Fall 2014
Department of History
GRADUATE
Course Description Guide
University of Massachusetts
Department of History
Graduate Course Description Guide
Fall 2014
Advanced undergraduates are invited to inquire about enrolling in graduate courses. Such
enrollment depends on the permission of individual instructors who should be contacted directly.
Questions can also be directed to the Graduate Program Director, Barbara Krauthamer, at
irenek@history.umass.edu.
605
Approaches to World History
J. Higginson
659
Public History
J. Olsen
691N
Conservation/Nature &Culture
D. Glassberg
691P
Intro to History
B. Krauthamer
691V/791V
U.S. and the World in the Age of Emancipation
S. Cornell
693D/793D
Colonialism & Imperialism in the Modern World
H. Scott
791B
U.S. Women & Gender History
L. Lovett
You may take two courses outside the department that will count toward your degree. Check
Spire to see graduate course offerings beyond our department. Students often find relevant
courses in Anthropology, English, the W.E. B. Du Bois Department of African American
Studies; Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, Public Policy, and other places around
campus.
The following courses are undergraduate courses in which seats have also been reserved for
graduate students with an interest in this topic. Graduate enrollment is capped at 8 for these
courses.
692G
Germany since 1945
J. Olsen
697S
Scientific Revolution
B. Ogilvie
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History 597
Under the University Numbering System, M.A. students wishing to enroll in an upper-level
undergraduate course (at UMass or on one of the Give College campuses) may do so under the
special topics number, History 597, with permission from the instructor and also with the
understanding that instructors will require additional work of graduate students in those courses.
signed by the faculty member teaching the course (turn this in to Mary Lashway in Herter 612).
Check SPIRE for the listings of undergraduate courses.
There are forms available in Herter 612 describing the additional work to be bperfromed for
graduate credit; these must be signed by the instructor. Students will be responsible for
discussing the course requirements with instructors. Please see the Graduate Program Assistant
about registration to ensure that a grade will be submitted for you at the end of the semester.
Only two 597 courses may count as topics courses towards completion of the M.A. degree.
History 696 or 796 (Independent Study)
Students may enroll in independent studies as either History 696 (reading independent study) or
History 796 (research/writing independent study) with a faculty member overseeing the plan of
study.
To enroll in History 696 or 796 pick up an independent study form from Mary Lashway in
Herter 612. This form must be filled out including name, student number, course number (696 or
796), credits, a detailed description of the plan of work for the independent study (e.g. research
paper, book reviews, historiography, essays, etc.), and signed by the professor overseeing the
independent study. After it has been filled out and signed it needs to be returned to Mary
Lashway to be entered on Spire. Only two independent studies may be counted towards
completion of the M.A. degree.
Scheduled Courses:
605
Approaches to World History
John Higginson
Wednesday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
Our course begins with a glance at the world before the dramatic geographical shift of the lines
of power and wealth that precipitated the rise of the North Atlantic countries of Western Europe
at the close of the fifteenth century. There was no single reason for the shift from the countries
bordering the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea to those on the northern coast of the Atlantic
Ocean. Nor did it happen all at once. But by the end of the eighteenth century, from the vantage
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point of European observers like Adam Smith, it appeared to be permanent and
indelible. Meanwhile Qen Lung, the Qing Emperor of China, thought it hardly worthy of
notice. What made for such a disparity in perspectives? Much of our work this semester will be
focused on such questions. We will also be concerned to examine the historiography of global or
world history since the publication of Fernand Braudel’s La Mediteranee. The course ends with
an examination of the world since the practical application of powerful forces such as fossil
fuels, nuclear power, microprocessing and genetic engineering. At its conclusion, the course will
pay particular attention to the challenge that North Pacific Asian economic performance and a
global resurgence of Islam offer to continued western dominance of global affairs. This course
satisfies the historiography requirement for M.A. students.
659
Public History
Jon Olsen
Wednesday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the world of Public History - both the ideas and
questions that make it tick, and the practical, on-the-ground concerns that confront public
historians in a variety of professional settings. The course will turn on five key concept areas that
inform the world of public history: History and Memory; Shared Authority and/or Inquiry;
Agendas and Audiences; Legal and Ethical Frameworks; and Economics and Entrepreneurship.
We will examine issues that are particular relevant to public historians who work in museums,
historic sites, historic preservation agencies, archives, new media, and documentary film. Note:
This course is required for those seeking the Graduate Certificate in Public History.
691N
Conservation/Nature & Culture
David Glassberg
Tuesday & Thursday, 2:30pm-3:45pm
This course will explore the history of various efforts over the past 200 years to conserve nature
and culture. Primarily, it's a history of the conservation movement in North America, but
students will also be encouraged to think broadly about what the idea of "conservation" means in
archeology, folklore, historic preservation, and the fine arts, both here and around the
world. While we will encounter examples of the conservation of nature without culture, and the
conservation of culture without nature, the fundamental premise of the course is that the
conservation of nature and culture are inextricably intertwined; nature cannot truly be conserved
without also conserving the culture that has shaped it, and culture cannot truly be conserved
without also conserving the natural world in which it rests.
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691P
Intro to History
Barbara Krauthamer
Monday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
This course is required for all incoming Master’s students. It is designed to introduce students to
various fields of study, and as far as possible, the range of research and graduate teaching
interests of faculty in the UMass/Five College Graduate Program in History. Through the study
of scholarly monographs and other readings we will explore the different methods of research
and writing history. A preliminary reading list will be sent to all incoming students over the
summer.
