HI 792 Colloquium: United States Cultural History Since 1865
Date/Time: Tuesdays, 3:00-5:45PM
Instructor: Tammy S. Gordon
e-mail: [email protected]
Office: 253 Withers
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am-11am
and other times by appointment
Description
This colloquium focuses on United States cultural history since 1865 with an
emphasis on the development of cultural history scholarship since 1990. Themes
include the relationships between culture and politics, social transformations,
economics, and international relations. We will explore the “cultural turn” in
historiography as well as interdisciplinary contributions from art history,
musicology, material culture studies, media studies, and ethnography.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
 Analyze scholarship in cultural history in terms of arguments, methods, and
sources
 Discuss works on cultural history in terms of their contributions to scholarly
dialogue in the arts and humanities
 Produce encyclopedia entries that conform to professional, scholarly
standards for research and communication
 Produce book reviews that conform to professional, scholarly standards for
research and communication
 Produce historiographic essays that conform to professional, scholarly
standards for research and communication
 Assess and respond to user needs for scholarly online resources
Required Reading
These works are available on reserves at the library (2-hour checkout), via library
databases, or at the NCSU bookstore.
Luis Alvarez, The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War
II
Cindy S. Aron, Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States
Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in
the United States, 1880-1917
Elizabeth Cohen, Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar
America
James W. Cook, “The Kids are All Right: On the ‘Turning’ of Cultural History,”
American Historical Review (June 2012): 746-771
Philip Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places
Robin D. G. Kelley, Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class
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Lawrence W. Levine, “The Folklore of Industrial Society: Popular Culture and its
Audiences,” and responses by Robin D. G. Kelley, Natalie Zemon Davis, T. J.
Jackson Lears, and Levine, American Historical Review 97, no. 5 (December
1992), 1369-1430.
Karal Ann Marling, As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s
Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle
East Since 1945
Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America’s Beauty Culture
John Kuo Wei Tchen, New York Before Chinatown: Orientalism and the Shaping of
American Culture, 1776-1882
Cotton Seiler, Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America
Gil Troy, Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s
Mabel O. Wilson, Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums
Grading and Assignments
This class is worth 100 points. Specific information about assignments can be found
later in this syllabus.
Review*
Encyclopedia Entries (4 @ 5 points each)*
Annotated Bibliography*
Historiographic Essay
Participation
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20
20
40
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*These assignments will be made publicly available on The Department of Cultural
References
Percentage
98-100
93-97
90-92
87-89
83-86
80-82
<80
Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
BF
Assignments should be turned in as Microsoft Word files via Moodle before the
deadline. Late papers are not accepted. All assignments should use the
Turabian/Bibliography-Notes System for source documentation.
The Department of Cultural References: http://tammysgordon.org/DCR/
Together we will create an online resource for students and teachers (defined
broadly) of cultural history. We will build the site by contributing reviews of new
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books, encyclopedia entries, and annotated bibliographies. Not only will this
resource benefit cultural history scholars, it will benefit you as the author of online
publications (six new publication lines on your CV!).
This is not a class in Omeka, digital history, or public history, so you are not required
to submit anything but content to the site. However, if you would like experience in
designing for web use, managing materials in Omeka, or writing directional text, you
are welcome to use this site to gain this experience. See me to make a list of tasks
you’d like to try, and I will set up a user account for you. At the conclusion of the
class, we will team author the site’s main page and About page.
Schedule
Be sure to bring the reading to the class in which we discuss it. If you use the copy
on reserve at the library, bring detailed notes to the class discussion.
January 10: James W. Cook, “The Kids are All Right: On the ‘Turning’ of Cultural
History,” American Historical Review (June 2012): 746-771 and Lawrence W.
Levine, “The Folklore of Industrial Society: Popular Culture and its
Audiences,” and responses by Robin D. G. Kelley, Natalie Zemon Davis, T. J.
Jackson Lears, and Levine, American Historical Review 97, no. 5 (December
1992), 1369-1430.
