| Learning Outcomes |
At the end of this course, the students;
- Analyze historiographical theories and understand their strengths, weaknesses, and implications for historical interpretation.
- Apply theoretical frameworks to historical events to comprehend how power dynamics, ideology, and social structures shape American historical narratives.
- Contest their ideas about the nature of historical knowledge, its construction, and its relevance to contemporary societal issues, fostering critical thinking.
|
| Course Contents |
| WEEK |
TOPICS |
|
1st Week |
Introduction to Theory of History, Readings: Hayden White, The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation, Ch. 1: "The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality;" E.H. Carr, What Is History?, Ch. 1: "The Historian and His Facts" |
|
2nd Week |
Marxist Theory of History, Readings: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Introduction and Ch. 1); E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, Preface and Ch. 1: "The Making of the Working Class" |
|
3rd Week |
Annales School and Structuralism, Readings: Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Introduction and Ch. 1 (excerpts); Marc Bloch, The Historian's Craft, Part 1: "The Historical Observation" |
|
4th Week |
Postmodernism and History. Deconstruction of grand narratives and meta-narratives. Readings: Hayden White, Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe, Preface and Introduction; Linda Hutcheon, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction, Ch. 6: "Historiographic Metafiction" |
|
5th Week |
Feminist and Gender History. Readings: Joan Wallach Scott, Gender and the Politics of History, Introduction and Ch. 1:Women's History; Gerda Lerner, "The Creation of Patriarchy", Ch. 1: "The Historical Development of Patriarchy" |
|
6th Week |
Environmental History. Readings: William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, Ch. 1: "The View from Walden;" Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution, "Introduction" and Ch. 2: "The World as Organism" |
|
7th Week |
Cultural History. Readings: Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge, Part 2, Ch. 3: "The Formation of Objects;" Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, Ch. 1: "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture" |
|
8th Week |
Oral History and Memory Studies. Readings: Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History, Ch. 1: "The Death of Luigi Trastulli;" Joan W. Scott, The Politics of the Veil, Introduction and Ch. 2: "The Many Meanings of the Veil" |
|
9th Week |
Midterm |
|
10th Week |
Historical Anthropology. Readings: James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, Introduction and Ch. 1: "Small Arms Fire in the Class War;" Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, Ch. 1: "Food, Sociality, and Sugar" |
|
11th Week |
Global History and Transnational Approaches.Reading: Sven Beckert, Empire of Cotton: A Global History, "Introduction" and Ch. 2 |
|
12th Week |
Historical Methodologies and Digital History. Readings: Roy Rosenzweig and Daniel J. Cohen, Digital History, Ch. 1: "Exploring the History Web;" Edward L. Ayers, The Valley of the Shadow (excerpts available online) |
|
13th Week |
Critical Race Theory and American History. Readings: Kimberle Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color; Derrick Bell, Faces at the Bottom of the Well, Ch. 1: "Racial Symbolism" |
|
14th Week |
History of Emotions. Readings: Peter Stearns, Emotion and Social Change: Toward a New Psychohistory, Ch. 1: "Emotionology;" Barbara H. Rosenwein, Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages, "Introduction" |
|
15th Week |
Make Up |
|
16th Week |
General Revision |
|
