Seminar in Advanced Historical Study:
Locality and Historical Memory

This seminar is an advanced course in the reading of influential approaches to history, and research on an individual student project. Students will gain familiarity with important trends in historiography, examine historical method, and undertake work on an historical project of their own choosing, in consultation with the professor. This particular section of History 401 will focus on the close examination of the relationship between locality and historical memory -- the way in which the relationship between historical events and their location in time and space influence the process of historically remembering and recording those events. The course also aims to familiarize the student with the construction of historical arguments (thesis, methodology, historiography, evidence, sources, research, and narrative), as well as identifying areas for further research.

Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend class meetings and take part in discussions. Written work will require students to synthesize lecture materials as well as readings. Students must also read and assimilate required readings, and be prepared to discuss readings on the schedule given below. Students will submit all assignments on time; late papers will not be accepted without prior arrangement with the professor. Further, no student with more than three unexcused absences will receive a passing grade for the course.

A Note About Academic Integrity: Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by acts such as borrowing or purchasing term papers, essays, reports, and other written assignments; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying others' work and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in failure in the course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal from the College.

Contacting the Professor:

My office is in 2N 203, and my office phone is 718-982-2869; I have office hours Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2:30 to 4:30, and by appointment. You may also reach me via email at lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu.

Assignments:

Assignments and Exercises (ongoing) (50% of course grade)
Class Attendance/Participation (20% of course grade)
Final Research Essay (30% of course grade)

Required Texts:

    Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire (Urbana: U. of Ilinois Press, 1992).
    Laurie Kahn-Leavitt, A Midwife's Tale (1998; film)
    Alvaro Toepke and Angel Serrano, The Language You Cry In (1998, film) [Discussion Questions]

    William Cronon, "Kennecott Journey: The Paths Out of Town" from Under an Open Sky (1992). [Discussion Questions]
    Robert Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose," from The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episode in French Cultural History (New York: Vintage Press, 1984). [Discussion Questions]
    Pierce F. Lewis, "Axioms for Reading the Landscape: Some Guides to the American Scene," in The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, ed. D. W. Meinig (Oxford University Press, 1979): 11-32.
    D. W. Meinig, "The Beholding Eye: Ten Versions of the Same Scene," in The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: 32-48.
    "The Many Deaths of Henrietta Schmerler: Documents"
    Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (selections)
    Robert Shafer, A Guide to Historical Method, Revised Edition (Dorsey Press, 1974) (selections)
Charles S. Maier, "Marking Time: The Historiography of International Relations," in Michael Kammen, The Past Before Us (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980), pp. 355-87.

Additional materials for this course are available via the WWW at http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/history/dept/lavender/401extra.html

Course Schedule:

Week One: Introduction
	Tuesday, January 30	Starting Places
	Thursday, February 1	What is History? What is Historical Method?

Week Two: Historical Method and the Politics of Storytelling
	Tuesday, February 6	Locating History: View and Discuss The Language You Cry In
	Thursday, February 8	Discuss Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales" and Cronon, "Kennecott Journey"
	Readings: Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales" and Cronon, "Kennecott Journey"
	Assignment: Response Paper--Who is telling my story? Why does that matter? (due Thursday, February 15)

Week Three: Place and History
	Tuesday, February 13	No Class Meeting: Classes follow Monday Schedule
	Thursday, February 15	Discuss Lewis, "Axioms for Reading the Landscape"
	Saturday, February 17	11:00 am: Landscape Reading Hike at High Rock Park, Nevada Avenue off Rockland, Staten Island (wear warm, layered clothes and shoes which can get muddy--alternative dates for those who cannot make Saturday: Tuesday 20 February 11:00 am, Sunday 25 February 11:00 am, or Tuesday 27 February 11:00 am)
	Readings: Lewis, "Axioms for Reading the Landscape"
	Assignment: Response Paper--How did using Lewis's axioms change what I saw in High Rock Park? Why does that change matter? (due Tuesday, February 27)

Week Four: Seeing Home Again for the First Time
	Tuesday, February 20	Discuss Meinig, "The Beholding Eye"
	Thursday, February 22	Reading Willowbrook: Campus Hike (wear warm, layered clothes and shoes which can get muddy)
	Readings: Meinig, "The Beholding Eye"
	Assignment: Exercise--Ten versions of home (due Tuesday, March 6)

Week Five: Storytelling Issues
	Tuesday, February 27	View and Discuss "A Midwife's Tale"
	Thursday, March 1	No Class Meeting
	Readings: Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (selections)
	Assignment: Exercise--Making it true (due Tuesday, March 6)

Week Six: Research Issues I
	Tuesday, March 6	Library Tour and Workshop with Professor Allen Natowitz (meet in Library Rotunda, proceed to ComLab)
	Thursday, March 8	Visit to Library Archives (with Assistant Archivist Kim DeCicco) and Museum (with Professor Eric Ivison); Discuss Shafer, Guide to Historical Method (selections)
	Readings: Shafer, Guide to Historical Method (selections)
	Assignment: Begin identifying research project topic

Week Seven: Research Issues II
	Tuesday, March 13	Oral History, with Archivist Jeff Kreisler
	Thursday, March 15	Computer Lab Session -- 2N 115
	Readings: DoHistory Website
	Assignment: Exercise--Evaluating a Website (due Thursday, March 22)

Week Eight: Reading Issues
	Tuesday, March 20	Computer Lab: Using DoHistory -- 2N 115
	Thursday, March 22	Reading Texts: The Elements of a Monograph; Discuss Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (selections)
	Readings: "The Many Deaths of Henrietta Schmerler: Documents"
	Assignment: Exercise--Reading a document from my life (due Thursday, March 29)

Week Nine: Bringing It All Together
	Tuesday, March 27	Reading Documents: "The Many Deaths of Henrietta Schmerler: Documents"
	Thursday, March 29	Discuss Maclean, Young Men and Fire as a document of research
	Readings: Maclean, Young Men and Fire
	Assignment: Response Paper--Place in Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire (due Thursday, April 5)

Week Ten: Beginning Research
	Tuesday, April 3	Discuss Maclean, Young Men and Fire as a narrative
	Thursday, April 5	Historiography as Starting Point; discuss Maier
	Readings: Maier, "Marking Time"
	Assignment: Exercise--Historiographical Outline (due Thursday, April 19)

April 7-15--Spring Break, CSI Closed

Week Eleven: The Proposal
	Tuesday, April 17	Making a Proposal
	Thursday, April 19	Computer Lab: Proposal workshop
	Readings: Sample Proposal
	Assignment: Exercise--Final Paper Proposal (due Tuesday, April 24)

Week Twelve: Final Projects Under Construction
	Tuesday, April 24	Discussion of Research Plans
	Thursday, April 26	Class Brainstorming Session: Local Resources

Week Thirteen: Final Projects Under Construction
	Tuesday, May 1	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)
	Thursday, May 3	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)

Week Fourteen: Final Projects Under Construction
	Tuesday, May 8	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)
	Thursday, May 10	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)

Week Fifteen: Final Projects
	Tuesday, May 15	Final Thoughts (Class meets)
	Thursday, May 17	Final Paper Due