Fall Courses Offered
HISTORY DEPARTMENT ADVANCED COURSES FALL 2009
The SFA History Department will offer the following advanced and graduate courses during the Fall 2009 semester. For more information about individual courses, see the instructor.
All 300 and 400 level courses have a prerequisite of 6 hours of history.
To help students meet degree requirements, each semester the department will designate certain courses as Writing Enhanced Courses.
HIS 308 INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HISTORY, Dr. Sandul, R 6:00-8:30, F-480
This course is a reading-discussion-lecture course (so three times the fun) on the many classic and late-breaking developments in the exciting world of public history. The three primary aims are: (1) to introduce you to the practice of public history and what it is; (2) to look at leading fields associated with public history, such as museums, historic preservation, cultural resources management, oral history, archives, and commemoration; and (3) to ponder some of the interests, issues, problems, demands and concerns of public history and history in the public. A student who completes this course will be able to define public history and practice, identify and explain how history is important to a public audience, and become a practicing public historian. Actually, regarding the last point, we will work in collaboration with a local historical organization in developing materials for the construction of a statue to be built here in Nacogdoches!
HIS 312 IRELAND POST - 1845, Dr. Davis, MWF 10:00-10:50, F-477
This course provides a general overview of trends in Irish history since the onset of the Great Famine. It considers the impact of the Famine itself on every aspect of Irish life. It examines political movements of the second half of the nineteenth century—both constitutional and extra-constitutional—designed to gain a greater measure of self-rule for Ireland and analyzes the causes and consequences of the cultural nationalism that developed during the same period. Moving into the twentieth century, the course pursues those same themes through the Irish War for Independence of 1919-21 and the Irish Civil War of 1922-23, and traces the evolution of the 26-county state in the southern part of Ireland from dominion status to the independent republic of today. The course concludes with an examination of the special problems in the six counties of Northern Ireland since 1920, with an emphasis on the “Troubles” that began in the late 1960s and the peace process that began in the 1990s.
HIS 321 WORLD HISTORY, Dr. Catton, MW 1:00-2:15, F-477
This course surveys major developments in world history. Given the size of the task, the course will place particular emphasis on the period since 1400, and the approach taken will be to examine a number of distinct historical episodes that highlight important themes and issues. The topics will include the Conquest of Mexico, the Atlantic Slave Trade, British colonialism in India, modernization in Japan, and nationalism and revolution in Iran.
Meets an elective requirement for the International Studies second major or minor.
Meets a requirement for those seeking teacher certification in History for grades 8-12
HIS 325 EUROPE 1648-1789, Dr. Allen, TR 9:30-10:45, F-480
This course explores the history of Europe from the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. The central theme of the course will be the emergence of “absolutist” monarchs, exemplified by some of the most famous rulers in European history: Louis XIV of France, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Leopold I and Maria Theresa of Austria, and Peter the Great and Catherine the Great of Russia. We will evaluate the impact of these monarchs and place their ambitious policies within the broader social and intellectual context of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
HIS 331 COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA, Dr. Dormady, MW 2:30-3:45, F-477
Survey of Mexico, Central America and South America from the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations through the Wars for Independence.
HIS 335 HISTORY OF TEXAS, Dr. Sosebee, TR 9:30-10:45, F-475
The course is designed as a comprehensive survey course in Texas history beginning with pre-Columbian contact and continuing until the contemporary era. Because the course covers such an expansive timeframe, a number of topics will only be cursorily covered in class lectures, making it essential that students supplement their understanding of course content with readings in the textbooks. The primary focus of the course will be the various political, social, and cultural themes that have played key roles in the development of Texas and Texans, and the emphasized themes will be the ones the instructor feels most essential in gaining an understanding of Texas in a historical perspective. Course themes will include the exploration of the differences between the “Texas myth” and historical reality, the diverse cultural legacies of the state, the place of Texas in the American South, and the role of economic boom-and-bust cycles in shaping the state. Because this is an upper-level history course, a key element of the course will be the growth of critical thinking among the students concerning the examination of historical themes and paradigms. Students will also be asked to read three historical monographs outside of class and be able to provide a critical analysis of each work within the constraints of an essay quiz.
