This historiography course will take a different approach than most. Rather than limit ourselves to abstract texts about the theory of history, we will focus on one particular event that has seen a large amount of debates and a large variety of historiographical approaches. This event – the French Revolution of 1789-1815 – will serve as our “experiment.” We will look at how different historians have analyzed those events, starting from the very first people to analyze it, through the major historiographical trends of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and ending with contemporary accounts. The focus will be on the interaction between larger historiographical trends and the historiography of the Revolution, rather than on debates strictly between historians of the Revolution. Readings will usually pair one reading on the French Revolution with another reading that is either theoretical or comparative. Topics will include the following:Traditional narrative approaches, including critical/academic and quasi-hagiographical; State-based approaches; Traditional Marxist and class-based approaches; The influence of the Annales school; social history; Cultural history and the influence of anthropology; The Linguistic Turn; Gender History; Race in history and post-colonial studies; Atlantic history

Syllabus and preliminary reading list:

Lectures

Lecture 1: An Introduction to the French Revolution

Lecture 2: An Introduction to the Historiography of the French Revolution

• Doyle, The Origins of the French Revolution;

Lecture 3: You Are There – stories told at the time

• A collection of primary sources, explanations from contemporary observers and participants.*

Lecture 4: First histories: narratives and characters

• Selections from Michelet, A History of the French Revolution
• Thiers, “The History of the French Revolution”*
• Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution
• Hayden White, Metahistory.

Lecture 5: Saints and Devils

• Taine, The Origins of Contemporary France
• Jaures, “A Socialist History of the French Revolution”*

Lecture 6: Alexis de Tocqueville’s interpretation

• De Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution

Lecture 7: Karl Marx and the French Revolution

• Marx, selections (including selections from the Communist Revolution)
• Cobban, The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution
• Sewell, A Rhetoric of Bourgeois Revolution
• Alphaugh, “A Self-Defining Bourgeoisie”*

Lecture 8: Social History

• Rudé, The Crowd in the French Revolution
• Lefebvre, The Great Fear

Lecture 9: History and the Linguistic Turn

• Canning, “Feminist History after the Linguistic Turn”*
• Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution; Baker, Inventing the French Revolution

Lecture 10: Cultural History

• Geertz, “Notes on a Balinese Cockfight”*
• Hunt, The New Cultural History
• Ozouf, Festivals and the French Revolution;

Lecture 11: Religious History

• Lincoln, Holy Terrors
• Desan, Reclaiming the Sacred
• Aston, Religion and Revolution in France

Lecture 12: Gender History

• Scott, “Gender: a Useful Category of Historical Analysis”
• Outram, The Body and the French Revolution
• Michelet, “Women, Priests, and the Vendée”

Lecture 13: Atlantic History

• Palmer, The Age of Democratic Revolutions
• Games, “Atlantic History: Definitions, Challenges and Opportunities”*
• Popkin, You Are All Free.

Remarks:

1. All readings, except those with asterisk, have been already reserved in the University Library.
2. Asterisk refers to the online materials uploaded on the blackboard.

Essays: There will be four short essays (500-750 words) spread over the course of the semester. Each is worth 10% of the final grade.

Tutorials: 20% of the final grade.

Attendance/participation: This will include some in-class activities, as well as attending lectures and participating in discussions. 15% of the final grade. 

Final Take-Home Exam. 25% of the final grade.

The tutorials of HIST2002B Historiography (Advanced) aim at equipping students with different theories, methodologies and approaches in studying history. They are expected to apply them into a case to see if they are capable to manage what they have learnt in lectures. This time our case is the Modern History of China (1911 – present). To put theories into practice, it is suggested that students narrow the theme down to a specific historical event, case, period or region by themselves and explore what they can find by respective approaches.

Tutorials

Date: 5/2, 26/2, 19/3, 2/4 (Thur)

Time: LSK 301

Venue: 08:30-10:15

Content and Assessment (20%)

A.)   Literature Review (1000 words and with Veriguide) (10%)

B.)   Oral Presentation and Discussion (10%)

A.)   Literature Review (10%)
1.) Work individually.
2.) Use the suggested readings to see what you can find concerning respective historical approaches in studying modern China.
3.) Narrow down the general theme to a specific topic, if necessary.
4.) The themes would be randomly assigned to each student.
5.) Email your work and Veriguide receipt to tutor before respective deadlines shown in Part C.

