HIST 301
Approaching the Past: Practices of Modern History
Last Offered Fall 2008
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

What is history? What is it that historians do? In this course, students will explore questions of how and why we historians practice our craft. The first section of the course will examine how historians come to know, think about, and understand the past. Issues of the nature of historical “truth,” objectivity and bias, types of sources, and uses of theory will be discussed. Next, we will address the ways in which historians write about the past, considering the influence of postmodernism on historical narratives, and historical film. Finally, we will examine the uses of history, including ethical and moral ramifications of our work, history education, and the construction of historical memory. The class will meet once a week, and each session will focus on some theoretical material as well as readings that concretely illustrate the methodological issues at stake. These readings will be drawn from a broad range of topics, such as the Great Depression, the Pacific War, the Holocaust, and the assassination of JFK.