January 17: John Kuo Wei Tchen, New York Before Chinatown
January 24: Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization, Person Encyclopedia Entry
due Before 2:00pm
January 31: Cindy S. Aron, Working at Play
February 7: Kathy Peiss, Hope in a Jar; Book Review due before 2:00pm
February 14: Mabel O. Wilson, Negro Building
February 21: Philip Deloria, Indians in Unexpected Places
February 28: Luis Alvarez, The Power of the Zoot; Event Encyclopedia Entries due
before 2:00pm
March 7: Spring Break
March 14: Cotton Seiler, Republic of Drivers
March 21: Robin D. G. Kelley, Race Rebels; Wildcard Encyclopedia Entries due
before 2:00pm
March 28: Elizabeth Cohen, Consumers’ Republic
April 4: No class. Annotated Bibliography due before 6:00pm
April 11: Karal Ann Marling, As Seen on TV
April 18: Melani McAlister, Epic Encounters; Key Term Encyclopedia Entries due
before 2:00pm
April 25: Gil Troy, Morning in America
Friday, April 28: Historiography Essay Due before 6:00pm
Tuesday, May 9, 1:00-4:00pm Exam Time: Group Writing Session for Intro Text
on DCR (attendance required); DCR launch
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Assignments
Encyclopedia Entries (4)
You will contribute four encyclopedia entries to DCR, one each on a person (e.g.
Josephine Baker, Lawrence Levine, e.e. cummings, David Byrne), an event (either a
one-time event like Wattstax, a run like the 1972-1981 Treasures of Tutankhamun,
or an ongoing event like the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival), a key term scholars
use to talk about cultural history (e.g., film noire, spot ad, bell bottoms, schlock, indie
rock), and one entry on any item relevant to U.S. cultural history since 1865 (this is
the “wildcard” entry). Terms should be relevant to understanding the history of
culture in the United States.
We will discuss entry topics as a class to avoid repetition. (Yes, scholarship involves
team work!)
Entries should be between 200-300 words and should include specific content that
will orient users to the topic and provide key terms for additional research. History
professionals (both established and emerging) such as teachers, professors, and
curators are the intended audience for the entries. Entries should include a list of at
least 4 scholarly secondary sources (two monographs and two articles) used to
prepare the entry. Entries may include an image photo but images must be
documented properly and permission must be secured for their use.
Headings for entries should appear as such:
[Term]
[Text of entry, single spaced]
For Further Reading
[list of at least two relevant books and two journal articles]
Entry by [your name]
[Date of entry written as 2017/MM/DD]
Entries will be worth 5 points each and will be graded on the following:
Relevance of term to cultural history (1)
Sentence clarity (1)
Accuracy and source support (2)
Appropriate grammar, mechanics, and punctuation (1)
Book Review
You will contribute a book review of a monograph in cultural history to DCR.
Reviews should be between 600-800 words and should include a summary of the
main argument, a description of its methods and sources, and a discussion of the
work’s place in cultural history scholarship. Comments may be added on the book’s
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style and organization if notable. History professionals (both established and
emerging) such as teachers, professors, and curators are the intended audience for
the reviews. It is highly recommended that you choose a book that fits into a larger
topic for the final historiographical essay. This review should not be of a book on the
course reading list.
Reviews should follow this order:
Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to
Sensation
Steven Dubin. New York and London: New York University Press, 1999.
Reviewed by [Your Name]
[Text of review. Use 5 point paragraph indentation.]
[Date of review written as 2017/MM/DD]
Reviews will be worth 10 points each and will be graded on the following:
Summary of main argument (2)
Summary of method and sources (2)
Discussion of the work’s place in cultural history scholarship (3)
Sentence clarity (2)
Grammar, mechanics, and punctuation (1)
Annotated Bibliography
The purpose of the annotated bibliography is to identify the relevant works on a
topic in U.S. cultural history since 1865. Topics may be defined narrowly (e.g.
cultural appropriation in the 1960s and 70s) or broadly (e.g. the history of jazz), but
should discuss at least four monographs and four articles on the topic (no more than
two of these works should be from our syllabus.) Annotations should be 2-3
complete sentences that summarize the work’s topic, main argument, method(s),
and sources. Bibliographic entries should use Turabian/Bibliography-Notes System.
