Historiography
M. Asım Karaömerlioğlu
Fall 2010
Historiography has always been influenced, and even shaped, by the changes taking place in social and political life as well as by the developments in the natural sciences. In the age of the nationstate formations, political history became eminent. In the age of the Industrial Revolution and social differentiation, social history with all its varities took to the forefront. In the age of image, virtual reality and diverse relativity, together with the migration of the 3rd world intellectual to the 1st world, postmodernist textual analyses sprung up with unsourmountable prestige. Perhaps today’s colossal changes taking place in medicine, genetics and nanotechology with an unprecedented speed in every realm of life hitherto unseen in human history should compel us to rethink the way we think about history and the social sciences.
This course focuses on some of the most significant and influential methods and approaches employed by historians in particular and social scientists in general from the mid-19th century up to the present.
The grade in this course will be based on a) Term paper 40%, b) Participation 30%, c) Final Exam 30%.
As for the reading materials, please first check the Boğaziçi Bookstore just across the university library. Many of the reading materials will be available at Yunus Copy located on Nispetiye caddesi (street), Hilal Pasajı No:37/6 Rumelihisarı (Phone: 212-263 65 30). You may also take a look at the university library and ATA web site as well.
Paper Assignment:
I want you to write a term paper of around 18-20 pages (typewritten, double-spaced, pagenumbered and in a conventional font size) about a social or political or scientific or enviromental or demographic change that has taken place from the 1980s onwards that has made a deep impact on the way we think and rethink about history writing. For example, it may be about the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union, or about the destruction of environment, or about the genetic cloning or the like.You should return a paper proposal on the 5th week of the semester. The proposal should include a tentative biblography as well. Please consult with me as soon as possible about your paper.
Paper grades will be based on:
The quality of your writing,
Clarity of your arguments and organization,
Intelligent use of source materials.
We usually tend to ignore "form" at the expense of "content." That is, we forget that the way we present a topic is no less important than our ideas and analyses. Please pay particular attention to style, clarity, coherence and organization in your papers.
Your first paragraphs are very important. They should give the reader a clear understanding of your subject and should include a thesis statement that introduces your topic or position. All supporting paragraphs should somehow be connected to your thesis statement. Your paper should have a strong conclusion in which you summarize your arguments and relate those to your thesis.
Your conclusion should be clearly stated and show your power of analysis. Please keep in mind that a paragraph is a basic unit of ideas, so beware of long paragraphs and focus on only one basic idea in each paragraph. Avoid repetitions in the paper.
Week 1
Oct. 1
Introduction: The Social Responsibility of the Intellectual
Video: Tales from the Jungle: Margaret Mead, BBC, 2006.
Video: “Behind the Mask,” and “Woven Gardens,” in The Tribal Eye by David Attenborough, BBC, 1975.
Week 2
Oct. 8
History and The Annales
Peter Burke, The French Historical Revolution: The Annales School 1929-89 (Stanford, 1990).
Week 3
Oct. 15
History and Marxism
Karl Marx, “The Fetishism of the Commodity and Its Secret,” Capital, A Critique of Political Economy Volume I (London, 1982): 163-177.
Harvey J. Kaye, The British Marxist Historians: An Introductory Analysis (New York, 1995):1-23 & 167-249.
Week 4
Oct. 22
History and the “World Economy”: Dependencia and the World-Systems Theory
Andre Gunder Frank, “The Development of Underdevelopment,” Monthly Review, (1966): 4-17, reprint.
Andre Gunder Frank, The Underdevelopment of Development, in The Underdevelopment of Development: 17-55.
Patrick O'Brien, "European Economic Development: The Contribution of the Periphery," The Economic History Review 35, (1982): 1-18.
Charles Ragin and Daniel Chirot, "The World System of Immanuel Wallerstein: Sociology and Politics as History," in Vision and Method in Historical Sociology: 276-312.