B.)   Oral Presentation and Discussion (10%)
1.) Present for around 10 minutes, with or without any visual assisting tools such as PowerPoint.
2.) Respond to the questions, critiques or any other feedback raised by the audience.
3.) Raise questions, critiques or any other feedback to the presenters.
4.) In case of no heated discussion, a certain number of students will be randomly selected in each tutorial class to ask questions.

C.)   Theme of each tutorial

1. Narrative History of Modern China

• White, Hayden., The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation (Baltimore, Md.: John Hopkins University Press, 1987).
• Chang, Iris., The Chinese in America : a Narrative History (New York: Viking, 2003).
• Huang, Yunte., Charlie Chan: the Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010).（有中譯本） 

Deadline: Before 17:00, 2/2. 

2. History of Marxism of Modern China

• Marx, Karl., and Engels, Friedrich., edited and translated by L.M. Findlay, The Communist Manifesto (Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2004).
• Dirlik, Arif., Revolution and History: the Origins of Marxist Historiography in China, 1919-1937 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978).
• Li, Huaiyin., Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2013) Chapters 3-5. （有中譯本）

Deadline: Before 17:00, 23/2.

3. Cultural History of Modern China

• Biersack, Aletta., et al., edited by Lynn Hunt, The New Cultural History: Essays (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).
• Peterson, Willard J., Plaks, Andrew H., Yü, Ying-shih., edited, The Power of Culture: Studies in Chinese Cultural History (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), 80-102, 195-303, 321-343.
• Lu, Hanchao., Street Criers: a Cultural History of Chinese Beggars (Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2005).（有中譯本）

Deadline: Before 17:00, 16/3.

4. Gender History of Modern China

• Scott, Joan W., “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 91, No. 5. (Dec., 1986), 1053-1075. 
• Barlow, Tani E., The Question of Women in Chinese Feminism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), Chapters 1-5.（有中譯本）
• Gilmartin, Christina K., “Gender in the Formation of a Communist Body Politics,” Modern China, 1:1 (1993), 299-329.

Deadline: Before 17:00, 30/3.

See Syllabus.

請注意大學有關學術著作誠信的政策和規則，及適用於犯規事例的紀律指引和程序。詳情可瀏覽此處。

學生遞交作業時，必須連同已簽署的聲明一併提交，表示他們知道有關政策、規則、指引及程序。

• 如屬小組習作，則所有組員均須簽署聲明；所有組員 (不論有否簽署聲明及不論有否直接或間接撰寫有問題的內容) 均須負上集體責任及受到懲處。
• 如作業以電腦製作、內容以文字為主，並經由大學「維誠」系統 (VeriGuide) 提交者，學生將作業的電子檔案上載到系統後，便會獲得收據，收據上已列明有關聲明。
• 學生充分知悉到他們的作業可能會被人工智能內容檢測軟件審查，以確定其原創性。
• 學生充分知悉科目中採用人工智能工具的做法。在經允許下使用某些人工智能工具的情況下，學生已按照科目老師的指示明確註明出處和引文。

未有夾附簽署妥當的聲明的作業，老師將不予批閱。

學生只須提交作業的最終版本。

學生將作業或作業的一部份用於超過一個用途 (例如：同時符合兩科的要求) 而沒有作出聲明會被視為未有聲明重覆使用作業。 學生重覆使用其著作的措辭或某一、二句句子很常見，並可以接受，惟重覆使用全部內容則構成問題。在任何情況下，須先獲得相關老師同意方可提交作業。

由大學職員/老師製作的教學材料，包括課堂筆記、作業及考試題目等，其版權屬香港中文大學擁有；學生可從大學採用的網上教學系統 (例如Blackboard) 下載由大學職員/老師製作的教學材料供其學習使用；惟未經相關職員/老師事先同意下，不得分發/分享/複製這些材料予第三者。