HISTORY 393 (“THE HISTORIAN'S CRAFT: THEORY AND
METHODOLOGY FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT”)
Spring Semester 2013 (MW, 3:15-4:50; STE 332)
Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
Dr. George Dameron (Department of History)
Office: Library 306/ Office Hours: Wednesdays,
10-12, and by appointment
Phone: x2318/Email:
gdameron@smcvt.edu
Web page:
http://academics.smcvt.edu/gdameron/
Description
This four (4)-credit upper division seminar will analyze and discuss in
chronological fashion selected models of historical literature and historical
thinking from Antiquity to the Modern Era. It will also fulfill the requirements
for the History major and the History minor in the “electives” category.
Study of these texts will focus on themes, methodologies, and approaches
to the past, not on the memorization of facts and details.
Format
"The Historian's Craft" is an upper-level seminar designed for juniors and
seniors who have had at least one other History course.
In particular, the course welcomes History majors who have not yet begun
their senior thesis as well as those who plan to attend graduate school.
Seminar meetings will focus on discussion of assigned readings, and the
study questions posed at eCollege will help guide that discussion.
Each week a student will begin the conversation with a very brief
presentation (questions or comments) on the assigned reading for that seminar.
Students will also complete a research paper associated with a historiographical
or methodological topic associated with the readings of their choice, make an
oral presentation of their research conclusions to the seminar at the end of the
semester, and report orally and in a written format on two of the reading
assignments. Because we meet twice
a week and focus on assigned readings, attendance at every meeting is expected.
There will be a short (5 minute) break in the middle of every seminar
session.
Students who miss more than two seminar meetings will write a short (two-page,
ungraded) response paper responding to the study questions for every future
seminar meeting that they miss.
Prerequisites
Junior or Senior standing and at least one History course, or permission of the
Instructor.
Goals
The aims of the course are the following:
·
to analyze in a chronological fashion selected model texts of ancient,
medieval, and modern historiography;
·
to explore by way of textual analysis some of the principal theories
regarding the nature of historical change;
·
to examine various analytical methodological approaches to the study of the past
from a historical perspective;
·
to investigate the manner by which historians have interpreted the
primary sources available to them;
·
to improve skills in writing and critical thinking,
·
to provide students who may consider graduate studies with a solid grounding in
historical theory and methodology,
·
to offer students a solid foundation in historiography before they take History
410,
·
and to fulfill one of the requirements in the “electives” category of
the major and minor.
Requirements
1) assigned readings, attendance, a short, ungraded narrative about a
significant event that shaped your past, and participation in seminar
discussions (20% of final grade);
2) a 15 to 18-page research paper due on
May 1 (a Wednesday, 40% of final grade);
3) a prospectus and bibliographical essay on the research topic due
February 27
(10% of final grade);
4) oral presentation to seminar of research results at end of semester on either
April 29 or May 1
(10% of final grade);
5) two short (2-4 page) essays on the assigned texts (20% of final grade; 10%
each of the two essays on assigned texts), due on
January 30
and
February 13.
The Paper
The paper is due on May 1, the last
seminar meeting of the semester. There may be a half a letter grade penalty (5
points) assigned for every day the paper is late.
The paper will follow the required methods approved by the Department of
History of citing primary and secondary sources (MLA
or Chicago Manual of Style), and it must also include a formal
bibliography. History department
policy requires students to use footnotes or endnotes in the proper format.
In-text citations (notes within parentheses inside the text) are
unacceptable. For information on citing sources and creating bibliographies, see
Paper Assignment Guidelines (at my web site) or
“Citing Sources” at the library web
site.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is a serious academic offense.
According to the
Policy on Academic Integrity included in the Student Handbook and
Code of Conduct and posted online, plagiarism is the presentation
of “another person’s ideas as your
own, by directly quoting or indirectly paraphrasing, without properly citing the
original source. This includes inadvertent failure to properly acknowledge
sources.” The penalties for plagiarism can range from receiving a failing
grade for the plagiarized assignment to receiving a failing grade in the course.
In some cases plagiarism can result in suspension or expulsion from the
college.
Documented Learning Differences
Students with learning disabilities (documented by the Office of the Liaison for
Students with Special Needs, Ms. Toni Messuri) will receive special
accommodations where appropriate.
Please see me if you would like to request such arrangements.
Required texts for purchase:
Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire. NY:
Penguin USA, 2001.
0140437649.
Mark Gilderhus.
History and Historians: an
historiographical introduction.
7th edition. Prentice
Hall, 2009.
ISBN-10:
0205687539 ISBN-13: 978-0205687534
Herodotus, The Histories (New York:
Penguin USA, 2003).
ISBN
0-140-44908-6
Moore, R. I.
