Nancy Fitch
Fall 2008
HIST 501, Section 1, Schedule # 14299
H 121
Th. 7:00-9:45 p.m.
Office: H820M
Office Phone: 714-278-2964
Office Hours: TTh 12-2,and by appointment
Email: nfitch@fullerton.edu
C O U R S E D E S C R I P T I O N A N D L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
 Course Description: Welcome to History 501. This graduate reading and
 discussion course introduces students to key methodological and philosophical issues in history. Some of you may be confused by the term “historical theory,” since it implies variation beyond mere fact. That is precisely the point. We will study history from an epistemological standpoint. That is to say we will consider it as a constructed and fluid body of knowledge, one that has changed significantly in its techniques and in relation to other disciplinary fields over time, especially in the last twenty years. I have tried to chose authors and texts from a range of historical fields and time periods, although most of these works deal with the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a reflection of my own area of expertise.
Learning objectives: The general goal of all history department courses is to help students become historically literate. Such literacy is achieved if students are able to o demonstrate knowledge of historical, facts, themes, and ideas; o demonstrate the ability to reason through analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of historical evidence; and o demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate historical knowledge and reasoning orally and in writing both individually and in cooperative learning venues.
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Historical Knowledge: The course is designed to help you better understand the theoretical and methodological influences that have been most important in shaping the current discipline of history.

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Historical Reasoning: The course is also intended to help you learn to critically analyze recent secondary works more effectively by improving your ability to o recognize that the past is represented in a variety of ways; o recognize and critically interrogate secondary interpretations of other historians; o identify the theoretical and methodological approaches employed in secondary works; o understand documentary criticism and interpretation; o read more critically; o evaluate the different ways historians use evidence; o put more independent thought and reflection into essays; o argue your own position against other points of view.
Communication: Finally, the course is intended to improve your ability to communicate your ideas effectively through formal written essays and frequent participation in class discussions. Such exercises will help you to o effectively express complex ideas both orally and in writing by summarizing and paraphrasing professional historians’ ideas as well as by articulating your own critical observations; o adhere to conventions of good historical essay writing, especially through rigorous documentation.
Note!! Class participation is a must. In class debates will be conducted on sound evidence and in the spirit of balanced academic inquiry. Disruptive behavior and/or Ad Hominem arguments will result you being dropped from the class. Period.
You are expected to come to class. If you have three or more unexcused absenses, you will receive a “D” in the discussion portion of the class. If you miss five or more classes without some extraordinary reasons, you will receive an “F” for this portion of the class.
I will also create an electronic bulletin board, which will also be used toward the discussion portion of your grade.
R E Q U I R E D C O U R S E M A T E R I A L (Reading List)
 This is your core reading list of books, and they are available at the "Little Professor
Book Center", 725 N. Placentia Avenue, Fullerton, CA 92632; Phone: (714) 996-
3133; Fax: (714) 528-1888; E-mail: lpbc@earthlink.net
--Cohn, Bernard, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India
--Laura Lee Downs, Writing Gender History
--Prasenjit Duara, Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern
China
--Paul du Gay, et al, Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman
-Linda España-Maram, Creating Masculinity in Los Angeles’s Little Manilla: Working-
Class Filipinos and Popular Culture, 1920s-1950s
--Stuart Hall, ed., Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices
--David Harvey, Paris: Capital of Modernity
--Brian Ladd, The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape
--Jeffrey Nealson and Susan Searls Giroux, The Theory Toolbox: Critical Concepts for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
--Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation
--John Storey, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader , 3rd ed.
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Additional reading will be posted under “Course Documents” in the Blackboard site for this course.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
 Three Essays c. 4-5 pp. at 15% each:
Essay 1 will cover the material from weeks1-5 and is due September 25
Essay 2 will cover the material from weeks 5-10 and is due November 6
Essay 3 will cover the material from weeks 10-15 and is due December
10
Each essay must be on a topic related to the readings for the section, although it does not have to be about the readings per se or the exactly same topic discussed in the class. It can be a commentary on the weekly subject in a certain way, a review of readings or related literature, or an essay that compares and contrasts two or more of the readings. You should address key thematical, methodological , and theoretical issues.
 Discussion (Including Electronic Bulletin Board Discussion) 15% :
This is a discussion class; you will be expected to participate.
 Final Essay (40%) : The final project will involve doing cultural history.
