8
Smith College
Department of History
Handbook
Fall 2008
Table of Contents
introduction 3
The Program in History 3
Requirements for the Major in History 3
Requirements for the Minor in History 4
Study Abroad 4
Course Descriptions 6
History 101 6
200-Level Courses 7
Seminars 12
Special Studies Options in History 14
Cross-Listed Courses 15
Five-College History Courses 17
History Honors Program 19
The Faculty 22
Scheduled Leaves of Absence for Faculty Members 31
Department Office 32
Departmental Activities and Programs 32
Student Liaisons 32
Awards and Prizes 33
Directory of Addresses, Student Majors and Minors 34
INTRODUCTION
This handbook contains a description of the History major and minor, a discussion of departmental activities and programs, a description of the honors program, descriptions of courses and course requirements, a directory of the members of the faculty, and a directory of students majoring or minoring in programs in the department.
THE PROGRAM IN HISTORY
Requirements for the Major in History
The History major comprises 11 semester courses, at least six of which shall normally be
taken at Smith, distributed as follows:
1. Field of concentration: five semester courses, at least one of which is a Smith
History department seminar. Two of these may be historically oriented courses at the 200-level or above in other disciplines approved by the student’s adviser
Fields of concentration: Antiquity; Islamic Middle East; East Asia; Europe, 300-1650;
Europe since 1650; Africa; Latin America; United States; Women's History: Comparative Colonialism.
Note: A student may also design a field of concentration, which should consist of courses related chronologically, geographically, methodologically or thematically,
and must be approved by an adviser.
2. Additional courses: six courses, of which four must be in two fields distinct from
the field of concentration.
3. No more than two courses taken at the 100-level may count toward the major.
4. Geographic breadth: among the 11 semester courses counting towards the major
there must be at least one course each in three of the following geographic regions.
Africa
East Asia and Central Asia
Europe
Latin America
Middle East and South Asia
North America
Courses both in the field of concentration and outside the field of concentration
may be used to satisfy this requirement. AP credits may not be used to satisfy this
requirement.
Courses cross-listed in the History Department section of the catalogue count as History courses toward all requirements.
A student may count one (but only one) AP examination in United States, European, or World history with a grade of 4 or 5 as the equivalent of a course for 4 credits toward the major.
The S/U grading option is not allowed for courses counting toward the major.
A reading knowledge of foreign languages is highly desirable and is especially recommended for students planning a major in History.
Requirements for the Minor in History
The minor comprises five semester courses. At least three of these courses must be related chronologically, geographically, methodologically or thematically. At least three of the courses will normally be taken at Smith. Students should consult their advisers.
The S/U grading option is not allowed for courses counting toward the minor.
Study Abroad
The History department encourages all students to consider studying abroad, especially in an institution that teaches in a language other than English.
A student planning to study away from Smith during the academic year or during the summer must consult with a departmental adviser concerning rules for granting credit toward the major or the degree. Students must consult with the departmental adviser for study away both before and after their participation in Junior Year Abroad programs.
Adviser for study away: TBA
In recent years History majors and minors have studied on Smith's own Junior Year Abroad Programs in
France: Paris
Switzerland: Geneva
Italy: Florence, and
Germany: Hamburg, as well as on consortial programs in
Spain: Cordoba
Japan: Kyoto, and
Mexico: Puebla
They have also studied independently in
Egypt: Cairo
Senegal: Dakar
South Africa: University of Natal at Pietermaritzburg
Tanzania: Dar-es-Salaam
Morroco: Rabat
Israel: Ben Gurion University, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Jordan: Amman
China: Beijing
Korea: Yonsei
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Australia: Trinity College Parkville, Adelaide, Sydney, Auckland
New Zealand: Otago
Austria: Vienna
Czech Republic: Prague
Denmark: Copenhagen
England: Bristol, London School of Economics, University College London, Royal
Holloway, King's College London, School of Oriental and African Studies, Oxford,
East Anglia, Queen Mary and Westfield, Sussex, York
Greece: Athens
Ireland: Galway, Cork, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Belfast
Netherlands: Amsterdam
Portugal: Coimbra
Russia: Yaroslavl, Saint Petersburg
Scotland: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Saint Andrews
Spain: Madrid
New York and Paris
For more information on these and other programs, visit the Study Abroad Office and consult with seniors who have returned from study elsewhere. As most programs are not designed specifically for History majors, it is necessary for the student to consult closely with the Adviser for Study Away.
