Critical Social Inquiry 0233 - Intro to History

This course is of interest to all Div II students who seek to incorporate a historical perspective to their work. It will cover a wide range of topics and recent methodologies such as transnational identities, immigration/migration, race and ethnicity, women's history, early modern science, visual culture, sex and the body, gender and the law. Students will have the opportunity to engage directly with archival material and critically analyze oral history methods. The readings will be located in Renaissance Europe, the early modern Mediterranean, the Black Atlantic, and Contemporary America/Transnational Sites. In addition, we'll invite other Hampshire historians to speak about their own work in Afro-American, South Asian, Middle-Eastern, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century U.S. history. The first section is devoted to reading the historical literature; the second section is a seminar devoted to an in-depth study of your own work. The aim of this course is to provide you with a foundation in historical methods, and to produce a substantial research paper for your Div. II portfolio.

Power, Community and Social Justice Writing and Research Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.