You should take an artifact, a site, a text, an image, etc and write a 10-15 paper analyzing it using the framework laid out in Doing Cultural Studies
G R A D I N G P O L I C Y Your grades on the papers will be based on three major, closely related criteria:
1. Use of relevant class material, including readings, lectures, discussions, and films.( evidence )
2. Expression of ideas in a clear, concise, and engaging prose ( style )
3. Development of an argument or point of view that is pertinent to the issue at hand and that has breadth, coherence, and insight ( interpretation )
These criteria will translate into grades as follows:
A : excellent in all three areas . Offers an insightful argument based on ample, sound evidence.
B: good . Strong in all three areas or notable strengths in one balanced by weaknesses in another.
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C: average . Adequate performance in one or more areas offset by serious weakness in others that leaves presentation fragmented, unclear, or narrow.
D: poor . Notable problems in all three areas. Remedial work needed to improve substantive understanding or basic communication.
F: unacceptable . Serious flaws in all three areas.
No evident engagement in the assignment.
100%
93-99%
90-92%
87-89%
83-86%
80-82%
77-79%
73-76%
70-72%
67-69%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
63-66%
60-62%
59% and below
D
D-
F
If you do not understand the basis of the grade you received or if you disagree with the assessment, please speak with the professor. Wait at least 24 hours after receiving the grade to re-read professor comments and reflect on the evaluation. Please act within a couple of weeks of the return of the exam.
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COURSE CALENDAR
Thursday, August 28
Week 1: Introduction —History: Past, Present, and Future—The State of the
Discipline in 2008 a. Relationship of Western history to the rise of the nation state and why it matters b. The fragmentation of the nation and its history c. Globalization of commodities/hyperreal saturation of commodities —do they render any national/local interpretations problematic?
What does this mean?
--Historians asking new kinds of questions, using new approaches to grapple with new problems
--How useful are these theories to earlier periods?
—maybe very useful
--Why one should think of theories as tools in a toolbox —you use a hammer to put a nail in the wall; a screwdriver to drive a screw —a hammer is useless with screws; screwdrivers probably not that much help with nails  not all theories will be useful in all circumstances  the objective in knowing theories is not to force the use of a specific theory in a particular situation, but to become comfortable enough with theories to help you with your work
Thursday, September 4
Week 2: Why Theory?
Required Reading
-The Theory Toolbox , Chs. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
--Gordon Wood, The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Use of History
(selection)
Thursday, September 11
Week 3: Identity, Subjectivity, Agency
Required Reading
-The Theory Toolbox , Chs. 4, 11
-Stuart Hall, “Who Needs ‘Identity’?” in Questions of Cultural Identity
[Blackboard]
-Lawrence Grossberg, “Identity and Cultural Studies—Is That All There Is?” in
Questions of Cultural Identity [Blackboard]
-“Making Sense of the Walkman” in Doing Cultural Studies
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Thursday, September 18
Week 4: Inescapable Marx
Required Reading (note most of these are very short)
-E.P. Thompson, “Preface from The Making of the English Working Class ” in
Storey
-Gareth Stedman Jones, “Working Class Culture…” in Storey
-K. Marx and F. Engels, “Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas” in Storey
-K. Marx, “Base and Superstructure” in Storey
-F. Engels, “Letter to Joseph Bloch” in Storey
-A. Gramsci, “Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State” in Storey
--Tony Benn ett, “Popular Culture and the ‘Turn to Gramsci’” in Storey
-John Storey, “Rockin’ Hegemony: West Coast Rock and Amerika’s War in
Vietnam” in Storey
-Mikhai Bakhtin, “Carnival and the Carnivalesque” in Storey
-Stuart Hall, “Notes on Deconstructing the Popular” in Storey (recommended)
-“The Production of the Sony Walkman” in Doing Cultural Studies
(recommended)
Thursday, September 25
Week 5: Anthropology and History: Colonialism
**FIRST ESSAY DUE**
Required Reading
--Cohn, Colonialism and Forms of Knowledge
Thursday, October 2
Week 6: Foucault and History/Discourse in Historical Analysis
Required Reading
-Michel Foucault, “Method” in Storey
-Michel Foucault, “Panopticism” in Visual Culture: The Reader [Blackboard]
--
Stuart Hall, “The Work of Representation” in Hall,
Representation
--Henriet ta Lidchi, “The Poetics and the Politics of Exhibiting Other Cultures” in
Hall, Representation
Thursday, October 9
Week 7: Discourses of Race, Religion, and the Other
Required Reading
--Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes , whole book, but especially 1-68, 111-197
Thursday, October 16
Week 8: The Construction of Gender and Subjectivity
Required Reading
-Joan Wallach Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis”
--Laura Lee Downs, Writing Gender History , Introduction, Chs. 1-6
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Thursday, October 23
Week 9: Practices and Discourses of Gender and Sexuality
