Fall 2005 Course Descriptions
500-700 Level
HIS 511A - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: U.S. Emphasis
R 3:30-6:20
Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Permission of the department required.
Reconstruction is one of the most complicated periods in US history. It is also one of the most controversial. When did Reconstruction begin? What was the difference between Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction and why did one replace the other? Was this era a pivotal moment in shifting property relations? What role did former slaves play in Reconstruction? Was Reconstruction a glorious moment, or a tragic failure? How does this period fit within the broader dimensions of US history as well as compare with the reconstruction of other post-emancipation societies?
HIS 511B - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "Self and Society in Europe, 1350-1700"
T 6:30-9:20
Jodi Bilinkoff
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Permission
of the department required.
In this course we will examine biographical and autobiographical texts, which were produced in abundance in Europe and its colonies in the period between 1350 and 1700. At the heart of our inquiry will be what scholars call "the construction of identities," how individuals perceive and present their own lives, or the lives of others. We will read and discuss together some representative texts from the period and identify analytical categories such as class, gender, and religious orientation. Students will then choose a text or group of texts to investigate and contextualize on their own.
HIS 511C - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing
"Popular Protest in Chinese History"
T 3:30-6:20
Jamie Anderson
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Permission
of the department required.
This course will examine the nature of popular protest in Chinese history. Topics examined during the semester will include the role religion played as a source of social volatility in traditional Chinese culture and society, peasant revolutions, the May Fourth Movement, popular protest in the rise of nationalism and communism, and domestic political protest since the 1949 founding of the People�s Republic of China. Most importantly, students in this course will be responsible for individual research projects, for which they will locate and use historical source materials, written and oral, published and unpublished. Comparing and analyzing a variety of primary source materials, students will write their own histories of Chinese popular protest and in the end develop their skills in observing societies with different origins than their own.
HIS 522 - Selected Topics in Early American History: Political Moderation in the Atlantic World Diasporas
TR 3:30-4:45
Robert Calhoon
Goals and Purposes: To examine moderate political thought of early modern Europe, evaluate the transmission of ideology throughout the Atlantic World during the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries, and conduct case studies of the political content of particular Atlantic world diasporas for class presentation and a short research paper.
HIS 524 - Twentieth Century U.S. History: "Cultures of Imperialism"
MW 2:00-3:15
Eve Duffy
Course description: In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the Bush administration�s response to them, the study of the US�s role in the world has acquired a new urgency. Many critics have argued that American foreign policy in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere constitute a new form of imperial rule. This course places American imperialism in a broader context, tracing its origins back to the 18th century, from the original settlement of the continent to ideas of manifest destiny and westward expansion, to the formal acquisition of overseas territories starting in 1898, and developing economic, cultural, and political expansion during and after the Cold War, to the hyperpower of our globalized world. We will draw on more recent literature on European colonialism and imperialism to understand what is distinctive about American influence and power. The class will be divided up into three sections. We will start our study with an exploration of the theory and history of modern imperialism, through a broad range of primary and secondary readings. We will consider how European imperialism set the stage for American settlement and expansion. The second part of the class will consider the basic chronology of American expansion, including ideational foundations (exceptionalism, manifest destiny, universalism); domestic preconditions and context; elements of US power; the role of race, culture, and gender in US interactions with different regions. The third part of the class will focus on the twentieth century and what is sometimes referred to as the �American Century� in international affairs, to conclude with a consideration of how historical perspectives can help us locate and understand current policies and dilemmas.
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 544 - Early Modern Europe: "The Age of Reformations"
TR 11:00-12:15
Jodi Bilinkoff
When a German monk named Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses against the sale of indulgences in 1517 he set off a chain of events that would shatter a unified Christendom. Over the next three hundred years Europeans would struggle with a dizzying array of issues relating to faith, power, education, gender roles, work, art, and strategies of survival in a multi-confessional society. In this course we will first briefly trace the history of Protestantism and the manifold Catholic responses. We will then look at the ways that scholars have interpreted major questions of the period between roughly 1450 and 1700 , including the acceptance of--or resistance to Protestantism in urban and rural settings, the role of printing and literacy, the impact of reform ideologies on women and the family, the intersections between religion and state-building, and the transmission of Christianity across the Atlantic.
HIS 581 - African History*: Oral Traditions and Oral History
* Please see description.
