Download HISTORY 461: History and Historians Dr

HISTORY 461: History and Historians
California Lutheran University
email reaves@clunet
Dr. Michaela Reaves
Hum 221 493-3381
SYLLABUS
"The consciousness of the past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living."
-Karl Marx
"History never repeats itself; at best it sometimes rhymes."
-Mark Twain
“Who does not know that the first law of historical writing is the truth”.
-Cicero
“History is a myth that men agree to believe.
-Napoleon
- Quotes culled from Ferenc M. Szasz, "Quotes about History"
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This is a course about historians, what they have written and how they
have written it. It explores their motives, method, and theories that led them to presume they had a
point of view worth sharing with posterity. You will read their works, analyze them, and cast a
critical eye on their research methods, guiding philosophies, and basic assumptions. This course
traces the development of historical thinking and the changes in research methodology over time.
This class begins with the ancient Greeks and continues to the present. The emphasis in on Western
historiography with samples from Islamic and Asian sources.
OBJECTIVES:
1. To learn the roles and arguments of various historians throughout history
2. To improve writing skills through written response and journal response.
3. To explore how to view primary sources, extrapolate from historical data, and identify
historical schools.
4. To evaluate each historians in the context of his or her time period.
5. To examine and utilize the internet and ERES for primary source research.
6. To become more familiar with primary sources.
7. To improve reading and critical thinking skills through analysis of historical works.
8. To learn to use ProfPort with facility
The following CLU Educational Objectives are addressed in this course:
 Development of Critical thinking skills in Objectives 1, 2, 3 and 7.
 Information literacy in Objective 5
 Written communication skills as reflected in the four papers, three peer reviewed
 Historical, cultural and global perspectives on diversity
As outlined in the CLU History Departmental Goals, students who successfully complete this
course will:
 Analyze and comprehend primary source texts
 Use periodization and chronology as organizing principles
Demonstrate knowledge of major historical events and their significance
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION:
ASSIGNMENTS:
Writing and the use of citations are VERY important in this class. This is a capstone class and
requires a high level of performance for an A. This class will prepare students for graduate school
and/or credential work Social Science.
RUBRIC:
All papers are strictly graded on several criteria.
1) English grammar, usage, and spelling
2) Research and documentation (Chicago style)
3) Reasoning and presentation of argument
To earn an “A” a paper must have few, if any, errors in category one. In addition, each paper must
have a minimum of five reputable sources (most are included in the syllabus). Finally, the clarity,
assumptions, and critical thinking displayed in the paper are the final level of the grade. In other
words, a flawless paper that does not fulfill the assignment or present a thorough and competent
argument will not earn an “A”.
Statement on Academic Honesty:
The educational programs of California Lutheran University are designed and dedicated to achieve
academic excellence, honesty and integrity at every level of student life. Part of CLU’s dedication to
academic excellence is our commitment to academic honesty. Students, faculty, staff and
administration share the responsibility for maintaining high levels of scholarship on campus. Any
behavior or act which might be defined as “deceitful” or “dishonest” will meet with appropriate
disciplinary sanctions, including dismissal from the University, suspension, grade F in a course or
various forms of academic probation. Policies and procedures regarding academic honesty are
contained in the faculty and student handbooks.
Plagiarism, cheating, unethical computer use and facilitation of academic dishonest are examples of
behavior which will result in disciplinary sanctions. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:
 word for word copying without using quotation marks or presenting the work as yours
 using the ideas or work of others without acknowledgement
 not citing quoted material. Students must cite sources for any information that is not either the
result of original research or common knowledge.
TEXTS: Kelley, Donald R. Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to
Herder, 1998
Briesach, Ernst. Historiography: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, 1994.
Kelley, Donald R. Versions of History from Antiquity to Enlightenment, 1991
Use of the texts: In every assignment read the broad overview in Faces of History first to understand
the main ideas. Then read the more in-depth version of Breisach. Finally, read the actual primary
sources in Versions of History and on the links.
ASSIGNMENTS:
The course is set up for a fifteen week semester. Each week there will be one or more schools or time
periods discussed. A weekly journal of each historical school and historian needs to be kept and
maintained, one that answers the syllabus question. Each week the journal and evaluations should be
uploaded to the Blackboard site on the CLU website. At the end of the semester each student will do
a ten page research/context paper comparing and contrasting two historians from the same era. The
term context here means to “set down” the historian firmly in the appropriate historical period. How
did he/she live? Where? What was going on at the time? How did this worldview impact the
interpretation of history? The paper must be based on primary sources, as well as secondary sources
(only 25% may be off the internet unless it is a database for primary sources) and include not only the
historical time period that influenced the writer, but analysis and interpretation of the historian. Total
written work must be 40 pages or more.
Week 1: Myth-History
Reading : Faces, Chapter 1
Briasach, intro
Versions, pp. 1-27
Kojiki
http://www.ninpo.org/historicalrecords/kojiki.htm
http://www.ishwar.com/shinto/holy_kojiki/
Iliad (chapter 1): http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Question: Based on your reading of Greek Myth-history and Japanese Myth-history, what
commonalities do you see? In what ways are they dissimilar? How significant do you believe these
differences are?