Meets a requirement for those seeking teacher certification in social studies for grades 4-8
HIS 335.501 HISTORY OF TEXAS, Dr. Bradford, Web course
The course is designed as a comprehensive survey course in Texas history beginning with pre-Columbian contact and continuing until the contemporary era. Because the course covers such an expansive timeframe, a number of topics will only be cursorily covered in class lectures, making it essential that students supplement their understanding of course content with readings in the textbooks. The primary focus of the course will be the various political, social, and cultural themes that have played key roles in the development of Texas and Texans, and the emphasized themes will be the ones the instructor feels most essential in gaining an understanding of Texas in a historical perspective. Course themes will include the exploration of the diverse cultural legacies of the state, the place of Texas in the American South, and the role of economic boom-and-bust cycles in shaping the state. Because this is an upper-level history course, a key element of the course will be the growth of critical thinking among the students concerning the examination of historical themes and paradigms.
This course meets a requirement for those seeking teacher certification in social studies for grades 4-8.
HIS 341 HISTORY OF ENGLAND I, Dr. Malpass, TR 11:00-12:15, F-475
Traces the development of England from the Roman invasions through the Anglo-Saxon and Viking eras to the Norman Conquest and the High Middle Ages. Utilizes an audio-visual approach.
Meets an elective requirement for the Gender Studies minor.
May count toward the International Business major – see MMIB Department.
HIS 345 AMERICAN WEST, Dr. Bremer, TR 12:30-1:45, F-480
This course is an introduction to the American frontier that uses both lecture and discussion formats to help you understand this crucial region. We will survey the area from first native settlement to the late nineteenth century, focusing on economic and cultural change, social history, migration, settlement, and the frontier’s influence on American culture. Topics include Native American resistance and culture, the Gold Rush and overland trails, exploration, the fur trade, the transcontinental railroad, settlement on the plains and the Civil War in the West. We will also look at the lives of ordinary people, including slaves, cowboys, farm wives, European immigrants and native people. The class will make extensive use of video resources. Books include: Sugar Creek: Life on the Ilinois Prairie, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, The Female Frontier and the textbook Frontiers.
HIS 414 CIVIL RIGHTS, Dr. Carney, TR 2:00-3:15, F-477
This course will trace the contours of the modern Civil Rights Movement from its intellectual origins in the early 20th century through the turmoil of the 1960s and into the hard questions of leadership and direction over the last few decades. Specific topic’s include: the creation of a modern black identity; legalism and the fight for civil rights; the origins of mass protest; the rise of Black Power; soul, rhythm and blues, and the popular culture of protest; and the Civil Rights Movement in public memory.
HIS 416 COLD WAR CULTURE, Dr. Cox, MW 1:00-2:15, F-480
This course offers a comparative exploration of the impact of the Cold War on life in the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1964. Topics to be covered include the influence of the Cold War on family life, race relations, religion, and popular culture in both countries. We will also consider how government and ordinary people in both countries dealt with fears of nuclear war, espionage, and internal subversion. We will pay particular attention to the interpretation of visual sources, such as film, television, and physical artifacts. At the beginning of the course, students will learn advanced research techniques historians use to study the lives of ordinary people; later they will use those techniques to complete a research project on one aspect of the social or cultural history of the Cold War. Note that the course will not cover the diplomatic history of the Cold War or political aspects of international relations.
Students who complete a research project on a topic related to gender studies may count the course toward the gender studies minor.
Writing Enhanced Course
HIS 448 INDUSTRY, IMPERIALISM, AND THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE GILDED AGE AND PROGRESSIVE ERA (1877-1921), Dr. Beisel, MWF 11:00-11:50, F480
This course will be a study of the sweeping changes that occurred in American society, economics, politics, diplomacy, and culture between the end of Reconstruction and the conclusion of the Great War. Students familiar with such well-known national figures and events as Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Armour & Swift, Jane Addams, San Juan Hill, the Homestead Strike, and skyscrapers will learn about others such as the Hello Girls, The Otis Company, Jimmy Winkfield, Lillian Russell, the Molly Maguires, Delano & Aldrich, and the telephone excise tax.
