Course Description

What is history and how should we practice it?  This course looks at the ways scholars have theorized and practiced history from antiquity to the present.  Here, the focus will be on the most influential approaches to history writing (in the West and the world at large), including: Marxism, gender and sexuality, social history, cultural history, race and ethnicity and digital history.  An important focus of the course will be on developing the ability to synthesize and apply complex approaches, both orally and in writing.        

Grade Descriptors

Grade A Outstanding performance on all learning outcomes.

Grade A- Generally outstanding performance on all (or almost all) learning outcomes.

Grade B Substantial performance on all learning outcomes, OR high performance on some learning outcomes which compensates for less satisfactory performance on others, resulting in overall

substantial performance.

Grade C Satisfactory performance on the majority of learning outcomes, possibly with a few weaknesses.

Grade D Barely satisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes.

Grade F Unsatisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, OR failure to meet specified assessment requirements.

Course Outcomes 

At the end of the course, students should be able to achieve the following objectives:

1. Gain a solid training in the craftsmanship of academic presentation and historiographical writing;

2. Identify, understand, and critically analyze major schools of thoughts in historiography;

3. Demonstrate profound understanding and critical analysis of various historical methods, including data-driven digital history.

Introductory Reading 

Students looking for an introduction to historiography should refer to:

Wang, Q.E. & G.G. Iggers, eds., Turning Points in Historiography: A Cross-cultural Perspective (Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2002) [2hr loan in UL] 

Lecture 01 (Jan 9): Introduction: Historical knowledge and the historian’s craft. How to read a book workshop.
Prologues to Livy, Thucydides, Herodotus [in pdf on Blackboard].
Collingwood, R.G., “Who killed John Doe? The problem of testimony” from The Idea of History, in Winks, R.W., ed., The Historian as Detective (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), pp.39-60.

Lecture 02 (Jan 16): Marx, Weber and other theorists and historical research  
Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party. (14-27)
Wang, Q. Edward. “Between Marxism and Nationalism: Chinese Historiography and the Soviet Influence, 1949-1963.” Journal of Contemporary China 9, no. 23 (2000): 95-111.
Yale lecture on Weber

Lecture 03 (Jan 23): Examples of historical research: from political/institutional history to social history
Skim: Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (reserve in UB)
WEB DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk, Forethought & sections I-II
Frank Snowden, “The Negro in Classical Italy,” AJP 70 (1947) 266-92; “The Negro in Ancient Greece,” American Anthropologist 50,1 (1948) 31-44. 

Lecture 04 (Feb 6): Cultural history and historical research 
Skim: P Burke, What Is Cultural History? [on hold in UB]
Peter Burke, “Cultural History and its Neighbors”
 http://cultureandhistory.revistas.csic.es/index.php/cultureandhistory/article/view/7/25
Grafton, Anthony. “The History of Ideas: Precept and Practice, 1950-2000 and Beyond.” Journal of the History of Ideas 67.1 (2006): 1-32.

Lecture 05 (Feb 13): Historical geography and historical research
Adelman, “Is global history still possible..?” https://aeon.co/essays/is-global-history-still-possible-or-has-it-had-its-moment
Drayton, Richard, and David Motadel. “Discussion: The Futures of Global History.” Journal of Global History 13.1 (2018): 1-21.
Skim: Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms [UL reserve]
Skim: Timothy Brook, Vermeer’s Hat [UL reserve]

Lecture 06 (Feb 20): Gender, Sexuality and Intersectionality
Scott, J.W., “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” in J.W. Scott, ed., Feminism and History
Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: a Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics”. University of Chicago Legal Forum. 1989: 139–168.
Skim: Chauncey, George. Gay New York: Gender, Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940. New York: BasicBooks, 1994. (Ebook online)

Lecture 07 (Feb 27): Economic history and historical research
Haskell, Thomas L. (October 2, 1975). “The True & Tragical History of ‘Time on the Cross'”. The New York Review of Books
Walter Scheidel, Slavery in the Roman Economy.
Skim: Braudel, F., trans. Ranum, P.M., Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977).
Skim: David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture
Book review only: Orlando Patterson, Freedom.

