Department of History

Fall 2004 Course Descriptions
500-700 Level

HIS 502 - African American History: Selected Topics

R 4:00-6:50
Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie

Intensive examinations of selected topics in black history including African beginnings, slavery, racial attitudes, and civil rights.

HIS 511B - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: The Crisis of Interwar Europe

T 7:00-9:50
Paul Mazgaj
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Permission of the department required.

This course will focus on the interwar period, a time of troubles in Europe. We will examine the impact of the "Great War," the rise of fascism and communism, the Popular Front, and descent into an even greater war. Students will research, write, and revise a seminar paper on a topic approved by the instructor and related to the larger themes of the course.

HIS 511C - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: Latin America in the Age of Neoliberalism

R 7:00-9:50
Mary Floyd
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Permission of the department required.

From the end of WWII to the 1980s, Latin Americans waffled on the value of democracy and the value of capitalism. The oil shock of the 1970s and the interest-rate shock of the 1980s seemed to have settled the debate in favor of Hispanic democracy and Hispanic capitalism. In the struggle between dictatorship and democracy, democracy won the debate. In the struggle between public and private, while neoliberal private enterprise became the watchword, questions rose again and again about the efficacy of the private for the masses. Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, far more than Fidel Castro, embodied the dissonance between democracy and neoliberalism. Elected in 1998 and again in 2000 after supporting a new constitution, Chavez vowed to pursue political reforms. Opposition to Chavez supported a recall compaign at the beginning of 2004. Democracy was at work in Venezuela. In this research-oriented course, we will look at the foundation of Hispanic democracy and Hispanic capitalism. We will pay particular attention to the years since the Cuban Revolution and the Alliance for Progress. The course requires a research paper of 12 to 15 pages. For more information, see http://www.uncg.edu/his/courses/mbfloyd/h511/index.html

HIS 515 - American Diplomatic History: The Twentieth Century

TR 11:00-12:15
Jim Crawford

Emphasis on most important crises and making of basic policy decisions from Spanish American war to present.

HIS 524 - Twentieth Century US History: Selected Topics

MW 2:00-3:15
Kathy Franz

This course will explore the origins and cultural meanings of American popular culture in the 20th century, and in particular the rise of mass media as a form of communication and community formation between 1880 and 1960. Course readings will introduce students to the cultural history of circuses, commercial sports, film, radio, and television as commodities but also as expressions of indentity and community affiliation in a diverse nation. We will pay close attention to how popular culture shapes ideas about gender, race, class and nation in the twentieth century and how American popular forms have been used and recreated by audiences. The course will require intensive reading in history and cultural studies, active class participation, and several research and writing assignments.

HIS 526 - Civil War and Reconstruction: Selected Topics

TR 2:00-3:15
Peter Carmichael

Causes of the Civil War. Military events and developments on the home front in wartime, North and South. Reconstruction policy in Washington and its implementation in the South.

HIS 542 - Middle Ages: Selected Topics

TR 2:00-3:15
Richard Barton

The World of Gregory of Tours

This course explores the social and political history of the Franks between 482 and 750 CE. This was an exciting period of social change, cultural fusion, and ethnic formation as the Franks integrated their beliefs and customs with existing Gallo-Roman ones. We will use Gregory of Tours' monumental History of the Franks (written in the 580s) as a foundation text for our examination of this period, but will supplement it with other primary sources, including laws, letters, and saints' lives, and with important scholarly interpretations of the Frankish period. Among the topics to be examined in this course are violence and feud, burial practice, material culture, gender relations, Frankish Christianity, and theories and practice of kingship.

HIS 543 - Historic Preservation: Principles and Practices

T 2:00-4:50
Jo Leimenstoll

Change in historic preservation theory and practice since the 1800s with emphasis on preservation of built environment and development of philosophical approach for designers to contemporary preservation projects.

HIS 546 - American Cultural History: Thinking Visually about History

MW 3:30-4:45
Lisa Tolbert

This course is designed as an advanced reading seminar focusing on the critical perspectives and methods of historians who study American cultural history. The course is designed with two basic goals in mind: 1. To introduce you to the interdisciplinary practice of cultural history, and 2. To explore key periods in the development of American culture from the colonial era to the early twentieth century. The central theme of the course this semester is "thinking visually about American history." The historians you will encounter all use some form of visual evidence in their work, from objects to art to photographs to film and television. As we move through time we will also be exploring a variety of approaches or methods for using visual sources as historical evidence.

