Expanded Course Descriptions - Summer & Fall 2008
Summer 2008 (click to jump to Fall 2008 listings)
HIS 300-01 RESEARCH SEMINAR
Professor Kyle Zelner
Reg. Code 1030
TT 10:20-12:30
A required course for history majors, this course will teach the basic skills of “doing history”—critical reading, writing historical prose, formulating a research topic, rigorous research in primary and secondary sources, writing a major research paper, redrafting, and presenting your findings in oral presentations. We will also attempt to come to grips with the question of why history is important.
Students will write a book review, a major research paper (at least 10 pages long), a redraft of the major paper after instructor comments, and research exercises. Students will also give oral presentations. Participation in class discussions will also make up a part of the final grade.
The tentative texts for the class include (but are not limited to):
John J. Arnold History: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford, 2000.
Conal Furay and Michael J. Salevouris, The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide. 2nd ed.Wheeling, ILL:Harlan Davidson; January 2000. Note: Do not buy this book used as it is a workbook.
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Wayne G. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, eds. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2007.
William Strunk and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.
**Please note: As a core class for history majors, the requirements for this class are set by the department as a whole. They are the same, as they must be, in the short summer term as they are in the full terms of fall and spring. Thus, students taking this course in the summer will be required to produce a great amount of work in a short amount of time. If you are not able or willing to do that—take the course in a full term.
**********************************************************************
HIS 310-01 SURVEY LATIN AMERICA (5W1)
Professor Sarah Franklin
Reg. Code 7875
M-F 9:35-11:00
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 two historical texts, and write two 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. Paperback.
************************************************************************
HIS 370-01 MISSISSIPPI HISTORY
Professor Max Grivno
Reg. Code 3089
MWF 8:00-9:30
This course examines the shifting constellation of forces—economic, political, and social—that shaped Mississippi from the period before European settlement through the present. Major topics include Indian removal, the intertwined growth of the state’s cotton economy and slavery, the Civil War, emancipation and Reconstruction, disenfranchisement and the rise of Jim Crow, the development of southern cultures, and the Civil Rights movement. In examining these topics, students will read a variety of primary sources, conduct small-scale research projects in the university libraries, and read several historical monographs. Education majors will also have opportunities to undertake projects that are relevant to their professional development (development of course materials, lesson plans, etc.)
There will be five components to the final grade:
5 quizzes (30 points each) 150 pts.
Midterm exam 150 pts.
3 writing assignments (150 points each) 450 pts.
Final exam 250 pts.
Required readings:
Bond, Bradley G. Mississippi: A Documentary History. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2003.
Bynum, Victoria E. The Free State of Jones: Mississippi’s Longest Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.
Davis, Edwin A. and William R. Hogan. The Barber of Natchez. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973.
Marsh, Charles. God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.
O’Brien, Greg. Choctaws in a Revolutionary Age, 1750–1830. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues: A Culture History of the Mississippi Delta. New York: Penguin, 1982.
************************************************************************
HIS 400-01 SR. HISTORY SEMINAR
Professor Phyllis Jestice
Reg. Code 5157
TT 12:40-2:50
The theme of this course is “medievalism”—how the modern world has interpreted the medieval past. Why, when the British built a new home for Parliament in the nineteenth century, did they use the late medieval Gothic style? What are writers and directors up to when they rewrite the Middle Ages in movies like Braveheart, A Knight’s Tale, etc.? What’s up with the hairy barbarians who appear in recent commercials?
History 400 is the History Department’s senior capstone course: its goal is to demonstrate that you are a historian with the skills required to develop an original argument and to present that argument to an audience. It is also a chance to reflect on the meaning of history to modern society.
The class will work together at the beginning of the semester, creating a basic interpretation of modern medievalism and identifying research projects. Some of the class time will then be spent with individual conferences, then coming back together for presentations of research findings.
