Spring 2007 Course Descriptions
500-700 Level
500-level courses are for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Prerequisite for ALL 500-level courses: either the completion of six semester hours of 300-level History courses or the permission of the instructor.
SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE! Always check the University online schedule for the latest changes.
HIS 511A - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: �Mass Movements and Mass Media in the United States, 1932-1992�
11011 W 3:30-6:20
Tom Jackson
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite of one 300-level Research Intensive (RI) history course.
This seminar will examine how mass movements and major public figures in the United States have shaped the national political agenda through various media of communication: newspapers, radio, television, and independent movement-based media. As models for the kinds of history we can write, we will examine scholarly articles that explore the relationship between movements, media, the public, and political leaders. We will pay special attention to the black freedom struggle and ways in which the mainstream press framed civil rights issues and generated political celebrity. We will also examine movements for economic redistribution in the Great Depression, women's movements, peace movements, environmental movements, movements of the right, and others that capture student interest. Since the goal is to write a coherent paper with a developed point of view, each student will proceed through a series of assignments: short response pieces to selected readings; an annotated bibliography in the focused field of interest; a proposal with a sharp set of questions that can be answered with an identifiable base of secondary and primary sources; a first draft to be peer-reviewed; a final draft. After a poll of student interest, I will group the class into various working subgroups to provide support, dialogue, information, and feedback. Undergraduates will write a 15-18 page paper; graduates will write a 20-22 page paper.
HIS 511B - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: Nazi Germany
11013 M 3:30-6:20
Karl Schleunes
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite of one 300-level Research Intensive (RI) history course.
This course will examine the major historical issues that confront an understanding of Hitler's Third Reich. Students will begin by reading a short basic textbook on Nazi Germany, Joseph W. Bendersky's A History of Nazi Germany, 2nd ed. On the basis of discussions generated by this reading, students will select a topic for further research. This research needs to have a basis in primary source material.
After selecting a topic, the first assignment will be to produce a one to two page prospectus describing the research topic. The second assignment will be the preparation of an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources. The third assignment will the production of a first draft of the paper and the final one will be the production of the paper in its final and perfected version. Interspersed among these assignments will be a series of oral reports and discussions on research progress, problems, solutions, etc.
For the undergraduates the paper is to be 12-15 pages long. For graduate students it is to be ca. 20 pages in length.
HIS 520 - Southern History: Selected Topics
11014 T 3:30-6:20
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 522 - Early American History: "The American Revolution"
11022 TR 3:30-4:45
Robert Calhoon
In an astounding example of imperial over-reach, British officialdom reversed decades of mild colonial administration with a new get-tough policy in the 1760s and early 1770s that incited fierce political opposition and then armed rebellion. Over seven years of indecisive military action, the revolutionary regime survived and endured with surprising agility. Students in this course will will view these events from the inside and learn to understand an international upheaval.
HIS 530 - History of Sexuality: "Freud's Vienna: 1882-1938"
11023 R 3:30-6:20
Cheryl Logan
Dynamic changes characterized the history of Central Europe during the period that surrounded World War I, a period that saw the end of the thousand year old Hapsburg Empire. Vienna, capital city of that empire, was not just the place that Freud lived and wrote; it was also a city in which revolutionary figures in science, art, philosophy, theater, music, and politics shaped modern thought in the context of imperial decline, socialist revolution, anti-Semitism�Zionism, rising feminist influence, sexual reform, and world war.
Sexuality was central to many of the tensions that arose in Freud�s Vienna. How were Freud�s theories received amid this tension? How did he challenge the prevailing view of sexuality? An examination of the history of human sexuality in Freud�s Vienna enables us to look at the founder of psychoanalysis and his theories of sexual conflict in the context of the historical tensions that defined his time.
HIS 544 - Early Modern Europe: Selected Topics
11025 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 546 - American Cultural History: Selected Topics
11196 W 6:30-9:20
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 "material culture and consumer culture." We will explore the evolution of consumer culture in the United States from the so-called "consumer revolution" of the eighteenth century through the development of a mass consumer market in the twentieth century. We will pay particular attention to the contributions of material culture scholars for our understanding of the social and political dynamics that have shaped consumer culture in American history.
HIS 547 - History Museum Curatorship: Collections Management
11199 R 6:30-9:20
Jon Zachman (email dept.)
Professional practices in the care and management of historic site and history museum collections, including priniciples of collection development, object registration, cataloging, and preservation. Same as IAR 547.
HIS 548 - Architectural Conservation
11203 T 2:00-4:50
Jo Leimenstoll
Overview of contemporary architectural conservation principles, practice and technology. A series of field exercises, group projects and investigation of an individual research topic expand upon lectures and readings. Same as IAR 548.
HIS 625-01 - Preservation, Planning, and Law
11211 W 3:30-6:20
Autumn Michael
An examination and analysis of the relationship of government programs and policies, community and regional planning strategies, and legal case precedents to the field of historic preservation. Same as IAR 625.
HIS 627 - Museum and Historic Site Interpretation: Principles and Practice
11213 T 3:30-6:20
Benjamin Filene
This seminar explores the relationship between history and public audiences, focusing on the theory and practice of telling stories through museums and historic sites. Topics include learning theory, audience evaluation, oral history, photography and material culture, living history, and exhibit planning and design. The course will culminate in a collaborative local history project that will be planned and produced by the students for a public venue. Same as IAR 627.
See the M.A. FAQ for more information about the following:
HIS 692 - Advanced Topics
HIS 697 - Independent Study
Written permission of the instructor and/or the department head is required.
HIS 702 - Colloquium in American History
11216 702-01 Tom Jackson M 6:30-9:20
13437 702-02 Lisa Levenstein W 3:30-6:20
Issues of historical interpretation from Reconstruction to the present.
