Syllabus - Practice and Theory of History

Kenyon College - HIST 387 - Practice and Theory of History René Magritte's "La Trahison des Images" ("The Treachery of Images") (1928-9) or "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" ("This is not a pipe"). Courtesy of LACMA Meetings: Tuesdays 7-10 PM Dr. Andrew Kettler Office Hours – Wednesday 12-2, Or by Appointment Through E-Mail Office: 203 O’Connor House E-Mail – kettler1@kenyon.edu Classroom: O’Connor Seminar Kenyon College acknowledges that the lands on which we live, work, celebrate and heal are the ancestral homelands of the Miami, Lenape, Wyandotte and Shawnee peoples, among others. The disputed Treaty of Greenville (1795) and the forced removal of Indigenous peoples from this region allowed for the founding of the College in the early 1800s. As a community, we are committed to confronting this dark past while also embracing through education and outreach the many Indigenous communities that continue to thrive in Ohio. Course Outline: Practice and Theory of History is a course provided for students to work through the methods, theories, and practices of history to complete a standard essay for the field. The course focuses much on historical theory, providing the guiding principles for understanding historical analysis that is used within the contemporary academy and the revisions that modern scholars perform upon forms of history. Beyond the theoretical, the course centers on the practice of history, specifically concerning how different scholars follow diverse methods to complete their historical projects. Providing analytical tools and methodological practices, this course workshops numerous skills to guide students through a process of historical thinking, researching, writing, and critiquing. Consequently, the course offers a 15-week seminar on how historical work is completed and provides a process for completing a Final Essay within a clear timeframe. Learning Outcomes: 1) Students will understand diverse historical theories and learn the importance of critical thinking skills for understanding different perspectives of society and culture within the broader study of the humanities. 2) Students will learn processes applied for the practice of history, especially concerning the training necessary for researching in the archive and attempting to create an original thesis. 3) Students will understand the skills needed to follow different methods for the application of critical thinking on a historical project of their design. 4) Students will learn how to write a historical essay with the goal of publication through creating an original thesis and improving their writing skills. Grading Scale: 97-100% A+ 87-89% B+ 77-79% C+ 65-69% D 93-96% A 83-86% B 73-76% C < 65% F 90-92% A- 80-82% B- 70-72% C- Accessibility and Inclusion: If there is any student with disability, for which they might need accommodation or assistance in order to participate fully, please see the instructor and inform Ms. Erin Salva, the Director of Student Accessibility and Support Services, at salvae@kenyon.edu and (740) 427-5453. This course involves substantial amounts of discussion amongst students. If any student is unable to complete discussion due to disability or social anxiety, please access accommodations or contact the professor to set up alternative assignments. As Kenyon students, you are also invited to report any incidents of bias, discrimination, or harassment to the instructor. Professors are obliged to notify the Civil Rights & Title IX coordinator in this case. Students should monitor their e-mails from the Professor of this course for class cancellations or if a class if forced to move online for any session. The contingency plan for this course is to move sessions to Zoom in the event of a Covid-19 disruption. Academic Honesty and Questions of Plagiarism: The College holds that Kenyon, at its core, is “an intellectual community of scholars—students and faculty—engaged in the free and open exchange of ideas. Critical to this lively exchange and deep engagement with ideas is the academic integrity of our work, both inside and outside the classroom.” Because of the seriousness of plagiarism or academic dishonesty, students are urged to consult with their instructors if they have questions about the attribution of sources. At Kenyon College we expect all students, at all times, to submit work that represents our highest standards of academic integrity. It is the responsibility of each student to learn and practice the proper ways of documenting and acknowledging those whose ideas and words they have drawn upon (see Academic Honesty and Questions of Plagiarism in the Course Catalog). Ignorance and carelessness are not excuses for academic dishonesty. A violation of academic honesty is among the most serious matters in an academic community. An instructor who suspects a student of academic dishonesty is required to present the evidence to their department chair. See