Fall 2006 Course Descriptions
500-700 Level
SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE! Always check the University online schedule for the latest changes. This page is under construction.
HIS 505 - Introduction to Archival Management
84151
M 5:30-8:20
Beth Carmichael
Principles of archival management, featuring both classroom instruction in archival theory and practical experience in manuscript repositories and public and private archives. Same as LIS 505.
HIS 508 - Latin America: "The Caribbean: From Conquest to Plantations"
84129
MW 2:00-3:15
Linda Rupert
To paraphrase the Trinidadian historian Eric Williams, the Caribbean was the cockpit of the early modern Atlantic world. This course examines the changing but always central role of the Caribbean sea, its islands, and its littorals in the development of early modern European empires, as well as the intermixing of peoples that occurred in emerging Caribbean societies. We will trace the emergence of multi- ethnic societies in the Caribbean over two hundred years, from the arrival of the first Europeans, through the age of piracy, to the consolidation of plantation economies. Special emphasis will be given to the interactions between the diverse peoples who formed these developing societies and cultures and to the power structures that shaped their unequal interactions in the context of the wider Atlantic world.
HIS 511A - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "The Black �70s"
80546
W 3:30-6:20
Watson Jennison
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite required.
This class will investigate the decade following the peak of the civil rights movement, a period that has largely been overshadowed by the tumult and fame of the preceding years. The 1970s were a time of dramatic change for black Americans as they sought to capitalize on the hard-fought victories of the previous two decades. Popular depictions of black culture in the 1970s revolve around black power, dashikis, and afros. We will move beyond the clich�s and stereotypes connected with this period to investigate the ways in which blacks translated the legislative victories of the civil rights era into reality. Students will write a research paper exploring an aspect of the cultural, political, and economic transformations of the 1970s. Possible topics include: the evolution of new artistic genres, including funk and blaxploitation films; white flight and the emergence of black urban spaces; and the impact of the splintering of the civil rights movement. Pr. one 300-level research intensive history course
HIS 511B - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "Self and Society in Europe, 1350-1700"
80548
M 3:30-6:20
Jodi Bilinkoff
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite 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. Pr. one 300-level research intensive history course
HIS 511C - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: Wider World (Asian) Emphasis
80549
R 3:30-6:20
Staff
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite required.
Locating and using historical source materials, written and oral, published and unpublished. Topic will be Asian, details to be announced.Pr. one 300-level research intensive history course
HIS 520 - Southern History: "Interpreting and Presenting Southern History to the Public"
80553
W 6:30-9:20 p.m.
Peter Carmichael
How should historians and teachers make Southern history engaging as well as accessible to the public without sacrificing scholarly rigor? Students will pursue this important line of inquiry while exploring a range of historical events and issues from the Early American period to the Civil Rights Era. What was the nature of the master-slave relationship? What were the racial and class dynamics on the plantation? Why did poor whites fight in the Confederate army? Was Reconstruction a Revolution? And in what ways did African-Americans engage in political action during the Age of Jim Crow? Students will engage scholarship that addresses these important questions but they will also read books on historical memory and museum studies that explore the challenges of conveying the contentious nature of Southern history to a variety of audiences. The course format will consist of discussions of assigned readings, but the class will also visit historical sites in the area. The capstone of the course is an oral history research project that will be the basis of a larger public exhibit.
HIS 524 - Twentieth Century U.S. History: "Politics, Popular Movements, and Political Culture, 1890-Today"
84130
TR 3:30-4:45
Tom Jackson
Americans might think they mean the same things when they speak of equal rights, freedom, self-determination, justice and order, but in the jockeying for status and power over the 20th century, different groups came up with multiple meanings and interpretations. These social and ideological conflicts have decisively shaped public life. We will begin by understanding how farmers and industrial workers challenged dominant 19th-century ideas of liberty, relationships of power, and envisioned new roles for government in protecting the public interest. Then the importance of women's voluntary activism to Progressive reform, from woman suffrage to the regulation of prostitution, will be considered. Insurgent movements of the 1920s and 1930s, from Marcus Garvey's black nationalism to the unemployed and labor movements of the Depression Era left enduring legacies in industrial and race relations. Of special concern will be how conservatives got a corner on religious values that initially were integral to Progressivism. How did liberals get a reputation for being elitist and distant from the people? We'll look at how conservatives used anti-Communism and religious values to advance their agendas between the 1920s and today. The impact of World War II and the cold war on the women's movement and the black freedom movement merits our careful attention, as does the impact of Vietnam and the anti-Vietnam War movement on the conservative resurgence of the 1970s and 1980s. We will end with a consideration of the "culture wars" of today. Principally we will understand the scope and impact of many forms of popular democracy, as different groups competed with each other and tried to influence government and corporate elites. (Students who enroll will have an opportunity to shape some of the content, i.e. if enough people want to read about environmentalism, we can make room). To supplement a few general texts, we will read mainly scholarly articles to expose ourselves to creative scholarship and the best writing in the field.
HIS 543 - Historic Preservation: Principles and Practices
80871
W 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. (Same as IAR 543)
HIS 574 - Modern Germany: "Germany: Division and Reunification, 1945-2000"
80554
MW 2:00-3:15
Karl Schleunes
For nearly fifty years after its defeat in 1945, Germany was both the cockpit and the pawn of a Cold War between the world's two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. We begin by examining the massive defeat of Germany in 1945, sometimes called the "Year Zero" of modern German history. We will conclude with an examination of the German reunification in 1990 and the difficulties (and opportunities) it produced.
