History 194-03
Fall 2006
History 194-05
The
Global in the Local
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David Itzkowitz:
Office Hours: Tuesday, 3-5; Wednesday,
10-12. Other times by appointment
Peter Rachleff OM306
((H) 774-8687; (O) x6371 * rachleff@macalester.edu
Office
Hours: Tuesday, 12:30-2:30; Wednesday
1:15-3:15. Other times by appointment
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The
central focus of our courses will be exploring the relationships between
“global” developments (understood both as “large scale” and as “international”)
and “local” developments (understood at times as the Twin Cities, at times as
·
the
commercialization of
·
Minnesota’s
political traditions, including Populism and Farmer-Laborism, the transformation
of those traditions in years since the “Reagan Revolution” of the early 1980s,
and contemporary political contests as reflections (or not) of the “red
state”/“blue state” phenomenon; and
·
the
place of immigration and immigrants within
While
we will be relying on readings, documents, lectures, and films to explore this
material, we will also be seeking your active participation in discussions, in
the classroom (where both classes will often meet together but also
occasionally meet separately), in the dorms (where you will be living
together), and in a variety of contexts outside the classroom and even off the
campus. Indeed, we have built a
significant set of off-campus tours, investigations, and activities into the
course as a central part of our learning process, individually and
together.
While
we are both historians and, therefore, share some important lenses for how we
look at the world, you will find that we are quite different from each
other. Please take a look at the History
Department website (http://www.macalester.edu/history/faculty.html)
to learn more about us. We have decided
to work with one syllabus and to share most of our activities, including having
all of you live together. Because we will
typically be in the classroom together, differences in our perspectives will be
apparent, opening the door to a variety of arguments and interpretations. We also hope to benefit from a number of
guest presenters throughout the course.
Required Books
Toni
Morrison, Playing in the Dark
Mary Lethert Wingerd, Claiming the City: Politics, Faith, and the Power of Place in
Kevin
Phillips, American Theocracy
Jenna
Weissman Joselit, The Wonders of
Mae M. Ngai,
Impossible Subjects : Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern
We
will also read a number of other shorter articles, essays, reviews, and other
things as well as watch a number of films and videos
Bureaucratic
Expectations
We
will meet three times per week for class discussions, an occasional lecture and
other class activities. It is expected
that you will be in class and that you will have done the reading, which may be
considerable, on time. Falling behind is
not a good idea in this class—or any other, for that matter. We will be available in our offices during
office hours. Feel free to drop by to
talk about the class or anything else, for that matter. If you can’t make it during office hours,
just contact us and we can set up another time to meet. Although each of us is the advisor-of-record
for half of you (and it is only the advisor-of-record who has the authority to do
various bureaucratic tasks like signing forms and approving your courses) feel
free to talk to either of us about course-related matters
Analytical and research
papers. Each student will write three
2000-2500 word papers. These papers are
due on October 6, November 10, and December 15. Each student will be required to rewrite one of these papers and may
rewrite a second paper if s/he chooses. The rewritten paper is due no later than one week after receiving the
first graded draft back. The grade for the rewrite will serve as the final
grade for that paper.
Critical response
papers: Once
each week, starting the week of September 11, every student will submit a 500
to 700 word critical response to the assigned reading for the day. Normally, the response is due on Monday, but
in a week in which there is no assigned reading for the Monday, it will be due
on the first day that week for which reading has been assigned. The form of the
response will vary, according to the kind of reading assigned.
For
secondary works the critical response
will summarize the thesis or theses of the reading, describe the issues dealt
with in the reading, and discuss what you see as the strengths and weakness of
the source. When the assigned reading
consists of more than one source, your response should deal with all of the
sources, though you may, if you wish, concentrate on one or two of the sources
and relate them to the others.
For
primary works—works that we read
because they illustrate some aspect of their own time (works of fiction, for
example)—the critical response should
suggest the ways in which the source is or is not useful in helping us to
understand some aspect of the topic that we are looking at.
N. B. Sometimes a particular reading could be both a primary and a secondary
source. When you think that is the
case, you may write a critical response that treats it as either. In such cases, you must explain why you have
made the choice you have. Noting that a
particular source can be both primary and secondary highlights the fact that
the distinction between the two can be slippery. But because the distinction between primary and secondary is so central to the way historians work, we will spend
some time in class trying to come to grips with this problem.
