European Studies

The European Studies minor provides an intellectual meeting ground for students interested in exploring Europe from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. Drawing courses from a number of different departments, the program in European Studies allows students to integrate their study of a European language and off-campus experiences in Europe with a coherent set of courses on campus to achieve a greater understanding of both new and old Europes.

Requirements for the European Studies Minor

  • One of the following gateway courses:
    • EUST 110 The Nation State in Europe
    • EUST 111 The Age of Cathedrals (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 140 The Age of Revolutions: Modern Europe, 1789-1914 (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 141 Europe in the Twentieth Century (not offered in 2020-21)

  • Four transnational supporting courses that

    • approach a theme or issue from a pan-European perspective OR
    • compare European countries or regions OR
    • compare Europe (or parts of Europe) with another part of the world.

    These courses will engage in an examination of such overarching issues as the relation between individual and community, cultural and linguistic diversity, and globalization. The list below is not exhaustive; students should consult with the minor director regarding other courses that may fulfill this requirement.

    • AFST 125 New African Migrations (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 101 Introduction to Art History I
    • ARTH 102 Introduction to Art History II
    • ARTH 172 Modern Art: 1890-1945 (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 235 Revival, Revelation, and Re-animation: The Art of Europe's "Renaissance" (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 236 Baroque Art
    • ARTH 240 Art Since 1945
    • ARTH 245 Modern Architecture (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 247 Architecture Since 1950 (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 255 Islam in the Eyes of the West (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 263 Architectural Studies in Europe Program: Prehistory to Postmodernism (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 264 European Architectural Studies Program: Managing Monuments: Issues in Cultural Heritage Practice (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 265 Planning Utopia: Ideal Cities in Theory and Practice (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 323 Idolatry (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ARTH 341 Art and Democracy
    • CAMS 211 Film History II (not offered in 2020-21)
    • CAMS 214 Film History III
    • CCST 270 Creative Travel Writing Workshop (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 114 Introduction to Medieval Narrative (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 135 Imperial Adventures
    • ENGL 203 Other Worlds of Medieval English Literature
    • ENGL 219 Global Shakespeare
    • ENGL 350 The Postcolonial Novel: Forms and Contexts
    • EUST 100 Allies or Enemies? America through European Eyes
    • EUST 159 "The Age of Isms" - Ideals, Ideas and Ideologies in Modern Europe (not offered in 2020-21)
    • EUST 231 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: Britain in Europe: Brexit and its Aftermath (not offered in 2020-21)
    • EUST 232 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: The Great War in Poetry, History and Memory (not offered in 2020-21)
    • EUST 233 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: Capitalism and Crises: Political Economy from Marx to Hayek (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 206 Contemporary French and Francophone Culture
    • FREN 238 Back to the Future: French Classics Reimagined (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 243 Food in French Fiction (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 248 Murder and Mayhem: Narratives of Suspense (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 255 Paris Program: Islam in France: Historical Approaches and Current Debates
    • FREN 259 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
    • FREN 308 France and the African Imagination (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 347 Gender and Sexuality in the Francophone World (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 353 The French Chanson (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 357 French and Francophone Autofiction
