HIST 380 - The American West

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-C
Human habitation and transformation of western environments from c. 15,000 BCE to present. Contending claims of sovereignty; resource extraction and economic competition; colonization; transportation, communication, and exchange; warfare and diplomacy; community formation and nation building; race, citizenship, and belonging.

Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division Area C requirements.
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 with grade C- (CR) or better.
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online Asynchronous or Online Synchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-C - Upper Division Arts or Humanities
Course Typically Offered: Fall ONLY

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Analyze shifting cultural and political conceptions of the American “west” as an idea and place;
Investigate the consequences of settler colonialism for Indigenous peoples;
Consider practices of warfare, diplomacy, and exchange as diverse peoples sought to retain or gain sovereignty;
Examine how diverse peoples and animals have competed for resources in a complex landscape;
Investigate unique political movements in what is now the western United States.

UD-C. Upper-division Arts or Humanities Learning Outcomes

demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply the principles, methodologies, value systems, and thought processes employed in the arts and humanities;
analyze cultural production as an expression of, or reflection upon, what it means to be human; and
demonstrate how the perspectives of the arts and humanities are used by informed, engaged, and reflective citizens to benefit local and global communities.