HIST 268 - Special Topics

SPRING 2023 Topic: HUMANITARIAN RESPONSES TO THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

Some historians have argued that besides its destructive impact war can also catalyze humanitarian endeavors. Do we agree with this statement? To find answers, in this seminar we explore and critically analyze the international and humanitarian responses to the Armenian Genocide and the refugee crisis that ensued during the First World War and its aftermath. Drawing upon important primary and secondary sources, analyzing memoirs and diaries, reading novels, and viewing and discussing documentary films, in this class we investigate the American, British, German, and Russian responses to the Armenian Genocide. We address a key question: Why did some governments and organizations intervene and assist Armenians instantly while others stood by or even consented to the deportation and massacres of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children?   

FALL 2022 Topic: HISTORICAL METHODS

The objective of the historian is not only to chronicle facts, figures, and events. Historians also examine and interpret a vast arsenal of literature, art, testimonies, people, places, things, concepts, and ideas from around the globe. A historian might reach deep into a distant past or apply historical thinking to better understand the contemporary moment. Students in this class will examine the very different ways in which historians go about their task: writing about the past. In particular, we will explore the major theoretical stances that have influenced the discipline of history since it was constituted as a profession in the late nineteenth-century. Through our discussions we will chart the trajectory of the discipline and assess its working methods. Our focus throughout will be the interplay between theory and practice, as well as the ways that decisions of chronology, geographic scope, and subject impact the conclusions of the work at hand. Students will develop their own research questions and methods, while also considering how to “think historically” about our own world.

 

Anticipated Terms Offered: yearly