Department of History & Classics
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Department of History & Classics Fall 2011 HIST 4903 X1 – Historiography Time: Wednesdays, 1:30 – 4:30 Place: BAC 401 Instructor: David Duke Office: BAC 451 Office Hours: Mondays and Fridays, 1:00-4:00 Tel: 585 – 1360 Email: [email protected] (remove the „n‟ when emailing me) * * * COURSE DESCRIPTION: This seminar course will examine historiography which, briefly defined, is the methodology and practice of doing history. In that sense, this course will be different from the other courses you have taken for your major, which have focussed on history; this one will focus on how history has been undertaken in the past and is undertaken today. Philip Bagby once wrote that “historians are the guardians of tradition, the priests of the cult of nationality, the prophets of social reform, the exponents and upholders of national virtue and glory” – a very broad and challenging definition indeed. But historians neither work in a vacuum nor or they unaffected by their own historical preconceptions; as the author Aldous Huxley (he of Brave New World) said, “For if prophecy is an expression of our contemporary fears and wishes, so too, to a very great extent, is history” – and in a world where cultural differences are now perceived as potential threats rather than points of contact, then our attitudes toward history can take on a decidedly, and potentially deadly, partisan tone. But how true are such views of history and historians‟ work? To what extent is Clio the “queen of the muses”? To what extent does our understanding of history frame our everyday existence? Is history simply the study of the past, or can it be used as a buttress to support modern political, socioeconomic, or cultural perspectives? And if it can be used in this way, then the question naturally arises: should it? We‟ve all heard the expression, “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” – but how true is such a sentiment? Or is an over-rootedness in history dangerous? This course will explore these questions, and others, by examining schools of historical thought that inform the profession today, and we will investigate the ways in which those schools of thought contribute to the evolution and – one would hope – the maintenance and development of history as a discipline. REQUIRED TEXT: There are two, short, required texts for the course. Ludmilla Jordanova, History in Practice 2nd ed. (Hodder Arnold/OUP: New York, 2006). Jeremy Black, Using History (Hodder Arnold/OUP: New York, 2002). In addition to these introductory texts, there will be weekly readings as outlined below. These are in electronic format and are located on the course's ACORN page. There are several items in the Vaughan that are listed here although they are not required reading. They are not on reserve, although at least one of the items is in the Reference Section and is therefore non- circulating. The wise amongst you will consult them for ideas, background knowledge, and perspective on weekly discussions: Bentley, M. (ed.), Companion to Historiography (London: Routledge, 1997). Cannon, J. (ed.), The Blackwell Dictionary of Historians (Oxford, Blackwell, 1988). Hughes-Warrington, M., Fifty Key Thinkers on History (London: Routledge, 2000). COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING: Attendance is mandatory for all classes. The seminars will be considerably enriched by contributions from all members of the class; therefore, participation is mandatory as well. If you do not talk in seminars, then I‟ll want to know why I shouldn‟t be giving you an “F” for the course. Your participation mark will be based on (but not restricted to) your preparation for seminars (doing the assigned reading), your participation in discussions, and your analytical grasp of the readings. In addition to participation (worth 25% of your course grade), there is a presentation component (15%) to your course grade. Twice during the term you will be required to present a discussion of the seminar readings and will be required to hand in that presentation in written form for grading. Missing your assigned seminar presentation is strongly discouraged: you will receive a grade of zero on the assignment in such circumstances. Furthermore, there will be no opportunity to make up such a missed assignment in the absence of documented medical or family emergency. Please remember that a missed presentation will disrupt the efforts and the work of the rest of the seminar group. And as I noted above, attendance in seminars is mandatory for non-presenters too: it is a matter of common courtesy to the presenters and absence will be strongly reflected in your participation mark. Gobbets These are one of the most powerful tools known to humanity. No, really! This is what they are: they are a 100-word distillation of a source – they must include its thesis statement, its main argument, its main sources, and a judgement of its conclusions. In 100 words. For every 10 words over or under that target, your gobbet will automatically lose 10%. Titles and author information presented as a gobbet title do not count. Spelling and grammar matter. Make sure your gobbets are clear, crisp, and to the point. No extraneous material. That‟s what you learn with gobbets – how to take a whack of material and distill it down to its essentials. This is a skill that is immensely important for all of you to learn, whatever your post-Acadia goals may be. Beginning the week of 12 October (Week 6), at the beginning of class, you will submit gobbets for each of the assigned readings, one per article, with a word count for each gobbet. If you fail to submit gobbets on two separate occasions, you receive a grade of zero for the entire gobbet component of the course (20% of the course grade). You do not gobbet articles on the day that you‟re presenting. Counterfactual Essay Counterfactual history – “what if” history, if you like – has often been heavily criticised as an empty exercise, little more than a sleight-of-hand of the truth. Yet many historians also admit to being intrigued by counterfactuals, both professionally and personally. Personally, because we all wonder how life would be if only certain things had happened, or not happened, differently in the past (often in our pasts). But there is an interesting professional dynamic to counterfactual history as well: on the one hand, it allows us to explore possibilities, thus zeroing back again on what did happen and gaining a sense of its importance. On the other hand, you as students get to explore an alternative history unfettered by the facts of what actually happened. This is not as anarchic as it may seem at first: one crucial component of counterfactual history is that it must be logically consistent internally – that is, you can‟t have the USSR invaded by little green men because Stalin died in 1933. You can have Trotsky returning to the leadership and charting a different course for the USSR, with all the attendant effects that may produce with Hitler, World War II, and so on. The latter scenario is logically consistent with the events of the 1930s; the former is not. The point is that it allows you to explore both Trotsky‟s possibilities as a leader of the USSR, as well as make some judgements about Stalin‟s actual leadership. So, one of the exercises in this course is writing a short (8-10 pp) counterfactual history taking as its starting point one of the twenty events listed at the end of this outline. Remember that this is an exercise not in creativity but analysis: by presenting an alternative history you are, in fact, identifying the important components and outcomes of what did happen. Here‟s an example: suppose the victorious allies had reached a compromise peace with Germany at the end of WWI, one that led to the loss of Alsace and Lorraine but little else. Would Hitler have arisen? Would WWII have occurred? Would the USSR have expanded into Europe in the 1940s? And so on. Note that the answers to these questions indirectly indicate just how important Versailles actually was in reality, how it really did serve as a seed for the Second World War. Not for no reason did the great economist J.M. Keynes call it the most spectacular diplomatic failure in history. The counterfactual essay is worth 15% of the course grade and is due on October 19th. Final Take-home Examination This will be distributed at the end of the final class (30 November) and will be due by noon on the last day of the examination period (17 December). Note that no late examinations will be accepted for any non-emergency reason. The examination will consist of one or more essay-format questions that will test your understanding and interpretation of our class readings and discussions. I would expect your submissions to be in essay format, approximately 15 pp in length, with appropriate scholarly apparatus (footnotes/endnotes, bibliography, etc.). Successful examination answers will be interpretive and analytic rather than mnemonic in nature. Grade Table: Assignment Grade Weight Due Date Gobbets 20% (*) Every week, at the beginning of class Seminar Presentation 15% Dates to be selected by you Seminar Participation 25% Ongoing, in each class Writing History: Counterfactual Essay 15% 19th October Take-home Final Essay/Examination 25% During Fall Term Exam Period, Final Due date of noon on December 17th; no late exams will be accepted * If you fail to hand in gobbets on two separate occasions, you will receive a zero for this grade component. Late penalties for all written assignments are 5% per calendar day overdue, with the exception of gobbets, which will only receive a grade if they are handed in on time, at the beginning of class.