GRADUATE SEMINAR IN HISTORIOGRAPHY
HIST
FALL semester, 2000
Day/Time: Tuesday, 4:25 pm - 6:55 pm.
Location: Olin 203/205 (seminar room)
Professor: Dr. TJ Boisseau
Office: 217 OLIN, Hours: Tues/Thurs 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm and by appt.
Phone: x6277
Email: tjboiss@uakron.edu
"The good historian is like the giant of the fairy tale. He knows
that wherever he catches the scent of human flesh, there his quarry lies."
~Marc Bloch
Course objectives: The primary goal of this course is to provide incoming graduate students with the opportunity to think seriously and systematically about history as a discipline shaped by many and often contradictory concerns, as a profession with its own historical trajectory, and as an intellectual project requiring intense metacognitive consideration. Students will be introduced to a selection of significant historical writings, some dating back centuries, culled from various fields of historical inquiry. They will also encounter quite recent synthetic and exploratory theoretical writings by historians and philosophers of history. The purpose of juxtapositioning these two different types of historical scholarship is to encourage students to critique their own and others' conceptualizations of history and historical methodologies and to enable them to participate effectively within the debates and discourses with which professional historians are currently engaged.
Required Texts:
Heritage and Challenge: The History and Theory of History by Paul K. Conkin and Roland N. Stromberg (Forum Press, 1989). ISBN 0882732862
The Postmodern History Reader ed by Keith Jenkins (Routledge, 1997). ISBN 04151394X
The New Historicism ed by H. Aram Veeser (Routledge, 1989). ISBN 0415900700
Course reader (will be made available for purchase).
Course themes: Below appears a list of themes followed by exploratory questions which such themes evoke. In order to systematize students' theorization of history, students will choose one theme from the list below that they are particularly interested in exploring throughout the semester and for which they agree to be responsible. Each week, students should consider how the week's readings relate to this theme, they should craft a written reaction to the readings in reference to this theme, and come to class prepared to comment on aspects of the readings in light of this theme.
Power/agency How is power being theorized, conceptualized in these works? Is it something tangible that only some people have or are caught up in, is it wielded consciously or suffered inescapably? Can individuals or groups determine their fates or make the history that is described, or are they made by it? Is power a negative in this history or a positive, a natural effect of human relationships or an evil to be suppressed or evaded?
Culture/society What is "culture" for this historian? How is it theorized in relation to "society" or the notion of "civilization"? Can you perceive assumptions embedded in this work about what constitutes "high" culture or "low" culture, "mainstream" culture and "sub" cultures? Does culture determine behaviour and events or is it a product of behaviour and events? What weight is given to the individual versus the group or society in this analysis? Is the culture depicted imagined in opposition to another (kind of) culture or society?
Class Are class relations considered? Is this work limited by an implicit
or explicit
understanding of class? Are some class interests and not others being served
by this interpretation of history? (If not Marxian) would a Marxist perspective
undermine this interpretation or shift its focus in any way? (If Marxian),
how does this analysis differ from other Marxist interpretations encountered
in this course?
Gender How is this work gendered, sexed, or even sexual? Is gender afforded any relevance explicitly? What ways do women figure in the story that's being told? What are men like, ontologically, according to this model of interpretation? Would a more self-conscious consideration of gender change the thesis of this work? Is there a theory of what gender is embedded in this interpretation? Is this work "feminist" in some ways, "anti-feminist" in others?
Nationalism/race Is there an "imagined community" implied
by the topic or
approach of this text which is presented as a naturally occurring, organic
or destined collectivity? Does national identity or racial identity provide
the impetus for the writing of this history? Could this history be imagined
apart from a national story of origin or development? Is race an implied
given or an expressed theme of the work? How is the nation defined? What
is race for this historian? Do you detect a racialist understanding of
nationalism or nationalist sense given to race? To what extent do racialist
notions permeate the analysis?
Narrative/trope Does this history fall into a narrative or story-like form? Does it remind you of a particular genre of storytelling with a certain kind of characterization or trajectory of plot? Does the narrative strategy of the work determine or delimit the kinds of meanings or messages that can be perceived by the reader? Is there something about the historical context of the writing/publishing of this work which made this storyline rather than another compelling originally (or still)?
Progress/teleology What kind of future is implied by the trajectory of this interpretation? What kind of past prior to the period under study? Is there an assumption of decline, advancement or cycle underlying the analysis? Is there an assumption of open-ness (contingency) or closedness (destiny) being made? Is there a meta-narrative explicitly or implicitly referenced? What sort of theory of historical change is revealed by this work's presentation of origins, use of life-cycle metaphors to explain development, or divine sense of purpose?
Assignments and Evaluation:
General: Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory and will count towards students' course grade. Lateness to class or in submission of assignments will not be tolerated. Thorough and timely reading of course materials as well as serious, active and focused participation in class discussion is expected. Commitment to achieving course goals should be apparent throughout the semester.
Course journal: The primary written assignment for this course consists of a journal of student impressions and reactions to the reading. Journal entries each week should consist of a minimum of 2-3 typewritten, double-spaced pages dealing explicitly with the theme students have chosen to explore. Although students will submit journals in their entirety for final evaluation on November 28th, journal entries may be collected at any point(s) in the semester for spontaneous review by instructor. With this in mind, students should always bring all journal entries completed to date with them to each class. Course points will be deducted in cases where journals collected during the semester are found to be incomplete. (Up to 5 points may be deducted from course grade for each journal entry found to be missing or inadequate.) Journals, in their final submission form, should consist of a minimum of 20 type-written double-spaced pages referencing readings for all ten units.
Final essay and presentation: Students will be required to submit a final essay related to the theme they chose to explore throughout the semester. Final essays should be organized around a particular recurring or unresolved historiographical or theoretical question encountered in the course. Such a question should permit students to refer to a wide array of reading selections assigned during the semester. Final essays should be approximately 10-12 typewritten, double-spaced pages in length and must reference readings explicitly. Final essays are due December 5th. Class presentations of final essays will be held on December 12th.
Evaluation Summary:
Attendance/participation ..……………………………………
(15 meetings) 25 %
Course journal ……………………………………………...
(10 entries x 5) 50 %
Final essay/presentation ………………………………………………………..
25 %
100 %
Reminder: Regardless of total points earned, course failure may result from neglect of any one of the following 3 course requirements: consistent attendance, submission of satisfactory course journal, final essay and presentation.
Additional class policies
Plagiarism: The presentation of statements or ideas as one's own that have been culled from others' works (whether published or unpublished) will not be tolerated. University guidelines will be followed in prosecution of cases of suspected plagiarism.
Withdrawals from course must be requested prior to the 10th week of classes, in accordance with departmental policy.
Incompletes will be granted only in cases of unexpected crises, when students have already completed at least 80% of the coursework required to pass this course.