As one of the three core courses in the history graduate curriculum, this course is described as follows in the MTSU graduate catalog: "A common selection of historiographical works that raise issues common to all historians and that discuss history, historical processes, and historical-mindedness. Students will discuss these works and perhaps also write critical analyses of them."
The focus of this semester is macrohistory vs. microhistory. These terms may not be familiar to many historians, although the types of work the terms describe should be familiar to all historians. Most of historical work falls somewhere between these two extremes. We will be studying the strengths and weaknesses of macrohistory, as well as the challenges involved in doing it. Then we will contrast those works with microhistorical studies, in which we will also be identifying strengths, weaknesses, and the challenges involved. The goal is to use these particular types of historical work to learn about larger issues in history, historical processes, and historical-mindedness that are relevant to all historians.
As a readings course, this seminar will focus on meticulous analysis of the assigned reading each week. It is more important that students learn critical reading skills than the information in the books themselves. As a starting point, everyone should read the following handout, available through this link: How to Read a Book. As you read, pay particular attention to the issues that each reading raises in terms of historical methodology and processes, and how one reading connects to the others in the course.
Class time will be spent in discussion. Good discussions will depend on every seminar member being prepared each week for class. A good portion of your final grade will come from your class participation each week.
During weeks in which a full book is assigned, every student will submit a one-page, single-spaced review of the historical book reviews for the week's book. Find five reviews, depending as much as possible on reviews published in refereed journals. You may also find suitable reviews in H-Reviews (an H-Net list) or in newspaper reviews such as the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, or the Times Literary Supplement. If you are unfamiliar with finding book reviews, consult the handout in the reference area of Walker Library. It is important to note that the reviews that you complete NOT be organized review-by-review. Instead, you should group the positive components in one paragraph and the negative components in another, so that it is clear what the reviewers found praiseworthy and objectionable about each book. Refer to reviewers by name and cite the review briefly in parentheses, using decipherable abbreviations, such as (AHR, 3/02), meaning the American Historical Review, March 2002.
At midterm, students will write preliminary historiographical essays analyzing the issues raised in our reading of the five macrohistories. At the end of the semester, students will write a critical historiographical essay that compares the methodologies and issues of macrohistory versus microhistory, based on all the reading in the course.
All the books in this course are available for purchase in the MTSU bookstore and through the multiple online sources. You may find significantly cheaper prices at an online or off-campus bookstore. You may find the particular titles in the course schedule below.
Students are encouraged to use the University Writing Center to improve their written work in this course. The center is located in Peck Hall 325 and 326 and may be reached by phone at 904-8237 or by E-mail at uwcenter@mtsu.edu. Its web site is www.mtsu.edu/~uwcenter. The center is open Monday-Saturday during various hours, including some evenings. Appointments are preferred but not mandatory. The staff of faculty and graduate assistants will work with students at any stage of the writing process on issues such as organization, unity, coherence, opening and closing paragraphs, diction, and grammar, but they will not proofread or edit student writing.
If you have a disability that may require assistance or accommodation, or you have questions related to any accommodations for testing, note takers, readers, etc., please speak with Dr. Williams as soon as possible. Students may also contact the Office of Disabled Student Services (898-2783) with questions about such services.
The seminar leader will judge how well you accomplish the course goals and tasks in these categories:
I. Seminar discussion (40%). The heart of the seminar experience is the opportunity to meet with peers in a small group to explore ideas and to critique the work of others. Therefore, full participation in seminar discussions is tantamount to success in the seminar as a whole.
II. Weekly reviews of book reviews (20%). Good historians are able to digest the work of others, to place it in the context of a field of study, and to offer constructive criticism of it.
III. Midterm essay and final essay (20% each). Your mastery of a body of literature is not really complete until you wrestle with a topic yourself by writing a reflective, analytical, and interpretive essay about the topic. In this course, you will have a preliminary effort at midway followed by a longer, final essay at the end of the semester.
Grades will be assigned according to the typical scale (A 90-100, B 80-89, C 70-79, D 60-69), with minus grades being in the lower two points of a decile and plus grades being in the upper two points of a decile.
Monday, January 6: Dr. Williams is out of the country at a conference. Please pick up the syllabus, read the attached memo, and be prepared for class next week.
PART I: Macrohistory
Monday, January 13:
--->Read Fred Spier, The Structure of Big History: From the Big Bang
until Today
Monday, January 20: Martin Luther King Day--no class
Monday, January 27:
--->Read Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and
the Transformation of Nature
Monday, February 3:
--->Read Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human
Societies
Monday, February 10:
--->Read Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History
Monday, February 17:
--->Read assortment of journal articles (TBA)
Monday, February 24:
--->Read John Wills, 1688: A Global History
Monday, March 3: No class
--->Essay about macrohistory due
SPRING BREAK!
PART II: Microhistory
Monday, March 17:
--->Read Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a
Seventeenth-Century Miller
Monday, March 24:
--->Read Luis E. Gonzalez, San Jose de Gracia: Mexican Village in
Transition
Monday, March 31:
--->Read Jonathan D. Spence, The Death of Woman Wang
Monday, April 7:
--->Read Steven Ozment, The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a
Sixteenth-Century German Town
Monday, April 14:
--->Read John K. Thornton, The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz
Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684-1706
Monday, April 21:
--->Read Donna Merwick, Death of a Notary: Conquest and Change in
Colonial New York
Monday, April 28: No class
Monday, May 5: Final historiographical essays due at 6 p.m.