Expanded Course Descriptions - Spring 2009
HIS 300-01 RESEARCH SEMINAR
Dr. Ruth Percy
Reg. Code 1895
MWF 11:00-11:50
This course considers the nature of historical research, the job of historians, and the materials at their disposal. We will study and put into practice a number of different historical techniques and make use of a number of different source materials, including journal articles, oral history, and film. In addition to a number of smaller assignments, including web-based research and an oral presentation, students will produce a significant piece of research which will make use of the skills you have learnt over the semester.
Books will include:
John Tosh, The Pursuit of History.
Anthony Brundage, Going to the Sources.
Andrew McMichael, History on the Web.
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HIS 300-02 RESEARCH SEMINAR
Professor Andrew Haley
Reg. Code 3099
MW 2:00-3:15
History is our best effort at reconstructing and understanding the past. In this required core course, students will learn the basics of historical research from note taking to thesis formation, and over the course of the semester will prepare a term paper based on original research. Topics explored by the course will include: What do historians do? What is historical significance? How does one identify a research problem? What are primary and secondary sources? How does one locate sources? Why read what others have already written about a topic? How does one organize original research? What constitutes a meaningful historical thesis? How does one structure a historical argument? What are footnotes and why are we required to cite everything we use? How does one construct an introduction, conclusion, and bibliography? What is editing? Where do I find a scholarly voice (or how can I sound professional without being pompous)? And, what is the best way to celebrate a finished research paper?
History 300 is a task-based class. Students will have regular reading and research assignments leading up to the final paper. In addition, students will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience in historical preservation with a community-based historic society.
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HIS 300-03 RESEARCH SEMINAR
Professor Heather Stur
Reg. Code 11793
Th 6:30-9:15
This is a required course for history majors to learn the process of "doing history." Students will practice researching in primary and secondary sources, coming up with a research paper topic, formulating a thesis, and critical reading and writing. The final assignment for the course will be a major research paper, and assignments throughout the semester will include shorter papers and oral presentations.
Required texts:
Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History
Lee Jacobus, A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers (7th edition)
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HIS 310-01 SURVEY LATIN AMERICA
Professor Sarah Franklin
Reg. Code 19357
TT 9:30-10:45
This class serves as an introduction to the history of Latin America. Through lecture, discussions, readings, and multimedia, this course will explore themes in Latin American history. We will specifically examine Contact, Colonial Latin America, Independence, Revolution, and modern Latin America. Moreover, we will examine race, class, and gender in order to understand better the Latin American experience. This course will strengthen your critical thinking, reading, and writing skills, and provide a foundation for understanding Latin America today. Students will complete two exams, read three historical texts, and write three papers on the assigned texts.
Books for this course include:
Martin, Cheryl E. and Mark Wasserman. Latin America and Its Peoples.
Combined Volume. 2nd edition. New York: Pearson, 2008.
Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of
1492. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972.
Lauderdale Graham, Sandra. Caetana Says No: Women’s Stories from a
Brazilian Slave Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Menchú, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Menchú. Edited by Elisabeth Burgos-
Debray. New York: Verso, 1984.
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HIS 326-01 CHRISTIANITY & ROMAN EMPIRE
Professor Mark Clark
Reg. Code 19393
Tues. 6:30-9:15
In this course we consider the historical significance of Christianity for the Roman Empire. The course is not per se a survey of church history or a study of Christian doctrine, although we deal with major developments in Christian history and with important aspects of Christian thought. Rather, the focus here is upon the social, political, and ideological struggles that arose between the pagans of the Greco-Roman world and the Christians. We read in translation original sources that represent a wide range of perspectives, from the satirical criticism of Christianity by pagans to the arguments of the Christian apologists. The course does not assume that students have a previous knowledge of Roman history or early Christianity.
Texts:
Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods
Josephus, The Jewish War
Selections from Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny (handouts)
Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Didache: Early Christian Writings
Justin Martyr, Apology (handout)
Lucian, The Death of Peregrinus (handout)
Celsus, On the True Doctrine
Tertullian, Apology and De spectaculis; Minucius Felix, Octavius
Selections from Plotinus and Origen (handout)
Arnobius, Against the Nations; Lactantius, On the Deaths of Persecutors, On the
Wrath of God, Divine Institutes (handouts)
Eusebius, Church Life, Life of Constantine (handouts)
Julian, Against the Galileans
Symmachus and Ambrose; Prudentius, Against Symmachus, Psychomachia;
Zosimos (handouts)
Augustine, The City of God
Course Requirements: a midterm exam, a short written report on historical topics or figures, and a final exam that includes a brief report on the student’s investigation of a particular subject.