Penalties for Violations to Academic Integrity Policy. Please refer to (Policies and Procedures; Academic Honesty) online for policies on academic dishonesty and plagiarism. Classroom Etiquette: Students are to use polite language in the classroom, especially when addressing other students. This course involves a substantial discussion grade, which will include how well students learn to communicate difficult concepts with the rest of the class and in dialogue with other students. This grade, of course, has nothing to do with political opinions, as the way students will earn discussion grades is based on the evidence that they are able to marshal, not whether the professor agrees with their opinions politically or whether they become the loudest voice in the room. Class Design: Each week, the class will begin with an introduction from the Professor on the major topics for the week. Following that presentation, the students exhibiting for the week will provide background for their chosen essays and questions that they outlined for discussion. Following the discussion of the essays and topics for the week, the class then moves to a conversation of the practice of history, involving a presentation from the professor and a discussion with the class on the practical aspects of historical methodology. The class ends each week with a workshop concerning a specific skill needed to complete a historical project. Textbooks: Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment (Stanford: Stanford, 2007 [1947]) 978-0804736336 Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge, 2007 [1990]) - 978-0415389556 Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life (Princeton: Princeton, 2017 [2011]). - 978-0691178165 Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus (New York: Pantheon, 1996). - 978-0679406419 Grade Breakdown: 15% - Discussion and Attendance (Including Co-Leadership Weeks) 15% - Paper Topic, Sources, and Outline 35% - Annotations 35% - Final Essay Late work is graded one grade lower for each day the assignment is late (A+ maximum to A maximum for one day to A- maximum for two days and B+ maximum for three days). However, this does not apply to excused absences. As well, if students know they will be turning in late work, they may e-mail the professor for a clarification on how the late penalty would be assessed with such prior notification. Students not meeting standard requirements may receive a negative Progress Report sometime during the semester. As well, students completing exceptional work may receive a positive Progress Report. Assignments: 12 pt. Times New Roman and Double Spaced for Final Essay (10 Pt. TNR for Footnotes) 12 pt. Times New Roman and Single Spaced for Annotations and Other Assignments Discussion Grade: On Week One, the class will participate in a draft for the pieces they will individually present upon for the course. During each week of the course, the class will participate in a considerable discussion of the essays for the week, the practice of history, and the place of history in the public sphere. Students will be graded on their willingness to participate, their attentiveness, and the critical thinking they show through their comments within discussion. Generally, showing up to class and not disrupting class is a 7/10 for that class. Speaking once is most likely an 8/10. Receiving a 9/10 or 10/10 for the class would involve speaking more than once with relevant contributions. During the first week, students will sign up as Discussion Co-Leaders for specific weeks. That role includes prepping more direct questions for the week from a more thorough reading of the sources. Final Essay - Process Grade: By Start of Week Three, choose a Topic and Provide that Topic in an E-Mail to the Professor. By Start of Week Ten, Identity at least five Primary Sources or Primary Source Collections relevant to your topic and e-mail those sources to the Professor. By Week Twelve, identify your Preliminary Thesis and submit your Outline to the Professor. These three Process Grade assignments are to be submitted through E-Mail and also include a dialogue with the Professor within those e-mail chains. Annotations: Each week, the class will annotate the sources for the week. The annotation will include a formal citation in Chicago Style. Below the Chicago Style citation, complete a 3-5 sentence annotation summarizing the source and providing an argument concerning the importance of the source for our understanding of Practice and Theory. These annotations are due each week prior to class. Final Essay: Due during Finals Week by 12/15 at 5 PM (Optional Rough Draft Due 11/20 by 5PM). This 15–20page essay is the culmination of work throughout the semester. It involves your combination of historiographical reading, theoretical discussion, and primary source analysis to make an argument about a historical topic. This essay can be a historiographical article or a standard primary source analysis. The