HIS 8804: European Historiography
Spring
2009, T 7:30-9:30 pm, Bartley 027
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Dr.
Paul Steege STAUG 428 x9-6963 |
Office
hours: T
6-7 pm R
10:15-11:15 am and
by appt. |
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Course web site via http://www.homepage.villanova.edu/paul.steege/ |
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Course Objectives: |
This
course will introduce students to diverse trends in the twentieth century historiography
of Europe. While it attempts to give students a feel for many of the key
debates and issues facing historians of Europe, it makes no claim to present
a comprehensive overview of the field. Instead, it aims to cultivate in
students an openness to different methodologies and theoretical approaches as
well as the skills to read and evaluate these types of historical writing at
the graduate level. As
an organizing theme, we will look particularly at ways of locating
individuals in broader historical processes and structures. At the heart of
this exploration will rest a consideration of the multiple experiences,
perspectives, and interpretations that comprise any historical account, but
we will also consider how the fragmenting of history’s “big pictures” has
implications for the practice of history more generally. |
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Required Materials: |
Anonymous. A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the
Conquered City. Trans. Philip Boehm. New York: Henry Holt, 2005. Fernand Braudel,
The Structures of Everyday Life.
Vol. 1 of Civilization and Capitalism,
15th-18th Century. Trans. Siân
Reynolds. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992. Dipesh Chakrabarty.
Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and
Historical Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. Robert K. Darnton. The Great
Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. New York:
Basic Books, 2000. Michel Foucault. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the
Prison. New York: Knopf, 1995. Timothy Garton Ash. The
Magic Lantern: The Revolution of ’89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin
and Prague. New York: Vintage, 1993. Carlo Ginzburg. The
Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller. Trans.
John and Anne Tedeschi. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. Georg Iggers. Historiography
in the 20th century: From
Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge. Hanover and London:
Wesleyan University Press, 1997. Rudé, George. The Crowd in the French Revolution.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959. W. G. Sebald. On the
natural history of destruction. Trans. Anthea
Bell. New York: Modern Library, 2004. E. P.
Thompson. The Making of the English
Working Class. New York: Vintage 1966. The
above books are available for purchase at the Villanova University Shop.
Additional readings will be available on-line or on reserve in Falvey Memorial Library. Students looking for used
versions of the books should try to purchase the same edition, which will
help you participate effectively in class discussions. |
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Assignments: |
(15%) Seminar
Participation:
A graduate seminar is only as good as its participants’ commitment to engaged
discussion. Regular, engaged participation in class discussions is simply
assumed. This does not mean that I anticipate that you will all have “the
answer.” A graduate seminar is a collaborative undertaking, in which we
propose, examine, and critique ideas. While our discussions must retain
respect for each other and our divergent opinions, they will also allow for
(and demand) rigorous, critical examination of what people have to say. (20%) Seminar Preparation: In preparation for
each class, a group of students will prepare brief essays to help lay a
foundation for seminar discussion. The first, shorter assignment (5% of your
grade) simply asks you to spell out clearly the book’s argument. The second,
somewhat longer assignment (15% of your grade) asks you to take this one step
further and analyze the implications of the argument and the success of its
methodology. You will have an opportunity to sign up for a choice of
books/writing slots before our second meeting. Click
here for the paper submission schedule. Step
1 (weeks 3-6):
One page, double-spaced essay that a) identifies the book’s core argument; b)
describes the author’s methodology; and c) briefly notes the kind of evidence
the author uses to make his or her case. Step
2 (weeks 7-10, 12-13): Prepare a brief review
(1000 words) of one of the assigned books. The essay is due at the beginning
of class on the date for which the reading is assigned. Each review should
assess the argument that the book’s author is trying to make and assess the
evidence provided to support that argument and discuss this success/failure
in the context of the issues being explored in this course. (15%) Annotated bibliography: This
preliminary compilation of literature relevant to your topic is due March 31. It should be much more than
a list assembled from the library’s online catalog of titles that might bear on your topic. It should
reflect your serious reading into the topic and a sense of how you plan to
assemble your essay. Your list should include at least 10 items (books AND
articles). In addition to providing complete bibliographic information about
each book/article, you must provide a few sentences of analysis that discuss
the source and suggest why you chose to include it in your assessment of your
topic. NOTE: Students are required
to meet with the professor during the week of February 17 to discuss their
choice of topic. (50%) Literature
Review/Historiographic Essay (15-20 pp.): This review essay
should assess the state of the literature on a topic of your choice. It is
due at the start of class on April 28.
Your essay should define the key questions coming out of your analysis of the
existing literature, making sure that you evaluate both their historical and historiographical information. I
will provide additional information for this assignment on the online
syllabus. NOTE: Late papers and
missed assignments are simply unacceptable. Late work will receive a failing
grade. Should some emergency require an extension, you must contact me before the scheduled due date. |
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Grades: |
According
to the recently established History Department grading rubric for graduate
course, a grade of “A” is granted for performance that is: exceptional;
well beyond mastery and individual insights; originality; polished prose; consistent,
substantive participation and intellectual leadership Click here
for additional grading criteria. |
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Academic Integrity |
Plagiarism
or cheating on any coursework will
not be tolerated. Any case of academic fraud (copying of another student’s
work, failure to acknowledge sources, etc.) will automatically result in a
failing grade for the course. If you have any questions about documenting
sources or what constitutes academic fraud, please speak to me. Citations: All citations must be
made as footnotes according to the guidelines of The
Chicago Manual of Style. No other style will be accepted. |
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Class/Reading
Schedule |
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Read
all assignments before the class
for which they are scheduled. Please note: we may occasionally add supplemental
readings to this schedule. These readings will be announced in class and
posted on the online version of the syllabus. |
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Tue.,
Jan. 13 |
Introduction:
starting from a moment in time Film: Ashes and Diamonds (Poland, 1958) |
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Tue.,
Jan. 20 |
Setting the historiographical
context |
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Tue.,
Jan. 27 |
In
the middle of history |
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Tue.,
Feb. 3 |
An
eyewitness reports high politics Reading: Garton Ash |
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Tue.,
Feb. 10 |
Microhistory: locating a
particular past Reading: Ginzburg |
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Tue.,
Feb. 17 |
The
longue
durée Reading: Braudel
(selections) |
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Tue.,
Feb. 24 |
Social
History Reading: Rudé |
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Mar.
2-6 |
SPRING BREAK |
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Tue.,
Mar. 10 |
Class
from a cultural perspective Reading: Thompson (chapters 1-5, 10-11, and 16); also
his essay, “The Moral Economy of
the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century” |
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Tue.,
Mar. 17 |
The
linguistic turn Reading: Foucault |
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Tue.,
Mar. 24 |
The
new cultural history Reading: Darnton |
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Tue.,
Mar. 31 |
Gender Reading: Joan W. Scott,
“Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” AHR 91.,
no. 5 (Dec., 1986); Optional Reading: Mary Louise Roberts, “Gender,
Consumption, and Commodity Culture,” AHR, 103, No. 3 (Jun., 1998),
817-844. Due: Annotated Bibliography |
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Tue.,
Apr. 7 |
De-centering European History |
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Tue., Apr. 14 |
History and Memory Reading: Sebald |
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Tue.,
Apr. 21 |
History
and Everyday Life Reading: TBD |
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Tue.,
Apr. 28 |
Historiographic Essay Due |
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