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PROSEMINAR COURSES
PROSEMINAR – EUROPE
History 640.1 - ProSeminar in European History —The Roman Empire
Hoffman
This will be a research seminar which will explore various aspects of the Roman Empire from the accession of Tiberius to the death of Trajan, a period of approximately one hundred years. During this period the patterns of empire were established and a new kind of civilization emerged. But the history of this period is not without its myths and controversies, many of them propagated by Hollywood, HBO, and even PBS, with its series I, Claudius: Did Nero really fiddle while Rome burned? Were the Romans cruel people who threw hundreds of hapless victims to hungry lions? In order to understand the nature and development of the Roman Empire over this period, the seminar is constructed around a twin emphasis: (1) the process and problems of historical reconstruction and explanation, especially considering the nature of the source materials that have survived: and (2) an examination of the basic structures of the Roman Empire from the Princeps and Senate to society and the family.
During the first part of the semester we will focus on a common set of readings of primary and secondary sources for weekly discussions; in these early weeks, the members of the seminar will produce two five page papers on specific topics in Roman history. You will spend the remainder of the seminar on your own historical research project on any aspect of the period producing a 20 to 30 page research paper. This proseminar is open to all history majors who have completed History 300. No previous course in Roman history or languages are prerequisite to this course.
HIST 640.2 – Origins of World War II
D’Agostino
During the period between the two world wars, there was a sense that democracy and capitalism, at least as they had been understood at the time, were exhausted. The onset of the great depression and the end of the international gold standard meant for many that there would have to be some new and revolutionary wave of the future. Perhaps it was the European fascist dictators, or Soviet Communism, or the American New Deal. Perhaps the world would simply break up into blocs and each of these models could be pursued in isolation form the rest of humanity. This seminar is designed to explore the various “solutions” offered by nationalist, imperialist, fascist, Communist, and liberal ideas, including racialist ideology, to the dilemmas of the period. The class is open to students from various fields and perspectives, European and non-European. Imaginative papers encouraged. Texts may include Martel, Origins of the Second World War Reconsidered, and Boyce and Maiolo, Origins of the Second World War: The Debate Continues.
PROSEMINAR - UNITED STATES
HIST 642.1 - ProSeminar in US History (California Cities: LA/SF)
Dreyfus
This course will give students the opportunity to develop a framework for understanding the process of urbanization in our regional context. We will concentrate on a number of related questions, ranging from the general to the specific. Why are cities born and how do they function as economic units? What are the specific characteristics of urban development in the American West? Are any features of urban growth in California unique or noteworthy? How did San Francisco and Los Angeles emerge as premier Pacific metropolitan regions? Students will seek to answer these questions by immersion in some of the best current works in "new" urban history. Requirements will include a book review, discussion of readings, classroom presentations of ongoing student research, and a culminating research paper based largely on primary sources. Research topics will focus on some aspect of urban environmental development, either related to the selected city's internal landscape or to its external impact.
HIST 642.02 - ProSeminar in US History (U.S., Vietnam, & the War)
Elkind
This course will explore American involvement in Vietnam between 1945 and 1975, with particular emphasis on the intersections between diplomatic, political, social, and cultural history. We will consider US intervention from various perspectives, including high-level American and Vietnamese policy makers, as well as soldiers and civilians from North and South Vietnam and the United States. In addition to active participation in our class discussions, requirements for this seminar include weekly activities, a research paper, and an in-class presentation.
PROSEMINAR - WORLD
HIST 644 History, Society, and Justice
Getz
History as an academic discipline does not just sit abstractly removed from society. Societies and groups within them have changing and often contested relationships with the past that inform their identities as inhabitants of the present, and historians are often key players in the manufacturing and mobilization of these understandings. In this pro-seminar, we will look at the ways in which the past has been used both by formally-trained historians and informal historians, politicians, and activists in attempts to overcome or alternately heal the their societies from historical events and trends that have implications in the contemporary world. Examples include the debates over reparations for African-Americans and Japanese-Americans, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, and similar processes in Latin America and Rwanda. Students will write a scholarly paper discussing historical events and trends as well as interpretations and uses of history inside and outside of the academy in a region of their choice.
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