HIST 489
Ideology, Culture, and Identity: The "New Diplomatic History"
Last Offered Fall 2013
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

Class Details

This course explores a recent wave of historical scholarship on the roles of ideology, culture, and identity in American foreign relations. The proliferation of such studies has contributed to the revival of the once moribund subfield of diplomatic history and restored it to the mainstream of the historical profession. Yet this “cultural turn” has not come without controversy, as some traditional diplomatic historians insist that it dilutes the subfield and discourages young scholars from engaging in necessary research on high-level diplomacy. Students will read several important “state of the field” essays alongside some of the most exciting contributions to this new trend and consider the following questions: What do these new works add to our understanding of U.S. history and the history of the United States in the World? What roles do ideology, culture, and identity play in the policymaking process? In what ways do these studies complement traditional diplomatic histories that privilege the study of power in the international arena and to what extent are they a separate venture all together? What can “the new diplomatic history” contribute to other historical subfields and vice versa?
The Class: Format: tutorial
Limit: 10
Expected: 10
Class#: 1707
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: every other week the student will write and present orally a 5- to 7-page essay on the assigned readings of that week; students not presenting an essay will produce a 2-page critique of their fellow students' work
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the Gaudino option
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: history majors and students with some prior course work in foreign relations and/or international history
Distributions: Division II

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