Writing Enhanced Course
HIS 457 EUROPE & WORLD WAR I, Dr. Jackson, W 4:00-6:30, F-475
The First World War is the watershed event of the 20th century, not World War II. It shaped the modern world by making possible the rise of soviet communism in Russia, Nazism in Germany, and the end of American isolationism. The breakup of the Ottoman Empire during the war brought the Middle East onto the center stage it holds today by fanning Jewish and Arab nationalism. The course will discuss the origins, tactics, technology, politics, and diplomacy of the war. It will also study the debates and controversies in Great War history by viewing and discussing the ways three generations of historians, literary scholars, film directors, artists and writers have interpreted the massive conflict.
The class will view the war through a vast array of documentary films, printed images, posters, and propaganda generated by the war. The course will use the BBC and CBS film series done in 1964, the PBS series on the Shaping of the 20th Century, and French and German film presentations from the war period itself. The class will not only discuss traditional images of the war (such as gas attacks, the Red Baron, No-Man's Land, the Christmas truce, the recruiting posters), but it will also look at the role of the everyday soldier who bore the burdens, the non-European offensives such as Gallipoli, the naval war, the race on all sides to create new weapons and tactics, and the collapse of the multi-national Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Turkish Empires. The course will end with an analysis of the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles.
GRADUATE COURSES
HIS 530 HISTORIOGRAPHY, Dr. Lannen, M 6:00-8:30, F-480
This seminar aims to introduce graduate students to the central historical questions of historical writing as well as the various interpretive models that historians have used to evaluate the past. Regular reading and writing assignments will be used to focus on a series of topics such as defining history, the origins of historical professionalization, methods of evaluating the past, schools of historical thought, and the recent trends in writing history. In addition, this seminar will examine the importance of race, gender, class, and culture in creating an interpretation’s of the past.
HIS 535 INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC HISTORY, Dr. Sandul, R 6:00-8:30, F-480
This course is a reading-discussion-lecture course (so three times the fun) on the many classic and late-breaking developments in the exciting world of public history. The three primary aims are: (1) to introduce you to the practice of public history and what it is; (2) look at leading fields associated with public history, such as museums, historic preservation, cultural resources management, oral history, archives, and commemoration; and (3) ponder some of the interests, issues and problems, demands and concerns of public history and history in the public. A student who completes this course will be able to define public history and practice, identify and explain how history is important to a public audience, and become a practicing public historian. Actually, regarding the last point, we will work in collaboration with a local historical organization in developing materials for the construction of a statue to be built here in Nacogdoches!
HIS 541 MEDIEVAL HISTORY, Dr. Dahmus, TR 4:30-5:45, F-480
This course will cover the entire medieval period from the fall of Rome to the period just before the Reformation. Each week, every student will present a short paper on a topic dealing with the political, religious, and/or cultural history of the era.
HIS 543 19th CENTURY EUROPE, Dr. Tebbe, T 6:00-8:30, F-480
Although it sits in between the wars of Napoleon and World War I, the nineteenth century in Europe was a time of tremendous upheaval and change. Nationalism stoked the fires of political revolution and redrew Europe’s map. Industrialization completely altered the most basic ways of living, spurred calls for socialist revolution, and helped push the growth of Europe’s global empires. Figures like Darwin, Freud, Marx, Ibsen, Van Gogh, and Nietzsche challenged old certainties and completely revolutionized the realms of culture and thought. It was a time marked both by the infamously restrictive Victorian culture as well as unprecedented calls for women’s rights. This course will examine the revolutionary changes of the nineteenth century and will also provide an overview of the major historiographical issues in the field.
HIS 552 19th CENTURY AMERICA, Dr. Cooper, W 6:00-8:30, F-480
Utilizing a thematic rather than a chronological approach, this class will examine the United States during the 1800’s through a variety of lenses: politics and public life; foreign relations; the economy and class formation; race, gender, and ethnicity; regional perspectives; and cultures and ideas. Overall, the goal of the class is to develop a comprehensive perspective on America and Americans during this momentous century.
William L. Barney’s A Companion to 19th Century America will serve as our “textbook” and provide a common weekly reading assignment. All students will read one common monograph every other week based on the aforementioned themes. On the alternate weeks, each student will choose his or her own individual monograph from a lengthy bibliographic list. Alternatively, if a student wishes to read a book that does not appear on the bibliography but fits into the bi-weekly thematic focus, s/he may do so after conferring with the professor.