[Grad_history_students] AQ course descriptions

[Sylvester, Roshanna]

Greetings MA in History students,

FYI, below are brief course descriptions for the MA in History courses
that will be offered in the Autumn quarter. If you have any questions,
please feel free to get in touch.

All the best,
Dr. S

Roshanna P. Sylvester
Associate Professor and
 Graduate Program Director
Dept of History
DePaul University
2320 N. Kenmore Ave
Chicago, IL  60614-3250
phone: 773-325-7825
fax: 773-325-4764
rsylvest at depaul.edu

* * *

AUTUMN QUARTER 2011

421 The Historical Discipline, 
Brian Boeck, Thursday 6:00-9:15

This course focuses on the fundamental concerns and skills necessary for
the study of history at the graduate level.   It does this by providing
a "history of history," giving an overview of the growth and development
of the academic discipline of history, addressing issues of methodology,
historiography and historical philosophy, and providing you with an
awareness of current concerns, controversies, and debates in the
discipline.  In addition, you will develop your skills in reading
historical monographs for their arguments and will acquire the ability
to assess the author's use of evidence.  Whether you consider yourself
"a teacher, not a researcher," or if you plan to continue your graduate
studies, it is crucial for all historians to be well acquainted with the
analytical techniques and issues raised, examined, and discussed in this
course. 
History 421 is a prerequisite for all other 400-level courses in the
History Department.  It is offered only in the Autumn Quarter. All
regularly admitted students will be allowed to take one other 400-level
course during their first quarter.  Conditionally admitted students will
take only 421 during their first quarter.

422 Seminar in Primary Source Analysis, 
Thomas Foster, Monday 6:00-9:15

This course builds upon the foundations established by HST 421.  It
focuses on the evidence historian's use as the building blocks for their
analyses. This material ("primary sources" in the jargon of historians)
includes official documents, papers of almost any sort left behind by
people from wide ranges of social, economic and political standing,
images and artifacts such as objets d'art, films, photographs,
architecture, and myriad objects often studied under the rubric of
"material culture."  The Seminar in Primary Source Analysis is designed
to introduce you to the many practical and theoretical tools by which
historians construct historical knowledge out of the "raw" material left
behind by earlier generations.  The course will include study of these
sources, methods of analysis and authentication, and ways in which
different kinds of sources are integrated into coherent historical
narratives.  You will develop your ideas in a quarter-long
primary-source exercise.  Incorporating experiences and resources
developed in your previous graduate colloquia, you will choose a
significant primary source or set of primary sources related to a
subject that interests you, and use this source as the basis for a paper
in which you will discuss how you might develop a thesis based upon this
source and related primary and secondary sources. 
 
HST 422 is offered only in the Autumn Quarter.  Thus if you are taking
two courses per quarter, you should plan to take this course at the
beginning of your second year of study.   If you are progressing at a
rate of one course per quarter, you would ordinarily take this course
after you have completed four to five graduate colloquia. 

432 Colloq in Latin American History: Colonial Latin America, 
Ana Schaposchnik, Wednesday, 6:00-9:15

This course will provide an overview of the history and historiography
of colonial Latin America (from pre-Columbian societies until the end of
the colonial period in the early 19th century). Class topics and weekly
readings will combine chronological and thematic approaches (i.e.,
Indigenous societies and their incorporation into the colonial system,
colonial economy, slavery, society and family in urban settings).

435 Colloq in European History: Immigration & Diversity in 20th c.
Germany, 
Julia Woesthoff, Tuesday, 6:00-9:15

This course introduces students to the growing body of scholarship
dealing with issues of race, ethnicity and migration in 20th-century
Germany-including Nazism and the Holocaust, the postwar Jewish
community, the recruitment of so-called guestworkers, as well as the
challenges brought by European Islam-especially as they relate to
Germany's sense of nationhood and ideas of belonging.