HIS 574 - Modern Germany: Selected Topics

TR 2-3:15
Karl Schleunes

This course examines the German-Jewish relationship from the late 18th century until 1933 when the Nazis took control of the German government. What had begun with great promise during the Enlightenment, the emancipation of the Jews and their assimilation into German culture, ended in the1930s with the disaster of what the Nazis called the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem."

Enlightenment ideas of the 18th century had paved the way for the emancipation of Jews from the caste-like restrictions of the Middle Ages. Their emancipation in the German states, begun early in the 19th century and completed in 1871, was accompanied by what seemed at the time to be a remarkably successful assimilation into German culture. Jews entered the life of Germany with extraordinary enthusiasm. Their contributions to education, scholarship, science, the professions, music, arts, literature and business during the course of the century helped enhance their new fatherland's growing power, prestige and influence.

By the late 19th century German Jews were speaking of having landed in a "safe" harbor, a claim they knew Jews in France or Russia were unable to make. Their commitment to things German was most fundamentally reflected in the high rate of their intermarriage with non-Jews and, in 1914, by the high rate with which Jewish males volunteered for service in the German army. So deep was that commitment that the term symbiosis has often been used to describe it.

But was the relationship between Germans and Jews really symbiotic? Was the assimilation as successful as it seemed? Was there something fundamentally flawed underneath it all? Was the Jewish enthusiasm for things German merely a one-sided love affair in which the Germans failed to reciprocate? Or was it, as was thought at the time, a basically healthy symbiosis, suggesting that the relationship may have come unraveled only later, perhaps by the wrenching social and political stress induced by World War I?

The instructor will set the stage for consideration of these questions with lectures and assigned readings. Students will contribute to their consideration by pursuing research topics that address significant aspects of the German -Jewish relationship.

HIS 588 - The “Radio State”: Readings on Trade and
Political Expression in Southeast Asian History

W 7-9:50
Jamie Anderson

Most interested students in the West may only be familiar with the nations of contemporary Southeast Asia (Brunei, Burma or Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) in the context of the modern trade opportunities or against the backdrop of the various wars and episodes of political violence that plagued Southeast Asia throughout the twentieth century. However, these countries are, in fact, heirs to long histories of cultural brilliance and diversity. This region has also sustained rich natural environments, on which much of the world has long depended. In this class we will explore the social and political conditions, particularly during the Age of Imperialism, from which the individual modern Southeast Asian nations emerged. Specifically, we will consider how a shared history of commodity exchange in this region has shaped the collective political character of these nation-states. This class begins with the premise that history is guided by interdependent influences of population, environment, economics, and culture. Following these themes, we will distinguish human enterprise from the natural history of Southeast Asia, and so gain some understanding of the manner with which political or economic change will occur in this region in the future.

HIS 624 - History of American Landscapes & Architecture

M 6:00-8:50
Lisa Tolbert

Examination of the social and cultural forces affecting the design and use of landscapes and buildings in North America from the colonial period through the twentieth century.

HIS 626 - Management and Leadership in Public History

T 7:00-9:50
Paul Reber

This course will introduce students to basic principles in the administration of museums, historic sites, and other cultural resources, including fundraising, personnel and volunteer management, working with board members, and introduction to museum ethics. Students will learn basic principles in administration which will include writing mission statements, writing grants, fund raising. The class will explore some of the current debates in public history, and include a variety of introductory readings on museums, guest lectures by museum professionals, and field trips to museums and historic sites. Students will complete short writing assignments and a management-related final project at an area museum or historic site accompanied by a written report and class presentation. Cross Listed with Department of Interior Architecture.

See the M.A. FAQ for more information about the following:

HIS 692 - Advanced Topics

HIS 697 - Independent Study

HIS 701 - Colloquium in US History to 1865

701-01 Peter Carmichael W 7:00-9:50
701-02 Robert Calhoon W 7:00-9:50

Issues of historical interpretation from the Revolution through the Civil War.

HIS 703 - Seminar in US History

R 4:00-6:50
Loren Schweninger

Research and writing on selected topics in American history.

HIS 705 - Colloquium in European History to 1789

R 7:00-9:50
Jodi Bilinkoff

Topics in European social, economic, political and intellectual history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Methodology and the diversity of historical approaches.

HIS 707 - Seminar in European History

TBA
Staff

Research and writing on selected topics in European history.

HIS 709 - Introductory Research Seminar

709-01 Lisa Levenstein T 4:00-6:50
709-02 Robert Calhoon T 4:00-6:50

Will focus on methods, sources, and writing; research paper based on primary and contextualized in secondary sources.

HIS 712 - Slavery in the Americas

W 4:00-6:50
Watson Jennison

Comparative analysis of slavery and race relations in South and Central America, the Caribbean, British North America, and the United States, 1501-1888.