Modern United States History and Historiography
Winter 2020
CRN 27036
Mondays, 2:00 – 4:50 in Knight Library 36 (Studio A)
Professor Ellen Herman
office: 206 Johnson Hall
phone: 346-2163
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Wednesdays, 11 – noon and by appointment
BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND CLASS FORMAT
This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with new directions in modern U.S. history and historiography. It is not comprehensive—covering every subfield, period, subject, or theme in ten weeks is not possible—but it does aim to showcase trends in recent, innovative scholarship. Weekly readings include significant books that illustrate the analytical frameworks, theoretical sensibilities, questions, sources, and genres of writing that have been influential in many fields. During the course of the term, we will be speaking with all of the historians and writers whose work appears on the syllabus.
The weekly reading and discussion are the heart of this course and a great deal depends on your preparation and participation. To facilitate that worthy goal, students will rotate responsibility for leading weekly discussions by providing everyone in the class with a brief outline and a few questions to pose to the author and pursue when that conversation has ended.
WRITING REQUIREMENTS
The writing requirement will be a historiographical review essay, approximately 15-20 pages in length. You will select one of the required books for the course, to which you will add two additional titles. Your essay should accomplish two things. It should 1) review the titles under consideration and 2) use them to identify and evaluate historiographical trends and debates in the subfield(s) under consideration. In addition to the completed essay, I expect each student to submit the notes you have taken on the books you have chosen to write about. Each student in the course should make an appointment to talk to me early in the term about your selection of books for the review essay. The essay is due on Monday, March 16, 2020 by 5 pm.
There are a number of good places to begin looking for models for this kind of essay. You might consider the relatively lengthy reviews published in Reviews in American History, especially when the author treats several titles at once. Essays in the following collections are also useful: Jean-Christophe Agnew and Roy Rosenzweig, eds. A Companion to Post-1945 America. Cambridge: Blackwell, 2002 and Harvard Sitkoff, ed. Perspectives on Modern America: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Rowman & Littlefield publishes a series, “Debating 20th-Century America,” that is designed to illustrate interpretive conflicts as well as present primary sources. The “Major Problems in American History” series, published by D.C. Heath and Houghton Mifflin, does something similar. Finally, the American Historical Association published a pamphlet series, American History Now, that is also available as an edited book. It covers historiographical trends in eighteen major fields and is available online through the UO Library website.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objective of this course is to familiarize graduate students with the historiographical terrain of modern U.S. history. Gaining insight into the interpretive debates and trends in various communities of scholars is a fundamental goal of graduate training in history. Navigating historiography is an essential skill in most forms of professional historical writing too, so the practice you will get in this course will benefit you as you research and write any thesis or dissertation. My hope is that you will enjoy direct engagement with talented historians and writers who have made contributions in many fields, including at least one or two fields that are close to your interests.
KEEP IN MIND
Academic honesty: If this course is to be a worthwhile educational experience, your work must be original. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are very serious infractions and will not be permitted.
Absence from class and late work: Please let me know if you know in advance if you will not be in class. If you anticipate difficulty meeting the deadline for the historiogarphical review essay, please also let me know in advance.
Accommodations: If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please let me know as soon as possible.
GRADES
Your final grade will depend largely on the quality of your written work. Because all of us benefit from your active participation, grades will also reflect your completion of the required reading, weekly preparation, and engagement in discussion.
COURSE CALENDAR
January 6, 2020: Introductions; What to Expect in the Course
Please come to this first class prepared to introduce yourself by saying something about your research interests, the fields that interest you most, the fields that have the greatest potential bearing on your own work, etc.
January 13, 2020: Intellectual, Cultural, and Legal History
Sarah Igo, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America (Harvard University Press, 2018).
Sarah Igo is Andrew Jackson Chair in American History at Vanderbilt University, where she also is Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the American Studies Program.
January 20, 2020: MLK Day, no class
January 27, 2020: History of Agriculture; Political Economy
Sarah Milov, The Cigarette: A Political History (Harvard University Press, 2019).
Sarah Milov is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia.
February 3, 2020: LGBTQ History, Labor History, and the History of Capitalism
Margot Canaday, Queer Career: Sexuality and Employment in Modern America (in manuscript). Because Canaday has been gracious enough to share her not-yet-published work with us, I request that you not circulate it or share it with anyone. The manuscript is available on the Canvas website for this course.
Margot Canaday is Professor of History at Princeton University.
February 10 2020: African-American History and the History of Madness and Psychiatry
Martin Summers, Madness in the City of Magnificent Intentions: A History of Race and Mental Illness in the Nation’s Capital (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Martin Summers is Professor of History at Boston College.
February 17, 2020: Digital History
Sheila A. Brennan, “Digital History,” posted June 4, 2019 in The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook, a project co-sponsored by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) and the National Council on Public History (NCPH).
The Oregon History Project and The Oregon Encyclopedia
The Oregon History Project and the Oregon Encyclopedia are digital resources developed by the Oregon Historical Society. They are dedicated to making the OHS’s extensive collections of photographs, artifacts, and archival materials free and accessible to everyone. We will have the opportunity to speak with Amy Platt, Digital History Manager at the OHS. Platt has overseen these projects since 2006.
February 24, 2020: The U.S. West, Native, and Women’s History
Debra Gwartney, I Am a Stranger Here Myself: An Exploration of What It Means to Be a Woman of the West, Then and Now (University of New Mexico Press, 2019).
Debra Gwartney is a writer, editor, teacher, and 5th-generation Idahoan. She has published in such journals as Granta, Tin House, American Scholar, Creative Nonfiction, Kenyon Review, Salon, Triquarterly Review, and the New York Times “Modern Love” column.
We will have the pleasure of talking with Debra Gwartney in person.
March 2, 2020: The History of Disability and Design
Bess Williamson, Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design (New York University Press, 2019).
Bess Williamson is Associate Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
March 9, 2020: Students’ Historiographical Review Essays