HIST 394: Globalization and History

HIST 394-001: Globalization and History
(Spring 2026)

01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR

Horizon Hall 5018

View the schedule of classes

Section Information for Spring 2026

We live in a globalized world. The ties that link us to people and places in faraway places shape our lives in countless ways, every day. Our diets, our technology, our consumer goods, our cultural practices, our environments, and our politics are very much the product of those linkages. Though we tend to think of it as a very recent phenomenon – associating it with the rise of Starbucks, the iPhone, or the internet – globalization has a very long history. Trade, technology transfer, migration, disease, conquest, and empire have been forging connections across the globe for roughly a thousand years. This course will examine this long history of globalization. Our goal will be to understand the causes, consequences, and shifting nature of this process over time and to help us understand our contemporary experience in this historical context. We will aim to understand what globalization has enabled and what it has destroyed, why it has been embraced or resisted in particular contexts, how it has benefited some at the expense of others. In short, we will explore how the long, uneven processes of globalization have produced our world.

Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Explores major events in the making of the modern world from a global perspective, with emphasis on interconnections and the historical development of power, authority, and governance. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Global History
Registration Restrictions:

Enrollment limited to students with a class of Junior or Senior.

Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.