His 200
Historians and the Study of
History
Spring 2004 3 credit
hours
Time: T,Th
Instructor:
Scott S. Reese
Office: BIO 208
Tel.: 523-9049
Email: scott.reese@nau.edu
Office Hours:
Course URL: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~ssr7/HIS200S04.htm
Instructor’s webpage:
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~ssr7/
Course
Description
What is history? Is it simply the narration of past
events and the collection of “names and dates,” or is there more to it than
that? This course seeks to answer this conundrum via a general survey of the
basic concepts, methods, and theories behind the modern historical
profession. Much of the course will be
taken up with an examination of “history” as it has evolved as a modern
academic discipline. However, equally
important we will explore the place of “history” as a wider social
phenomenon. This will include the ways
in which various societies view the historical past as a collective exercise,
and the purposes which “remembering” the past may serve for a given community.
Goals
and Objectives
His 200 is a “process-oriented” course that, unlike
many history classes is concerned less with historical events than historical
thought. Thus the objectives of this course are two-fold.
First
we want to obtain a basic understanding of “modern” historiography via a
critical survey of the changes in the process of historical thought and writing
across space and time. We will examine historians and the construction of
history from a variety of different periods, as well as within different
cultural and social contexts, in an effort to grasp the philosophical
perspectives, world views and agendas that underlie how historians and
societies construct records of the past.
In addition, we will devote considerable time to examining a variety of
important, though frequently contested, theoretical approaches to history which
make up the modern profession in “The West”. These will include postmodernism,
post-colonialism deconstructionism and gender. Our
forays into these areas are not intended to enable you to master these dense
and complex fields. Instead, they are
meant to help you make better sense of the debates that surround the discipline
today and assist you in engaging them in a meaningful way.
Secondly,
this course is intended to assist in the development of your critical reading,
writing and research skills. This will be accomplished through a variety of
exercises including frequent in and out of class writing assignments, critical
essays and book reviews as well as a final term paper on a topic to be determined
through discussion with the instructor.
Required
D.T. Niane, The Sundiata: An Epic
of Old
Norman Wilson, History in Crisis?—Recent
Directions in Historiography (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999)
Studs Terkel, The Good War (New Press, 1997)
Avi Shlaim and Eugene Rogan eds., The War for
Jules Benjamin, A Student’s Guide to History 8th
edition (
All the above texts can be purchased at the NAU
Bookstore. Other weekly readings are listed within the body of the
syllabus. These include some primary
documents but mostly secondary readings intended to add depth and texture to
our understanding of various issues. Most of these will be available on
electronic reserve via the following link:
http://www.nau.edu/library/courses/spring04/his200-reese
Students should also
purchase of copy of
Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual
for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (
Fischer, Historians
Fallacies listed at the bookstore
as “required” is now optional.
Class Format
HIS 200 will be conducted as a
largely seminar style class. Seminar
format means that discussion rather than formal lectures will constitute the
major part of the course. At most, the instructor will lecture during one class
period a week. In general, the remainder of class time will be devoted to
discussions surrounding issues raised by the readings for a given week. To do
well, you must keep up with the readings and prepare in advance to discuss and
reflect on issues contained in them. To help you prepare for these discussions,
the instructor will occasionally provide “focus questions” for you to
concentrate on while completing the readings.
We
will use a variety of instruments to assess your achievement of the course
objectives listed above. As a writing intensive course all of these exercises
will focus on helping you develop your compositional skills:
1) Reaction
Papers (3): During the course of the semester each
participant will be required to write three (3) brief papers (400-600 words)
responding to the readings for a given week. In each paper participants need to
identify the major themes, issues or questions raised by the author. It’s
important to note that this entails more than a general synopsis of the
readings. Successful papers will also need to include a critique of the
author’s work including whether or not his/her arguments are convincing (and
why you think they are or are not successful) as well as posing questions of
your own for further consideration. These writing assignments are intended to
help you hone your ability to analyze secondary historical sources (i.e.
sharpen your critical reading and thinking skills) and to help you develop more
effective writing. Reaction papers may NOT
be turned in for the Benjamin readings.
2) Analytical essay
(1000-1250 words):
Each student will be required to write an analytical essay based on the supplementary
text The Sundiata and other readings for that
week. This is to be between 1000 and 1250 words, must be typewritten,
double-spaced with one-inch margins and in a font no larger than 12 point. The
essay topic as well as a criteria sheet will be handed out in advance of the
paper due date.
3) Critical book review
(1000-1250 words)—Each student will write a critical review of a
scholarly book of their choice related to their larger research topic to be
chosen in consultation with the instructor. Reviews must be 1000-1250 words in
length, with one-inch margins, typewritten in a font no larger than 12 point. A
criteria sheet discussing format and required content will be distributed at a
later date.
