First_Year Research Seminar: Writing History

Semester and Year	SP 2011
Course Number	FIRST-UG725
Section	001
Instructor	Scott Korb
Days	Tue,Thu
Time	2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

This research seminar looks at a variety of historical and history texts and, what’s more, introduces students to a variety of ways to write critically about the ways we tell history. The course will begin with a careful reading and annotation of historical documents including newspaper articles, speeches, diaries, and personal and public letters. We will also conduct thorough analyses of historical fiction and documentaries, including, for example, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, James McBride's The Miracle of St. Anna, David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, and Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke. Along the way students will learn to carry out research projects that pay as much attention to the minutiae and lost voices of history as they do to the grand themes and heroic stories presented by our great historians. The course culminates in a research essay in which students evaluate sources, develop theses and structure arguments that grow out of the ideas and skills explored throughout the semester. We will pay close attention to the ways the history of race, in particular, has been told in the United States. Additional readings may include texts by Jean Fagan Yellin (on Harriet Jacobs), Ira Berlin, Annette Gordon-Reed, Simon Schama, and Jill Lepore. Additional videos may include the work of David Simon and Ken Burns.

Course Type

First-Year Program: Research Seminars (FIRST-UG)