Lecture 08 (Mar 5): Basics of historical research (i): identifying errors in source materials and the challenges of digital history
“Concepts and Readings,” 1A-1B, http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=8 (just read, do not do exercises)
Introduction to Statistics, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyYifTHIcyw
“Math & Art History” http://digitalhumanities.berkeley.edu/blog/15/06/04/math-and-art-history-find-common-ground-dictionary-learning
Skim: Jakub Kabala, “Computational authorship attribution in medieval Latin corpora: the case of the Monk of Lido (ca. 1101–08) and Gallus Anonymous (ca. 1113–17),” Language Resources and Evaluation (2018), 1-32. 
Skim: Alex Borucki, David Eltis and David Wheat. “Atlantic History and the Slave Trade to Spanish America,” American Historical Review, 120 (2015): 433-461.
Skim: http://www.slavevoyages.org/

Lecture 09 (Mar 12): Basics of historical research (ii): data, examining archives and conducting field work
Read: 2B-5A, , http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=8 (just read, do not do exercises)
Download Transatlantic Slave Trade Database EXCEL sheets: expanded data; Inter-American Trade; British Atlantic.  Here is the manual for understanding it all [questions: what is the data; how was it created; what are the potential problems with it; how is it presented?]
Do Tableau tutorial: http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=163 (this might also be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT1iHLGawIM)
Create some Tableau visualizations answering a hypothetical research question about Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database using the EXCEL sheets, and bring them to class (USB or email to TA and we can discuss them). 
If you have a laptop, please bring it to class.
For the final projects, students might also be interested in: Scottish Witchcraft Trials ; Civil Unrest Events ; US government data, etc.

Lecture 10 (Mar 19): Basics of historical research (iii): analyzing and inferring from historical documents and other sources
Read 5B-8A, http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=8 (just read, do not do exercises)
Do Text Analysis tutorial http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=172 ; http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=182
Apply one of these techniques to a text of your choice and bring your results to class.
Look at African Names Database, and think about how you might apply digital methods to it.
Do ArcGIS mapping: set up a free account at https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html
Do these tutorials: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/get-started-with-arcgis-online/ ; https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/get-started/quick-exercise-maps.htm
Please make one map (it can be very simple and bring it to class).
If you have a laptop, please bring it to class.

Lecture 11 (Mar 26): Displaying historical research and public history: cases of historical research.
Read 2A, 8B-10B, http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=8 (just read, do not do exercises)
Omeka, http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=104
HTML http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/?page_id=178
Glassberg, David. “Public History and the Study of Memory.” The Public Historian 18.2 (1996): 7-23.
Either visit the Hong Kong Museum of History (“The Hong Kong Story” wing), if you have not already, or Slavery and Global Public History.
If you have a laptop, please bring it to class.

Lecture 12 (Apr 2): No class – reading week!

Lecture 13 (Apr 9):  Trouble-shooting digital projects
Please send any problems or questions you have about your project (24 hours ahead of class), and we will solve them as a class.
12 noon Teaching Evaluation

Lecture 14 (Apr 16): Presentations and Discussions of Digital Projects.
Please email or bring your presentation on a USB.

Attendance and Active Participation in class: 20%
Active participation entails making at least one and preferably two comments/asking questions per class. 

6*1-page Response Papers (=300 words): 30%
on readings from weeks 2-8 that answer the question: “What is the key point of this week’s reading?” (each worth 5%).Due via email to the Professor 1-hour (60mins!) before the lecture.  You may submit more, but only the best 6 grades will count. 

Digital Essay: 25%
Produce one data-driven inquiry and present it in weeks 15 (5-10 mins).  It should total approximately 5 pages in pdf of text, images, screen shot, etc.  Topics to be covered will include, e.g. discussion of research problem, data, methodology, conclusions, problems encountered, areas for future research).    Some examples are here and here.

Tutorial Case-Study Exercises: 25%
5% for pre-submitted sources and 1-page discussions of how methodology might be applied to it (due 1hr before tutorial via email to TA); 20% for participation in discussions

Venue: TBD
Time: TBD

The Tutorials, which will be held in weeks 4, 6, 7 and 8, will be focused on applying the historiographical techniques learned in the lectures.
Tutorial 1: Marx, Weber, social history cultural history
Tutorial 2: Geography
Tutorial 3: Gender & Sexuality
Tutorial 4: Economic history

Every tutorial, All students must bring one very short extract from historical sources (c. 250 words, or image, object) of their choosing to class and discuss how they might apply one of the methodologies studied to them.  In advance of the tutorial students should submit the source to the TA and a 1-page outline of how one of the methodologies might be applied to it (due 1hr before tutorial via email). This will aid the subsequent discussion.