Required Reading
--Downs, Chs. 7-10, conclusion
-Linda España-Maram,
Thursday, October 30
Creating Masculinity in Los Angeles’s Little Manila
Week 10: Gender Representations in Gender Studies
Required Reading
-Sean Nixon, “Exhibiting Masculinity” in Hall, Representation
-Christine Gledhell, “Genre and Gender: The Case of Soap Opera” in Hall,
Representation
Thursday, November 6
**SECOND ESSAY DUE**
Week 11: Questioning the Nation and Political Categories
Required Reading
--Prasenjit Duara, Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of
Modern China , whole book, but especially 3-50, 85-146, 229-236
--Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, selections [Blackboard]
-Paul Gilroy, “Melancholia or Conviviality: The Politics of Belonging in Britain” in
Soundings [Blackboard]
Thursday, November 13
Week 12: Theorizing Visual Culture
Required Reading
-Stuart Hall, “The Spectacle of the ‘Other’” in Hall, Representation
-“Practices of Looking: Images, Power, and Politics” and “Viewers Make
Meaning” in Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright,
Practices of Looking [Blackboard]
-“Designing the Walkman: Articulating Production and Consumption” in Doing
Cultural Studies [Blackboard]
Thursday, November 20
Week 13: Constructing Space and Place: Cities and Modernity
Required Reading
--David Harvey, Paris: Capital of Modernity
**NOVEMBER 24-NOVEMBER 30 – THANKSGIVING BREAK – NO CLASS**
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Thursday, December 4
Week 14: Ghost Stories: History and Historical Memory
Required Reading
--Brian Ladd, Ghosts of Berlin
Recommended Reading
--Avery F. Gordon, Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination
Thursday, December 10
**THIRD ESSAY DUE**
Week 15: Postmodernism
Required Reading
-Jean Baudrillard, “The Precession of Simulacra” in Storey
-Dick Hebdige, “Style” [Blackboard]
-Elisabeth Wilson, “Fashion and Postmodernism” in Storey
-Dick Hebdige, “Postmodernism and ‘The Other Side’” in Storey
--Andrew Goodwin, “Popular Music and Postmodern Theory”
-“Consuming the Walkman” in Doing Cultural Studies (recommended)
Thursday, December 17
**FINAL PAPER DUE**
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COURSE POLICIES
 Academic dishonesty: "Following procedures of due process established pursuant to Section 41304 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, any student of a campus may be expelled, suspended, placed on probation or given a lesser sanction for one or more of the following causes which must be campus related: a. Cheating or plagiarism in connection with an academic program at a campus; (...) "Academic dishonesty includes such things as cheating, inventing false information or citations, plagiarism and helping someone else commit an act of academic dishonesty . . . . Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking the work of another and offering it as one's own without giving credit to that source.
When sources are used in a paper, acknowledgment of the original author or source must be made through appropriate reference and, if directly quoted, quotation marks or indentations must be used."
( http://owaportal.fullerton.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.fullerton.ed
 u/handbook/policy/discipline.htm
; accessed 3 February 2004).
Behavior: The following is not acceptable: arriving late for class, leaving class early, eating in class, bringing beepers and phones that "go off" audibly during class meetings. Such "not acceptable" behavior will affect your in-class participation grade.
 Blackboard: Blackboard is a course management system which will be available for this class. Course documents will be placed in respective
Blackboard folders.
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E-mail: You are encouraged to e-mail the instructor your questions and comments. However, I will only check my email every other day. If your campus email is not your primary account you should make sure that your campus email
“points” to your main account—e.g. hotmail, yahoo, etc. If you do not do this you
 will miss important messages.
 Exams: There are no exams in this class.
Special needs: If you have a special need that you would like for the instructor to accommodate it is your obligation to contact Disabled Student Services as soon as possible (UH-101; Phone: (714) 278-3117; E-mail: mailto:dsservices@fullerton.edu
) and obtain written verification of this special need and then present this verification to the instructor.
 Submitting assignments: Unless otherwise specified in class (and in writing), all assignments are to be submitted as hard copies, i.e. on paper, and not via email.
 Syllabus Caveat: "Faculty shall not be bound to adhere to their course outlines on a strict day-today basis, but should follow their outlines as much as is reasonably possible. After distribution of course outlines to students, major assignment or course requirement changes (e.g. additional term papers or examinations) must be announced to students with reasonable timetable for completion." (UPS 300.004)
 Technical problems: If you have technical problems (e.g. with the login to
Blackboard or with accessing the CSUF campus computer resources, including the CSUF library computers), call (714) 278-7777. Please note that this hotline is not available 24/7.
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