T 3:30-6:20
Colleen Kriger
This course is an introduction to �orality� � the history of oral societies, and the history of people who are poorly represented in the written documents of literate societies. It is also an exploration of oral primary sources for history, the nature of those sources, and how they are to be gathered, analyzed, and interpreted for historical research. The emphasis is therefore on historical methods and historical methodology � it is not restricted to any particular geographical area or time period. Students will be engaged in the very practical matters of research design and the creation of an �oral archive� of interviews for their own oral history project. Examples of past projects in this course are family histories, immigration experiences, collective and individual memory of historical events, and gendered experiences of war.
HIS 588 - East Asian History: "Silk Road"
R 3:30-6:20
Jamie Anderson
Following the prosperous Silk Road of the Northwest and the thriving spice trade of the South China Sea regions, Imperial Chinese courts remained engaged in international exchanges of goods and ideas since ancient times. This course will examine the intersection of trade and tribute in patterns of foreign relations China conducted with its neighbors through the arrival of European powers in the 16th century. Material trade, and the socio-cultural exchanges accompanying it, will serve as the central theme in this course. Through a critical reading of recent scholarship on related topics, we will determine for ourselves the impact that global trade patterns had on the historical development of this very important region of the world.
HIS 624 - History of American Landscapes & Architecture
TR 12:30-1:45
Lisa Tolbert
This course is designed as an advanced reading seminar in the history of American landscapes and architecture. The course will introduce you to the variety of methods developed by architectural and cultural historians to interpret buildings and landscapes as cultural artifacts with historically specific meanings that must be understood in particular context over time. The course will take you beyond our classroom reading and discussion to application of specific scholars' arguments and methodologies through analysis of particular buildings and landscapes.
By the end of the semester you should be able to do the following:
- Explain major changes in the development of the American landscape from the colonial period through the mid-twentieth century.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the ways that architecture and landscapes document cultural and social change over time.
- Define particular architectural styles, use specialized architectural vocabulary/terminology, and explain the differences between vernacular and academic building traditions.
- Use different methodological approaches to evaluate particular landscapes in historical context.
HIS 626 - Management and Leadership in Public History
T 6:30-9:20
Paul Reber
This course is an introduction to what it is like to work to within a public history institution and what it takes to thrive in one. The course is structured around the theory and practice involved in building relationships with audiences, community partners, and colleagues. Throughout, the course links practical skill�writing a mission statement, creating a marketing plan, writing a budget�with discussion of the broader purposes these tools are intended to accomplish. The course culminates in a collaborative class project that focuses on a local public history institution. 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 Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie W 6:30-9:20
701-02 Phyllis Hunter W 3:30-6:20
Issues of historical interpretation from the Revolution through the Civil War.
HIS 703 - Seminar in US History
R 6:30-9:20
Thomas Jackson
Research and writing on selected topics in American history.
HIS 705 - Colloquium in European History to 1789
R 6:30-9:20
Richard Barton
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
Lisa Tolbert R 6:30-9:20
Will focus on methods, sources, and writing; research paper based on primary and contextualized in secondary sources.
HIS 711 - Explaining the Third Reich
M 6:30-9:20
Karl Schleunes
This course will explore the major directions from which historians have ventured to understand and explain the Third Reich (Nazi Germany) from 1933-1945. It will be based on intensive readings.
HIS 713 - African Americans After Slavery
M 6:30-9:20
Loren Schweninger
African American history during the Civil War, Reconstruction, the era of Jim Crow, the civil rights and post-civil rights eras.
HIS 715 - Atlantic World: �Marvelous Possessions:� How Europeans �Produced� the Americas
M 3:30-6:20
Phyllis Hunter
This readings course will examine how Europeans took possession of new lands and peoples and how, on occasion, Americans resisted or adapted European culture for their own ends. For Europeans, enlightenment goals to catalogue uncharted lands and utopian aims to build new societies often collided with longings for riches and missionary crusades to convert souls. Each of these competing impulses generated different ways of possessing, producing, and consuming the idea and experience of America. In effect, this course will address the cultural production of imperialism and the multiple interactions between �old� and �new� worlds. Through reading secondary sources in history, literature, and anthropology this course will explore different motives and methods that shaped cultural encounters with and images of the new world and Africa during the sixteenth through twentieth centuries.
200-400 Level Courses, Fall 05 | Advising Center | Catalog | Courses