The Formation of a Persecuting Society,
2nd edition (Wiley-Blackwell ) ISBN-10: 1405129646 ISBN-13:
978-1405129640
James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom
(Oxford 2003). ISBN-10:
019516895X ISBN-13: 978-0195168952
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale
(Vintage, 1991). ISBN-10:
0679733760 ISBN-13: 978-0679733768
On Reserve in eCollege (Doc Sharing) or online:
George Dameron, “Becoming invisible:
the role of economic history in medieval studies and in the
historiography on medieval Italy,” in
Medieval Italy, Medieval and Early Modern Women:
Essays in Honour of Christine Meek, edited by Conor Kostick (Dublin:
Four Courts Press, 2010):
25-38.
Michel Foucault, “Madness and Civilization,” in
The Foucault Reader, edited by Paul
Rabinow (1984): 123-167.
Ibn al-Athir, “The First Crusade,” in
Reading the Middle Ages, edited by Barbara Rosenwein (Peterborough, Ontario:
Broadview, 2006), 296-300.
Marx, “The German Ideology”
(excerpts
at the
Marx-Engels Internet Archive)
Giambattista Vico, “The New Science,” in
The Essential Historiographical Reader, edited by Caroline Hoefferle (Upper
Saddle River, N. J., 2011), 48-50.
Seminar Schedule:
January 14 (Week One): Introduction
to Historiography
·
Introduction to syllabus
·
Screening (and discussion): “Paradise
Lost 3: Purgatory ”
January 16 (Week One): Beginnings
and Ancient Historiography
·
Discussion of “Paradise Lost 3:
Purgatory” (continued)
·
Discussion about short narrative
on significant historical event due
(how has this significant historical event shaped your life, and has your
interpretation of the significance or meaning of that event changed over time?)
·
Gilderhus, Chapters 1 and 2
January 21 (Week Two): Ancient
Historiography
·
Herodotus, book 1
January 23 (Week Two): Ancient
Historiography
·
Herodotus, book 2
January 28 (Week Three): Ancient
Historiography
·
Herodotus, book 6
January 30 (Week Three): Ancient
Historiography
·
Herodotus, book 7
·
**First Essay Due**
February 4 (Week Four): Ancient
Historiography
·
Herodotus, book 8
February 6 (Week Four): Medieval
Historiography (Christian and Muslim)
·
Fulcher of Chartres,
History of the Expedition to Jerusalem
(Internet Medieval Sourcebook)
·
Anna Comnena,
The Alexiad (Books 10 and 11)
February 11 (Week Five): Early
Modern Historiography
·
Gilderhus, chapter 3
February 13 (Week Five): Early
Modern Historiography
·
Gibbon, prefaces, chapters
1, 2
·
**Second Essay Due**
February 18 (Week Six): Early
Modern Historiography
·
Gibbon
3, [4-6], [8-14]
·
**Library Visit**
February 20 (Week Six): Early
Modern Historiography
·
Gibbon 15,
[16-21]; [36-38],
“General Observations,” 39
February 25 (Week Seven): Early
Modern Historiography
·
Vico, The New Science (at eCollege)
February 27 (Week Seven): Modern
Historiography
·
Gilderhus, chapter 4, 5
·
Prospectus and bibliographical essay on the research topic due
March 4 (Week Eight): Modern
European Historiography
·
Gilderhus, chapter 6
·
Marx, “The German Ideology”
(online)
March 6 (Week Eight): Modern
American Historiography
·
Ulrich, 3-101
March 11 and 13 (Week Nine): March
Break (no seminar meetings)
March 18 (Week Ten): Modern
American Historiography
·
Ulrich, 102-203
March 20 (Week Ten): Modern
American Historiography
·
Ulrich, 162-261
March 25 (Week Eleven): Modern American Historiography
·
Ulrich, 262-352
March 27 (Week Eleven): Modern
European Historiography
·
Moore, Introduction, chapters 1-3
April 1 (Week Twelve): Modern
European Historiography
·
No seminar (Easter break)
April 2 (Week Twelve): Modern
European Historiography (make-up)
·
Moore, chapters 4, 5, and Bibliographical Excursus
April 3 (Week Twelve): Modern
European Historiography (no seminar)
April 8 (Week Thirteen): Recent
Historiography
·
Gilderhus, chapter 7; Foucault (online at eCollege); Dameron
April 10 (Week Thirteen): Recent
American Historiography
·
McPherson, Prologue and chapters 1-6
April 15 (Week Fourteen): Recent
American Historiography
·
McPherson, chapters 7-12
April 17 (Week Fourteen): Recent
American Historiography
·
McPherson, chapters 13-19
April 22 (Week Fifteen): Recent
American Historiography
·
McPherson, 20-25
April 24 (Week Fifteen): Recent
American Historiography
·
McPherson, 26-28, Epilogue
April 29 and May 1 (Week Sixteen):
Seminar Presentations
·
May 1: **Seminar
paper due**