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HIS 370-01 MISSISSIPPI HISTORY
Ms. Cheri Alder
Reg. Code 3105
TT 8:00-9:15
Think about it. I bet you can figure out what this class is about.
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HIS 400-01 SR HISTORY SEMINAR
Professor Martin Loicano
Reg. Code 11869
TT 11:00-12:15
Historical Biography
This course is a reading intensive seminar that focuses on the subject of crafting a biographical work. Biography in its newer sense can include studies of non-traditional subjects such as ideas, goods and even diseases. In the course we will study a combination of works on the technical process of authoring biography as historians, and we will also read a selection of exemplary or particularly engaging studies that have expanded out ideas of who and what might be the subject of a biography. Over the course of the term, students develop their own approach to this writing process and produce a biographical paper as the principal assignment for the course.
Students will read one monograph on the subject of writing biography along with 5 selected biographies and 6-10 articles on technical or intellectual aspects of the art and science of writing a biography.
Students will contribute two oral presentations, a long biographical paper for which they will also submit a separately graded annotated bibliography, along with one additional book review. The remainder of the course grade comes from active participation in discussions and attendance.
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HIS 4/506 MODERN CHINA
Professor Martin Loicano
Reg. Codes 19539/19540
MWF 1:00-1:50
Covers the history of China form 1644 to the 1970s. The course includes political, social, economic and environmental aspects of Chinese history in the late imperial, republican and PRC periods. Special attention will be paid to the series of rebellions and revolutions, from the White Lotus rebellions of the 1780s to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, that have transformed Chinese social and political structure. The latter half of the course will address the failure of the Guomindang and rise of the Chinese Communist Party in both political and social contexts. Finally we will examine the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping and assess the regional and global impact of China's quest for modernization.
400-level students will read 4 monographs, a textbook (Schoppa) and approximately one article per week.
500-level students will read an additional 4-5 monographs, to include Paul Cohen's Discovering History in China—a historiographical text.
Students will complete a course research paper along with 4 shorter papers based on course monographs, and take two essay-based examinations. Participation and attendance constitute the remainder of the course grade.
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HIS 4/517 VIETNAM WAR
Professor Andrew Wiest
Reg. Codes 3111/3125
MWF 11:00-11:50
This course uses a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate the Vietnam War, arguably the most important event, or series of events, in the history of 20th century America. The United States entered the conflict unified behind the doctrine of the Cold War. Idealistic American youth answered the call defend their nation against Communist aggression. But by the end of the war America had suffered its first ever defeat, and its society was in turmoil. America would never be the same, or as innocent, ever again. Over 3 million Americans served in Vietnam, and over 58,000 lost their lives there in a unique national tragedy. In Vietnam itself over 2.4 million people perished in a brutal civil war that impacted society there in a way few outsiders can understand.
The course will investigate Vietnamese culture, the antecedents to the war, the Fist Indochina War, the military prosecution of the American war in Vietnam, the political battles on the American homefront and the ramifications of the US defeat in Vietnam. The course will also focus on less-known topics such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the music of the era, theories of counterinsurgency and wartime literature. The course is enriched by the participation of several Vietnam veterans. Simply put there is no better way to learn of Vietnam than through the eyes of those who participated in the conflict. Past class participants have included: Marines, helicopter pilots, nurses, CIA operatives, a contentious objector, medics, a Phoenix Program operative, South and North Vietnamese veterans, a member of the Weather Underground, pilots, POWs, a SOG operative and countless “grunts.”
Course readings will include: Moss – Vietnam: An American Ordeal, Bao Ninh – The Sorrow of War, Jonathan Shay – Achilles in Vietnam and Andrew Wiest – Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land: The Vietnam War Revisited. Graduate students will read an additional book agreed upon by the instructor.
Course participants will produce book reviews of each book, with the exception of the textbook by Moss. Students will also write a research paper on a topic of their choosing, with the agreement of the instructor. The average of the book reviews and the research paper will form 33% of the final grade. Students will also take one midterm and one final – each comprising 33% of the final grade.
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HIS 425 MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY
Professor Phyllis Jestice
Reg. Code 19365
MWF 9:00-9:50
This course will examine the “forgotten centuries” of Christianity, the time between the apostles and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. We will study the spread and development of Christianity with a focus on Europe, but also including a look at the Christian communities of Asia and Africa during the Middle Ages, trying to understand how Christianity has been shaped by its environment in different contexts. While there will be some attention given to theological issues, the main emphasis of the course will be popular religion—what ordinary people believed and how they worshipped.
