HIST 487
FIRE! A SOCIAL HISTORY Spring 2025
Division II W Writing Skills

This tutorial offers a social history of fire in a national, international, and transnational framework. The aim of this course isn’t to historicize fire, itself. Rather, “fire” is treated as a subtext to other historical developments and events in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that have been factually and figuratively shaped by it. In this regard, we will grasp fire not only as combustion or conflagration but also through its nuanced meanings and their implications for how we think historically about issues related to capitalism, class, climate and environment, labor, gender, immigration, internationalism, policing, politics, race, radicalism, and sex. In essence, bodies might be on fire, burning with sexual desire; buildings might be on fire, engulfed in an intense conflagration; cities might be on fire, ignited by gunfire and urban unrests; workers might be fired or even fired up in a working-class movement, the latter incited by the push for labor democracy; or there might be fire weather, sparked by drier conditions and sweltering temperatures reflecting climate change. Thus, we will examine “fire” in a variety of historical contexts, from actual accounts of disastrous fire incidents due to environmental or industrial mishaps to stories of passion or protest inflaming individuals and groups to studies of rebellions and riots that produce fiery conditions. Lastly, we will analyze society’s historical fascination with “fire” events, both real and imagined, and the way they have prompted efforts to rebuild, reform, and reimagine. To accomplish our goals, we will engage primary and secondary sources in addition to screening films that focus on histories directly or indirectly related to fire.