HIST 352
American Maritime History Spring 2025 (also offered Fall 2024)
Division II W Writing Skills D Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed CAOS 352

Class Details

This course explores themes in American maritime history from the colonial era to the 21st century. We will consider the dynamic relationship between the sea and American life, and the broad influence that each has had on the other. This relationship led to interactions with the water as a highway for the transportation of not just people and goods, but powerful new forces and ideas. The water creates a unique space for the formation of new communities and identities, while also acting as an important, and often exploited, resource. We will sample from different fields of inquiry including labor, environmental, cultural, and political history to gain a deeper understanding of diverse people’s complex interactions with the oceans and seas.
The Class: Format: seminar; Seminars, discussions, and field seminars
Limit: 27
Expected: 22
Class#: 3926
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Participation in class discussions, activities, and presentations, regular papers, and a final independent research project
Prerequisites: None
Enrollment Preferences: If course over-enrolls, preference will be given to sophomores and juniors
Unit Notes: Offered only at Mystic Seaport
Distributions: Divison II Writing Skills Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
HIST 352 Division II CAOS 352 Division II
WS Notes: Students must complete regular writing assignments including a final 10- to 15-page paper. Additionally, students will participate in several in-class writing workshops and peer critiques. Students will receive from the instructor timely comments on their writing skills, with suggestions for improvement.
DPE Notes: Maritime activity has long provided opportunities for some while creating tremendous hardships for others. From the slave trade and the encounters between native and European mariners to the power wielded by multi-national shipping conglomerates, this course investigates contests over power, empire, and capitalism as they played out on the maritime stage.
Attributes: AMST Space and Place Electives
ENVI Humanities, Arts + Social Science Electives
EXPE Experiential Education Courses
HIST Group F Electives - U.S. + Canada
HIST Group P Electives - Premodern

Class Grid

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