Time Schedule:
Benjamin Schmidt
HIST 388
Seattle Campus
Introduction to the discipline of history for new or prospective majors. Emphasizes the basic skills of reading, analysis, and communication (both verbal and written) that are central to the historian's craft. Each seminar discusses a different subject or problem.
Class description
EXOTICISM AND GLOBALISM: EUROPE AND THE WORLD, 1400-1800
This course is designed as an intensive introduction to the study of history for students who have recently declared their intent to be history majors. Students will receive a training in several of the basic techniques of historical analysis. Among these will be the assessment and use of source materials; an understanding of how historians work by means of reading and discussing selection of assigned readings; and the opportunity for students to plan, research, and write their own historical essays, all in close collaboration with the teacher and other students in a seminar-style class. It is expected that the skills of research and of oral and written analysis that are fostered by the class will contribute significantly to the students' subsequent success as history majors. In addition, students will be expected to consider and plan their future course of study as history majors. Each 388 centers on a different historical problem: this one focuses on the development of "exoticism" and the fascinating iteration of "globalism" that developed in the early modern world (ca. 1400-1800). The theme will be explored through the study of primary source material of various genre, including travel writing, fictional narrative, exotic painting, and colonial cartography. And, though the perspective will be greatly influenced by the imperial agenda of Europe, the sources will interrogate the engagement of Europe with America, Asia, and Africa.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
No prerequisites. A familiarity with early modern history, especially of Europe, is helpful.
Class assignments and grading
