Chatham University
Proposal for a New Course
Undergraduate Programs Committee/Graduate Programs Committee/Continuing Education Governing Council
Person making the proposal:
2/13/13
Department/Program:
Alice Julier
Food Studies
Proposed course title:
(maximum twenty-five
characters, including spaces)
Formal catalogue description:
(50 word limit: present tense,
third person objective, either all
sentence fragments or all
complete sentences but not a
combination):
Oral History Intensive
This course is a practicum designed to allow students intensive
experience conducting oral history. It presumes a basic knowledge of
research methods and is meant to provide a platform for exploring
voice, history, and experience as key issues in the study of food,
agriculture, and society. Students will produce three oral history
interviews and participate in on-line and in-person discussions of
technique, theory, and function.
Course level and number:
(must be assigned by Registrar before the course proposal
is submitted)
FST 600
Summer
Term in which course is proposed to be offered:
Frequency and proposed scheduling of new course:
(one time only, annually, every other year, summer,
evening and weekend)
Prerequisites:
FST 511
(if any)
Credits to be offered:
Every semester
Grade option (A,A-,B+,B,B-,C+,C,F,P,NG,I,W,UW):
Enrollment limit:
1
Category most
applicable to this
new course
(Programs) to be
served:
Letter grade
10
X Traditional, as generally offered in corresponding departments in other
colleges
Relatively new, now being widely established
Not yet offered in many (or any) other colleges
Anticipated audience (i.e. traditional , Gateway, Continuing Education,
graduate) Certificate students
Course fulfills additional methods and research focused needs for FST
students.
Course rationale: (Why
is this course needed?)
How does the proposed
course fit into the liberal
arts curriculum of the
University? How does it
interface with the
general education
requirements?
Form #2B
It does not
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010
If the proposed course is added, will
No
another course be dropped? If so,
state the name(s) and number(s) of
the course(s) to be eliminated and the
effect of its (their) removal upon the
department’s or program’s
curriculum. Cite the advantages to
the student of the added course.
Has this course been proposed or passed at the undergraduate level?
Yes
No
X
Has this course been proposed or passed at the graduate level?
Yes
No
X
Will this course count toward fulfillment of an undergraduate
proficiency or general education requirement?
Yes
No
X
If yes, which one?
Evaluation:
(If this course is proposed as a
300/700 level course, please explain
the requirement that will distinguish
this course as a graduate course)
Attach evidences of
planning:






Course requirements are graduate level research projects.
Brief outline or syllabus of the course
Suggested texts, reading list, or bibliography
Methods to be used in evaluating student achievement
Problems foreseen in proposed course staffing
Will additional library resources be required or are current holdings
adequate?
Other problems or comments
Program Director Name:
Program Director Signature:
Date:
Dean Signature:
Date:
Alice Julier
Dean Name:
David Hassenzahl
Undergraduate Programs Committee Action:
Date:
Graduate Programs Committee Action:
Date:
Continuing Education Governing Council Action:
Date:
School of Sustainability and the Environment Committee Action:
Date:
Submit form to Dean and Committee Chair
Date referred for Catalogue Copy:
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010
ATTACH SYLLABUS HERE
FST 6XX
Oral History Intensive
Faculty: TBD
Contact: TBD
Office Hours:
Summer 2013
Online plus three classes
Course Description:
This course is a practicum designed to allow students intensive experience conducting oral history. It
presumes a basic knowledge of research methods and is meant to provide a platform for exploring
voice, history, and experience as key issues in the study of food, agriculture, and society. Students will
produce three oral history interviews and participate in on-line and in-person discussions of technique,
theory, and function.
