Fall 2008 Course Descriptions
500-700 Level
SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE! Always check the University online schedule for the latest changes.
HIS 505 - Introduction to Archival Management
80240
M 6:30-9:20
Catharine McDowell
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 American and Caribbean Selected Topics: "The Caribbean: Conquest to Plantations"
80243
TR 11:00-12:15
Linda Rupert
This course examines the changing but always central role of the Caribbean in the development of a global economy and society in the wake of European conquest, as well as the intermixing of peoples that defined new societies. We will trace the emergence of multi-ethnic societies over two hundred years, from the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492, through the age of piracy, to the consolidation of empires and plantations by the end of the seventeenth century. We will focus especially on the interactions between the diverse peoples who formed these developing societies and cultures�European settlers, enslaved Africans, and indigenous peoples�and on the developing political and economic power structures that shaped their unequal interactions.
HIS 511A - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "American Indian History before 1840"
80244
T 3:30-6:20
Greg O'Brien
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Written permission required. Pr. one 300-level research intensive history course.
In this course students will write an analytical paper based on primary sources investigating some aspect of American Indian history from the time of initial contacts between Indians and Europeans through the Removal era of the 1830s. Paper topics will be chosen in consultation with the instructor but might include some aspect of warfare or particular wars, the fur trade, Indians and slavery, religion/conversion/spiritual revitalization, pan-Indian movements, the impact of a market economy, Indians and the environment, gender, and cultural change. Required readings will include, but are not limited to, Daniel Richter�s Facing East from Indian Country, Colin Calloway�s New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, Donald Fixico�s Rethinking American Indian History, Devon Mihesuah�s So You Want to Write about American Indians?, and Mary Lynn Rampolla�s A Pocket Guide to Writing In History.
HIS 511B - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "The 'Great War' in History and Memory"
80245
W 3:30-6:20
Paul Mazgaj
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Pr. one 300-level research intensive history course. Written permission required.
The First World War--etched in the collective memory of postwar Europeans as the �Great War�--forever changed European life. Economic, social, and political dislocations were the most immediately apparent results: rampant inflation that led to the destruction of entire segments of European society; political revolutions that brought down the three great empires of central and eastern Europe; and, finally, the breakthrough of two new ideological formations�communism and fascism�that were to change the course of twentieth-century history. A number of historians argue that even more devastating than these were the psychological effects of the war. The war, they argue, undermined the values that had sustained Europeans since the Enlightenment--belief in the potential of human rationality, a sense of optimism, and faith in progress through educational reform and scientific discovery. In their place, the war ushered in a mood of pessimism, an acceptance of violence and irrationalism, and the modern ironic sensibility.
Within this broad range of issues, students will be expected to find a topic, identify relevant secondary and primary sources, and write a major research paper. Class time will be devoted not only to provide an overview of the impact of the Great War, but to assist students in locating a suitable topic, designing a research strategy, and writing and revising the final paper.
HIS 511C - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "The Chinese City in the 20th Century"
80246
M 3:30-6:20
Jamie Anderson
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Pr. one 300-level research intensive history course. Written permission required.
This course will examine the transformation of the modern Chinese city in the 20 th century. Topics examined during the semester will include the role urban centers played as sources of political and intellectual movements in modern Chinese society, the relationship between urban centers and the Chinese hinterland, crime and the policing of urban society, popular urban protest in the rise of nationalism and communism, and city life 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 urban centers and in the end develop their skills in observing societies with different origins than their own.
HIS 520 - Southern History Selected Topics: "Memoir in Southern History"
80247
MW 3:30-4:45
Watson Jennison
This course will examine southern U. S. history from colonial times to the present through the prism of memoir. We will read the memoirs of indentured servants, Indians, slaves, slaveholders, civil rights workers, and segregationists, among others, to examine the experiences of the people themselves. Through their memoirs, southerners did not just narrate their lives. They chronicled their legacies as well. We will examine southerners� use of their memoirs to both illuminate and obscure aspects of the southern past.
