Spring 2009 Graduate Course Schedule
GRADUATE COURSES
H 600, Research & Methods, Fascism, Wednesday, 7:00-9:45, Spencer DiScala
This course will examine one of the most important phenomena of the twentieth century. Although many people are convinced that they know what fascism was—or is—the interpretations have changed in the ninety years since the movement’s first appearance. This course will scrutinize the differing elucidations of fascism from older explanations to recent attempts to understand its essence. The course will also examine fascism-in-practice so students can compare interpretations to the fascism that actually existed. The readings and research will reveal that fascism has more complex roots and different manifestations than is generally assumed. This course will emphasize writing, as well as research and discussion.
H 605/1, Social Movements in U.S. History, Wednesday, 4:00-6:45, James Green
This seminar will focus on the development of major social protest movements in US history. Students will read historical studies of protest movement strategies and tactics, ideas and values, leaders and followers; and they will assess the social, political and cultural consequences of these protest campaigns. Students will read and discuss Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom, Robert Newman, The Transformation of American Abolitionism; Ellen DuBois, Feminism and Suffrage; James Green, Death in the Haymarket; Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist Moment; Nancy Cott, The Grounding of American Feminism; Michael Denning, The Cultural Front; and Charles Payne, I’ve Got the Light of Freedom. The writing assignments will focus on interpretive problems in movement history.
H 605/2, Nationalism and the Fall of Communism, Thursday, 4:00-6:45, Esther Kingston-Mann
Today’s ongoing conflict between the state of Georgia and Putin’s Russian Republic is rooted in Russia’s long history of problematic efforts to confront the permanent challenge of nationalism. During the Communist era, almost 50% of the population were non-Russian in national and ethnic background; post-Soviet Russia remains a highly multinational, multi-ethnic state. This course will consider 1) the complicated relationship between Communist ideology and nationalism 2) the events leading up to the fall of the Soviet Union, and 3) the role of nationalism (including Russian nationalism)in the breakup of Soviet state and society.
H 682/1, Topics in U.S. History: Genealogy and Family History, Monday, 4:00-6:45, Julie Winch
The goal of this seminar is to introduce students to the vast array of materials available for researching the histories of individuals, families, and communities in the United States. We will work with a wide range of records, including federal and state censuses to vital records, city directories, deeds, probates, inventories and tax records. We will look at how, by whom, and for whom the various records were created. How can sources that at first glance seem irrelevant or even incomprehensible be mined for usable information about the past? Beyond the “hows” and the “whys” we will explore the larger questions about what to look for, how far to probe, and what records should be open for examination. This seminar gives students the opportunity to learn to use the “building blocks” of American history, hand-written, printed, microfilmed, and digitized.
History 682/2, Topics in American History: Post-1945 America, Tuesday, 7:00-9:45, Vincent Cannato
This reading-intensive, discussion-based seminar will provide students with an in-depth look at the history of post-1945 America. Among the books that might be assigned are: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Vital Center: The Politics of Freedom; G. Edward White, Alger Hiss’s Looking-Glass Wars: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy; Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumer’s Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America; Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, “One Hell of a Gamble”: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958-1964; H.R. McMaster, Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam; David Carter, Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution; Donald Critchlow, Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman’s Crusade; Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.
Hi 685, Topics in Atlantic History: Thursday, 4:00-6:45, Tracy Goode
Beginning with Portugal’s earliest forays beyond the borders of Europe in the early 1400s to the conquest and colonization of the Americas by the Spanish and the Portuguese in the 16th century, Iberian kingdoms utilized Atlantic connections to build global empires that survived until the early 19th century. In this reading-intensive, discussion-based seminar we will compare and contrast the Spanish and Portuguese projects, with a particular focus on the political and economic development of each empire. We will also consider the social and cultural implications of migration (forced and voluntary) and the processes of mestizaje/mestiçagem/miscegenation in the formation of colonial practices and identities. Beyond the Iberian Atlantic, we will also place these empires in a larger global context by investigating the connections between Spanish and Portuguese ventures in the Pacific and the Americas, also taking into account interactions with other European kingdoms in the Atlantic and beyond. Readings may include Herman L. Bennett Africans in Colonial Mexico: Absolutism, Christianity, and Afro-Creole Consciousness, 1570-1640, João José Reis Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia, and Alejandro Cañeque The King’s Living Image: The Culture of Viceregal Power in Colonial Mexico.
H 689, Capstone (required for masters history teaching track), Monday 7:00-9:45, Tim Hacsi
This course is for people near or at the end of their graduate careers who are in the History Teaching Track. Each student will develop a topic, conduct original research, and write a 30-40 page paper, as well as a short pedagogical component, under the course instructor’s guidance and, in most cases, with another adviser as well. When the course instructor deems the paper ready to be defended, either at the end of the semester or at a later date, the student will defend the paper before a committee of three faculty members. This will be a hybrid class, with a significant online component.
H 696, Graduate Independent Study, by arrangement with instructor.
H 697, Special Topics: Holocaust as Public History, Tu 4:00, Paul Bookbinder
The word “holocaust” means complete destruction by burning; all matter is totally consumed by flames. Although the word is of ancient Greek origin, it has become synonymous with the destruction of European Jews by the Germans during the Second World War. The crematoria of Auschwitz brought the word “holocaust” to mind and in its sound the enormity of those days was confirmed. The Holocaust was not inevitable, but it was very much an historical event with traceable roots and, at least in part, analyzable causes. The Jews though the primary target, were not the only victims of Nazi mass murder programs: Gypsies (Roma and Sinti), Jehovah’s Witnesses, male homosexuals, and Russian and Polish prisoners of war were victims as well. Our course will explore the background, and the causes of the vents of the holocaust. We will look at the victim, the perpetrators and other contemporary actors in this period. We will consider the major historical interpretations and the current controversies about Holocaust research, writing, and commemoration. We will look at documents from the period; interrogation reports, memoirs, correspondence, survivor testimony, and through our online capabilities material from the holocaust museum and other research facilities. Our course will emphasize the public history aspects of the study of the Holocaust through Museums, Monuments, and Educational Foundations. We will specifically look at the history and workings of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the facing History and Ourselves Educational Foundation. The Program Director of Facing History and the Chief of staff of the Holocaust Memorial Museum will be among our classroom guests.
697h
H 699, History MA Thesis (six credits), Spencer DiScala
This six-credit course is required for graduate students writing an MA thesis.
Incomplete Policy for Graduate Students (2.09)
It is not in the best interest of students to accumulate incompletes or take longer than a year to make incompletes up. After a year, has passed, an incomplete turns to an “IF” on a student’s transcript. The Graduate Dean is not inclined to approve grade changes after the one year deadline for making up an incomplete has passed and asked GPDs to communicate this to students when giving them an incomplete. Exceptions will be made only when there has been a medical or critical personal or family situation that has made completing the required work in the time allotted impossible. If a grade change is being submitted after the one year deadline has passed, it must be submitted to the Graduate Dean with an explanation and the Dean must sign off on a waiver of the deadline for the student to get a grade change. Grade change forms sent directly to the registrar after the one year deadline will be returned to the GPD.