The readings for the course are mostly short primary-source texts, along with a general textbook. They will probably be:
Benedict. The Rule of St. Benedict. Trans. Anthony C. Meisel and M.L. del Mastro
Flanagan, Sabina. Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life, 2nd ed.
Lynch, Joseph. The Medieval Church
Melczer, William, trans. The Pilgrim's Guide to Santiago de Compostela
Murphy, G. Ronald, trans. The Heliand
Rolle, Richard. The Fire of Love. Trans. Clifton Wolters
White, Carolinne, trans. Early Christian Lives
This class has been designed as flexibly as possible, to accommodate different interests.
Students have an option between two sorts of writing assignments, either two short (5-7 page) essays based on the assigned reading for the class or a single longer research paper (10-12 pages) on a topic of interest in the field of medieval religious belief and practice. There will also be a midterm and a final exam.
grade breakdown short paper option:
2 short papers 40%
midterm exam 15%
final exam 25%
participation 20%
long paper option:
research paper 35%
midterm exam 15%
final exam 30%
participation 20%
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HIS 4/554 FRANCE 1815-PRESENT
Professor Michael Neiberg
Reg. Codes 18841/19538
TT 1:00-2:15
"When France sneezes," Prince Metternich once said, "the rest of Europe catches a cold." Metternich understood the central role that France has played in European and world history. France has indeed been at the center of Europe's wars, imperialism, social development, decolonization, and cultural change. This class will examine the history of this important nation from the fall of Napoleon to the present day. We will conclude by examining France's place in the world today, including its ambivalent relationship with the United States.
This course will involve readings (approximately four books), two movies, and a series of articles from newspapers. Requirements include class discussion, two tests, two papers, and a final exam. (Additional readings and assignments for graduate students.)
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HIS 4/555 HISTORY OF GERMAN LANDS
Professor Jeff Bowersox
Reg. Codes 19543/19544
MWF 12:00-12:50
This course focuses on the development of the German lands over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will engage with a variety of topics, including nationalism and nation-building, revolution and reaction, industrialization and urbanization, changing gender roles and social structures, empire at home and abroad, mass politics and culture, Germans' roles and experiences in two world wars, Nazi racism and genocide, and division and unification in the Cold War world. The common threads running throughout will be Germans' persistent experimentation with defining "Germany" and the consequences for those variously included and excluded according to gender, class, religion, race, and ethnicity.
The readings have not yet been chosen but will consist of 2 monographs, 2 works of fiction, and primary source readings available online.
Grades will be determined based on course participation, two exams, two brief reading responses, and one longer (8–10 page) research essay.
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HIS 461 AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Professor Kyle Zelner
Reg. Code 15101
TT 9:30-10:45
The era from 1760 to 1800 is arguably the most important period in the history of the United States. Thirteen diverse colonies, with few links to each other, came together to protest their place in the growing British Empire, joined to fight a war of liberation, and forged a new country, the likes of which the world had never seen. The period of George Washington and Benedict Arnold; Thomas Jefferson and Abigail Adams—it is one of the most exciting periods in America’s national story. While it is a time to celebrate, it is also a period which saw great promise lost. Women, Africans, and Native Americans were participants in, but not beneficiaries of, the grand experiment in republican government that came out of the war.
This course will examine the political, military, and social aspects of the period. We will focus on the imperial crisis that leads to war, the politics of protest and nation-building, the military conflict from 1775-1783, the post-war crisis in national and state governments, the writing of and ratification fight over the new Constitution, the Federalist era, and Thomas Jefferson’s Revolution of 1800. Ultimately, we will have to attempt to answer the age-old question, “Just how revolutionary was the American Revolution?”
Tentatively, books for the class will include:
Richard D. Brown, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791.
Woody Holton, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the
Revolution in Virginia.
Mary Beth Norton. Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800.
Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783.
Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution.
Assignments: Tentatively, class requirements will include three papers, a midterm and final exam, and active participation in weekly class discussions. Graduate students will have additional readings and assignments.
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HIS 462 EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Professor Max Grivno
Reg. Code 19363
MWF 8:00-8:50
Course Description: The half-century following the American Revolution was arguably the most tumultuous period in the nation’s history. The young republic struggled to assert its independence on the world stage and to secure the vast territory west of the Appalachians. Americans also faced a series of domestic upheavals: the markets careened through a series of “boom” and “bust” cycles; religious revivals swept the nation; slavery expanded into the southwest; and reformers confronted the nation’s economic and social problems.
