Trends, Debates, Historians II (HIST 512)

2022 Fall
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
History(HIST)
3
10
Ayşe Ozil ayseozil@sabanciuniv.edu,
Click here to view.
English
Doctoral, Master
--
Formal lecture,Interactive lecture,Seminar
Discussion based learning
Click here to view.

CONTENT

The second semester of the required HIST 511-512 sequence in Historiography pursues the same "complete readings" approach into major works concentrating on first the Early Modern and then the Modern era. Once more, historians are studied individually, and trends or schools are for the most part introduced through the historians that embody their distinctive approaches. Authors dealt with over the second semester may be as diverse as Febvre, Braudel, Le Roy Ladurie, Christopher Hill, Keith Thomas, E. P. Thompson, Charles Tilly, Simon Schama and Carlo Ginzburg, as well as Hobsbawm, Blackbourn, Landes, Eugen Weber, Peter Gay or François Furet. Crucial debates, for example on "the transition from feudalism to capitalism" and its Brenner follow-up, or on "the military revolution and the genesis of the modern state", are introduced as separate files or appendices. The last quarter of the course is devoted to a closing survey of the current proliferation of outlooks and approaches, including discussions of microhistory, cultural history, history of mentalities, the return of the narrative, the return of the state, as well as modernist vs post-modernist positions on the question of "historical truth", "myth-making", or the relationship between literature and history.

OBJECTIVE

Refer to the course content

LEARNING OUTCOMES

  • Upon completion of this course, students will demonstrate an understanding of how to place each historian and school against a larger historical background, intellectual climate and dominant paradigm.
  • Students will be able to articulate precisely what is the originality of the contribution of a particular historian or school in the professionalization and diversification of the historical discipline.
  • Students will demonstrate how to examine the factors that make theoretical paradigms prevail and wane and how these influence and force historians to revise current predominant interpretations.
  • Students will familiarize themselves with complex concepts and methodologies to pursue further specialized study in the field of historiography.
  • Students will develop a greater capacity to engage at the same time and with equal precision in the historical, theoretical, and philosophical debate over outstanding intellectual matters.

PROGRAMME OUTCOMES


1. Develop and deepen the current and advanced knowledge in the field with original thought and/or research and come up with innovative definitions based on Master's degree qualifications 5

2. Conceive the interdisciplinary interaction which the field is related with ; come up with original solutions by using knowledge requiring proficiency on analysis, synthesis and assessment of new and complex ideas. 5

3. Evaluate and use new information within the field in a systematic approach. 5

4. Develop an innovative knowledge, method, design and/or practice or adapt an already known knowledge, method, design and/or practice to another field; research, conceive, design, adapt and implement an original subject. 5

5. Critical analysis, synthesis and evaluation of new and complex ideas. 5

6. Gain advanced level skills in the use of research methods in the field of study. 5

7. Contribute the progression in the field by producing an innovative idea, skill, design and/or practice or by adapting an already known idea, skill, design, and/or practice to a different field independently. 5

8. Broaden the borders of the knowledge in the field by producing or interpreting an original work or publishing at least one scientific paper in the field in national and/or international refereed journals. 5

9. Demonstrate leadership in contexts requiring innovative and interdisciplinary problem solving. 4

10. Develop new ideas and methods in the field by using high level mental processes such as creative and critical thinking, problem solving and decision making. 5

11. Investigate and improve social connections and their conducting norms and manage the actions to change them when necessary. 3

12. Defend original views when exchanging ideas in the field with professionals and communicate effectively by showing competence in the field. 5

13. Ability to communicate and discuss orally, in written and visually with peers by using a foreign language at least at a level of European Language Portfolio C1 General Level. 5

14. Contribute to the transition of the community to an information society and its sustainability process by introducing scientific, technological, social or cultural improvements. 1

15. Demonstrate functional interaction by using strategic decision making processes in solving problems encountered in the field. 1

16. Contribute to the solution finding process regarding social, scientific, cultural and ethical problems in the field and support the development of these values. 4


1. Develop the ability to use critical, analytical, and reflective thinking and reasoning 5

2. Reflect on social and ethical responsibilities in his/her professional life. 5

3. Gain experience and confidence in the dissemination of project/research outputs 5

4. Work responsibly and creatively as an individual or as a member or leader of a team and in multidisciplinary environments. 5

5. Communicate effectively by oral, written, graphical and technological means and have competency in English. 5

6. Independently reach and acquire information, and develop appreciation of the need for continuously learning and updating. 5


1. Develop a thorough knowledge of theories, concepts, and research methods in the field and apply them in research design and data analysis. 5

2. Assess the impact of the economic, social, and political environment from a global, national and regional level. 3

3. Know how to access written and visual, primary and secondary sources of information, interpret concepts and data from a variety of sources in developing disciplinary and interdisciplinary analyses. 5


1. Demonstrate command of comparative perspectives, which may include the ability to compare the histories of different societies, or cultures awareness of continuity and change over extended time spans. 5

2. Construct concepts and theories derived from the humanities and social sciences. 5

3. Analyze the evidence from the research to support a historical argument for an answer to a research question. 5

4. Apply a critical perspective to evaluating historical arguments, including the quality of the sources, the validity of the interpretations of those sources, and the soundness of the argument's use of evidence to support a historical interpretation. 5

