Theory & Practice of History: An Introduction

Catalog description

This course will examine some of the most influential theories of today's intellectual marketplace which affect the study of history. From historical materialism, through structuralism, semiotics, poststructuralism, postmodernism, and critical theory, to gender and narrative history, we will discuss their intellectual essence as well as their usefulness in terms of the insights they offer to the historian. Apart from reviewing various theoretical approaches, we will also discuss their applications by closely examining selected cases of scholarship on American history which employ them as tools of interpretation and as forms of writing about the past.