THEORIES OF HISTORY (HIST 698)
Dr. Jeffrey Bell (jbell@selu.edu)
Course website: http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/jbell
A guiding theme of this graduate seminar is the relationship between narrative and
history. It is a given that history often reads like a story. In fact, many claim that the best
history teachers are the ones who present the material in the form of a story. Students will
often remark that when a teacher presents history as an unfolding narrative and story, they
make history come “alive.” Such an approach to history, however, is not without its
critics. For one, presenting history as an unfolding story presupposes a continuity or even
an intentionality that may never have been present when a particular incident occurred.
Moreover, the historical record, at least in the form of documentation and evidence, does
not always lend itself to the continuous presentation so crucial to many narrative styles.
From this perspective, a good historian may indeed need to be a bad teacher (e.g., Ranke).
Another presupposition intimately tied to historical narrative is the passage of time. What
time-frame does a particular historical narrative involve, and are there different possible
time-frames (Braudel will claim there are)? Related again to this theme is the notion of
causality. Within a traditional narrative, events in the past, or intentions in the past, are
understood to be the cause of later events; therefore, in reconstructing the past, a historian
seeks to unearth the intentions and events which caused later events. Once finished, the
historian then presents his/her findings in the manner of a story. But is this understanding
of causality in historical explanation adequate? Does not the historian have to interpret, to
some degree, the significance of events and hence their causal efficacy (e.g., do we
prioritize economic factors, psychological factors, or some other event as the primary
causal agent)? And to what extend do present circumstances dictate our interpretation of
the past in our quest to find the cause of this present circumstance? In this case, then, the
present paradoxically causes the past, or our interpretation of the significance of the past.
We could go on, and in this seminar we will address these questions and many others.
Format. Each seminar will be divided into two parts. In the first, I will give a
presentation of the themes and problems brought out by the reading for that day. I will
also set these problems into their more general philosophical, historiographical context.
The second half of each seminar will consist of a discussion of the reading(s). This
discussion will either be led by one of the seminar participants who have selected
something from the readings list (times will be determined at the beginning of the
semester) or by myself. Towards the end of the semester, seminar participants will
present the arguments and findings of their seminar papers.
Participants are expected to take an active part in seminar discussions. Each requirement
is built into the Seminar schedule. Attendance and participation are mandatory. My
Office hours are MTWTh 9-11, or by appointment. Telephone, ext. 3918.
Required Readings:
Michel Foucault – “Society Must be Defended”
Georg Iggers – Historiography in the Twentieth Century
Carlo Ginzburg – The Cheese and the Worms
Fernand Braudel – On History
online readings:
Jeffrey Bell, “Becoming Civil: History and the Discipline of Institutions”
Lorraine Daston, “Marvelous Facts and Miraculous Evidence in Early Modern Europe”
Carlo Ginzburg, “Clues: Roots of a Scientific Program”
J. Paul Hunter, “‘News and New Things’: Contemporaneity and the Early English Novel”
Paul Ricoeur, "History and Hermeneutics"
Quentin Skinner, “Hermeneutics and the Role of History”
Hayden White, "The Metaphysics of Narrativity: Time and Symbol in Ricoeur's
Philosophy of History"
SEMINAR REQUIREMENTS
Reviews of required texts (30%)
Each participant is required to write a critical review of all of the required books, with the
exception of Iggers' book. These reviews are to meet scholarly guidelines for your
standard journal book review. Reviews are to be 500-750 words long (2-3 pages).
Discussion Leader (20%)
Seminar participants are required to lead a discussion on two separate occasions. On the
first occasion, discussions will be focused upon the reading of a book from the attached
reading list. Discussion leaders are responsible for providing a 4-5 page book review to
all the other participants. Each review should outline the general themes and arguments of
the book being discussed. The discussion leader will then give a brief presentation of the
themes of the argument and lead a discussion of these themes as they apply to other
themes of the seminar. On the second occasion, participants are to present an outline of
their seminar paper (including thesis, purpose, and findings).
Seminar Paper (50%)
This paper is to be on a topic related to the themes and topics covered in the seminar. The
paper is to be 15 to 20 pages long, and it must incorporate reading material besides what
we have discussed in the seminar (you may write on the book you chose for your first
discussion). The major requirement of this seminar paper, and of this seminar itself, is to
be able to present, write, and defend a solid piece of historical writing and argument.
Theories of History (Hist 698) Calendar:
June 5
Introduction and assignment of discussion leaders
June 10
Iggers, Introduction and Chapters 1-4
Daston, "Marvelous Facts and Miraculous Evidence in Early Modern
Europe"
June 12
Foucault, “Society Must be Defended”
June 17
continue with Foucault.
June 19
finish Foucault.
Ginzburg, “Clues: Roots of a Scientific Paradigm”
June 24
Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms
June 26
finish Ginzburg.
Discussion leader(s):
July 1
________________________
Iggers, Chs. 5-7
Braudel, On History
July 3
On History
Discussion leader(s):
________________________
July 8
Skinner, “Hermeneutics and the Role of History”
Hunter, “‘News and New Things’: Contemporaneity and the Early English
Novel”
Discussion leader(s):
________________________
July 10
Iggers, Chs. 8-11 and Epilogue
Ricoeur, “History and Hermeneutics”
Discussion leader(s):
________________________
July 15
White, “The Question of Narrative in Contemporary Historical Theory”
Discussion leader(s):
________________________
July 17
Bell, “Becoming Civil: History and the Discipline of Institutions”
Discussion leader(s):
________________________
July 22
Seminar papers due
Seminar Paper presentations:
_______
TBA and Conclusion.
Seminar Paper critiques:
_______
July 24
Reading List for History 698 (Theories of History)
√ = SLU Library has the book.
√ Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, Charles Beard
Railroads and American Economic Growth, Robert Fogel and Douglass North
√ Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto, Walt Rostow
Martin Luther: A Destiny, Lucien Febvre
√ The Historian’s Craft, Marc Bloch
√ Feudal Society, Marc Bloch
√ The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, Fernand
Braudel
8. The Peasants of Languedoc, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
9. √ Montaillou, Ladurie
10. Centuries of Chilhood, Philippe Ariès
11. √ The Hour of Our Death, Philippe Ariès
12. The Categories of Medieval Culture, Aaron Gurevich
13. √ The Making of the English Working Class, Edward P. Thompson
14. √ The Affluent Society, John Kenneth Galbraith
15. √ The End of Ideology, Daniel Bell
16. The Other America, Michael Harrington
17. Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in 16th and 17th
Century Europe, Keith Thomas
18. √ Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, Peter Burke
19. √ Society and Culture in Early Modern France, Natalie Davis
20. Inheriting Power: The Story of an Exorcist, Giovanni Levi
21. Europe and the Peoples Without a History, Eric Wolf
22. Sweetness and Power: Sugar in Modern History, Sidney Mintz
23. √ Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland,
Christopher Browning
24. Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in the Nineteenth Century in Europe,
Hayden White
25. √ The Great Cat Massacre, Robert Darnton
26. √ Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime to
1848, William Sewell
27. Gender and the Politics of History, Joan Scott
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