expectations are high, as the entire semester involves working together through problems and the writing process to come to a final product that, in many ways, will resemble a publishable work of historical study. Schedule: Week 1 - 8/31 – Syllabus, Annotation Introduction, and Essay Choices Practice Discussion: What is History? How Do We Talk About Complex Topics? Workshop Skill: Background Knowledge and Self-Analysis Week 2 - 9/7 – The Ancients and the Moderns Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Historical Perspectives Carl Becker, "Everyman His Own Historian," American Historical Review 37, 2 (1932): 221-236. Topic 2: Ancient Legacies and Patriotic History Peter Novick, "My Correct Views on Everything," American Historical Review 96, 3 (1991): 699-703. Topic 3: Objectivity, Nationalism, and the New Military History Patricia Nelson Limerick, "Turnerians All: The Dream of a Helpful History in an Intelligible World," American Historical Review 100 (1995): 697-716. Practice Discussion: How to Choose a Topic? Workshop Skill: Choosing a Focused Topic Week 3 - 9/14 – Heroes and Villains Assignment – Annotations Due Assignment – Choose a Topic by the Start of Class and E-Mail the Professor by 9/14 at 5 PM Topic 1: Narrative, Stylistics, and Metahistory William Cronon, “Storytelling,” American Historical Review 118, 1 (2013): 1-19. Topic 2: Characters, Agency, and Stereotypes Miles Ogborn, "Designs on the City: John Gwynn's Plans for Georgian London," Journal of British Studies 43, 1 (2004): 15-39. Topic 3: Setting, Space, and Landscape Studies Sumathi Ramaswamy, “Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping of the Lost Continent of Lemuria,” Representations 67 (1999): 92-129. Practice Discussion: How do Historians Read Primary and Secondary Sources? Workshop Skill: Footnotes, Endnotes, Plagiarism, and Encyclopedic Knowledge Week 4 - 9/21 – Periodization and Positivism Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Canonicity and the Stages of History Charles Altieri, “An Idea and Ideal of a Literary Canon,” Critical Inquiry 10, 1 (1983): 37–60. Topic 2: Public Sphere and Counterpublic Sphere James Grehan, “Smoking and ‘Early Modern’ Sociability: The Great Tobacco Debate in the Ottoman Middle East (Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries),” American Historical Review 111 (2006): 1352-1377. Topic 3: Public History and Popular Culture David E. Kyvig, "Public or Perish?: Thoughts on Historians' Responsibilities," The Public Historian 13, 4 (1991): 10-23. Practice Discussion: What is an Archive? Workshop Skill: Reading Against the Grain Week 5 - 9/28 – The Frankfurt School and the Legacies of Resistance Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Anti-Enlightenment Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment (Stanford: Stanford, 2007 [1947]) Topic 2: Cultural Materialism E.P. Thompson, "Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism," Past and Present 38 (1967): 5697. Topic 3: Romantic or Rationalist Bruce G. Trigger, “Early Native North American Responses to European Contact: Romantic versus Rationalistic Interpretations,” Journal of American History 77 (1991): 1195–1215. Practice Discussion: What is Revisionism? Workshop Skill: Critical Thinking Week 6 - 10/5 – The Annales Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Psychoanalytic Theory and the History of Emotions Peter Stearns and Carol Stearns, "Emotionology: Clarifying the History of Emotions and Emotional Standards," American Historical Review 90, 4 (1985): 813-36. Topic 2: Total History and the Longue Durée Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, "Motionless History," Social Science History 1, 2 (1977): 115-136. Topic 3: Collaboration and the Processes of Academic History Robert Forster, "Achievements of the Annales School," The Journal of Economic History. 38, 1 (1978): 58-76. Practice Discussion: How do Historians Find the Gap in Previous Scholarship? Workshop Skill: Confidence in Writing 10/7 and 10/8 – October Break Week 7 - 10/12 - Social History Assignment – Annotations Due Topic: Structuralism and the World System Lydia Lindsey, "The Split-Labor Phenomenon: Its Impact on West Indian Workers as a Marginal Working Class in Birmingham England, 1948-1962," Journal of Negro History 78, 2 (1993): 83-109. Topic: Quantitative History, Economic History, and Cliometrics Daniel Vickers, “Competency and Competition: Economic Culture in Early America,” William and Mary Quarterly (1990): 3-29. Topic: Historical Revisionism and Legal History Francois Furet, "Beyond the Annales,” The Journal of Modern History 55, 3 (1983): 389-410. Practice Discussion: Are Historians trapped by Narrative Development? Workshop Skill: Writing Models, Framing a Vignette, Making a Story Week 8 - 10/19 – The Postmodern Turn Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Post-Structuralism Michel Foucault, "Of Other Spaces," Diacritics 16, 1 (1986): 22–27. Topic 2: Deconstruction, Semiotics, and