The following topics will be covered in this course:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction to oral and video history
Memory, truth and distortion in oral history: questions of subjectivity and reliability
Ethical and legal aspects of oral history
The interview process and creating oral "texts" (pre-interview preparation, questions, technical
issues, post-interview, follow-up)
Racial, ethnic, gender, psychological, and ideological barriers and challenges in oral interviewing
Utilizing oral history in research/print
The uses of oral history for understanding food, culture, and agriculture
Transcribing, and indexing oral histories
Editing oral interviews for print and production
Student Learning Outcomes At the end of this course, students will be able to:



Develop research and analytical skills.
Practice collaborative community partnership skills and relationships
Develop effective communication skills using didactic and experiential learning methods.
Program Goals:
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010


Community building: Graduates will work as liaisons and collaborators in community-based
projects, both in directed coursework and in internship and field experiences. Emphasis will be
on task negotiation, network development, social interaction, and cultural acumen.
Methodological depth: Graduates will design and carry out research projects after evaluating
the effectiveness and applicability of various social scientific methods. By implementation,
students will articulate research questions, assess the strengths and weaknesses of different
research design and collection methods. Includes the ability to address cultural and ethical
issues, evaluate existing studies and results, and conceptualize field-based solutions.
Assignments: Students are expected to complete the assigned readings, attend all in-person and online
classes and participate actively in class discussions (please note that class participation constitutes 20%
of the final grade). There will be two written assignments in addition to three interviews:
- One short essay (2-3 pages) evaluating your first interview session. (10%)
- One short essay (3-5 pages) analyzing the use of oral history interviews in a book, video or radio
documentary, or museum exhibition. (10%)
- Three ninety-minute interviews. (These assignments include preparing the interview questions and a
bibliography of background materials as well as a log of one of the interview sessions.) (30%)
Grade Scale
Your total points will be assigned a letter grade based on the following scale:
A
=
100 - 94
A-
=
93 - 90
B+
=
89 - 87
B
=
86 - 84
B-
=
83 - 80
F
=
79 - 0
Please note that the graduate school requires a grade of B- or higher for the course to count towards
your degree completion. See Chatham Course Catalogue for more information)
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010
Class policies:
Every student enrolled at Chatham accepts the responsibility to attend all required class meetings. To
obtain the fullest benefit from their courses, students must participate fully. This implies attending
regularly, engaging in course activity, completing work on time, and making up work missed because of
an emergency absence. It is the student’s responsibility to let the course instructor know within the
drop-add period if he or she will have to miss class for religious reasons, athletics, or other.
Chatham University Honor Code: Chatham University students pledge to maintain the Honor Code,
which states in part: “Honor is that principle by which we at Chatham form our code of living, working,
and studying together. The standards of honor at Chatham require that all students act with intellectual
independence, personal integrity, honesty in all relationships, and consideration for the rights and well
being of others.” Information about the Honor Code is available in the Student Handbook.
Cheating and Plagiarism:
Cheating is defined as the attempt, successful or not, to give or obtain aid and/or information by illicit
means in meeting any academic requirements, including examinations. Plagiarism is defined as the use,
without proper acknowledgement, of the ideas, phrases, sentences, or larger units of discourse from
another writer or speaker.
Disability Statement:
Chatham University is committed to providing an environment that ensures that no individual is
discriminated against on the basis of her/his disability. Students with disabilities, as defined under the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and who need special academic accommodations, should
notify the assistant dean of the PACE Center as soon as possible. The PACE Center will work with
students and the course instructor to coordinate and monitor the provision of reasonable academic
accommodations.
Non-Registered Students Policy:
In accordance with University policy, only officially registered students may attend this class and all
other classes offered at the University after the drop/add period. Please confer with your academic
advisor if you need assistance with the registration process or you need additional information.
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010
Course Schedule
Week One – (in person meeting)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Setting up overview of individual projects
Discussion of oral history theory, ethics
Methods basics
Exercise on generating questions and interview techniques
Sharing comparable interviews
IRB prep (if necessary)
Weeks Two – Four ( online)
Question development; Assessing contacts; Ethical issues 2, IRB issues
Weeks Five – Six (online)
Testing the interview guide, setting up interviews, forum on uses and formats for presenting oral history
Ist paper due
Week Seven or Eight (in person meeting)
Practice interviewing, reviewing sources, field trip to historical site and conversation with key
informants.