691V/791V U.S. and the World in the Age of Emancipation
Sarah Cornell
Thursday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
The history of the U.S. Civil War is often framed as a purely domestic conflict. But global
currents shaped the United States on the road to disunion, during the war and its aftermath. In
turn, events in the United States during this era influenced developments around the globe. This
course will begin by examining the transnationalization of U.S. history from its roots in the
1890s to its recent resurgence in the wake of the Organization of American Historians’ 1996
Project on Internationalizing the Study of American History. We will then investigate U.S.
slavery and secession, including the roles played by the Haitian Revolution, West Indian
Emancipation, nationalism, unification, and separatist movements in Europe. We will then turn
to the war itself, studying its place in 19th-century warfare, foreigners in the armies, and
diplomacy. Finally, we will study U.S. Reconstruction in light of transnational trends creating
new racial and labor practices and political regimes. Along the way, we will examine different
historians’ approaches and methodologies that seek to link the local, national, and the global.
Students will be required to write a book review, create a short lesson plan to locate the U.S.
Civil War Era in a world perspective, and produce an historiographical essay. The course may
also be used to satisfy the 700-level research seminar requirement.
693D/793D
Colonialism & Imperialism/Modern World
Heidi Scott
Monday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
European colonial and imperial ventures in Africa, Asia and the Americas played a central role
in the shaping of the modern world and the economic, political, and cultural geographies that
characterize it. European colonialism, however, was by no means a monolithic phenomenon but
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took on varied forms in diverse times and places and was shaped as well as challenged by the
cultures and societies that were affected by it in different parts of the globe.
This course introduces students to key contemporary scholarship on the histories and
historiography of colonial and imperial ventures since 1492 and aims to develop students’
critical understanding of the concepts of colonialism and imperialism through the comparison of
varied colonial societies as well as of varied approaches to their study. The first section of the
course is organized chronologically and geographically around key studies relating to colonial
cultures in particular regions of the world, beginning with the Iberian conquest and colonization
of the Americas. The second section is organized thematically and explores a variety of themes
(for example, environmental history and empire, space, gender) that are prominent in
contemporary scholarship of colonialism and imperialism. A concluding seminar considers the
theoretical and methodological challenges of ‘reading’ the imperial archive.
Students are required to read one book per week. Writing assignments include an extended essay
and book reviews. The course may also be used to satisfy the 700-level research seminar
requirement.
791B
U.S. Women & Gender History
Laura Lovett
Tuesday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
This research seminar encourages research and writing on the history of women and/or gender in
America from 1600 to the present. The course requires the completion of a potentially
publishable paper or project, e.g. oral history project.
During the first half of the semester, our focus will be on historical methods, varieties of modes
of historical writing, and writing techniques. We will schedule a visit to the Sophia Smith Center
at Neilson Library at Smith College and other local archives. The second half of the semester is
devoted to the first draft of your paper or project and the revision process, culminating with your
submission of a final draft by the end of the semester.
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The following courses are undergraduate courses in which seats have also been reserved for graduate
students with an interest in this topic. Graduate enrollment is capped at 8 for these courses.
692G
Germany since 1945
Jon Olsen
TBA, TBA
This course will offer a comparative study of East, West, and post-1990 united Germany. The course
will explore the history and politics of contemporary Germany and look at the evolution of political
and cultural life in the two German states and united Germany. Topics covered will include: the
division of Germany; cultural life in East and West; popular protest movements; the environmental
movement; coming to terms with the past; unification; immigration; and other related topics. The
format of the class is a seminar and will usually involve reading a book or a collection of articles
each week. Students will also complete a major research paper.
697S
Scientific Revolution
Brian Ogilvie
Tuesday, 2:30pm-5:00pm
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, something important happened to the way Europeans
understood the world. This shift in understanding has conventionally been called “the Scientific
Revolution.” But some modern scholars deny that such a thing ever happened. In this course we will
approach the Scientific Revolution from a broad historiographical perspective, with a focus on the
discipline of history of science but drawing also on intellectual history and the history of philosophy.
Our trajectory will follow modern interpretations, from the metaphysical and methodological
approaches that characterized the early twentieth century, through social and epistemological
approaches, to the contextual, cultural approaches that characterize history of science at the
beginning of the twenty-first century. By following the changing interpretations of the Scientific
Revolution from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, students will come to better
understand both the Scientific Revolution itself and the development of modern history of science.
Students may register for this course as an undergraduate honors course (497S) or as a graduate
readings course (697S).
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Additional Course Options
— enrollment requires instructor permission
You may take two courses outside the department that will count toward your degree. Below are
several that may be of interest to you. As always, please refer to SPIRE for the most current class
information, and contact the course instructor directly for
permission to enroll. This is just a sampling of courses
Select Continuing
from outside the History Department that may be of interest
Education Courses
to our graduate students. Please see Spire and/or
departmental websites to see what other courses are
available.
Some courses of interest are offered
regularly through the University’s
partnership with Hancock Shaker
Village. Designed to support the
curriculum of the MS degree in
Design/Historic Preservation and run
through the Continuing and
Professional Education arm of the
University, seats in these classes are
available on a limited basis via
special arrangement. Fall 2012
courses include Max Page’s History
and Theory of Preservation (meeting
alternate Friday afternoons), and U.S.
Architectural History. For details on
how to enroll, contact the Graduate
Program Assistant in Herter 612.
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