Fall 2022 Undergraduate Course Syllabi
HIST 713-001, Historical Research Methods
Instructor: Thomas Haigh
Meets: M 7:00-9:40
Helps graduate students become savvy consumers and effective producers of historical research. The class begins with a look at changing understandings of who writes history and how, before surveying a range of historical narratives telling the stories of different kinds of protagonist, from individuals and ideas to diseases and machines. The middle part of the semester will be spent exploring the production of various kinds of historical writing, from book reviews to digital history projects. Then we turn to the selection and interpretation of historical sources, including digital resources, objects, and images as well as archival collections. Students will put these skills into action in a term project negotiated with the instructor to support their personal development as historians.
HIST 900-001, Seminar on U.S. History: Narrating Empire
Instructor: Rachel Buff
Meets: W 4:00-6:40
In this writing production-oriented course, we’ll read different scholarly accounts of the question of empire: mostly, but not entirely, in the Americas. Our aim will be to understand how empire, as an analytic, impacts our own research and writing. How do the long ramifications of colonialism and empire impact diverse kinds of scholarly work? How might our own work respond to these issues?
The aim of the course is for students to produce a longer work, such as an article, thesis or dissertation chapter draft, exhibit, or other project relevant to their program of study. The course allows time for student meetings with instructors on these projects. On seminar days, we will be discussing a book and articles each week; books will be divided into chapter assignments, so that students report on their selected chapters in class discussions.
- HIST 450G-001 Growth of Metropolitan Milwaukee
Instructor: Amanda I Seligman (seligman@uwm.edu)
Meets: TR 10am-11:15am
Welcome to History 450, the Growth of Metropolitan Milwaukee. All of the major assignments in this class are public-facing. In this class, you will learn about the broad history of the Milwaukee area and the deep history of one thematic topic. In fall 2022, the theme is the history of Milwaukee's Mitchell family, including Alexander Mitchell, the richest man in 19th century Wisconsin, and Billy Mitchell, the father of the American Air Force. You will develop research skills and interpret the them to public audiences. You will collaborate with your classmates in a live Twitter re-enactment of the theme, write for the course blog about your research, curate a primary source, and enjoy professional development opportunities presented by the staff of the Milwaukee Public Museum. - HIST 595G-201 The Quantitative Analysis of Historical Data
Instructor: Lex Renda (renlex@uwm.edu)
Meets: No Meeting Pattern
This is a “how to” course. It teaches you how to use (and not use) statistics to answer questions, and it provides you with a solid introduction to the application of quantitative methods to history. I do not assume that you have knowledge of statistics or any math beyond basic algebra, and your calculator will perform all of the computations. Your job will be learning how to interpret the results of those computations. While the questions, data, and applications we shall examine will usually be drawn from the disciplines of history and other social sciences, you will be able to use the skills you learn to analyze all types of quantitative questions. These skills will be important to you if you pursue graduate training in history or other social sciences, and they will be equally useful if you pursue a career in business, government, or teaching. I also use several “everyday” examples of statistical inference that will enable you to understand the use and abuse of statistics, regardless of your chosen career. This course is being taught online, asynchronously. - HIST 700-001 Introduction to Public History
Instructor: Nan Kim (ynkp@uwm.edu)
Meets: R 5pm-7:40pm
This course introduces topics in the history, analysis, and practice of public history. With appreciation for how public history has many definitions, this course explores a range of readings and projects. The course focuses on work that: primarily engages with public audiences; intentionally seeks to respond to current public issues or problems; and/or attempts to bridge the scholarship of professional historians with the needs and interests of members of the public or communities. Students who complete this seminar and its requirements will gain or strengthen their ability to do the following: - Draw upon an understanding of key works in the public history literature when engaging with the intellectual, ethical, and professional issues that public historians confront; - Contribute toward an informed discussion about the major themes and issues shaping public history practice; - Develop a multifaceted understanding of the ways in which public historians shape public perceptions of the past, and the ways in which public perceptions of the past shape various aspects of public history; - Understand the historical background of the different specialties within public history, as well as various interrelationships between them. - HIST 840-001 Colloquium on Global History: The House in History
Instructor: Martha Carlin (carlin@uwm.edu)
Meets: T 4pm-6:40pm
What is a house? How is a house different from a home? Houses are not only physical structures, they can also be centers and symbols of social and civic identity, economic activity, family and clan, rank and status, gendered space, sacred space, tradition and innovation, inclusion and exclusion. Houses both shape and reflect the lives of their occupants, embodying past and present, necessities and choices, hopes, expectations, and compromises. What can houses tell us about their broader societies? - HIST 850-201 Colloquium on European History: The Holocaust: History and Visual Culture
Instructor: Lisa D Silverman (silverld@uwm.edu)
Meets: W 7pm-9:40pm
The term Holocaust has become a household word for an event that is considered paradigmatic in depicting other major catastrophes. This online colloquium examines some of the most significant and provocative works of Holocaust representation in visual culture, focusing on how visual culture has shaped and reflected our understanding of the Holocaust as a historical event. We will analyze critical debates on various attempts to depict, record and remember the Holocaust in films, television, memorials, and video games. Are there unwritten rules and standards that shape the portrayal of the Holocaust? How do visual representations of the Holocaust influence the discourse of trauma and suffering that has become an integral part of everyday culture and politics? - HIST 900-002 Seminar on U.S. History: Race in the United States
Instructor: Gregory T Carter (cartergt@uwm.edu)
Meets: M 4pm-6:40pm
Mixed race is one tool for understanding how reconfigurations of race go hand in hand with the creation and dissolution of racial terms. I follow Michael Omi and Howard Winant in defining race as “a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies.” This definition resists pinpointing what those signifiers and symbols are, but it does acknowledge that real people are the objects of signification. Their assertion that race is “a social construction which alters over the course of time due to historical and social pressures” expresses how the meanings of race change, depending on the time and place, and these endless possibilities affirm the vagary about exactly what race is. Because it is often at the fluctuating intersection of race, gender, and class, mixed race is the starting point for this Seminar on United States History. The required readings address racial mixture in different ways, demonstrating the interplay of analytic lenses that this theme accompanies. However, the readings serve the ultimate aim of the class: to design, research, and write a significant piece of scholarly work of your own choosing. Through reading reflection papers, source analysis papers, revision exercises, and peer workshops, this class will help you prepare a twenty-page manuscript ready for submission to peer review publications.