria, and evolution of the play. Charges of its alleged antisemitic text and its revision and the historical development of types of customs, orchestral music, and glorious chorus over time are analyzed in this intensive six-week class.