Jan Nederveen Pieterse, "A Critique of World System Theory," International Sociology 3, (1988):251-266.
RETURN YOUR PAPER PROPOSALS
Week 5
Nov. 5
History and Geography
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years, (London, 1998).
Video: Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, PBS Nova, 2002.
Week 6
Nov. 12
History and Power: Nietzsche
Frederic Nietzsche, The Use and Abuse of History (New York, 1949).
Video: Human, All Too Human: Nietzsche, BBC, 1999.
Week 7
Nov. 19
History and Culture I
Peter Burke, "Unity and Variety in Cultural History," in Varieties of Cultural History (New York, 1997): 183-212.
George G. Iggers, “The Linguistic Turn: the End of History as a Scholarly Discipline,” in Historiography in the 20th Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge (Hanover, 1997):118-133.
Clifford Geertz, "Deep Play: Notes from the Balinese Cockfight,” Reprinted from The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays.
Victoria E. Bonnell and Lynn Hunt, “Introduction,” in Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture (London, 1999): 1-32.
Week 8
Dec. 3
History and Culture II
Lynn Hunt, “Introduction: History, Culture, and Text,” in The New Cultural History (London, 1989): 1-22.
Suzanne Desan, “Crowds, Community, and Ritual in the Work of E. P. Thompson and Natalie Davis,” in The New Cultural History: 47-71.
William H. Jr. Sewell, “The Concept(s) of Culture,” in Beyond the Cultural Turn: 35-61.
David Buss, “Human Nature and Culture, An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective,” Journal of Personality, 69:6, December, 2001: 955-978.
Video: Evolution: The Mind’s Big Bang, PBS Nova, 2001.
Week 9
Dec. 10
History and Eurocentricism
Edward Said, Orientalism (New York, 1979), 1-166.
Dennis Porter. “Orientalism and Its Problesm.” In Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman (New York, 1994): 150-61.
Gyan Prakash, “Subaltern Studies as Postcolonial Criticism,” American Historical Review 99, 5, (December 1994): 1475-1490.
Frederick Cooper, “Conflict and Connection: Rethinking Colonial African History,” American Historical Review 99, 5, (December 1994): 1516-1545.
Video: Egypt: Rediscovering a Lost World, BBC, 2006.
Week 10
Dec. 17
History and Gender
Joan Wallach Scott, "Women's History." In New Perspectives on Historical Writing, edited by Peter Burke, (Cambridege, 1991): 42-66.
Joan Wallach Scott, "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis," in Gender and the Politics of History (New York, 1988): 28-50.
Anne Campbell, “Feminism and Evolutionary Psychology,” in Missing the Revolution: Darwinism for Social Scientists (Oxford, 2006): 101-118.
Deniz Kandiyoti, "Contemporary Feminist Scholarship and Middle East Studies." In Gendering the Middle East: Emerging Perspectives, edited by Deniz Kandiyoti (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1996): 1-27.
Video: How to Build a Human: The Secret of Sex, BBC, 2002.
Week 11
Dec. 24
History and Evolutionary Theory: The Impact of Darwin?
Pierre L. van den Berghe, “Why Most Sociologists Don't (and Won't) Think Evolutionarily,” Sociological Forum, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1990: 173-185.
Doyne Dawson, “Evolutionary Theory and Group Selection: The Question of Warfare,” History and Theory, Vol. 38, No. 4, Theme Issue 38: The Return of Science: Evolutionary Ideas and History. (December, 1999): 79-100.
Jerome H. Barkow, “Introduction: Sometimes the Bus Does Wait,” in Missing the Revolution.. : 1-48.
Bernd Baldus, “Evolution, Agency and Sociology,” in Missing the Revolution... :269-291.
Ullica Segerstrale, “Evolutionary Explanation: Between Science and Values,” Missing the Revolution. :121-142.
Video: Darwin: The Legacy, BBC, 1998.
Week 12
Dec. 31
Final Exam
January 19: Papers are due
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