How the class will be graded:
one-paragraph “think piece” for each class with a reading assignment (20%)
leading one class discussion (10%)
oral presentation (20%)
outline of research paper (10%)
draft of research paper (15%)
final research paper (25%)
************************************************************************
HIS 4/537-01 WAR IN PREMODERN EUROPE
Professor Phyllis Jestice
Reg. Codes 7883/7884
MWF 9:40-11:10
For those who like rather older military topics. This course presents an overview of how war was waged in the era before the development of gunpowder technology, ranging from the epic struggle between Persia and Greece (immortalized in the recent movie 300) through the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. Special emphasis will be placed on the evolution of military technology and the ways in which military needs shaped social and political structures.
There will be five books for this class, certainly including Caesar’s Commentaries on the Wars in Gaul. Assignments will include two short papers, a notebook assignment, and two exams. Building your own catapult is optional, but will be richly rewarded.
************************************************************************
HIS 4/567-01 COLONIAL SOUTH
Professor Kyle Zelner
Reg. Codes 8187/8188
TT 3:00-5:10
This course will examine the southern colonies of British North America (Maryland to Georgia) from just before the first attempts of colonization at Roanoke (1585) to the end of the Revolutionary period (1800). The hybrid lecture/seminar class will generally follow the schedule of lectures on Tuesdays and reading discussions on Thursdays. Students will devote a considerable amount of time to outside readings, however they will be rewarded for diligent reading with a series of Reading Verification Quizzes which, if they read carefully, should boost their class grade. We will be reading a mixture of primary documents, secondary articles, and books, possibly including (but not limited to):
T.H. Breen, Tobacco Culture: The Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Holton, Woody. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, & the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Roanoke: the Abandoned Colony. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007.
Daniel C. Littlefield, Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
Thad Tate and David L. Ammerman, The Chesapeake in the Seventeenth Century: Essays on Anglo-American Society. New York: Norton, 1980.
Assignments: Tentatively, class requirements will include reading quizzes, two or three short papers, a final exam, and active participation in class discussions. Graduate students will have additional coursework, as assigned by the instructor.
************************************************************************
HIS 710-01 PHILOSOPHY & METHODS
Professor Deanne Nuwer
Reg. Code 7878
Tues 6:00-10:05
History 710 is intended to expose graduate students to the techniques that historians employ to frame problems, collect and analyze sources, and develop an argument. The course has three specific objectives:
1. Exploration of the theoretical approaches historians employ;
2. Exploration of the methodological approaches historians use;
3. Construction of a research prospectus that will shape your master’s and/or PhD research.
Meeting these objectives will require that you come to appreciate the art and science of historical investigation including the interplay of theory and empirical skill. More practically, the course focuses on three skills sets.
Method: Even if they are asking the same questions about the past, historians use different tools to ask those questions. In this class we will look a number of those tools and the unique insights they offer.
Theory: Abstract theory is not the subject of this course nor can we hope to thoroughly explore the wide variety of theoretical approaches that historians use. Instead, we will look at major schools of thought and how theoretical perspectives have shaped the work that historians do. In each case, we will consider the value/pitfalls of these approaches.
Practice: Ultimately, history is about research. Together we will explore research topics, the process of historical inquiry, historical truth, ethics, and writing. In addition, we will talk about academia and the graduate school experience.
***********************************************************************
HIS 775-01 Topics in the Old South
Professor Greg O’Brien
Reg. Code 7879
Mon 6:00-10:05
The topic of this graduate seminar is Indians and Slavery in Southern History. We will read several books, discuss readings, and write reviews and analysis papers on the topic of Indians and slavery. The first half of the course will examine the phenomenon of Indian slaves and the impact that a new market in Indian slaves had on the South’s Native and European peoples. We will also compare Indian slavery in the South with Indian slavery in other regions of North America. The second half of the course will turn more to a focus on Indians as slave owners and the relationship between Indians and African Americans in the era of slavery and beyond.
Books that we will read include:
James Brooks, ed., Confounding the Color Line: The Indian-Black Experience in North America
Eric Bowne, The Westo Indians: Slave traders of the Early Colonial South
Alan Gallay, The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717
James Brooks, Captives & Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands
Carl Ekberg, Stealing Indian Women: Native Slavery in the Illinois Country
Theda Perdue, Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society
Claudio Saunt, Black, White, and Indian: Race and the Unmaking of an American Family
Click to jump to Fall 2008 listings
Department of History
http://www.usm.edu/history
601.266.4333 • history@usm.edu