Current Undergraduate Summer Courses

Summer Courses 2025

The Department offers 100-level, 200-level, 300-level, and 400-level History (HIS) courses.

Please Note:

  • Course descriptions are not final and may be changed at or before the first class. 
  • For enrolment instructions, students should consult the Faculty of Arts & Science Summer 2025 Timetable.
  • Prerequisites will be enforced rigorously. Students who do not have the relevant prerequisite(s) may be removed from the course after classes begin. Specific questions regarding prerequisites for a course can be answered by the course instructor. Where there are two instructors of a course, an asterisk (*) indicates the Course Coordinator.

**This page will be updated regularly. Please check here for curriculum changes.

Course Timetable

(Course numbers are links to course descriptions). The following courses are in numerical order. The descriptions are fuller than those in the Arts & Science Calendar.

Section Code Classes Start Classes End Final Assessments
F May 5, 2025 June 16, 2025 June 19 - 24, 2025
Y May 5, 2025 August 12, 2025 August 16 - 25, 2025
S July 2, 2025 August 12, 2025 August 16 - 25, 2025

Y section code course lectures do not meet the week of June 19 to June 24; term tests may be held.

100-level HIS courses are designed for students entering university. They take a broad sweep of material, and introduce students to the methods and techniques of university study. Each week, students will attend two lectures given by the course professor, and participate in one tutorial led by a teaching assistant. First year courses are not considered to be in an "area" for program requirements.

All 100-series HIS courses are mutually exclusive, with the exception of AP, IB, CAPE, or GCE transfer credits.  Students may enrol in only one 100-series History course.  Students enrolled in more than one of these courses (or who have completed one of these courses or a previous HIS 100-series course with a mark of 50% or greater) will be removed at any time.  First-Year students can also enrol in 200-series HIS courses. ALL students enrolled in a History Specialist, Major, or Minor program must take ONE 100-level HIS course.

Course Code & Session Course Title Temporal Credit (prior to 1800) Day/Time Instructor
HIS115H1-S, L5101 History Now: How the Past Shapes the Present - Monday 6-8
Wednesday 6-8
TBD

200-level HIS courses are surveys that introduce in broad outlines the history of a particular country, region, continent, or theme. Most are essential background for further upper-level study in the area. Students will generally attend two lectures and participate in one tutorial each week. The 200-level courses are open to first year students as well as those in higher years.

Course Code & Section Course Title Geographic Area Temporal Credit (prior to 1800) Day/Time Instructor
HIS241H1-F, L0101 Europe in the Nineteenth Century, 1815-1914 c - Tuesday 1-3
Thursday 1-3
TBD
HIS264H1-S, L5101 Critical Issues in Canadian History b - Tuesday 6-8
Thursday 6-8
TBD
HIS280Y1-Y, L5101 
(online synchronous)
History of China a 0.5 Tuesday 8-10
Thursday 8-10
TBA

300-level HIS courses are more specialized and intensive. They deal with more closely defined periods or themes. They vary in format, with some being based around lectures, and others involving tutorial or discussion groups. Most 300-level courses have prerequisites, which are strictly enforced. First year students are not permitted to enrol in 300- or 400-level HIS courses. Although some upper level courses do not have specific pre-requisites, courses at the 300 and 400 level are demanding and require a good comprehension of history.

Course Code & Section Course Title Geographic Area Temporal Credit (prior to 1800) Methodology Focus Law & History Day/Time Instructor
HIS322H1-F, L0101 Topics in African History: Mobility and the Making of European Empires in Africa a

-

- - Tuesday 3-5
Thursday 3-5
TBD
HIS326H1-S. L0101 Topics in Asian Histories: History from the Periphery: Manchuria and the Modern World, 16th to 20th Century a - - - Tuesday 3-5
Thursday 3-5
TBD
HIS332H1-F, L5101 Crime and Society in England, 1500-1800 c 0.5 - 0.5 Monday 5-7
Wednesday 5-7
J. Mori
HIS350H1-S, L0101 (online synchronous) Topics in European Histories: Digital Approaches to Pre-Modern Europe c 0.5 0.5 - Monday 11-1
Wednesday 11-1
TBD
HIS389H1-F, L0101 Topics in History: Queer and Trans History in Canada and the United States b - 0.5 - Tuesday 11-1
Thursday 11-1
TBD
HIS389H1-S, L0101 Topics in History: Transnational Inequalities: Caste and Race in Conversation a - - - Tuesday 1-3
Thursday 1-3
TBD

400-level HIS courses are two-hour seminars that deal with very specialized subjects and are often closely connected to a professor’s research. Most have specific course pre-requisites and require extensive reading, research, writing, and seminar discussion, and in most you will have the opportunity to do a major research paper. All 400-level HIS courses have enrolment restrictions during the first round (must have completed 14 or more full courses, be enrolled in a HIS Major, Specialist or Joint Specialist program and have the appropriate prerequisite). During the second round of enrolment, access to 400-level seminars is open to all 3rd and 4th year students with the appropriate prerequisite. First year students are not permitted to enrol in 300- or 400-level HIS courses.

IMPORTANT: Due to significant enrolment pressure on 4th year seminars, during the first round of enrolment, the Department of History reserves the right to remove students who enrol in more than the required number for program completion (Specialists – 2; Majors, Joint Specialists – 1) without consultation.

Students in 400-level seminars must attend the first class, or contact the professor to explain their absence. Failure to do so may result in the Department withdrawing the student from the seminar in order to create space for other interested students. 

Course Code & Section Course Title Geographic Area Temporal Credit (prior to 1800) Methodology Focus Law & History Day/Time Instructor
HIS408H1-F, L0101 Topics in Environmental History: The British Empire: An Environmental History - - - - Tuesday 1-3
Thursday 1-3
R. Woods
HIS496H1-S, L0101 Topics in History: Towards an Ethical Approach: Transnational History(ies) of Violence - - - - Tuesday 11-1
Thursday 11-1
TBD

Summer Abroad - **New History Offerings for 2025**

Enrich your academic experience with an exciting and educational international experience

  • Full-year University of Toronto undergraduate degree credit courses from the Faculty of Arts & Science.
  • Courses that are relevant to each destination.
  • Small classes of about 25 students taught by University of Toronto professors or faculty from the host university. 
  • All classes taught in English (except language courses).

Applications for Summer 2025 and the deadline to apply is February 3, 2025. 

Course Code Course Title & Description
HIS389Y0 Topics in History: Britain at War, 1914-1945 (England: Oxford)
Professor T. Sayle
This course offers an immersive exploration into Britain's wartime history during the First and Second World Wars. We will study the war through three overlapping frameworks: 1) the British role in international conflict, drawing especially on historiographical debates that problematize and question particular decisions; 2) the impact of the war on civilian adults and children in the United Kingdom, including the broader social and political change engendered by the war; and 3) the relationship between war and empire, including movement towards decolonization and independence. In addition to classroom discussion, readings, and written assignments, students will engage with history firsthand through field trips that allow us to see and feel parts of the war’s history, and to reconsider and challenge popular myths of the war.