SEMINAR IN
U. S. FOREIGN RELATIONS
History 616
Prof. Chester Pach
Ohio University
Fall Quarter 2009
Call No. 03845
This course is the first half of a two-quarter research seminar in U.S. history. You must take the second part of this course in the Winter Quarter to receive credit for your work. Your grade at the end of this quarter will be PR; you will receive a letter grade for the entire course at the end of the Winter Quarter.
This course has several goals. The most important objective is to help you develop your research skills through the writing of an article-length research essay, which might serve as the basis for an M.A. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation. During the Fall Quarter, you will design your research essay; in the Winter Quarter, you will present a preliminary version of the essay to the seminar for comment and discussion. Another goal of the course is to introduce you to different ways of doing history. During the first half of the course, we will read several books that illustrate a variety of methodologies and conceptual approaches. All of these books are works in international history, broadly defined. The purpose of reading them is to encourage you to think about different ways of framing historical projects, asking and answering questions about change over time, and relating the past to the present. Finally, this course will help you improve your writing. It will emphasize the importance of clear and effective presentation of research to specialists in your field and interested readers outside of it.
Your research essay can be on any period or in any field of U.S. history. The greatest number of students in this course will write on topics in international history, but others will write essays in such areas as cultural, social, political, or intellectual history. You should work closely with me as well as with your thesis or dissertation advisor, should that be another faculty member, as you define your topic, conduct your research, and write your essay.
On most Mondays during the Fall Quarter, we will meet to discuss common readings. The assignments are listed on the schedule below. I selected the required books in large part because of their distinctive, innovative, or notable methodologies or interpretive frameworks. In our discussions, we will devote considerable time to analyzing the author’s approach to his or her subject as well as to discussing the issues in international, U.S., or world history that the book addresses.
You should purchase the following books, which are available at the Little Professor Book Center:
Borgwardt, Elizabeth, A New Deal for the World: America’s Vision for Human Rights
Endy, Christopher, Cold War Holidays: American Tourism in France
Hoganson, Kristin L., Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars
Logevall, Fredrik, Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam
Parker, Jason C., Brother’s Keeper: The United States, Race, and Empire in the British Caribbean, 1937-1962
Rosenberg, Emily S., A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory
Suri, Jeremi, Henry Kissinger and the American Century
In addition to doing the common readings and discussing them, you will write a proposal for your research essay during the Fall Quarter. You will do so in increments, with several assignments building toward the completion of the proposal by the end of the quarter. The first of these assignments, due on September 18, will be a brief report about an important primary source, reference work, or bibliographic guide for the study of U.S. history. The second will be a preliminary description of your topic, which you will submit on October 16. Next will be an annotated bibliography of major primary sources and secondary works on which you will draw in writing your research essay. It will be due on October 30. You will then submit a draft of the proposal for your essay on November 12. Each member of the seminar will read all the draft proposals, and we will discuss each of them at our last fall seminar meeting on November 16. The final version of your research proposal will be due on November 23. You will submit all these assignments electronically, and you will receive separate instructions about how to do them.
You will also do one additional writing assignment, a review of either Fighting for American Manhood, A Date Which Will Live, or A New Deal for the World , which will be due on October 9.
Because of the nature of this course, you should attend each meeting unless there is a legitimate and unavoidable reason, such as illness, for your absence. Part of the success of the course depends upon your conscientious preparation and active participation in our discussions.
University rules require me to inform you that academic misconduct, which includes plagiarism in papers, is a most serious matter. In this course, the penalties for such offenses could range from reduction of grade on an assignment or for the course to disciplinary action leading to suspension or dismissal from the university. For further information, please consult the Ohio University web site on academic integrity: http://www.ohio.edu/judiciaries/academic-misconduct.cfm#academic. For further information about quotation and citation, please read A Note on Notes.
Your grade for the entire course, both Fall and Winter quarters, will be determined as follows: 25 percent for the written assignments in the Fall Quarter; 25 percent for participation in class discussion during both quarters; and 50 percent for the research essay.
Please note that in the event of a major campus emergency or other circumstances beyond the instructor’s control, such as a major outbreak of the H1N1 flu, course requirements, deadlines, and grading percentages may be subject to change. It also may become necessary to revise the quarter calendar. For further information about university contingency planning for an influenza pandemic, please consult: http://www.ohio.edu/safetyandrisk/docs/OUInfluenza%20ResponsePlan071509.pdf.
I will hold office hours in Bentley Annex 468 on Tuesday, 1:30-3:30 PM and by appointment. My office telephone is 593-4335. If I am not in my office, you may leave a message on the answering machine. You can always reach me by email at: pach@ohio.edu.
You will find an electronic version of this syllabus and of all class assignments on my home page at: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~pach.
Schedule of Meetings and Reading Assignments
Sept. 14 Introduction
Sept. 18 Primary Source/Reference Work Report Due
Sept. 21 Gender, War, and Politics
Read: Fighting for American Manhood
Sept. 28 History and Memory
Read: A Date Which Will Live
Oct . 5 Politics, Reform, and Human Rights
Read: A New Deal for the World
Oct. 9 Essay Due
Oct. 12 Race, Empire, and International History
Read: Brother’s Keeper
Oct. 16 Preliminary Topic Description Due
Oct. 19 Tourism and International Social History
Read: Cold War Holidays
Oct. 26 Structure, Contingency, and Vietnam
Read: Choosing War
Oct. 30 Preliminary Annotated Bibliography Due
Nov. 2 Biography and Global History
Read: Henry Kissinger and the American Century
Nov. 9 No Class
Nov. 12 First Draft of Research Proposal Due
Nov. 16 Discussion of Research Proposals
Final Draft of Research Proposal: Due on November 23