This course examines the early national period (1790-1840). Through a combination of lectures, readings, and documentary films, it explores how citizens interpreted the Revolution’s legacy and built the nation’s political institutions. The class also considers the wrenching economic and social changes that transformed American society. Finally, the course examines how those on the margins of American society—Native Americans, women, free blacks and slaves—struggled to defend or expand their freedom.
Assignments: In addition to taking a mid-term and final examination, students will write four essays (three to four pages). Students will also maintain a reading journal and will be expected to participate in class discussions.
Readings: The readings for this course consist of nine books, most of which are quite short. The total cost of new textbooks should be around $105, but inexpensive used copies are available from online booksellers. Each week, students will be responsible for about 100 pages of reading.
Barth, Gunther, ed. The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Selections from the Journals Arranged by Topic. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1998. (221 pages - $14)
Black Hawk. The Life of Black Hawk. New York: Dover, 1994. (80 pages - $7)
Crockett, David. A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. (211 pages - $14)
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Dover, 1995. (76 pages - $1)
Johnson, Paul E. and Sean Wilentz. The Kingdom of Matthias: A Story of Sex and Salvation in 19th Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. (183 pages - $16)
Kamensky, Jane. The Exchange Artist: A Tale of High-Flying Speculation and America’s First Bank Collapse. New York: Penguin, 2007. (335 pages - $17)
Lambert, Frank. The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World. New York: Hill and Wang, 2005. (204 pages - $15)
Rorabaugh, W. J. The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. (222 pages - $20)
Truth, Sojourner. Narrative of Sojourner Truth. New York: Dover, 1997. (74 pages - $1)
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HIS 463 CIVIL WAR
Professor William Scarborough
Reg. Code 19392
MWF 10:00-10:50
Description and Objectives: A lecture course designed to provide undergraduates and graduate students with a knowledge of the sectional antagonisms that produced the Civil War and with an understanding of the major military campaigns in that conflict. Primary emphasis is upon political and military history.
Requirements: In addition to the textbook, James McPherson, Ordeal by Fire, UNDERGRADUATES will read a minimum of 1500 pages from books on the reading list, will write an analytical in-class book review on one of these books, and will submit brief summaries of other books read on collateral reading forms. GRADUATES will read a minimum of 2,000 pages and will write a 12-15 page comparative review of two or more books on the same or similar topics. In addition, they will have a separate historiographical essay question on the final exam.
There will be a mid-term and a non-comprehensive final exam consisting of full identification and essay questions. The mid-term, final, and reading/paper assignment each count one-third of the final grade.
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HIS 466 US SINCE 1945
Professor Heather Stur
Reg. Code 19371
TT 11:00-12:15
This is a reading, writing, and discussion based course that examines the experiences of Americans in the U.S. and in the world since 1945. We will examine the social, cultural, economic, and political changes that occurred in the period known as the Cold War and after, and we will investigate the ways in which domestic and foreign affairs influenced each other over the past 60+ years. Sources that will guide us through our inquiry into this period will include music, film clips, literature, foreign policy documents, and presidential addresses. Students will be expected to participate actively in all class meetings. Students who are not interested in participating in class discussions should not take this course. Grades will be based on participation, two primary source analysis papers (approx. 3-4 pages each), and three short essays (approx. 5 pages each).
Required texts:
Major Problems in American History Since 1945 (3rd Edition)
Sloan Wilson, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, The Ugly American
Bobbie Ann Mason, In Country
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HIS 476 INT & CULTURAL USA :HISTORY OF AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE
Professor Andrew Haley
Reg. Code 19545
MWF 10:00-10:50
In the early nineteenth century, it was Shakespeare. In the Gilded Age, it was dime novels. In the fifties, it was television. Today, it is YouTube. Lawrence Levine defined it as the "folkways of industrial society," but that seems rather pompous. It is Ronald McDonald and Uncle Tom's Cabin, it is Saturday Night Live and the minstrel show, and it is Hello Kitty and Wolfman Jack. Popular culture is the stuff that clutters our closets, hangs on our walls, and gets lost under the couch. It is the stuff we love and the stuff
we love to hate. And perhaps it is also the material culture defines generations and offers the historian the best glimpse at what mattered to people in the past.
This course explores the history of popular culture in the United States. We will examine music, plays, novels, television, film, stardom, advertising, and dance (and we may even study the toys that come in cereal boxes) with an eye to understanding how Americans have for over two hundred years defined themselves and have resisted being defined by others.
