Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Course Overview
This subject examines some of the many ways that contemporary historians interpret the past, as well as the multiple types of sources on which they rely for evidence. It is by no means an exhaustive survey, but the topics and readings have been chosen to give a sense of the diversity of work that is encompassed in the discipline of history.
Readings for this course include examples of agrarian history, historical demography, environmental history, microhistory, among other fields. Class discussions and topics are drawn from European, American, and Asian history.
Prerequisites
MIT students were required to obtain permission of the instructor.
Grading
This course requires:
- Weekly reading responses
- A journal assignment
- A 20–25 pages research paper
- Initiation of class discussion for sessions without a guest
Calendar
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | History and Place | |
| 3 |
18th c. Political Culture and 21st c. Digital Humanities Guest: Prof. Jeff Ravel | |
| 4 |
History and Material Evidence Guest: Prof. William Broadhead | |
| 5 |
Transnational History Guest: Prof. Sana Aiyar | |
| 6 | Academic Journals | Journal Assignment due |
| 7 | Maps as History | |
| 8 |
Public History Guest: Prof. Chris Capozzola | Archive for Final Paper due |
| 9 | History of a People | |
| 10 |
Environmental History Guest: Prof. Anya Zilberstein | |
| 11 |
History of Technology and Business Guest: Prof. JoAnne Yates | |
| 12 | Memoir as History | |
| 13 | Big History / Beyond History | |
| 14 | Oral Presentations of Final Papers | Final Paper due |