HIST 430
Toward a History of the Self in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Europe Fall 2009
Division II
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The self may appear to us as a fixed and stable entity that all people have in common throughout time. However this course puts forward a different view, suggesting that the self is context-specific and subject to the culture and society of particular places and historical eras. Using a range of sources that include historical writing, social theory, psychological theory, literary scholarship, diaries, memoirs, film, and art, we will examine changing, coexisting, and sometimes conflicting notions of selfhood in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the “individualism” seemingly legitimated by the French Revolution to modern and postmodern conceptions of the fragmented or decentered self, different narratives of the self have been elaborated during the prior two centuries which continue to influence how we think about identity and subjectivity. The goal of this course is to enable students to think historically about the concepts of self, person, or individual and to explore a range of intellectual approaches to analyzing the nature of the self. Seminar meetings will be devoted to the discussion of common readings. Students should develop research topics in consultation with the instructor.
The Class: Format: seminar
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: evaluation will be based on class participation, weekly response papers (2 pages), an oral presentation, and a final research paper (12-15 pages)
Distributions: Division II
Attributes: HIST Group C Electives - Europe and Russia

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