2020-2021 Academic Catalog 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
2020-2021 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HIST 304 - Special Topics in US History


Content varies with the interest of the instructor. 

THE TITLE OF THIS SEMINAR FOR SPRING 2021 (SEC. 1) IS CONTINENTAL DIVIDE: US AND CANADIAN HISTORY IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Despite its proximity to the United States, Americans remain generally ignorant of their neighbor Canada’s parallel, interlocking history as an emerging modern state in North America. In this proseminar students will consider the broader contours of US history in the comparative context of the Canadian experience from colonial times to the present. In addition to gaining a rudimentary grasp of Canadian history, students will have the opportunity to explore familiar American themes and developments from this fresh perspective. Drawing on the formative experiences of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they will ponder and seek to explain how and why the national cultures and institutions on both sides of this increasingly important North American border remain similar to-and yet significantly different from-each other. Possible topics of inquiry may include: federalism and state power; Native American history and relations; individual and state violence; immigration and multiculturalism; religious experience; and national values and ideology. Course materials will include historical monographs, literary works, podcasts, and virtual field trips north of the border.

THE TITLE OF THIS COURSE FOR SPRING 2021 (SEC. 2) IS STUDYING ABROAD: HISTORY OF TRAVELING AND KNOWING THE WORLD

What kind of knowledge does travel produce? At a time when many of us feel confined, this proseminar examines the history of travel and asks how “seeing the world” has driven not only personal but historical transformation. Focusing on the travel experiences of Americans at home and abroad from the eighteenth through the twentieth century, we will consider how and why people traveled in the past. What expectations did they bring when they encountered unfamiliar places and cultures? How did these encounters confirm, challenge or complicate existing beliefs about gender, race, class, and national identity? When and for whom was travel a tool of social integration? A marker of distinction? Should we think of travel as a privilege, a right, or an obligation? As we answer these and other questions, we will also consider how the experiences and expectations of travel shaped life back at home. Readings will include scholarly works as well as travel accounts, letters and diaries; fiction; advertisements, guidebooks, and brochures. Rather than a formal research paper, students will produce a historically informed travel guide to a destination of their choosing. Depending on a student’s topic and focus, the course may be counted toward the Women’s and Gender Studies major/minor or the Urban Studies concentration. 

 

 

 

 

THE TITLE OF THIS SEMINAR FOR FALL 2020, SEC. 1 IS RACE AND ETHNICITY IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICA.

This course explores the way that race and ethnicity was “made” and “unmade” over the course of the nineteenth century and the consequences of those constructions.  This seminar aims to expose you to the variety of ways that historians have approached this topic.  We will read and discuss some classic works in the field as well as more recent, cutting edge literature.  Our texts will include biography, group biography, social, intellectual, and cultural history.  In addition to exposing you to a wide range of approaches to the history of race and ethnicity, this course aims to sharpen your analytical skills and critical thinking; to discern conflicts and connections among diverse sources; and to draw your own conclusions about the past.

Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered periodically