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Syllabus Research methods in history - 39821
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Last update 06-08-2018
HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: History

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Yitzhak Brudny

Coordinator Email: yitzhak.brudny@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Monday & Tuesday 17:00-18:00 (Social Sciences #4317)

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Yitzhak Brudny

Course/Module description:
The course aims to introduce the students to main approaches to study of history. The first part of the course will discuss the discussion about history among the philosophers. The second part will analyze the general state of the discipline today as presented by leading practicing historians today. The third part will survey a variety of approaches prevailing in the historical profession from social and intellectual history to subaltern and post-colonial history. The fourth and last part will deal with specific subjects in historical research such as Memory, Democracy, Revolutions, Nationalism, Empires, Genocides, and Cold War.

Course/Module aims:
Enriching students' knowledge of main approaches in the discipline of History.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
At the end of this course, the students will acquaint themselves with main topics and debates in the discipline of History.

Attendance requirements(%):
100%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lecturing and discussion

Course/Module Content:
1. WHAT IS HISTORY: PHILOSOPHERS’ DIMENSION

Is History a Science? (1)
Is History a Science? (2)

2. WHAT IS HISTORY: HISTORIANS’ DIMENSION

What Is History? (1)
What Is History? (2)
What Is History? (3)
What Is History: The History Manifesto Debate


3. APPROACHES TO STUDY OF HISTORY

Political History
Intellectual History (1): The Cambridge School
Intellectual History (2)
Social History (1): The Annales
Social History (2)
Postmodern History/Linguistic Turn
Cultural History
Economic History
Global History
Comparative History
Microhistory
Feminist History
Subaltern and Post-Colonial History
History in Social Sciences

4. SUBJECTS

Memory and History
Democracy
Revolutions
Nationalism
Empires
Genocides
Cold War

Required Reading:
1. WHAT IS HISTORY: PHILOSOPHERS’ DIMENSION


Is History a Science? (1)

R. G. Collingwood, “History as Re-enactment of the Past Experience,” in Patrick Gardiner, ed., Theories of History (1959), pp. 251-262.
Carl G. Hempel, The Function of General Laws in History,” in Gardiner, Theories of History, pp. 344-356.

Is History a Science? (2)
Isaiah Berlin, “The Concept of Scientific History,” in Isaiah Berlin, Concept and Categories (1999), pp. 103-142.

2. WHAT IS HISTORY: HISTORIANS’ DIMENSION


What Is History? (1)
Richard J. Evans, In Defense of History (1999), ch. 1-2.

What Is History? (2)
Evans, In Defense of History, ch. 3-5.

What Is History? (3)
Evans, In Defense of History, ch. 6-8.

What Is History: The History Manifesto Debate
Jo Guldi and David Armitage, The History Manifesto (2014).
“AHR Exchange: On The History Manifesto,” American Historical Review, vol. 120, no. 2 (April 2015), pp. 527-554.


3. APPROACHES TO STUDY OF HISTORY

Political History
Susan Pedersen, “What is Political History Now?” in David Cannadine, ed., What is History Now? (2002), ch. 1.

Intellectual History (1): The Cambridge School
J. G. A. Pocock, Politics, Language, and Time (1971), ch. 1.
Quentin Skinner, Visions of Politics, vol. 1 (2002), ch. 4.

Intellectual History (2)
Annabel Brett, “What is Intellectual History Now?” in Cannadine, What is History Now? ch. 7.

Social History (1): The Annales
Fernand Braudel, “The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (Preface to the First Edition),” in Jacques Revel and Lynn Hunt, eds., Histories: French Construction of the Past (1995), pp. 82-88.
Fernand Braudel, “History and the Social Sciences: The Longue Durée,” Revel and Hunt, Histories, pp. 115-143.
J. H. Hexter, “Fernand Braudel and the Monde Braudellien...,” The Journal of Modern History, vol. 44, No. 4 (December 1972), pp. 480-539.

Social History (2)
Paul Cartledge, “What is Social History Now?” in Cannadine, What is History Now? ch. 2.
William H. Sewell, Logics of History (2005), ch. 2.

Postmodern History/Linguistic Turn
Hayden White, “The Historical Text as Literary Artefact,” Clio, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 227-303 [Hebrew].
Ellen Somekawa and Elizabeth A. Smith, “Theorizing the Writing of History or, ‘I Can't Think Why It Should Be So Dull, for a Great Deal of It Must Be Invention’," Journal of Social History, vol. 22, no. 1 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 149-161.

Cultural History
Lynn Hunt, “Introduction: History, Culture, and Text,” in Lynn Hunt, ed., The New Cultural History (1989), pp. 1-22.
Miri Rubin, “What is Cultural History Now?” in Cannadine, What is History Now? ch. 5.
James W. Cook, “The Kids Are All Right: On the “Turning” of Cultural History,” The American Historical Review, vol. 117, no. 3 (2012), pp. 746-771.

Economic History
Douglas C. North and Barry R. Weingast, “Constitutions and Commitment: The Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth Century England,” Journal of Economic History, vol. 44 (1989), pp. 803-832.

Global History
Michael Geyer and Charles Bright, “World History in a Global Age,” The American Historical Review, vol. 100, no. 4 (October, 1995), pp. 1034-1060.

Comparative History
Thomas Ertman, Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, ch 1, 7.

Microhistory
Carlo Ginzburg, “Microhistory: Two or Three Things That I Know about It,” Critical Inquiry, vol. 20, no. 1 (Autumn, 1993), pp. 10-35.
David A. Bell, "Total History and Microhistory: The French and Italian Paradigm,” in Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza, eds., A Companion to Western Historical Thought (2006), pp. 262-276.

Feminist History
Alice Kessler-Harris, “What is Gender History Now?” in Cannadine, What is History Now? ch. 6.


Subaltern and Post-Colonial History
Sanjay Seth, et al., “Postcolonial Studies: A Beginning,” Postcolonial Studies, vol. 1, no. 1 (1998), pp 7-11.
Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments (1993).

History in Social Sciences
Sheri Berman, “Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic,” World Politics, vol. 49 (1997), pp. 401-429.
Margaret Weir, “Ideas and Politics: The Acceptance of Keynesianism in Britain and the United States,” in Peter A. Hall, ed., The Political Power of Economic Ideas: Keynesianism across Nations (1989), ch. 3.


4. SUBJECTS

Memory and History
Democracy
Revolutions
Nationalism
Empires
Genocides
Cold War

Additional Reading Material:
For supplemental reading see course syllabus (Moodle)

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 70 %
Presentation 10 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 20 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
None
 
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For further information, please visit the site of the Dean of Students Office.
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