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Majors must take two seminars (or their equivalent) in two different geographic areas: Asia, Europe, Latin America, Russia, or the U.S. Seminars with a broader geographic focus, such as HIS 328, can be sorted into one of these categories based on the focus of your research paper.
FALL SEMESTER 2001
HIS 315.01. "The United States and Vietnam." This course examines the historical context of United States intervention in Vietnam from 1945 to 1975, with an emphasis on the social, economic, and political turmoil within Southeast Asia as well as the Cold War concerns that led American leaders to wage a full-scale war against an elusive and ill-defined "enemy" during the Johnson and Nixon administrations. The course will also consider the ongoing legacy of the United States loss in Vietnam and its impact upon recent American history. Sources utilized in the seminar present a wide array of perspectives and experiences, including policy documents from leaders in Vietnam and the United States, memoirs by soldiers, reminiscences by reporters, and accounts by others who witnessed the war. Students will be expected to initiate and carry the class discussions, define a major research project, produce an original paper, and present an oral report on their topic. The class will first focus on common readings and
discussions, then shift to individual research and class reports. Prerequisites: History 112 and additional course work in history at the 200-level. 4 credits. Mr. Hietala.
HIS 326.01. "History of Nineteenth-Century American Popular Culture." Students in this seminar will examine the creation and expansion of American popular culture in the nineteenth century as they focus on diverse cultural forms: dime novels, newspapers, music, sports, cartoons, material culture, theater, minstrel shows, magazines, etc. The seminar will focus particularly on how ideas and structures of race, class, and gender were changed and reinforced by American popular culture. Research papers will analyze popular culture in an historical context to consider how popular culture created or changed power dynamics in American society. Prerequisite: History 111 or permission of the instructor. 4 credits. Ms. Purcell.
HIS 338.01. "Socialism and Feminism in Europe, 1880-1930." This course will analyze the successes and failures of the most ambitious movement for social reform in European history, the socialist labor movement that spread in the 1880s. Topics will include the formation of a working class during the Industrial Revolution, the impact of industrialization on family structure and gender roles, the development of trade unionism, the diffusion of Marxist ideology, the strategy and tactics of social democratic parties, cooperation and conflict between the labor movement and liberal feminists, the schism of the socialist movement between reformists and revolutionaries during the First World War, and the first efforts by socialists to participate in parliamentary government. Our common readings will focus on France and Germany, but students are welcome to explore the experience of other European countries in their research papers. Prerequisite: History 237, 238, or 239. 4 credits. Mr. Patch
HIS 375.01. "The East-Asian Discovery of Europe, 1520-1830." This course will examine the first series of full contacts between Europe and East Asia during the three centuries following the Chinese purchase of a cannon from the Portuguese in 1520. It will focus on the patterns of cultural penetration of the Europeans as well as on the East-Asian responses to Christianity, military technology, and international trade. Readings will include first-hand accounts of mutual perceptions of the European and the East-Asian peoples. Prerequisite: History 275, 276, 277, or 278. 4 credits. Mr. Hsieh.
SPRING SEMESTER 2002:
HIS 329.01. "Latin America and the United States." As the saying goes, Latin America lies too far from God and too close to the United States. This proximity has affected Latin American economics, demographics, culture, and politics. The seminar will begin with an overview of US-Latin American relations from the Monroe Doctrine to the Bay of Pigs. We will then concentrate on the crucial period between World War I and World War II when the United States and Latin America redefined their relationship. Students will then write a research paper using primary documents available here at Grinnell. These papers could focus on any one of a number of issues that were central to US-Latin American relations in the inter-war period such as hemispheric security, economic affairs, fascism, and socialism. A reading knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is helpful but not required. Prerequisite: a 200-level course on Latin America or the United States. 4 credits. Mr. Silva.
HIS 335.01. "Calvinism." An examination of the power of a set of ideas. Prepared by a major shift in medieval thought, the Reformation theologians lit a fire that convulsed Europe, spreading to the New World. The doctrine of John Calvin was particularly influential in Great Britain and the Netherlands, becoming a formative influence in their colonies, New England and South Africa in particular. This seminar will examine Calvin’s ideas and the ways that they influenced society and politics in England, Scotland, the Netherlands, New England, and South Africa. Prerequisite: History 211, 234, 235, 261, or permission of instructor. 4 credits. Mr. Drake.
HIS 342.01. "Stalin: The Man and His Times." A study of the main themes of the thirty years during which Joseph Stalin dominated the Soviet Union: the political struggle that brought Stalin to power; collectivization of agriculture; industrialization; the Terror; and the "Great Fatherland War," among others. The course will focus on the intersection between different kinds of evidence and the interpretive trends that that evidence sustains. Reading will include biography as well as selected monographs. In addition to weekly reading assignments, seminar participants will be expected to complete a significant paper that appraises the current state of scholarship on a single theme (such as the Terror, for example). Prerequisite: History 242 or permission of the instructor. 4 credits. Mr. Kaiser.
HIS 354.01. "Prairie Women on the Web." This experimental seminar will be part of a collective effort to expand WEB sites related to U.S. Women’s History. Along with students and professors at 14 other colleges, we will be creating a new WEB site that offers users documents as well as explanatory and interpretive material. At Grinnell, we will be creating a WEB site called "Women on the Prairie, 1850-1950." Our endeavors will include introductory units on Prairie history and U.S. Women’s history, followed by an investigative unit on sources in various archives. Each student will identify an archival collection to study, write about, and prepare for WEB presentation.
The students who join this seminar will be able to examine archival resources at the Iowa State Historical Society in Des Moines, the Iowa State Historical Society in Iowa City, the Herbert Hoover Library in West Branch, the Carrie Chapman Catt Center in Ames, and the Women’s History Archives in Iowa City. In addition, they will have the opportunity to explore comparable holdings at surrounding Prairie state archives. To conduct the archival research for this seminar, students should expect to spend one week of Spring Break in Iowa, visiting archives as a group, with Prof. Brown. Students who wish to explore archives outside of Iowa during that week will be free to do so. Prerequisites: History 112 and History 222. The latter is non-negotiable. 4 credits. Ms. Brown.
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