Spring 2013 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 502 - African American History: "The Black '70s"
10719 M 3:30-6:20
Watson Jennison
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 clichés and stereotypes connected with this period to investigate the ways in which blacks translated the legislative victories of the civil rights era into reality.
HIS 508 - Latin American and Caribbean History: "Race and Ethnicity in Brazil"
10720 R 3:30-6:20
Uri Rosenheck
Often, maybe too often, race and ethnicity lie at the bottom of political, economic, social, and cultural phenomena. Brazil provides an excellent window on the complex ways the two classificatory categories–"race" and "ethnicity"–operate. Home for indigenous people, Portuguese colonizers, African slaves and their descendants, and European, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants, Brazil hosts one of the world's most diverse and fascinating societies. In this course we will examine how Brazilians constructed race and ethnicity to organize their society, control it, and exercise their own agency. We will look into processes of miscegenation, changing racial ideologies and challenging them, struggles for the shaping of collective identities, and relations between minorities and the majority and the state.
HIS 511A - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "Reconstruction in History and Memory"
10721 R 3:30-6:20
Mark Elliott
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite of one 300-level Research Intensive (RI) history course.
No period of American history has been as subject to distortion in both popular culture and professional history as the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War. From the films Birth of A Nation and Gone with the Wind to the scholarship of William Dunning and Claude Bowers, a wave of propaganda transformed the study of this period into a politically-charged partisan debate. This course will explore both the history and the historical memory of Reconstruction, using this period as an example to better understand the ideological stakes that can be involved in the recounting of history. The class will examine the evolution of historical writing on Reconstruction, and the portrayals of Reconstruction in popular culture, while weighing these portrayals against original primary sources from the era. Taking a "long" perspective on this era, the course will not restrict its focus to the years 1865-1877 but rather will follow the public debate over this historical period well into the 20th century. Student research projects may examine any aspect of the history or memory of Reconstruction.
HIS 511C - Seminar in Historical Research and Writing: "Popular Protest in Chinese History"
10722 M 3:30-6:20
Jamie Anderson
Writing and Speaking Intensive. Prerequisite of one 300-level Research Intensive (RI) history course.
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 524 - 20th Century U.S. History: "The Immigrant Experience"
12762 T 3:30-6:20
Angela Robbins Marritt
"The contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life," reflected John F. Kennedy in his book, A Nation of Immigrants. Yet the U.S. response to a flood of "new" immigrants beginning in the late nineteenth century was to close the door to some, fostering an atmosphere of suspicion around immigrants to America throughout much of the twentieth century. During the world wars and in periods of social upheaval these tensions intensified. This course examines factors that drove immigrants from their native countries and to the U.S., discourse about immigration and activism associated with it, and the lived experiences of immigrants at different points in time. Topics include the relationship between immigration law and issues of gender, race, and ethnicity; immigrant workers and labor reform; recent changes in policy such as the DREAM and PATRIOT Acts; ongoing immigration battles in U.S. states; and overarching questions about citizenship and civil liberties.
HIS 548 - Architectural Conservation
10723 R 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. Prerequisite: IAR 301, IAR 332, admission to a graduate program in history or interior architecture, or written permission of instructor.
HIS 567 - French History: "France, America, and the Early Cold War"
10724 MW 2:00-3:15
Paul Mazgaj
The focus of this course will be on how Europe experienced the early cold war, with special attention to the relations between France and the US. We will begin with a historical account of the dramatic events of the early cold war from its roots in the Second World War to the death of Stalin. Next we turn toward an examination of heated debates among leading writers and intellectuals from both sides of the Atlantic over the larger issues raised by the cold war--political freedom, social justice, and the specter of nuclear annihilation.