Courses taken abroad must be approved to count toward the History major or minor after they have been completed. This is a separate process from the awarding of overall credit toward a Smith degree. Students present a petition through their adviser, with supporting documentation on the courses. The basic rule is that such courses should be roughly equivalent to a Smith course in reading, writing, and class time. For further details on petitioning, please consult an adviser.
The same petition process governs other courses taken outside Smith, including at institutions in the United States during a summer or on an exchange program or during a semester of independent study or before transferring to Smith or before becoming an Ada Comstock Scholar.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
101 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORICAL INQUIRY
Colloquia with a limited enrollment of 18 and surveys normally limited to 40, both designed to introduce the study of history to students at the beginning level. Emphasis on the sources and methods of historical analysis. Recommended for all students with an interest in history and those considering a History major or minor.
HST101 (C) Introduction to Historical Inquiry
Topic: Soviet History Through Film
The course treats films produced during the Soviet era as cultural artifacts. Studying these films in their proper contexts introduces basic tools for historians: how to approach a historical artifact, how to read sources critically, and how to reconstruct intended and unintended meanings. The course follows the traditional outline of Soviet history, beginning with the Bolshevik takeover in October 1917 and ending with the post-Soviet period. Topics include the cultural experimentation of the 1920s, collectivization, industrialization, the Great Terror, World War II, the Cold War, and the rise of the Soviet middle class in the 1960s and 1970s. Enrollment limited to 18 first-years and sophomores.
{H} 4 credits.
Sergey Glebov
M 7:00-9:30 p.m. - Lecture
W 7:00-9:30 p.m. - Film Showing
HST101 (C) Introduction to Historical Inquiry
Topic: Biography and History in Africa
Biography is fascinating in itself: it is a source of philosophy, of idealism, and of gossip. It is also one of the foundations of history, and that is the sense in which we will treat it in this course. Because the human experience is something we share with all people, biography speaks across cultures and periods; in this course, we will look at biographies from Africa, assessing the lives represented in these works as reflections of history in practice. Yet no previous knowledge of African history is required. While we will place these biographies fully in their social and historical contexts, we will identify the broader issues to arise from these biographies and explore them as entry points to human experience as well as to particular social circumstances and individuals. Since Africa is vast and its histories diverse, these case studies cover a broad range: we will read and discuss biographies drawn from many regions of Africa (western, central, eastern, and southern Africa), dealing with different periods (pre-colonial, colonial, and more recent times), and representing different perspectives (women as well as men, children as well as adults, and common people as well as leaders).
We will use each biography as an opportunity to provide historical overview to the region and period highlighted in the work. However, this course is not intended as a full-scale history of Africa; instead it provides a foundation for such an enterprise through the exploration of separate histories of individual Africans. Life stories may be the building blocks of history, but the history of a people is greater than the sum of the individual building blocks: factors such as the effects of power, culture, identity, and material forces are important to history too. So these selected lives need to be seen "in dialogue" with history: these individuals are both agents of historical process and molded by historical factors.
There is another dimension to these readings: the construction of biography. Focusing as they do on individual lives, biographies and life histories may seem straightforward; in fact they are complicated constructs. We will therefore explore different ways in which lived experiences are represented, we will look at the elements which can affect the lives of individual actors, and we will inquire into the ways that psychological, social, or broader contextual forces are presented in these individuals’ lives.
In both biography and history it is the interaction of an individual with the larger context that is important; therefore we will constantly inquire both how lived experiences (and their presentation) reflect broader historical influences, and how larger historical forces are made visible through biographies. In doing so, we will also inquire into how biographies are created, how people define their lives, and the different ways that biographies are written.