This course is an upper-division history course. It is recommended, but not required, that students take History 201 and 202 before taking this class. Jim Cullen's Popular Culture in American History will serve as the textbook, but this will be supplemented with extensive primary source readings, photographs, films, radio broadcasts, television shows, and songs. Each week the instructor will introduce a new era and genre of popular culture in a lecture, and then the class will explore the topic more thoroughly in a seminar discussion. Students who take the class should be prepared to contribute to a weekly online discussion board, to do biweekly projects (everything from a photo story book to mini-research papers on pop culture icons), and to complete an informed, argumentative research paper on a topic of your choosing related to the role of popular culture in American history.
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HIS 711-01 SEMINAR AMERICAN HISTORY
Dr. Ruth Percy
Reg. Code 3141
Tues. 3:00-5:45
The continuation of HIS 710 for Americanist graduate students.
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HIS 712-01 SEMINAR EUROPEAN HISTORY
Dr. Ruth Percy
Reg. Code 19484
Tues. 3:00-5:45
The continuation of HIS 710 for Europeanist graduate students.
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HIS 720-01 MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
Professor Amy Milne-Smith
Reg. Code 19366
Mon. 6:30-9:15
This course is an introduction to some of the key works of modern European historiography. Each week we will look at an important historical moment (the French Revolution, 1848, the World Wars) through a different point of view (the Annales school, Gender, Marxism). We will address the important historical and theoretical theses, getting past the jargon to the core ideas. Students will typically read one monograph per week, be responsible for crafting a historiographical essay on a theme in European history (12-15 pages), along with weekly readings and participation.
Readings will likely include but are not limited to:
Carl Schorske, Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture
Eugen Weber, Peasants into Frenchmen
Joan Wallach Scott, Gender and the Politics of History
Modris Eksteins, The Rites of Spring: the Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
Marshall Berman, All that is Solid Melts into Air
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HIS 726-01 US HISTORIOGRAPHY
Professor Louis Kyriakoudes
Reg. Code 3145
Wed. 6:30-9:15
No further information available for this course.
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HIS 731-01 SEMINAR IN MEDIEVAL HISTORY
Professor Phyllis Jestice
Reg. Code 19548
Thurs. 3:00-5:45
This seminar is intended to be a fast-paced overview of the big issues in the history and historiography of the European Middle Ages (c. 400–1500). Each week students will read a monograph from a provided list on a given topic, and read reviews on two other works from the list; class discussion will compare the major themes and approaches of the different works that the students have chosen. As much as possible, the books will be available in Cook Library.
Written work: students will write 2–4 page assessments of each topic, to be turned in the week following discussion of the given topic.
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HIS 736-01 MODERN WAR & SOCIETY
Professor Michael Neiberg
Reg. Code 19483
Wed. 3:30-5:45
This course explores the "War and Society" approach to studying the social, political, cultural, and economic dimensions of war. In contrast to traditional military history, the practitioners of this approach are not interested in tactics, geopolitics, battle history, or the deeds of great captains. Instead, they address subjects such as the influence of popular culture on military operations, the dialectical relationship between war and social change, and the interaction of cultures that war creates. Therefore, this class will not analyze individual battles, commanders, or the movements of armies. Instead, it will explore how some War and Society historians have understood war as well as the methodology associated with this approach.
Readings include approximately 12 books, supplemented by key scholarly articles. Students are expected to make significant weekly contributions to class discussion, write two major historiographical papers, and make an in-class oral presentation of their research.
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HIS 776-01 SEMINAR IN WOMEN’S HISTORY
Professor Pamela Tyler
Reg. Code 19368
TT 1:00-2:15
Putting women at the center, this course examines the impact of historical events and trends on the lives of American women over the course of nearly four centuries. Chief areas of inquiry include changes in women’s work, education, legal and political status, and sexual/reproductive roles. Although factors such as region, class, race, age, and sexual orientation insured that various women experienced life differently, a key theme will be the efforts of women to deal with the stifling limitations placed on them by the law, the church, custom and society. Another theme will be the resistance to change presented by individuals and groups with conflicting visions of how women should live their lives.
Course requirements include reading all assigned materials, informed participation in class, three short papers on assigned readings, a midterm exam, a final exam, a term paper (a review of the historiography around one focused topic) and responsibility for leading one class discussion.
Readings
Kerber and Dehart, eds. Women’s America: Refocusing the Past 6th ed. Oxford.
Woloch, ed. Early American Women: A Documentary History 1600-1900
Ware, ed., Modern American Women: A Documentary History
Cott, The Grounding of Modern Feminism
Gilmore, Gender and Jim Crow
Leavitt, Brought to Bed
Peiss, Hope in a Jar
Griffith, In Her Own Right
Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood
Department of History
http://www.usm.edu/history
601.266.4333 • history@usm.edu