Week 2: Greek Horizons
Readings: Faces, Chapter 2
Breisach, chaps. 1-3.
Versions, pp. 28-68
Question: How do you compare the methods and use of sources by Herodotus and Thucydides?
What does Thucydides think history is all about? Why do you think his reputation has endured? How
does the approach of Polybius differ from that of his predecessors? Why does it differ?
Week 3: Roman Foundations and Han China
Readings: Faces, Chapter 3
Breisach, chaps. 4-6
Versions, pp. 69-116
Han China source: Sima Quin http://www.humanistictexts.org/simaqian.htm
Question: What are the strengths and weaknesses of Livy as an historian? Do you detect in Tacitus
an agenda or attitude? If so, describe it. Sima Qian wrote over 130 chapters in what he intended to be
a full history of China. How useful is this work from the excerpt you read? How do you compare
him to Livy and Tactitus?
Week 4: Christian Interpretations
Readings: Faces, Chapter 4
Breisach, chaps. 7-8
Versions, pp. 117-166
Question: In what ways do Eusebius and Augustine differ in their views of history? What
specifically was Augustine’s contribution to historiography?
Week 5: The Medieval Mirror
Readings: Faces, Chapter 5
Breisach, chap. 9-10
Versions, pp. 167-217
Chretien de Troyes source: http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Lancelot/
Question: What do you think Bede was trying to accomplish with his history? Take a look at
Chretien de Troyes’s work on King Arthur. How do we separate these tales from myth?
Week 6: Renaissance Retrospection
Readings: Faces, Chapter 6
Breisach, chap. 11
Versions, pp. 218-310.
Islamic Source: Ibn Khaldun http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/klf.htm#MQDMA
http://www.cis-ca.org/voices/k/khaldun.htm
Question: What is different about Valla and his approach to history? Compare Machievelli and
Guiccardini and their respective views on Florentine politics. In what ways are they similar/different?
What do you think is the place of historiography in the Islamic world?
Week 7: Reformation Traditions
Readings: Faces, Chapter 7
Versions, pp. 311-369.
Question: What departures from traditional Christianized historiography do you see appearing in
Reformation historiography? What roles do the state of the Church and nascent nationalism play?
Week 8: The Science of History
Readings: Faces, Chapter 8
Versions, pp. 370-438
Question: Bacon and Raleigh represent two divergent British views of history. Why do their
viewpoints differ and whose viewpoint do you feel is most worthwhile? Why?
Week 9: Philosophic Enlightenment
Readings: Faces, Chapter 9
Versions, pp. 439-497
Question: Characterize the approaches of Volataire, Diderot, Hume, Vico and Condorcet and the
ways in which they viewed history. What contextual experiences from the world of religion,
philosophy, science and politics played a part in their decisions?
Week 10: Modern Historiography
Faces, Chapter 10
Question: Describe the ways in which history became professionalized? In what specific ways did
economic factors and scientific advances affect historical thinking? Use three specific historians and
cite how they individually were impacted by the changes of the 19th century.
Week 11: National History
Breisach, chaps. 14-16
Gibbon source: http://www.his.com/~z/gibbon.html short quotes. There is a huge zip
file if you want it!
Question: Explain how and why historiography “peaked” during this period? What specific events
or movements vaulted it into this prominence? Though this is the age of imperialism, it is also the
beginning of globalization. What impact did this trend have on the way historians did history?
Week 12: Science and Class
Breisach, chaps 17-20
Von Ranke bio: http://www.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/galerie/texte/rankee.htm
Turner source: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TURNER/
Question: How is history in this period influenced by economic theory (capitalism vs. communism)
and political philosophy (individualism vs. Nationalism)? What sort of historical determinism do you
see in these selections and what reactions occurred?
Week 13: World History and Historical Truth
Breisach, chaps. 21-23
Becker Speech: http://www.historians.org/info/AHA_history/clbecker.htm
Becker source: http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1524597
Meinecke source: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5070
Question: How did American historiography develop in a distinctly different direction from that of
the Europeans? You have now read a sampling of modern historians from both group. Cite specific
examples of the places in which they diverge. Postulate why this is.
Week 14: Changing Histories
Breisach, chaps. 24-26
Darnton speech: http://www.historians.org/info/aha_history/rdarnton.htm
Psychohistory: Lloyd DeMause. Some of this disturbing, so be aware.
http://web.archive.org/web/20021020174919/http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/found/contents.htm
Question: Freud’s impact on world history cannot be ignored, whether we like him or not. What
impact do you see on history studies by political ideologies and science/psychological theory? Cite
examples.
Week 15: Social History versus National History
Breisach, chaps. 27 thru Epilogue
Marc Bloch source: http://www.marcbloch.fr/english.html
Oswald Spengler source: http://www.duke.edu/~aparks/Spengler.html
Question: What were the defining characteristics of the 20th century French school of
historiography? How did it add value to the study of history? Was there a downside? What are the
values and weaknesses of cultural or national histories?
Have fun!:o)