Course Description
Examination of microhistory, which uses specific topics and
sources to examine larger historical problems. Also, a review
of microhistory theoretical and methodological connections to
other scholarly disciplines such as cultural anthropology and
other genres of history, including local history and the
history of everyday life.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
In addition to completing the reading required of
undergraduates, graduate students will be asked to take on more
in-depth research and readings of an advanced nature and write
one or more 20-page research papers on microhistorical texts.
Athena Title
Getting Personal Microhistory
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the genre of microhistory by gathering and weighing of evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how microhistory helps us to understand diverse social and cultural identities and attitudes toward race and slavery, war and memory, and dictatorship and totalitarianism and encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
Topical Outline
- 1. What is Microhistory?
- 2. Microhistories of Early Modern Europe
- 3. The Historian as Storyteller
- 4. The Historian as Detective
- 5. Working with Fragments
- 6. Histories of Medicine (and Progress)
- 7. History and Anthropology
- 8. Thick Description
- 9. The Atlantic Slave Trade
- 10. Modern Microhistories
- 11. Institutions of Confinement
- 12. Nation-Building
- 13. Social Investigations
- 14. Political Communication
- 15. Modern War and Memory
- 16. Dictatorship
- 17. Histories of Everyday Life
- 18. The Holocaust
- 19. Film and History
- 20. Totalitarianism
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