4) Term paper—secondary literature
review (12-15 pages) Each student will write a term paper of 15-20 pages in
length on a topic of their choice. This is not a “research paper” requiring the
use of primary source material. Instead, essays should be aimed at delineating
the major arguments and schools of thought regarding a particular issue as well
as a detailed overview of the current literature on that topic utilizing both
books and articles drawn from pertinent scholarly journals. As this is an assignment designed to acquaint
you with the scholarly literature on a given topic the use of web sources will
not be permitted. Topics must be
decided upon in consultation with the instructor. Essays will be due at the
last class meeting. Criteria sheet will follow.
5)
Term paper proposal (400-600 words): A 400-600 word
proposal outlining your project will be due in the 10th week. This
will also include a preliminary bibliography of 10-15 items. Criteria sheet
will follow.
6) Oral Presentation: The last two weeks of class will be dedicated to
a “mini-conference” in which students will organize themselves into panels of
(vaguely) related topics with each student giving a brief (15 minute)
presentation of his or her work. This will be followed by a formal question and
answer session from the “audience”.
7) Participation and
Attendance: As
a discussion oriented course
it is essential to always be here. Missing more than 3 class
periods will have a serious impact on your participation grade. However, simply
“showing up” is not sufficient for a perfect participation grade. You are expected to show up to each class
period having read the material and ready to engage it in a meaningful
manner. As a discussion oriented course participation is graded.
Course Evaluation:
Your
course grades will be based on the following distribution:
Reaction papers—20%
Critical book review—15%
Analytical essay—15%
Paper proposal—10%
Term paper—20%
Participation – 15%
Oral Presentation – 5%
A
standard grading scale will be in use
90%+=
A; 80-89% =B; 70-79%=C; 60-69%=D; below 60%=F
Note
1: With
regard to written assignments style, format and GRAMMAR will be graded along
with content and argument. If you are to write convincingly you must also write
well.
Note 2: As in any course plagiarism
is completely unacceptable. Any form of academic dishonesty may
result in a failing grade for the course.
Weekly Schedule of Topics (Bear in mind this is a
guide.
Wk1
Jan. 13-15 Introduction
Course Intro
Film: Rashomon
Wk2
Jan 20-22 Defining the “past”
Jan 20th—finish Rashomon and discuss
Jan 22nd – Discuss
readings.
Excerpts from P.R. Spickard “World History By The
World’s Historians” Herotodus (71-85); al-Tabari (156-165); Sima Guang (224-233); Ibn Khaldun
(234-247) on e-reserve.
Issues:
How have historians of the past conceptualized the world around them? What were their concepts of what constituted
“history”?
Wk3 Jan 27-29 Creating “Modern” concepts of the
past
Issues:
How do Westerners construct the past? How do you think this paradigm
emerged?
Wk4 Feb 3-4 Categories of the Past
Issues:
What are the most useful ways to break up the past? What categories do you find
yourself thinking in “automatically”?
Wk 5 Feb 10-12 Are other paradigms still relevant?
--- Oral tradition vs. Oral History
Niane, The
Sundiata
Johnson, Introduction of “The Epic of Son-Jara” on e-reserve
Wright
“Uprooting Kunta Kinte” on
e-reserve
Issues:
Is the Western way of looking at the past now the only acceptable way? Do other
concepts of the past still have relevance?
Wk6 Feb 17-19 Historical Apprenticeship I—Getting
the most out of the classroom
Benjamin
Chs. 1-2
Issues:
What do students and instructors expect when they enter the classroom? What
are the best strategies for doing well? Notes, readings and
time management.
Sundiata essay due
Wk 7 Feb 24-26 Historical Apprenticeship II—
Reading more than just “the words”.
Thurs. Feb 26th
Meet in Cline Library rm. TBA (review Appendix A in Benjamin before class)
Benajmin
Issues:
How does one determine if an author’s work is “solid”? How do you figure out if s/he has anything valuable
to say?
Wk 8 Mar 2-4 Historical Apprenticeship III—Research
and Writing
Benjamin
Ch. 4-5
Scholarly
book review due
Wk 9 Mar 9-11 “Popular” History as “Good” History
Terkel, The Good War
Mar 16-17 March 18 Spring Break!!!!
Wk 10 Mar 23-25 History--the Handmaiden of Politics?
Shlaim, The War for
Vidal-Naquet, Assassins of memory on e-reserve
Issues:
Do people use the past to shape the present? How can historians avoid simply
becoming political “pawns”?
Term paper proposal due—Tuesday March 23rd.
Wk 11 Mar 30-Apr. 1 History and Politics cont. (April 1, no class—no kidding)
Wk 12 Apr. 6-8 Who is important in history?
Joan
Scott, selections from Feminism and History (on e-reserve)
Issues:
“Great men”, “civilizations” or everybody?
Who is it important to study?
Wk 13 Apr. 13-14 The current state of the field—theory,
theory, theory.
Wk 14-15 Wks. 14-15 (Apr 20-22 and
27-29) Individual presentations
Final papers due April 29 (last
class meeting)