The initial focus will be on the Allied occupation of Germany after the war and upon the tensions that produced the Cold War and the division of Germany. During this immediate post-war period much of German history bears the stamp of being "Made in Washington, D.C." or "Made in Moscow." We will trace political and social developments in both West and East Germany. Consideration will be also be given to cultural, and intellectual currents in the two Germanies. Special emphasis will be placed on examining the burden that the Nazi past placed upon post-war German developments, both West and East.
Students will be expected to become "expert" in one aspect of German post-war developments. This expertise will be the basis for class reports, discussion, and the final course paper.
HIS 624 - History of American Landscapes & Architecture
80737
TR 3:30-4:45
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. (Same as IAR 624)
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
80741
W 3:30-6:20
Benjamin Filene
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. (Same as IAR 626)
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
80744
701-01 Phyllis Hunter M 3:30-6:20
80744
701-02 Peter Carmichael F 12:00-2:50
84289
Issues of historical interpretation from the Revolution through the Civil War.
HIS 703 - Seminar in US History
80787
M 6:30-9:20
Lisa Levenstein
Research and writing on selected topics in American history.
HIS 705 - Colloquium in European History to 1789
80789
W 3:30-6:20
Richard Barton
The imagined task of this course is huge, even impossible: we are tasked with trying to make sense of the methods, techniques, and approaches used by historians who study Europe from Rome to the French Revolution. Obviously we cannot do justice to every period and/or every topic, and our approach must inevitably be somewhat fragmentary. Rather than follow a haphazard and incomplete chronology through this vast span of time, the course is organized methodologically. In essence we are going to examine some of those methods, techniques, and approaches rather than try to attain content mastery of a series of events, periods, or persons. We will accomplish this task, of course, by reading and evaluating sample works of historians who work in that given style, method, or approach. Peter Burke�s edited volume, New Perspectives on Historical Writing, will provide a quasi-textbook or roadmap for our endeavor, but the brunt of the reading will come from important monographs and articles by authors such as Caroline Bynum, G.R. Elton, Jacques Le Goff, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Joan Scott, Natalie Zemon Davis, Stephen White, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Robert Darnton, Lynn Hunt, and Roger Chartier. Nota Bene: the course attempts to balance the temporal focus of the works we will read: about half of our readings will come from the medieval period and half from the early modern period. Students will write a series of analytical essays (3-4 pages) and a final historiographical essay (8-10 pages).
HIS 707 - Seminar in European History
80791
TBA
Staff
Research and writing on selected topics in European history.
HIS 709 - Introductory Research Seminar
709-01 (U.S.) Lisa Tolbert R 6:30-9:20
80793
709-02 (European) Kaarin Michaelsen T 3:30-6:20
80794
Will focus on methods, sources, and writing; research paper based on primary and contextualized in secondary sources.
HIS 711A-01 - Experimental Course: "The Twentieth-Century South"
84164
T 6:30-9:20
Chuck Bolton
This course will explore the South's social, economic, political, and cultural development in the twentieth century. Among the topics that will be addressed are the changing status of African Americans in the region; political developments during the period (from one-party rule by the Democratic party in the early twentieth century to the re-emergence of the Republican party during the second half of the twentieth century); and the transformation of the South from an overwhelmingly agricultural, rural society to a region identified in the years following World War II with the phenomena of Sunbelt urbanization and industrialization.
Since the time of the Civil War, various Southerners and non-Southerners have proclaimed the coming of a New South--one in which the defeated Confederacy would rejoin and ultimately resemble the rest of the nation. Thus, this course will also attempt to answer the following questions: When, if ever, did a New South develop? What factors made the South distinctive from other American regions in the twentieth century? When did these unique characteristics disappear, or are they still present today? In addition to looking at how historians have interpreted this century of change in the South, this course will also examine how Southerners themselves have explained these changes through the rich tradition of southern autobiography.
HIS 711B-01 - Experimental Course: "Intellectuals in French Political Culture"
84191
R 6:30-9:20
Paul Mazgaj
The great crises that shook European civilization in the twentieth century - the world wars, the economic collapse of the 1930s, the rise of fascist and communist regimes, and the Cold War - brought artists and writers into the public forum, creating what has been more recently labeled the "public intellectual." This development has, in its turn, stimulated a lively debate on the proper role of the intellectual in the life of Western society. The emergence of the public intellectual and the controversy that accompanied it were particularly acute in France, where intellectuals have played a greater political role than in any other Western society. This course will examine the intervention of intellectuals in modern French political culture and their role in the controversies surrounding the articulation of French national identity.
This course will not assume background in either French or intellectual history. One of the purposes of this course � though not the only one � will be to introduce graduate students the basic history of modern France with special attention to the major crises that have punctuated French life in the twentieth century.
HIS 715 - Atlantic World: "The Atlantic Slave Trade"
80795
W 6:30-9:20
Linda Rupert
The transatlantic slave trade lasted for over four hundred years and was the largest migration of people in the early modern Atlantic world. This graduate course introduces students to the range of significant historical themes and issues that played out in the transatlantic slave trade, to the major trends in the historiography, and to the wide variety of primary historical sources that are available. We will analyze the transatlantic slave trade as part of a sophisticated economic system, as a brutal racialized form of human exploitation, and as a powerful shaper of societies and cultures throughout the Americas. We will also explore the pedagogical challenges of teaching this complex and highly-charged topic.
200-400 Level Courses, Fall 06 | Advising Center | Catalog | Courses