HIS 588 - East Asian History: "The Viet Nam Wars"
10725 W 3:30-6:20
Jamie Anderson
In the eyes of many Americans, there is little separation between the image of "Vietnam" and the tragic outcome of US involvement in the Second Indochinese War. However, Viet Nam as a nation and the Vietnamese as a people have existed in the region for over two thousand years, fighting during much of this time for both political autonomy and cultural self-identity. During the course of its history, Viet Nam's military adversary and cultural ally has often been China. Conversely, Chinese leaders have long believed that their empire shared a special bond with Viet Nam, which at times promoted the impulse to subjugate their smaller neighbor. This course will consider the history of wars fought on Vietnamese soil within the larger context of political, social and cultural change. The course themes include; resistance of foreign aggression as an integral part of the Vietnamese nationalist narrative, Vietnamese self-identity in the shadow of Chinese domination, the anti-colonial origins of the Vietnamese nationalist and Communist movements, and Vietnamese government's uneasy relations with border ethnic groups. It is my desire that, after the completion of this seminar course, we will have a larger historical context in which we can more clearly evaluate the events of the last 50 years.
Prerequisite for all 600- 700 level History courses: Admission to a graduate program in history or interior architecture, or written permission of instructor.
HIS 624 - History of American Landscapes & Architecture
10975 W 3:30-6:20
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
10741 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 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 699 - Thesis
Written permission is required to register for these courses.
HIS 702 - Colloquium in American History
10746 702-01 Charles Bolton M 3:30-6:20
10747 702-02 Thomas Jackson M 6:30-9:20
Issues of historical interpretation from Reconstruction to the present.
HIS 704 - Seminar in American History
10748 Graduate Faculty
Research and writing on selected topics in American history.
HIS 706 - Colloquium in European History since 1789
10749 T 3:30-6:20
Cristina Bejan
Interpretations of selected historical problems from the French Revolution to the present.
HIS 708 - Seminar in European History
10750 Graduate Faculty
Research and writing on selected topics in European history.
HIS 709 - Introductory Research Seminar: "Public Culture in Twentieth-Century America"
10751 709-01 W 6:30-9:20
Tom Jackson
In this course you will be expected to research and write an article-length paper on a problem of your choosing. The first third of the course will be devoted to examining important questions and methods in the history of 20th century US "public culture." As a group, we will consider several innovative scholarly articles that might serve as models for your research. Each student will report on a piece of scholarship that represents the "best practices" of his or her chosen sub-field. The professor has strengths in political history, cultural history, social movement history, and especially the history of the African American freedom movement. By early October, all students will be in possession of an important question and a body of sources likely to yield answers. Some students may already have projects in mind. Others should be willing to be guided to a researchable problem that will draw upon rich primary source materials available through the Jackson library, local collections, oral histories, or the Internet.
HIS 711 - Experimental Course: Digital Humanities
14677 T 6:30-9:20
Pam Lach
This seminar explores the theory and issues emerging from digital public history, while offering hands-on training in its tools and practices. Students will explore the possibilities and challenges of doing history in digital spaces, applying what they learn to their own self-designed digital public history projects.
HIS 715 - Atlantic World Selected Topics: "Africa in Atlantic History"
10752 R 6:30-9:20
Colleen Kriger
To paraphrase Ralph Ellison, "America is unimaginable without Africa." But why and by whom is this continent seen as a whole and called "Africa"? And how have peoples in "Africa" seen and defined themselves? This course is designed to introduce graduate students to the roles and place of Africa and Africans in the inter-continental history of the Atlantic basin.
HIS 723 - 19th Century U. S. History: Selected Topics: "The Market Revolution, 1815-1850"
10753 T 6:30-9:20
Greg O'Brien
This graduate course will examine a period of amazing change, upheaval, and development in American history from 1815-1850. Under the general rubric of the so-called market revolution, we will explore topics such as the transportation and communication revolution, the rise of democracy, Jacksonian policies, Indian Removal, the Whig Party, religious ferment and reform movements, slavery, war with Mexico and territorial expansion, the changing workplace, immigration, and gender. Students will complete weekly readings as well as a final historiographical or research paper. Grading will be based on discussion participation, book reviews, and the final paper.
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