300-level

HIST329
The Rise and Fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, 1944 - 1991
Description
The end of the Cold War and of Eastern European communism in 1989-1991 did not mean the loss of global interest in developments in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. On the contrary, the recent history of these countries, the period of their post-communist transition to political democracy and a market economy, has been marked with new instabilities, crises and wars which have had serious implications for global trends. This course is designed to provide a broad background to an understanding of the political, socio-economic, and cultural developments in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe as an essential prerequisite to understanding the modern world.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from EURA or HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
EURA226, EURO226, EURA326, EURO326, HIST269
HIST339
The First World War: Total War in Europe
Description
The First World War is often described as a total war. Between 1914 and 1918 over 9 million combatants were killed and European nations deliberately targeted civilians for attack. Governments gave themselves extraordinary powers over people’s lives as they tried to turn whole societies, economies and cultures to the war effort. The results of this ranged from social and political reform to revolution, genocide and the collapse of empires. Students will explore the war’s impacts on the people of Europe, investigating its origins; military, political and social developments; and the legacies of both peace diplomacy and war cultures. Focusing primarily on Britain, France and Germany, this course asks how the experience and endurance of total war affected Europe, and what this meant for the modern world.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
HIST352
Kiwi Culture
Description
This course explores the invention of kiwi culture from first Maori contact with Europeans to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. Key questions asked are: How has national identity formed? What kiwi traditions have emerged? Who is a New Zealander and who is excluded from dominant concepts of nation? What aspects of culture are indigenous and how much is copied from overseas? Topics under examination include key defining moments, peacekeeping, sport and leisure, food, beauty, fashion, arts and crafts, literature and music, kiwi icons, kiwiana, overseas fame, sexuality and morality, environmentalism, national disasters, immigration and multiculturalism.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST243
HIST361
Heroines in History
Description
From the days of the Virgin Mary to the advent of Lorde, this course travels through time critically recovering a wide variety of global and local historical heroines. It moves beyond traditional mythological celebration to consider how women's histories have been told, re-told, and represented. What does it take to become celebrated as an icon or role model? Themes include spirituality, health and well-being, warrior and regal identities, politics, governance and domesticity, cross-dressing, martyrdom and untimely death, imperialism, science and technology, education and glamour.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT or HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST255, CULT336
HIST366
Takahi: Colonisation
Description
Colonisation has had a significant effect on the shaping of contemporary New Zealand society. This course will cover key events in the colonisation throughout New Zealand’s brief colonial history. This course utilises different theories of colonisation to critically examine the continued subjugation of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa and around the world. Special attention will also be paid to breaking down the power relationships that have emerged between coloniser and colonised.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from CULT, HIST, or MAOR, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
MAOR317, RELS322, CULT302
HIST372
Contested Heritage: Politics, Power and Practice
Description
This course provides students with a hands-on introduction to the study of heritage. We explore ways we might understand and interpret contemporary heritage practices in a range of contexts, including post-earthquake Christchurch.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024 (The Arts Centre Christchurch)
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
SOCI388, ANTH388
HIST373
Renaissance and Reformation Europe
Description
A thematic study of two major transformations in European History between c.1350 and c.1600.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST253
HIST374
The Soviet Experiment and Its Aftermath
Description
The emphasis is on Russia's 20th century Communist experience and its many legacies in the fast-changing post-Soviet society. Together we will examine the causes of the Bolshevik Revolution and the greatest social experiment in the history of humankind that followed it. The course will explore the roots of Stalinism, the causes and consequences of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, the space race and other Cold War competitions between the superpowers, Gorbachev's reforms and the collapse of the USSR. Was the end of the Communist rule in the Soviet Union predetermined?
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from EURA, HIST, or RUSS, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
RUSS218, RUSS318, HIST274, EURA214
HIST376
Making Imperial Britain, 1780 to 1914
Description
This course explores social, cultural, political and economic developments in the history of Britain and its empire between 1780 and 1914. The course focuses mainly on events within the British Isles, but also investigates the expansion and operation of the British empire. A major concern of the course is the development of British identities, which is explored in the context of varying conceptions across the four nations of the British Isles as well as by Britons in the empire.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST254
HIST377
American Revolution and Civil War
Description
An examination into the origins of popular government, the genius of American revolutionary politics, and the Civil War which ended slavery.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST257
HIST379
Maori and Indigenous Development
Description
This course will examine the history of Maori economic development. Students will gain an understanding of recent developments and the factors which have affected Maori engagement with globalisation over the past two hundred years.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST or MAOR, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST262, MAOR212
HIST393
Fascism and the Far-Right in Europe
Description
This course examines the rise of Fascist movements in Italy, Germany, France and Eastern Europe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before considering the far-right and fascist regimes created by Franco, Mussolini and Hitler. The course also reflects on the state of the European radical right today.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST293
HIST395
Crime, Criminology and Policing in Modern Europe since 1750
Description
Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, this course traces the development of crime, criminology and policing in modern Europe. Paying particular attention to the rise of competing biological and sociological models of criminality and the birth of forensics, the course examines the social, political and professional implications of attempting to put the investigation, understanding, and punishment of crime on a scientific footing. Topics covered will include: crime and insanity, Lombroso and the born criminal, the professionalisation of policing, and the development of fingerprinting and crime scene analysis.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or CRJU201 and either CRJU202 or LAWS202, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
HIST295
HIST396
Independent Course of Study
Occurrences
Summer Nov 2023
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from HIST, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA. Subject to approval of the Head of Department.