5. Develop and sustain historical arguments in a variety of literary forms, formulating appropriate questions and utilizing evidence. 5


1. Demonstrate command of comparative perspectives, which may include the ability to compare the histories of different societies, or cultures awareness of continuity and change over extended time spans. 5

2. Construct concepts and theories derived from the humanities and social sciences. 5

3. Analyze the evidence from the research to support a historical argument for an answer to a research question. 5

4. Apply a critical perspective to evaluating historical arguments, including the quality of the sources, the validity of the interpretations of those sources, and the soundness of the argument's use of evidence to support a historical interpretation. 5

5. Develop and sustain historical arguments in a variety of literary forms, formulating appropriate questions and utilizing evidence. 5


1. Gain the skills to analyze, understand, evaluate, and make policies in key public areas.

2. Develop a policy area of specialization.

3. Gain work experience in one of the centers or forums affiliated with Sabancı University.


1. Gain the skills to analyze, understand, evaluate, and make policies in key public areas.

2. Develop a policy area of specialization.

3. Gain work experience in one of the centers or forums affiliated with Sabancı University.

ASSESSMENT METHODS and CRITERIA

  Percentage (%)
Final 30
Term-Paper 35
Participation 15
Presentation 20

RECOMENDED or REQUIRED READINGS

Readings

Week 1: History and Historiography
R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), Introduction.
Wilhelm von Humboldt, On the Historian?s Task (1822), in The Modern Historiography Reader, ed. Adam Budd (London: Routledge, 2009), 167-171.
Week 2: Practicing History: Evidence, Causation and Interpretation
E. H. Carr, What is History? (Middlesex: Penguin, 1964), Ch. 4.
R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), Epilegomena 3.
Ludmilla Jordanova, History in Practice (London: Arnold Publishers, 2000), Chs. 4 and 7.
Carlo Ginzburg, ?The Judge and the Historian?, Critical Inquiry, vol. 18, no. 1 (1991), 79-92.
Week 3: Early Modern Historiography - The Republic of Letters
Wolfgang Reinhard, ?The Idea of Early Modern History?, in Companion to Historiography, ed. Michael Bentley (London: Routledge, 1997), 281-292.
Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), Chs. 4 and 7.
Anthony Grafton, What was History?, Chs. 1 and 4. (IC online)
Week 4: Historiography of the Enlightenment
Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chs. 1, 15, and 16.
Roy Porter, Gibbon: Making History (London: Phoenix, 1988), Chs. 1, 2, 3.
Week 5: Early Modern Historiography: The Social Space
Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (London: Fontana Press, 1991), Introduction, Chs. 2, 3, 4, 5.
Week 6: The Nineteenth Century: German Historical Thought, National Historiography and Professionalization
Stefan Berger, ?The Invention of European National Traditions in European Romanticism?, in The Oxford History of Historical Writing, eds. Macintyre et.al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 19-40.
L. von Ranke, Histories of the Latin and German Nations: Preface to the First Edition, in The Modern Historiography Reader, ed. Adam Budd (London: Routledge, 2009).
Georg Iggers, Historiography in the Twentieth Century (Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1997), Part I: The Emergence of History as a Professional Discipline.
Gabriele Lingelbach, ?The Institutionalization and Professionalization of History in Europe and the United States?, in The Oxford History of Historical Writing, eds. S Macintyre et.al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Chapter 4.
Week 7: Twentieth Century: The Annales School
Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean (London: Fontana/Collings, 1975), vol. 1.
Peter Burke, ?Fernand Braudel?, in The Annales School: Critical Assessments, ed. Stuart Clark, vol. 3 (London: Routledge 1999).
Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell, The Corrupting Sea (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000).
Week 8: Microhistory
Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992 [1980]).
Carlo Ginzburg, ?The Inquisitor as Anthropologist?, in Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method, Carlo Ginzburg (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
Week 9: Revisiting the long durée?
David Armitage and Jo Guldi, The History Manifesto (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
D. Cohen and P. Mandler, ?The History Manifesto: A Critique?, AHR (2015).
Week 10: Global History
Sebastian Conrad, What is Global History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016).
Jürgen Osterhammel, The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014).
Week 11: Global Microhistory
Tonio Andrade, ?A Chinese Farmer, Two African Boys and a Warlord: Toward a Global Microhistory?, Journal of World History, vol. 21, no. 4 (2010), 573-591.
John Paul Ghobrial, ?Moving Stories and What They Tell Us: Early Modern Mobility between Microhistory and Global History?, Past and Present, Supplement no. 14 (1999), 243-280.
Week 12: Connected Histories
Michael Werner and Benedicte Zimmermann, ?Beyond Comparison: Histoire Croisée and the Challenge of Reflexivity?, History and Theory, vol. 45, no. 1 (2006), 30-50.
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ?Connected Histories: Notes towards a Reconfiguration of Early Modern Eurasia?, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 31, no. 3 (1997), 735-762.
Week 13: Transnational Histories
AHR Conversation: On Transnational History, C. A. Bayly, Sven Beckert, Matthew Connelly, Isabel Hofmeyr, Wendy Kozol, Patricia Seed, The American Historical Review, vol. 111, no. 5 (2006), 1441-1464.
Konstantina Zanou, Transnational Patriotism in the Mediterranean 1800-1850: Stammering the Nation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018).
Week 14: Presentation of final paper drafts