Fall 2010 History Department Graduate Course Descriptions 

GRADUATE COURSES

Core Courses

HIST 700- History as a Field of Knowledge
Getz, Rodriguez
This course is a survey of recent trends in the research and writing of professional historians, with particular focus on the changes in methods, concepts, and techniques since World War II. The seminar will feature intensive critical analysis of recently published books and articles in the fields of European, United States, Latin American, Asian and African history, as well as Gender in History. The course provides an opportunity to utilize the skills associated with the professional practice of History. Students can expect to gain experience in writing critical book reviews and analytical historiographic essays. Students can also expect to gain experience in preparing and delivering class presentations.

AREA SEMINARS
HIST 710  Augustine"s City of God
Williams
One of Western civilization's key works, in its original contexts (early fifth century Roman empire; life and thought of Augustine of Hippo; Christianization of the Mediterranean world) and its early medieval and later reception. Theory and methods of intellectual history.

HIST 740 The Great Divergence: The West and the World, 1250-1750
Getz
This is a graduate-level research course focusing on historical practice revolving around two main tasks. The first is the collective exploration of the historical processes through which the ideas and discourses of “the West” was formed and how it came to be placed in binary opposition to non-modernity, “people-without-history”, and other formulations for the non-west. The second is individual analysis of primary sources that help to illuminate some aspects of these processes. The topics of students' papers and the sources on which they write are not limited to a specific location or time, so long as they engage the principal themes of the course. This does mean that some places and periods may not be appropriate for analysis.


HIST 780  Slavery and the Constitution  
Waldrep
This seminar will explore the connections between the U.S. Constitution and slavery from 1787 to the Civil War. We will read the leading secondary sources on this question plus examine the The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Students will prepare brief summaries of the books assigned and finish with an essay revealing slavery’s true influence on our ideological origins.


HIST 785.01 and HIST 785.02   College Teaching of History
Lisy-Wagner
The goal of this program is to provide basic training and hands-on experience for M. A. students who plan to go on to either community college teaching or Ph.D. programs. Teaching Trainees will have the opportunity both to watch and learn from an established instructor and to develop their own teaching personality and style. There will be two components to the experience: six pedagogical workshops which all Teaching Trainees will attend together, and a practicum in which students will assist in an undergraduate class.
To qualify for the program, you must have successfully completed Hist 700, have successfully completed 12 additional History units, and be carrying a 3.35 overall GPA.

HIST 790 Environmental History
Dreyfus
In the United States—a land possessed of so much nature and so much of its perceived antithesis—the conceptual separation of human society and culture from the natural world has influenced the ways that Americans have experienced, understood, and used nature, as well as the ways that historians have interpreted and told the story of this engagement. This seminar will focus on American Environmental History in the nation’s industrial age. Students will apply their knowledge to a term paper based on primary sources in an area of personal interest. The class will be framed by the following central questions: What is the field of U.S. Environmental History, why does it exist, and what does it have to offer? How do we define nature? Are historians primarily concerned with nature as an objective phenomenon or as a social construction? What is the relationship between environmental history and environmentalism? How have the environmental relations of diverse groups of Americans changed over time?

COURSES BY INDIVIDUAL STUDY

HIST 799  Directed Historiography
ARR


HIST 880.01 and HIST 880.02    Archives/History Internship
Arranged, please contact D. Mabalon
An internship represents an unusual opportunity to earn credit by working at some off-campus site dedicated to the preservation of historic artifacts or documents. Students might work in an archive, learning the various elements of the work there in organizing papers or photographs, preserving documents, and making such articles available to researchers. Students might choose instead to work with an agency for historical preservation, learning the various elements involved in preserving or restoring buildings or artifacts, researching their history, and using them to inform the public. Among the agencies where the student might work are the Labor Archives (on campus), the local branch of the National Archives, the Maritime Museum, or the Heritage Foundation. Each internship will be separately arranged and every effort will be made to match your interests with an appropriate site for the development of those interests. Students taking History 680/880 for the first time should register for four units. May be taken for 3 or 4 units.

HIST 880.03 Archives/History Internship
Waldrep

HIST890  Edit & Publish the History Journal
Waldrep
Supervised experience in editing and production of an annual journal of research done by SFSU students. Not applicable to major or minor fields within history majors. No more than a combined total of eight units may be earned in History 690 and 890. Credit/no credit grades only. May be taken for 1 to 4 units.

HIST 899 Special Study in History
ARR
please contact the faculty member you are interested in working with.
 Supervised study of a particular problem selected by the student. A petition for Special Study and an add form must be signed by the instructor and turned into the history department office before the student can register for the course. A petition for Special Study that clearly outlines learning objectives and methods as well as evaluation of learning objectives must be completed and signed by the course instructor, student’s faculty advisor, and the History Department Chair before a student may enroll in this course.  May be taken for 1 to 4 units.

CULMINATING EXPERIENCE

HIST 896 Directed Reading in History
Arranged, please contact B. Loomis
Master’s written examination. Students must consult with the Graduate Coordinator prior to enrolling for the exam. Students should consult with faculty members whose expertise is the subject area of the exam they are writing.

HIST 898 Master’s Thesis
Arranged, please contact B. Loomis
Master’s written thesis. Students must consult with the Graduate Coordinator and with instructors who will be on their graduate thesis committee. Students register for the Master’s thesis with the Graduate Office on campus.