Late
response papers will be accepted only in cases of
documentable medical or other emergency. If you miss more than three
papers, an F counting 10 percent will be figured into your final grade. If you
miss more than nine papers, an F counting 25 percent will be figured into your
final grade. If, at the end of a discussion of a reading, you still have a question
about it, please email your instructor-of-record so that he can respond via
email or at the start of the next class. You can be confident that if you have
a lingering question, others in the class probably will have it as well.
Out-of-class activities
During
the course of the semester there will be a number of out-of-class activities
designed to get you out into the community.
These include a bus tour of the
Grading
Each of the three papers
will count for 20% of your grade, as will the
out-of-class activities reports. Class participation, including the
reaction papers and the election report, will count for the final 20%.
Reasonable
accommodations will be provided for students with physical, sensory, cognitive,
learning, and psychological disabilities.
Please contact the Disability Services Office located at Macalester
Health Services, 696-6275, to discuss accessing accommodations.
COMPLETION
OF ALL WRITTEN WORK IS A REQUIREMENT FOR PASSING THIS COURSE.
EXCEPT
IN TRULY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, THERE WILL BE NO INCOMPLETES GRANTED IN THIS
COURSE.
Course
Schedule
Like all things in this
world, this schedule is subject to change.
W
Sept. 6 Discussion
of Morrison, Playing in the Dark
F.
Sept. 8 No Class Meeting
Sunday,
Sept 10 Twin
Cities bus tour
M.
Sept. 11 The nature
of history as a discipline
W.
Sept. 13 Early
economic development in
Read: Thomas Woods, Knights of the Plow: Oliver H. Kelley and the Origins of the Grange in
Republican ideology (excerpts)
Steve Leiken, Practical Utopians: American Workers and the
Cooperative Movement in the Guilded Age (excerpts)
Peter Rachleff, “Turning
Points in the Labor Movement:Three Key Conflicts
F.
Sept 15 Continue
discussion of Woods, Leiken, and Rachleff
Sunday,
September 17 Visit Oliver Kelley Farm
M
Sept 18 History
of
Read: Wingerd
W
Sept 20. Continue
discussion of Wingerd
F
Sept 22 Continue
discussion of Wingerd
Sat
or Sun, Sept. 23 or 24 Visit
M
Sept 25 Library session
W Sept 27 Later
Economic Development in
Read: Dan Morgan, Merchants of Grain (excerpts)
F.
Sept 29 Later
Economic Development
Read: Kirk Jeffrey, “The Major Manufacturers:
From Food and
Sat.
or Sun. Sept 30
M
Oct 2 No Class meeting—Yom Kippur
W
Oct 4 Read :TBA
F Oct 6 Paper Due
M
Oct 9 Preparation
for International Roundtable
Read:
Roundtable papers
W
Oct 11 Prep
for International Roundtable
Thursday Oct
12—4:30-6:15 International Roundtable
First Session
Friday Oct
13—International Roundtable Second Session—No class meeting
Saturday, Oct 14 10-12:15—International Roundtable Final
Session
M
Oct 16 Politics
in
Read: John Haynes, “Reformers, Radicals
and Conservatives”
W.
Oct 18 Read: Jennifer Delton, Making
F.
Oct 20 Politics
in the
Read: Phillips, American Theocracy
M
Oct 23 Politics,
continued
Read: Phillips
W
Oct 25 Politics,
continued
Read: Phillips
F
Oct 27 Fall Break—No class meeting
M
Oct 30 Student
oral reports on election
W
Nov 1 Student
oral reports
Th
Nov. 2 Attend
session of the Social Science History Conference: “Rethinking
F Nov 3 Student
oral Reports
M
Nov 6 Student
oral Reports
T
Nov 7 Election
Day
W
Nov 8 Election
Dsicussion
Friday
Nov 10 Paper Due
Sat Nov 11 or Sun Nov
Spring Registration
–November 13-December 2
M
Nov 13 Immigration
Read: Ngai
W
Nov 15 Continue
discussion of Ngai
F
Nov 17 Continue
Discussion of Ngai
M
Nov 20 Continue
Discussion of Ngai
W
Nov 22 No class Meeting
F
Nov 24 Thanksgiving Break—No class
M
Nov 27 Immigration
Read: Joselit
W.
Nov 29 Continue
Discussion of Joselit
F
Dec 1 Continue
Discussion of Joselit
M
Dec 4 Immigration
Read: TBA
W
Dec 6 Immigration
Read: Dionicio Valdes, Barrios Nortenos: St. Paul and Midwestern Mexican Communities in the
Twentieth Century (excerpts)
F
Dec 8 TBA
M
Dec 11 TBA
W
Dec 13 TBA
F
Dec 15 Last
Day of Class—Final papers due