Future students

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 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...

Violence and injustice have marred human history. Overcoming historical wrongs is an ongoing dynamic throughout all societies. From global case studies, you will learn about changing historical ideas of rights, freedom and sovereignty from the fight ...

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...

Who are Aotearoa New Zealand's people? How and when did they get here? New Zealand is the last major land mass settled by humans. What does this mean for its peoples and the world? In this course we interweave two major historical strands of Aotearoa...

The extraordinary events of 1936 are our starting point for this course: a Black athlete defied Hitler, the battle between communism and fascism boiled over in the Spanish Civil War, a blockbuster novel romanticizing slavery was published. You will d...

Pirates, spies, scoundrels, witches, revolutionaries, radicals, reactionaries, and the Ku Klux Klan! Welcome to the history of revolutions, empires and peoples in North, Central and South America. You will travel from the 1600s to the US Civil War an...

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 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...

Assassin's Creed or Game of Thrones? What was life really like in a medieval city? What were the consequences of the Black Death? You will discover the political, economic, cultural and social lives of medieval and early modern Europeans, from peasan...

A study of popular revolt, social protest and political sedition in Britain from the sixteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century.

This course surveys the history and development of the archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean world, examining its brilliant discoveries and sensational blunders through a series of case studies.

In the Māori world, time and place are configured in ways born of deep connection to these temperate islands of Kiwa's Great Ocean. The dynamic, living framework of whakapapa orders the universe relationally and waiata holds the history of the people...

This course examines an array of social movements, the banners under which people organised, the forms of collectivism they deployed, and the activities they engaged to contest colonialism and capitalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. We begin with Te Kota...

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.

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...

A study of ancient Greek society, particularly Athens in the Classical period. Topics include sex, gender, politics, education, entertainment, and food and agriculture. Co-taught with CLAS 308.

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 American century from 1865-1975 was one of criminalisation and liberation, punishment and protest, the expansion and contraction of human rights. You will examine American involvement in international jurisprudence about genocide, anti-communist ...

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...

In the largest ocean on the planet, Pacific Island peoples navigate a world of waves and currents, volcanoes, islands and atolls. Explore the history of the peoples of the Pacific Islands from their initial settlement of Oceania to the present day. Y...

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 investigates the Holocaust through the history of antisemitism, Nazi ideology, ghettos and extermination camps, dehumanisation, collaboration and resistance. You will gain in-depth knowledge of this unprecedented genocide, and acquire the...

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.

What does the life of Christopher Columbus tell us about medieval and early modern world history, 1000–1650? Explore the histories of Renaissance Italy, navigation, the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Empires in the Americas through Columbus’s life as...

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...