    • FREN 360 The Algerian War of Liberation and Its Representations (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 241 Crisis of Identity/Identity of Crisis: Introduction to German Jewish Literature and Thought (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 257 Berlin Program: Walking the Metropolis (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 357 Berlin Program: Walking the Metropolis (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GWSS 243 Women's and Gender Studies in Europe Program: Situated Feminisms: Socio-Political Systems and Gender Issues Across Europe
    • GWSS 244 Women's & Gender Studies in Europe Program: Cross-Cultural Feminist Methodologies
    • GWSS 325 Women's & Gender Studies in Europe Program: Continental Feminist, Queer, Trans* Theories
    • HIST 100 Exploration, Science, and Empire
    • HIST 137 Early Medieval Worlds in Transformation (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 138 Crusades, Mission, and the Expansion of Europe (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 139 Foundations of Modern Europe
    • HIST 140 The Age of Revolutions: Modern Europe, 1789-1914 (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 141 Europe in the Twentieth Century (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 142 Women in Modern Europe (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 202 Icons, Iconoclasm, and the Quest for the Holy in Byzantium and Its Neighbors (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 204 Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 209 The Revolutionary Atlantic (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 231 Mapping the World Before Mercator
    • HIST 233 The Byzantine World and Its Neighbors, 750-ca. 1453 (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 236 Women and Gender in Europe before the French Revolution (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 237 The Enlightenment (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 238 The Viking World (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 247 The First World War as Global Phenomenon (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 249 Two Centuries of Tumult: Modern Central Europe (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 252 Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945 (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 287 From Alchemy to the Atom Bomb: The Scientific Revolution and the Making of the Modern World
    • HIST 330 Ideas Incarnate: Institutional Formation, Reform, and Governance in the Middle Ages (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 341 The Russian Revolution and its Global Legacies (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 346 The Holocaust (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 347 The Global Cold War (not offered in 2020-21)
    • MELA 230 Jewish Collective Memory
    • MUSC 111 Music and Storytelling in the Western World
    • MUSC 211 Western Music and its Social Ecosystems, 1600-1830
    • PHIL 272 Early Modern Philosophy
    • PHIL 274 Existentialism
    • POSC 120 Democracy and Dictatorship
    • POSC 247 Comparative Nationalism (not offered in 2020-21)
    • POSC 255 Post-Modern Political Thought (not offered in 2020-21)
    • POSC 265 Public Policy and Global Capitalism
    • POSC 268 Global Environmental Politics and Policy
    • POSC 276 Imagination in Politics: Resisting Totalitarianism
    • POSC 277 Religion in Politics: Conflict or Dialogue?
    • POSC 283 Separatist Movements
    • POSC 284 War and Peace in Northern Ireland
    • POSC 325 Corruption, Clientelism, and Political Machines* (not offered in 2020-21)
    • POSC 352 Political Theory of Alexis de Tocqueville*
    • POSC 358 Comparative Social Movements*
    • POSC 359 Cosmopolitanism
    • RELG 217 Faith and Doubt in the Modern Age
    • RELG 225 Losing My Religion (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RELG 231 From Luther to Kierkegaard (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RELG 287 Many Marys
    • RELG 329 Modernity and Tradition (not offered in 2020-21)
    • SOAN 108 In & Out of Africa: How Transnational Black Lives Matter