Not Offered Courses in 2024

300-level

HIST334
Anzac Neighbours: Australia and New Zealand
Description
This course compares and contrasts the history of New Zealand with the history of its largest and closest neighbour, Australia. The course explores the extent to which the neighbours share a history as well as what makes this country distinctive. Analysis extends from the Anzac tradition to the idea of Australasia. The aim is to understand why New Zealand is closely integrated with Australia today.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2013
For further information see HIST334 course details
Points
30 points
HIST335
Tsardom to Empire: Russian History 1480 to 1917
Description
This course explores aspects of social, political, economic, cultural, religious, and intellectual history of Russia prior to 1917, with a particular emphasis on the autocratic tradition as developed from 1480 onwards. The course also investigates the making of the Russian Empire while also examining ways in which political forces unique to Russia shaped the country's cultural specificity in the European context.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2016 , 2017 , 2019 , 2021 , 2023
For further information see HIST335 course details
Points
30 points
HIST353
Myth and History
Description
The myths we create are part of the fabric that make up our past and how we understand it. When we look into the past to find to find out what really happened, we not only face the problem of sifting myth from fact but we also face the danger of inventing new myths and traditions to go with it. This course will look at how history and myth interact and the problems that this interaction presents to the historian. Students will be introduced to tribal myths and how these stories assimilate 'historical events'. Students will then be introduced to a range of theories and methods historians and indigenous scholars use to manage the obvious tensions within.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2011
For further information see HIST353 course details
Points
30 points
HIST364
America and the World into the 21st Century
Description
An overview of American diplomacy, politics and culture during the Cold War.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2017 , 2018 , 2019
For further information see HIST364 course details
Points
30 points
HIST367
Social and Cultural History of India
Description
A comparative study of statecraft, religion and gender across four principal periods of Indian history: ancient, 'medieval' (Rajput and Mughal), European and British colonial and post-Independence.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2014 , 2015 , 2016 , 2017 , 2019
For further information see HIST367 course details
Points
30 points
HIST375
The Muslim World, 600-1650
Description
A social, cultural and political history of the Islamic world between 600 and 1650.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2012 , 2015 , 2018 , 2020 , 2022
For further information see HIST375 course details
Points
30 points
HIST378
Revisiting Empire
Description
This course provides a critical understanding of decolonisation and legacies of empire in making the modern world. You will be introduced to major debates in the history of British World scholarship. Topics are from the latest ideas in the area and include commemoration and the toppling of statues, cultural symbols of nation and empire, landscape and power, war and patriotism, settler/indigenous contact zones, environmental imperialism, female imperialism, gender and sexuality, empire and memory, war and patriotism, travel and the sea, and food and marketing. Aotearoa New Zealand, Africa, Australia and Canada are examined.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2021 , 2022
For further information see HIST378 course details
Points
30 points
HIST381
The Third Reich: Terror, Complicity and Resistance
Description
This course examines the rise of Nazism in Germany and the responses of Germans to it, including complicity and resistance. Beginning in 1919, the course traces the fortunes of the NSDAP during the Weimar Republic, explains their seizure of power in 1933 and their domestic and foreign policy up until the Second World War, concluding with an examination of the genocidal war they waged between 1939 and 1945.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2023
For further information see HIST381 course details
Points
30 points
HIST391
Chinese Society and Culture since 1949
Description
China is making history with its stunning economic growth, with sweeping changes in its social, cultural and political life, and with its emergence as a global power. This course takes you on an exciting and thought-provoking journey to help you discover where these changes have come from and what they mean for China and the world. It is taught in English and requires no prior knowledge of China.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2011 , 2012
For further information see HIST391 course details
Points
30 points
HIST394
Recovering Christchurch 1850-2010
Description
As a systematically planned new world city on the edge of empire Christchurch has always been a fascinating place to study. Whose stories have formed the city's written collective memory, and what has been left out? Due to the earthquakes from 2010 the city has a unique rupture, or ending point for its colonial past. As Christchurch considers its future, this course critically remembers its history. Significant aspects of the social, cultural, political and economic history of the South Island's largest city will be investigated through a series of lectures and documentary exercises. Students will gain an overall knowledge of the city's urban history, with opportunity to focus on advanced research topics.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2012 , 2013 , 2014 , 2015 , 2016
For further information see HIST394 course details
Points
30 points
HIST398
An Environmental History of Ancient to Modern India: Elephants and Empires
Description
This course emphasises the human/animal relationship as a primary factor in the environmental history of India. It focusses particularly on the environmental factors of disease, climate and health among both humans and animals in the shaping of India's history from ancient to modern times.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2023
For further information see HIST398 course details
Points
30 points