HIS 308 Firearms: A Global History
This class explores the material history of firearms and their social, cultural, military, economic, and political implications. Beginning with the invention of gunpowder in China and following firearms’ spread through Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, students will examine the role of changing firearm technologies in different contexts of space and time. The later portions of this class explore the United States and the origins and contexts of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as their legal applications, interpretations. Other topics include cultural meanings of guns in different societies; histories of militias, paramilitaries, and revolutionary groups in international contexts; understanding myriad roles of firearms in individual and social contexts. (3 hours)