Week Nine through Thirteen
Doing Oral History Interviews, transcribing
1st transcript due week 11
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010
Week Fourteen
Class recap and discussion of technique, final products.
READINGS AND OTHER RESOURCES
On-line sources
http://www.oralhistory.org
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
Library of Congress - American Folklife Center http://www.loc.gov/folklife/
Alan Lomax's Association for Cultural Equity http://www.culturalequity.org
American Life Histories, Federal Writers’ Project http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpahome.html
Baylor University Institute for Oral History: http://www.baylor.edu/oral_history/
Pittsburgh and Beyond: The Experience of the Jewish Community:
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/n/ncjw/
City of Memory: http://www.cityofmemory.org
Working Class Public History (Concordia University):
http://storytelling.concordia.ca/workingclass/index.html
“Learning to Listen: Interview Techniques and Analyses” by Kathryn Anderson and Dana C. Jack from
Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History (Routledge 1991), Edited by Sherna Berger Gluck
and Daphne Patal
“Ethics and Interpersonal Relationships in Oral History Research” by Valerie Yow from Oral History
Review Vol. 22 No. 1 (Oxford University Press 1995)
“Do I Like Them Too Much? Effects of the Oral History Interview on the Interviewer and Vice-Versa”
by Valerie Yow from The Oral History Reader 2nd Edition (Routledge 1998, 2006) Edited by Robert Perks
and Alistair Thompson
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010
“Interpersonal Relations in the Interview” from Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and
Social Sciences, 2nd Edition by Valerie Raleigh Yow (AltaMira 2005)
“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh
http://www.lilithgallery.com/feminist/modern/WhitePrivilege-MalePrivilege.html
“Deep Listening” from Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames (Riverhead 2002) by Thich Nhat Hanh
“The Interview” from The Tape-Recorded Interview: A Manual for Field Workers in Folklore and Oral
History 2nd Edition (Univ of TN Press 1974, 1995) by Edward D. Ives
“A Life-Story Interview Guide” from The Voice of the Past: Oral History 3rd Edition (Oxford Univ Press
2000) by Paul Thompson
"Women's Oral History Resource Section" from Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies, Vol 2, No 2,
(University of Nebraska Press Summer 1977)
“Legalities and Ethics” from Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2nd
Edition by Valerie Raleigh Yow (AltaMira 2005)
“Legal Release Agreements” and “Oral History on the Internet” from A Guide to Oral History and the
Law by John Neuenschwander (Oxford University Press 2009)
“Indexing” and “Depositing the Interview” from Transcribing and Editing Oral History by Willa K. Baum
(American Association for State and Local History 1971, 1991)
“Analysis and Interpretation” from Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities and Social
Sciences, 2nd Edition by Valerie Raleigh Yow (AltaMira 2005)
Digital Audio Best Practices http://www.bcr.org/cdp/best/digital-audio-bp.pdf
“Can History Be Open Source?” by Roy Rosenweig from Journal of American History Vol. 93, No. 1
(2006): http://chnm.gmu.edu/essays-on-history-new- media/essays/?essayid=42
“Private Memory in a Public Space: Oral History and Museums” by Selma Thomas from Oral History
and Public Memories Edited by Paula Hamilton and Linda SHopes (Temple University Press, 2008)
Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," from Not June
Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960 edited by Joanne Meyerowitz
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1994).
Katherine Borland, "'That's Not What I Said': Interpretive Conflict in Oral Narrative Research," from
Women's Words .
Clifford E. Clark, Jr., "Ranch-House Suburbia: Ideals and Realities," from Recasting America: Culture and
Politics in the Age of Cold War edited by Lary May (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989).
Form #2B
Proposal for a New Course
June 2010