HIstory 548: Seminar in Historiography

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Texts

EH Carr, “The Historian and His Facts”

Robert M. Stein, “Literary Criticism and the Evidence for History,”

Julie Cruikshank, “Negotiating with Narrative: Establishing Cultural Identity at the Yukon International Storytelling Festival”

 

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African

Caretta, “Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? New light on an eighteenth century question of identity”

Boulukos, “Olaudah Equiano and the Eighteenth Century Debate on Africa”

 

Landscape for a Good Woman

Steedman Front Matter and Part 1

Steedman Part 2

Steedman Part 3 (p.63-97)

Steedman Part 3 (98-144)

Steedman Notes, Bibliography, and Index

 

MR Trouillot, “An Unthinkable History: The Haitian Revolution as a Non-Event”

David Scott, “The Theory of Haiti: The Black Jacobins and the Poetics of Universal History”

Gayatri Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”

Stuart Hall, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora”

About the course

This course is meant to introduce students to some of the debates, issues and practices of history writing. Rather than a comprehensive overview, it takes on two themes: materiality and narrative. The idea is to be attentive to the ways that historians assemble their texts. What components are necessary for the construction of historical narratives? What is the nature of narrative and how does it work? How have these changed over time, and in space? This leads to questions about who or what are the subjects of history, and of the relationships among those subjects and historians. We will not answer all of these questions, but we will consider them through the readings, our writings and discussions. By the end of the semester, students will be ready to participate in conversations in their own fields about what’s at stake in the production of historical knowledge. This is a graduate seminar. Students are expected to be active participants in all aspects of this course. Part of the purpose of a class like this is to develop your own voice with regards to broad historical issues, so it will be important to use and develop that voice in flexible and thoughtful ways. Listening is key. We will work to create an environment that is challenging, comfortable, responsive and inclusive. If we succeed, everyone will change their minds, disagree with me and their fellow students in respectful and productive ways, defend their positions, and take lots of chances over the course of the semester.

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