Be sure to include a title that identifies the topic and two sentences at the top of the
page that describe the topic.
History professionals (both established and emerging) such as teachers, professors,
and curators are the intended audience for the annotated bibliography.
The annotated bibliography is worth 20 points will be graded on the following:
Title and description of topic (3)
Relevance of works to topic (3)
Annotations (8)
Sentence clarity (4)
Grammar, mechanics, and punctuation (2)
Historiographic Essay
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The purpose of this assignment is to survey the ways in which historians have
written about a particular topic in U.S. cultural history since 1865. The essays will
examine areas of agreement and disagreement, parts of the topic that have been
neglected or overemphasized, and will analyze individual works’ contributions to
the scholarly dialogue on the topic. Topics may be defined narrowly (e.g. cultural
appropriation in the 1960s and 70s) or broadly (e.g. the history of jazz), but should
discuss at least six monographs and five articles on the topic (no more than two of
these works should be from our syllabus.)
Professional US historians in academe are the audience for this essay.
Essays should be 8-10 pages long (plus bibliography), double-spaced, with standard
fonts and margins. Essays should use the Turabian/Bibliography-Notes system for
documentation. Final bibliographies do not need to be annotated.
Essays will be worth 40 points and will be graded on the following:
Description of topic (5)
Relevance of works to topic (5)
Discussion of major themes, interpretive differences, and gaps in the scholarship
(20)
Organization/Sentence clarity (5)
Grammar, mechanics, and punctuation (5)
Participation
Participation is worth 10 points and will be assessed at the end of the semester and
will be graded according to the following:
Attendance (5): Everyone must attend every class prepared to discuss the material.
If you need to miss a class for documented illness or family emergency, notify me
before the class and follow up before the next class to discuss missed material.
Discussion (5): Everyone bears responsibility for the success of discussion. The
minimum expectation for discussion is that you contribute substantively with
relevant comments or questions on the readings.
Helpful Information
Supporting Fellow Students in Distress
As members of the NCSU community, we share a responsibility to express concern
for one another and to ensure that this classroom and the campus as a whole
remains a safe learning environment. Occasionally, you may come across a fellow
classmate whose personal behavior concerns or worries you. When this is the case,
please report this behavior to the NC State Students of Concern website:
http://studentsofconcern.ncsu.edu/. Although you can report anonymously, it is
preferred that you share your contact information so they can follow up with you.
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Disability Services
Students with personal, medical or physical barriers to success should contact the
instructor as soon as possible. Reasonable accommodations will be made for
students with verifiable disabilities. Students needing assistance must register with
Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509,
515-7653.
Course Evaluations
Please help me make this course better! The official course evaluation will take
place in the last two weeks of class. Complete it online. All contributions are
confidential.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
All members of the NCSU community are expected to follow the academic Honor
Code. Academic dishonesty such as lying about attendance, cheating on exams, or
submitting others’ work as your own, or any other form of academic misconduct
will not be tolerated in this class.
Please be especially familiar with plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of academic
dishonesty in which you take someone else’s ideas and represent them as your own.
Here are some examples of plagiarism:
1. You write about someone else’s work in your paper and do not give them
credit for it by referencing them.
2. You give a presentation and use someone else’s ideas and do not state that
the ideas are the other persons.
3. You get facts from your textbook or some other reference material and do
not reference that material.
4. You turn in a paper that was written by someone else.
Learn more about plagiarism and avoiding it by consulting the History Department’s
page “Plagiarism and the Honor Code.”
Not only will academic dishonesty make you look like a complete jerk, it can get you
expelled! Offenders will fail this class and will be reported to the University Office of
Student Conduct. For more on the penalties facing those who make the wrong
choices, see the REG. 11.35.02 Student Discipline Procedures
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