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Spring 09 GRADUATE COURSES --- see also MA Program web pages

CORE COURSES

HIST 700- History as a Field of Knowledge
Getz, Sheppard Wolf
This course is a survey of recent trends in the research and writing of professional historians, with particular focus on the changes in methods, concepts, and techniques since World War II. The seminar will feature intensive critical analysis of recently published books and articles in the fields of European, United States, Latin American, Asian and African history, as well as Gender in History. The course provides an opportunity to utilize the skills associated with the professional practice of History. Students can expect to gain experience in writing critical book reviews and analytical historiographic essays. Students can also expect to gain experience in preparing and delivering class presentations.

AREA SEMINARS

HIST 730- Church and Society in Europe, 1500 – 1800
Lisy-Wagner
This graduate research seminar will look at religious belief and practice and the way that religion affected European society in the early modern period, roughly between 1500 and 1800. The readings will focus primarily on the Protestant Reformation, seeing it as the major change in religious life in this period, but will also look at Catholic reform and at non-Christian religions in Europe. Students may write their papers on any topic related to religion in the early modern world. It need not follow the topics covered by the readings.

HIST 740 – Culture and Politics in Interwar Europe
Martin
In this course we will explore the cultural history of Europe in the period between 1918 and 1940. The goal is to learn about the theory and practice of cultural history, learn about the cultural debates and creative production of Europe between the World Wars, and, above all, research and write your own work of cultural history on this period. In a series of case studies, we will explore the relationship between particular cultural forms—including cinema, design, painting, and music—and political and social life. In each case, we will examine how historians have used the particular sources and met the particular challenges that these topics raise. Then, in a series of workshop-style meetings, you will develop and defend your own research and arguments.

HIST 780  Antebellum Reform 
Loomis
Ralph Waldo Emerson characterized the proliferating reform movements of the antebellum era as organizations “of ultraists, of seekers, of all the soul of the soldiery of dissent.”  Looking at the amazing array of causes, Emerson exclaimed: “What a fertility of projects for the salvation of the world!” This course will allow students to conduct their own research on the “fertility of projects” that flourished between 1820 and 1860, ranging from utopian communities to the invention of the penitentiary, from temperance to abolitionism and feminism. Students will read a number of books and articles to analyze other historians’ accounts of the underlying causes and impact of antebellum reform; then each student will conduct primary research in the history of reform movements in the antebellum era. Two papers will be required: a 7-9 page historiographical essay and a 20-25 page research paper.

HIST 785 – College Teaching – History
Sigmon
The goal of this program is to provide basic training and hands-on experience for M. A. students who plan to go on to either community college teaching or Ph.D. programs. Teaching Trainees will have the opportunity both to watch and learn from an established instructor and to develop their own teaching personality and style. There will be two components to the experience: six pedagogical workshops which all Teaching Trainees will attend together, and a practicum in which students will assist in an undergraduate class.
To qualify for the program, you must have successfully completed Hist 700, have successfully completed 12 additional History units, and be carrying a 3.35 overall GPA.

HIST 790.1- American Trials
Waldrep
This class covers race and gender issues from the colonial era through the twentieth century using the best scholarly books examining the most historically significant trials and legal proceedings in American history. The class will focus on the law's salience and significance as a protector of rights and on the role played by the Supreme Court and trial courts in American life. The class also has as its goal the study of the historical method and how historians write books.  Discussions will be primarily student led. Students will prepare one-page synopses of the books assigned and prepare a brief paper on a trial or legal proceeding of their choosing at the end of class.

HIST 790.2 -­ Readings in American History Since 1900
Cherny
This course will be a reading seminar in which we shall explore readings on US history since 1900.  The goal of the course is to acquaint seminar members with both classic and recent works on the US in the 20th century, and to examine differing approaches to the writing of US history.   Each week we shall read and discuss a book (or, rarely, a series of articles).  Each week for the first ten weeks, one or more seminar members will take the lead in presenting the required reading and initiating discussion.  During the final four weeks, seminar members will present an historiographical essay to the seminar for critique and discussion.

HIST 830 – Intellectual History of Latin America
Oñate
History 830 is a graduate seminar designed to explore the evolution of Latin American political, economic, and social thought from 1870 to the present. Intellectual movements and the works of some of the most influential writers will be discussed in the context of the historical conditions that produced them. Participants in the seminar will study selected literary works, preferably fiction, to analyze author, text, discourse, and its historical context. Students will seek to identify through literature the elements, ideas, or values that have defined a national and cultural identity in each country. We shall focus on Latin American texts that have shaped the national character from within.

HIST 680/880- Archives/History Internship
Arranged, please contact B. Loomis
An internship represents an unusual opportunity to earn credit by working at some off-campus site dedicated to the preservation of historic artifacts or documents. Students might work in an archive, learning the various elements of the work there in organizing papers or photographs, preserving documents, and making such articles available to researchers. Students might choose instead to work with an agency for historical preservation, learning the various elements involved in preserving or restoring buildings or artifacts, researching their history, and using them to inform the public. Among the agencies where the student might work are the Labor Archives (on campus), the local branch of the National Archives, the Maritime Museum, or the Heritage Foundation. Each internship will be separately arranged and every effort will be made to match your interests with an appropriate site for the development of those interests. Students taking History 680/880 for the first time should register for four units. May be taken for 3 or 4 units.

CULMINATING EXPERIENCE

HIST 896- Directed Reading in History
Arranged, please contact B. Loomis
Master’s written examination. Students must consult with the Graduate Coordinator prior to enrolling for the exam. Students should consult with faculty members whose expertise is the subject area of the exam they are writing.

HIST 898- Master’s Thesis
Arranged, please contact J. Elkind
Master’s written thesis. Students must consult with the Graduate Coordinator and with instructors who will be on their graduate thesis committee. Students register for the Master’s thesis with the Graduate Office on campus.

HIST 699/899- Special Study in History
Arranged, please contact the faculty member with whom you want to work.
 Supervised study of a particular problem selected by the student. A petition for Special Study and an add form must be signed by the instructor and turned into the history department office before the student can register for the course. A petition for Special Study that clearly outlines learning objectives and methods as well as evaluation of learning objectives must be completed and signed by the course instructor, student’s faculty advisor, and the History Department Chair before a student may enroll in this course.  May be taken for 1 to 4 units.