HIS 704 - Seminar in American History
13240 Staff
Research and writing on selected topics in American history.
HIS 706 - Colloquium in European History since 1789
11701 R 3:30-6:20
Kaaren Michaelsen
Interpretations of selected historical problems from the French Revolution to the present.
HIS 708 - Seminar in European History
13241 708-01 Staff
Research and writing on selected topics in European history.
HIS 709 - Introductory Research Seminar
11702 709-01 Phyllis Hunter T 6:30-9:20 (American)
RIOTS AND REVELS IN EARLY AMERICA, 1600-1860 Public gatherings and group rituals provide an important window into social relations and construction of unity or division within communities. In this research seminar, we will examine how other historians have explicated crowd actions, political protests, parades, and celebrations from 1630 to 1860 and use primary and secondary texts to explore how historians gather and process evidence, develop interpretations, and produce a finished piece of work that contributes to the field. Designed for graduate students, the course offers an opportunity to further develop the research and writing skills necessary for advanced work in history. Each student will produce a substantial final paper based on primary sources. Students will be encouraged to select a paper topic related to the theme of riots or revels in a class or community. Ideally the paper you complete for this course may be the beginning of a published article.
11703 709-02 Karl Schleunes T 6:30-9:20 (European)
Will focus on methods, sources, and writing; research paper based on primary and contextualized in secondary sources.
HIS 710 - Colloquium in the Atlantic World
11704 W 6:30-9:20
Linda Rupert
This course introduces students to the variety of approaches and themes that comprise one of the newest and fastest-growing fields in our discipline. Historians have found the Atlantic World to be a useful conceptual and methodological framework in which to analyze the development of European empires and the creation of dynamic colonial societies in the Americas in the early modern period (roughly 1400-1800). An Atlantic perspective brings into focus the inter-connected economic, social, and cultural currents which carried people, capital, commodities, and ideas across political boundaries. We will read a selection of major works which have defined the field, identifying different perspectives and tracing the development of the historiography. We will also consider the challenges involved in comparative, cross-cultural historical research, as well as the limits of an Atlantic approach. This is a core course for the minor in Atlantic History and is required for all Ph.D. students. It is also recommended to MA students who would like an introduction to the relatively new, evolving, and dynamic field of Atlantic History. I echo Allison Games's invitation in the June 2006 issue of the AHR: "Jump in. The water's great."
HIS 713 - African Americans After Slavery
11705 R 6:30-9:20
Watson Jennison
This course will explore the African American experience from 1865 to the present. Drawing upon a mixture of classic and recent historical literature, students will examine the key transformations that affected black life in the decades since the end of slavery as well as the major historiographical debates within the field of black history.
HIS 714 - Varieties of Teaching
11706 714-01 Jeff Jones M 4:00-6:50
Prerequisite: M.A. in History.
This course will explore the theory and practice of teaching at the college level with an emphasis on the practical applications of teaching with technology. No knowledge of technology is assumed for students coming in to the course, but they will need to pick up the basics of web-page authoring, the Blackboard system, and Power Point. Students will construct a Teaching Portfolio complete with a Statement on Teaching, course syllabi, lectures, discussion plans, assignments, lists of relevant audio-visual material, and course web pages. Materials from courses previously taught should be included in the portfolios, but students are encouraged to develop a different course this semester. Activities for the course include developing a course syllabus, collaborating on web-based projects, writing brief description pieces of different aspects of teaching, observing lectures, evaluating each other�s work, and, in general, thinking and talking about teaching. (Graded on S-U basis)
HIS 722 - "Sex, Race, and Gender in Early America"
CRN TBA upon approval R 3:30-6:20
Phyllis Hunter
The purpose of this readings course is to give graduate students a knowledge of the historiographic themes and debates that structure much of the interpretation of race and gender in early American history. Students will read and interpret several �classic� works of history as well as several books and articles representing new issues and/or methods. The class will be run as a seminar with students participating in leading class discussion. There will be short writing assignments and reports on primary sources. For the final paper, students will be asked to prepare a paper that applies approaches from two of the course readings to a body of primary sources of their own choosing. This might include material objects, visual images, documentary sources, or a combination of all three.
HIS 740 - "Emotions and Power in the Middle Ages"
13514 W 3:30-6:20
Rick Barton
The historical analysis of emotions - anger, hatred, love, fear, envy and so forth - has blossomed in the past ten years. Historians have been interested both in analyzing specific emotions through processes of thick cultural description and in examining the place of emotions as a category in a given socio/cultural system. This course offers an opportunity for students to engage in either sort of historical analysis through close examination of primary and secondary sources produced in Western Europe between 500 and 1300. We will begin with the assumption that emotions are at least partially defined culturally (that is, they are not universal biological reactions) and will proceed to read other historians� (and some psychologists� and anthropologists�) attempts to grapple historically with emotion before turning to close readings of primary sources produced during the Middle Ages. Among the readings will be works by Barbara Rosenwein, William Reddy, Carlin Barton, Daniel Smail, Gerd Althof and others; we will also read (in translation) a variety of primary sources, including chronicles by Gregory of Tours, Orderic Vitalis, Galbert of Bruges, Suger; representative miracle collections (e.g. the miracles of Saint-Foy); and a series of vernacular epics (including Raoul of Cambrai, Ami et Amile, and others). In the course of our reading we will attempt to define what medieval people (and authors) meant by various emotions; to identify and evaluate broader systems of emotional value offered explicitly or implicitly in such texts; to explore the symbiosis between systems of honor and the experience of certain emotions; and, in particular, to evaluate how emotions participated in the construction and maintenance of power relations. No prior knowledge of medieval history is necessary for this course.
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