History 383 - Research Seminar in North American History: From Unsettlement to Reconstruction

From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, how was America both settled and unsettled? How did Indigenous peoples and newcomers build and rebuild lives, communities, and possibilities for the future? We will consider themes of settlement, unsettlement, creation, violence, and rebuilding as we examine early contact between Indigenous and European peoples, trans-oceanic relationships, migration, slavery, the state, war, post-Civil War Reconstruction, and other topics students select. We will focus on research practices that produce insight into the ways people lived in their bodies, on the land, and with one another. Students' efforts will culminate in the production of a substantial research paper.

Course limited to sophomores, juniors and seniors; Prereq: 8 credits in History.