HIS 530 - History of Sexuality: "Women and Reproduction in the 20th Century United States"
80248
W 6:30-9:20
Lisa Levenstein
This course will examine the diversity of U.S. women�s reproductive experiences over the course of the twentieth century. Topics that we will examine include pregnancy, sterilization, contraception, childbirth, adoption, and infertility. Students will read historical accounts that explore the lives of ordinary women, utilizing oral history, archival research, and public policy analysis. The course will end with a brief exploration of women�s postwar political organizing surrounding reproductive issues. Crosslisted with WGS and AFS.
HIS 543 - Historic Preservation: Principles and Practices
80249
R 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 544 - Early Modern European History Selected Topics: "Italy in the (Long) Renaissance: 1350-1700"
80250
MWF 1:00-1:50
Jodi Bilinkoff
The very words �Renaissance Italy� are capable of conjuring up images of an extraordinary cultural flourishing. One thinks of the sculptures of Michelangelo, the paintings of Botticelli, the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, the architectural splendors of Rome and Florence, the literate courtesans of Venice, the opening of Europe�s first opera houses. Italy during the Renaissance saw the emergence of modern forms of political theory, theatre, banking, scientific observation, diplomacy, and some would claim, the individual.
But what, exactly, do we mean when we speak of �The Renaissance?� When did it begin and end? Did all regions and social groups experience the changes of the early modern period in the same ways? Did women have a Renaissance? Did peasants?
In this course we will investigate some of the historical realities and myths of the Italian Renaissance, attending to the experience of ordinary men and women as well as some of the more famous artists, intellectuals, popes, prophets and political leaders. We will look at the ways in which scholars have interpreted major issues in the history of Italy between roughly 1350 and 1700, including humanism and other intellectual currents, art and art patronage, political structures and conflicts, popular culture, religious life, and changing attitudes toward gender and sexuality.
HIS 624 - History of American Landscapes & Architecture
80251
W 6:30-9:20
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 a 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. An important objective of the course is to go beyond 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:
- Identify and evaluate major periods in the development of the American landscape from the colonial era through the mid-twentieth century.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the ways that buildings 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.
- Compare and contrast the methodologies developed by a variety of scholars to interpret landscape and architecture as historical evidence.
- Use different interpretive approaches to evaluate a particular landscape or building in historical context.
HIS 626 - The Practice of Public History
80252
T 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 involves conceiving, planning, and writing a grant application for a local public history initiative. (Same as IAR 626)
See the M.A. FAQ for more information about the following:
HIS 690 - Internship
HIS 692 - Advanced Topics
HIS 697 - Independent Study
HIS 701 - Colloquium in US History to 1865
701-01 Phyllis Hunter M 3:30-6:20
80257
The purpose of this colloquium is to give graduate students a knowledge of the historiographic themes and debates that structure much of the interpretation of American History up to (and in some cases beyond) 1865. Students will read and interpret several �classic� works of history as well as several books representing new issues and/or methods. The class will be run as a seminar with weekly discussions led by groups of students.
701-02 Greg O'Brien
80258
Issues of historical interpretation from the Revolution through the Civil War.
HIS 703 - Seminar in US History
80259
Time/Location TBA
TBA Staff
Research and writing on selected topics in American history.
HIS 705 - Colloquium in European History to 1789
80260
W 6:30-9:20
Richard Barton
This course comprises the first half of the Graduate Colloquium in European History. Our imagined task is a huge, even impossible one: 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 episodic. Rather than follow a haphazard and incomplete chronology through this vast span of time, I have organized the course methodologically. In essence we are going to examine some of those methods, techniques, and approaches rather than 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, as it comprises specially-commissioned chapters on many of the approaches and sub-disciplines that we will examine. Please note that I have tried to balance the temporal focus of the works we will read: my design is that about half of our readings will come from the medieval period and half from the early modern period.