The class meets twice a week; you will be expected to keep up with the daily readings. This semester, we will be reading the following (in order):
Camera Laye, *Dark Child* [Guinea];
Ishamel Beah, *A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier* [Liberia];
John Thornton, *The Kongolese Saint Anthony* [Democratic Republic of the Congo];
Robert Edgar and Hilary Sapiro, *African Apocalypse* [South Africa];
Marie Beatrice Umutesi, *Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a Rwandan Refugee in Zaire* [Rwanda-Congo];
Nelson Mandela, *Long Walk to Freedom* [South Africa; a Nobel Laureate]; and
Wangari Muta Maathai, *Unbowed* [Kenya; a Nobel Laureate].
Enrollment of 15 limited to first-years and sophomores. WI {H} 4 credits
David Newbury
TTH 3:00-4:20 p.m.
See also East Asian Studies 100 on page 15
200-LEVEL COURSES
Lectures (L) are normally limited to 40 students. Colloquia (C) are primarily reading and discussion courses limited to 18. Lectures and colloquia are open to students of all levels unless otherwise indicated. In certain cases, students may enroll in colloquia for seminar credit with permission of the instructor.
HST208 (L) The Modern Middle East
Description: TBA
{H} 4 credits
Umut Uzer
T 1:00-4:00 p.m.
HST216 (C) Women in Chinese History
The history of Chinese women from early classical texts to the present: their places and behaviors in society and culture, their relationships with one another and with men, and the evolution of gender roles and attitudes in China’s long and complex story. Topics include ideals of femininity and beauty, sexuality, women’s place in family life, life-cycles and rites of passage, the participation of women in the revolutions of the 20th century, and contemporary women’s lives. {H} 4 credits
Jonathan Lipman
TTH 9:00-10:20 a.m.
HST227 (C) Aspects of Medieval European History
Topic: Outcasts: Minorities in Medieval Society
The emergence of a persecuting society. The experiences of heretics, Jews, Muslims, homosexuals, lepers and other groups on the margins of a Europe that increasingly defined itself as Christian. Differences in the treatment of these various outcast groups, their depiction in art, their legal segregation, and their presumed association with demonic activity.
One of the central tasks of this course will be to explore the question of whether a "persecuting society" developed in medieval Europe. Why was persecution a common reaction to minority groups in the period? How did some groups coexist? Can such coexistence be described as tolerance? What laws and customs shaped interactions between majority and minorities? To explore these questions, we will examine primary sources from the European Middle Ages in translation, but will also engage with diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives on the study of marginalized groups, focusing on people set apart by their religion, sexuality, or health from "normal" Christian society. Among the books we'll be reading are R. I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society, and David Nirenberg, Communities of Violence.
Class will mainly be devoted to discussion, although there will be lecture as needed to provide background and a framework for the discussion. The major assignment will be a research project on a question of your choice; there will be smaller assignments leading up to this, and we will discuss research methods and issues along with the subject matter. {H} 4 credits
Michelle Herder
MW 1:10-2:30 p.m.
HST246 (C) Memory and History
What is at stake in the design of a monument or a memorial? Is creating a monument or memorial we can live with equivalent to creating a past we can live with? Who decides? In this course, we will explore contemporary debates among European historians, artists and citizens over the public commemoration of political history. These discussions will be placed within the context of a larger theoretical tension between history and memory as we examine the kinds of historical understanding commemorative practices might seek to evoke. Readings and visual material will range from nineteenth-century primary sources and historical monographs to present and evolving discussions about contemporary projects. Particular emphasis placed on questions surrounding the notion of the "effectiveness" of art and architecture as a tribute to the past, as marker of history, as creator of meaning.
Written assignments: Two short papers, a midterm and a research essay. {H} 4 credits
Darcy Buerkle
T 1:00-4:00 p.m.
HST251 (L) Europe in the Twentieth Century
When a last-ditch attempt to re-establish the Soviet system fizzled in late summer 1991, one Smith student observed of the plotters, "Well, they sure flunked Coup 101". As it happens, the college does not offer a basis for a major in staging coups d'état, but if Smith did, that course might well be titled "Europe in the Twentieth Century". Never has it been easier to overthrow a régime. This course investigates the forces creating and exploiting such vulnerabilities in twentieth-century struggles for power, teaching students how to launch revolutions and how to quell them. Along the way, they also learn how to start and stop wars, and how to make and maintain peace. Those with no immediate interest in applying such skills may settle for understanding such processes.