HISA 2559

I've never written a review for a professor but this class warrants one just so everyone knows what you're getting yourselves into. First off, Professor Leonard is undoubtedly the smartest professor I've ever encountered. His knowledge of South Asian history is incredible, but his wider knowledge of history is even more impressive. However, that is what makes him extremely hard to follow. This class was essentially a political theory seminar disguised as a lecture. Most of the class was spent with Professor Leonard talking about high level concepts in politics and philosophy while alluding to writers and theorists that no one knew about, but he assumed that you did. His lectures are rambling and extremely hard to follow because he continuously poses abstract questions without ever giving concrete answers. Additionally, the second half of the class was focused on a primary source book with 2-3 students giving 5 minute presentations on the passages. The presentations weren't bad, basically you read the book and came up with 3-4 questions, but the discussions were brutal. It became exceedingly apparent that the majority of the class didn't know what was going on because only a handful of students would ever talk. The reason for this is twofold: Professor Leonard would pose abstract questions and look for a very specific answer that was often outside of the scope of the class, or he would ask a very specific question and you would have to recall a minute detail from 50-60 pages of very dense, difficult reading. This discouraged me from participating because you never felt like you could give a correct answer and he would then launch into a long digression about something that you would have never thought of nor could see how it was related. Essentially, I felt that this class was being taught at a level that far exceeded my capacities as a non-History major, and it really felt like he was teaching to graduate students. It was apparent that this was his goal because he is one of those professors that complains about how students aren't being challenged like he was in college. A couple of other things to mention are that he always goes over on lectures, he's not very good at replying to emails or posting material that he said he would, and that there is a lot of extremely dense reading. The worthwhile thing about this class is that he essentially gives you the midterm before hand and he says that he is lenient on class participation points (though that remains to be seen). While I really didn't like this class, it seems like you can get a B/B+ so long as you keep up on the readings, but that can be easier said than done. All in all, if you're really into history and political theory, you may really enjoy Professor Leonard because he is brilliant, but if you're a non-History major or just not very good in discussion settings I would avoid taking courses with him.

I entered this class a history major and I have left it never wanting to take history in an academic setting ever again. My biggest regret of this school year was not dropping this class. Professor Leonard is incredibly well-versed in this topic and is so knowledgable. There is an immense amount of dense reading per week, and just for reference, I did not do a lot of it. That leaves you pretty lost, but even when I did do it I can confidently say I had only a slightly better understanding of the topic of the week. The class wasn't structured chronologically as I would argue most history classes are (I took two last semester and an IR class and all were set up chronologically). The lack of chronological structure meant that we were plopped in and out of history, different times, different places different people. This class was supposed to be a seminar and he lectured almost 100% of the time. The only time he wasn't lecturing was when in the 2nd half of the semester we did our two in class presentations and even then he talked so much that presentations would often be pushed off or people would not speak for that long. In class it was super difficult to pay attention as he is talking about topics, and assumes we know every concept he is discussing when we most certainly do not, and then veers off into something completely different yet somehow sort of related?? If you zone out for five seconds you will be lost. I went into this class as an intended history major and now I'm evaluating my options and looking at other things. I wouldn't go so far as to say this class alone ruined history for me, but it certainly helped that opinion. The best part was that the midterm study guide told you exactly what was on the midterm. If you in any way struggle with a lack of motivation or mental health, do not take this class. There is so much reading and talking at you and you will be lost. Professor Leonard seems nice and is super knowledgable but this class should not be a 2000 level.