Americas and Africa

The Americas and Africa caucus invites students to explore the complex history of intercultural encounter, exchange, and conflict that connects South, Central, and North America and the diverse nations of Africa. Courses in this concentration locate these regions within larger global movements of people, goods, and ideas. Major topical themes in the concentration include Indigenous history, African diaspora, immigration, gender, labor, religion, social movements, politics, and critical history of race. Courses in this concentration extend from the colonial era to the modern day and reflect interdisciplinary approaches to historical practice.
Major Requirements
The history major requires a minimum of 12 unique courses. At least eight of the 12 courses must be upper-division (HIS 100-199). A maximum of four courses, including the introductory survey course, may be lower-division (HIS 1-99).
Major Planning Worksheet
Copy a History Major Planning Worksheet and Sample Academic Plans to your UCSC Google Drive.
Region of Concentration: Americas and Africa (6 courses)
I. One lower-division introductory survey course:
- HIS 10A, United States History to 1877
- HIS 10B, United States History, 1877 to 1977
- HIS 11A, Latin America: Colonial Period
- HIS 11B, Latin America: National Period
- HIS 12, Introduction to Latino American History (Effective Fall 2022)
- HIS 30, The Making of Modern Africa
All of the above courses satisfy the Ethnicity and Race (ER) general education requirement.
II. Four additional Americas and Africa courses, three of which must be upper-division
III. One Americas and Africa Comprehensive Requirement
Historical Skills and Methods (1 course)
IV. HIS 100, Historical Skills and Methods
HIS 100 introduce history majors to historical methods and provides preparation for advanced historical research. Students develop critical reading, historical analysis, research, and disciplinary writing skills. HIS 100 also satisfies the Textual Analysis and Interpretation (TA) general education requirement.
Students who enter UCSC as frosh are expected to complete HIS 100 by the end of their second year. Transfer students are expected to complete HIS 100 no later than their second term at UCSC.
Catalog of Course Requirements
The History Catalog of Course Requirements indicates what region(s) of concentration and what chronological distribution requirement(s) individual history courses may apply toward.
Breadth Requirements (4 courses)
V. Two courses from each of the remaining two regions of concentration:
Upper-Division Elective (1 course)
One additional upper-division history course of your choice from any of the three regions of concentration
Distribution Requirements
Of the 12 courses required for the major, at least three must meet chronological distribution requirements. One must be set before 600 C.E., and two must be set in periods prior to the year 1800 C.E.
Intensive Major Option
The intensive history major offers students a pathway to enrich their study of history, refine their skills in writing and research, and receive a designation on their transcripts that signals their ambition and accomplishment to potential employers and graduate schools. All history majors are eligible to declare the intensive track, including junior transfers. If a student attempts but does not complete the intensive track they may still graduate with a standard history degree, provided the appropriate major coursework has been completed.

- Title
- Professor
- Division Humanities Division
- Department
- History Department
- Affiliations Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas, Latin American & Latino Studies
- Phone 831-459-3098 (office)
- Fax 831-459-1925
- Office Location
- Humanities Building 1, 241
- Office Hours On Research Leave Fall Quarter 2024 and Winter Quarter 2025
- Mail Stop Humanities Academic Services
- Mailing Address
- 1156 High Street
- Santa Cruz CA 95064
- Courses HIS 9: Introduction to Native American History; HIS 104C: Celluloid Natives: American Indian History on Film; HIS 104D: Museums and the Representation of Native American History, Memory, and Culture; HIS 190F: Research Seminar in the Americas; HIS 217: Critical Conversations in Native American History
Summary of Expertise
Indigenous History, Museum Studies, Commemoration and Public Memory, Native American Cultural Production, Public History, and Ho-Chunk Tribal History
Research Interests
Indigenous History, Museum Studies, Commemoration and Public Memory, Native American Cultural Production, Public History, and Ho-Chunk Tribal History
Biography, Education and Training
Ph.D. Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley
M.A. Social Sciences, University of Chicago
M.A. History, Indiana University
B.A. History, University of Minnesota
Selected Publications
Books
Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942, with Tom Jones, Michael Schmudlach, Matthew Daniel Mason and George A. Greendeer, Foreword by Truman Lowe. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011.
Edited Volumes
Guest Editor (with Sascha Scott), “Native Survivance and Visual Sovereignty: Indigenous Visual and Material Culture in the 19th and 20th Centuries,” a special issue of Arts 9, n.1 (2020). https://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special_issues/indigenous_visual_material_culture
Guest Editor (with Jon Daehnke), “Critical Conversations in Cultural Heritage,” a special issue of The Public Historian 41, no. 1 (2019).
Co-editor with Amanda J. Cobb, The National Museum of the American Indian: Critical Conversations. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
Guest Editor, “Critical Engagements with the National Museum of the American Indian,” a special issue of the American Indian Quarterly 30, nos. 3-4 (2006).
Articles
“Decolonizing Museums, Memorials, and Monuments.” The Public Historian 43, no. 4 (2021): 21-27.
with Sascha T. Scott, “The Past and the Future are Now” Arts 9, n.1 (2020). https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/9/3/77/htm
with Jon Daehnke, “Introduction: Conversations in Critical Cultural Heritage.” The Public Historian 41, no. 1 (2019): 13-17.
“A Heritage of Resilience: Ho-Chunk Family Photographs in the Visual Archive.” The Public Historian 41, no. 1 (2019): 34-50.
with Jon Daehnke, “Repatriation in the United States: The Current State of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 35, no. 1 (2011): 87-97.
"Missed Opportunities: Reflections on the NMAI." American Indian Quarterly 30 nos. 3 & 4 (2006): 632-645.
Book Chapters
"Indigenous Child Removal: Narratives of Violence, Trauma, and Survivance." In Violence and Indigenous Communities: Confronting the Past, Engaging the Present, eds., Susan Sleeper Smith, Jeffrey Ostler, and Joshua L. Reid, 245-260. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2021.
"Critical Engagements with Collections: Contemporary Indigenous Artists at the Tweed Museum.” In Perspectives and Parallels: Expanding Interpretative Foundations with American Indian Curators and Writers, by Tweed Museum, 24-25, 42-43. Duluth, MN: Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 2014.
“Visualizing Native Survivance: Encounters with my Ho-Chunk Ancestors in the Family Photographs of Charles Van Schaick.” In People of the Big Voice: Photographs of Ho-Chunk Families by Charles Van Schaick, 1879-1942, by Tom Jones, Michael Schmudlach, Matthew Daniel Mason, Amy Lonetree, and George A. Greendeer, Foreword by Truman Lowe, 13-22. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011.
"Museums as Sites of Decolonization: Truth Telling in National and Tribal Museums." In Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives, ed. Susan Sleeper-Smith, 322-337. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
“‘Acknowledging the Truth of History’: Missed Opportunities at the National Museum of the American Indian.” In The National Museum of the American Indian: Critical Conversations, ed. Amy Lonetree and Amanda J. Cobb, 305-327. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008. Revised and expanded version of “Missed Opportunities: Reflections on the NMAI” in American Indian Quarterly 30, nos. 3 & 4 (2006): 632- 645.
“Transforming Lives by Reclaiming Memory: The Dakota Commemorative March of 2004.” In In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century, ed. Waziyatawin Angela Wilson, 246-256. St. Paul, MN: Living Justice Press, 2006.
Teaching Interests
Indigenous History, Public History, Museum Studies, and Native American Cultural Production