  • Two country-specific supporting courses in the participating disciplines, each of which focuses on a particular European country or region. Country-specific courses need not address pan-European issues, but students will be expected to bring a comparative awareness of Europe to their learning experience.
    • ARTS 116 Ireland Program: Visualizing Ireland (not offered in 2020-21)
    • CAMS 212 Contemporary Spanish Cinema
    • CAMS 237 Russian and Soviet Film in Context (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ECON 221 Cambridge Program: Contemporary British Economy (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 144 Shakespeare I
    • ENGL 207 Princes. Poets. Power
    • ENGL 210 From Chaucer to Milton: Early English Literature (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 213 Christopher Marlowe (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 214 Revenge Tragedy
    • ENGL 216 Milton (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 218 The Gothic Spirit
    • ENGL 222 The Art of Jane Austen
    • ENGL 244 Shakespeare I
    • ENGL 249 Modern Irish Literature: Poetry, Prose, and Politics
    • ENGL 256 Ireland Program: Irish History and Culture (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 274 Ireland Program: Irish Literary Pasts and Presents (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 278 London Program: Shakespeare's England
    • ENGL 282 London Program: London Theater
    • ENGL 310 Shakespeare II
    • ENGL 319 The Rise of the Novel
    • ENGL 323 Romanticism and Reform
    • ENGL 327 Victorian Novel (not offered in 2020-21)
    • ENGL 328 Victorian Poetry
    • EUST 207 Rome Program: Italian Encounters
    • EUST 231 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: Britain in Europe: Brexit and its Aftermath (not offered in 2020-21)
    • EUST 232 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: The Great War in Poetry, History and Memory (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 204 Intermediate French
    • FREN 208 Paris Program: Contemporary France: Cultures, Politics, Society
    • FREN 233 French Cinema and Culture (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 238 Back to the Future: French Classics Reimagined (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 239 Banned Books (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 241 The Lyric and Other Seductions
    • FREN 242 Journeys of Self-Discovery (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 243 Food in French Fiction (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 244 Contemporary France and Humor
    • FREN 250 French History in 10 Objects (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 254 Paris Program: French Art in Context
    • FREN 259 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
    • FREN 308 France and the African Imagination (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 340 Arts of Brevity: Short Fiction (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 341 Madame Bovary and Her Avatars (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 351 Love, War and Monsters in Renaissance France (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 352 The Arthurian Legend (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 353 The French Chanson (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 354 The World Beyond (not offered in 2020-21)
    • FREN 359 Paris Program: Hybrid Paris
    • FREN 395 The Mande of West Africa
    • GERM 152 Personhood (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 212 Contemporary Germany in Global Context
    • GERM 223 Thinking Green: Sustainability, Literature, and Culture in Germany
    • GERM 247 Mirror, Mirror: Reflecting on Fairy Tales and Folklore (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 256 Berlin Program: Crossing Boundaries (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 267 Catastrophe! Natural Disaster in German Literature (not offered in 2020-21)
    • GERM 320 Life under Socialism: Culture and Society in East Germany
    • HIST 143 Modern Italy in the Mediterranean World (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 201 Rome Program: Building Power and Piety in Medieval Italy, CE 300-1150
    • HIST 206 Rome Program: The Eternal City in Time: Structure, Change, and Identity
    • HIST 207 Rome Program: Roman Journal: The Traveler as Witness (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 240 Tsars and Serfs, Cossacks and Revolutionaries: The Empire that was Russia
    • HIST 241 Russia through Wars and Revolutions (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 243 The Peasants are Revolting! Society and Politics in the Making of Modern France (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 245 Ireland: Land, Conflict and Memory
    • HIST 250 Modern Germany
    • HIST 250F Modern Germany-FLAC German Trailer (not offered in 2020-21)
    • HIST 288 Reason, Authority, and Love in Medieval France
    • HIST 289 Gender and Ethics in Late Medieval France
    • POSC 284 War and Peace in Northern Ireland
    • RUSS 205 Russian in Cultural Contexts
    • RUSS 226 Moscow Program: Russia's Hallowed Places (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 237 Beyond Beef Stroganoff: Food in Russian Culture (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 244 The Rise of the Russian Novel
    • RUSS 261 Lolita
    • RUSS 266 The Brothers Karamazov (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 267 War and Peace (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 280 1917
    • RUSS 293 Advanced Russian Skill Development
    • RUSS 341 From Folktale to Fanfiction: Russian Short Prose (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 342 Post-Soviet Film (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 345 Russian Cultural Idioms of the Nineteenth Century (not offered in 2020-21)
    • RUSS 351 Chekhov
    • RUSS 395 Senior Seminar: The Cult of Stalin
    • SPAN 227 Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Modern Spain (not offered in 2020-21)
    • SPAN 229 Madrid Program: Current Issues in Spanish Politics (not offered in 2020-21)
    • SPAN 244 Spain Today: Recent Changes through Narrative and Film
    • SPAN 328 The Contemporary Spanish Fictional Essay (not offered in 2020-21)
    • SPAN 330 The Invention of the Modern Novel: Cervantes' Don Quijote (not offered in 2020-21)
    • SPAN 349 Madrid Program: Four Masters of Spanish Art (not offered in 2020-21)
    • SPAN 358 The Spanish Civil War
    • SPAN 366 Jorge Luis Borges: Less a Man Than a Vast and Complex Literature
  • Minors must normally participate in an off-campus study program in Europe.
  • The overall balance of courses must include a mix of disciplines and course levels (100s, 200s, 300s). While this balance will be established for each individual student in consultation with the minor coordinator, no more than half of the required minimum of courses may be in one department, and at least half of the required minimum of courses must be above the 100-level.