HIS 707 - Seminar in European History
80261
Location/Time TBA
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
80262
This course is designed as an advanced introduction to professional research practice. You will develop your own research project based on your individual interests. But this course will not operate as if you were pursuing a set of unrelated independent studies. Though your topics will differ widely, you will all be facing similar research and writing problems: finding primary sources, understanding what your evidence means, presenting your findings in an interesting and compelling interpretation. Thus the subject of this course is not based on any particular historical period or topic, rather it is the historical method - the process of historical investigation, and particularly the role of writing in the research process. We will follow the approach of Booth, Colomb, and Williams, who explained in The Craft of Research that "writing is not just the last stage of a research project but from its beginning a guide to critical thinking."
Your primary goal in this course is to write a compelling proposal for an original research project. You will develop the proposal in stages and, as in any professional grant competition peer review will be an important part of the research process in the course.
709-02 (Europe) Jodi Bilinkoff M 3:30-6:20
80263
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 710 - Colloquium in the Atlantic World
80264
R 6:30-9:20
Linda Rupert
This course introduces graduate students to the variety of approaches and themes that comprise one of the newest and fastest-growing fields in our discipline. The Atlantic World provides a useful conceptual and methodological framework in which to analyze the development of European empires, the creation of American colonial societies, and the emergence of trans-imperial exchange networks in the early modern period (roughly 1400-1800) and beyond. We will read a selection of major works which have defined the field, identify different perspectives and approaches, and trace the development of the historiography. We will also consider the challenges involved in comparative, cross-cultural historical research, and the limits of an Atlantic approach. Students will critically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of an Atlantic perspective as it applies to their specific research interests.
HIS 713 - African Americans after Slavery
80265
M 6:30-9:20
Loren Schweninger
This course will explore the African American experience from the Civil War to the present. It will included discussions of historical trends and historiography, student reports on several important books in the field, and the writing of a semester-long research paper.
HIS 723 - Selected Topics in 19th Century U.S. History: "Reconstruction: The 'Second Founding' of the Nation in Lived Experience, Historiography, and Popular Memory."
80266
W 6:30-9:20
Mark Elliott
Focuses on Reconstruction, but approaches the topic from many different angles (i.e. comparative, transnational, multi-regional, historiographical, in popular memory, in law, etc.)
HIS 724 - Selected Topics in 20th Century American History: The Long Civil Rights Movement, 1900-1980
80267
W 6:30-9:20
Thomas Jackson
Understanding the achievements and unfinished agendas of the modern black freedom movement requires that we expand the boundaries of the conventional civil rights narrative and see this movement through the eyes of people who made it -- from local, national, and international vantage points. No longer can we simply study the "classical" period of civil rights politics bounded by the Supreme Court decision Brown versus Board of Education in 1954 and the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 (though that was certainly a pivotal period worthy of our attention). We will begin this class with recent work rethinking the story of national civil rights reform going back to Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. We will pay close attention to the deep sources and varieties of local power and struggle in the South, and to the leadership and issues of women as well as men -- in their workplaces, communities, and sites where they challenged dominant white-controlled institutions such as schools and welfare departments. We will explore northern and western movements, the roots and achievements of the black power movement, and the international context of mobilization and political reform. Understanding aspects of white resistance movements will be integral to the course. Special attention will be given to connections between civil rights and issues of economic justice and workers' rights, and to troubled but productive alliances with trade unionists, feminists, Jewish and Latino activists. Popular culture and mass media as a site of contested ideology and power will also inform several classes. We'll conclude with an attempt at balanced assessment of the changes wrought by popular and government activism, as well as the legacies and ongoing reproduction of racial and economic inequality in America's poorest places and institutions.
HIS 740 - Selected Topics in European History: "Readings in Stalinism"
80268
T 3:30-6:20
Jeff Jones
This graduate-level course will examine the historiography of the Stalin period from the rise of Stalin in the 1920s through the �Stalin Revolution,� the famine and purges of the 1930s, World War II and postwar reconstruction in the 1940s to Stalin�s final years in the early 1950s. With grounding in the classics the course will focus on recent scholarly research of the Stalin period with a wide variety of methodologies, theories, and approaches to history in mind.
200-400 Level Courses, Fall 08 | Advising Center | Catalog | Courses
