Syllabus: H500 (subject to change)

History of Historical Thought: A Graduate Seminar

Fall 2004: Section 15464

Thursday 5:45-8:25 CA537

 

 

Professor Kevin Cramer                                                                                      Cavanaugh 503M

317-278-7744                                                                                                                                                              Mon/Weds: 1-3

kcramer@iupui.edu                                                                                              and by appointment                                                                           

 

Required Texts:

 

1.        Michael Bentley, Modern Historiography: An Introduction (Routledge, 1999)

2.        Fritz Stern, ed., The Varieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present (Vintage, 1973)

3.        Peter Burke, ed., New Perspectives on Historical Writing (Penn State, 2d ed., 2001)

4.        Keith Jenkins, ed., The Postmodern History Reader (Routledge, 1997)

5.        Various articles (made available for copying)

 

Course Description and Objectives

 

                This graduate seminar will examine the evolution of the idea of "history" as a type of cultural, intellectual, and scientific activity and attempt to answer some fundamental questions about this activity. How has history been written over time? How does history writing reflect different social, economic, political, intellectual, and philosophical currents? How is history conceived to be useful to society? Do historians pursue certain political and ideological agendas? How did history become a distinct scholarly discipline, with its own methodology, conventions, paradigms, and agendas? Is history a strictly objective science or a form of art arising out of distinct cultural, sociological, and psychological needs? For the purposes of this seminar the evolution of western historiography is divided into three main phases, or "paradigm shifts": the establishment of history as an academic discipline along "scientific" lines during the 19th and early 20th centuries; the post-WW I challenge to standard political history that advocated the so-called "history from below"; and the recent "post-modern" direction in history which turned the discipline toward the examination of all cultural and intellectual production as evidence.

 

Course Requirements

 

                This course is designed as a seminar. The emphasis on discussion and participation requires consistent attendance for the course to work. Please notify me in advance if you are going to miss class. Absences can seriously and adversely affect your grade in a class that meets only once a week.

                The seminar is divided into three areas of evaluation. The first is based on participation in the 8 discussion seminars and the 6 presentation sessions. The second is based on the presentation itself. The third is based on three 12-15-page papers.

                Each week you will have a set of readings from the texts (as well as important articles that will be made available for photocopying) that will form the basis of that week's seminar. By the Monday prior to that week's seminar you must submit via email three or four key questions raised by the readings that you think might form a useful basis for the discussion on Thursday. I will then choose those questions I find most pertinent for the purposes of the seminar and send them back to you. Participation in the reading discussions (which includes submission of these questions) constitutes 20% of your final grade.

                At the end of each unit two presentation sessions (a total of 6 for the semester) are scheduled in which you will present to your peers the main points (and possible problems) that you will be dealing with in your forthcoming paper. You are required to prepare and distribute a one-page summary of your presentation for your peers and me. Questions and discussion, intended as a "workshop" to help the presenter with writing the final version of the paper, will follow each presentation (around 20 minutes). Presentations constitute 20% of your final grade.

                Each unit concludes with your submission of a 12-15-page paper (3000 word minimum; typed, double-spaced) that explores one or more of the outside readings assigned for each unit. The list of these books (all available in the IUPUI library or in the IU system), topic guidelines and questions, and paper format will be distributed. Each of the three main units is divided into three sub-units. You will be provided with a list of outside readings for your paper from each of these sub-units. I will want at least one paper from each sub-unit. A sign-up sheet for paper topics (and the order of presentations) will be passed around (negotiation with your peers is encouraged). These papers constitute 60% (20% each) of your final grade.

 

Course Policies

 

                Written assignments that are submitted late will be docked 1/3 grade for every day past the due date. Without prior approval, work submitted more than 3 days late will not be accepted. Consistently late submissions, lack of or perfunctory preparation and participation in discussion will be duly noted when final grades are calculated. Work missed during absences can only be made up with my approval. If you are unable to attend class for any reason you should contact me prior to or immediately after the absence. An excused absence includes documented or otherwise confirmed medical, family, job, or transportation emergencies.

               

 

Class Schedule and Readings

 

1.        Discussion 1 (8/26): "What is History?": Introduction, Overview and Objectives; Syllabus

 

 

Unit One: History as Discipline

 

2.        Discussion 2 (9/2): National Histories: The Master Narrative

Readings: Bentley: chapters 1-4; Stern: excerpts from Voltaire, Ranke, Thierry, Macaulay, Carlyle, Michelet

Paper reading list, topics, and guidelines posted; Sign up for Paper Topics and Presentations

 

3.        Discussion 3 (9/9): Scientific History: The Laws of Progress

Readings: Bentley: chapters 5-9; Stern: excerpts from Buckle, Droysen, Marx, Engels, Jaures, "Prospectuses", Coulanges, Bury

 

4.        Discussion 4 (9/16): Changing Paradigms: Rethinking the Enlightenment Project

Readings: Bentley: 10-12; Stern: excerpts from Acton, Berr, Robinson (both), Beard (both), Huizinga, Cochran, Hofstadter, Namier, Braudel, Perkin

Geertz article available for photocopying

 

5.        Presentation Group 1 (9/23)

6.        Presentation  Group 2 (9/30)

 

Unit Two: Unheard Testimonies

 

7.        Discussion 5 (10/7): Beyond the Archive: New Methods and New Evidence; Paper One due

Readings: Bentley: 13-14; Geertz (distributed article); Burke: Preface, chapters 1-2, 10-11

 

8.        Discussion 6 (10/14): New Voices: History from Below and "Micro-history"

Readings: Burke: chapters 3-6

LaCapra article available for photocopying; Sign up for Presentations

 

9.        Discussion 7 (10/21): The New Intellectual History: Problems of Representation

Readings: LaCapra (distributed article); Burke: chapters 7-9.

 

10.     Presentation Group 1 (10/28)

11.     Presentation Group 2 (11/4)

 

Unit Three: Post-Modern Discourse: The World as Text

 

12.     Discussion 8 (11/11): "The Linguistic Turn": Deconstructing Everything; Paper Two due

Readings: Jenkins: chapters 1-3, 5-8, 11-16, 18-19

 

13.     Discussion 9 (11/18): The Debate over Representation: "Are we all Foucauldians now?"

Readings: Jenkins: chapters 21-27, 32-37.

Sign up for Presentations

 

14.     Presentation Group 1 (12/2)

15.     Presentation Group 2 (12/9)

 

Monday, December 13: Paper Three due