The total number of credits required to complete the minor is 45.

European Studies Courses

EUST 100 Allies or Enemies? America through European Eyes During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, America often served as a canvass for projecting European anxieties about economic, social and political modernization. Admiration of technological progress and political stability was combined with a pervasive anti-Americanism, which was, according to political scientist Andrei Markovits, the "lingua franca" of modern Europe. These often contradictory perceptions of the United States were crucial in the process of forming national histories and mythologies as well as a common European identity. Accordingly, this course will explore the many and often contradictory views expressed by Europe's emerging mass publics and intellectual and political elites about the United States during this period. 6 credits; AI, WR1, IS; Fall; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 110 The Nation State in Europe This course explores the role of the nation and nationalism within modern Europe and the ways in which ideas and myths about the nation have complemented and competed with conceptions of Europe as a geographic, cultural and political unity. We will explore the intellectual roots of nationalism in different countries as well as their artistic, literary and musical expressions. In addition to examining nationalism from a variety of disciplinary perspectives--sociology, anthropology, history, political science--we will explore some of the watershed, moments of European nationalism such as the French Revolution, the two world wars, and the Maastricht treaty. 6 credits; HI, IS; Winter; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 111 The Age of Cathedrals Arising over a period of two medieval centuries, the gothic cathedrals of Europe symbolize at once faith, political and economic power, local identity, and technological and artistic achievement. Later generations commemorated them in literature and art, destroyed them in their political and religious zeal, and restored them (and continue to restore them) out of different sort of political zeal as well as a sense of duty and opportunity to preserve a national and European cultural inheritance and tourist treasure. In this course, we seek to understand the cathedral and its enduring legacy in Europe, and especially in France, from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and using a variety of media and sources.  6 credits; HI, IS; Not offered 2020-21
EUST 159 "The Age of Isms" - Ideals, Ideas and Ideologies in Modern Europe "Ideology" is perhaps one of the most-used (and overused) terms of modern political life. This course will introduce students to important political ideologies and traditions of modern Europe and their role in the development of political systems and institutional practices from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. We will read central texts by conservatives, liberals, socialists, anarchists and nationalists while also considering ideological outliers such as Fascism and Green Political Thought. In addition the course will introduce students to the different ways in which ideas can be studied systematically and the methodologies available. 6 credits; SI, IS; Not offered 2020-21
EUST 207 Rome Program: Italian Encounters Through a range of interdisciplinary readings, guest lectures, and site visits, this course will provide students with opportunities to analyze important aspects of Italian culture and society, both past and present, as well as to examine the ways in which travelers, tourists, temporary visitors, and immigrants have experienced and coped with their Italian worlds. Topics may include transportation, cuisine, rituals and rhythms of Italian life, urbanism, religious diversity, immigration, tourism, historic preservation, and language. Class discussions and projects will offer students opportunities to reflect on their own encounters with contemporary Italian culture. Prerequisite: Participation in OCS Rome Program. 3 credits; HI, IS; Spring; William L North, Victoria Morse
EUST 231 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: Britain in Europe: Brexit and its Aftermath As of March 29 2019 Britain will no longer be a member of the European Union. To understand the process that led to this remarkable and unexpected event, this course will introduce students to the institutions of the European Union and of Britain through reading, discussion, guest lectures and on-site visits in Brussels and London.  Prerequisite: Participation in OCS Cambridge Program. 4 credits; SI, IS; Not offered 2020-21
EUST 232 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: The Great War in Poetry, History and Memory The memory of World War I looms large in British politics, especially around the centenary of the treaty of Versailles. While it has done much to unite European elites around ideas of shared governance and economic cooperation, it continues to divide historians and the general public in Britain. Beginning with a tour of the battlefields of Ypres and the Somme, we will be reading about these ongoing controversies. These readings will be accompanied by further visits to the Imperial War museum in Manchester and the war memorials in Cambridge and London. Prerequisite: Enrollment in Cambridge OCS Program. 3 credits; LA, IS; Not offered 2020-21
EUST 233 Economics and European Studies in Cambridge: Capitalism and Crises: Political Economy from Marx to Hayek Britain was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. That rapid economic growth unleashed by free competition brought with it the constant threat of crisis was an insight developed by Marx and later Keynes. Britain was home to capitalism’s cheerleaders as well as to its most important critics. Its economic dominance was accompanied by a tradition of tolerance, of open public discussion and free academic enquiry that made London and Cambridge attractive to students of political economy from Europe and across the world. Readings from the most important representatives will be supplemented by visits to industrial sites and museums in Manchester. Prerequisite: Enrollment in OCS Cambridge Program. 3 credits; SI, IS; Not offered 2020-21
EUST 249 The European Union from Constitution to Crisis It has become commonplace to say that Europe is in crisis--yet what does that mean? It is difficult to overestimate the importance of crises considering that the European Union played a large part in overcoming Europe’s “Long Civil War” between 1914 and 1945. The collective decision-making processes created by European treaties are often credited with bringing peace and prosperity to Europe. Yet they have also instituted idiosyncrasies, asymmetries and inequities that stand in the way of solving the continent’s most pressing problems. We will examine decision-making processes in the European Union and the much-debated “democratic deficit” of its institutions. These debates about the foundations of the Union will be rounded off by an overview and brief history of Euroscepticism. The course will include a discussion of a number of case studies that confront member states of the European Union across the board: the reconstruction of the welfare state, immigration and the refugee crisis, and the rise of the far right.  6 credits; SI, IS; Spring; Paul Petzschmann
EUST 278 Cross-Cultural Psychology Sem in Prague: Politics & Culture in Central Europe-Twentieth Century This course covers important political, social, and cultural developments in Central Europe during the twentieth century. Studies will explore the establishment of independent nations during the interwar period, Nazi occupation, resistance and collaboration, the Holocaust and the expulsion of the Germans, the nature of the communist system, its final collapse, and the post-communist transformation. 6 credits; HI, IS; Not offered 2020-21
EUST 398 Senior Colloquium Culminates in a final oral presentation that will allow concentrators to synthesize and reflect upon their diverse European studies, including on-campus and off-campus classwork, internships, and cross-cultural experiences. 2 credits; NE; Spring; David G Tompkins