• 梁启超：《中国历史研究法》
• 严耕望：《治史经验谈》
• 黄进兴：〈论方法及方法论－－以近代中国史学意识为系络〉，载康乐、黄进兴编：《历史学与社会科学》
• 庞卓恆等：《史学概论》
• 许冠三：《史学与史学方法》（上、下）
• 庞卓恆等：《史学概论》
• 姚蒙：《法国当代史学主流》
• 徐浩、侯建新：《当代西方史学流派》
• 赖建诚译著：《年鑑学派管窥》（上）
• 项观奇编：《历史比较研究法》
• 张玉法：《历史学的新领域》
• 周樑楷：〈年鑑学派的史学传统及其转变〉，载周樑楷著：《近代欧洲史家及史学思想》
• 王渊明：〈美国公共史学〉，《史学理论》，3（1989）
• 〈妇女史与社会性别的启示〉，《史学理论研究》，3（2004）
• 余英时：〈中国史的现阶段：反省与展望〉，载氏著：《史学与传统》
• 古伟瀛、王晴佳：《後现代与历史学：中西比较》
• 杨念群等主编：《新史学》(下)
• Elton, G. R., The Practice of History
• Carr, E.H., What is History?
• Barzun, J. & H.F. Graff, The Modern Researcher
• Bloch, M., The Historian’s Craft
• Burke, P., ed., New Perspectives on Historical Writing
• Barraclough, G. Main, Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences: History
• Himmelfarb, Gertrude, The New history and the Old: Critical Essays and Reappraisals
• Berger, S., et al., eds., Writing History: Theory and Practice
• Clark, Stuart, ed., The Annales School: Critical Assessments, Vol. 1.
• Mahoney, J. & D. Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences
• Kelley, R., Public History: Its Origins, Nature, and Prospects? The Public Historian, 1:1 (1978)
• Thompson, P., The Voice of the Past: Oral History
• Jorgensen, D.L., Participant Observation
• Hunt, L., ed., The New Cultural History
• Scott, J.W., “Introduction,” “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” in J.W. Scott, ed., Feminismand History
• Iggers, G.G., Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge
• Introduction to Digital Humanities, http://dh101.humanities.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IntroductionToDigitalHumanities_Textbook.pdf

请注意大学有关学术著作诚信的政策和规则，及适用于犯规事例的纪律指引和程序。详情可浏览此处。

学生递交作业时，必须连同已签署的声明一并提交，表示他们知道有关政策、规则、指引及程序。

• 如属小组习作，则所有组员均须签署声明；所有组员 (不论有否签署声明及不论有否直接或间接撰写有问题的内容) 均须负上集体责任及受到惩处。
• 如作业以电脑制作、内容以文字为主，并经由大学「维诚」系统 (VeriGuide) 提交者，学生将作业的电子档案上载到系统后，便会获得收据，收据上已列明有关声明。
• 学生充分知悉到他们的作业可能会被人工智能内容检测软件审查，以确定其原创性。
• 学生充分知悉科目中采用人工智能工具的做法。在经允许下使用某些人工智能工具的情况下，学生已按照科目老师的指示明确注明出处和引文。

未有夹附签署妥当的声明的作业，老师将不予批阅。

学生只须提交作业的最终版本。

学生将作业或作业的一部份用于超过一个用途 (例如：同时符合两科的要求) 而没有作出声明会被视为未有声明重复使用作业。 学生重复使用其著作的措辞或某一、二句句子很常见，并可以接受，惟重复使用全部内容则构成问题。在任何情况下，须先获得相关老师同意方可提交作业。

由大学职员/老师制作的教学材料，包括课堂笔记、作业及考试题目等，其版权属香港中文大学拥有；学生可从大学采用的网上教学系统 (例如Blackboard) 下载由大学职员/老师制作的教学材料供其学习使用；惟未经相关职员/老师事先同意下，不得分发/分享/复制这些材料予第三者。