Systems Roland Barthes, “The Death of the Author,” in Image, Music, Text (London: Fontana, 1977), 142-148. Topic 3: Microhistory Roger Chartier, "Texts, Symbols, and Frenchness," Journal of Modern History 57 (1985): 682-695. Practice Discussion: What Types of Sources are Relevant to your Topic? Workshop Skill: Outlining and Organizing Week 10 - 10/26 – Critical Race Theory Assignment – Annotations Due Assignment – Identify Five Primary Sources and Send an E-Mail to the Professor by 10/26 at 5 PM Topic 1: Postcolonialism and Settler Colonialism Patrick Wolfe, “Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native,” Journal of Genocide Research 8, 4 (2006): 387–409. Topic 2: Social Construction and Intersectionality Walter Johnson, “On Agency,” Journal of Social History 37 (2003): 113‐124. Topic 3: Whiteness Studies and the “White Man’s Burden” Mary Louise Pratt, "Scratches on the Face of the Country; or, What Mr. Barrow Saw in the Land of the Bushmen," Critical Inquiry 12, 1 (1985): 119-143. Practice Discussion: How does History Writing Differ from Other Forms of Writing? Workshop Skill: Body Paragraphs, Evidence, and Transitions Week 11 - 11/2 – Gender and History Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Masculinity and Patriarchy John Tosh, "What Should Historians Do with Masculinity?: Reflections on Nineteenth-Century Britain," History Workshop 38 (1994): 179-202. Topic 2: Gender Theory and LGBTQ+ Studies Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge, 2007 [1990]) Topic 3: History of the Body and Feminist Theories of History Joan Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” American Historical Review 91, 5 (1986): 1053‐1075. Practice Discussion: Why do Historians Cite Their Sources? Workshop Skill: Introductions and Conclusions Week 12 - 11/9 - Provincializing the West Assignment – Annotations Due Assignment – Complete Outline and Send to Professor by E-Mail by 11/9 at 5 PM Topic 1: Global South Epistemologies and Historical Postcolonialism Gyan Prakash, "Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism" AHR 99, 5 (1994): 1475-1490. Topic 2: Indigenous Studies and the Borderlands Eduardo Viverios de Castro, “Perspectivism,” in Cannibal Metaphysics (Minneapolis: Univocal, 2014), 49-63. Topic 3: Disability Studies and Crip Theory Michael Davidson, “Cripping Consensus: Disability Studies at the Intersection,” American Literary History 28, 2 (2016): 433–453. Practice Discussion: How do Historians address Perspective and Politics? Workshop Skill: Titles, Images, and Sections Week 13 - 11/16 – Interdisciplinarity Assignment – Annotations Due Assignment – Optional Rough Draft Due to Professor by E-Mail by 11/20 at 5 PM Topic 1: Environmental History, Eco-Criticism, and Animal Studies Shawn Miller, “Minding the Gap: Pan-Americanism's Highway, American Environmentalism, and Remembering the Failure to Close the Darién Gap,” Environmental History 19, 2 (2014): 189-216. Topic 2: Digital Humanities, Media Studies, and New Media Franco Moretti, "Network Theory, Plot Analysis," New Left Review 68 (2011): 80-102. Topic 3: History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017 [2011]). Practice Discussion: How do Historians apply Borrowing and Paraphrasing? Workshop Skill: Revisions and Critiques 11/20-11/29 – Thanksgiving Break Week 14 - 11/30 – History in the Mixed Media Assignment – Annotations Due Topic 1: Visual Studies and Sensory Studies Rosalind Krauss, "Welcome to the Cultural Revolution," October 77 (1996): 83-96. Topic 2: Performance Studies, the History of the Book, Affect Theory, and the New Historicism Dominick LaCapra, "Chartier, Darnton, and the Great Symbol Massacre," Journal of Modern History 60 (1988): 95-112. Topic 3: Media Ecologies and Reader Response Theory Art Spiegelman, The Complete Maus (New York: Pantheon, 1996). Practice Discussion: Should Historians Write to Specific Audiences? Workshop Skill: Outside Voices, the Auteur, and Peer Review Week 15 - 12/7 – Posthumanism and Contemporary Theory Assignment – Annotations Due (Optional as a Replacement for Lowest Annotation Grade) – Due to Grace Period) Topic 1: Global History, Atlantic History, and Local History Emma Rothschild, “A Horrible Tragedy in the French Atlantic,” Past and Present 192 (2006): 67-109. Topic 2: Theory Fiction, Afro-Futurism, Post-Soul Aesthetics, and Alternate Histories Bertram Ashe, “Theorizing the Post-Soul Aesthetic: An Introduction,” African American Review 41, 4 (2007): 609–623. Topic 3: Object Oriented Philosophy, Actor-Network Theory, and the New Materialism Donna J. Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto,” in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991), 149-181. Practice Discussion: How do Writers Work Their Essays Toward Publication? Workshop Skill: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Grace Period 12/6 to 12/13 Reading Days 12/11, 12/12, 12/13 Final Exams 12/13-12/17 Final Essay - Due 12/15 by 5PM 12/28 by 8 AM Final Grades Due